When we think about experiences that we’ve had, we reflect upon our perceptions of a sequence of events and occasionally drawing upon how our various senses were engaged. But most predominantly we remember how we felt in that moment. Our entire day is built upon experience after experience. And, many of which are engagements with brands. It is estimated that as of 2021, an average person encounters between 6,000 - 10,000 ads every single day which has doubled from nearly a decade prior (PPC Protect).
“Experience: direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge; something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through”
How does this apply to client-based work?
We spend a lot of time focused on the experiences that people have at very specific junctures with your brand:
Typically companies will hire in some form of sales role which is primarily responsible for bringing in net-new clients.
They may also then hire in some kind of account manager, who is responsible for the ongoing relationship.
Subject matter experts can be brought in to explain a particularly complex area to a client.
Help desk or customer support may have a more ad-hoc interaction with any given client.
The list goes on-and-on, but the truth is that there are many times these departments are not alway properly integrated.
They may be working in silos and without dedicated attention to looking at every touchpoint and how those interact with one another, we miss out on understanding where we have an opportunity for improvement and expansion.
What is client experience (CX)?
At D&Co, this is the root and forefront of everything we do. It is the conscious and intentional understanding, acknowledgement and optimization of every touchpoint or encounter that a future, present or past client perceives to have with your brand. And yes, we deliberately said ‘perceive’ because it’s not just about what your team is executing on, it is how the clients perceive those interactions and engagements.
But, isn’t that branding?
Think about it this way, branding is the identity that you create and the promises make to your customers. Whereas, client experience is kind of like the reality check to see how that effort is interpreted and the plan to ensure it is interpreted the way it is originally intended. If branding is the promise that a company makes, then client experience is the report card to gauge if they understood the assignment.
“If brand is the promise your company makes to customers, customer experience is how you keep that promise”
If you’re not sure how to take the first step in understanding your client experience strategy, let’s talk!