NOTA AICEX: esploriamo insieme cosa significa customer-centricity quando la maggior parte dell’interazione avviene lontano dal customer service tradizionale.
Forbes magazine recently published an interesting focus on marketing recently that explored various examples of customer service from companies such as Apple, Southwest Airlines, and Zappos.
The focus of the piece was on marketing and how every good business can learn from great examples of customer-centricity, but it got me thinking about the fundamental question, is there any business today that can afford to not be customer-centric?
Putting the customer first and living by maxims such as ‘the customer is always right’ have been part of corporate strategy for a long time, but most companies are in the process of redefining the relationship with their customers at present because much of that relationship is now conducted in public – away from the contact centre.
Adding service channels such as chat, Twitter, Facebook, and the use of social review forums like TripAdvisor has put the customer service team at the forefront of the customer relationship more than ever before. The interactions are public, unlike days gone by when a poor interaction could be hidden away because it was either on a call or email that only the individual customer and the brand could see anyway.
So with the customer relationship so much at the forefront of what every company is now doing, it is time to revise exactly how every part of your company is working. Are they all truly customer-centric? Think about the sales, marketing, public relations, and strategy teams – are they all taking a lead from customer services?
They really should be.
AICEX Customer Experience Italian Association
Associazione Italiana Customer Experience 