The Exponential Customer: Always On, Always Connected And Always Expecting More

LeadershipLeadership StrategiesThe Exponential Customer: Always On, Always Connected And Always Expecting MoreByShep Hyken, Contributor

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, author & keynote speaker

Getty The term exponential customer may not be familiar to everyone

I was reminded of the term when preparing to be interviewed for a podcast hosted by NiCE, a major player in the customer experience (CX) world whose AI-powered offerings help companies vide amazing customer service and support

In preparation for the podcast, the NiCE team sent the questions and discussion topics to me for apval

This was the theme of our podcast, and NiCE’s interpretation of exponential customer is a customer who is always on, always connected always expecting more

With that in mind, I’d to some of the topics the host, Amelia Rose Earhart, and I discussed on the podcast

The Exponential Customer In today’s digital world, customers are as connected as they want to be

Whether it’s a computer, tablet, phone or smart device, customers are usually within an arm’s length or earshot of something that will connect them to a company

That’s the “always on” and “always connected” part of the definition

Then there’s the “always expecting more. ” My take on this is something I’ve preached for years

Customers expect and demand more than ever

They no longer simply compare you to a competitor, but to the best experience they’ve had from any company or brand

That “best experience” is what sets the bar in the customer’s mind and helps define what a good or bad experience is

MORE FOR YOU Moments Matter One of my favorite CX themes is Creating Moments of Magic®

This concept originated from Jan Carlzon’s Moment of Truth principle, which states that any time a customer comes into with a company, however remote, they have an opportunity to form an impression

With all of these interactions, we want to create Moments of Magic®, experiences that always meet and sometimes exceed a customer’s expectations

The key word is always

Every interaction must be consistent and predictable

When that happens, you’ve created an amazing experience

If you consistently do what customers expect, they come back

Why would they take a chance on doing with anyone else

Learn and Copy from the Best If customers compare us to their best experiences, it makes sense that we should strive to vide them with a similar experience

But most of us can’t copy Amazon or Apple

What we can do is learn from them

What do Amazon, Apple or any company we admire do that we really

Is it something we can do too

These questions force us to look beyond our industry for best practices, which can give us a tremendous competitive advantage

Keeping Up Change is happening faster than ever, especially with AI-fueled capabilities

Just 10 years ago, the cost to create AI solutions could be hundreds of thousands of dollars or more

Today, it’s affordable for small es

That means almost any company, big or small, can der an AI-enhanced experience

And that includes your competition

So, if you’re not keeping up with nology, you risk falling behind in two areas

First, your competitors may pull ahead with tools that make them faster, smarter and more efficient

Second, you may lose customers to those competitors, and once they're gone, winning them back won’t be easy

The Difference Between Today’s Innovations and Tomorrow’s Expectations Nothing has changed in the world of customer service and CX, particularly as it relates to addressing blems and complaints

And nothing will change in the future

It is displayed in the British History Museum

The customer, Ea-nasir, was unhappy

All he wanted in the end was to be happy

That’s the same for today’s customers and for future customers

Nothing related to customer expectations has or will change

However, the way we go making our customers happy has changed

That’s where innovation and nology come into play

Preferences for Customer Support Are Changing While the outcome customers want is to be happy, just as innovation is changing, so are the customers’ habits for connecting with a company

But we can’t forget, in the end, they still want to be happy

The Right nology Many companies have older “legacy” systems that have not been replaced

The investment in these systems was expensive

As newer nology becomes available at a fraction of the price, it’s essential to consider replacing the old with the new

Go back and read the paragraph on “Keeping Up,” which makes the point that you can’t afford to lose ground to a competitor because you didn’t keep up with the nology

As mentioned, the price for the right nology is lower than ever with greater capabilities

The right solution should be able to integrate with other software, creating a hub that doesn’t require employees to switch from one gram to another

In addition, a new solution that is cloud-based should be easy to upgrade

This is what new nology—the right nology—offers

Big Changes Start at the Top Even with the and greatest nology, if you really want to impact CX, it starts at the top with leadership

Customer service isn’t a department, and customer experience isn’t just a strategy

It’s philosophical and cultural

A CX initiative must be part of the company's DNA

It needs to be part of everyone’s job, from the CEO to the most recently hired

Final Words The exponential customer isn’t just a buzzword

My conversation with NiCE reinforced the idea that staying ahead in customer experience requires more than just tools

It takes vision, leadership and a commitment to constant imvement to meet and exceed customer expectations

Thanks again to NiCE for inviting me to my thoughts and dig into what that really looks

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