28 •
The Lion King
• April - June 2015
Customer Service
Customer Service
Health Check
By Adejuwon Adegboyega
Customer service has become a thing of intense
interest in corporate board rooms. However, cur-
rent management thinking has progressed past
mere ‘customer service’ to ‘customer experience’.
What is customer experience?
According to Wikipedia, it can be defined as the product
of an interaction between an orga-
nization and a customer over the
duration of their relationship.
This interaction includes a cus-
tomer’s attraction, awareness,
discovery, cultivation, advo-
cacy and purchase and use
of a service. It is measured
by the individual’s experi-
ence during all points of con-
tact against the individual’s
expectations.
Expecta-
tion
The
contrast
between customer service and
customer experience is not
mere semantics, rather a por-
trayal of a mental attitude.
Customer service is about
delivering required solu-
tions to customers, how-
ever, customer experi-
ence spans beyond just
that into penetrating
the mind and emo-
tions of customers.
Understand their
thinking, satisfy
their service-
demand and
impress upon
their emo-
tions.
1.
Appraisal
We often draw the borders of our expectations
and work indices around when we are able
to deliver the required solutions to a customer
issue. Customer experience however, leverages on the
extras, otherwise known as ‘value add on(s)’. Customer
experience creates an amiable moment for them that
will last long. The best appraisal of customer experience is
‘going the extra mile’. The ‘standing out like a neon sign’
comes in pre-empting a potential need and simulating an
atmosphere or experience of comfort and luxury.
Retention
Customer experience expects customers’ loy-
alty on the basis of informed relationships
that have been built over time and not just a
continued patronage on the basis of fulfilled service char-
ter promises. Service is moved a notch higher to assuring
customers of a ‘wow’ experience at any touch point they
interfaced with; it compels the need to understand our cus-
tomers with their businesses to retain them for relationship,
hence commensurate profit.
Skill-sets
Customer experience finds as inadequate
mere operational efficiencies with seamless
processes. It is not enough to know your onions
well. Are you worth your salt?! The germane pre-requisite is
the acquisition of people skills and how to effectively deploy
the skills in the course of servicing customers.
Brand location
In customer service, the communicated brand
is perceived through having a direct con-
tact with any of its diverse touch points; it is
service-dependent. However, for customer experience, you
are part of the brand; it is impression-dependent. It travels
beyond spatial or geographical delineations. People’s
impressions are their realities! Consequently, a need to be
a little more conscious and cautious of comportments any-
where your reach potentially extends to.
Customer experience is not a ‘flight by night’ adventure,
rather a journey culminating in the build-up of skills.
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