Delivering consistent consumer experience across all customer touch points provides opportunities for competitive differentiation, conformity to consumer expectations and at times customer delight. However, in the today’s world, consistency of experience across channels (manned or unmanned) is expected by customers. Consumers have been attuned to such nuances by interacting with industries like Airlines where search, booking and check-in can all work seamlessly across various channels.
Nonetheless, organizational emphasis on delivering consumer experience helps in clarifying internal brand identity and organizational alignment to it. Companies like Apple, Google & Facebook deliver unparalleled consumer experience. Interestingly all of these companies also rank highest as one of the best companies to work for. Employees of these companies know what their organizations stand for, and deliver experiences to their consumers through products and services that embody this purpose. These employees are better able to understand the greater purpose of their organization, and can relate their work to this goal. Consequently, such values and discipline result not only in quality products, services and external brand development, but also in increased employee loyalty and pride.
Unambiguity in organization’s identity and the consequent successful delivery of consumer experiences in tune with this identity requires clarity of purpose and vision on part of the organization’s leadership, and dissipation of such values across the organization.
Emirates Airlines, for example, has an extreme focus on consumer experience that takes root from their hiring process. The expectations from its employees are very clear even before they apply for a job:
“As a powerful international brand delivering a world class product we believe that the Customer Experience is the differentiator. Our challenge is to constantly re-look at what we do and to keep designing and delivering an Emirates experience in a way that our customers see, hear and feel the power of the brand. This is what sets us apart from other organisation across all areas of our business. A commitment to customer services is therefore a critical value that all employees demonstrate internally and externally across the organisation.”
The above excerpt from their “Careers” sections shows the clarity with which the company emphasizes on the “Emirates Experience”, and what is expected from their prospective employees.
Such clarity and focus across the organization is crucial in delivering the consumer experience in every aspect of customer’s journey of a transaction, and in the long term – their relationship with the company and its brand.