As customer behaviours and expectations continue to evolve, putting strain on financial services brands to adapt, businesses from startups to enterprises, must ensure that their customer experience (CX) strategy is futureproof. But how critical is it for startups to deliver exceptional CX, and more so, why is a CX vision so critical to help catapult themselves towards unicorn status?
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What is a ‘CX Vision’?
It describes the aspirational future state for customer experience. It focuses on the CX organisations strive to deliver and aligns the business and its employees to that vision.

A CX vision resonates with people and provides direction around decision making, behaviours, and ways of working. A strong, well embedded service vision will typically translate into positive frontline behaviours, performance and CX.

Distinct from mission statement or brand promise, it’s usually supported by service pillars or principles across areas like CX, operations, people, it/tech that uphold the vision across the entire business.
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Startups & Scale-ups disrupt the value chain with innovative ideas. But is that enough?
The startup/scale-up market, especially in the UK & Europe has been booming! Investment in 2021 was at an all-time high however, market changes and the macroeconomic climate has created pressure and uncertainty. Board members have begun to seek strategic changes from their investments: from hypergrowth to profitability as a focus. A service vision is key for businesses enacting strategic change, it can be used as a guiding truth to translate the strategy ensuring that while revenue and profitability is achieved – it is not at the expense of CX.

A well-designed CX vision is key in delivering a differentiated service – while also improving efficiency and reducing cost to serve.
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Consumer power is only increasing
Netflix were infamous for claiming their only competition was sleep, however recently they have seen a downturn in subscriptions, with the likes of Disney+ launching with some unrivalled content (if you are a parent, Marvel or Star Wars fan at least).

In today’s increasingly commoditised market, businesses must work harder to achieve growth and increase earnings. Attracting and maintaining relationships with customers is the core challenge – with a differentiating factor increasingly being the effectiveness of the customer value proposition.
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Consumer factors to consider when developing an effective CX vision for the future:

– Consumers now have access to more information, choice and peer reviews than ever before. Aggregators have ‘uncoupled’ the research part of the customer value chain

– Changing consumer demographics: for some the phone will always be there, for younger generations it’s the point of last resort

– Customer service expectations of the basics done brilliantly, continue to rise and are set by wider retail experiences. Internet based platforms are commoditising the marketplace

– New digital technologies and business models enable new consumption patterns e.g. pay as you go, rental models

– Best in class / market disruptors pursue ‘effectiveness’ business strategies and understand what matters to customers

– New entrants are differentiating through focusing on frictionless experience
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5 top tips for designing a CX vision
So how can you stay on top of consumer power and deliver the best CX that will make your competitors nervous? It’s all about your CX vision and how you design and build upon it. Here are our 5 top tips to get your organisation on the way to CX success:

1) Understand your current CX maturity
know where you want to go, you need to know where you have started.
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2) Know your cost to serve
Understanding this can support any business case requirements for change and help you identify what is best and realistic for your service ambition.
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3) Engage your team
Creating the CX vision works best as a collaborative process, especially when including those who know your customers best. Taking them on the journey will not only produce the best output, but give your vision greater chance of success.
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4) Perform value/irritant analysis
Create insight which allows you to prioritise efforts into interactions that both the business and customers value most, then simplify or automate the lower value interactions creating a low-effort CX
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5) Be Ambitious
The aim of a CX vision is to be forward thinking and aspirational – don’t get too bogged down in today’s challenges.

Developing a CX vision is critical to the success of your start-up business. Without one, you are at risk of falling behind other start-up competitors, finding it difficult to retain loyal customers andnegatively impacting on that growth. If you would like to hear more from us about designing a CX Vision that aligns to your current strategic goals, please get in touch.

Aimie Jago
Senior Consultant
Aimie.jago@davies-group.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aimiejago/

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