Learning to meet the needs of the few can be the next step in your CX evolution with profound benefits for the whole organisation.
Recently we helped two organisations understand and better meet the needs of customers with a range of access needs. For some this might seem like a big investment offering only a modest financial potential. However our Clients found this to be a transformative piece of work with the power to improve the experience of all customers.
This work is a useful reminder of 6 important truths:
- It’s all too easy to completely overlook the requirements of different customer groups, particularly when their needs are alien to your own. Qualitative research is a vital tool to shine the light on those experiences
- Even small customer differences can quickly lead to multiple problems that compound to deliver a deeply unsatisfactory experience
- Unlocking customer value is difficult without a deep understanding of the needs of distinct groups
- Raising awareness of different needs and experiences is an important part of any improvement programme
- Developing the habit of listening and responding to customers when their needs fall outside the norm (when something goes wrong for example) is something all customers value.
- Extra care for the few can evidence a proposition of caring for all (customers and staff).
Taking the next step in your CX evolution
A growing number of organisations have made the effort to understand and map the journeys of their key customers.
Taking the time to go back and look at those same journeys through the eyes of the small, but growing number of customers with access needs reaps far greater rewards than simply serving these smaller customer groups better and meeting ever rising expectations around accessibility.
For example it also helps hone skills of self reflection and the development of flexible processes that can detect and respond to a wider range of demands.
Understanding the needs and experiences of different groups, particularly if they are alien to your own life experiences, requires qualitative research insight. However, using data about health conditions to target research recruitment incurs demanding data protection controls and so is not cheap.
Nonetheless, the competencies that projects like this helps develop have benefits for the whole organisation. Indeed a growing number of organisations feel there is great value in being able to evidence a proposition of care, not only when things go as they should do for large customer groups, but when things go wrong and for customers with different needs.