Customer experience management (CEM)

What is customer experience management?

Customer experience management (CEM) is a set of procedures created to track, monitor, and arrange each customer’s interaction with a business over the course of their relationship.

Its goal is to improve customer loyalty by enhancing interactions from the customer’s point of view.

Customer interactions encompass not only traditional channels such as purchases and customer service inquiries but also social media and customer relationship management systems.

Companies must develop a strategy that covers all client engagements across the organization in order to manage the customer experience.

Why is customer experience management important?

Customer impressions and sales are influenced by the customer experience with a brand. When done correctly, it may be both good and harmful, depending on which aspects of CEM are missed.

Implementing a CEM strategy has various advantages:

Improve customer engagement

Customer feedback can be a powerful incentive for improvement. Web surveys, mobile app reviews, and phone and chat interactions provide a roadmap for enhancing customer experiences and retaining customers.

Provide better brand experience

Effective customer experience management allows a company to create personalized interactions with consumers on different touchpoints. This way, the brand will be more memorable to people, no matter where they encounter it.

Maintain competitive edge

When making decisions and providing feedback, customers compare brands. Knowing this information can help a business achieve an advantage over a competitor.

How to create an excellent customer experience?

Customer experience management needs a 360-degree perspective of customers, as well as integrated and up-to-date customer account information. To create an effective customer experience, there are four key stages to follow:

Understand your consumer

The first stage in developing a customer strategy is to understand the needs and habits of your customers. Customer experience managers can create customer profiles to determine how to market to specific customers.

They may then segment their market depending on characteristics like age, hobbies, and purchasing patterns.

Create a customer journey map

A customer journey map helps identify points for client engagement, as well as forecasting how customers will engage with a product or service. 

Customer paths can also help customer service teams increase retention over time.

Develop an emotional connection

This requires creating a brand strategy that evokes emotions. Once you’ve established an emotional connection with customers, it’s easier to maintain brand loyalty and increase customer lifetime value.

Capture customer feedback

Real-time tracking of the satisfaction of customers is much needed in every business. Client feedback can reveal consumer preferences, ensure quality, and assess the effectiveness of a customer experience plan.