How Experience Design Can Elevate Performance

Customer service design helps you envision how to deliver exceptional experiences. To design the most effective customer journey, it’s important to include your front-line staff in the process. Their input is a vital part of our co-creation process, which will set your team up for success.

Take a human-centered approach to experience design

Recall a great customer experience that you’ve had. Perhaps it occurred in a restaurant, online, or in your local supermarket: what was it about that interaction that still makes you smile?

Maybe an employee simply made you feel welcome, or some personalized attention made you feel extra special. Or maybe an issue was resolved to your satisfaction. Whatever it was, chances are you remember the interaction because it made you feel happy and appreciated.

We experience multiple interactions daily and tend to remember the great customer experiences — and the terrible ones. Online reviews are usually raves or complaints because the middle of the road is invariably unmemorable!

When you’re building your customer experience strategy, follow a human-centric approach that considers both customer and employee. You’ll be more likely to create an experience that remains top of mind (in a good way)!

Invite your organization into the experience design process

Our recommended method for customer experience design is co-creation. Once you’ve learned about the current state of your CX and your different customer groups, it’s time to co-create the ideal experiences to deliver at every touchpoint.

Why co-create your ideal CX? We’ve found that nobody knows the gaps, opportunities, successes, and failures better than your front-line team members. Want to know what’s going on in the kitchen? Ask the sous chef or the dishwasher. Curious about what’s happening at the storefront? Ask the sales reps.

Your co-creation workshop should begin with your current customer journey and should include data and insights that highlight both pain points and successful touchpoints.

Divide participants into breakout groups and ask them to discuss your current customer journey and how it compares to the ideal one.

• What might an exceptional customer experience look like at each touchpoint?
• How should your customers feel at each stage? What should evolve to achieve this?
• What’s working and not working?

Your processes, collaborations, systems, tools, and training may need some updates.

Use innovation blueprints and experience guides to activate your customer journey

At the end of the workshop, you’ll have a blueprint for your ideal customer journey, but you might lack the tools and strategy for activation; so the next step is to make sure the ideas generated during your co-creation workshop are actionable.

An innovation blueprint is a summary document outlining what changes you have prioritized, while an experience guide communicates an actionable game plan.

While it’s important to communicate the core objectives to your team, it’s also vital to highlight the importance and the value of making these changes. Share your customer experience blueprint and experience guide with your team, and make sure to get their feedback and buy-in. A sense of ownership is key for employee engagement and motivation.

Lead the charge on customer experience design

Your CX design strategy is far more likely to succeed when you co-create your ideal customer journey with front-line personnel instead of in a void. After the design process is complete, articulate your findings and make sure the whole team is on board. Confirm that everyone knows what is expected of them and that you communicate clearly why these changes are so important!

In our next blog in our customer experience consulting series, we’ll explore how you can mobilize employees to deliver better CX.