Case Study: Designing Experience Maps to Improve Customer Loyalty

BUSINESS ISSUE

A large national telecommunications company had decided on a competitive strategy to differentiate on customer experience. However, the company lacked tactical insight on how to improve. They did not know customers’ specific expectations or the exact nature of any performance gaps, despite a plethora of historical customer satisfaction research. 

The central business question was, “How do we learn what the customer experience should look like, in a way that recognizes different customer segments, and then manage improvement in a way that results in real market impact?”   

APPROACH

The company adopted a 4-part plan:  

  1. Develop cross functional support across internal stakeholders for customer experience management  
  2. Align customer and business definitions of success  
  3. Create an experience plan backed by data that everyone can understand, articulate, action and measure. 
  4. Effectively allocate resources – time, money, people 

Steps 2 and 3 were addressed through a Touchpoint Experience Design project. 

STRATEGIC OUTCOMES & IMPACT

  • Identified which touchpoints were most important among segments and the best way to communication alignment to customers on their priorities.  
  • Delivered a detailed experience map that was actionable (e.g., providing a design target) and socialized across all teams using a common customer language. 
  • Executed process changes that led to a double digit increase in the performance of touchpoints that mattered the most to segments, resulting in $1 million in savings in the first 6 months.