A customer experience framework can help CX teams streamline their workflows, showcase the value of a customer-first culture and improve customer engagement and satisfaction.
Customer experience encompasses a dizzying array of tools and technologies aimed at delivering consistently fantastic customer service. But what’s great for one customer isn’t necessarily great for another, nor is what works best on one channel automatically applicable to another.
A well-built customer experience framework can help reduce, if not eliminate, that challenge by creating a mindful approach to CX decision-making.
What is a customer experience framework?
A CX framework is a conceptual structure that guides the people, processes and technology involved in customer engagement decision-making. This framework can serve a variety of purposes. For example, it ensures customer engagement is receiving attention at the highest levels of the company, supports a customer-first culture and helps provide a focus for continuous improvement.
A CX framework should result in a better customer engagement strategy and improve processes for CX leaders and their teams, resulting in streamlined workflows and greater efficiency. A CX framework defines how and when customer-facing employees, such as call center agents, can reach out to subject matter experts within the business to address customer inquiries in real time. This, in turn, can lead to streamlined workflows.
Essential features within a CX framework
Companies should build their CX frameworks as a blueprint for approaching customer engagement with an eye on people, processes and technology. While the details vary from company to company, most CX frameworks have a few common building blocks, including the following:
Technology
A CX framework should outline the core tools and technology impacting customer engagement. Included in that list should be the organization’s chosen CXM software, customer journey mapping tools, the CRM platform and any unified communications and collaboration platform used to track interactions between customer-facing employees and business experts. Each facet of the technology stack should include support for artificial intelligence, automation and analytics.
Leadership designation
A CX framework should ensure customer engagement receives significant attention from the C-suite. A CX framework should designate ownership of customer engagement to a C-level position such as chief customer officer (CCO) or chief experience officer (CXO). Ownership implies control; this C-level executive must be empowered to implement change, and the framework should include guidance on how to budget and provide staffing under this role. Importantly, the framework should spell out decision-making authority so anyone with questions or concerns about CX knows who to go to for a discussion.
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