MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

Customer Relationship Management

Module 5: Customer Interactions & Customization
Unit 1: Customer-Facing Process & Customer Journey

Introduction

In the last two modules, we talked about the role and importance of the customer experience in CRM.
Perceptions are everything with customers. The better they perceive and experience the interaction
with a company, the more delighted they will be and tell others about it. As a foundation for learning
to create valuable experiences, we will be using seven keys, or what we call the seven components of
the customer experience management program: products, services, price, channels, communications,
interactions, people, and then processes. We will examine each of these areas to see how we
can improve the entire customer experience, throughout the customer’s entire journey.

Earlier in the program, we addressed both the “identify” and “differentiate” stages of the IDIC
framework. They are critical to the customer experience; however, they are more analytical in nature.
They are at the heart of the CRM efforts, working behind the scenes to gather information about a
customer, to rank customers by value and to differentiate customers based of needs. These tasks aren’t
visible to the customer, are they? In this module, we are going to focus on the “I” or interaction stage
of the IDIC framework as well as the “C” or the customize stage. These are strategies that involve the
customers; they are visible to customers.

Keep in mind that customer interactions still have the goal of learning more about the customer
and gathering information to serve him or her in a way no competitor can. A company must
aim at creating and cultivating relationships with customers – at all levels of the company, at all
channels, at all touch points. It’s not talking to the customer; it’s about having a two-way
conversation, or dialogue, with the customer and then customizing our responses.

It is important to manage the customer experience, meaning it’s not just a one-time thing – it’s never
ending and on-going. In the fight for the customers’ hearts as well as their minds, it is an ever-
growing battlefield. Experience is the ultimate conveyor of value and is a major influence on future
buying behavior. A good customer experience encourages loyalty, while a poor customer experience
can put relationships at risk resulting in reduced wallet share and defection.

©2021 Sarah Cherres 1

MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

Gartner Model
1. Customer Vision

2. Customer-Centric Strategy

3. Valued
r 4. Organizational

'
Customer Collaboration
Experience

5. Customer Processes
6. Customer Information
7. Technology
8. Metrics
san,hCherres Modu le S I Un it 1: Customer·F~cini Process & C,;stomer Journ~

Gartner Model
So where are we in the Gartner Eight Building Blocks model? As shown in the diagram, the customer
experience is one of the key building blocks of CRM. Before a company can manage the experience, though,
it needs to have a customer-centric vision and strategy as well as the right collaborative culture for delivery.
Companies also need the support of customer processes, information, technology and enterprise metrics to
deliver great experiences consistently.
The customer experience is the delivery of the brand promise. It happens at ALL touch points — it’s the
intersection of the customer and the enterprise. Therefore, CEM (Customer Experience Management) is
delivered through salespeople, call center agents, advertising, events, debt collectors, product brochures,
receptions, websites, and more. The customer’s experience is filtered through the customer’s expectations of the
enterprise, which is determined by the publicized customer value proposition and feedback from other
customers. It’s very possible for the customer experience at a high-end store (e.g., Neiman Marcus) to be as good as
that given to shoppers in “value for the money” type stores like Walmart, Costco or Ikea.
Important is the customer feedback and a company’s response to that feedback. Feedback can be explicit, as in a
survey; or it can be implicit, when a company follows a customer’s mouse clicks as the customer travels around a
website. In designing and managing the customer experience, it is important to aim to exceed expectations at
the touch points that really matter to a customer, and just meet their expectations at the rest. This is the art of
effective CEM that brings the benefits.
The customer experience is based on how much value the customer perceived from the interaction he/she had with
the company. A customer experience is a customer’s overall cognitive and effective response to their experience
with a company. For example, think of the last time you went to a hospital. A hospital experience consists of
interpretations of what you encountered over a number of touch points: during admission, in the actual
rooms, after surgery care or during discharge. Companies are becoming more interested in managing and
improving customer experiences. For example, the mission of [Link] is to deliver ‘a high quality end-to-end,
order-to-delivery customer experience.’
If you were to ask customers, ‘What is it like doing business with us?’ their answers would most likely describe
their experience. Think of different product categories. The experiences within those product categories can
vary substantially from one to another. Chartered and scheduled flights can offer very different experiences.
Experiences at the Hard Rock and McDonald cafes will obviously be different even though they are the same
product category.

©2021 Sarah Cherres 2

MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

Customer Experience & IDIC

Customer Insight Customer Experience
f- Analytical C RM ➔ f- Op«ational C RM ➔

Identify Differentiate Interact Customize

Customers a s Customers by vV1th customers Some aspect of
unique, addressable their value & efficientlv and the company· s
individuals needs ~ht ti el behavior

Set up the relationship Visible to customers

Recognize the customer Pick up conversations where last
Collect data on interactions one left off
Not normally visible to customers Tailor experiences and adapt
behavior

SarahCherres Module S I Unit 1: Customer·f11cin1 Process & Customer Journey

Customer Experience & IDIC

According to Don Peppers, co-creator of IDIC, work done around customer experience
management can be understood by dissecting I-D-I-C and how these tasks function (or don’t
function) for the organization.
But a couple of other things are worth pointing out about the I-D-I-C model of customer
experience and relationship management. The first two tasks – identifying customers and
differentiating them – are steps that a company can take in the privacy of its own IT department.
A company has a database of individual customer records. It tracks the transactions of individual
customers in order to better understand both their value and their needs, and yet the customer
never really has to participate in the process. The customer, in fact, may not even be aware of the
process.
By contrast, the third step – interaction – demands the customer’s personal attention and
participation. You can’t interact unless there’s someone else on the other end of the interaction,
right? And the fourth step, customizing your behavior in some way to a particular customer, also
involves the individual customer directly, as the "recipient" of this behavior.
So you could think of the first two steps of the IDIC model as “analytical” CRM, while the next
two steps are “operational” CRM. Analytical CRM is required to develop better customer insight,
while operational CRM is how you deliver a specific customer experience.
Think about the process of managing your own customers’ individual relationships with your firm
– through your Web site, your loyalty program, your contact center, at the point of purchase, or in
after-sale service. Literally everything your company does, with respect to managing individual
customer relationships, can be understood in terms of how these four IDIC steps are executed.
The rest of the module focuses on the last two steps: interact and customize.

©2021 Sarah Cherres 3

MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

Before Customer "Facing" Process

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Sourr-,: The CRM Handbook by Jill Dyche, pages 181 - 182.

ahCherres Module S I Unit 1: Customer·f11cin1 Process & Customer Journey

Before Customer "Facing" Process

Before we get into the customer journey mapping concepts as a means of managing the
customer experience, let’s look at a high-level process for making a hotel reservation. This slide
and the next illustrate how a process can be improved in an effort to make the customer experience
mor valuable to the customer.
In this slide, you see the “before” process. On the next slide, you’ll see the “after” process.
The first step in CRM is for companies to map out their existing processes. In this example,
the customer is only given one option for making a reservation. The touch point is between the
customer and the CSR. But what happens if the CSR is busy and all phone lines are busy? How
does that make the customer feel? This is one area that could be improved, right? And what if the
customer is in a rush and prefers to make the reservation at a time when CSRs are not working?
In this example, if a customer needed a room right away and there were no rooms available, then a
customer had the option of being placed on a waiting list or trying back later. In most
cases, customers are not willing to be placed on a waiting list and call a competitor. This is
another opportunity for improvement, right? It’s risky because a hotel may lose a customer.
And what if you are a regular customer of this hotel? Is there another opportunity to somehow block
rooms for these customers at an affiliated hotel? Let’s take a look at an improved process on
the next slide.
NOTE: Be sure to listen to the short video on Customer Touchpoints!

©2021 Sarah Cherres 4

MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

"After" Customer-Facing Process

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So urce: The CR}.·f Handbook by Jill Dyd1e. pages IS 1-1 82.

s~r~hCherres Module S I Un it 1: Customer·F~c inc Process&Customer Journey

"After" Customer-Facing Process

In the improved process or the desired state, the following changes were made in this
example (although there may be many more):

• Customers are now given multiple options to contact and interact with the hotel. This is called a
multi-channel reservation system. Customers now have choices based on their individual
preferences.
• Using a central database (operational CRM), the system can identify frequent customers and provide
them with blocked rooms. Frequent customers can be considered loyal customers.
• The system can also track rooms in nearby affiliated hotels, thus offering customers alternatives,
preferably in hotels from the same chain.
• By offering options, customers have a better experience which strengthens brand loyalty and the
likelihood that the customer will keep coming back and referring additional customers.
Here are some guidelines for redesigning business processes:
• Make your customers the central objective. Redesigned processes must create value to the customer.
• There is a natural order to performing the steps of a process.
• Work should be performed where it makes the most sense.
• Technology should be used to enable new possibilities, not automate existing tasks.
• Develop alternate paths for complex cases rather than one path that fits all. Not all customers are the
same.
• Data should be entered only once, preferably by people who understand and care about the customer
data or information. This is usually the person on the front-end of the process.

©2021 Sarah Cherres 5

MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

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©2021 Sarah Cherres Module 5: Customer Experience

Customer Journey Map

A customer journey map (CJM) is a document that visually illustrates customers' processes, needs, and
perceptions throughout their interactions with a company. It is a visual representation of the customer’s interactions with
a company throughout the decision-making lifecycle. The map serves as a tool to investigate, analyze and ultimately
understand the customer’s journey, as seen through the customer’s eyes. It sets the foundation for identifying
ways to improve customer experiences. Customer Journey Mapping requires us to step into the shoes of the customer and
understand how our processes impact the experience he or she has with our brand and company.
How many times have you turned on your GPS and typed in a destination? In most cases, the GPS will give you
alternative ways to get to that destination, some longer than others. Some apps are so sophisticated now that they’ll even
tell you obstacles along the way: an accident, traffic, and so on. And what happens to you when you run into an obstacle?
You get frustrated and stressed out. As you progress on your journey, the GPS tracks your steps along the way. That’s
exactly what a CJM does.
The CJM is a blueprint of the journey taken by the customer, marking all key touchpoints. It should extend from
touchpoints designed to raise awareness and interest – including advertising and marketing efforts, PR, etc. –
through to the touchpoints associated with usage touchpoints (face-to-face meetings with sales reps, accounts
teams, and support services, complaint handling, etc.). It should also extend to the termination of the
relationship with the company, such as closing a bank account or switching to an alternative provider, as the
handling of this termination stage can be critical in turning around experiences and inviting the customer to return at a
later time.
So what should a CJM contain? There are many ways to illustrate a CJM, but at minimum, it should include:

• A flowchart or diagram
• All interactions and interfaces (as we have called ‘touchpoints’) between the customer and the company or brand. Be
sure to watch the video.
• Likely “pain points” in the journey. These are areas where the customer is likely to experience obtacles,
difficulties or negative emotions
• Key “moments of truth” along the way. These are areas where there is an opportunity to "make or break" a
relationship. They are critical (critical success factors) moments that mark the relationship going forward.

©2021 Sarah Cherres 6

MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

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Eumple of Customer Journey Map for Online Trave l Agency

Stages of Joutney
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©2021 Sarah Cherres Module 5: Customer Experience

Customer Journey Map (Continued)

There are many different formats to graphically illustrate a CJM. Here’s one example of a
customer journey map for an online travel agency. Take a moment to study it and work through
the steps. The map is for the persona “Suburban mom” and the objective is to go on family
vacation.
Notice that it tracks:

• The stages of the customer’s journey

• The needs and activities of the customer for each stage
• The expectations or perceptions of the travel agency of the customer at each stage
• The perceived emotions of the customer at each stage
• Potential improvements that the travel agency could make it each stage to create a more
memorable experience for the customer.
Notice that the emotions are tracked along the way: happy, sad or even neutral.

©2021 Sarah Cherres 7

MAR 4860 – Customer Relationship Management MODULE 5 UNIT 1

Journey Map Template

Feasible
Touchpolnts

Cus tomer
Ne- I

Customer
Motivations

Potential
Customer
Questions I
Customer
Actions

Poulble
Pain Points
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Truth

Modul<" 5 I Unit 1: Customf:r-Fac in& Proc.-ss & Custom.-r Journ~

Customer Journey Map Template

Here’s a blank template for a CJM to document the key parts of the customer journey. This is
very high level but it serves as a start to identify potential areas that can be analyzed
for improvements.