Customer Experience: They're Not Customers, They're People

Businesses today claim they are more concerned about the customer than ever before. Enormous amounts of corporate time and money are being poured into increasing customer service levels, tracking customer satisfaction, and trying to profile current and future customer needs. There is much talk about becoming customer-centric, and a whole industry has grown up around CRM.

And yet why is it that our experience as customers is often so appallingly bad?

How many times, for example, do we endure automated call center systems when we just want to ask a simple question? Why aren't there single queuing systems at most train stations? Why do so many restaurants treat you with disdain?

The problem is, most businesses still don't apply a serious, coherent approach to the overall experience they are giving customers. But therein lies the opportunity.

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