Customer experience professionals are like fitness instructors and here are two fitness principles that we must apply:
Muscle memory: This is the process of repeating a task so that when the task is performed it can be done without conscious effort. Here are some activities that should be performed without conscious effort:
– Asking customers to share their input and following up with them when they don’t respond.
– Sending a thank you message after a customer shares her feedback.
– Seeking data that represents the customer view for all strategic and tactical decisions.
– Telling customers what the business heard and what is being done to improve the experience.
– Measuring the return on the investment after initiatives have been put into place.
Muscle confusion: This is the concept of doing various exercises to keep the body from accommodating to the point where it is no longer effective. While muscle memory is essential, there is a balance to ensure customer experience strategies can withstand time and keep attention. Ways to create muscle confusion include:
– Topical deep dives. While companies often have key performance indicators that they track over time, they must seek new and fresh input from customers. Plan to drill into new topics quarterly.
– Seek a different perspective. Input from customers will always be essential, but there are ways to seek the customer perspective from a different angle. One example is to ask sales reps and account managers what they are hearing from customers.
– Mix it up. Sharing bar charts and customer verbatim comments is great, but try mixing up the way customer feedback is shared throughout the organization. Consider infographics, videos, and stories as alternative approaches to sharing customer input.
Building muscle memory for the fundamentals will ensure action is taken and creating muscle confusion will ensure longevity of the customer experience initiatives.
What are some of the ways you are building muscle memory and muscle confusion?
Photo from Fort Meade
