For today’s brands and businesses, there are few things more important than the customer experience (CX). Success can be built or broken by customers and the way they perceive, interact with and remember your business. So what are the key things business owners and marketers need to know about this modern marketing cornerstone?

To find out, we sat down with the two customer experience superstars behind local digital marketing agency, Method+Marketing, to chat all things CX. Co-founders Angela Henderson and Katie Cowling gave us their best insights into what customer experience is, how to measure it, and what steps you can take to create a customer-centric strategy for growth and success.

What is customer experience and why is it so important?

It’s easy to conflate customer experience with customer service. However, they’re not one and the same – rather, customer service is just one part of the overall customer experience.

‘I think it’s really important to define that customer experience is a whole lot bigger than just customer service,’ explains Angela, Method+Marketing’s Director of Client Services. ‘[Customer experience] is the overall impression that your business or your brand leaves with a customer, based on how they’ve interacted with your business across all of the multiple touchpoints in that customer journey, and what they think of that experience.’

With advances in technology, increases in online reviews and a larger wealth of consumer choice than ever before, it’s never been more important to get proactive and prioritise a positive customer experience.

How can you measure customer experience?

In order to understand the positives and negatives of your current customer experience (and how to make improvements), it’s vital to be able to measure that experience. But what are the best ways to do so?

‘Asking for feedback is important,’ says Katie, Method+Marketing’s Director of Digital Services. In the online age, of course, it’s also important to stay keyed in to your online traffic, stats and performance: ‘You can look at bounce rates and where customers drop out in the buyer journey,’ Katie points out.

Secret shopping services that evaluate the customer experience can be hugely beneficial, too, giving you firsthand insight into the personal and emotional beats of the customer journey. ‘In the big picture, when customers buy, it’s hugely subconscious and driven by emotions,’ Katie explains. ‘So a lot of it is hard to measure, but actually getting real, insightful feedback, like [using] a mystery shopper or doing customer feedback surveys, is what really helps.’

As well as choosing the right measurement methods, Angela adds that it’s just as important to be consistent in your cycle of measurement, analysis and improvement. ‘It’s an ongoing process of measuring and optimising so you can continue to keep your customer journey promise,’ she explains. ‘The trick is to make it a consistent, continuous thing that’s a part of the culture of your organisation – to be consistently wanting to improve it and make it better.’

Four top tips for CX success

For anyone needing to kickstart their CX overhaul, here are some of Angela and Katie’s top tips…

1. Plan, plan, plan

The first step for any business is to create a solid plan for enhancing the customer experience – one that takes a holistic approach to improvement and growth.

‘Try to figure out what you’re going to put in place in all the different areas of your organisation – your customer service, your sales, your marketing, your product – to make sure you’re delivering that really positive experience across all of the interactions your customer has with your brand,’ advises Angela.

2. Create a customer journey map

A particularly helpful visual tool that can be used in your planning is a customer journey map.

‘A customer journey map is basically a visual representation of the process that the customer goes through to achieve a goal with your company,’ explains Katie. ‘So, for example, if they are looking to buy a product, that might be the goal; then the journey that they take up to that point – and beyond, for that matter – is something you can plot out in a customer journey map.’

Breaking down the customer journey helps to identify and clarify their needs. It also illuminates where along the way customers experience the most motivation, and where there might be some pain points that can be improved.

3. Get your employees on board

It’s vital to communicate your vision for a great customer experience to your employees, and to highlight their role in providing that experience. As well as keeping everyone on the same page, this makes for a motivated team with a unified purpose.

‘If your employees understand how important their role is, and they feel really valued by your business, they’re going to be so much more willing to help you create that experience for your customers,’ says Angela.

4. Be authentic

The M+M team’s final tip is a simple one: be authentic and human in your approach to the customer experience. Everything from back-of-house operations to marketing and sales should reflect the authenticity and integrity of your team and business.

‘You should have a really clear brand strategy that outlines what your brand personality is, and make sure that you inject that into your engagement with customers throughout that customer journey,’ Katie advises.

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Members of Dashwork Makespace, Method+Marketing is a Newcastle-based agency focused on driving business growth and ROI through customer-centric digital marketing. Co-founded by Angela Henderson and Katie Cowling in 2016, Method+Marketing offers a range of services, strategies and workshops to help create meaningful marketing that customers love.

If you’re looking for a space to work on your new customer experience plan, why not give Dashworks a try? Book your free trial here and get your First Month Free! (Offer valid until 15 August 2019. Applies to Annual Memberships only. Use promo code 1FREE).

Moonlighting: holding a second job, especially at night.

Young medical professionals, in particular, are no strangers to moonlighting. Joshua S. Coren in his article advising young doctors, ‘IS MOONLIGHTING RIGHT FOR YOU?‘ explains the circumstances that led him to moonlighting: ‘When I was a second-year family medicine resident and my wife was a first-year pediatric resident, we struggled with the simplest of financial relationships: income vs. expenses. The income we generated was no match for the expenses of two children, a mortgage payment, day care tuition, basic living costs and student loans. Cutting back on any of these fixed expenses was nearly impossible, so we knew we had to increase our revenue. But how?’

The answer for him, of course, was plying his valuable trade outside of normal employment hours and generating a second income. 

Moonlighting, however, is not just for young doctors. Anybody in a tight financial situation will have considered it. Those saving for a house might have, too. The purpose of this article though, is to help people who want to build their own business at the same time as maintaining significant employment. Without further adieu, here’s how to moonlight your way to self-employment. 

1) Ask yourself: Why do I want to do this?

Is it that you’re just bored with your 9-to-5? Do you hate answering to somebody else? Are you a risk-taker who’s more excited about giving up sleep and weekends for a few years in exchange for a shot at financial success beyond that of normal employment?

Everybody’s answer will be different. Your circumstances will determine your answer most of the time, and your personality plays a big part too. If you have a morgage and kids, a secure, full-time job combined with flexible hours and 4 weeks’ annual leave probably sounds more valuable to you than moonlighting with no guarantee of a payoff.

A helpful way to analyse whether or not you should begin your business by moonlighting is to think of it in basic investment terms: Risk vs Reward. The risk is, your health may be affected (loss of sleep, extra stress, less time for exercise), your family time may suffer, you might miss out on holidays etc. The potential reward is financial gain, independence, legacy, etc. Knowing which of these things are most important to you will help you accurately assess whether moonlighting your way into self-employment is worth it for you. 

2) Identify any conflicts or contractual obligations

This one can stop you dead in the water either from the outset or, catastrophically, once you’ve begun trading. 

Step One: Read your employment contract, if you have one. Most employment contracts will have terms surrounding alternate employment, providing paid services in the same industry, etc. You may lose your job or be legally engaged if you breach your contract. Depending on the terms, there may even be a ‘cooling off’ period that prevents you from operating your own business in the same industry for a number of years after termination of your employment. It pays to be vigilant!

Step Two: Identify any potential conflicts of interest. For example, if you’re employed full-time in the Office of Gambling and Liquor, and you want to start a microbrewery, you might need to re-assess one job or the other. Conflicts of interest are taken very seriously by ASIC and other regulatory bodies should an issue present itself.

Step Three: If in doubt, seek legal advice.  

3) Get familiar with helpful systems

If this is the first time you’ve moonlighted (or worked for yourself), you’re going to need strong systems to make sure you’re not straying from the path. Some basic systems that may be helpful are:

• Trello – basic project management software. (Free)
• Tracking Time – Chrome extension for tracking your hours. (Free)
• Xero – simple accounting software. ($25/mo)
• Hubspot – simple sales/marketing/CRM platform. (Free)

There’s a million other great platforms and systems that you can use to systematise your workflow and boost your productivity. 

Implementing a robust system that encompasses most aspects of your workflow is a great way to make sure you’re not wasting your limited moonlit hours.  

4) Optimise your working environment

Make sure you have everything you need in order to be productive from Day 1.

Everyone knows the basics (Computer, desk, phone, stationery), but here are a few things you might not realise you need prior to starting up a business by moonlight:

1. A comfortable chair. The dining room chair might suffice, but you’re going to be spending long hours plugging away behind a screen and unbroken concentration is the aim of the game. A rule I live by is: ‘Don’t skimp on anything that connects you to the ground’ – that includes shoes, mattresses, tyres, and office chairs.
2. Natural Light. There are many reasons why natural light is so valuable in human physiology and psychology (see this article for more info). In fact, it’s so valuable that you should base your decision on which room in the house to work from based on the amount of available natural light. You’ll sleep better, you’ll be more productive, and you’ll be happier for it.
3. A suitable playlist and good headphones to block out distractions. This is obviously very subjective, but these three genres are tried and tested productivity-boosters: natural environments (think: rainforests), video game music (like this), and classical. 
4. Healthy snacks nearby. I know it, and you know it: you’re not hungry, you’re just procrastinating. If you’re really hungry, that bag of almonds you keep on your desk will do. You don’t need to get up and go to the fridge again. 

If you find other tips that work for you, please share in the comments below!

 

5) Identify what kills your focus, and remove it from the equation

This one is pretty basic. 

As you progress with moonlighting, take notice of the things you spend your time on that aren’t work-related. If you find yourself constantly browsing your favourite procrastination destination (e.g. Facebook or Reddit), block it. Google Chrome has a great extension called Block Site that will deter you from visiting and wasting time. 

Other time-wasters might be more difficult to remove. Ask your spouse to hide the TV remote or pool cue. Sell the PlayStation. Whatever you have to do. There’ll be plenty of leisure time once you’ve moonlit your way to comfortable self-employment.   

6) Watch for burnout

Everybody has a different workload threshold. If you notice these symptoms, take a break. If you’re experiencing these in the short-term, you may not have a long-term in this business.

• Chronic fatigue/lack of energy/tiredness
• Insomnia
• Extreme emotions (e.g. anger, cynicism)
• Anxiety or Depression
• Forgetfulness
• Loss of Appetite
• Detachment/Loss of enjoyment 
• Loss of productivity

Taking a break is not a weakness. It’s a sign of self-awareness, and your business will be better for it.

 

At some point in your business (often sooner rather than later), you will need to hire the first person for your new team.

While this is super exciting, it is also something that many people approach with fear and trepidation.

Usually when you start your own business, you don’t plan to have to recruit and manage a team. It can bite you on the butt and take you by surprise ! Here are some super useful tips that you can utilise to make the process easier. 

• – From when you start your business, begin to plan what kind of role you want someone to step into.
• – Be uber clear about your own ‘sweet spot’.
• – Hire someone who is all those things you are not!
• – Culture, Culture, Culture. What are the things that are most important to you? Look for them in prospective employees.
• – Remember people come in all shapes and sizes and skillsets, with all sorts of needs: casual, parttime, fulltime, independent contractor. The list is endless, get some advice on this if you need it.
• – At least attempt a Position Description, doesn’t have to be bells and whistles but something that guides the process.
• – Hire slow, fire fast. Take your time to get the right person then you’ll never need to get the second person.
• – Start informal conversations with people you think would fit in your business early.
• – Trust your gut, hire just before you think you need to.
• – Know your people well and work out what motivates them, if ownership is on the table have the conversation early.
• – Make sure you understand your rights and responsibilities as an employer. THISis a great resource for Australian-based employers.
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If all else fails, ask for help, there are people that do this stuff for a living and can support you and make the process easy!

Good luck creating the most awesome team imaginable.