By Mark Slatin
Lost in the Wilderness
Picture this: you decide to take a spontaneous vacation, throwing caution to the wind and setting out without a plan. At first you feel the thrill of leaving all the structure of your life behind. But that excitement quickly turns into confusion as you find yourself lost in unfamiliar territory.
If you only had a signal you could get back on track using GPS.
Similarly, without a strategic plan in place, CX leaders risk losing sight of their organizational goals, leading to a disjointed and frustrating change process. Just as a traveler might feel disoriented in an unknown city, key stakeholders who you hope to build a guiding coalition with will become disillusioned and lose confidence in you and your recommendations.
Check out Mark’s podcast, The Delighted Customers Podcast, available on The Agile Brand network.
Charting a Seamless CX Journey
But with a clear plan, a CX roadmap, CX leaders can identify gaps based on proven frameworks. Crafting a comprehensive CX roadmap allows businesses to anticipate pain points and proactively address them. It is the equivalent of planning your vacation with meticulous detail, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable experience.
How to build a roadmap that ensures successful CX transformation?
A 5 Step CX roadmap:
- Assess the Current State – Take an experience maturity assessment to benchmark where you are today.
- Craft your CX Mission and Principles – Work with an internal team to create a statement that provides clarity about how your organization will treat customers. Then include principles that serve as guidelines for employees on how to serve your customers.
- Identify the Gaps – Make a list of the gaps between your current state and the desired future state of customer experience at your organization.
- Prioritize Projects – Since you can’t ‘boil the ocean,’ use a prioritization framework to decide which projects get attention first.
- Build Your CX Roadmap – From steps 1-4, build your CX roadmap (typically a 2-3 year plan).
Just as a well-planned vacation leads to relaxation and enjoyment, a carefully crafted CX roadmap leads to acceptance of your recommendations, progress on CX related projects, and a seat at the table when it comes to decision-making.
A CX roadmap based on proven frameworks will create a win-win situation for both your organization and your customers. It will demonstrate to the C-Suite that you are doing strategic work that brings value to the organization – value that aligns with their goals.
In conclusion, the importance of a CX roadmap cannot be overstated. Much like planning a vacation, crafting a CX roadmap ensures that businesses navigate the customer journey with purpose, anticipating challenges, and delivering a seamless experience that leaves customers delighted and loyal.
If you’re interested in taking your CX leadership to go beyond CX fundamentals, see the special offer for The Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class which begins on June 5.
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Mark Slatin, CCXP is the CEO of EmpoweredCX, Top 25 CX Leaders Globally (CX Magazine), MSU Professor of Practice, Trusted Guide Roadmap™ Master Class creator, and Delighted Customers Podcast host (Top 20 Apple/Business Podcasts in US)
