Throughout the history of the world, humans have created and envisioned many things that don’t exist in the ‘real world’. Often, many people come to actually believe in these inventions of human fantasy to some degree. This usually happens through a combination of misunderstanding, bad information, simple ignorance or even plain old imagination. Take the unicorn for example, a creature (usually a horse) with a single horn on its head. The horn is said to have magical, healing, or medicinal properties. The ever-magical unicorn lives deep in enchanted forest and feeds on only the best meadow grass, oats, absorbed sunshine or rainbows.
Creatures like the unicorn may be fun and interesting to think about, but they still have no basis in reality. Yet people still believe in them. Likewise, there are mythical creatures that exist in the world of Customer Experience (CX). However, these are not the kind that are fun and interesting to believe in. In fact, believing in them can be harmful pitfalls to your organization’s CX Programs. Some of them are things professionals believe exist are out there, somewhere; while others seem to sneak into our organizations and quickly spread. In either case, believing in these CX mythical creatures diminishes the REAL value of your organization’s CX programs.
Avoiding the mythical creatures when implementing a CX approach isn’t always easy. In fact, it rarely is a straightforward task. Sure, you may be aware of the many components that are required to move the program forward, but putting it all together is difficult to say the least. Falling prey to the belief that the magical unicorns of CX will guide your CX implementation is common.
Shining Light on CX Unicorn Myths
To help you avoid the CX Unicorn, here are three of the most common mythical beliefs and how to avoid them.
- Mythical CX Unicorn #1: The Perfect CX Program – most business leaders today are gifted with high levels of ‘vision’ or ‘strategy’, they wouldn’t be leaders if they didn’t have them. However, many of those leaders get blinded by their own vision and strategies and believe that their program is the best program. With the world moving and changing at light speed, often your CX program will have to change and shift quickly and easily to keep up with the direction and movement of the business world. The biggest challenge isn’t the creation of the strategy, it’s the execution that will set you apart in the CX world.
- Mythical CX Unicorn #2: Forgetting Employee Engagement – Customer experience is everyone’s job. It doesn’t matter if you are a call center agent or the regional president of the company, everyone plays a vital role in the CX of your company. There IS a direct correlation between positive employee attitudes and positive CX scores. So, if you’re not showing that you value your people and not involving them in the CX Program, then you are losing key input from many levels of your organization.
- Mythical CX Unicorn #3: No Clear CX Champion – Simply put, if everyone is in charge then no one is in charge! The common mistake is to think, “Everyone has a role, so everyone is in charge of our CX”. Without a clear CX leader to ensure correct implementation and socialization across the organization, your program will likely fail. The ability to orchestrate and influence CX across an organization requires executive-level CX leadership and buy in to drive it.
Move in the Right Direction
The perfect CX program takes time, effort and often failure along the way. However, it is possible to establish a program that moves your organization in the right direction. Stop looking for the mythical creatures of CX and start building a program of perfection, inclusion, and direction by placing your program in solid foundations of experience