Intelligent CXO Issue 54 | Page 42

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

CUSTOMER LOYALTY STARTS BEFORE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: HERE’ S HOW TO GET IT RIGHT FROM DAY ONE

Customers expectations have grown and companies need to keep up with them. Customer behaviour also shifts quickly, making it an ever-changing landscape. Jamie Homen, Chief Customer Officer at Mural, explains how companies need to see the customer as the north star. The customer needs to be at the heart of their operations right at the start and not seen as a post-launch activity.

Today’ s customers expect a personalised, seamless experience at every single touchpoint. Some brands seem to have mastered this, effortlessly creating loyal advocates, while others are still struggling to connect the dots. One of the biggest culprits behind missing the mark is that many think of customer experience as a post-launch activity, which can result in disjointed customer journeys and products that don’ t resonate with the market.

The brands that are able to foster a loyal customer base do the exact opposite: they place their customers at the heart of their operations right at the start. Crafting the customer experience needs to start well before a single product hits the market and reach back all the way to the earliest stages of product development.
The idea sounds simple but can fall apart quickly when it comes up against competing priorities, mismatched expectations and internal friction. Teams within an organisation are frequently
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