Customer Experience Frameworks: A Guide

Great customer service doesn’t happen by accident. To meet the needs and expectations of your customers, your business needs a plan. 

This is why it can be useful to develop a customer experience (CX) framework. This covers all bases, and puts a strategic model in place to deliver exceptional CX at every touchpoint. 

Read on to find out more about developing your own customer experience framework. 

What is a customer experience framework? 

In a nutshell, a customer experience framework is a set of tools, processes and policies designed to ensure a consistently high standard of customer service. 

But a good CX framework will do more than just focus on the key contact points with the customer, such as the call centre. It will span across other areas too, from sales and marketing to product design and communications.

A holistic approach can help you to map out the customer journey, ensuring every interaction is a positive one. 

What makes up a good customer experience framework?

Developing a robust customer experience framework starts with putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. You need to understand all the different ways your internal as well as external processes impact on the customer. Factor them into the decision making process, and you’ll be able to improve customer satisfaction across the board. 

It’s also important to bring other departments on board, including them in the conversation about customer experiences. 

Now, onto developing your CX framework. Let’s take a look at a few of the foundation stones of any solid strategy.

Technology

Any good customer experience framework needs to be supported by the right technology and digital tools. So it could be worth looking into investing in, improving or upgrading key areas. For example:

• Improving call handling technology (or outsourcing customer services to a specialist agency which uses the latest equipment)
• Upgrading your website so that it’s fast and optimised for mobile
• Maintaining a presence on the communication channels your customers prefer
• Managing all social media and communication channels well, which includes posting frequently, maintaining good brand visibility and getting high response rates. 

Customer service strategy

The backbone of your customer experience plan should be a strong, data-driven strategy. You need to know exactly what you want to achieve, and put specific measures in place to help you reach your goals.

As we’ve discussed above, it all starts with understanding your target customer better. Put their needs at the heart of all the key decisions you make. You also need to tie customer service goals in with wider business strategies, which could span multiple departments. This ensures you’re working together and pulling in the same direction. 

Strong leadership

With a strategy in place, you need someone to lead it. Business leaders should be committed to delivering exceptional customer experience across all activities. They should be champions and cheerleaders for your strategies, inspiring and training staff to help the business reach its goals. 

Staff training

Last but by no means least, you need to think about your staff. Your customer service teams are perhaps the most important part of your CX framework, as they have direct contact with customers. 

This makes it crucial to invest in regular, high quality training, so that you can be sure your company is delivering consistently excellent service. 

How can CallCare help? 

Creating and implementing a customer experience framework is no easy task. It certainly won’t happen overnight, and may require a whole suite of tools, training and resources to get your strategy off the ground. 

But the good news is that you don’t have to tackle it alone. Customer service specialists like CallCare are the ideal partners to help you roll out your CX framework. 

We have a range of services that can be tailored to the needs of your business, from call handling right through to 24/7 customer service outsourcing. Together, we can deliver a seamless customer experience across the board.

Posted by Gemma Harding

As Head of Client Services, Gemma is an expert in the customer service industry. With over 20 years of experience in the call handling process she will guide your organisation to an improved customer service strategy. Hobbies include all thing equestrian.

View other posts by Gemma Harding