What is customer experience management?

Customer experience management (CXM or CEM) is a system of marketing strategies and technologies focused on customer engagement, satisfaction, experience, loyalty, and advocacy.

At its core, CXM focuses on putting customers at the center of everything, with every business decision laddering up to optimizing the customer experience. Using this mindset, a CXM system is designed to personalize each customer experience at scale and in real time.

Why does customer experience management matter?

A good customer experience has become a key differentiator for customers who are increasingly discerning when it comes to brands, their offerings, and how they engage with customers.

Specifically, CXM helps brands:

• Develop a better understanding of their target audience through qualitative insights that combine data gathered across the customer lifecycle.
• Drive loyalty and retention through personalized experiences and seamless customer journeys that meet specific needs.
• Encourage engaged customers to become brand advocates.
• Increase profitability through a deep focus on customer engagement,
• Establish a competitive advantage and higher brand reputation within the industry.
• Better measure the success of marketing and sales initiatives by collecting larger volumes of data.

What are the building blocks of successful customer experience management?

While customer experience management requires a wealth of tools and processes to get right, there are three key building blocks that can make it successful.

1. Robust customer segments. Teams can be better equipped to deliver relevant experiences when they have complete customer persona profiles that include deep insights on how a customer behaves at each customer touchpoint.
2. Personalized customer experiences driven by data. Personalized experiences have become a core expectation for most customers, so brands need to use their data effectively to deliver these experiences. Remember: it’s not just understanding the customer that’s important, but also understanding the context in which they operate.
3. Surface the right message at the right time (and through the right channel). Depending on where they are in the customer journey, customers might expect to be engaged on a specific channel or in a specific way. Brands that understand these nuances as they plan their messaging are the ones that stand out in consumers’ minds.

What is customer experience management software?

Customer experience software is technology that helps businesses manage and measure their organization’s interactions with current and potential customers. These tools can cover a wide range of functionalities, including:

• Aggregating all sources of customer contact
• Classifying customer interactions
• Gathering data from each customer exchange
• Centralizing data around specific customers
• Visualizing data
• Democratizing access to data and insights across the organization
• Leveraging cutting edge machine learning
• Prioritizing data security and ensuring compliance with industry standards

Customer experience management is increasingly enhanced by data and the marketing technology available to brands. As it continues to evolve, there’s ongoing opportunities for brands to optimize the experiences they deliver to their customers. In other words, the more they know about their customer, the better they can surface offers that meet the customer’s needs.