You want your customers to have an exceptional experience working with your company. However, many companies fail to achieve success in this area for one critical reason.

A successful customer experience is not affected by just one individual or team, but by the ENTIRE organization. Therefore, when developing or restructuring your customer experience program, it is crucial to take the time to plan and use forethought to ensure every department is aware of any changes to their roles and responsibilities and aligned to work toward the new common goal.

If you are unsure of where to begin, Dave Angelow has some best practices for you to follow when implementing or expanding the customer experience capabilities of your organization. Here are the first 2 that he shares in his article for CMSWire​.com.

Define how the CX Program will impact key business outcomes

In order to define roles and the scope of work for the program, you need to first establish the business outcomes the program will impact. What processes need to change? What tools will be used? And don’t forget to do some research on the possible impacts of a successful program. For instance, one company determined a 1% increase in their customer retention had the potential to translate into a 300% ROI! Numbers like these will get the C‑suite on board with the program, and their support will help bring the program to fruition throughout the entire company.

So whether the goal of your program is customer retention, upgrading customers to more advanced services or increasing your Net Promoter Score, you need to define WHAT those goals are before you define HOW you will achieve them.

Design New Processes and Tools to Support New Capabilities

So you’ve nailed down your goals. Great! But now comes the hard work. Now it’s time to look holistically at your organization and identify what needs to be changed to realize these goals. From new IT tools to new Marketing communications to customer data sharing between Sales and Customer Service, setting up a cross-​functional team can help determine each department's role.

Additionally, be sure to make all changes with the customer first in mind, not ease of your own operations. For instance, if multiple departments will need the same information from a customer, set up a process so that the customer is only asked once for this information and a tool so that everyone who needs the information has access to it.

Setting your organization up for customer experience success is not a simple task. It requires planning, forethought, time, cross-​departmental cooperation and support from the C‑suite. But, starting with these best practices (see the rest in Angelow’s article here) will set you on the right course for a killer CX Program.