Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1532358
10 OPINION maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 FEBRUARY 2025 A survey held at the HR GIG customer experience confer- ence, September 2024 acknowl- edged that Maltese businesses believed customer experience culture in Malta was seriously lacking. During the event, 129 com- pany participants were asked "The level of customer experi- ence in Malta is of high quality" and the average score was 1.8 on a five-point scale. Having worked extensively in customer experience (CEX) and now at the University of Malta with over 20 local well- known service-based business, I am not surprised and this is a gross understatement, almost a shocking indictment of reality today. Most businesses say that cus- tomers are their most impor- tant asset, yet few have a plan for increasing customer life- time value by focusing on how they create value. Therefore, if CEX is one of the most important marketing challenges that an organisation faces, why is it lacking in Mal- ta? • A failure to understand the concept and confusion by the term CEX with incomplete tools and approaches to design and manage its application • Failure to comprehend what matters to customers and what organisations do to meet those expectations, how to identify gaps between what is delivered and what customers want and how to construct ideal situa- tions. • Failing to identify how tech- nology has transformed the relationship between product brands and customer experi- ences, the degree to which the customer experience drives customer behaviour and subse- quently purchases. • Failure to fully understand that customer experience is a journey, not a single transac- tion, the single most important factor for business success. • While customer experi- ence can be defined as the sum of all interactions a custom- er has with an organisation, most operate with a narrower view."(Mckinsey). • Many define CEX as cus- tomer service or service excel- lence, (hospitality especially) without recognising that ser- vice is only one element of the entire experience. • Many believe designing and managing customer experi- ences is a marketing function, activities used to attract and retain customers, as if the cus- tomer is only associated with marketing and a retail store only with operations. So, what is CEX? Any interaction custom- ers have with a brand (touch points) during the customer purchasing journey ie a total customer journey. Their view of a brand can impact on a brand's bottom line over the course of the relationship life- cycle. Most businesses measure cus- tomers' satisfaction with each transaction involving different parts of the organisation. Per- fecting such touch points is a common way to maximise cus- tomer satisfaction. McKinsey identified this as insufficient; maximising satisfaction at those moments diverts atten- tion from the bigger and more important picture: the custom- er's end-to-end journey. i.e. the total journey. Its research showed that customers didn't much care about singular touch points. Today, it is an ex- perience which matters. Maya Angelou said: "Custom- er service is what a brand pro- vides, and customer experience is what the customer walks away with….People will forget what you said or did but will al- ways remember how you made them feel".- In today's competitive mar- ketplace, it takes more than low prices and great products for brands to thrive. CEX has become an important element for all businesses, and Custom- er Experience Management (CXM) provides the best strat- egy to ensure superior CEX. The Challenges- CEX pro- grammes succeed when the customer is at the heart of all your decisions. This requires: • Understanding what your customers value most in the relationship with you, requir- ing identifying those journeys which matter and in which they need to excel. • Getting closer to the con- sumer today, crucial not only for profitable growth but also to build brand strength and brand advocacy. • Customers feeling valued and will from walk away from an established brand relation- ship that no longer meets their needs. They no longer compare you to direct competition but increasingly compare you to anyone who delivers a great service experience. • Organisational restructure to design and implement ef- fective customer improvement initiatives or business value growth. • Brands gathering both ap- propriate and sufficient da- ta from which to measure the customer experience accurate- ly. Without these, it is almost impossible to solve issues in customer experience, largely because marketers can't "see" them. Well documented and exten- sive research (Mckinsey) in- dicates that CEX should be an organisation's top priority and a key management objective, as positive customer experiences are vital to an organization's success. Customer experience culture in Malta: The dismal reality Louis Naudi is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, University of Malta Louis Naudi