The optimal customer journey breaks through the walls of corporate silos

Online vs. offline experience

You are one of these shopping insureds and have enthusiastically started working online. So far so good. Until you can't find something and you pick up the phone to call the insurer's contact center. First of all, it takes a very long time before you get someone on the phone. After all, half the Netherlands is sitting behind its laptop trying to figure out a new insurance policy and comes to the conclusion that they now need the help desk. The wait is in stark contrast to the quick calculation of your new premium you just did online. After a long wait, you finally get someone on the line. Quite irritated, because after all it is busy, she explains herself. This too is a strange experience, since on the contact page of the website you have just seen a picture of a friendly smiling lady who, according to the same page, is on the phone. Another expectation that doesn't match. You explain to this lady that you would like to understand which hospitals you can go to for a certain treatment. You couldn't quickly find this on the website. She doesn't know immediately and has to put you back on hold. After seven minutes she comes back on the line without a concrete answer. She asks if she can call you back, but doesn't think this is until tomorrow afternoon. All at once, you are taken out of your flow and decide to postpone the switch. She calls back the next day with a clear answer, but at that moment you are busy with other things and don't have time to look into it. A missed opportunity!

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Feedback, improvement and one total customer journey

It's just an example, but take it from me that similar situations occur regularly, even in your industry. There are a number of moments in the above example where you as an organization can optimize services with targeted feedback;

• It is important to know if your online information is complete and clear. You can find out by using a feedback option to ask this directly on the website itself.
• Another option is to use the contact center to capture what customers' questions are about. This provides very valuable input on where things are not going well at the beginning of the customer journey or where information is missing. In this case, information about the treating hospitals.

In addition, it is crucial to deliver a consistent and well-matched experience in cross-channel customer journeys. In this example, the online marketers had set up a good campaign, but at the same time lacked visibility into the need (hospital reimbursement information) and possible touch points (a customer starting online may just end up in the contact center). It is therefore essential to consider the lines of communication between the various departments. Above all, don't think in silos, but strive for one consistent customer journey. Even if at worst you are organized that way. Get a customer journey director, let him or her break down those silo walls and pave the way for all those new and happy customers!