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The 4 pillars of an impacting customer journey
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) :”What differentiates an average career path from a career that is truly impacting in your opinion?”
Frederic Canevet (ELOQUANT) : “Before looking for the route, wow, you already have to meet customer expectations. Until we aim for this minimum subsistence level, we will not succeed.”
According to our expert, an impacting customer journey is not only built on “wow” effects, but is first and foremost based on a solid foundation: meeting the fundamental expectations of customers.
What makes the difference between an average career and a significant one is the emotion aroused. Frédéric explains that the perception of the experience depends both on initial expectations and on the final feeling. : “If you didn't have a lot of expectations and finally it's great, you say wow, great! ” The emotional effect acts as an amplifier, capable of turning a simple interaction into a memorable moment.
To achieve this level of impact, he recommends activating four levers:
- The emotion: she acts as an amplifier of the experience: it multiplies the impact of even a simple interaction and anchors the memory in the customer's memory.
- Personalization: a personalized journey gives the customer the feeling of being recognized and understood and thus reinforces their commitment and satisfaction.
- The visibility of the effort: for a gesture or an attention to have value, the customer must realize it. Impact comes not only from the action, but from its perception.
- The good management of problems: effectively correcting the points of friction along the way is essential, this is how you build trust and prepare the ground for a lasting “wow” effect.
Working on these dimensions makes it possible to create a real emotional bond, and therefore a real differentiation.
How can I streamline the customer journey?
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad): “How to reconcile fluidity, efficiency and “memorable” at each stage, from awareness to loyalty?”
Frederic Canevet (ELOQUANT) : “Some companies are implementing actions to improve the customer experience. Except that sometimes they don't realize it. What's really important is that it's perceived.”
For the specialist, the challenge is to create a journey perceived by the customer as fluid and engaging, because”If the customer does not realize it, we will make efforts that are useless” , he explains. It is therefore not enough to add functionalities or tools: the customer must also feel their value at each stage of the customer journey.
He gives us the example of Bouygues Telecom, which replaced a poorly liked callbot with a video assistance system. This change made it possible to better solve technical problems while improving satisfaction: “They achieved 95% satisfaction, and reduced their sales cycle by 15 to 30%”. The key? A solution that is at the same time simple, useful and visible to the customer.
Personalization is also a fundamental pillar: being recognized, avoiding having to repeat your problem or benefiting from priority treatment according to your profile are elements that streamline the journey while strengthening attachment. “What customers love most of all is to be recognized”, recalls Frédéric. It is essential that the interlocutor can have an overview of the customer's history: this involves the intelligent integration of CRM with telephony, prioritization based on history, or premium services adapted to each type of customer. This personalization is really key to avoid increasing the pressure, ensuring excellent customer satisfaction and strengthening customer loyalty.
In short, fluidity, efficiency and memorability are built together, provided you always think of the experience from the customer's point of view, and ensure that each effort has a concrete, visible and personalized impact; you have to make the right choice, at the right time.
What role does artificial intelligence play in the customer experience?
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) : “And in your opinion, with AI coming in, how can it (the choice) be made and what is the intervention of the AI in these various choices?”
According to Frédéric Canevet, AI makes it possible to optimize the processing of simple interactions, but it does not replace humans: it frees up time to enrich the relationship where it is most valuable. “AI will help to take some of the calls with low added value”, he explains, especially standard requests such as knowing a balance, making a declaration or tracking a delivery. It distinguishes four types of calls: polluting calls, which go outside the scope of the company (to be redirected intelligently via bots), interactions with low added value, perfect for automation, requests with high emotional value, where the human remains essential, and finally, proactive calls or “wow”, which become possible thanks to the time freed up.
This is where the role of advisors comes into its own: “When you have them on the phone, the person must be really empathetic, able to listen actively, and not be robotic.” The challenge is no longer just technical competence, but soft skills: posture, phrasing, personalization of the relationship. Thanks to AI, the most advanced companies can thus reinvest this time to: conduct follow-up or thank you calls, anticipate needs as before a contract expires, for example, or even personalize the relationship with thoughtful calls such as wishing a birthday.
Building an omnichannel customer journey without complexity
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) :”So how do you think a brand can build a true omnichannel journey without leaving too much energy or budget?”
Frederic Canevet (ELOQUANT) : “It's really essential to have a unification in one place and to work on time.”
For Frédéric, an effective and realistic omnichannel journey starts with a simple rule: don't open more channels than you can manage properly. “There is nothing worse than trying to open channels on which we will not be able to respond in the expected time”, he warns. Each channel involves a specific wait: a few minutes for WhatsApp, less than a minute for chat, and a few hours for email. It is therefore essential to respect these deadlines, otherwise the customer experience will be degraded.
The second pillar is based on centralizing interactions in a unified console, to have a complete vision of the customer journey. This avoids duplicates, inconsistencies between channels and allows for a more fluid and consistent response. “You have to be able to say: I saw your message clearly”, whether on WhatsApp, by email or on social networks, and ensure continuity without dissonance.
Finally, our expert insists on the importance of setting realistic deadline goals, of monitoring them in real time (for example via dashboards or internal gamification), and above all of keeping our promises: “There's nothing worse than promising a customer you'll call them back and not doing it.” A broken promise hurts much more than an assumed deadline.
A good omnichannel journey does not depend on the number of channels, but on the ability to guarantee a rapid, coherent and well-managed response on those that you really control.
Common mistakes to avoid when designing the customer journey
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) : “Can you tell me more about the most underrated mistakes in designing or executing a customer journey?”
Frederic Canevet (ELOQUANT) : ” For me, there are a lot of mistakes. The first is wanting to automate too much because automation really damages customer relationships.”
The first most frequent mistake for our expert is that of wanting to automate the customer journey too much. Frédéric Canevet points out that too much automation can frustrate the customer when they cannot easily find a human interlocutor. He cites the example of Brandt who succeeds in managing 90 to 95% of requests with a chatbot, but insists on the importance of having a button that allows immediate human contact for more complex needs.
Another major mistake is the lack of consistency and synchronization between different channels and teams. He insists on the need to centralize information to avoid “dissonances between the answers” and non-compliance with deadlines, because “this aspect of promise is really essential in terms of customer relationships” according to him.
The specialist also highlights the importance of creating emotional moments in the journey, even simple ones, such as sending an apology letter or a personalized gesture after a problem. This shows that the company is “trying to do the maximum” and makes it possible to strengthen customer loyalty.
Finally, for Frédéric, it is also necessary to work on customer culture internally over the long term, and not only occasionally: “Customer excellence, customer experience, it's a marathon, it can't be done in a sprint”. He mentions practices such as regularly sharing customer experiences within teams and listening to employees on the front line, who are often in the best position to identify dysfunctions.
Anticipate and correct blind spots in the organization
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) : “You were talking about best practices and conversely, should you monitor blind spots in an individual or an internal team to always be able to ensure maximum customer satisfaction?”
Yes, for Frédéric, it is essential to monitor blind spots, whether in an individual or in a team, to ensure maximum customer satisfaction. He insists on the importance of meeting employees and creating a real link with them: “You really have to consider external teams as internal employees of the company, so train them, listen to them, give them the right equipment at their disposal.” This makes it possible to avoid employees staying in the “usual routine” without taking into account possible improvements.
Then, he also mentions the need to give autonomy to employees so that they can act quickly without being blocked by a too rigid procedure, which values both the employee and the customer: “If the employee says 'I can't do anything, that's the procedure', he will be stuck and the customer will not be satisfied. Giving a little leeway changes everything, it allows problems to be resolved more quickly.”
Moreover, this autonomy does not exclude regular control via quality audits or “re-listening”, in order to detect weak points quickly and train teams accordingly. Frédéric cites the example of Vinci Autoroute where post-call follow-up and semantic analysis helped to halve the dissatisfaction rate by identifying and correcting dysfunctions quickly.
What KPIs should you follow to assess the performance of the customer experience?
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) : “Can you give me more information on the KPI's? What would you recommend to monitor effectiveness, real effectiveness?”
Frederic Canevet (ELOQUANT) : “For me, there is a capital that is essential and that's what we have to remember, it's customer satisfaction.”
To measure real efficiency, the fundamental KPI remains customer satisfaction, because “In the end what matters is that the customer is satisfied”, even if classical indicators such as FCR or DMT are also important. Frédéric Canevet recalls that “this satisfaction is essential, even if the response rate to surveys is often around 15-20%”. The key is customer perception, not just the speed or volume of responses.
He also insists on the fact that customer experience should not be sacrificed in favor of quantitative management: “Sometimes you have to agree to spend more time on a call so that it can be handled immediately and the customer can be reassured”, rather than hanging up quickly. This work on perceived quality is really key to guaranteeing a good experience.
Finally, Frédéric underlines the importance of coaching adapted to manage the different profiles of agents, between those who are too technical and those who discuss for too long, in order to find a balance between efficiency and humanity in exchanges, and thus optimize overall customer satisfaction.
Adapting the customer journey to seasonality
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) : “You were also talking about seasonality, how do you adapt the customer journey with this seasonality, which is sometimes just one day away? Black Friday, Father's Day?”
Managing seasonality is a real challenge, explains Frédéric Canevet. He illustrates this with an example in the student insurance sector, where “in September, their peak in calls exploded completely in the space of two months.” In his opinion, several levers are essential to adapt. Starting with proactivity, for example, by sending an SMS a few days before school to anticipate the customer's needs, thus avoiding an unnecessary peak in calls. For Frédéric “this proactive aspect is really essential and it is what I recommend the most.” Automation via tools such as call bots or interactive voice servers is another lever that makes it possible to respond quickly to simple requests, reducing the pressure on human teams. Finally, outsourcing makes it possible to strengthen the workforce during seasonal peaks, with teams trained in advance and available quickly. On this subject, Frédéric explains that this strategy is “really very important because it makes it possible to use flows and process these requests in a human way”.
Finally, it is also essential to focus on the continuous improvement of processes to limit calls, even during periods of high activity, in order to ensure a smooth customer relationship despite peaks.
Future trends: what will the customer experience be like in 2 to 3 years?
Maxime Santilli (Sqwad) : “In your opinion, what will be the major trends that will define the customer experience in 2 to 3 years?”
Frederic Canevet (ELOQUANT) : “There is a trend that cannot be avoided, and that is, of course, artificial intelligence. And that, clearly, is revolutionizing all professions: customer service, marketing, sales, etc.”
Indeed, within two to three years, the customer experience will be profoundly transformed by the rise of artificial intelligence, which will play a central role for both customers and employees. “We are going to move towards more automation and more artificial intelligence tools that will make the advisor an augmented advisor”, explains Frédéric Canevet. This automation will not only make it possible to increase efficiency, but also to better personalize exchanges.
For our expert, in a tense economic context, companies will also seek to rationalize their costs, through outsourcing, digitalization or even teleworking, which makes it possible “to reduce costs related to premises while improving the comfort of teams”. But beyond optimizing the customer journey, it is in the field of emotion and differentiation that brands will have to focus on to strengthen customer loyalty.
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