Why experience decay is a business risk

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That image, introduced early in the recent ‘Behind Closed Doors’ event, set the tone for a lively panel discussion about a hot topic in the CX world: the tension between delivering a great customer experience and the imperative to make profits.

And it seems to be all around us, as one of the panel described: not just digital platforms, but many aspects of modern life “almost where everything you turn to feels a little bit worse than it used to be”.

Which leads us to the question for the day: is it acceptable, or even possible, for a company to aggressively monetise without worsening the customer experience?

Challenging the business

“Every product owner, UX designer, and head of customer experience needs to challenge the organisation to view things from the customer perspective as well as commercial. This is not just a design risk, it’s a business risk,” said Frank Gaine, director of consumer insights with Smartbox, co-organiser of the event and moderator of the panel.

1. be good to your customer
2. be good to advertisers/publishers
3. be good to shareholders alone.

The panel discussion featured Sónia Carranço, head of ecommerce at Three Ireland, Jan Richards, head of CX at Irish Life, and Brian Herron, principal designer at Each&Other. In the spirit of the Chatham House rules in place, we won’t attribute quotes to any of the panellists but we’ll try to capture the tone of the hour-long chat.

What to do about decay?

The first question was a two-parter: is this decay actually happening in companies, and does something need to be done about it? The three panellists’ answers were yes, sometimes, and no – but with a catch. One argument was to say degradation as such isn’t happening: “It’s just a way that things evolve and the customer reacts and adapts to what we’re putting in front of them and what we’re seeing from other competitors and other markets.”

At times it’s acceptable where a customer might be searching for an item on several apps, and if they see sponsors’ products without having to look too hard, that’s fair. “It’s our job to find that sweet spot between what customers are now expecting and deliver that to them, because sales and profit is an outcome of that design experience.”

Some degradation of customer experience can be OK; one trap to watch for is the effect on internal employees if resources are being cut, for example, in support functions.

And it might be helpful to look at this from a perspective that most companies don’t think in terms of wilfully degrading the experience: it’s just too far down their agenda.

Behavioural science tells us that delivering a great experience at the beginning and the end will often lead customers to remember the overall experience positively – even if they were dissatisfied with the middle part. So there’s a way to deliver a satisfying experience and meet profit goals. “If everybody is adult and mature and really thinks about it, there is a way to actually do both.”

Too much perspective

It’s also worth asking the question: does the customer see things through the same lens as a designer? If a customer finds an experience of using an app or service has become worse, they might feel they’re used to this because that’s what they’re getting everywhere else. Some brands have chosen to knowingly discard a part of the customer experience that no longer serves its purpose. “If I’m on the business side, I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing.”

CX professionals shouldn’t pontificate to senior management or the board that they’re “betraying the company values” by degrading the customer experience; instead, they need to talk in business language about risk, and the cost of customer acquisition or churn, as a result of decisions to change the customer experience.

They should also look at the issue from the perspective of the business needing to save money, or shareholders requiring a return. “Extracting value from your customer base is what you’re set up to do as an organisation.”

This is where clarity of strategy comes into play. Some brands are still pushing customers into channels that cost money to maintain, for a moment that doesn’t matter to the customer. Researching customers to discover those “moments that matter” is vital. “You can find the balance: let customers tell you what it needs to be.”

This can be where good experience meets business goals: when people are able to do simple tasks like change a password easily, that leads to a drop in calls or emails to contact centres. The panel urged the audience to look for areas which cause pain points for customers. Solving people’s problems quickly and efficiently can be both a quick win and deliver potentially large cost savings.

And in sales customer acquisition cycles, it’s about making decisions easy: is the upsell pitched in a way that makes sense for the customer? Is the business offering the right product at the right time? Can they make easy comparisons? Effective UX design can deliver this clarity and those “quick wins”.

Striking the right balance

A great way to find balance between experience and profit is in the perception of a fair trade. Discount supermarkets are known for long checkout queues, but although that’s arguably a poor experience, customers accept this because they’re getting very low prices in return. Contrast that with the experience of the likes of Spotify or YouTube where prices increase or the experience of using it gets worse – without the user’s consent. “If the deal is transparent and fair, and doesn’t change, that’s fine. It’s not wrong to commercially try and get value from users.”

Other opportunities to strike the right balance and achieve a fair value exchange come from analysing competitors. If they’re looking to squeeze their customers, maybe that’s an opening for others to stand out by delivering a better experience, and attract some of those dissatisfied customers away.

Based on the panel discussion, here are some strategies to find the right balance between business goals and customer needs:

• Use data and research to understand real customer moments and pressure points
• Communicate clearly about changes and provide resources to help customers adapt
• Focus on “brilliant basics”: make core interactions simple and easy
• Speak the language of business by connecting customer experience to metrics like cost of acquisition and churn prevention
• Design experiences that create value for both the customer and the business
• Be transparent about the value exchange: avoid hidden fees or sudden degradation of service
• Continuously monitor customer feedback and be willing to adjust strategies
• Look for opportunities to differentiate by providing a better experience than competitors
• The key is finding a balance where business goals are met without compromising the core value proposition and customer trust.