Customer Experience Innovation: How to Get a Lasting Market Edge

Companies who invest in successful Customer eXperience (CX) innovation stand out from the crowd. Markets tend to reward these companies because it is rare for firms to try something new, much less prove customer acceptance of their attempted innovations. Firms offering remarkable CX create loyal customers who happily pay more for their products and services, and then refer them to other customers for free.  This book outlines innovative processes used to research, conceive and develop innovations in the CX space for both large and small companies. The challenge is not so much finding out what customers like, as it is remaining apart from the crowd of rivals and copycats.   Written as a practical guide for managers with a background in line management, operations, marketing, finance or customer service, this book contains a simple framework with an extensive range of design thinking and creative problem solving tools. Starting with a validation for investing in improving your firm’s CX, the book also provides a primer on competitive advantage, the most critical objective of strategic planning. Mastering the book’s content creates the potential for any business manager or owner to find a hard-to-copy market advantage and drive their business’ growth.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introducing Sheep and PiratesChapter 2. Why Improving Your CX is Important Chapter 3. Understanding Competitive Advantage Chapter 4. How to Benchmark Your CX  Chapter 5. How to design incremental CX improvements  Chapter 6. How to evolve or transform your CX  Chapter 7. Bringing it all together

About the Author :
Dr Robert Dew started out as a physicist, but quickly realised professional scientists rarely ‘get the girl’. Several career reinventions evolved his career to consulting in innovation management and customer experience (CX). As the principal of Coriolis Innovation, he now has almost 20 years’ experience helping companies grow. He has consulted for many large Australian firms, while at the same time as a business angel he founded 48 start-ups and invested in 4 other private firms. As an academic his PhD relates to increasing creativity in organisations with strong corporate governance. He has lectured in Competitive Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Creative Problem Solving as a visiting professor at 8 universities across Europe, Asia and Australia. As a 10-year member for the International Society of Innovation Managers (ISPIM) he chaired their Advisory Board for two years and continues to front their conference rock band as lead singer. He believes ‘You can’t learn less. Insight driven innovation is the surest path to extraordinary profitability.’ Cyrus Allen brings extensive experience driving customer agendas in large organisations both within Australia and internationally. Prior to becoming a Managing Director for Stativity Australia, Cyrus held senior customer experience roles within the Telecommunications & Finance sectors. As Director Customer Experience at Telstra Corporation, he established the customer experience program and deployed their first brand experience facility (the Telstra Experience Centre), and drove the experience agenda as Head of Digital Customer Experience at ANZ Banking Group. He believes ‘A great promise well delivered is the cornerstone of a successful brand.’

Review :
Intended for managers or business owners looking to optimize their customer experience (CX) quotient, the guide begins with an introduction to CX, explaining why the customer experience is an intricate part of any business. Among other issues, the concept of branding is discussed, as well as the pros and cons of hype and the real value of customer satisfaction. The text then offers tips and advice as to how an owner may improve the CX of a business. Real life examples and models from businesses like the Ritz Carlton and Ikea are included. Of special note are the sections dealing with online business.