5 Biggest CX Barriers Unveiled

The inaugural Customer Experience Community of Practice kicked off on December 12, and uncovered top five CX challenges facing the public sector with guest speakers Barbara C. Morton, Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Veterans Experience Office, Department of Veterans Affairs and Kaitlyn Ahlers, Director of Customer Experience, Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Here are a few top takeaways from that session, and don’t forget, you can view the CX CoP recording at any time.

Good CX Takes a Team: Morton said that her customer base at the VA is made up of people with vastly different needs and experiences, so the department needs everyone to come together to turn the insights they gather from customers into tangible actions.

“It’s all about timing, communication and the right partnerships,” she said of deploying CX initiatives. “You can’t do it by yourself.”

“You do need a network of support,” agreed Ahlers, and added that in her line of work, there are other organizations that also support small businesses so the MEDC works with them to see who is better equipped to handle the needs of their customers.

You Need Customer Trust: Morton explained that they began setting a certain behavioral expectation within their organization to build trust with veterans, and before they started doing that, trust in the VA was at an all-time low at 55 percent.

“That wasn’t great, but over time, with the right tools and training, we have been able to move the needle to 79 percent,” she said. “Our vets have told us what they want and that’s what we’ve given them.”

Ahlers said you have to evaluate if your organization is trustworthy by gathering customer feedback and responding.

“If your customers trust you and are satisfied, they’re much more likely to use word of mouth to recommend you to others,” she said.

Put CX Into Practice: When asked for a piece of parting advice for attendees, Ahlers advised everyone to remember that you are not the customer and to not jump to conclusions about what they want.

“You need to start by really evaluating who your customer is and what they think success looks like to ensure you’re meeting their needs and goals,” she said.

Morton agreed and added a reminder that it doesn’t just take “one person or one office” to meet CX needs, as it’s a “multi-prong approach with many paths.”

For more valuable CX insight, check out the rest of the session now and be sure to register and join in next month on Jan. 22 for the next CX CoP session, “What CX Metrics Actually Matter and How to Measure Them.”