{"id":300,"date":"2012-03-30T16:43:57","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T23:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.showcasemarketing.com\/ideablog\/?p=300"},"modified":"2023-02-02T16:26:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T00:26:22","slug":"benchmarking-customer-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.showcasemarketing.com\/ideablog\/benchmarking-customer-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"What is it Like to be Your own Customer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

H\u00e4agen-Dazs strawberry ice cream<\/a>. Ecco shoes<\/a>. The New York Times<\/a>. WordPress blogging software<\/a>. We all have our favorite companies, products and services. Products that deliver exceptional value, services that are reliably great, and companies that are easy to business with.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Haagen Dazs<\/p><\/div>\n

Now look in the mirror: is your business as consistently excellent as your favorites? If you’re not sure, then you probably have work to do. After only a brief glance in the mirror, I buckled down and got to work.<\/p>\n

Benchmarking Customer Experience<\/h2>\n

I started by taking stock of what I deliver, my uniqueness and the promise I offer. This was the easy part, because I get to define the playing field. Just as you can’t play tennis without lines and a net, you can’t benchmark your business without a measure of capabilities.<\/p>\n

The next step was also easy. I examined my “first impression” touch points: my email footer, my voicemail greeting and my home page. Did they match the benchmark I set for my business? I made a few small adjustments to be more consistent, clear and customer-aware.<\/p>\n

Finally I talked to customers, prospects and partners. I asked two direct questions:<\/p>\n