Keeping up with evolving expectations: elevating the client experience

Consumer expectations for exceptional customer experiences are evolving dramatically every day. In the employee benefits arena, delivering on those expectations can help providers and brokers distinguish themselves with employers and their employees. Pinpointing the best places to accentuate their experience within a benefit program is key.

Customer experience defined – and reimagined

Rooted in decades of evolving marketing techniques, continuous improvement initiatives and consumer research, the concept of customer experience (CX) – your customers’ ongoing interactions and overall perception of your business or brand – is nothing new. Yet it continues to be redefined as consumers grow more digital, increasingly mobile and ever-demanding in ensuring their diverse needs are met.

Regardless of the industry, providing excellent CX is now a must-have for long-term success, as more organizations are declaring their commitment to CX by hiring leaders to drive it. And 81% of businesses indicate they compete primarily on customer experience. Plus, 67% of leaders believe their business will no longer be competitive without embracing digital transformation. The question becomes, how to stay ahead of the expectations of employers and their workforce?

Providing exceptional experiences starts with a common understanding of what we mean by ‘CX.’ Many people equate CX with providing great customer service as the overall goal. While I agree wholeheartedly with the importance and critical nature of customer service, that is a singular, direct interaction a customer has with you. More broadly, CX speaks to having a vison of the customer’s complete journey – all of those singular interactions woven together. It’s about how we’re engaging with customers, so their entire experience flows smoothly.

Second, it’s essential to know where you most need to do well. There are critical junctures in the journey where you can stand out – or conversely, drop the ball. The customer could be provided with 20 different touchpoints, but if they’re disjointed, if one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing, one less-than-fulfilling interaction could color their whole perception regarding your service or products.

Related: How a consumer-first approach will change benefits

Take, for example, the “point of impact,” that moment where employees have logged into their enrollment portal and are making crucial benefit decisions for themselves and their families. A lot of factors can go into their decision, from the information available, to the costs involved and the perceived value for the benefit they’ll receive, to distractions and outside pressures that employers may not take into account. Be cognizant of not just the potential technical glitches, but the unforeseen emotions that define that interaction.

Journey mapping, the collaborative process where you visualize each customer interaction and data point, is imperative in helping you pinpoint those key interactions. It takes time and effort up front, but you can save yourself a lot of miscues and lost opportunities to engage the employee by mapping out their entire journey, from before they enroll to how they work with your product. The journey doesn’t end, even after they’ve left the company, when there may be an opportunity to continue coverage on their own.

The importance of a customer-first approach

Leading with a product-centric versus a customer-centric approach is simply not as effective with today’s consumers. Instead, as best-selling author, entrepreneur and speaker Seth Godin puts it, “Don’t find customers for your products; find products for your customers.”

Keep in mind that some company or service out there is setting a new CX bar literally every day. With customer experiences constantly changing and evolving, people’s expectations follow. And their expectations have never been higher. For example, 1 in 3 U.S. consumers (32%) say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. And 54% of consumers say customer experience at most companies needs improvement.

In our own business, we’ve sharpened our focus on a “customer-first” approach designed to create exceptional experiences for members and clients. For example, we’ve evolved our legal insurance coverage to include more diverse and inclusive benefits to better meet employees where they are in life, whether it’s a veteran who is battling PTSD or a same-sex couple trying to adopt. We’ve also updated our member and eligible-facing websites to meet ADA AA accessibility standards and be more easily accessible. For our network attorneys, we’ve worked hard to ensure prompt payment for their services. Addressing the needs of these different audiences can be a challenge, but it’s also rewarding because it’s meeting – and ideally exceeding – their expectations.

The long-term impact of the pandemic on CX

Let’s face it, the way Americans do business now does not look like it did in March 2020. The collective and lingering economic, logistical and social impact of the pandemic has greatly reshaped our consumer spending habits, from doctor visits and working virtually, to online orders and curbside pickup. It’s prompted (and in some cases, necessitated) people to search for more convenient and virtual avenues to receive goods and services. In fact, 75% of U.S consumers have tried a new store, brand or way of shopping during the pandemic.

As a result, it’s fair to say the dynamics of CX have been greatly altered, most likely irreversibly, which makes your job in reaching employees and providing excellent experiences  even more elusive. Has your company recognized these new rules of consumer engagement; and more importantly, what steps need to be taken to meet these new-look demands?

Also: Delivering legendary customer service – with Dave Romeo

Attorneys in our nationwide network were already doing a lot of work with clients via email and phone calls, but they still had to change the way they interacted with clients, as the need for virtual meetings was heightened and becoming the norm. Thankfully, they have risen to the challenge and we’ve seen member satisfaction remain high.

4 steps to elevate CX for employees

As you evaluate where you are in your CX efforts, here are some steps you can take to make sure you are not just meeting client and employee expectations, but exceeding them:

1. Ask, don’t assume. While it’s important to empathize with your customers, it’s not enough. You have to ask them what matters, what they’re going though. The whole nature of our team’s work is to constantly gather insights and data from our brokers, clients, attorneys and members, because we are trying to monitor their expectations, and anticipate the types of experiences they’re looking for. That involves regularly conducting consumer panels, surveying members’ satisfaction, holding focus groups and creating new opportunities to interact with customers.
2. Keep customers informed, but time it right. Help clients strategically communicate the advantages of their benefits with the right message, in the right medium, at the right times in the customer journey. This means testing messages and delivery methods, then providing employees with the information they need – when they need it – to make informed, confident decisions.
3. Simplify the customer journey. As part of your journey mapping process, identify potential pain points where customers may get frustrated, lost in the process, or simply give up. It’s a great chance to eliminate unintended redundancies, inefficiencies, or confusion. This can be at the point of enrollment, but could also be when they are seeking help, need to utilize their benefit, or even when they leave the company and need to understand their options. One of the pivotal CX points that ARAG identified in the customer journey is when members are searching for and selecting a network attorney to work with. We know it can be intimidating and sometimes overwhelming for members to initiate contact with an attorney. So, we’ve worked hard to make it as seamless and painless as possible by offering them information (like attorney ratings and reviews) and empowered choices at that step.
4. Measure results. It’s absolutely critical to continuously monitor feedback from all your audiences (e.g., clients, employees, etc.) to look for trends and stay on top of concerns. Plan to allocate a portion of your budget to gauge the impact of your CX programs. In addition to quantifying value, it’s also a great way to identify emerging customer needs and an opportunity to provide innovative solutions.

CX is a constantly moving target; a never-ending endeavor that takes work, focus and commitment to pinpoint. But it’s also an opportunity to provide distinct value to your clients. And in today’s world, can you afford not to know what’s on your customers’ minds?

Jennifer Beck is the Director of Customer Experience and Insights for ARAG. She is responsible for the overall experience of ARAG’s members through the research, analysis and evaluation of current processes and future trends of both consumer expectations and industry innovations.