From CX to CL

While individual transactions are becoming easier for customers, there is now a steep learning curve about product that are evolving rapidly and newer products are being introduced. So the learning curve is shifting from ‘how’ to ‘what’. Earlier, making a fixed deposit meant that you don’t have to think about it for a few years until maturity. Now, you have to engage with the saving/investment on a frequent basis - when to redeem, when to shift to another product, when to shift to another organization, when to shift to another asset class, and so on.

Once CX evolves and becomes nearly frictionless across a spectrum of players, then the focus will shift to the more important factor, ie, customer loyalty (CL)? So, are CX and CL related in some way?

A mechanically efficient CX is necessary but not sufficient for CL, because the former engages only the logical brain, whereas latter comes from the psychological brain. You may have an excellent experience with a product but still lose out to the competitor’s product that engages you in terms of family values or patriotism or mental well-being or physical fitness. As an example, I invite readers to see Ujjivan Small Finance Bank’s video ‘Shagun ka Lifafa’ which won the Gold at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. It shows how impactful emotions can be. Emotions are also the subject of our upcoming webinar.

Loyalty is linked to multiple emotional drivers such as friendship, love, respect, safety, success, achievements, etc. It is time to weave them into CX to achieve CL.

One another angle worth examining is distinguishing between frequent transactions and one-off transactions. In the latter, the customer needs to put much more effort and attention as compared to frequent transactions where memory muscle is a big aid. A poor experience in a one-off transaction may leave a poor impression on the customer, particularly if the one-off transaction is in the early part of the engagement. So, it might be better to have an assisted transaction mechanism for one-off transactions.