What Is a Frictionless Customer Experience, and Why You Should Aim for It.

According to various psychologists, our brains have an innate bias toward negativity. This means that we remember negative experiences much more than positive ones. Experts in CX, or Customer Experience, are aware of this and work to overcome it in their day-to-day work, with the goal of achieving that moment of “zero” friction. In this post, I’ll explain exactly what a frictionless customer experience is, how to achieve it, and why you should strive for it. Interested? Let’s dive in.

I’m sure you’ve heard someone say—if you haven’t said it yourself—that the news only covers negative things, disasters, and problems. The main reason is that positive news stories are read 26% less often than stories covering negative topics.

And the same is true when it comes to customer relationships. In fact, customers are twice as likely to share reviews after a negative experience with your brand than after a positive one. Furthermore,67% of customer churn can be prevented by resolving a service issue during the customer’s first interaction. That means that if you can eliminate friction from the service experience, you’re more likely to keep that customer satisfied and loyal.

Given all of this, we surely have no doubt that this is the case, so let’s move on to the main topic: the frictionless customer experience. But what is it?

Friction is anything that prevents a consumer from completing the customer journey. These can range from minor obstacles, such as long wait times and shipping costs, to major issues, such as failed orders and escalated service inquiries.

Essentially, FCX ( Frictionless Customer Experience) is the alignment of the 4 Cs that describe the mindset of a company with a customer-centric approach. In other words, it means providing customers with the right content, through the right channel, in the right context.

In this approach, the customer ends up at the center of it all, with the four elements perfectly aligned with one another. Let’s take a look at each of them.

 

#1. CUSTOMER

It is the center of everything, and the foundation on which to build your business strategy. Ideally, you should view the customer as someone who has a problem or a need—one that we, as a company, are actively trying to solve.

A customer can be internal ( employees who work for the company) or external ( customers who pay the company). When defining the target customer, we must consider three dimensions:

• Customer demographics: location, age, gender…
• Information about behavior: what needs the dog has, what it does to meet those needs…
• Communication channels: What are the preferred channels for the company to use to communicate with him?

Choosing the right customer to target is essential for gaining an edge over the competition. A striking example of this was the Nintendo Wii. If you’re not familiar with it, let me tell you about it.

Back in 2006, the video game console market was dominated by Sony (PlayStation) and Microsoft (Xbox). Both companies were fiercely competing to deliver the best graphics and processing power. However, Nintendo at that time couldn’t afford to compete on technical specifications. So they put a lot of thought into how to innovate in other areas. After doing some research, they realized that both Sony and Microsoft were primarily targeting hardcore gamers.

With that in mind, Nintendo set out to design a new video game console for casual gamers, who aren’t as concerned with game graphics or processing power. In return, Nintendo would offer a new experience that would better entertain its target audience. As a result, when Nintendo launched the Wii, it became an instant hit that outsold the PlayStation and Xbox.

 

#2. CONTEXT

Once we’ve identified who our customer might be, the next step is to understand the context. For me, context refers to the entire environment the customer is experiencing at any given moment. It can be very dynamic and constantly changing. Is the customer working, eating, talking to someone, reading, playing, etc.?

Bill Buxton, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, introduced a very interesting concept called “Place-ona, ” which essentially describes how interaction is limited based on the customer’s location at any given moment.

For example: if a user is driving a car, their hands and eyes are occupied, so the only way to interact with the user would be through their mouth and ears, which would be the ideal scenario for a voice-based system (e.g., the radio).

However, if the user is in a library, their mouth would be covered, but their hands and eyes would be free. So, in this case, an interaction based on a visual interface would make more sense (e.g., digital signage).

Another factor that can significantly affect the context is the client’s activity. Depending on the activity, we must carefully design the experience to avoid misalignments. For example, if the user is in a stressful meeting, the last thing they want to do is interrupt their schedule. Or if the user is on vacation, sending newsletters to improve their work productivity wouldn’t be very effective.

Understanding the customer’s context is essential to providing a seamless experience.

 

#3. CONTENTS

In this case, “content” refers to anything—physical or digital—that the company can offer customers to address or resolve their problem or need, ranging from a software application to a consulting service.

Once we have identified the client and taken the context into account, we must begin working on appropriate content that meets the two criteria mentioned above.

But what is the right content? As human beings, our own biases greatly influence us when it comes to defining what’s best for customers. There’s a Stanford study in which a group of students was asked to draw the capital letter “E” on their foreheads. And here’s the result:

There are different ways to write “E.” It turns out that we can draw this E in one of two ways:

• An “E” focused on oneself, just as you’re seeing it.
• Another “E” from someone else’s perspective.

In this case, more than 90% of people draw an “E” that is centered on themselves.

That’s what happens most of the time when we’re designing the solution. Let’s take an app as an example. To provide the right content, we have to consider two dimensions:

• The front end: this is the content interface that users interact with. The key here is to adapt the interface so that it better matches the customer’s natural behavior. An excellent example of the right approach is how Snapchat designed its video-sharing feature. Previously, most videos you watched on a mobile device were always in landscape mode. However, Snapchat realized that the natural way for people to hold their phones is vertically, so they designed their entire user experience around vertical videos—a move that proved to be a huge success, helping the company grow to millions of users. Now, many camera-related apps have followed this new design paradigm.
• The backend: This represents the content information we need to deliver to users. The key here is to provide information that is as personalized as possible. Here’s an example of automated personalization in what’s called a conversational website (example of a conversational website). But you can apply this example to other areas, such as email marketing, e-commerce…

If you design content based on the customer, the likelihood of friction is greatly reduced.

 

#4. CHANNEL

Once we know who our target audience is, what the context is, and what content we’re going to offer them, the last thing left to do is determine which channels we’ll use to reach them so we can interact with them.

To do this, it is essential to know which channels are preferred by the ideal customers we have identified, and if the situation is more complex, to determine the appropriate channels based on the different segments that make up those customers.

To select the right channels, it is also essential to consider the cost of each one, the company’s ability to deliver an excellent experience on that channel, and the degree of control the company has over it.

The idea is that the customer shouldn’t feel like the company is just reaching out to them, but rather that they are presented with a message tailored to their expectations—one that is personalized, delivered at the right time, and capable of sparking a dialogue with the company—which serves as the starting point for building a connection with it, thereby eliminating any potential friction.

Conclusion

To achieve a frictionless customer experience, it is necessary to have a clear definition of the 4 Cs, as well as to analyze each of the customer’s touchpoints with the brand, so that the entire company and its interactions with the customer are perfectly aligned toward a satisfying experience defined by the prior analysis of those 4 Cs.

In all of this, it is necessary to have a strategy for generating customer information —one that, through the use of the right technology, helps you manage that data and draw conclusions that allow you to define each of the points we have discussed.

At MioGroup, through two of its companies (MIO Consulting and artyco), we can help you get to know your customers better, identify their needs and behaviors, select the right channels, and use the right technology to help you achieve that frictionless customer experience. Want to talk?