Can you develop and even scale CX and UX without a dedicated team? Absolutely. Learn how small teams can use lean Customer Experience principles to incorporate CX into their daily work.
Small businesses (under 500 employees) account for more than 99% of the American workforce. And of these small businesses, only 3.3% have more than 50 employees. In other words, 96% of US businesses are lean by default. They may not have the luxury of dedicated CX or UX personnel, let alone departments. But they also can’t afford to let their customer experience drop.
This is where lean customer experience (i.e. lean CX) and distributed CX come into play. Here are three things you need to know about these game-changing CX models.
What Lean CX and Distributed CX Are
Lean CX refers to using Agile and Lean management principles in implementing and improving CX. This aims to reduce waste and costs and streamline CX work—which makes it more accessible to smaller businesses and smaller budgets. It’s also about creating CX efficiency so businesses can quickly make confident, evidence-based decisions without a lot of time or expense.
Distributed CX is sharing CX functions across several teams, or perhaps the entire company. So instead of having a dedicated CX team, you might have one team (such as marketing, sales, or customer service) lead CX and train other teams in CX principles. Essentially, the entire company becomes responsible for customer experience. Certain teams or people can head up specific areas, but CX is inherent across the entire company.
Want to see how distributed and lean Customer Experience strategies work in real life? Read our case study Developing A Company-Wide CX Mindset – Without a CX Team.
The Benefits of Lean Customer Experience Strategy
Whether they are combined or separated, lean and distributed CX offers several advantages. The most important is that it allows the benefits of CX regardless of company size by:
- Adding value for customers. Implementing CX across the entire company means customers get a better experience regardless of the department they’re dealing with.
- Adding value for employees. CX principles don’t just apply to external customers, i.e. buyers and shoppers. They also apply to employees and partners. Adopting CX gives a new layer of interest and meaning to employees’ work. It can make their own processes easier and less time-consuming.
- Reducing spend by removing friction. Understanding how people work and shop means you can remove bottlenecks, duplications, and waste in your company’s processes. This saves time and money.
- Increasing competitiveness and customer satisfaction. Many companies don’t compete on products or offerings; they compete on service. CX principles help you meet customer needs, which leads to a stronger relationship and higher customer satisfaction.
- Enhancing clarity by breaking down silos. Because all business areas have a shared understanding of CX and shared goals, they also have more opportunities to communicate and collaborate. This universal baseline sets the stage for improved information availability, which leads to better customer understanding and a more detailed view of your business reality.
How to Implement CX (Without a CX Team)
If you’d like to bring lean Customer Experience and/or distributed CX to your company, you can start today by:
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Understanding your organizational structure. An overview of the functions, reports, and responsibilities of each department will help you understand how information flows and processes work.
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Learning about CX. Our article series CX 101 explains what CX is and what it does. (It’s not just about customer service or the buying experience!) Our free downloadable whitepaper Are You Struggling with CX Growth? can help you understand where your current CX efforts are and what the pathway to improvement looks like.
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Examining your customer journey. It’s often more complicated than you think! Our article on the Customer Journey Map: What It Is and How to Make One walks you through each step of customer journey mapping.
Now that you’ve laid the groundwork for CX growth, here’s what to do next:
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Set goals. It’s usually best to start with SMART goals and small wins. Once you’ve identified areas of change, our free Using a Now-Next-Later Framework to Prioritize CX Goals template will help you determine which goals to tackle first.
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Build support for CX. Most of your colleagues won’t automatically recognize the value and importance of CX. Our articles Defining What CX Means in Your Company, 9 Tips for Driving CX Support with Executives and Employees, and To Gain Buy-In for CX, Use ‘Why’ explain how to get traction for proposed changes.
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Choose a CX leader. This person (or team) will be responsible for creating a CX plan and spearheading its adoption and implementation, so choose wisely. Our series on the Secrets of Successful Cross-Functional Teams can help you navigate this process.
Let’s be real for a moment. While you certainly can implement lean CX and distributed CX on your own, it’s a big job—especially if you’re also working in your regular role. Partnering with an experienced CX consultant or team can save you a lot of time and frustration in setting up your cross-departmental CX. But regardless of whether you do this in-house or outsource it, here’s what will happen next:
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The lead is trained in CX principles and best practices. As part of this process, CX standards and repeatable processes are developed; these are designed to be applied throughout the company.
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The lead trains others (or other departments) in CX.
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Monitor, measure results, adjust, and repeat.
Does the distributed CX model take time to set up? Yes. So do all CX models, even the leanest of the Lean. But as your company incorporates more CX principles in its daily activities, the results will become more impactful.
An Expert’s Advice on Lean and Distributed CX
Lis Hubert, CX by Design’s co-founder, has helped many companies implement CX. In an interview, she shared her experience with lean Customer Experience and distributed CX teams. Here’s an excerpt:
In a lean, distributed CX setting, how do you train teams or people to lead CX in an organization?
Lis: We start by training them how to use CX to make the work they have already been assigned more efficient and produce better results. From there, they embody CX methods, making them internalized. At this point they almost can’t help but lead CX in an organization because it has become a big part of how they work.
How can companies assist leads in training others in CX?
Lis: They can make meeting CX metrics a part of how they reward and promote leads. Meaning, if leads are being rewarded at a position level, they will continue to train others in using CX because there is a clear benefit to them.
How do you create CX standards and repeatable processes for companies without a dedicated CX team?
Lis: We don’t define standards and processes for a dedicated CX Team. Instead, we define these principles at a more general level and allow teams to determine how best to apply them at a tactical level to better meet their goals.
You can read the full interview here.
Lean Customer Experience Makes More Happen
Great customer experiences are the norm in business today. CX will help you get and maintain that experience, and you don’t have to have an entire department to get the benefits. You can choose the speed and efficiency of lean CX, the multitasking power of distributed CX, or a blend of the two. Whatever your choice, you don’t have to go through your CX journey alone. Contact the CX by Design team today for a free consultation. We’ll help you get on the path to better CX.
