The Six Pillars

A decade of research has shown that every
outstanding customer relationship has a universal
set of qualities – they are The Six Pillars of
experience excellence.

The Six Pillars

Eleven years of research have shown that every outstanding customer relationship has a universal set of qualities – they are The Six Pillars of experience excellence. They are inextricably intertwined and, in combination, provide a powerful mechanism to help organizations understand how well their customer experience is delivered across channels, industries and company types. Leading organizations demonstrate mastery of these pillars and are outstanding at all of them. In our research this year, all the top ranked brands exceeded the market average on each of The Six Pillars. Indeed, the top-ranked brand in each market typically outperforms the respective market average score for each pillar by between 10 percent and 12 percent.

Integrity

Acting with integrity and engendering trust. Trust is an outcome of consistent organizational behavior that demonstrates trustworthiness.

Resolution

Turning a poor experience into a great one. Historically when it comes to resolution, organizations have majored on service recovery.

Expectations

Managing, meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Customers have needs and they also have expectations about how these needs will be met.

Time and Effort

Minimizing customer effort and creating frictionless processes. Customers are time poor and increasingly are looking for instant gratification.

Personalization

Using individualised attention to drive emotional connection. Demonstrating that you understand the customer’s specific needs and circumstances and will adapt the experience accordingly is now the expected norm.

Empathy

Achieving an understanding of the customer’s circumstances to drive deep rapport. It is time for all firms to show that they care, that the safety and wellbeing of their employees and customers is their prime concern.