Experience-Based Differentiation

With more access to information, more sensitivity to price, and less sensitivity to advertising, customers are getting harder to win and keep. Organizations try to woo these empowered consumers with mediocre customer experiences — but it won't work. Firms need to dramatically raise the bar on the customer experience they provide. How? By adopting what Forrester calls Experience-Based Differentiation (EBD). This enterprisewide effort focuses on three principles: obsess about customer needs; reinforce brands with every interaction; and treat customer experience as a competence, not a function. To succeed with EBD, firms must commit to a multi-year journey. That's why firms need to make this one of their top corporate initiatives. We expect EBD to make fast inroads in financial services, healthcare, and travel industries.