The Value of Moments That Matter

Author: Brittany Thomas

Creating a customer experience that builds customer trust and loyalty is a shared goal of many organizations. However, it is easier said than done and many fall short of designing a customer journey that connects emotionally with customers. Think of the last company that you interacted with that made you so happy that you could not wait to share your experience with your family and friends. What did they do to connect with you emotionally and make you a loyal fan?

Successful customer-centric organizations prioritize the key interactions that have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction — the moments that matter. Moments that Matter (MTM), or sometimes referred to as Moments of Truth, are the interactions that could lead to losing a customer if handled poorly or an opportunity to delight and build a loyal fan.

Let’s look at an example of an MTM. A boutique dental company heard customers’ frustrations about confusing and unclear costs when they received their bill, especially for customers who do not have dental insurance and were paying out of pocket. To create transparency and trust with customers, the dental company introduced a menu of their most popular services with flat rate costs. By paying attention to a common point of customer friction, they identified an MTM and an opportunity to build long-term relationships with customers who may have previously hesitated to book future services due to unknown costs.

The Value of Identifying Moments That Matter

Understanding the Moments that Matter to your customers will help your organization focus on the most valuable opportunities to satisfy them and create memorable experiences. Customers will not remember every touchpoint they had with your organization, however there are a handful of touchpoints – the MTM – that will have a greater impact on their overall happiness as a customer. An organization can leverage these Moments that Matter as a competitive advantage.

In addition to helping you create a memorable customer experience, identifying MTM will benefit your internal organization as well. A clear understanding of the MTM helps focus time and resources on the opportunities that will lead to the most impactful customer experiences, customer advocacy, and ultimately the greatest customer happiness. Moments that Matter help teams strategically prioritize initiatives that will build positive customer relationships and avoid wasting resources focused on touchpoints that customers do not care about.

 How to Identify Moments That Matter

With so many touchpoints throughout the customer journey, how do you know which ones truly matter? To start, map out your customer journey from beginning to end. To better understand where in the journey your organization has the opportunity to make a lasting connection with your customers, look to Voice of Customer data from customer interviews, surveys, online reviews, focus groups, social media monitoring and customer-facing team feedback to learn about customers’ needs, expectations, and emotions at every touchpoint. It is important to learn directly from customer insights rather than selecting MTM based on assumptions that could be skewed by operational preferences.

Now that you have your customer data, review it and ask:

• Where is the most friction created for customers?
• Where does the customer journey fail to deliver on the brand promise that is communicated through marketing?
• Which moments do customers continuously talk about as positive or negative experiences within customer feedback channels?
• Which touchpoints have the highest volume of positive or negative feedback?

Look to these emotionally charged touchpoints to uncover the Moments that Matter to your customers. We recommend identifying the top three to four Moments that Matter. It is important to keep in mind that identifying Moments that Matter is not a one-time event. The MTM will evolve as your product or service changes. You will want to closely monitor Voice of Customer data and update your MTM as customer sentiments change.

Bringing Moments That Matter to Life

Moments that Matter to your customers will be unique to your industry and customer segment. It might seem overwhelming at first to define the MTM to your customers. However, the more you listen to your customers’ needs, desires, and frustrations, it will become more clear what matters most to them and help you connect with them during those moments. Organizations that invest in the Moments that Matter create memorable experiences for their customers that lead to long-term customer relationships.

Brittany Thomas is a senior consultant at RevGen Partners specializing in customer experience. She helps organizations build customer-centric teams and data-driven solutions that create positive experiences for both customers and employees.