Hello,
Welcome to the second edition of Customer Matters – your monthly newsletter highlighting what SMT is doing to improve your experience as our customer.
In this edition, I’ll explain what Customer Experience (CX) is and why it’s so important to us at SMT.
Most people have heard the term “customer experience” and may already have their own interpretation of what it means.
At SMT, we follow the CX Academy’s definition: “How a customer feels as a result of every interaction they have with a company.”At its core, CX is about emotion. Whether that’s satisfaction, frustration, ease, or delight. Importantly, this applies just as much in B2B as it does in B2C.
Not every interaction involves a person. It could be a customer browsing our website, using our app, or navigating a process. Every one of these touchpoints shapes how a customer feels, and each should be designed to create a positive experience, whether human-led or not.
Our goal with CX is simple: maximise positive experiences and minimise negative ones. When negative experiences occur repeatedly for multiple customers, it signals something that needs to change. For one-off issues, a strong and effective complaints process becomes key.
In fact, complaints present an opportunity. While we always aim to get things right first time, we recognise that things don’t always go to plan. How we respond in those moments can turn a negative situation into a positive experience and build trust in the process.
As Customer Experience Manager, part of my role is to regularly review and improve the interactions customers have with SMT. This often involves stepping into the customer’s shoes and assessing journeys from their perspective. However, the most valuable insights always come directly from our customers.
Customer feedback is invaluable. Whether gathered through surveys or through everyday interactions, it removes guesswork and clearly highlights where we’re performing well, and where we need to improve.
A good example of this is our telephony system. We recently upgraded our phone platform to provide enhanced functionality and help us better manage customer interactions across different communication channels, including telephone and email.
As part of this upgrade, we introduced a single main contact number with an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu, designed to direct callers to the most appropriate team. For new customers, this worked well as it provided a clear overview of the areas of support available and helped ensure enquiries reached the right people quickly.
However, feedback from existing customers told a different story. Many already knew which team they needed to speak with and found the additional menu options cumbersome and frustrating.
Listening to that feedback, we made changes. Existing customers can now use direct depot telephone numbers, allowing them to connect straight to the team they need without navigating menu options first. This means they join the relevant queue immediately, creating a faster and simpler experience.
This is a good example of Customer Experience in practice. We introduced a change with positive intentions, listened to how customers experienced it in reality, and then adapted our approach based on what we learned. If you’d like to know more about the direct depot numbers available, please speak to your local SMT representative.
When designing or refining experiences, aiming to create moments of “delight” is a helpful principle. However, it’s not always achievable at every touchpoint. It’s also important to recognise that as experiences improve, customer expectations rise.
We see this in everyday life, for example, companies like Amazon have set high standards for delivery speed and convenience. As a result, customers increasingly expect similar delivery experiences from all businesses they interact with.