The term “Customer Experience” represents the sum of all the impressions and interactions a customer has with our organization. Customer Experience is not the business practice or facility features themselves, but how they make the customer feel about us, our dealership, our products and people.

A customer experience is an interaction between an organizationand a customer as perceived through a customer’s consciousand subconscious mind. It is a blend of an organization’s rational performance, the senses stimulated and the emotions evoked and intuitively measured against customer expectations across all moments of contact.

Customers value the respect and relationship of the people they choose to do business with. When they enter a facility they need to understand it is the best choice, not just for the value of the products and services offered, but for the value of a relationship with the organization, and that they’re working with the right people both today and for tomorrow.

A customer experience is not just about a rational experience (e.g. how quickly a phone is answered, what hours you’re open, delivery time scales, etc.).

More than 50 percent of a customer experience is subconscious, or how a customer feels.

A customer experience is not just about the ‘what,’but also about the ‘how.’

A customer experience is about how a customer consciously and subconsciously sees his or her experience.

The power of good customer experience should never be underestimated. The chart here captures how a good customer experience drives satisfaction, loyalty and helps us generate more business directly and indirectly.

Understanding the criticality of this, Caterpillar’s customer experience program is designed to help our entire organization become more conscious of presentation and practices from the customer’s perspective across touch points and hence build better customer relationships and drive loyalty levels. The program includes tools to help us evaluate and improve our business culture, and how to manage our facility’s customer experience, no matter the type, size or industry it serves.