Let’s say you arrive at work and discover that your budget request for new technology has been approved. Jackpot! Now you can start developing and deploying technology to improve your agency’s effectiveness and efficiency. After all, improving customer experience is your top priority. But first, take a step back. Piling on new digital technology doesn’t necessarily lead to a better customer or employee experience.

This is the second blog in a series about the Genesys Tour for Government in Washington, D.C. At the event, experts shared their takes on transforming the customer experience. Featured speaker, Rick Parrish, VP, Principal Analyst at Forrester, discussed six key competencies that agencies must master to provide great customer experience — reliably and efficiently.

Once you’ve done that, consider these four tips as a starting point before diving into new digital technology.

  1. Do Customer Research

Make sure that you’re not mistaking user testing – asking visitors to respond to a new digital interaction – for customer understanding. Your customer research should collect data on what they say, their behaviors and more, using a variety of methods. Once you understand your customers’ lives, you can figure out which technology will actually improve their experience.

  1. Create a Framework for Prioritizing Initiatives

Rank everything on your list of initiatives numerically. This simple exercise gives your team an opportunity to say “No” to what might be great ideas but aren’t actually as important compared to others. Think about how this will affect your customers as well as your agency’s business. And consider the feasibility and risk. High impact with iffy feasibility or high risk might bump an initiative to the bottom of your list.

  1. Digital Is About Emotion, Too

Digital often outperforms human interactions in customer experience because it enables faster navigation, makes it easier for customers to find information and serves them with personalized content. When your digital channels are integrated, they have instant access to everything about your customers, their preferences and any past interactions. Save your live agents for interactions where the human touch is essential.

  1. Don’t Diminish the Importance of the Employee Experience

Customer and employee experiences are equally important to the health of your organization. Employees want to be empowered to self-regulate their attention because they know what matters most when engaging with customers. It might require breaking through cultural barriers to enable that autonomy, but it’s worth it. Employee satisfaction directly affects the experience they deliver to customers.

#1 Takeaway for Customer Experience

For every decision you make, first ask how it will affect your customers’ experience. Don’t just follow the latest trend — key-in on best practices that solves the problems your customers care about most. Use your time and your technology wisely.

Watch the full, recorded event, “Genesys Tour for Government,” co-hosted by our partner, Carahsoft.