Markus Schruth, Chief Customer Officer at smava believes a positive change in regulation for digital adoption would help remove a significant friction point in the overall customer journey.
“While digitisation is the key to automation and progress, customer preferences and regulatory environments in Germany lag behind other countries in terms of digital adoption. This creates a complex landscape where we must optimise the customer journey for online, offline, and hybrid types of customers simultaneously. Driving the change to a more digital customer experience is naturally one of the biggest opportunities,” says Markus Schruth, Chief Customer Officer at smava.
Markus oversees the entire customer experience, ensuring a seamless journey from onboarding to closing sales. He leads all customer-facing units, including customer success, presales, and sales, and manages the operational processes supporting these functions. His primary objective is to drive value by harnessing insights from both customer and agent feedback and analysing vast amounts of data. These insights are pivotal in generating innovative ideas and implementing new features throughout the customer journey.
Markus collaborates with product and tech teams to ensure that their solutions are not only customer-centric but also technologically robust and efficient. Through these efforts, he aims to enhance customer satisfaction, foster loyalty, and ultimately drive business growth.
How does he see generative AI impacting CX operations? “In low-margin and low-value customer industries, future CX organisations will likely become smaller. AI-supported self-service solutions will surpass the service levels and satisfaction provided by today’s average customer service teams, delivering superior experiences with fewer resources,” he says.
As a CX leader, Markus is dedicated to creating exceptional experiences that meet the evolving needs of customers and position the company at the forefront of innovation in customer experience.
Excerpts from the interview:
What is the biggest challenge and opportunity in the loan industry?
In the loan market, the primary challenge revolves around the digitisation of processes. While digitisation is the key to automation and progress, customer preferences and regulatory environments in Germany lag behind other countries in terms of digital adoption. This creates a complex landscape where we must optimise the customer journey for online, offline, and hybrid types of customers simultaneously. Driving the change to a more digital customer experience is naturally one of the biggest opportunities.
How can BFSI brands add empathy to address customers’ priorities? What technological innovations would you recommend?
Empathy starts with understanding the diverse needs of customers by putting yourself in their shoes. Recognise that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution and offer multiple communication channels without forcing customers into a single specific path. Simplify processes and provide clear guidance at every step.
Technologies like chatbots can enhance customer support by handling routine inquiries, but they must be part of a well-designed customer journey. Advanced data analytics and AI can offer personalised and proactive service, while omnichannel support ensures consistent experiences across all channels. Ultimately, use technology to complement human interactions, not replace them, to create a more empathetic and responsive customer experience.
How do you see generative AI impacting CX operations?
Generative AI will initially boost automation and productivity, allowing operational units to focus on value-adding tasks such as proactive outreach, sales, upselling, and after-sales support. By eliminating repetitive tasks and identifying relevant customer opportunities, AI will enable more efficient and effective CX operations.
In low-margin and low-value customer industries, future CX organisations will likely become smaller. AI-supported self-service solutions will surpass the service levels and satisfaction provided by today’s average customer service teams, delivering superior experiences with fewer resources.
What new and enhanced CX metrics would you recommend to increase customer loyalty today?
Besides classic customer satisfaction metrics like NPS and contact centre KPIs like “Time to First Resolution” I would focus more on the overall customer journey.
The number of overall touchpoints and the average “conversion speed” can be indicative of whether we remove friction and make the customer experience more convenient.
On top of that, now more than ever, it makes sense to take CLV into account because an AI-solved ticket might not mean the same brand experience and related loyalty as the experience, including human interaction.
If you could change one thing about your industry overnight what would it be?
Regulation on KYC. I would allow simpler, but not unsafer, identification processes than VideoIdent in order to remove a big friction point in the overall customer journey.
Catch Markus at CX NXT – Customer Experience Summit, Berlin on October 23. He is a panellist in the session ‘AI as an agent of CX – What I learned from my AI journey’.
For details and registration, visit here.
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