SAAS Properties. Transforming Customer Experience (CX) through Customer Rituals and Cultural Change

Context, Approach & Methodology

To achieve a customer experience (CX) transformation, the strategy focused on three core principles:

1. High-Value Moments: Identifying moments in the customer journey that significantly influence the overall experience, either positively or negatively.
2. Guest Experience Mindset: Shifting from “customer service” to “guest experience,” encouraging all customer-facing staff to treat customers as guests, aiming to deliver superior experiences.
3. Environmental & Human Experiences: Merging tangible, sensory-based experiences with behavioral and body language-based human interactions to craft a holistic, memorable experience for customers.

Groundwork

We developed seven rituals, consisting of two signature rituals and five journey rituals, designed to create lasting, positive impressions throughout the customer journey.

Signature Rituals

1. Welcome Ritual:
   • Importance: Sets a welcoming tone at the beginning of the customer journey.
   • Key Mindset & Emotions: Focus on making the customer feel valued and comfortable.
   • Stakeholders: Frontline staff, call center, marketing teams.
   • Elements Developed: Signature gestures and greetings (email, social media, call center, in-person).
2. Farewell Ritual:
   • Importance: Leaves a lasting, positive impression at the end of the customer interaction.
   • Key Mindset & Emotions: Focus on gratitude and positive closure.
   • Stakeholders: Frontline staff, call center, marketing teams.
   • Elements Developed: Signature gestures and farewell greetings across multiple channels (email, social media, in-person).

Journey Rituals

3. Sales Gallery Visit Ritual:
   • Importance: Enhances the customer experience during the sales process.
   • Key Mindset & Emotions: Emphasis on professionalism, hospitality, and engagement.
   • Stakeholders: Sales teams, customer service, marketing.
   • Details Developed: Tailored experiences for regular and VIP customers, including environment setup, client interactions, and hospitality.
4. Viewing Ritual:
   • Importance: Ensures a positive experience during property viewing.
   • Key Mindset & Emotions: Focus on anticipation and attention to detail.
   • Stakeholders: Sales teams, property management.
   • Details Developed: Booking confirmation, arrival experience, property tour scripting, and hospitality elements.
5. Snagging Ritual:
   • Importance: Critical for addressing property defects before handover.
   • Key Mindset & Emotions: Focus on thoroughness and responsiveness.
   • Stakeholders: Property management, customer service.
   • Details Developed: Snagging and de-snagging procedures, arrival experience, and farewell interactions.
6. Key Handover Ritual:
   • Importance: Celebrates the emotional milestone of receiving property keys.
   • Key Mindset & Emotions: Emphasizes celebration and satisfaction.
   • Stakeholders: Handover team, customer service, sales teams.
   • Details Developed: Key handover process, community tour, and farewell experience.
7. Maintenance Ritual:
   • Importance: Ensures ongoing trust and satisfaction with maintenance services.
   • Key Mindset & Emotions: Focus on reliability and communication.
   • Stakeholders: Maintenance teams, customer service.
   • Details Developed: Technician arrival, service delivery, and post-service follow-up.

Analysis

For each ritual, we considered the needs of both regular and VIP customers, providing tailored treatment for VIPs while ensuring a consistent, unified experience across all customer types. By identifying key impact moments and strategically designing rituals around them, we aligned every interaction with the broader customer experience goals. Environmental elements like signage and scents combined with human interactions (e.g., scripting and body language) ensured that rituals were consistently impactful across all touchpoints.

Result

The introduction of these rituals resulted in significant improvements in customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Customers felt more valued and engaged throughout their journey, particularly appreciating the consistency and thoughtfulness behind each interaction. The rituals also fostered stronger alignment among internal teams, helping build a more customer-centric culture across the organization.