3. Drive engagement and loyalty A customer experience, or CX, is the sum of all interactions a customer has with a company over time, through digital touchpoints like websites, apps or social media and physical touchpoints, like packaging or point-of-sale. The more cohe- sive and meaningful the CX, the more customers are willing to engage, form a relationship and remain loyal to a firm. Too often, customer experiences are inconsistent or frustrating. To win and retain customers, companies need to not only understand their customer experience, but also proactively imagine what is possible—and then design, implement and manage it. A three-factor framework of breadth, depth and consistency can be used to assess a customer experience. Breadth is the number of interactions with the customer. Depth measures the quality and meaning behind each interaction. Consistency ensures a cohesive feeling and promise to each interaction. As competition increases, customer experience may be the only way left for organizations to distinguish themselves in the market. Companies that focus on the breadth, depth and consistency of that experience will be rewarded over time with greater engagement, loyalty and customer lifetime value. Those who don’t risk seeing their customers leave for the competition. CASE EXAMPLE 3x engagement, 75% new forms of engagement Banco Indusval, a mid-sized Brazilian bank, saw an opportunity to provide wealth management services to the country’s growing upper-middle class. This market was poorly served by existing financial advisors and research showed significant distrust amongst potential customers stemming from historic insta- bility within the local finance sector. One 40-year-old interviewee had seen five mid-sized banks fold during her lifetime, wiping out the savings of many people. In 2015, Indusval launched Guide Investimentos, an investor-centered wealth management platform that strived to establish a more empathetic relation- ship with customers. Based on innovative personality testing, it developed a deep understanding of each customer’s needs and risk appetite and then BUSINESS VALUE OF DESIGN frogdesign.com | 09