Want to stand out in customer experience? Find the blind spots.

A lesson from the world's best restaurant

One of the most useful lessons in customer experience comes from the American restaurateur Will Guidara, author of Unreasonable Hospitality. When he was running Eleven Madison Park, his team studied the world's top restaurant. They were told to look for what disappointed them, as well as what it did well.

That is where the opportunity was.

If you copy what competitors do well, you end up as a watered down version of them. Look instead for the moments they overlook. The underwhelming ones, the frustrating ones and the robotic ones. Then make those exact moments unreasonably good.

Find the moments your competitors overlook, and make those exact moments unreasonably good.

Walk your competitors' journeys

Every organisation should regularly walk through the customer journey its competitors offer. Learn from what they do well, and write down every gap they leave open. That is where a competitive advantage comes from.

Scale it with your own customers

Mystery shopping only gets you so far. Your own customers have already been through your competitors' journeys, and they will tell you what they found if you ask. CX Index makes this part of your programme, with questions like these:

• Why did you choose us over Company X?
• Why did you leave Company Y?
• What frustrated or disappointed you most about your experience with Company Y?

Every answer to those questions is a lead worth acting on.

Be great where others are average

Matching the industry leaders gets you parity. Standing out comes from the places others ignore. CX Index helps companies find those blind spots and act on them, so a missed opportunity becomes the moment a customer remembers.