Moving Beyond Customer Experience, What About “Customer Entanglement?”

It’s thought experiment time again. We have moved beyond customer satisfaction, now focusing on customer experience. Likewise, we have moved beyond value propositions, to value creation (including sensemaking, customer confidence). For both of these, what comes next?

I don’t mean fancy terminology some agency might put together that’s more hip, rad, sexy, cool–but is a relabeling of what we already are doing. I’m talking about an entirely different engagement process. A way of working with our customers, of engaging them deeply through the lifecycle of the relationship.

I’m thinking of the idea of “Customer Entanglement.”

What does it mean to be entangled? If we look at tree roots in a forest, how the become intertwined with others, each strengthening and stabilizing the other. Or vines abilities to cling to impossible structures, because of the way the become entangled with each other. Or in biological systems, ecosystems, neural networks.

In all of these is the concept of interdependence, where we each grow stronger through deep, possibly invisible connections. Connections that are built do endure, that are not transactional. Connections which may not be linear or follow a prescribed logic.

This is the concept of entanglement.

What if we started thinking about entanglement in our relationships with our customers–in the very least, with our most important customers and accounts?

Let’s start with a simple definition of customer entanglement. It is the degree to which we (our company) becomes so intertwined with our customers’ workflows, outcomes, thinking, and success, that pulling us out of the relationships creates pain and risk to the customer. Stated differently, they could not achieve what they are achieving without us.

Let’s look at how entanglement goes beyond our traditional measures.

• Satisfaction focuses on, “Are you happy?” Otherwise known as “give me a five star review.”
• Experience focuses on, “Was it easy, pleasant to use our product or interact with us?”
• Value proposition focuses on, “These are the results you should expect to receive,” most often expressed in ROI, Payback, IRR.
• Value delivery focuses on, “Did you achieve the results we committed in our value proposition?”
• Value creation asks, “How can we help you achieve your goals, understand your problem, navigate your change/buying process?”

Entanglement asks a different question, “Can you operate successfully without us?”

Entangles customers stay with us not because we have locked them in through a contract, or in some other way. Or that we have made migration to another solution very difficult. Entangled customers stay with us because we are so important and integrated into how they operate, they can’t afford to remove us.

Entanglement builds on the traditional elements of satisfaction, experience, value propositions, delivery, creation. But it also is strategically and operationally embedded into how the customer works. It is an indistinguishable part of their workflows. We are engaged and consulted in key decisions, we and our solutions are trusted across all the departments we work with. We are essential to there current success and are an active partner in helping them chart the course to what’s next or imagining what’s possible.

Separately, these are each very powerful. But taken together they create a stickiness, depth of relationship that is different from anything else. We become a partner our customers rely on.

How do we build entanglement? I’m just developing my thoughts on this, but some starters:

• What breaks when we go away? What happens to the customer if they no longer could use what we provide? Or what remains broken if they don’t choose us?
• Are we a part of how they get work done?
• Are they making us a part of their decision process? Do they want/need us to have a “seat at the table?”
• Is our success tied to or dependent on their success?
• Are they a part of our decision process? Do they have a seat at our table as we make decisions on new products, approaches, services strategies? (Think of highly personalized and engaged Voice of the Customer)
• Do they value us as emotionally as much as they value us functionally? Do they want us working with them because of who we are, what we represent, not just what we do?
• Would their executive team notice if we disappear, would they be concerned? Or even, would their customers notice if we disappeared?

Customer entanglement demands that we rely on and depend on each other operationally, we trust each other and build that trust–even though there may be rough spots, we value each other emotionally. Customer entanglement means we can’t leave each other easily.

In customer entanglement, our goal is not just retention. It is to be relied upon.

Afterword:  This is the AI generated discussion This article.  I really like this take on the article.  The concept of customer entanglement is very complex.  This discussion takes a little different approach than I did with the article.  It helps clarify what I’m trying to express.  Enjoy!