When you think of the phrase “inside-out” relative to the customer experience, you probably cringe. This is not a phrase that customer experience professionals take lightly.

“Inside-out” means companies focus on processes that are designed and implemented based on internal thinking and intuition. The customer’s needs and perspectives aren’t considered in this type of thinking. Company leaders make decisions because they think they know what’s best for the business, not for the customer. There’s a conscious decision to make process, policy, people, systems, or other changes that:
1. Don’t improve the customer experience at the same time
2. Are about maximizing shareholder returns, not about benefits for the customer
3. Improve internal efficiencies, but to the detriment of customer interactions
4. Are cost-cutting measures that also negatively affect the customer experience
5. Might be the wrong process, policy, people, or systems to change

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