Pick any TV channel at random and they’re there. Z-list celebrities banging on about the life-changing, inspirational ‘journeys’ they embarked upon by taking part in The Not So Great British Crochet Off. Or whatever. It’s bound to make you a bit cynical.

You haven’t been on a journey. You learned to knit.

(People didn’t even get it after Peter Kaye satirised the whole thing. Remember his “Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soap-star Superstar Strictly on Ice?”)

Anyhow, despite all this, there are some journeys that can and absolutely should be excepted from such scepticism. However pretentious they might sound.

The Customer Journey for instance. Especially online.

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Everyone seems to be going on a ‘journey’ these days, don’t they?

It would, after all, be pretty foolish to summarily dismiss something that’s currently shaping, and even defining, almost every aspect of commerce in the new economy.

Because let’s get this completely straight. The customer is not only king in the new world order, but president, prime minister, judge, jury and executioner. They hold the power to make or break a brand. The brand’s job in such a context? Make nice or face the consequences.

The problem is that developing products and services costs money. So does selling and marketing them. And that’s where things get tricky. Especially for SMBs, many of whom may wonder whether Customer Experience (CX) is just another ploy by the tech and marketing industries to land-grab more of their budget.

It’s different for larger organisations. They have the time and the finances to dedicate whole teams to CX transformation. Many are even appointing Chief Customer Officers. But it’s much more of a challenge for the smaller organisation.

There are measures they can take however.

First, it is important to understand that creating the right online CX or reinventing your existing one is at least as much about culture and approach as it is about budget. Trying to place the CX at the heart of your company’s DNA.

Accordingly, think about appointing a ‘mystery shopper’. A poor CX is one who fails to spot or address areas of friction; the difficulties customers encounter when they try to engage with a business. And your mystery shopper can root them out.

What happens when they search for the company online? How quickly can they upload your website? Find your products? Access the services they want? How effectively are they led to the next phase of the buying process and down the sales funnel? What about your social media channels? Are they truly representative of your message and your offering? Do they complement and align with what you are communicating elsewhere?

How easy is it for the customer to download assets and resources? How many click-throughs or other steps are involved? How much time does the process take? How does the whole thing ‘feel’?

Another area in which SMBs often struggle against larger rivals is that they don’t have the same length or depth of digital ‘history’; that there is a comparative dearth of information about their people, their track record, and the ways in which they work. As such, it’s a good idea to strive for greater transparency in your approach, especially when greeting and engaging online customers.

For instance, while many smaller businesses now share blog posts and other content and media with their audiences, few exploit the opportunity to share details of their inner workings and add true value. Why not make your privacy policy an asset rather than

"The customer is not only king in the new world order, but president, prime minister, judge, jury and executioner, with the power to make or break a brand."

an obligation? Don’t just share case studies, share experiences – perhaps even bad ones – and what you’ve learned from them. It all helps your business look more ‘human’; a critical factor in today’s most successful CXs.

Getting a hard time on social media? Tackle it head on by creating relevant content and inviting further customer dialogue rather than avoiding it as many smaller firms often do. The last thing the average customer wants to worry about is what might be going on ‘behind the curtain’. A clear, highly visible, open CX is a great way to counteract potential poor perceptions.

It is also vital to engage the rest of the business in the CX; to promote its import right across and into every corner of the organisation.

If your company gets positive mentions across social media channels, make sure everyone knows about it – perhaps through some form of internal communication showing the true impact of first-class CX.

Only once these cultural aspects of your CX have been properly considered, actioned, and honed should you begin thinking about the specific technologies and technological disciplines to drive things on to the next level. And there are several.

Chatbots, which given their increasing speed and ease of deployment, are now opening up huge opportunities for small businesses across almost every sector. People are suddenly spending more time in messaging apps than social media. That signals ‘bots’ and related tools as among the key marketing and CX utilities for the immediate and long-term future.

It is a similar story with a number of other technologies now entering the small business mainstream. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR). The Internet of Things (IoT). Rapid prototyping and guerrilla customer testing. All are increasingly productised and all are powerful allies for the SMB that’s brave enough.

So, ready to go on that journey?

The CX FactorWith the distance between customer experience leaders and laggards widening fast, what can smaller businesses in the ‘peloton’ be doing to narrow the gap?