BY GCWALISILE MHLABANE
MANZINI – The Eswatini Customer Experience Practitioners (ECxP) has launched a nationwide drive to strengthen customer experience standards, urging organisations to move beyond simply meeting service requirements and focus on how customers actually experience the services they receive.
The initiative seeks to make customer experience a continuous organisational priority, recognising that the quality of interactions between service providers and customers can influence trust, relationships, reputation and business performance.
The drive will be anchored by five key dates running from September to November, covering Secretaries Appreciation Day, the Customer Service Week launch, Customer Service Week, the CX Conference and the CX Awards.
Head of Marketing and Communications at the Eswatini Tourism Authority (ETA), Chunky Mdluli-Dlamini, outlined the calendar, beginning with Secretaries Appreciation Day on September 25, followed by the Customer Service Week Launch on October 2.
Customer Service Week will run from October 5 to 9, before the CX Conference on November 4 and 5 and the CX Awards on November 6, 2026.
“The journey is set. The momentum is building. Eswatini is going the Extra Mile for service excellence,” said Mdluli-Dlamini.
The campaign comes as ECxP seeks to shift the conversation from whether organisations simply meet service standards to whether customers actually receive positive and memorable experiences.
ECxP Chairperson Sen. Hon. Dr. Linda Nxumalo said this distinction was important because meeting a service standard did not necessarily mean that a customer had received a satisfactory experience.
“Service and standards are different from the actual experience,” Nxumalo said.
She said customers could carry the memory of a poor interaction long after the service itself had been completed.
“So if someone treats you poorly, it’s a bad experience that stays with you wherever you go,” she said.
Nxumalo challenged organisations to examine how they measure customer service and whether their standards are translating into better experiences for the people they serve.
“How do you measure that customer service to say, ‘Yeah, I think we’ve reached it’?” she asked.
She said customer experience should not be viewed as a process that organisations complete once they reach a particular standard, but rather as an area requiring continuous improvement.
“Customer service can always be improved for the customer,” Nxumalo said.
The emphasis on continuous improvement makes initiatives such as the ECxP campaign important for both businesses and public-facing institutions.
For businesses, customer experience can influence relationships with existing customers, repeat business, recommendations and an organisation’s reputation. Where customers have choices, the quality of service can also become an important part of how organisations distinguish themselves.
For public-facing institutions, customer interactions can shape how people perceive the services they receive. Consistent, respectful and responsive service can contribute to stronger relationships between institutions and the communities they serve.
The campaign therefore seeks to encourage organisations to look beyond the technical delivery of a service and examine the human experience surrounding it.
ECxP is calling on leaders and frontline employees to make customer experience part of everyday organisational culture rather than something addressed only during Customer Service Week or other special occasions.
The five-date calendar provides a structured platform for that engagement.
The programme begins with Secretaries Appreciation Day on September 25, followed by the Customer Service Week Launch on October 2. Customer Service Week will then run from October 5 to 9.
The programme continues with the CX Conference scheduled for November 4 and 5, creating a platform for customer experience practitioners and stakeholders to engage on service delivery, customer expectations and organisational culture.
The campaign will culminate in the CX Awards on November 6 at the TLC Convention Centre, where excellence in customer experience will be recognised.
The activities are intended to create greater awareness of the role played by customer-facing employees and organisations in shaping the experiences of the people they serve.
For ECxP, the central question is no longer only whether an organisation has a service standard, but whether that standard is reflected in the actual treatment customers receive.
As Customer Service Week 2026 approaches, organisations and frontline teams are being encouraged to examine their customer-service practices, identify gaps and continuously improve the experience delivered to customers.
The initiative ultimately seeks to strengthen a culture in which service excellence becomes an everyday responsibility and every customer interaction is treated as an opportunity to build trust, improve relationships and deliver better service.
With five key dates set, ECxP is positioning the 2026 programme as a sustained push to raise the standard of customer experience in Eswatini and encourage organisations to go beyond the minimum in serving their customers.
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