Titan's Head of CX is Turning Connection into a Repeatable Process to Build Customer Loyalty

In retail, transactional service is giving way to co-creating shared experiences of belonging. The goal is to encourage customers to be active participants in a brand's story, building loyalty through emotional connection.

But how do you put that philosophy into practice? We spoke with Sabharatnam Narayanan, the Head of Customer Service & Retail Training for the Watches & Wearables division at Titan Company Limited, to find out. A specialist in Customer Experience and Business Excellence with over two decades at Titan, Sabha maintains that the key to unlocking deeper loyalty lies in rethinking the customer relationship from the ground up.

For Sabha, the perfect example of customer participation was a Christmas cake-mixing ceremony he attended earlier this year. Guests were transformed from just an audience into co-creators when they were handed aprons and bottles of rum to pour into the mix themselves. It's not about the event itself, he explains, but the feeling it created with customers. "Scaling shared experiences does not mean replicating an event," he says. "It means replicating the emotion."

• Anniversary assist: To illustrate the point, Sabha shares how Titan's official vision empowers employees to act. "I remember a story of a gentleman who came to our store and mentioned a watch his wife might like. Our customer service officer thoughtfully remembered this and called the gentleman on his anniversary, only to find he had forgotten it. When he came back for the watch, our staff had already arranged a cake and bouquet, which they delivered to his house to surprise his wife. That moment of joy prompted him to write a note directly to our MD," he says.

That level of proactive empathy isn't a happy accident, but the result of a core philosophy of inclusivity, where the goal is for every customer to be welcome, respected, and represented. To put this philosophy into practice, Titan rejects rigid sales scripts and instead empowers its staff with a simple behavioral framework that provides the "how-to" for turning care into a repeatable process, tailoring experiences to every customer. "Customers don't want to be impressed. They want to be involved. That's the shortest path to loyalty," he says.

• The empathy playbook: "We tell our people to focus on three key behaviors: Observe the customer's emotion, personalize the interaction, and co-create the moment. A shared experience is created by someone who can make a human connection in seconds, and that's an attribute we test for." This three-step process transforms an often intangible skill into a tangible, teachable methodology, ensuring that moments of profound connection, like the anniversary surprise, are the result of a system, not just a spontaneous act. Training emphasizes real-world scenarios over theoretical concepts.

In measuring success, Sabha focuses on translating these interactions into customer narratives, treating voluntary social media mentions and direct feedback as the real currency of engagement. "Shared experiences leave a trail of stories that customers willingly tell, and those moments are pointed out and recognized for our people. We collect these stories, select the best ones, and share them with our teams so they can imbibe this culture."

• Three-steps to customer success: However, this narrative-driven approach can be a tough sell for leaders more accustomed to traditional, quantitative metrics. That's why Sabha reframes the conversation to position emotional connection as a sustainable competitive advantage. "The goal is to create three things for the customer. First is identity, making them feel the brand truly understands them. Second is connection, creating a sense of belonging. And finally, a narrative, giving them a unique story to share about their experience with us." The focus on that emotional connection delivers tangible outcomes that resonate far beyond a spreadsheet.

"Our biggest challenge is the 20-25% staff attrition in our stores. Our mystery audits show that this is precisely where customer touchpoints get missed," he observes. To defend against this attrition, he deploys a two-pronged strategy. "We rely on 'store evangelists' and a buddy system to onboard new hires, but it's a constant challenge. That is why it's so important for these customer stories to be told and celebrated internally. It helps everyone imbibe and reinforce the culture."

The entire strategy is designed to drive NPS as the North Star metric. "The rewarding part is when customers tell you how they feel. We have 96-97% promoters, so my focus is on the others. My vision is to get the detractor number to zero. There should not be any detractors."