Although Customer Experience (CX) tracking has become ubiquitous across sectors given the multitude of software solutions, many companies are missing an opportunity to use the insights to drive strategic planning. Despite good intentions, many companies mistake the high investment in survey software as THE solution to CX management, relying on scores alone to measure the outcome of their efforts to improve the customer experience. Many programs become stale and don’t keep up with evolving customer needs. Tempkin & Associates quantified this disconnect between intentions and usage.
- Fully 80 percent of companies say they are merely “collectors and analyzers” versus “change agents.”
- Only 15 percent of U.S. companies describe their Voice of the Customer (VOC) program as “very successful.”
- About 30 percent of companies say they are good at implementing positive change in their organization using VOC insights.
Leveraging Customer insights to drive action across the organization.
Bringing in a knowledgeable research partner skilled in action-planning can play a key role in helping companies leverage research insights and incorporate program learning into strategic planning. To successfully turn CX insights into meaningful change, a CX expert will help you develop a structured Customer Experience Action Framework built on a series of action-planning activities:
- Regularly scheduled action-planning sessions which bring together internal teams to collaborate, review the data, discuss what it means and develop action plans. Identifying specific action steps and strategic initiatives ensures that all the time, energy, and money invested in CX tracking will be used for maximum impact within the organization.
- Internal process improvement workshops help stakeholders make sense of all the data. Workshops build the collective teams’ knowledge and trains internal teams to use the CX findings within each of their roles.
- Team-specific output can be created to highlight important aspects for each functional team (marketing, customer service, product, etc.) and shine a spotlight on the action items for which each functional unit can take primary ownership and ensure that all possible strategic and tactical outcomes from the tracking are understood broadly and specifically.
- Creative visualization makes it easier for people to understand and use the insights. Visualization can be in the form of infographics, online dashboards, or short executive summaries that communicate the key facts and serve as an immediate reference tool. The power of visuals to tell a story that engages teams can include:
Videos: to bring core insights/themes to life and have your team “meet” their consumers.
Infographics: communicate key facts about the tracked metrics and interesting findings about the most recent wave.
- Specific action plans for improvement should be provided to business leaders, Cogent insight reporting with clear implications and recommendations.
A good CX partner understands the importance of leveraging your large investment, enhancing your insights and how to engage and embed the learnings that help team members across the organization focus their strategic planning efforts on customer-centric solutions for improving the customer experience.”
Skilled CX Partners add value to your CX program through strategic research.
To build on CX measurements and facilitate action-planning a skilled research partner identifies strategic opportunities for program evolution and deeper insights on how to improve the customer experience. Examples of activation-orientated research that can enhance your CX insights include:
- Pull-out interviews, with respondents from the CX tracking program can be especially instructional for shedding light on the reason behind customers’ scores. Conducting interviews via webcam allows customers to share their thoughts or help personify customer segments which can help teams build customer-focused strategies to improve the experience.
- Customer journey mapping to bring clarity on how and when customers interact with your brand as well as identify program alignment with all appropriate touchpoints.
- A Key Driver refresh will ensure your CX program captures the most relevant aspects of the research.
In short, a good CX partner understands the importance of leveraging your large investment, enhancing your insights and how to engage and embed the learnings that help team members across the organization focus their strategic planning efforts on customer-centric solutions for improving the customer experience.
Successful CX Programs are designed with Action in mind.
Driving change requires long-term commitment to ensure you are holistically capturing the full customer experience, refreshing the program through strategic research, and working with a strategic research partner who understands how to guide your organization’s activation planning.
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