Partner Article

Creating a Customer Experience Program: The Metrics Matter

Customer experience goes hand in hand with loyalty—and, therefore, with profit. Shop.org and Forrester Research report that key investments in customer experience helped digital retail businesses grow an average of 29 percent in 2013. As consumers become increasingly more savvy and more demanding, customer experience management solutions will not be considered a nice-to-have but a must-have. Organizations that receive actionable insights from their customer experience programs can pinpoint where their customer service needs improvement. This can help retain and grow their customer base.

It’s not enough to make a few superficial tweaks to a customer experience strategy. For long-lasting results such as customer retention and loyalty, organizations should implement a systematic, across-the-board process to track and measure the experiences of their customers.

Many metrics are available to reveal such insights, but it’s neither possible nor advisable to track all of them. The correct metrics will allow an organization to consistently monitor how it is performing over short- and long-term periods, as well as compare performance across channels and geographies. Selecting the appropriate metrics set enables an organization to also accurately measure changes in customer interactions and develop solutions to improve them as needed.

The Right Metrics Mix

Organizations can hand-pick from among myriad metrics to gain visibility into customer interactions. But how does an organization determine which metrics are best suited for its needs? These six criteria can help organizations sift through several options and arrive at an optimal combination.

1. Industry

Which metrics are suitable for which industry is determined by the way that customers interact with the organization’s products or services as well as how the responses will be collected. The nature of each industry is the broadest consideration for what type of metric will produce the most relevant results.

2. Levels of Visibility

It is necessary to consider the level of staff who will be reviewing customer response results, as this will help determine which metrics are chosen. For example, if the goal is to engage frontline employees to improve service, monitoring each service interaction would be beneficial. However, if the goal is for corporate executives to learn customer perceptions of the brand, the same metric may not be as useful as a more high-level analysis.

3. Tracking Channels

Consideration must be given with regard to which channels will use the program, as that will also help metric selection. If an organization is tracking customer experience within contact center, retail and Web channels, it should determine if each division offers the same type of experience and has the same goals. If experiences are varied, different metrics can be implemented in each channel to best suit its needs.

4. Survey Collection Methods

How information can be collected will be determined by the level of access to customer contact information sanctioned by the industry. For example, a mobile phone number is needed to send an SMS survey and an email address is necessary for an email invitation-based Web survey. When little contact information is available, gateway partners are often available to help fill this gap.

5. The Right Combination

There is a delicate balance required when choosing the number and type of metrics to use. While using too many metrics can dilute the impact of results, using only one may not provide enough information. In most cases, it is best to use a combination of metrics. This combination of metrics can differ completely based on channels or can be consistent across all service touch points.

6. Brand Promise

Customers respond quite positively when you come through on your brand’s promise. It is important for each organization to identify any brand promises and find metrics that will correlate with the underlying sentiment. To easily identify brand promises, pinpoint selling features that an organization markets and find the basic guarantee within. Once this is determined, the organization can find a metric to support the assertion.

Six Sure-Fire CEM Metrics

It can seem difficult or even overwhelming to decide on the appropriate blend of metrics, as there are many to consider. Fortunately some of the most common metrics may provide the perfect solution.

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) This metric is a standard that enables organizations to measure and improve how happy customers are, giving organizations a way to increase their likelihood and frequency of purchasing as a result.

• Customer Effort Score (CES) The Customer Effort Score represents how much effort a customer must exert to solve a problem. This metric seeks to evaluate the entire service experience and reduce the number of interaction points required of customers across channels. In recent years this metric has gained popularity as organizations realize that providing easy interactions with the organization as a whole is a valuable service.

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) This metric measures customer loyalty and willingness to put their own reputation on the line and recommend the organization to others, which is the highest form of loyalty. It seeks to find those loyal customers who will bring more business to the organization and those who are not as satisfied, to find ways to improve their experiences.

• General Question Index & Customer Experience Index (CXi) These survey items address specific elements of the organization or service channel. General question indexes are often used to provide insights into detailed aspects of a customer experience.

• American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Now the most well-known national customer satisfaction index, the ACSI is an economic indicator that measures customer satisfaction of consumers across the United States.

• Wallet Allocation Rule The ultimate indicator of customer loyalty is how much a consumer spends with an organization. Through measuring the amount a customer spends on a particular organization within an industry, and ranking this against other organizations, it is possible to gain an accurate sense of customer loyalty and the wallet share occupied by each.

Building a customer experience program is no longer an option in today’s marketplace. The building process may seem daunting at first, which so may metrics to choose from. It is important not to be distracted by quantity and focus on quality; what makes sense for your organization based on industry, who will be looking at the results, which channels will be involved and what brand promises you need to measure. This sets the stage for gaining valuable insights about how your customers experience your organization.

When determining what metric mix will be right for you, focus on what can be acted upon. Failing to act on customer input makes customers feel that you have broken a promise, or that their opinion simply does not count, and that does not encourage loyalty. To see improvement in customer experience results, findings should be seriously evaluated and changes should be made quickly based on metric results. A well-designed program with consistent follow-through will create loyal, satisfied customers and increased revenue.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Syed Hasan .