There are pieces of customer information lurking in every area of today’s companies and while there are a host of reasons to capture data, one thing is clear. Many B-to-B companies haven’t figured out a way to use the tsunami of data to exceed customer expectations. Instead, customer experience professionals rely heavily on surveys and NPS scores to guide their initiatives.
If B-to-B companies want to differentiate through the experiences they deliver, they need to use all of the relevant data that’s available and consider these six questions:
- What customer experience do we want to optimize? It all starts with a clear understanding of the objective. Before considering what data to use, CX professionals must be able to articulate what they are trying to accomplish with their customers. This will help identify what information is relevant.
- What data will be needed to optimize that specific experience? Once you understand the end goal, the next step is to identify what data is available and what is most relevant. Common types of data include: product usage, financial, operational, sentiment, and interactions.
- What data is missing? CX professionals often find that they don’t have all of the data they need to optimize the experience. For example, they might need to understand customer perceptions of certain topics. For this, they will design a method to collect the missing data. It could involve approaches such as a customer surveys or input from customer-facing individuals.
- At what level do we need the data? Before asking for the data, consider how you want it. Do you want raw data or aggregated roll-ups by geo, product, customer, etc.? This is a critical decision factor to make prior to getting the data.
- Can you get access on a systematic basis? Optimizing the customer experience involves embedding intelligence into people, systems, and processes. This implies having easy and ongoing access to the relevant streams of data.
