The divide between mature and immature companies isn’t based on the amount of budget dedicated to customer service or experience, but rather the attention given to gathering customer data and acting on customer insight.
A survey of companies and agencies translating experience data to customer service action was a key differentiator between companies succeeding in their business goals and those struggling to stay relevant to customers.
Ronald Stevenson on his Adventures in Financial Marketing pointed out some of the ways that successful organizations differentiate in their approach to service experience design and the role of data in creating an exceptional customer experience.
Ronald approaches this from the Marketing standpoint, but the overall message is clear: data is the key to getting service right.
Differing Perceptions of How To Provide a Positive Customer Experience
The findings show that mature and immature companies have a different perception of the attributes required for delivering a positive customer experience:
- Mature companies are far more likely to regard ‘motivated and empowered staff’ and ‘efficient customer service’ as among the most important goals.
- Immature companies are more focused on visibility of customer behavior across channels and the need for a single or joined-up customer database.
Better Customer Experience Data = Better Customer Service Outcomes
This doesn’t mean that mature companies aren’t concerned about technical and data-related issues, but that they have already mastered these areas and can now go on to reap the benefits by focusing on key performance issues.
Immature companies that are still worried about technology and systems, are losing sight of the importance of customer service and empowered staff.
According to Richard Sedley, Commercial Director at Foviance:
Companies that have benefited most from improving their multichannel customer experience are those that have recognized the importance of combining quantitative and qualitative customer insights.
If your company isn’t already capturing ‘voice of customer’ via onsite surveying and social listening and integrating it with data from web analytics and search there has never been a better time to start.
Better Data = Better Service
How To Collect Feedback
Marketers have many opportunities to collect feedback, formal and informal. The informality of a channel does not minimize the value of the data that can be gathered. If you employ multiple channels to collect feedback, you get the benefit of hearing the perspectives of disparate customer segments, which avoids getting feedback that is heavily weighted with a certain customer type that isn’t representative of the entire population.
Collecting customer experience can be done primarily by:
1. Formal Surveys to Test the Experience
Surveys should follow each step in the customer experience to understand the important drivers of customer satisfaction.
Tailoring each set of questions to customers’ use of specific products or services both expedites the process and demonstrates knowledge of customers’ preferences.
2. Participate in Online and Social Media
Have channels available for consumers to provide feedback and insight on the service experience in a personal way. Today’s technology enables organizations to collect data in real time.
Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, etc. enable businesses to connect with different customer segments. These channels provide a wealth of ideas and serve as the foundation for innovation.
Ensure active engagement by employees who are knowledgeable and empowered to speak on behalf of the company.
3. Real-Time Customer Experience Interaction
Real-time data collection can be challenging activity, but it is extremely valuable to have a database that tracks transactions. This provides quantitative support that helps balance the qualitative feedback marketers collect.
Ultimately, the more businesses learn about their customers, particularly their most profitable ones, the better off they will be. By continually collecting feedback and disseminating this information so that it is available throughout all customer-facing channels, businesses will reap financial rewards and engender strong loyalty.
