Customer feedback is the key to any experience improvement program. Traditionally, the process of collecting, understanding and acting on customer feedback can be time consuming, not to mention that feedback can be inconsistent or incomplete. So where do you start? Here are some tips on how to start and successfully implement your Customer Feedback program!
Establish what business outcomes you want to achieve
Before embarking on a CX initiative it is important to clearly establish what business outcomes you want to achieve.
These outcomes include:
- Reduced customer attrition
- Increased share of wallet
- Reduced cost to serve
- Increased customer acquisition, through word-of-mouth referrals of brand advocates
Simply, wanting to know what your customers think isn’t, in most instances, a compelling argument for investment in people, process and technology.
Link your outcomes to your business strategy
Having established your objective(s), determine if there is a clear and strong linkage with your business strategy. The stronger the alignment between your Business Strategy and the focus on CX (and Customer Feedback) the more likely you are to obtain immediate and ongoing sponsorship and funding.
Define success measures and create a vision
Construct a simple message that will resonate with key stakeholders. Where possible, incorporate a strong linkage with key themes that have already been communicated in the business strategy. Never underestimate the importance of selling the WIFM (what’s in it for me) from a strategic, operational and tactical perspective.
Establish where to start
In most instances, you are best off starting small, demonstrating the value and then scaling, unless there is a clear and very compelling need for everyone in your organisation to get on board quickly!
Look to high impact customer journeys
Based on the business outcomes you want to achieve, look at the customer journeys you believe have the highest level of impact. If you are unsure, start with the key moments of truth: those points in time that are critical to your customers. For example, from the perspective of an insurance company; at the end of a claim journey.
Measure and test your own hypothesis
Create a hypothesis and establish what metric you are going to use to measure and test this hypothesis. For example, continuing from the above example, you might create and test the following hypothesis.
Don’t just focus on the score
Many organisations fall into the trap of focusing on the CX score. While this is an outcome of the overall CX and can inform your journey, it does not give you insights into why your customers are giving you the score. In the first instance, use the unstructured data (qualitative feedback) to look for quick wins. In most instances, quick wins will involve addressing hygiene issues.
Use feedback to drive change across the enterprise
Look for ways to incorporate customer feedback into your current operating rhythms and reporting. Ideally, you want this initiative to create a momentum of its own and for the various areas of the business to drive incremental change. To do this, you need to disseminate the feedback in meaningful ways.
Keep reworking your hypothesis
Once you have addressed the hygiene issues, determine if this has had a positive impact on your nominated metric and associated behaviours. If not, back to the drawing board. This is an iterative process and you need to be prepared to evaluate and rework your hypothesis.
Focus on creating advocacy at key touchpoints
If you’re on the right track and have addressed the hygiene look for opportunities to design service experiences at touchpoints throughout these key journeys that delight. Remember, it is important to focus on creating advocacy at moments that are perceived as important
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