Nine out of 10 business leaders say being able to better measure customer experience (CX) would make it easier for their organisation to deliver growth. According to Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, 40% say one of their greatest measurement challenges is translating those metrics into actionable insights.
Even so, almost half of those surveyed say they’ll significantly increase their investments in measuring CX. Why? Well, according to 82% of CX leaders polled, understanding the quality of the customer experience at key milestones is important to their organisation’s business strategy.
Many companies, however, find it difficult to measure CX metrics in a way that helps them improve customer experience. Customer satisfaction, Net Promoter Score (NPS) and similar metrics are important. However, they don’t get to the “Why” behind those behaviours.
Moreover, just 28% of surveyed executives said their organisation has a very good understanding of customer satisfaction across all phases of the customer journey. About 41% of executives say they can’t explain why CX metrics go up or down.
Developing new approaches to measurement is a priority for businesses that want to drive agile decision making. Journey measurement, for example, can provide insights that allow companies to optimise the customer journey in real time. This will improve the experience and increasing the likelihood of conversions and purchases.
What CX leaders do differently
Companies that HBR considers as “CX leaders” are more likely than other companies to use predictive analytics and sentiment analysis to measure CX. They’re also more likely to share that data with their employees. This helps teams know how they’re performing – and senior leadership has buy-in to act on measurement insights.
A notable shift in rethinking CX measurement is how and when companies use these insights. Lagging indicators drawn from post-interaction satisfaction and NPS surveys still have a place. The focus on measurement should be coming earlier and throughout the journey, however.
Predictive engagement, for example, senses a customer’s intent and directs them to the right content or employee. 83% of consumers say being listened to and understood are the most important aspects of a customer service interaction.
Other advances include real-time sentiment analysis; artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as speech-to-text analytics that provide detailed insights and create targeted coaching opportunities; and customer journey measurement that brings in operational data for a holistic view of a customer’s experience.
This enables business leaders across functions to align on journeys, rather than measuring and optimising channel performance in silos.
Using customer journey measurement enables business leaders to understand vital insights, such as:
- Why customers use specific products, services or channels
- Why customers switch channels
- How likely customers are to achieve their goals
- How each journey affects business metrics like customer satisfaction, churn, NPS, revenue and other business outcomes.
Get real-time to get ahead
With nearly half of surveyed business leaders saying they plan to significantly increase their investment in measuring CX — and a minority able to successfully measure all stages of their customer journeys — there’s no better time to implement real-time CX measurement in your organization.
The gains you’ll see in customer and employee engagement and satisfaction, as well as in business outcomes, will surely help you create a sustainable competitive advantage.