Most brands ‘get’ that Customer Experience is important – but often struggle to balance long-term drivers with short-term priorities. And, while 89% of companies expect to compete mostly on the basis of Customer Experience in the future, they’re still stuck competing where they’ve traditionally fought – on price and on product. They’re trapped in the day-to-day and can’t make the necessary gear change.
Those charged with championing CX often struggle to connect Voice of the Customer (VoC) back to hard business results. They understand that poor Customer Experience can lead to churn, loss of brand image and even stop prospects from ever becoming customers in the first place. What they don’t have is the evidence to justify the investment in Voice of the Customer and move it up the agenda.
They face an uphill struggle trying to get the budget for long-term initiatives when the business is fighting short term pressures. The smart brands are the ones changing this dynamic. They’re the ones who have gathered the evidence, know the numbers and know the value of VoC to the bottom line.
Have the right metrics to support the business case
Customer Experience professionals often focus on the scores, like NPS, CSat and Customer Effort, without linking them back to broader business metrics. But the true purpose behind collecting customer feedback isn’t to increase the customer feedback score; it’s to create business value.
Getting that link between Voice of the Customer and value to the business is critical. When things get tough and there are other issues in the business, it’s much easier for execs to cut budgets for initiatives that aren’t seen as drivers of business results.
It's time to reframe how you measure Voice of the Customer
There are typically three drivers of commercial business success:
- Increase sales
- Reduce customer churn
- Decrease costs
Brands need to prove that promoters have actually increased their spend or recommended a friend - by linking sales data to VoC scores they can prove that promoters spend more, or come back again and more often; by linking customer account data to VoC scores they can prove that more satisfied customers renew their contracts, spend more, or buy other services.
Make the investment to link feedback data to customer data to establish what an ‘X’ percent increase in NPS or CSAT results would do to decrease churn or increase sales. This is incredibly powerful - it helps the whole business to understand the link between execution and results.
Want to find out more about measuring Voice of the Customer? Our eBook 'Measuring Customer Experience' will walk you through how to use the right metrics, at the right time, along the customer journey.
