With a new year comes new aspirations and goals. Unfortunately, planning new goals may be rather difficult for some businesses as their priority lists may already be filled to the brim with other issues, such as supporting hybrid and remote workers, upgrading tech and company infrastructure, and integrating new systems and applications into company functions.
Of course, we have the ongoing pandemic to thank for that. Covid-19 has certainly forced many organizations to shift their focus towards certain core aspects to maintain effective business continuity. As such, the customer experience has not been in the spotlight as of late. After all, all we need to do for CX is to run some ads or a marketing campaign right?
Unfortunately, it is never that simple. As a recent PwC report has shown, up to 86 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. The pandemic has only served to increase the pickiness of consumers, who want nothing less than the best bang for their buck in these uncertain times. And this does not just include product practicality; it also includes the seamless service at every part of the customer journey. This is why businesses need to put CX goals on their priority list as well.
Start With a Business Goal
With the onset of the pandemic, most CX professionals might not have had the luxury to sit down and carefully layout a proper CX strategy for their organizations. It is likely that they have had to string together a loose collection of quick fixes to ensure some form of satisfactory customer experience. But without strategic planning, you can’t prioritize what activities will have the biggest impact on your customer experience. It is also important to keep in mind that a CX strategy is not all about keeping the customers happy.
While yes, it is both fun and beneficial to develop strategies about keeping the consumers happy and satisfied with a product or service, a CX strategy must also align with and support the strategic goals of the organization. When developing a new strategy for the coming year, it would do well to be prepared to answer questions on how CX activities will impact revenue moving forward, as well as costs and other bottom-line metrics. Without proper justification, CX will be sidelined as just another part of marketing.
Familiarize With Customer Metrics
If it wasn’t already obvious, the customer part of CX means that the main focus is on the customer. As such, a CX professional’s job will revolve around the customer, and by extension, the data that surrounds them. If it has not already been done, one of the most important goals to set is to ensure that all CX team members familiarize themselves with sales metrics such as net revenue retention (NRR) and gross revenue retention (GRR). This will grant them a good idea on the way the wind is blowing with regards to customer satisfaction and retention.
However, revenue is not the only metric that should be focused on. Having a 360-degree view of customer health is vital to renewal and expansion success. Keep an eye on things such as product usage, customer engagement, and other metrics to get a full picture of customer health. It is never easy to quantify and measure something as ambiguous as customer satisfaction, but the longer one waits to do so, the harder it will get.
Don’t Neglect the Employee Experience
We can be pretty certain the many employers are feeling the effects of the ‘Great Resignation’ by now, both the positive and the negative. While many employees may have stuck with their employers due to the uncertainty brought about by the pandemic, many are now coming to realize that they don’t have to stick with organizations with less than ideal employee experiences. Keeping employees engaged is now more important than ever, as many might leave at the drop of a hat.
The employee experience directly translates into the customer experience. After all, it is the employees who facilitate the customer experience. If employees are unmotivated, or if there simply aren’t enough of them, the entire customer journey will be affected.
