A great customer experience (CX) program isn’t just about gathering feedback—it’s about creating experiences so good that they drive loyalty, improve financial performance, and give your brand a competitive edge. But for that to happen, CX analytics need to be more than just a set of reports.
At the location level, leaders are focused on execution—staffing, inventory, service speed, and daily problem-solving. With so many priorities competing for attention, it’s easy for CX insights to feel like just another data point instead of the playbook for success that it’s meant to be.
As a CX leader, your challenge isn’t just getting location leaders to log in—it’s helping them see how CX data makes their jobs easier, improves team performance, and ultimately fuels business growth. Here’s how to shift their mindset and turn your CX program into a tool for action, not just analysis.
1. Set clear CX goals—and make them visible
To improve engagement, GMs need clear goals that tie CX success to their team’s performance. If they don’t know what “good” looks like, they won’t prioritize it.
How to implement this:
- Ensure every GM knows the CX goals for their location, whether it’s improving overall satisfaction scores, increasing survey volume, or reducing wait-time complaints.
- Use in-platform goal sharing tools to define and communicate goals.
- Pro Tip: This allows users at every level to determine where they stand and where they should focus.
What success looks like:
Location leaders log in regularly to track progress and adjust their approach instead of waiting for corporate reports to tell them how they’re doing.
2. Pinpoint top focus areas to fix problems faster
GMs have so much to do to run great locations, so they need an easy way to quickly understand where they can have the greatest impact. Using data-informed Areas for Focus (AFFs) keep them from getting distracted by individual complaints.
How to implement this:
- Use AFF reports to highlight consistent problem areas—like slow service, cleanliness concerns, or friendliness.
- Provide guiding documents—like established service standards—in-platform with best practices for tackling common pain points.
- Update AFFs quarterly to balance agility and the ability to measure the impact of a sustained effort.
What success looks like:
Location leaders shift from reacting to isolated complaints to proactively solving systemic issues—leading to long-term improvements.
Pro Tip: Maintain customer engagement without slowing down staff by using automation to flag and automatically respond to customer comments.
3. Use period-end reports to track trends and drive accountability
Focused occasional insights are useful, but if you’re not tracking trends over time, you’ll be stuck being reactive—not proactive. Period-end reports help GMs see the bigger picture and make smarter business decisions over time.
How to implement this:
- Review period-end reports for CX trends as a standard agenda item in monthly manager meetings.
- Encourage location leaders to assign action items based on CX data and review progress with senior leadership each quarter.
- Use leaderboards to show which locations are improving the most and highlight best practices from top performers.
What success looks like:
Location leaders think beyond individual insights to consider and track improvement over time, creating a cycle of continuous progress.
Raw scores tell you what’s happening—customer comments tell you why. If location leaders aren’t reviewing customer comments, they’re missing critical context for CX scores. Customer comments are always available for review, but recent technology additions can provide an assist.
How to implement this:
- Modern AI-based tools can analyze customer comments at scale and provide highly customizable summaries. Use these tools to develop insightful top-level summaries and to uncover the most impactful topics being discussed.
- Filter by AFF topics to drill down into the reasons the topic appears as a pain point. For instance, if cleanliness scores are low, filtering comments may reveal that customers complain about restroom odors, not actual cleanliness. This helps teams focus on the right fix.
What success looks like:
Location leaders use real customer feedback—instead of assumptions—to make data-driven improvements.
5. Celebrate wins to reinforce good behavior and increase adoption
CX engagement improves when teams see that their efforts make a difference. Recognition is one of the most powerful tools for keeping GMs and frontline employees engaged.
How to implement this:
- Set GMs up to receive instant notifications when their location gets praise by using celebration alerts that trigger when compliments appear in customer feedback.
- Encourage managers to share Celebration Alert comments in team meetings, highlighting why customers were delighted with the experience.
- Create leaderboards to drive friendly competition and keep GMs invested in customer experience.
- Pro Tip: Invite top performers to share tactics they use to deliver their results.
What success looks like:
The whole team is motivated to stay engaged with CX insights because they see the impact of their efforts.
How to roll this out across your organization
To make these strategies stick, CX leaders need a structured rollout plan. Here’s how to implement these engagement tactics at scale:
- Assess program engagement levels – Identify locations with low platform usage and focus your efforts there first.
- Introduce these five strategies in a leadership meeting or training session.
- Set clear expectations for engagement – Define what “good” participation looks like (e.g., logging in weekly, discussing data in team meetings, celebrating wins).
- Monitor adoption and adjust as needed – Use leaderboard data, AFF reports, and login trends to measure engagement and refine your approach.
CX engagement starts with empowering your location leaders
For your CX program to succeed, it’s not enough to collect customer feedback—you need leaders to use it to build better customers experiences. By giving GMs clear goals, actionable insights, and the motivation to engage, you’ll drive better customer experiences, stronger team performance, and more successful locations.
Want to go deeper into how to drive program engagement in the field? Contact us or—if you already partner with SMG—reach out to your SMG Client Success Manager today!
