Data integration is the easiest way to gain a holistic view of the customer experience

As consumer behaviors and expectations continue to shift, brands must continuously adjust their experience management (XM) strategy in order to keep up. This can be a daunting task—particularly right now with a major overhaul of “standard” operational procedures and a concentrated effort on prioritizing the health + safety of customers and employees.

The world changed over the last few months and brands were dealt a new set of challenges. But the good news is where there is challenge, there is also opportunity. Customer experience (CX) data is a key component to unlocking that opportunity. Chances are, if you’ve been collecting customer feedback, you don’t have a shortage of data. The trouble is, it’s often stored in multiple places—living in silos without a way to talk to each other.

This compartmentalized approach will no longer work. The quickest and easiest way for brands to tackle the challenges of the new normal and meet the expectations of today’s consumers is to combine CX data with multiple sources for a holistic view. With the right XM technology + support, brands can more effectively and efficiently integrate their CX data to answer pressing questions like:

How do we continue to invite customers to provide feedback as we move toward contactless experiences?

How do we continue to gain customer feedback as consumers use more third-party providers for delivery?

How can we narrow our business focus as new + conflicting operational priorities arise in response to the pandemic?

How can we resolve data silos and get more meaningful insight from the data we have available?

When you’re responsible for seeing the whole picture, you need to make sure you’re set for success—with the right data at the right time in the right configuration. Despite all of the challenges ushered in by the pandemic, data integration is one of the quickest and easiest ways to make CX data do the work for you. And with the right XM partner—one that is equipped to handle numerous types of data and customize integrations based on client needs—the process will be of minimal effort on your part.

While there are dozens of options, transactional data integration is one of the most common. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits:

• Leveraging specific data from the transaction enables shorter surveys, deeper insights, + faster results
• With contact information readily available, brands can invite customers faster via digital channels and remove barriers in gaining valuable feedback
• App or text survey invites give consumers a more streamlined + efficient engagement method
• Shorter, smarter surveys mean no need to inquire about customer + experiential information as brands will already know with logic-based surveying

• By integrating additional customer datasets, brands have a more holistic view of customer feedback along with transaction + respondent-level information, providing the ability to answer important business questions as they arise and leading to deeper insights
• Having datasets integrated + displayed within one dashboard provides focused results and greater perspective on COVID-specific interests

A one-stop shop for CX information

Your XM reporting platform should be designed for customizable data views, powerful analysis, and actionable information so you can see the relation between these different datasets.

No matter the type of data or the interaction being measured, smg360® houses it all together for easy reference and navigation—providing clients with actionable insight into where their brand is thriving, and where they could stand to improve. These are just a few ways SMG clients are integrating data for better insight:

• Grocery brands comparing POS data with real-time CX feedback for financial linkage
• Restaurant brands syncing up their CX data + operational audit data for a more holistic view of location performance
• Retailers pairing CRM data with customer feedback to gain a clearer understanding of each interaction

Having more inputs and a better way to view it all means you get better answers faster. It cuts through any confusion and rids the process of duplicative data, saving you time and money. And a more streamlined, all-inclusive reporting system delivers clearer and quicker communication to your front line, translating that data into timely action. Which means more productive associates, more loyal customers, and ultimately, better outcomes.

With an all-inclusive, one-stop shop of CX information, you can spend less time worrying about how to make sense of your data and more on what really matters—building consumer trust in today’s challenging environment.

If you’d like to discuss ways SMG can help your brand integrate its CX data for rich, actionable insight, please reach out. And for access to our exclusive 3-phased strategy map + status tracker—helping brands manage customer and employee experiences during COVID-19 + beyond—download: SMG’s Interactive XM Playbook.