Turning data into actual insights is a hurdle many in the customer experience game are trying to clear. Your customer experience (CX) software might provide you with a large amount of customer data, but then the question becomes: How do I know if this data actually provides any insight into what my customers are thinking, feeling, or saying about their experience with my brand?
To further complicate things, too often your CX software provider can’t assist you in understanding your data, or they offer data interpretation guidance that is actually more of a homework assignment than a helping hand. Brands today need more than just data points—they need true CX insights that help them understand where they are, what direction they’re heading, and how they can get where they need to go.
Here, we’ll look at five simple questions that can help you determine whether your customer experience management (CXM) platform is providing you with true CX insights, or if it’s just dropping massive amounts of data at your feet.
1. Is the insight specific?
It’s hard to take a specific action with vague information—in fact, it’s almost impossible, especially because vagueness often leaves brands with more questions than answers. A true CX insight provides detailed, timely information that helps brands make strategic decisions and take specific actions in a contextual way that demonstrates industry knowledge and an understanding of the client.
For example, let’s imagine a restaurant brand receives a low cleanliness score on a customer satisfaction survey. This should prompt the brand to place a greater emphasis on cleanliness to improve the score, right? But taking the time to investigate what is causing this low score or why customers are responding in this way... that’s where the real value is.
A more thorough examination may reveal the problem is not an unclean environment, but a dining room featuring too many trash receptacles too close to the tables, leading customers to perceive a lack of cleanliness. This more detailed, specific CX insight can help the brand take thoughtful, measured actions that get to the root of the issue.
2. Is the insight understandable?
It’s true that numbers don’t lie, but too much CX data presented without context or in a complicated way can leave brands struggling to decipher data and take appropriate action. Brands need customer journey analytics that are action-oriented, intuitive, engaging, and easily accessible to help create a focused plan of attack.
With a platform that prioritizes the what, how, and why of customer feedback as opposed to a buffet of numbers, brands can address frontline concerns both inside the store and at the C-suite level to help turn key insights into core components of the brand’s philosophy.
3. Is the insight prescriptive?
The best way to truly effect organizational change is to partner with a CX platform provider that can help you craft and implement a strategic action plan. In short, it’s not enough for insights to be specific and understandable—they also need to be prescriptive so brands know how to act on customer satisfaction and survey data.
Prescriptive CX insights should account for industry context, have a clear call-to-action and owner(s), and come with predicted, data-driven outcomes that establish key benchmarks for success.
4. Is the insight measurable?
It’s difficult to know what you’ve accomplished without a concrete way of measuring what success actually looks like, which is why you want a CXM platform that helps you define internal + external benchmarks and create goal-oriented strategies.
For example, our research consistently shows the quickest and most sustainable approach to business growth is turning a satisfied customer into a highly-satisfied customer, as the latter are about three times more likely to demonstrate greater loyalty to your brand. Converting a target percentage of 4s (satisfied customers) into 5s (highly satisfied customers) is the kind of measurable goal that can lead to a more profitable future.
5. Is the insight worthwhile?
Not all CX insights are created equally, especially when it comes to evaluating ROI. The problem is that too many brands don’t know the ROI of their CX—for example, 89% of CX professionals surveyed state that the ROI of their CX is not well established within their company. This is why the final test of the value of your customer experience centers on whether the insights actually demonstrate a return on your spend.
To help identify whether your CX insight is worthwhile, ask yourself:
- Does this insight predict accompanying financial outcomes?
- Does this insight factor in omni-channel impact like call center volume or social ratings?
- Does this insight produce results that extend beyond CX measures?
Worthwhile insights can be mapped to cross-functional gains that demonstrate tangible, widespread ROI to help you prove the improvement plan or program is worth the effort.
Addressing these questions will help your brand know how and if your customer experience management platform is providing real CX insights, or if it’s simply cranking out data points that leave you scratching your head.
Check out this case study demonstrating how Wendy’s leveraged our insights to improve bottom-performing locations and boost sales performance of specific menu items. DOWNLOAD THE CASE STUDY TO LEARN MORE.
