Frontline employees improve guest experience

While your customers may be able to feel it when their experience isn’t going the way they expect, they probably have no idea what’s going on behind the register to make that happen. Is it staffing levels? A supply chain issue? An inefficient service process? A training gap?

Meanwhile, your employees are elbow-deep in your business every day, running processes in their sleep, and intimately familiar with your problems. Your frontline employees are your secret weapon. Sideline them, and you're ignoring one of your most powerful tools for improvement.

Don't just take our word for it, the data's clear. Companies with highly engaged teams are outperforming their competitors—we're talking +5% higher customer satisfaction, +10% greater customer loyalty, +8% more year-on-year sales, and -18% lower turnover. In the game of business, that's a winning hand.

Employees provide insights on tech implementation

Now, with the rollout of more technology in various industries—including custom-built apps and other customer-facing technology—it’s important to be proactive and integrate your employees’ insights into review of tech development and implementation.

In an age where technology rolls out at rapid speed and the market can shift suddenly, you can’t underestimate the power of good old human insight. Your employees need to be in the thick of it, helping review and assess tech developments, providing feedback to finetune operational procedures, and helping your business run better.

Brand examples connecting employee experience & customer experience

Let's zoom in on a couple of brands succeeding by connecting employee experience (EX) with customer experience (CX) data to drive tangible performance boosts.

Identify issues quickly

Take a national QSR brand. They dropped a limited-time offer (LTO) and wanted a quick take on the customer response. When they turned to their EX and CX programs, feedback indicated there was room for improvement. Turns out, poor packaging design and a training gap was at the center of the issue.

They took action on the insights, revamped the packaging, and ramped up training. As a result, it improved the LTO’s Overall Satisfaction (OSAT) score and bolstered employee engagement. That's insight into action.

Combine employee passions & customer needs

A national retailer that prides itself on exceptional customer service leaned into their EX and CX data to find how employees’ passions could help impact customer experiences. In doing so, the brand discovered employees thrived on rewarding work and the opportunity to flex their strengths, while customers valued merchandise availability and helpful assistance. In fact, data indicated the more employees felt empowered to do rewarding work playing to their strengths, the more customers felt satisfied about their experience.

Their solution? More—implementation of an employee recognition program and development of employee training that focused on making sales recommendations and delivering friendly checkout. As a result, job satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and sales for add-ons and private label products all went up.

Happy employees = happy customers

Here's the bottom line: weave EX into your overall experience strategy and you're not just optimizing operations, you're turbocharging customer experience.

Service profit chain proof

Case in point? A multi-location QSR brand found well-trained employees who feel cared for in their first 90 days deliver 53% faster service. That's the power of the Service Profit Chain—proof that happy, engaged employees create experiences that lead to loyal, satisfied customers, which in turn boosts your bottom line.

Be proactive with employees

Harness the power of your greatest asset: your employees. Be proactive—check in with them, seek out their insights, and take their ideas seriously. When employees see their input in action, they'll be more engaged, more satisfied, and guess what? Your customers will feel the difference.

Contact SMG to connect EX & CX

To learn more about how you can dig deep and uncover those crucial operational insights, contact us.