CX metrics, mistakes and missed opportunities: CX Mini Masterclass – E63

This CX Mini Masterclass explores some of the most pervasive missteps that organizations make with their CX metrics. Special guest and CX thought leader Stephanie Thum shares 4 of the most common pitfalls and their consequences. She also provides practical tips on how CX teams can turn things around. If you’re looking for some excellent food for thought on how to launch or fine-tune your approach to CX metrics, then this episode is for you.

Insights from a special guest

Stephanie has amassed deep expertise through her diverse professional background in the field of customer experience. While she’s often best known for her experience as one of the US federal government’s first agency CX leads, she has also been a practitioner and consultant in the B2B world, working with small and mid-sized companies and was one of the founding members of the CXPA. She’s a CCXP and has remained active with the association, even spending some time as part of the association’s HQ team. She’s written an ebook, Where Customer Experience Practices Haven’t Landed in Business. If you’d like to get in touch, connect with her via LinkedIn or Twitter.

 

If you’d like to hear more of Stephanie’s insights on the show, be sure to check out her previous episodes. In episode 45 Stephanie re-framed how organizations should think of customers and shared practical ideas on how to do this. In episode 50, Stephanie dove into her area of expertise and covered trends with how CX is taking hold in government organizations. And in episode 55, she provided a step-by-step guide to CEOs on how to lead customer-centric change.

 

A focus on CX metrics

If you are new to the CX profession, the world of CX metrics can be daunting. Even of you are a seasoned professional, CX metrics can be intimidating. That said, metrics are the lifeblood of and CX initiative, program or department. CX metrics are how we monitor progress and demonstrate impact, so we need to get over any discomfort we might have with this topic and stay attuned to how we can most effectively use the numbers.

 

4 common mistakes – and how to fix them

Stephanie provided her insights on 4 of the most common missteps that teams make with how they manage CX metrics:

Mistake #1: Top-line revenue tells you everything you need to know about customers’ experiences

Yes, revenue can be a barometer on how happy customers are or how well products are doing in the marketplace, but it won’t tell teams what is going right or wrong. So make sure you are reporting on a balanced mix of metrics and not reliant on just this number.

Mistake #2: Thinking customer experience metrics make you look bad

Sometimes the results might not be flattering, but that’s not a reason to avoid them all together. Ensure that CX metrics are used to start constructive dialogue with your team, not as a policing mechanism.

Mistake #3: Customer satisfaction is the only customer experience metric that matters

There can be alluring simplicity in focusing on just one CX metric, but resist the temptation to do so. As with top line revenue, Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) has limited use as a metric-in-isolation. Embrace a wider scope of quantitative and qualitative data points. E.g. customer wait times, transaction completion rates, acceptance rates, types of customer compliments, verbatim feedback.

Mistake #4: A once-per-year customer experience data review is all we need

Customer needs and expectations aren’t static. Service standards like wait times and processing times should keep pace with customer expectations. Look for data sources and CX metrics that are ongoing, so you can monitor how things are changing. Your organization is probably already gathering data that can be used for this purpose.

 

Want to keep learning about CX?

If you’d like to checkout more of these CX Mini Masterclasses or listen to my longer format CX expert interviews, check out the full listing of episodes for this CX podcast.

And if you are looking to super-charge your CX skills and continue learning, be sure to check out CX University. They have a great array of CXPA accredited training resources available on a flexible monthly subscription plan. Use the code PODCAST10 to get 10% off your first month’s subscription and support this podcast.

Decoding the Customer is a series of customer experience podcasts created and produced by Julia Ahlfeldt, CCXP. Julia is a customer experience strategist, speaker and business advisor. She is a Certified Customer Experience Professional and one of the top experts in customer experience management. To find out more about how Julia can help your business achieve its CX goals, check out her customer experience advisory consulting services (including customer insights, CX measurement, leadership alignment and CX change implementation) or get in touch via email.