Creating a meaningful difference in business these days, especially in a competitive marketplace, rewards CEOs who can see the bigger picture. Again and again, feedback from two critical groups delivers forward thinkers the edge they’re looking for:
- Company customers and CX (customer experience)
- Company employees and EX (employee experience)
Numerous studies prove beyond any doubt that mapping CX and EX drives the fortunes of successful enterprises. To truly maximize these benefits, no organization can afford to take only half measures in understanding the experiences of customers and employees. At every step of the journey with your company, commonly referred to as touchpoints, things can go well and build loyalty — or things can go badly and cause churn. How well you understand the employee experience and the customer experience along these touchpoints can determine your future success.
CX and identifying customer pain
Hundreds of touchpoints make up the CX process. They cover customers’ behavior from the time we get their attention until they start using the product (or service), and beyond. The product return business is a multi-billion $ industry, and a lot of it rides on sellers’ failure to follow CX to the point of closing the deal. Many think that the job’s over when the cash register rings, but that’s not true. Repeatedly, the customer wants his or her money back, even though the brand seems to meet the stated need spot on.
The lesson is this: Customer satisfaction is not all about the product. Indeed, it’s so much more, like personal service, instructions, and oodles of information along the way. Retailers and B2B organizations alike frequently fall short of appreciating that customers move in and out of the always-open online marketplace, as they do a traditional outlet. They scan reviews, chat with support agents, ask influencers for advice, browse landing pages from “About Us” to “Testimonials” to relevant blogs, and much more. The customer journey is seldom a beeline for the shopping cart.
Sticking one’s head in the ground ostrich style isn’t much of a strategy in a highly competitive marketplace.. When it comes to selecting from the different types of feedback surveys, a narrow attitude will almost certainly kill the sale. One disastrous touchpoint in an otherwise smooth buying process can swing even loyal customers to try other brands. When frustration, anger, confusion, or apathy pop up in the CX mix, all the old rules don’t apply any longer. Here’s the thing: All you want out of CX is customer satisfaction. What you don’t want on your agenda are challenging obstacles, traps, and threats that upend your efforts at every turn.
Eliminating CX pain should always be your goal
Why? We can think of three compelling reasons around the Customer Feedback Survey discussion:
- Word of mouth: Did you know a single contented customer talks about good CX to nine others? That may sound great until you learn that one unhappy customer spreads the bad news to sixteen friends and family (on average) — both undeniable facts, according to Forbes,
- Product or service repurchases: Doing everything to secure long-term brand loyalty with customer retention is the number one priority.
- Turning new prospects into new customers is a winning formula in most scalable markets.
Tap into CX for the most customer satisfaction with a Customer Feedback Survey
Understand that people are people, even though we see them sometimes differently. If you think that your employees don’t have an enormous influence on CX and customer satisfaction, think again.
- Do you have staff members who are not all in on the company’s mission?
- Are there employees who bolt from the office as the clock strikes five?
If so, they’re a CX liability. We will deal with this lower down under “EX and identifying employee pain.” For now, be aware that employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction overlap, and that employees and customers meet at numerous touchpoints throughout the buying process. Bad employee vibes can derail a customer’s journey instantaneously. In contrast, problematic customers can disrupt employee harmony just as quickly.
Numerous studies focused on feedback surveys show that buyer sare ready to pay a premium for a pleasant CX (close to 86%). Yet only one percent say sellers meet expectations. The gap is mind-boggling. Close it by stepping into the customer’s shoes. Try to feel and think as they do at each of the multiple touchpoints on the buying journey. The only way to do that is to ask them.
An invaluable tool – the Customer Feedback Survey – enters the conversation
It’s often called the Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Survey, and there are boilerplate versions on the market that come in the format of Customer Survey Templates and Questionnaires. These, if used well, dig down into your customer pain areas highlighted above, by applying a CSAT rating scale. They let you know how bad things genuinely are or confirm that you are, indeed, meeting expectations. A CSAT survey and Product Feedback Survey scores your performance from the customer’s viewpoint on all the critical aspects that spell success or failure.
How a customer feedback survey works
There’s no such thing as one survey, and different businesses look for diverse stuff in terms of hearing back from customers. As a customer, you’ve probably been receiving an email or text after every online or mobile chat with a support person lately. It routinely asks you if you were satisfied or not. You’ll also notice that the support agent alerts you to the fact it’s coming your way and prompts you to respond positively.
Feedback is no joke to CEOs in the know, and their employees know that their career enrichment may depend on it. The message has finally sunk in. No matter how superior your product or service is physically and technically, an uninformed, disinterested, rude, misleading, or impatient support person can unravel a brand image.
Customer Survey Templates and Questionnaires and Product Feedback Surveys that monitor various levels of customer satisfaction fit into the following categories:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) ® – Widely used and very popular because the one question it asks is sharply telling. Generally, you see something along these lines, “How likely are you to recommend [company name] to a friend” rating on a Likert scale from 0-10
- Customer Effort Score (CES) – Focusing on the degree of difficulty a customer experienced in getting a touchpoint (or touchpoints) completed satisfactorily. Again, it most often points at support quality with questions like, “How easy was it to get answers to your query today?” and similar.
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) – This is the most searching probe across a broad range of customer connections with the company. It covers support and product/ service considerations, rating on scales from 1 to 5 (with 1 = very dissatisfied, and 5 = completely satisfied).
EX and identifying employee pain
The logic here is similar to CX. There are numerous touchpoints from the time an employee begins thinking about work until he or she goes to sleep at night. We reiterate – customer retention is a crucial metric for any business. Employee Benefit News (EBN) reports that when an employee leaves the company, for whatever reason, it costs 33% of the worker’s annual salary to find a suitable replacement. For example, $25,000 is nothing to be sneezed at for a retiree, transferee, firee, or someone moving to a competitor earning $75,000. And this doesn’t take in the disruption to team effectiveness, and CX management control (see above).
Performance management is a modern-day business science that concentrates attention on employee contentment and keeping employee retention healthy. The most prolific employee dissatisfactions circle back to the following issues:
- Lack of transparency
- Inadequate team support
- Broken promises
- Paying only lip service to employee recommendations
- Failure to recognize achievements
- Stressful corporate culture
- Unrealistic expectations
- Work overload
- Responsibilities beyond employee’s level of competence
- Inability to connect to the big company objectives
- Poor communication
- Technologically backward
- Remuneration below average
All the above are formidable obstacles that taint EX touchpoints in every working day. When repeated time and time again, they erode employee loyalty, creating all kinds of lapses in the work processes, team coordination, and ultimately impact CX as well.
Getting to the crux of employee discontent
The sooner you uncover the dark side of your operation, the better. Nip staff dissatisfaction in the bud by taking a tough stance against stakeholder and executive resistance. There may be many inside the ranks protecting their turf to make themselves appear indispensable. Opposition to transparency may be your first indication that something’s wrong.
It’s not easy introducing a system based on an overview involving:
- A well-structured employee feedback survey
- A compulsory exit interview survey (for those leaving the company).
To the culprits of company disruption, such a move will likely be a threat, not a reward. The initiative, nonetheless, starts at the top, and acceptance will eventually lead to a fantastic change in corporate culture. Employees respond positively and quickly to having a real voice and inclusion as a valued team member. The turnaround in attitude will astound you.
Exit Interview Survey and Employee Survey Templates and Questionnaires
You want to know what the people turning up every day think of the business, as well as those moving out. So here are some good examples:
For your current workforce – questions like this:
- “How effectively are your skills being put to use in the company?” Don’t leave it open-ended. Give respondents five or six easy options connected to the word “effectively.” Starting with “extremely effectively” and grade down to “ineffectively.”
- “How easy is it to access essential resources to do your job?” Provide options ranging from “extremely easy” to “next to impossible.
Questions like this for exiting staff:
- “What are your reasons for leaving?” Here an open-ended answer block makes sense.
- “To what extent has your relationship with your supervisor been instrumental in you leaving?” Answers range from “extremely instrumental” to “not at all.” There may be a followup prompt that says, “If anything but “not at all” – please explain.”
The depth and breadth of these EX probes can be extensive. It’s advisable to utilize an EX platform or hire professional help to make sure you’re zoning-in on all the crucial aspects.
Must do’s when it comes to CX and EX feedback
Data in modern times is a valuable asset, so surveys and questionnaires are an effective weapon. It gives you insight that otherwise can easily escape your attention and helps you to develop strategies that can change the outlook of your business. However, like anything worth fighting for, it takes commitment, patience, and resilience to make it work for your benefit. For example, timing is vital; when the things you are asking about are fresh in the respondents’ minds. Coming in too late or too early can severely diminish the feedback. Moreover, failure to do anything with your information defeats the purpose.
CX and EX data as a business driver has never been more relevant than right now. The dynamic changes impacting ROI and competitive edge call for CX and EX mapping alongside surveys every step of the way.
Sogolytics feedback survey tool and templates can make a big difference in your business growth
Sogolytics can save you time and aggravation in structuring the right customer satisfaction survey questions for answers that count. Its professional team knows how to probe both the EX and CX satisfaction spectrum with both types of feedback surveys, assisting you to pinpoint the biggest obstacles in your way. You’ll find that the Sogolytics technologies are affordable to enterprises of all sizes. Their experts give you the most useful feedback templates and customization, with ROI always in mind. Don’t lose customers and employees unnecessarily when the remedies are at your fingertips. The Sogolytics team is ready to make your CX with them seamless, educational, and above all, profitable.
