Customer experience is a term that has gained popularity in recent years. But what does it mean? And how do you measure it?
The customer experience is an essential part of business success, and it’s something that many companies are trying to improve. According to a Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) survey, 84 percent of companies say they have a customer experience strategy in place.
But there are different ways of thinking about the customer experience, and each approach has its own set of metrics. Here are some common ways to think about measuring your customer experience:
Empathy Metrics: These measures how customers feel about their interactions with your company and brand. They include things like how likely people are to recommend your products or services, how much trust they have in your brand and how likely they are to return for more business. You can use these metrics to identify where you’re doing well — or not doing well enough — to improve future interactions.
Customer Effort Scores (CES): This metric measures how much effort it takes for customers to get what they want from your company. A low CES means that customers don’t have much trouble getting what they want from your organization.
Use surveys and questionnaires: Surveys and questionnaires help gather information about customers’ perceptions of their own experience, but they also have limitations. For example, customers may not be able to recall recent experiences accurately or may not want to share negative feedback with you because they don’t want to hurt your feelings or they want future business from you. You can use surveys as a starting point for measuring your customer experience but shouldn’t rely on them exclusively.
Use voice-of-the-customer programs (VOC): VOC programs involve collecting customer feedback through phone calls, email, or other channels — typically through an automated system that asks questions about recent interactions with your company. The information gathered can be helpful if you filter out the noise from angry customers who may not represent the majority of overall sentiment toward your brand. However, if those angry customers are vocal enough, their responses could sway the results of any survey you conduct later on down the line — if not immediately after its completion.
Net Promoter Score (NPS): is a measure that uses a single question to gauge customer loyalty and willingness to recommend a product or service. The NPS has been shown to strongly correlate with growth in revenue, operating income, and stock price for companies across many industries.
Customer experience is the sum of all interactions between your company and your customers, from the moment they first interact with your brand to the end of the sale.
