Are Your Customer Experience Metrics Undermining the Experience?
Metrics often stir debate within the realm of customer experience (CX). Discussions frequently revolve around identifying the most effective CX metric. Net Promoter Score (NPS) has gained widespread acceptance but is increasingly scrutinized, leading many organizations to consider alternatives such as Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) or Customer Effort Score (CES). Each year, new metrics emerge, often touted by analysts or consultants who assert they can address the shortcomings of previous ones.
However, this ongoing conversation tends to overlook a crucial aspect: the application of these metrics. A common pitfall for organizations is establishing performance objectives and benchmarks that rely on CX metrics. No matter which metric is selected, assessing performance through surveys can diminish their worth, resulting in unintended adverse effects on frontline staff, customers, and the organization overall.
Impact on Frontline Staff
Many organizations utilize CX metrics, including NPS and CSAT, to assess the performance of frontline employees. Yet, numerous variables outside of an employee’s control can impact a customer’s view of their service experience.
For example, if a customer contacts support to voice their frustration with a company policy, it may be beyond the agent’s ability to effect change. It can be disheartening for employees who genuinely try to resolve issues but still receive low survey ratings. This can gradually undermine confidence in the metrics and increase employee turnover rates.
Explore further: The connection between employee experience and customer satisfaction
Consequences for Customers
The repercussions for employees often reverberate into the customer experience in various ways. Unmotivated staff members are less likely to deliver high-quality assistance. Employees may adopt strategies that adversely affect customers as they attempt to navigate what they perceive as an inequitable evaluation system. For instance, they might sidestep complex inquiries or transfer calls to different departments to avoid unfavorable ratings.
Tying performance to CX metrics can frustrate customers, even when their service expectations are met. A typical scenario involves companies prompting customers to fill out surveys, highlighting the importance of a high score for their employees’ job security. Feedback should be optional rather than obligatory. When customers feel pressure to provide input, the resulting feedback is often insincere or hesitant.
More subtle issues might also surface. A few years back, my spouse and I began hosting on Airbnb, dedicated to ensuring our guests had excellent experiences. Our commitment allowed us to achieve Superhost status, which improved our listing visibility. Nonetheless, despite receiving mostly five-star ratings, a few four-star reviews—attributable to factors outside our influence—resulted in our ranking slipping just above the Superhost requirement by December.
As the next review loomed for January 1, preserving our Superhost status appeared more critical than risking another four-star review. Consequently, I decided against accepting new bookings during December and even removed a popular listing from a key tourist destination during the busy travel period. While this safeguarded our status, it negatively affected Airbnb and potential travelers.
This example illustrates how relying on reviews as a measure of performance, while conceptually sound, highlights the impact of performance metrics tied to external factors.
Dive deeper: The role of customer satisfaction in driving B2B success
Effects on the Organization
Organizations risk losing valuable, actionable feedback when employee or customer behaviors are swayed by CX metric targets. Inflated scores—resulting from employees soliciting high ratings or systems that penalize anything less than a perfect score—can create a misleading sense of accomplishment. Consequently, the feedback that could inform meaningful improvements never materializes, and dissatisfied customers leave.
What if organizations set performance targets based on CX metrics at a collective level instead of focusing on individuals? Even this approach can present challenges, as customer sentiment is multifaceted and shaped by a range of factors.
Enhancing overall NPS on a company-wide basis necessitates a comprehensive strategy. Unfortunately, I have observed numerous organizations approach CX objectives as they would revenue goals, splitting a target across different departments, as illustrated in the waterfall chart below.
This methodology is ineffective, as survey-based metrics lack the accuracy required for such distribution. Teams frequently become preoccupied with target debates rather than enhancing customer experiences. In extreme cases, the pressure to achieve targets can lead to the manipulation of survey outcomes, undermining the primary goal of improving customer experiences.
Explore further: 5 straightforward methods to enhance customer experience
An Improved Approach: Use CX Metrics as a Guiding Principle
You may wonder about the role of CX metrics in light of the difficulties associated with setting goals based on them. How can we effectively gauge the efficacy of CX initiatives?
Consider your survey-based CX metrics as a guiding principle—a tool to help align efforts aimed at enhancing the customer experience. Feedback should be examined to pinpoint specific actions to improve CX, while performance goals should center on completing those actions instead.
This fundamental modification—from measuring performance against actual metrics to focusing on the actions that drive these metrics—will refine customer experience and help you sidestep the pitfalls discussed in this article.
Explore further: 24 myths about customer experience debunked
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