The One CX Goal You Need to Set for 2019
Every January we all get energized to be better versions of ourselves. We post on social media about what we want to accomplish in the new year, thinking if we post it, we will finally do what we committed to doing. Often, this is where the story ends. With a social post.
Why do we so rarely accomplish what we set out to accomplish? Because we do not focus. We have LISTS of resolutions. All you need is one commitment. By focusing on one thing, you are setting up the path to achieve your goal.
Identify One CX Goal
For 2019, I urge you to make only one CX goal – bring about business success with your customer experience work. Don’t just do work in the general sense. Rather, set a CX goal that has a real impact on your customers and their experiences with your brand.
Own your challenge, too. Select an internal metric and report your progress on a quarterly cadence. You can use operational efficiency KPIs (faster throughput, higher percent FCR – first call resolution), cost KPIs (lower call volume, higher percent self-service), or revenue KPIs (higher conversion rates online, more repeat customers, higher value customers).
Find a CX Metric that Matters to Your CFO
Whatever you choose, do not stop at NPS or CSAT. Keep going until you find a metric that your CFO relates to. NPS is important, but NPS is not enough. As MaritzCX explained in their CXPA webinar, often NPS is managed as a transactional measure vs. a relationship measure.
This makes it hard to connect NPS to customer loyalty. NPS is right for us CX professionals. However, NPS does not make customer experience an important topic for boards of directors.
Measure What you Know
Back to your 2019 CX Goal. Depending on your role and level in the organization, you can prioritize and focus on different things. The higher you are in your organization, the more you need to manage metrics. We all know the expression if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. Without metrics you are lost.
Set a goal to collect and analyze metrics that link to customer experience in your organization. Depending on your business, you can start with any of the above mentioned metrics.
What you collect and connect to improving customer experience can also vary by program. For our operations readers, employee efficiencies (throughput time studies before and after) are a good place to start. For contact center managers, talk-time and FCR are the best places to focus on. Digital professionals should track looks, conversions, purchases, percent site abandon, percent direct sales vs. 3rd party, etc.
Focus Your CX Measurement
If you are managing a Customer Insights team, focus on one business customer in 2019 and service that customer. Send your people to observe the day-to-day of that team so they can understand better what survey questions to ask and what metrics help manage results better.
Don’t wait for the business to reach out and ask you for a standard report. Task a team member to really think through the lens of the business and build a customized report. Remember, customized does NOT mean get a drop-down per month vs. per week view. Look at the data with fresh eyes and see new insight that is powerful and useful to the business unit. Solve problems. Bring light to meaningful patterns. Become the adviser that the business cannot live without. Do this for one division in 2019 and then grow your scope (and budget, hopefully) to deliver value to more business lines in your organization.
Ask the Right Survey Questions
If you are an individual contributor designing surveys, think about asking questions whose answers can be converted into projects. If you do that, you may even end up executing those projects. And once you do that, you have propelled your CX career. For example, if you work in retail banking, ask your customers why they leave your branch. Then analyze the answers and from the patterns, you will be able to see the top 3 reasons people leave (apart from relocating). One of those reasons will be something the bank can change. Take that one thing and propose a solution.
These are just a few examples of CX goals that reflect experience ROI and overall business impact. Depending where you are in your career and CX maturity, your CX goal will vary. Whatever it is, make sure that it has a tangible impact on your customers and your business. If you need to brainstorm on your specific goals, feel free to reach out. We are always excited to learn about CX jobs and role challenges across industries.
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