How the Right Steps and Technology Improve Employee and Customer Experience
Many businesses are implementing technology to improve EX and CX. Discover what more they can do to improve them.
Business success depends both on employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX). Further, EX and CX are closely related. Many businesses are also implementing technology to improve these experiences. Robert Galop, GTM & Solution Advisor at CPaaS Acceleration Alliance, discusses how EX and CX are related and what more companies can do to improve them.
By now, most of us have heard of at least one of the three “Greats” happening simultaneously across the globe: The Great Reset, the Great Awakening, and the Great Resignation, all of which seem to have been born out of the pandemic that began in 2020. Data related to the Great Resignation, in particular, indicates a massive shift in workplace mindset. In the United States, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the rate of job quitting in 2021 reached highs not seen “since the start of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey program in December 2000.” While it is unclear whether workers who quit left the workforce and retired or moved on to another job, 19 million Americans said, “I quit” between March 2021 and July 2021. That’s more than 5 million per month.
A recent study conducted by WorkStep, which examined 155 supply chain companies and received anonymous feedback from more than 18,000 frontline workers, found that 75% of turnover could be prevented if companies knew why employees were resigning. Many reports, like this one from Pew Research Center, cite feeling disrespected and lacking growth opportunities as the top reasons for throwing in the towel. This typically leads to apathy and burnout, leading to lower commitment, higher absenteeism and more turnover — all very costly to businesses. Indeed crunched some numbers, estimating that employee turnover costs employers roughly 33% of an employee’s annual salary to find and hire a replacement.
The Link Between Employee and Customer Experience
In the same way, a satisfying experience is a core to attracting and retaining customers; companies can increase employee retention by improving their overall experience. Especially for organizations in service-based industries, it’s critical to be aware of the vital link between employee and customer experience (CX). Since frontline workers are the first point of customer contact, it’s essential to empower employees with the right tools, support, feedback, and recognition. Giving feedback to the frontline cannot be overstated. Customer surveys are great if they are short and to the point. The best practice is three questions: a rating, topic, and verbatim text response. When the most relevant feedback is shared with frontline staff, employees and managers have the information they need to move the needle in a positive direction.
The customer feedback loop, in particular, is so important for many reasons. First, if a business isn’t listening to its customers, it’s impossible to know their experience. Awareness of how customers feel about interactions is the most significant step toward improving their experience. This also helps in increasing the effectiveness of resource spend.
There are several necessary steps to close the customer feedback loop, and it begins with planning, tracking, and defining priorities and processes, as well as preparing frontline teams for success. Considering that customer feedback may be generated through many different channels, it’s important to allow them to provide feedback in whatever way is easiest for them. This may result in an abundance of information flowing to the company, so it is essential to bring all this information into one place to be easily monitored, tracked and analyzed. This will help identify trends across locations or over time, which can help prioritize issues that need to be tackled first.
Before gathering feedback, decide on what and how responses are handled. Do you need to hire extra team members to perform this function? Will it be added to the workload of existing customer service staff? Will managers take the lead and contact customers? While many organizations already use customer feedback software to collect these thoughts, create reports, and make changes to improve the customer experience, some miss the vital step of closing the customer feedback loop. When done successfully, the benefits are invaluable: Closing the feedback loop can increase customers’ positive feelings towards a business. (Feeling listened to and making an impact increases loyalty.) These customers are also more likely to provide feedback in the future if they know their opinions are heard and valued.
See More: Enhancing the Customer Experience with Smartphone Automation
Streamline to the Frontline
Some businesses are utilizing new platforms to collect insightful data to advance to the state of the art. While this is encouraging, some of the most commonly used CX platforms have several flaws. Not only are they difficult to implement and manage, but the feedback collected often ends up in the back office, where it sits waiting to be analyzed. Rarely this all-important feedback makes it into the hands of the people delivering the services. If and when it does, it’s usually too late to do anything about it. This makes insightful discovery into what is working or not working difficult. It also hinders frontline leaders from taking immediate action, like connecting the frontline worker to coaching to improve interactions or providing recognition for good performance.
It’s essential to separate coaching from managing. One works by keeping employees focused on processes and business outcomes, while the other focuses on helping employees develop and grow professionally and personally. Both are necessary, but when managers understand employees’ strengths, weaknesses, and goals, they are better equipped to provide them with the right support. This is as important for new hires as it is for long-time employees.
According to a survey from Randstad Risemart, a leader in coaching and career transition, 93% of employee respondents view coaching as valuable. In contrast, 97% who have experienced working with a coach view it as beneficial in increasing confidence and improving communication and leadership skills. However, not every employee has access to coaching. Only 27% of respondents say their companies offer coaching. Cost can be a big barrier when company decision-makers are pressed to focus on ROI.
See More: Boost Frontline Worker Productivity by Leveraging Mobile Intranet
Taking Action
As technology improves, the traditional CX platform has evolved beyond collecting data. The most effective platforms are making that data actionable by empowering managers and engaging frontline teams to improve not only the customer experience but also the employee experience by:
- Collecting, understanding, and acting on customer feedback in real-time
- Connecting and engaging frontline workers with coaching and recognition personalized for them based on customer feedback
- Directing and empowering managers with a daily game plan on what frontline workers need, how to support them and recognize them.
We live in a data-driven society, which is arguably what’s driving the three “Greats.” With enough data, organizations are learning how to influence behavior, drive radical change, and rebalance entire scales of the economy. With data, many people are awakening to more possibilities and ways to reach their potential and find their purpose. Finally, companies can turn talent failures into talent fortunes with enough data.
What steps have you taken to improve your employee and customer experience? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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