Making sense of every piece of customer feedback to deliver better experiences

Businesses collect more customer data than ever before.

The challenge is bringing all that data together to better understand the customer journey, reduce friction in customer interactions, and anticipate needs and potential issues - while also keeping it secure. 

The volume of data and its distribution across multiple systems and channels means organisations must leverage technology to help them better understand the wants and needs of their customers.

Understanding what your customers want and building deeper relationships with customers is critical for gaining competitive advantage and boosting profitability.

Vicky Katsabaris, director of XM Solutions and Strategy at Qualtrics Asia Pacific and Japan, said businesses need to rethink their approach to data collection, curation, and use.

While the use of customer data isn’t new, there are opportunities to use data they already have, as well as new data they solicit through surveys and other means.

“Brands have opened more digital channels for customers. There are voice conversations in the contact centre, social, online reviews, chat, support, and other experiences. Technology can help organisations use AI and natural language understanding to find new insights and cultivate deeper relationships with customers," she said. 

Capturing and acting on customer insights is just one part of strengthening relationships with customers. Employee insights have a critical role too. When employees are empowered with great information, they can drive better customer outcomes. That's positive for the organisation's bottom line and vastly improves the frontline team's job satisfaction. 

Three steps to maximize the benefits of your employee and customer experience investment.

Katsabaris outlines three steps to take for organisations wanting to get the most out of customer and employee experience management programs.

“Start by expanding how you solicit feedback. Go beyond surveys and solicited feedback and tune in to the conversations that are already happening. Tap into the data you have in your contact centre, on social media, and in support experiences so you don't have to ask questions all the time.”

The second stage is organising all that data so patterns can be recognised enabling you to identify existing opportunities for improvement and to confidently predict emerging issues.

Then share those insights to the stakeholders who can act on that feedback.

“Get the data to product teams, marketing, HR and other stakeholders using automated workflows so that you can move beyond being reactive to customer and employee experiences to being proactive,” Katsabaris said. 

A significant part of this is an investment in AI, something businesses cannot avoid according to Katsabaris.

“AI can empower frontline employees serving customers by providing the right insights so they can help customers at key moments. It's all about helping humans be the best versions of themselves.”