Mat Garner, Co-Founder – Ethos Farm, Award-winning Employee & Customer Experience Specialists
Customer expectations have never been higher, so how do you keep up with the growing and changing demands of your customer market? In a recent Hubspot survey, 88% of respondents said customers have higher expectations than ever before. Whether their experience is good or bad, customers are likely to tell friends and family, broadcast on social media or leave feedback on a public review site.
Customers want to deal with businesses that are consistent, reliable, accessible, helpful and prompt. People want to work for companies that provide a great employee experience. But have you ever considered the link? There is a real opportunity for companies to recognize the importance of the employee experience (EX) and its profound impact on delivering exceptional customer experiences (CX).
I’m a co-founder of Ethos Farm, a company that specializes in employee and customer experience, working with leading brands globally across multiple sectors including airports, rail, travel retail, shopping centers and real estate. Here is our five-stage approach designed to transform your organizational culture, develop a leading employee experience and, in turn, deliver truly elevated customer engagement.
1. Understand your data.
Do you really know what your employees and your customers think? How are they feeling? What are you doing well? What could you do better? A mix of both quantitative data and verbatim/qualitative data will help you really understand what your customers are saying about your brand.
While multiple customer data sources and platforms should be reviewed, it’s often your front-line customer-facing teams who truly know what customers are saying, as they’re closest to them every day. Don’t forget to ask them!
2. Create a service vision.
Most companies have an overall company vision, but a customer experience vision is the chance to create and focus on a common customer service proposition: the shared “why,” purpose and reason for all employees.
The customer experience vision should be underpinned by real data and insights (from stage one), with your frontline teams playing an active part in creating this.
3. Bring the service vision to life.
Translate the service vision for frontline teams by establishing service standards and behaviors. Consider an (ongoing) learning program that can be enjoyed by all, so the service standards and behaviors are understood and embedded across the organization. Learning that is fun and interactive works best, such as VR or the use of avatars to graphically represent the team and/or customers. Revisit this on an ongoing basis.
Without this step, you get a strategy that looks good on paper but doesn’t get executed by the frontline teams, and that becomes the missing link.
4. Measure performance.
Set customer service metrics, whether that’s an increase in Net Promoter Score or a decrease in complaints. Continue to monitor and track positive performance over time.
Communication is really important—both in ensuring that the CX vision is being delivered day in and day out by teams who are engaging with customers, and in prioritizing agreed-upon CX KPIs and metrics on the boardroom agenda for ongoing ownership, monitoring, review and improvement by all.
5. Weave the golden thread.
A common service proposition (stage two) and clear standards and behaviors (stage three) support everyone to align to and deliver a consistent and expected standard, no matter what role they play. This golden thread should run through the entire customer journey and internally, from the C-suite to frontline delivery teams.
Regardless of how customers come into contact with your team, their experience should be consistent throughout, with all frontline team members displaying the same behaviors and exceptional levels of service to delight.
Fortunately, results can come quickly once this process is started. The companies that are prioritizing service over profit are recognizing that service can be the biggest differentiator in today’s demanding customer market. Companies can also attract talent, reduce turnover and see increases in employee engagement metrics.
There is real benefit to companies that recognize the vital link between employee experience and customer satisfaction. It is my belief that frontline, customer-facing workforces are the most important “make or break” factor in many customer experiences, and with the right organizational culture and crafted employee experience, truly elevated customer engagement is possible.
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