Don’t get stuck in the experience gap

CX, success, personal experience

Businesses are at risk of becoming stuck in the experience gap if they don’t possess the capabilities to envision, deliver and measure the four foundational experiences they provide as a business – for their customers, products, employees and their brand.

We surveyed 450 customer and employee experience decision-makers to gather insights on whether businesses have the ability to effectively manage experiences. The insights from the research showed many businesses are still unable to collect and integrate data to paint a full picture of the experiences they provide. To deliver a superior customer experience, they must bridge the growing experience gap between what they deliver and the expectations from the market, customers and employees.

For too long businesses have exclusively focused on data about the past, known as operational (O-data), and failed to leverage experience (X-data). Experience data (X-data) is the human-factor data; the beliefs, emotions and sentiments that tell a business why things are happening so they can predict what might happen next.

Most businesses are O-data rich and X-data poor, leading them becoming stuck in a huge gap between their ability to know what’s happening, why it’s happening and how to adapt customer experience programs in real time.

We have identified the five platform capabilities required to deliver and measure great customer experiences.

  1. Single system

XM platforms replace the need for legacy stand-alone brand, product, customer and employee experience measurement systems. By connecting and correlating O-data with X-data on a single system, XM platforms let customers understand, prioritise, and take action on key experience drivers.

The research found that 90 per cent of companies recognise that being able to combine O-data with X-data would help deliver a better customer experience. Yet, only 19 per cent said they can easily do so. 83 per cent also said they are unable to easily combine and analyse the various dimensions of X-data such as market research, employee engagement and customer experience feedback.

Having a single platform helps understand the relationships between stakeholder feedback and business outcomes. Single system capabilities can answer questions such as how is customer experience affecting market share and how can engaged employees deliver better customer experiences. For those struggling with adoption, having the ability to establish customer data as the authoritative voice will drive strategic change.

  1. Conversational

In today’s competitive marketplace, businesses need to have frequent and meaningful dialogues with stakeholders in order to better serve customers. XM platforms allow you to engage with your target audience at every meaningful touchpoint, no matter how or where they occur. They create a dialogue that becomes an ongoing part of stakeholder interactions leading to better engagement across the entire journey.

  1. Democratised

The research showed that 91 per cent of companies believe they lose at least two per cent of annual revenue because their employees cannot create, analyse, distribute and take action on data without help from an expert.

XM platforms that are intuitive, easy to use, and provide point-and-click configurability, enable everyone, from the frontline to management, become an experience expert. The result is the ability to better respond to customer needs.

  1. Flexible

77 per cent of companies said they had lost deals or market share because their feedback platform doesn’t scale with their growth. XM platforms require modular architecture that allows flexible, programmable integration with existing workflows, processes and culture. XM platforms are user configurable and scalable, meaning you can start small and then scale once programs are tested, optimised, and ready for expansion.

  1. Predictive

Businesses need to predict product adoption, consumer trends and stakeholder needs. Accurate prediction today comes from data dashboards, advanced statistics and increasingly artificial intelligence to show where the ball is now and where it’s headed next. The research showed many believe they needed better technology (48 per cent) to consistently predict consumer behaviour and employee needs (39 per cent). 87 per cent of companies said having predictive analytics would help them deliver a better customer experience but only 33 per cent currently have the capability.

There is a huge shift in the business landscape, XM is an emergent technology solution that addresses several critical business areas exactly where technology allows it and experience-orientated consumers demand it.

Vicky Katsabaris, Voice-of-Customer subject matter expert, Qualtrics