How to optimize and accelerate the ROI of CX

After years of investing in customer experience (CX) programs, time is running out for businesses to turn them into meaningful systems of action. Read on from our partner Qualtrics to find out how you can get real value from your CX, which sets you apart from the competition.

By the end of 2020, customer experience (CX) will overtake price and product as the main differentiator setting you apart from the competition.1

For many businesses, this state of play is already a reality. You only have to look at industry leaders like Qantas, Uber, and American Express to realize the most successful businesses compete and win with experience.

But for some organizations, their CX investments are yet to reach full maturity. Part of the reason is CX strategies are further ahead than CX executions. That is, businesses have set out their CX visions but not yet worked out how to make them a reality.

CX is a strategy that must be executed

Businesses that find their competitive advantage with CX in the years ahead will do so by focusing more on action and less on basic data.

It’s a change that requires a mindset shift from static metrics to one centered on continuous learning, propagating insights, and taking rapid action, according to Bruce Temkin, Head of the Qualtrics XM Institute.

A key enabler to this will be modern CX technologies that go beyond basic metrics, and which allow businesses to link all types of customer experience data (X-data) – whether response times or online reviews – with operational data (O-data) – like sales channel and revenue – for smarter and faster decisions.

Focus on CX value and volume

Businesses are constantly looking for ways to improve their CX. It means knowing where to start turning your CX strategy into action can be a tough decision.

To accelerate and optimize the ROI of your CX programs, prioritize areas of high value and high volume. Linking X-data and O-data is fundamental to unlocking these insights because it not only shows how CX is either driving or detracting from your performance but ties this to business outcomes like customer acquisition, retention, and growth.

For example, if businesses are identifying high levels of cart abandonment online (O-data) they could use X-data to identify the reasons why customers are dissatisfied before addressing the matter. The result – action based on tangible facts.

Similarly, if X-data is surfacing common pain points in your customer journey you can quickly take action and solve an issue impacting a significant portion of your customer base.

Mastercard is a great example of a brand linking X-data and O-data to deliver the objectives of its CX program. By creating a single view of the company’s CX with Qualtrics and driving targeted, sustained improvements, Mastercard was able to increase satisfaction by 23% for its 2.3 billion customers.

Successfully using AI at scale

A paradox has been created in CX by the emergence of AI and machine learning. Research predicts that while 85% of customer interaction will happen without human interaction by the end of 2020,2 86% of consumers would prefer to interact with a human agent.3

Consumer reluctance toward virtual assistants can in part be attributed to the technology still being in its infancy. But that will undoubtedly change as new, more capable platforms, such as the Qualtrics iQ suite, which are quick and easy to use come to market.

As AI and machine learning technologies become more widely adopted and integrated into the customer journey, they will play a central role in delivering high quality digitalized experiences, while also intelligently assessing and responding to customer sentiment in a way that allows for real-time human intervention where required.

One of the leading US banks is already using voice analytics to positive effect. By adding two questions to its call script – how likely will you remain a customer and what can we do better – the bank increased its survey response rates from 3% to 90%.

This dramatic increase gives the bank an unprecedented volume of customer insights, which are more representative of the customer base, to listen to, understand, and act on. It’s an example of how one small change can have a high-value impact on the entire organization.

Staying ahead in CX

Discover more ways to optimize and accelerate your ROI on CX by watching Staying ahead of disruption in 2020. This sets out our latest views on the importance of delivering personalization at scale, maturing your CX program, and turning metrics to action