How do customers experience your company when they interact with customer service, stores or employees in a branch? Not only large companies should regular their Customer Experience measure to find out in which areas Processes can be optimized and where customers are already satisfied with you.
Self-image, brand image and perception of your clientele
"Our customers love us!" is a popular motto of companies of all sizes. Especially SME often rely on positive feedback from regular customers. At the same time, you are surprised when negative reviews suddenly appear after the launch of a Google My Business Page on Google Maps or an online store. Even worse, however, is when sales drop and reviews fail to materialize altogether. In many cases, it can be assumed that even previous customers were dissatisfied with the customer experience.
Measuring customer experience is essential
Many companies do not realize that the shopping and interaction experience can be measured. Specialized marketing agencies use various key figures to measure the customer experience. However, with a little effort, these figures can also collected and evaluated in the company be
The customer experience (also abbreviated to "CX") can be optimized by analyzing this data, both online and offline.
Building trust through a better shopping experience
Also the Brand image benefits from an improved customer experience.
According to a survey by the Temkin Group, 86 percent of all customers who were satisfied with the customer experience would buy from the company again.
Only when your customers are satisfied with service, product and communication will they become brand ambassadors who are natural Recommendations to their circle of friends, family or colleagues.
Customer experience can be measured with this data
In order to be able to measure the customer experience, very different metrics systems have been developed over the last decades. They can provide companies with a certain amount of information about a specific subproblem.
These include:
- CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score): Satisfaction rating
- NPS® (Net Promoter Score): Percentage of customers who would recommend your brand to others.
- Referral Rate: Are you currently actually recommended?
- Task completion: Does the clientele reach their actual goal (e.g. purchase) on your website?
- CES (Customer Effort Score): How much effort does it take for customers to use your service or product?
- CCR (Customer Churn Rate): How many customers churn directly after the first purchase?
- Shopping cart abandonment rate: Does your clientele complete the purchase after products are added to the shopping cart?
Some of these key figures may not suitable for every business because not all companies operate an online store. If you operate in the service sector, for example, other key figures relating to incoming orders may be more important. However, you should collect the following four metrics in any case to measure the customer experience.
CSAT: Satisfaction can be measured
The Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is one of the most important metrics around CX. For its survey, customers are asked to rate their experience on a scale of 1 to 5 after every purchase and interaction, with only scores of 4 and 5 being considered positive. The CSAT is then calculated as follows:
(number of ratings with 4 and 5 / number of participants) x 100 = CSAT
Satisfaction is expressed as a percentage of all participants. By entering the CSAT for different areas such as chat support, purchasing, complaints, etc., identify areas with particularly low values.
WRS: Recommendations as a customer experience indicator
WRS (Willingness-to-Recommend Score) and Net Promoter Score® (NPS) measure similar things. To be able to measure customer experience with the first value, you check how many customers submit a rating after a purchase.
Number of ratings : Purchases with rating request = WRS
Although online ratings are not absolutely representative, as it is often mainly disappointed customers who submit a rating, active prompts help to collect more ratings. For the NPS (R), you simply ask your clientele whether they would recommend the product or service to others.
The more actively you solicit reviews without violating distributor rules and, for example, promising bonuses for positive reviews, the more more active the evaluation behavior of your customers.
CCR: Do your customers remain loyal to you?
The Customer Churn rate (CCR) indicates how many customers left in the last fiscal year. It is very easy to calculate. All you need are figures on how many customers you had at the beginning and end of a fiscal year or measurement period, and how many at its end.
Customers lost in the last section / new customers in the same section = churn rate in percent
A low churn rate is ideal. You should target poor values by offering new incentives for repeat purchases and special promotions for inactive accounts.
CES: How user-friendly your product is
The Customer Effort Score (CES) is particularly important where innovative products and services can quickly overwhelm and frustrate customers. A poorly structured website or a product that is difficult to use can quickly turn potential buyers or users into dissatisfied customers. The worst-case scenario would be that they do not come back afterwards.
Sum of all awarded stars / number of participants = CES
To raise the CES, actively question your customershow satisfied they are with one aspect. "Did our service help you?" "Did the consulting bot meet your taste?" "Are you satisfied with the handling of the product?" All these questions can be rated with numbers from 1 to 5.
A high CES ensures that your customers were satisfied with this aspect of the customer experience.
Measure customer experience and learn more about your business
Only satisfied customers come back again and again for further inquiries, services or purchases. As a company, you should therefore measure the customer experience and keep an eye on at least some of the various stages of interaction. Further training for employees in the service area, restructuring in the online store or redesigning existing products can not only improve scores, but also multiply your regular customers.
