9 Ways to improve your CX

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Did you know a moderate increase in customer experience (CX) can generate an average revenue increase of US$823 million over three years for a company with $1 billion in annual revenues?

This is not a number to balk at, especially at a time when consumers are switching brands daily because of poor CX. In today’s economy brands that compete on experience, such as Qantas, Sephora, Chobani, and Cathay Pacific, do so to become category leaders.

To help you improve your CX and breakthrough in today’s saturated markets we’ve highlighted nine tips below.

For more great examples of what CX leaders do to create breakthrough experiences register for Season 2 of Qualtrics Master Sessions: Customer Experience: From Theory to Practice. We’ve brought together insights from CX leaders - from Joe Pine through to Jay Baer, Bruce Temkin, and more - across 8 weekly episodes equipping you with real-life examples of brands that have broken through in CX and practical tips to improve any program.

  1. Empower and value your employees

This may seem backwards, but companies that win at CX start with their employees. People want to buy from a company with friendly employees and empowered employees are happier. Look to remove unnecessary barriers that might be blocking your employees from putting the customer first.

Employees who feel valued are also more engaged at work and more willing to help customers. It’s therefore critical to let employees know they’re valued by listening to their opinions and ideas. To demonstrate the importance of this approach, our State of Play: Global Employee Engagement Trends report shows employees are two times as likely to be actively disengaged if they think their manager ignores them. 

  1. Use AI to create breakthrough customer experiences

AI was virtually made for CX experiences. It can make life easier for your customers by automatically responding to queries, as well as empowering you to get creative with your products and services. For instance, chatbots are there for customers 24/7, natural language processing allows you to understand what people mean in free-form text messages, and AI has made time to insights faster. For example, Dominos lets customers order pizza through the Domino’s Facebook Messenger bot, and eBay helps customers search the entire eBay marketplace for the best deals out there just like a personal shopper. 

  1. Embrace a mobile-first mindset

It seems obvious, but it’s critical to remember companies who develop their products and surveys using a mobile-first approach are more successful. For many consumers, mobile represents their first interaction with your brand and their expectation is that your site will function as well as a desktop site. Meeting or exceeding those expectations is vital to earning and retaining loyal customers.

  1. Personalise, personalise, personalise!

Customers today want to feel special with personalised interactions. In fact, 81% of consumers want brands to understand them better and know when and when not to approach them, according to Accenture. Here are some ways you can use personalisation:

  • Use data to personalise survey questions
  • Use geolocation technology to personalise based on location
  • Offer recommendations based on past purchases
  • Personally follow-up to survey responses
  • Adapt your website to offer dynamic content 
  1. Adopt a top-down approach

The best customer-centric organisations start at the top. CX and company leaders must model the importance of customer-centricity and let it trickle down to employees. For example, Walt Disney used to walk around Disneyland Park, observe, and fine tune it. 

  1. Utilise Customer Journey Mapping

Customer journey mapping visually illustrates customers’ processes, needs, and perceptions throughout their interaction and relationship with your brand. By cross-referencing journey maps with core metrics, you can get a better understanding of your CX and where there are issues and opportunities. You can use journey maps to improve your current CX, envision your futureCX, and drive organisational change.

  1. Include open-text feedback in surveys

It’s impossible to ask every customer what they think of your brand, but brands want to have a 1:1 conversation with customers. To do this, you can include open-text questions in your surveys. This is important because you can understand the thoughts and sentiments behind the data and make more informed decisions. Once you have thousands of responses from customers, you can use text analysis software to analyse the responses and find common themes.

  1. Improve your customer service

Customer service is the backbone of a great customer experience. Consumers who experience great service buy more and stay loyal to brands for longer. Some ways to improve your customer service include:

  • Offer multiple channels for support
  • Optimise wait and response times
  • Close the loop with customers
  • Use benchmark metrics like CSAT and NPS
  1. Implement Voice of the Customer programs

Voice of the Customer (VoC) is a term that describes your customer’s feedback about their experiences with and expectations for your products or services. It focuses on customer needs, expectations, understandings, and product improvement. Creating a program for capturing feedback and acting on those insights will help you create better products, retain customers, and understand your customer’s needs. This is crucial for the success of any CX program.

Customer feedback management


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