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Do we Mine the Gap or Mind It?

Ever wonder why there is such a gap between all the hard work you do in getting your Voice of the Customer and Net Promoter Scores to yield a documented result?   You have a veritable wealth of verbatim, Moments of Truth, customer feedback, a trove of CSAT data about how well your company satisfies them, and in many cases a very positive NPS but alas, you have no true understanding of WHY this is all happening and the levers and triggers that created the data points.

Maybe you are missing something?

I think that is absolutely the case.   So many companies are only using VOC/NPS coupled together to say that they have a Customer Experience metric set.  Throw in an occasional customer health check or even a slightly deeper peek asking some of their employees how happy they are or at their campaign and UX data and that’s the extent of it.

Then when an Executive wheels by to ask how they directly affect ROI or where are the actionable steps based on negative surveys or NPS scores – crickets…

What if you could tie all of this hard work together and understand EXACTLY where things are going right – let’s do more of them – and wrong – let’s fix these  

That’s where longitudinal research (minding) and data layering (mining) comes in.   Some people call up their six sigma black belts others their experience/journey mapping but all of these techniques and supporting tools essentially just take emotional and time or flow-based data and array them in a way to expose what, where, and why Moments of Truth and Pain points are occurring in your relationship with your clients.

First – Minding!

Consider documenting the Customer’s Experience (front stage) and the Customer Experience (back stage.  You can do it touch by touch (log onto my account) or activity by activity (e.g. transfer funds).  Then overlay your VoC/VoE and NPS.   One thing you will notice immediately is that most of your insight/data is now collected at the end.  Capturing comments and scores AFTER the whole transactional element or relationship path is over doesn’t let you know WHAT happened – WHY it happened or WHEN it happened unless you get lucky in your VOC comments.  Qualitative data – capturing and documenting what segments are doing/thinking and feeling by touch becomes a valuable asset when you start looking at both Macro CX (Get/Keep/Grow) as well was MicroCX (Communications and UX)

Then Mine

Segmentation by value, needs and behavior provides a view to WHO you should focus on – WHAT they want/need and WHERE you find them.  Mapping each of these unique aggregates has lots of use cases

• Is this our most profitable spend (high value segments please apply here)
• Is this something we can do now or in the future (product and service evaluations)
• What channels are they on and do we support them (Print/Digital/Mobile optimization)

IF you have additional quantitative data – say clickstream for digital transactions (Clickfox or Thunderhead) or reason codes from a Call Center or feedback bot – great.  Layer those in!  Same for observational or interstitial tools like Opinion Labs or Bazaar Voice.

Got a digital marketing tool – add that data in too!  Tools like Marketo/Elqoua and Kitewheel can provide interesting data though it needs quite a bit of analysis to determine if there was a Moment of Truth or a Pain point.

Once you have taken the time to bridge the Gap between your VOC and you’re NPS you can find the actionable intiatives and actions that will drive both Macro- and Micro CX success.

The ability to add social media analytics, sentiment, and observed social monitoring will enable you to shift business strategies, including the challenges of personalization and multichannel influencer projects.

In terms of customer growth and profitability, each will support brand awareness and customer lifetime value.

1. Why do you think companies haven't fully realized how business-critical journey mapping can and should be?

Some think they have – they do a pretty wall art map – single dimension – single focus and they are done!  - They don’t think of it as a discipline like Six Sigma or Agile and they lose out on the usefulness of rendering their data, insights and channel feedback in a linear manner.

1. Do you think that companies stop short of getting to the true ROI metrics and to the real recommendations sometimes?

Definitely.   Many consider CX a totally different track from a metrics perspective.  In the absence of easily calculated scores (single channel or revenue based) they give up quantifying it. 

Sometimes  CX work tends to expose company dysfunction.  All those fiefdoms and data silos become clear – fast.  I have seen a lot of embarrassed executives and senior managers dance when a diagnostic review of the whole company relationship lifecycle exposes gaps and friction that may be due to empire-building and data hoarding. 

Tying CX to Macro (Get/Keep/Grow) and Micro (Campaigns and Communications) is pretty straightforward and a great place to start to show real impact.

1. Why are so many companies still offloading journey mapping to mid-level managers who have no real power to create change in the organization?

It just reflects the lack of commitment by company leadership. 

1. How does CX get over the adoption Chasm and become truly embedded in an organizations DNA?

Just like any other company critical initiative.  Corporate Sponsorship and Governance; Dedicated staffing of a team of qualified professionals; Incentive and Rewards tied to the larger picture (not NPS or other measures that can be gamed or used for punitive purposes)

1. It is so much more than journey mapping isn't it?  Metrics/Scores/Data mining/Segmentation/Marketing comms plans, how do we express and teach the value of the practice?

I like to look at Six Sigma and Agile.  These are disciplines that have been successfully integrated into organizations thorough systematic change management programs from top to bottom. Following this type of approach has been successful for many organizations. 

Using Customer Insight-driven strategies impacts the whole company – and the whole company working together provides documented lift in revenue and metrics every single time.

1. Which kind of companies are you mostly seeing have success in CX methodology? Services or Products companies? 

Services companies tend to have a head start here as they already are

1. Can this mining activity help with new product and services innovation as well as finding existing pain points and moments of opportunity?

1. Would you describe this practice differently if you were working with new product innovation or would it be the same with an altered qual and quant data collection focus?

In the end, it all comes down to the Customer – if they are getting what they need/want from a company – in a manner that requires less effort than others and has some ‘sticky’ components then they will be long-term customers.   Customer focus vs. product focus provides long term revenue streams.

Let me know how to help you with this Vlog today… these are some of the Q’s that are legitimately on my mind.