Editorial
The Gist
- Synergy significance. Enthused team members are more likely to create stronger customer relationships, work harder and volunteer brand-building ideas.
- People-first approach. While data-driven processes are key to business growth, human interactions are what customers — and employees — crave the most.
- Data positioning. Brands need to evaluate both CX and EX data to secure new opportunities in customer retention.
Brands want to know how they can best accommodate customers’ needs and help them along the purchase journey. When businesses use CX and EX data alongside anecdotal evidence, they uncover how engaged employees create strategic improvements and secure beneficial bonds with customers.
Employees Create Closer Customer Connections
A meaningful connection already exists between employee and customer experience. Customers who interact with your teams will pick up if they are enthusiastic about your products, which can encourage them to invest in your business, both financially and emotionally.
According to a recent online review survey, customer experience is regarded as a key priority by 91.1% of consumers who read online reviews about the companies they are interested in, demonstrating the synergistic interrelation between employees, customers and future consumers.
Consumers who enjoy a happy buying event with a brand see this as a compelling encounter, with 65% of customers saying that a positive experience with a brand is more influential than great advertising.
In fact, the employee engagement virtuous cycle reveals that when employees are invested in their company, they are a powerful force behind better customer satisfaction levels and stronger financial growth.
Positive EX helps customers to feel more comfortable buying from your business. They are likely to pass this information on through reviews or word of mouth to other consumers, letting them know all about a great brand experience.
Related Article: Win-Win: Address Employee Experience for Better Customer Experience
Making the Most of CX and EX Data
Many businesses collate a significant amount of data which they use to define short and long-term targets. Nevertheless, it’s not always the case that brands consult CX and EX data at the same time, allowing them to build a clearer picture of their services and reputation.
One way to discover more about employee experience is to perform a voice of employee (VOE) survey. Gaining this feedback is a golden opportunity to evaluate how your employees feel about their workflow and what they would like to change for the better.
With only 10% of employees strongly agreeing that their voice is heard at work, this is an area where brands that want to secure greater employee and customer satisfaction can transform their offerings.
The natural next step is to ensure you are collecting insightful voice of customer (VOC) information as part of your customer service strategy. This could be a post-purchase email, social media post, or feedback form to gather customers’ opinions about your products and services.
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Businesses that check in with customers and listen to how they feel about their products are more likely to have those customers return. Studies suggest that 77% of customers have a more favorable view of brands that ask for and accept customer feedback.
Those brands that want to lead change and stay ahead of their competition can implement the following strategies, leveraging customer and employee insights to drive growth while improving overall performance.
Uniting CX and EX for Business Growth
First, it's necessary to define the parameters of your goals. What do you want to achieve by bringing CX and EX information together? Once you have your specific targets, you can move forward with precision-led processes.
Launch and Track a Brand Engagement Program
There is nothing more useful than asking for honest feedback from your teams. However, this should be an organized and tactical process so that the information you collate constructively fuels the evolution of your business.
This is particularly important in an age of hybrid and remote working when teams may not always be together to plan and review. Many businesses are now leveraging generative AI tools to help them analyze large amounts of EX and CX data together so that standout features are quickly identified and channeled into service planning.
Incentivize Employees
Employees who are invested in the company they work for are more likely to deliver measurable value and go the extra mile. According to Gallup’s report, companies with actively involved employees show an 81% decrease in absenteeism and 14% more productivity.
Engaged employees often create issue-busting solutions that move customers more smoothly along the buyer’s journey. This problem-solving ability is a valuable commodity worth nurturing for the benefit of your company and your customers.
Cheerleading Human Connections
One key aspect of consumer-facing businesses is head and shoulders above the others when brands consult online reviews to see how their company reputation is publicly presented: relationships. Customers are commenting more than ever on the extent to which service teams listen and respond to any problems they may have.
Monitoring customer reviews is an effective tool in your social listening kit, as it helps you keep track of the trajectory of chat about your brand and how productively your customer service teams are resolving issues. It may also be helpful to evaluate how quickly teams are responding to customer reviews as expectations of a speedy response are now high.
People like to talk to people. Therefore, ensuring that your omnichannel customer service includes the ability to phone your service teams helps secure the confidence of consumers who want to talk about their experiences and find solutions that work for them. Phone calls offer human-to-human connection in smoothing any issues and consolidating brand-consumer relationships.
Do Engaged Employees Improve Customer Experience?
Approaching customer experience in the same way as you approach EX is not a guaranteed path to success. Customers want great brand experiences, smooth service, quick responses and products that make their lives better. CX programs should deliver on all these fronts to increase customer loyalty and retention.
Keeping employees enthusiastic about their workflow is different. Proactive training, well-being events and mapping activities can all help you design a smart employee engagement pathway. It makes sense to embed opportunities to regularly check in and incentivize employees, which should help boost morale and business performance.
Putting customers first means also prioritizing employees. If this outlook cascades from the top, brands can monitor key metrics that ensure measurable results for all employees within a culture that encourages innovation, creative thinking and customer-centric service.
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