The Immediacy of EFM

by Richard Korn

First, let's clarify what EFM is. Effective EFM requires two main components:

1. A software platform responsible for handling customer sample, distributing survey invitations, collecting data and reporting information relevant to user role.
2. A partner company to assist throughout EFM implementation and ongoing delivery with tasks such as face-to-face reviews and data interpretation with insight and actionable recommendations for improvement.

Get with the times...

In today's day and age, traditional forms of customer experience measurement are becoming less useful than they once were. When I say `traditional forms', I refer to lengthy questionnaires (50/60/70 + questions) conducted through either a face-to-face or telephone interview and deployed once, twice or maybe three times per year.

More and more customers do not have the time or inclination to complete surveys of this nature and such infrequent data prevents a business from being able to be nimble and act quickly. Such extended forms of customer engagement can also reflect negatively on a brand.

Compare for instance, the two following examples:

1. An interviewer calling you up in the evening, requesting 30 minutes of your time to run through a questionnaire.
2. An SMS sent to you within a few minutes of your last interaction asking you just two or three questions.

One is delayed, intrusive (likely to be interrupting your dinner) and lengthy, whereas the other is prompt, unintrusive and quick.

At Ipsos, we work with a major Global Bank to measure the customer experience being delivered by more than 3,000 contact center agents. We do this by a) asking the customer if they wish to participate and b) for those who opted in, sending them an outbound SMS asking them two questions about their recent experience. We collect in the region of 15,000 surveys per month for this client with an average response rate of 12%. What's more, their Net Promoter Score (NPS) has increased from the low 20's to the high 40's since the study began.

This is a great example of a forward thinking organization that recognized the need to engage with their customers in a modern and appropriate way which serves to provide them with the feedback they need without irritating their customers.

Democratize your data

Having worked in Market Research for some time and having delivered studies for many different clients, there has often been one thing that has frustrated me: what is done with the information?

We present the data back, heads in the audience nod, but all too often that data serves to feed a scorecard, rather than be used directly to make a change for the better. Even if the findings are disseminated throughout the organization, this will be a slow process - often simply due to the size of many of our clients.

EFM delivers the data in real-time to hundreds, if not thousands of people throughout the Enterprise, all the way from the CEO to the front line teams interacting with customers every single day. This is achieved via a scalable, online reporting platform, accessible by individuals throughout the entire organization. It's possible for everyone to have visibility of the customer feedback at the level relevant to them. For example, a retail branch/shop manager will see data for their specific location, a regional manager for their specific region and the Director of Customer Experience, everything.

The data is democratized and as such, people have something in their hands further enabling them to take ownership of their area and the level of service provided. The immediacy of both the survey invitation and presentation of findings means data is recent, relevant and therefore actionable.

Consider the example of a team leader in a contact center who would typically have approximately 10 people in his/her team. One study could take place periodically - let's say once per quarter through telephone interviews. The data would typically require analysis before a report can be produced and as such, they may receive visibility of the findings approximately six weeks after the research was undertaken.

Then on the other hand, consider the same team leader having their own access to an online, real-time platform showing customer feedback for their team immediately after the customer has completed the survey. Imagine how valuable that is for the team leader! They can provide feedback to the their teams straight away if desired and congratulate individuals in front of their peers in the event of exceptional service. Equally, in the event of negative feedback, they can speak one on one to others when needed to try and understand what went wrong and identify an opportunity for learning and retraining.

It provides them with the necessary data, from which to more effectively manage their teams and the level of customer service being provided.

To illustrate how this looks in real-life, allow me to share another example of a client of ours: a Top 10 Hotel Chain with more than 4,000 properties across the world. For this organization, every single hotel manager has access to their own data including Assistant Managers and Heads of Departments.

In total, this chain has more than 10,000 reporting portal users, all of whom view and access data at the level relevant to their role. The hotel managers see data for their property whereas a regional manager, for their region only. The widespread visibility of guest feedback combined with automated email notifications allows the company to be nimble and quick to act in the event of any negative feedback coming through. Relevant people within the chain are now in a position to do something quickly, whether it be to speak to the teams internally or proactively contact the customer to resolve the outstanding issue.

Stop looking at your customer feedback in isolation!

So your data is telling you that 20% of customers are dissatisfied with the overall level of service provided due to a combination of reasons including rude staff and long wait times. This is a high proportion of unhappy customers and clearly something that needs to change, however there is plenty of information that we still don't know here...

For example:

• Are there any specific days of the week when this feedback occurs?
• Any specific times of the day?
• Which staff members / teams?
• Which customers are providing this feedback?
• How long have they been customers?
• What products do they hold?
• How much do they spend?

The above seven additional pieces of information would allow for a far more informed and holistic understanding of how to improve the situation. Days and times of the week would allow for specific attention to those periods firstly. Knowing which staff members would also focus subsequent actions to a relevant team specifically, and the four pieces of CRM data would enable us to focus in on the most critical customers who impact our business first.

This wider context adds vital additional layers to the feedback received, allowing for accurate interpretation and subsequent, appropriate action.

Another component enabling this wider context is social media. In today's world, many customers choose to publicize their feelings via this method, which can have significant impact on a companies' image and reputation in the marketplace. It's therefore an important touchpoint to monitor and incorporate within a Customer Experience Management program.

Returning to the example of our hotel client, this chain also monitors social feedback for their properties, across more than 30 online, review sites throughout the world. They're able to do this at location level, meaning each hotel manager can see social media feedback specifically for his/her property. Not only this, but the managers can also monitor online feedback for competitors meaning they are able to benchmark their own performance with competitor groups. This may be other hotels close-by or it could perhaps be more of an aspirational group.

Through being able to view solicited customer feedback (surveys) alongside relevant CRM and Operational data in addition to unsolicited feedback (social), managers can truly receive a relevant and universal data set, allowing them to effectively manage their customer experiences.

Immediate information allows for immediate action

As touched upon previously, one component to EFM which is so different to the `traditional forms' is the amount of time it takes to get the customer feedback into the hands of the business. Compare two months with five minutes. One requires data to be collected, keyed, extracted, analyzed and presented. The other presents the data back to the end user within five minutes of the survey being completed. In other words, in real-time.

This can be tremendously powerful as individuals within client organizations can do something with that data immediately! And this brings me to arguably the most fundamental characteristic of EFM: Management. And I stress, Management, not `Measurement'.

Coupled with data being presented in real-time, it's also possible to configure immediate email notifications tied to specific question responses. These email alerts can be automatically sent immediately and directly to individuals within the company - thereby notifying them as soon as a customer registers a particular response (e.g. Very Dissatisfied or a low detractor response within the NPS scale).

To illustrate how this works in real life, let me take the example of another client of ours - a large Global Insurer with more than 5,000 Contact Centre agents. Ipsos collect immediate feedback from these customers using a multi-modal methodology of `Outbound IVR' and `Outbound SMS'. The immediate invitation is deployed within five minutes of the customer ending their conversation with the agent.

If the customer rates 0 - 2 within the 0 - 10 NPS scale, an email alert is distributed to the team leader of the agent the customer spoke to. Upon receiving this email, the team leader can do one of two things: they can speak to the agent in their team who handled that customer to understand what may have gone wrong on the call. Secondly, they can proactively contact the customer to either apologize for the service received or resolve with their outstanding query.

This is what we call Closed Loop Feedback and when implemented correctly, the process by itself can have a major impact through both increasing Customer Satisfaction and reducing Customer Churn. Closed Loop Feedback, sometimes referred to as Service Recovery is a vital component to EFM and we always recommend its inclusion due to the impact we've seen it have within our clients organizations.

So, EFM can have a significant impact on a tactical level, but the `Management' part also applies in a Strategic standpoint.

We've found Deep Dive Stakeholder Workshops to be especially beneficial. These workshops typically entail 10 - 20 key personnel from the organization to be in one room over the course of three to four hours where we run through a detailed review of the last few months of collected data and analyze what it's telling us. Having all the stakeholders together in one room allows for a productive discussion where reasons behind the findings can be explored and things like processes can be examined - particularly those that appear to be causing pain for customers.

Although the real-time data is great from an `on-the-ground' standpoint, it's also important to periodically take a step back and digest the trends and findings off-line and dive into the true reasons behind why customers are saying what they're saying. A workshop such as this requires facilitation and organization in order to focus participants in the right direction, but when run well, they can play a very important role in driving performance upwards.

As illustrated, EFM can truly help organizations change their game, both in terms of raising the level of customer service delivered and in driving customer centricity across all employees throughout the Enterprise. We're able to assist our clients in staying ahead of the competition through allowing them to listen and analyze customer Feedback as soon as it comes in. And last but not least, through a combination of Service Recovery and Strategic Workshops, the effective Management of customer experience is now made possible.