Businesses today are adopting innovative tools, technologies and skill sets that will help them identify and fix the CX gaps in their user journey. Many have evolved beyond templatized, one-size-fits-all outreach frameworks. They are realizing that these outdated methods more often than not fail to capture potentially game-changing insights and patterns. And in doing so, they are opening businesses up to higher levels of customer intimacy that is instrumental to staying relevant and profitable during turbulent times.

In a disruptive marketplace, winning is nothing but the sum total of experiences acquired along the customer journey. The stress that COVID-19 and the economic deflation have placed on businesses is forcing them to constantly innovate and take customer experience (CX) to radical new levels – or, they stand the risk of being uprooted. Amazon is an excellent example of a company that has responded well to the crisis by taking time to understand what their customers need and innovating accordingly. With increasing concern for public safety, Amazon has gone above and beyond to ensure that customers can feel safe while consuming their products by implementing dozens of safety measures.

You know the CX facts. But do you know what they mean?

As the going gets tougher, businesses are quickly learning some definitive truths about customer experience.

• One is, how personalized and intimate customer experiences are critical to staying competitive in a pandemic-hit economy.
• The other is, how these experiences are not localized to a particular stage between order placement and post-delivery support, but rather integrated into multiple touch points.
• A third is, how time is of essence. The speed at which businesses can spot and fix their CX gaps will determine whether customers will return to them a second or third time. 

These are universal facts. But, truth be said, not all businesses have been successful at putting them into action. Which is why, we’re still seeing recycled CX survey links spamming our inboxes, several weeks into purchase or delivery.

But a handful of disruptors are already redefining customer experience, and raising the bar for others to follow. Gone are the days when companies expected a single customer survey delivered at the end of the sales or service cycle, or on a quarterly basis, to provide radical, game-changing insights. Today, customer feedback is captured over a multitude of channels and touchpoints, across timelines, and in many different “voices.”

Hearing vs listening

Undoubtedly, the level and intimacy of customer service determines the market success of a company. Adobe’s Experience Index 2020 Digital Trends report says how companies leading in customer experience are three times more likely to have significantly exceeded their 2019 business goals, performing significantly better than their peers.

Experience measurement is an integral part of this equation. It’s not enough to give customers multiple platforms to express their opinions, but it’s equally important to keep your feelers out for what may be indirect feedback.

This comes down to three factors:

1. Instant feedback: In the new normal, customer intimacy can make or break business empires. And so, it’s important to have access to active and relevant customer feedback, captured on-time, often through unconventional channels. An intuitive user interface that effectively captures triggered and open-format feedback at every stage of customer interaction is the first step towards this. To be relevant and insightful, feedback should be captured in the nick of time, while the thoughts and experiences are still fresh on the customer’s mind.
2. Powerful analytics: Capturing feedback on time is a critical first-step, but it’s not nearly enough. The data captured over multiple and multi-layered sources should be aggregated and relevant information needs to be extrapolated. Businesses are taking the help of advanced technologies to mine their rich data sources and extract actionable intelligence. This in turn helps the management to make critical decisions by visualizing problem areas well, and realigning the critical aspects of their customer journey. 
3. Customer-centricity: Considering how often employee satisfaction directly translates to customer satisfaction, businesses are tracking their employee engagement metrics at every turn. This relentless focus on engagement weeds out the gaps and weak links in the value chain, turning the company culture from marketing-obsessed to customer-obsessed, and subsequently, high on customer experience.

Guiding you to better CX

DropThought enables your business to focus on experience measurement by listening effectively. We believe that understanding the needs of customers, and constantly adapting the experience you offer is the first step towards process and experience improvement. Our comprehensive customer experience management platform and  management tool helps your business to grow and prosper seamlessly amid the challenges, like the global pandemic and subsequent market disruptions. Its unique capabilities like triggered feedback, omni-channel listening posts, advanced analytics and an intuitive interface result in an organization that’s high on customer-centricity and CX.

Check out the product here. Feel free to contact us with your questions or comments.