Would it surprise you to learn that businesses and their marketing consultants have a different view of how well the customer experience is being handled?
This is one of the noteworthy findings gathered in eConsultancy's report: Implementing a Customer Experience (CX) Strategy Best Practice Guide. This 2017 report is free to subscribers and is designed to help you build a framework for improving your company's CX. It includes interviews with top marketing leaders, the findings from recent surveys, and additional data. Beyond knowledge though, the report aims to convey some wisdom as well, with practical advice on how to improve your company's interactions with your customers.
As a peek into the information captured in this report, eConsultancy editor Ben Davis has posted an article with key highlights. Topping his list of observations is an item of relative agreement between businesses and marketing agents — company departments have separate CX agendas. While 40% of business respondents feel this way and 43% of marketing agency respondents agree, this troubling trend might be a less important answer to the survey question.
The disparity on the next answer set also deserves attention. The survey question itself asks if members of the organization overall support CX goals. Nearly one-third of company respondents claim that yes, there is a good collaborative process in place. However the marketing agency respondents feel different. Only 17% describe the situation in such positive terms. In other words, while some internal company personnel feel they are doing well with unified CX, only half as many external marketing professionals would agree.
Which group is seeing things accurately?
A similar pattern of alignment/conflict between internal staff and external professionals is found in the final set of survey results that Mr. Davis shares. The question asks how often the company meets CX expectations. While the company personnel and marketing pros match up with a high response on "sometimes", the two surrounding answers show disparity. The claim that the company consistently meets expectations is distinctly higher from the company personnel than the outside observers. And vice versa, the admission that the company generally fails with CX is low from internal staff, but more than twice as high from professional agencies. These survey numbers suggest that employees think more highly of their organization than people outside the company do. Or perhaps the marketing professionals just more cynical?
Which group is viewing company performance clearly?
This hidden lesson may not be answered in eConsultancy's report, but the survey results give every organization food for thought. If your team feels strongly about how well CX efforts are going, an outside observer might disagree. This could be a good opportunity to ask more pointed questions and get more detailed answers. What exactly is working well? Where precisely can improvements be made?
One thing is for sure: CX is too important to ignore. Ongoing relationships with your clients are vital to your company's growth. So whether or not you explore eConsultancy's full report, be sure to explore your organization's efforts at creating an outstanding experience for each customer.
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