Defining and monitoring the parameters to measure the CX (Customer Experience) is a topic of common interest for companies, that are focusing on a "customer oriented" strategy.
Since the Customer Experience, as defined in marketing glossary, is: "the way in which customers perceive their interactions with the company and depends on the various touchpoints they get in contact with", it’s clear that it is an element with an intrinsic complex nature, which depends on many factors and, therefore, difficult to be measured.
Because of its complexity, assessing it, determine its value and knowing how to change it for improving the ROI, can be problematic.
Knowing how to identify the parameters to measure the CX can help the company management in defining its business strategies and increase their value.
In this article we will, therefore, discuss about the main parameters to measure the CX, regardless of the sector and the market which the company operates in.
1. Response speed
Over 70% of customers declare that the enhancement of their time is one of the key aspects to positively evaluate the relationship with the company/brand and, therefore, increase the Customer Experience. For this reason, if the first contact between the client and the company happens, for example, through live chat, it is essential for the average response to be given in about 1 minute. Instead, direct interaction through chatbot or digital assistant must be immediate: just through an instantaneous answer, the escalation to traditional contact or support channels will be less frequent.
2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a commonly used metric and an index, that measures how much the customer would "recommend the company to a friend or relative". This evaluation must be integrated into analysis tools and it is used to measure the quality of the Customer Experience on the emotional level. The NPS is used to evaluate loyalty in the business-customer relationship and it’s the indicator that measures the proportion of "promoters" of a product / brand / service, compared to the "detractors".
3. Customer Effort Score (CES)
CES (Customer Effort Score) is a parameter that analyses the level of customers’ loyalty and it is useful to indicate how easy the use of the service or product was. If the experience was positive, the client will obviously be more inclined to remain loyal, increase spending and be a promoter, through word of mouth. This indicator is not only used to track positive experiences, but also negative ones, providing the company with excellent ideas for optimizing the Customer Experience.
4. Analysis of the "Voice of the Customer" VOC
This metric, which is measured by collecting feedback on the service received, is useful to understand customer expectations, picking up satisfaction points and areas of discontentment and difficulty. Collecting all feedback through self-service caring solutions facilitates understanding the improvement actions, that can be adopted to increase the Customer Experience.
In addition to these four main parameters for measuring the CX, it is important to underline that there are other qualitative assessments, which must be taken into consideration and affect the Customer Experience of the brands. These drivers include company's ability to make the consumer feel involved through emotional and relational incentives (Brand Inclusiveness), consumer's willingness to invest time for interacting with the brand (Fulfilment) and the brand's ability to gratify the consumer, through proposed experience (Gratification).
Knowing how to measure the Customer Experience correctly is a complex activity, but with an assessment that includes the analysis of the various parameters mentioned, companies can improve many aspects. It is important, however, not to focus on a main metric, but to determine a hierarchy of parameters, useful to guide the CX's plans and invest time and resources, in a perspective aimed at improvement.