A newly researched Customer Experience Maturity Scale finds that companies that are using best practices in customer service and support, drive dramatically better success and agility outcomes, especially following the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
This global study, initiated by Zendesk Inc. in partnership with Enterprise Strategy Group found a clear link between organizations investing in CX, with more mature customer experience capabilities, and improved business success in areas such as market share, increased customer spend, and pivoting processes over the last six months.
From this study, a CX Maturity Scale was developed that segments organizations into three tiers of services maturity, based on seven key characteristics that cover how organizations use their specific support teams, technology, and data to drive better performance:
- STARTERS: exhibit zero to three of the 7 characteristics.
- RISERS: which exhibit four to five of the 7
- CHAMPIONS: which have at least 6 of the 7 characteristics in place.
The seven characteristics that were measured were based on factors related to the training the agents receive; their perceived workload; how well customer feedback is used to optimize service processes and evolve offerings; how quickly customer feedback can be turned into new offerings or different customer experience; the rating of the organizations’ service metrics and KPIs; the speed of reporting of service metrics and KPIs; and finally the level of satisfaction of service teams with technology and tools used to do their job.
Key findings from the report show that companies that invest in CX yield significant benefits, including:
- FASTER GROWTH: midsize and enterprise Champions were found to be 8.7 times more likely than Starters to have significantly grown customer spend. And small business Champions increased this number by 9.2 times.
- INCREASED MARKET SHARE: midsize and enterprise Champions grew their customer base over the past six month by 3.3 times. Small business Champions grew the same number by 3.6 times.
- SENIOR LEVEL SUPPORT: senior leaders at midsize and enterprise Champions were 3.8 times more likely to see customer service as a differentiator.
ONLY A QUARTER OF COMPANIES ARE AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME!
Most organizations were found to be identified as Starters and Risers, with significant room for improvement. Larger organizations are generally ahead in their maturity in the customer experience, with 29% of midsize and enterprise businesses identified as Champions, and only 22% of small Businesses identified as Champions, as almost half (47%) of them are at the Starter phasee, compared to 36% of midsize and enterprise businesses.
FIVE LESSONS EMERGING FROM CUSTOMER CHAMPIONS
The research calls out five trends that are consistent among Champions, that ought to be aspired to, in order to move to the next stage of the CXMaturity Scale:
- BUILDING A CULTURE FOCUSED ON CX, DRIVEN FROM THE TOP DOWN
- NEVER FORGET YOUR PEOPLE: agents in Champion organizations receive an average of 2.5 additional days of training per year than Starters.
- DATA-CENTRIC SUPPORT DRIVERS: Champions place a focus on KPIs and metrics to guide support decisions.
- AUTOMATION AND AI IS MAKING AN IMPACT: Champions make use of automated methods of building and updating cross-channel customer profiles, and utilizing all tools in making an impact on support performance.
- INVESTING IN CX SUCCESS: over 50% of all Champions organizations expect to significantly spend and invest in CX tools and technology, versus just 9% for midsize and enterprise Starters, and 6% of small business Starters.
Clearly, Starters not only have the challenge of catching up to their competition in customer service but also need to ensure the gap doesn’t widen. To make the necessary gains, it is critical for leaders of lagging organizations to make the most of their budgets by learning from their more mature peers and investing in the areas that can drive the greatest impact on their CX maturity, and the consequent organizational growth and success of their businesses.