Key To B2B CX Measurement: ‘Make Customers Feel Heard’

Tectonic shifts in how B2B technology professionals measure CX are upon us, according to panelists at Forrester Research’s CXNYC event.

Tectonic shifts in how B2B technology professionals measure customer experience (CX) are upon us, according to panelists at Forrester Research’s CXNYC event, Tuesday in New York City.

Traditionally, B2B organizations measured CX at the account level. Account managers would send surveys to their clients, who would indicate what was or wasn’t up to par. Today, however, organizations are looking at how customers move with them through time. Since every customer’s path to purchase is different, CX professionals have their work cut out for them in turning insights into actions that will improve CX. Tactics such as journey mapping, for example, come into play.

CA, for one, still looks at account-level relationships via surveys, but it also marries them with touchpoint surveys for an end-to-end CX understanding, according to Dayton Semerjian, CA’s GM of global customer success and support.

“With the deep dive into each touchpoint, we can look at the drivers impacting CX,” Semerjian said.

Rich Watson, division vice president of customer experience at ADP, told attendees that his organization shuns account-level surveys for two reasons: They make ADP reactive, and the results are siloed. Watson stressed looking across the entire client journey to measure how all of the product groups are doing at each touchpoint. “It provides a more holistic look at CX,” he said.

DST Health Solutions stays away from surveys altogether because its clients don’t want to participate, according to chief experience officer Lisa Crymes. “We found that our clients don’t want to do surveys, but they will spend half a day with us to give us feedback that way,” she explained. “Once we get the feedback, it’s key for us to make sure that our clients feel heard.”

So how do you make sure your company makes clients feel as if they are being heard? It’s as easy as sending an email outlining the key issues that were reported on and an assessment of what the company is going to do to truly address those issues, Semerjian said.

“If you show that you are going to do something and improve the CX, I think clients will feel more motivated to provide feedback,” she added.

Also from CXNYC 2016: “Getting Customer Understanding Right Key To Mastering CX”