Data: An Optimal Catalyst to drive Customer Experience (CX) - Part II

The battle for the customer has truly begun and it is not the best product/service or tech that will win the mindshare of the customer but the one with the best Customer Experience (CX).

For Part I refer to https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/data-optimal-catalyst-drive-customer-experience-cx-part-maansata-qtcyc/

In Part II we will move towards understanding the Challenges and Opportunities in driving CX as well as the role of Data in enable teams to drive CX

V. ?Challenges & Opportunities towards Driving an Effective CX

VI.?How can Data enable organizations to enhance CX?

With the increase in the digital influence across all walks of life and developments in the computing ability and data technology, there has been a renaissance of sorts for the data enthusiasts. There have been increased decibel levels saying that “Data is the New Oil” and it would not be unfair to say so especially understanding the potential that the data alongside data science techniques can enhance the Customer Experience.

However, one must not miss the forest for the trees and remember that the real value lies not in capturing the data but in leveraging it to enhance customer experience (CX)

Figure 2: The Data to Delivery of Superior CX Cycle

I.?Data Collection (Multiple Sources and Types of Data)

The first critical step in leveraging data to enhance CX is to collect data from multiple sources. ?Businesses’ today have access to a plethora of data sources, including customer purchase history, online behaviour, customer feedback, social media interactions, and customer service interactions. ?These data sources come from a multitude of channels like website, apps, call records, transaction histories, etc. and they come in structured as well as unstructured formats, not to forget the streaming formats (voice, video, etc.). All these sources can provide a wealth of knowledge that can be used to improve CX, provided they are collected efficiently and with a clear understanding of how to collect, store and transform the same.

II.?Data Storage & Architecture

?This step is very important if one was to be able to leverage on the data in a manner which is cost effective, scalable, easy to retrieve and use without contaminating the data.? The architecture should allow for the vast formats of data to be easily stored and models to be run upon whilst adding relevant feature sets to enhance the data and drive analytics. One should be able to seamlessly integrate data from multiple systems and data sources to create an integrated network of data sets.

III.?Consolidating and Analysing Customer Data

Once the data has been collected from multiple sources, it is important to consolidate and analyse the data. This involves bringing all the data together in one place and analysing it to identify trends and patterns. Businesses can use several tools and technologies to consolidate and analyse data, including customer relationship management (CRM) software, data analytics software, and data visualization tools.

IV.?Personalizing Customer Experience

One of the most effective ways to enhance CX is to personalize customer experience. Personalization involves tailoring the customer experience to meet the unique needs and preferences of each individual customer. Using the data collected from multiple sources, businesses can personalize customer experience by offering relevant product recommendations, personalized promotions, and customer service based on customer preferences.? A customer traveling for leisure versus business has very different priorities along with the propensity to pay in each case which is very important to capture to make a personalised recommendation.? This changes even within a specific journey type based on different stages of his/her life. So far so good, but the customer will expect such personalisation across the entire customer journey across multiple touchpoints and a breakdown at any stage can lead to dissatisfaction.

V.?Improving Customer Service

All customer interactions are a very rich source of information which can help improve customer service as well as improve the product/service. All customer transactions are a rich source of information using which your teams can be better equipped/trained to deliver upon the ideal customer service. Be it doing speech analytics during a call or text analytics whilst interpreting an email can provide critical insights into the emotions of the customer (angry, frustrated, happy, etc.) basis which the agent can tailor his/her interaction with the customer, bringing in empathy and driving customer experience.

In areas wherein the speed of response is critical and has a broad range of queries but well within the domain of a robot (You would want a person to answer if there is a critical banking transaction but for getting outstanding or understanding departure times/terminal changes a robot works just fine), technologies like AI-powered chatbots, businesses can automate customer service interactions and provide customers with 24/7 support. This is equally applicable to all customer touchpoints, be it a Brick & Mortar environment to an app or website for that matter and continuous data collection and analysis needs to be ingrained for continuous improvement.

VI.?Identifying Customer Pain Points

?Another way to leverage data to enhance CX is by identifying customer pain points. By analysing customer feedback (internal as well as over the internet), businesses can identify areas where customers are experiencing difficulties. ?This is helpful in not only improving your own services for your own client base but also serves as a huge gateway to acquire new clients by understanding the pain points being vented out by clients all over the social network. If you’re not monitoring this, then someone else surely is and will take your clients away from you which can be a very expensive mistake.

This can include issues with product features, quality, shipping times, pricing, or customer service. More importantly, this can occur at any or all stages of the customer journey and thus the need to use data and analytics to correlate and identify the pain points not in isolation, which is usually the case, but as a whole. Once these pain points are identified, businesses can take steps to address them, communicate the positive changes and improve CX.

VII.?Predicting Customer Behaviour

Finally, businesses can leverage the rich data to predict customer behaviour which is key to proactive response behaviour and has a significant positive impact on CX. By analysing customer purchase history and online behaviour, businesses can predict what products and services customers are likely to buy in the future. This can help businesses optimize their product offerings, tailor their marketing messages, and improve CX.

VIII.?Closing Comments:

In conclusion, leveraging data is essential to enhancing CX. By collecting data from multiple sources, consolidating, and analysing it, personalizing customer experience, improving customer service, identifying customer pain points, and predicting customer behaviour, businesses can deliver a customer experience that meets the unique needs and preferences of each individual customer. However, it is very important to remember that the above is not possible without the right culture and strategy towards improving CX. Delivering superior CX should be ingrained into the DNA of the organization and be the pivot for all activities being planned.

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