How digital is changing the way we listen to customers?

Whilst leading the customer experience efforts at a major organization in the GCC region, and after lots of trial and errors we reached the conclusion that no single measure addresses all attributes that drive customer advocacy. So, we challenged ourselves to be more critical in our analysis of the issues and problems in measuring customer experience.

Our analysis boiled down to one main observation, “how well organizations listen to their customers?”

Traditionally, governments and public entities relied on user data collected through surveys and focus groups. These conventional methods tend to be static and invasive, which makes respondents conscious and this influences their responses. For instance, some people tend to avoid giving negative feedback, while others thrive on exaggerating the negative aspects and ignoring the good elements of the service.

The timing of feedback also affects the response quality. When was the last time you gave an accurate feedback for a service that you received several days ago?

Another major issue is the response rate. I checked with a few of my friends and family members if government organizations in their locality asked for feedback. The resounding response was: “… yeah, sometimes I get an email or SMS, but I haven’t responded to them.” And, I have not even talked about the nature of relationship and its impact on the feedback.

So, how do you address these issues and ensure you get reliable results from listening to customers?

The answer: make digital your friend

Digital must be used to its fullest potential across the entire customer experience management value chain. Whether it is about enabling customers to give feedback or helping your organization proactively listen to customers, digital tools and channels are frequently providing new ways to make interactions more convenient. 

Organizations have already made significant strides towards collecting real-time data, and making visually appealing and interactive communications using smartphones, sensors and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

For example, when I use Uber, the app understands when the service has ended and instantaneously asks for my ride experience. Since the experience is fresh and it is ultra-easy to provide the feedback, I usually end up responding. Similarly, by using beacons and GPS technology in smartphones, organizations can ask for real-time customized feedback at the time of using a service — resulting in higher response rates and more reliable data. 

The real potential of digital is however providing nonintrusive ways to listen and understand people’s experience.

I am sharing the following examples of how digital can be leveraged to understand people’s perception in a nonintrusive way, to capture their views in real-time and more accurately.

1) Measuring facial expressions

The hotel chain Campanile in Spain has installed a system to measure facial expression of its customers at the reception[1]. The sensors installed in the hotel reception combines video with infrared to detect facial emotions of their guests. The data is later processed through an analytical system to evaluate the guest’s experience at the hotel. The health care industry is also in the process of testing and incorporating sensor-based technologies to understand the level of pain in children and adults by capturing their facial expression[2]. This will allow health care providers offer better pain management and improve patient experience.

2) Measuring verbal emotions

MetLife uses an AI program Cogito to understand the change in tone and emotions of customers, while speaking to customer care representatives[3]. The program tracks reactions of both customers and MetLife representatives, and offers cues to modulate conversation in real time. Similarly, State Collection Service — an organization that manages collections for different health care companies in the US — has installed a real-time call-monitoring tool. The tool uses speech analysis technology and suggests talking points to customer care representatives based on customer’s emotions.

3) Measuring sentiments on social media

Social media being the ground for satellite marketers that serve as proponents or opponents of products and services, also provides organizations the opportunity to understand people’s perception. When Barclays launched its mobile app Pingit — a mobile number based money transfer app in the UK, it largely received positive response from customers[4]. However, a sentiment analysis of social media feeds indicated some of its customers were not happy with the app, as it was not working for customers below 18 years. This information allowed Barclays to rectify the issue within few days of the app’s launch.   

4) Observing how customers access your services

With increased use of websites and mobile apps to deliver online services, advanced analytics is enabling service providers to better understand how customers use the interface. For example, Bullymax, a dog food supplement seller leveraged Google Analytics to identify that only 18.23% of their mobile visitiors were reaching the cart. On further analysis it became clear that the product page was not very user friendly —leading to drop-offs. The information collected helped in re-design of a convenient layout based on customer journey of using the webpage — helping them increase the conversion rate by 24.5%[5].

There are no reasons why these and other nonintrusive digital technologies similar to these cannot be adopted for the public sector. Whether it is a physical touchpoint, people taking a walk in a park or street, a town hall, or a focus group, governments can track user reactions using digital technologies. These results can be then used in conjunction with the data collected from conventional methods to build a more robust and reliable measurement system. 

[1] https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4087528.html

[2] https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150627/MAGAZINE/306279948

[3] https://www.wired.com/story/this-call-may-be-monitored-for-tone-and-emotion/

[4] https://oursocialtimes.com/how-to-use-social-media-monitoring-for-a-product-launch/

[5] https://conversionxl.com/blog/improve-mobile-ux/