Why Insights need a seat at the table for your survey and data collection strategy

This is a summary version of a blog article that appeared on the Insights Hub - a space for customer insights professionals to grow and develop their career in Insights. You can read the full article here.?

What’s the secret to a meal? Certainly, the chef’s ability and skill set is a factor, but the high-quality ingredients are equally important. Likewise, when it comes to customer insights, you need a skilled customer insights team and quality data.

Without those key factors—your business won’t get nearly as far. You get the most out of your customer insights strategy by helping them get quality data and giving them a seat at the table.

Are you using customer data correctly?

Customer data is everywhere. You see it all the time without even thinking about it. It’s there in the comments on social media, online reviews, and comparison websites. And while every business has access to that data, not every business has a formal data collection strategy in place. By adding a formal survey collection process, you can effectively figure out where and— importantly—how these customer journeys can be improved.?

And this data is vital to help businesses succeed. In fact, McKinsey reported organizations leveraging their customer data for insights are:

• 93% more likely to generate higher profits than their competitors
• 112% more likely to experience higher sales growth than their competitors
• 115% more likely to garner higher return on investment (ROI) figures

But, most organizations aren’t using customer data effectively. Forbes polled 400 executives across key industry verticals to see how they use data and found only 13% were using customer data effectively. How do we fix that? Well, we start with the right data.

Getting the right data

More data isn’t always better. Like I mentioned at the start, you need quality data the same way chefs need quality ingredients in their kitchen. To do that you first need a centralized platform for creating and sending surveys.

When too many people have admin-level privileges to create and send surveys—you’re gonna make mistakes. Avoid survey fatigue at all costs!

Your customer insights team needs to work collaboratively to prevent you from driving customers away and collecting data that you can’t use. Not to mention, a recent study at Stanford found collaboration also improves engagement levels and the success rate of your teams.?

Once your systems are in place you can focus on how you're collecting data. If great CX starts with great insights, then great insights start with great questions. Insights & Research teams need to have a say because they know how to collect data that benefits every department.

If you want to be one of the 90% of executives across the globe who use data analytics to improve their ability to deliver great customer experience—you need good quality customer data.?

Lastly, I want to address how insights leaders can take a more active role in their organization.?

Adopt a gatekeeper mindset

If your insights leaders let up too much control—your customer insights will be a mess. This doesn’t mean they have to completely overhaul strategy and process, but it does mean taking over everything needed to do their job effectively.

Here’s some practical advice that will help you;

• Being opinionated about what questions to ask customers in surveys. Don’t be afraid to ask “has this question been asked before?”
• Ensuring there’s a cadence around when surveys are sent to avoid survey fatigue.?
• Deciding on a survey platform that works for your needs and then banishing all others. If other departments want surveys they should first go through the in-house customer insights team.?
• Taking ownership over understanding each touchpoint in the customer journey. Where are customers encountering friction? Where are we meeting expectations? Where are we not? These actionable insights benefit everyone.?

Customer insights teams are only effective if they have high-quality data and take an active role in your organization. These are your key ingredients to success. Treat your Insights team like the skilled chefs of customer data they are, and you’ll get genuinely useful and actionable customer insights.

You can read the full article here.