NOVEMBER 2023 | VOL. 16

"There is always a better way."



~ Thomas Edison

According to a recent article published in Yahoo Finance, the global customer experience measurement industry is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 7% to $120 billion by 2026. This would suggest that the industry remains healthy and that companies continue to realize a solid return on their service provider and technology investments. But is this the case? Data may suggest otherwise:

According to a 2023 Forrester study, 80% of companies state that Improving their customer experience is a high priority yet, only 6% of the companies state that they have realized a significant improvement in performance.

And customers are noticing these challenges. In a 2023 study conducted by Customer Contact Weekly, over 55% of customers stated that customer service has gotten either significantly or somewhat worse.

This sentiment was reinforced once again by our October poll results where two-thirds of our readers indicated that they do not effectively understand which CX issues matter most to business performance.

So why are companies continuing to invest in CX services and technologies if business objectives are not being achieved or friction in the customer journey is not being reduced?

While this may be a bold statement, Verde Group believes that the industry has several significant issues such as:

1. Technology investments in search of a strategy
2. Executive leaders not consistently using CX data to inform strategic decisions
3. CX metrics that do not consistently correlate to changes in financial performance

We are dedicating the next several Verde Edition newsletters to address what we believe are the fundamental flaws in the CX industry. And in doing so, challenge our readers to reflect on their CX programs to consider, as Thomas Edison suggested, “There is always a better way.”

At the Verde Group, understanding the specific problems that create market damage is what we do. To learn more, visit our approach page or contact us to learn more about how we can help you take action and drive revenues and profits.

November 2023 Poll

Do you believe your CX program is delivering the results

your organization expects?

"Your customers don't care about your NPS, CSAT, or CX metrics. They only care about theirs: One to One. Human to Human. Heart To Heart."



~ Bill Quiseng

Customer & and airport experience expert, Stine Ringvig Marsal, recently hosted a webinar with The Verde Group founder and CEO, Paula Courtney on "Quantifying the financial risk of customer experience." Here are the key takeaways (full webinar available soon!)

Stine:

Do you want financial success with your Customer Experience initiatives? Then aspire to answer yes to the following 3 questions:

💥 Do you have an inventory of your customer's problems with your services/products?

💥 Do you know what each problem is costing you?

💥 Are you laser-focused on resolving your most costly customer problem?

If you can't answer yes to those questions, maybe it's time you switch your focus from the fluffy approach of "delighting your customers" to the one measurable metric that drives financial risk... FRICTION.

Paula Courtney just delivered one of the most insightful and inspiring webinars about ROI and CX, I've ever held/attended.

Many great points were made, including these two:

💥 Stop focusing on satisfaction. Satisfaction looks good on PowerPoint but is NOT a predictor of loyalty.

💥 Track and understand friction to achieve financial success with your customer experience.

Why did I love Paula's points so much?

1) Her points are supported by DATA

2) Focusing on your number one problem and your biggest "friction issue" is tangible for any CX manager/C-suite person.

Too many CX strategies are built of the fluffy stuff dreams are made of while Paula's point is executable:

Knowing the relationship between the problems experienced by customers and their behavior in terms of leaving you/spending less is the secret to unlocking the revenue risk of the customer experience you are providing.

Now stop talking about delighting your customers and figure out how to clean up whichever friction and problems your customers are experiencing.

November 2023's Question:

“What can I do to increase the impact of my CX program across our entire business?"

Answer: We saved this question to kick off our series on the issues plaguing the CX industry. And while this question is quite broad, we would like to suggest that to improve the impact of your CX program, you must first start with grounding insights in the financials of your business. Without a clear and precise connection between your CX insights and the economics of your business, leadership will discount the value of the work.

Secondly, the insights must be specific and actionable. “Fluffy” strategic findings may sound interesting but oftentimes lack the details to drive organizational action. Lastly, you need a leader to mandate that CX insights will be a core pillar of your strategy and with the above points addressed, they impact your company and drive organizational alignment.