Feedback Management Best Practices for CEM
Posted by Brian Koma on Fri, Oct 23, 2009
According to the Vovici CE IQ study, organizations that have the most loyal customers have approached primary research with a coordinated strategy of feedback management.
Standardizing on a common feedback management solution throughout the enterprise provides many benefits for organizations. First, they can use the platform to coordinate activities across different departments and functional areas, helping to eliminate redundant work. Second, a common platform enables the use of "guidelines and guardrails" that empower users with the ability to capture data within pre-approved parameters and branding standards. Finally, it enables easy information sharing among internal stakeholders while eliminating redundant costs for multiple platforms.
Once the platform is in place, organizations must agree on a set of metrics that will be used to evaluate the customer experience. These metrics can be drawn from one of the many existing CEM metrics that already exist, such as Net Promoter, ACSI, the Apostle Model, Customer Heartbeat and many others, or they can utilize a proprietary model. While we can nitpick each measure, and some are better than others for different industries and different organizations, consider this: the most important element of success is to agree on a set of metrics and then apply them consistently throughout the organization.
To achieve the highest levels of loyalty, organizations must also coordinate their feedback efforts across all parts of the organization to avoid fatiguing customers with requests for information. One large customer of a Fortune 50 firm brought to the CEO's attention that they were receiving 100 survey invitations a year! After that Fortune 50 firm became a Vovici client, they realized that they were fielding 450 separate customer feedback initiatives. By eliminating duplicate requests for the same or similar sets of information, organizations can reduce the number of surveys that are conducted while ensuring that response rates will increase to higher levels and avoid the erosion that many organizations are facing due to "feedback fatigue."
Finally, organizations with the most loyal customers track the metrics they measure over a period of time to determine whether or not they are moving the needle in the right direction.