Companies urged to focus on both customer and employee experiences

For years, the customer has been king. Companies have collected as much data as possible about their clients in the hope of providing them with great experiences and keeping them loyal.

However, firms that want to be successful and grow their profits should be considering both Customer Experiences (CX) and Employee Experiences (EX), argues Matt Egol, a principal with PwC in New York and a leading digital strategist. “There will come a day when most companies connect CX and EX, and think and act in terms of a unified return on experience,” he predicts.

"They will have the data, the tools, and the expertise to understand which customer experiences to focus on when and where, and which employee behaviours can best elevate those experiences."

“For those companies’ shareholders, that will be a very good day indeed.” That’s revolutionary thinking. Most firms believe that employees are only there to serve the customer. They are considered to be expendable – if one staff member quits in frustration, he or she can be easily replaced by another. For Egol, the customer and employee are both essential players.

In addition, Egol suggests that companies that are still using the Net Promoter Score model of measuring customer satisfaction are out of date.

The Net Promoter Score assesses customer loyalty and categorizes people into three groups:

  1. Promoters: (9 to 10 score)

    Loyal enthusiasts who spread the word about your products and services

  2. Passives: (7 to 8 score)

    Satisfied customers who are vulnerable to competitor offerings

  3. Detractors: (0 to 6 score)

    Unhappy clients who may speak ill of you to friends and on social media

The Net Promoter Score averages the scores of your customers. A result of 100 means every customer is a promoter. A score of -100 indicates that all of your customers are detractors (and your business is in big trouble).

Egol suggest that the NPS is too backward-looking and just a snapshot

He proposes that firms need a measure of CX that allows them to fix problems in real time.