Changing landscape of CX and EX is fueling business growth

Businesses are starting to understand the value that can be delivered by effective Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) programs. While CX and EX has long been a focus for businesses, the two disciplines working closely together is a relatively new concept as evidenced by the rise of new roles - The Chief Experience officer. Many businesses are just starting to accept that happy staff make for happy customers, which leads to better brand loyalty, increased sales, and more profit. To fully reap the benefits of CX and EX programs, businesses need to stop running these programs in isolation and understand how they converge to positively impact business performance, according to Qualtrics.

CX has been a focus area for some time and EX has now joined CX as a business imperative . The main driving factor behind this increasing adoption of CX and EX programs has been digital technology. The right technology has let companies move from infrequent, cumbersome feedback programs to real-time insights that are actionable. In the next wave of development, companies are understanding the importance of the right feedback, at the right time, to the right people. This lets teams make a substantial impact when it is most useful.

See also: The Ultimate Voice of Customer (VoC) Starter Kit

Now, companies need to merge their EX and CX efforts to amplify customer and employee loyalty and engagement. CX and EX are inextricably linked: regardless of industry, a company culture that values the employee can drive engagement and achieve greater customer retention and financial outcomes.

To help you learn more about how CX and EX together are fueling business growth, please check out this free 6 part webinar series.  

Qualtrics has identified five ways to connect EX and CX for greater business outcomes, they include:

• Ignite the organization through leadership.
• Authentic values-led customer value.
• Employees feel connected to the customer experience.
• Innovative experience environment.
• Experience management to monitor the business’s vital signs.

Let us now take look at each of these ways in detail.

1. Ignite the organization through leadership

   Businesses should look to move from siloed to collaborative working models. This requires leadership that values people and customers and this forms the foundation of its strategy. Changing the culture requires leaders to be aligned around the vision and have common objectives, values, and metrics. Leaders must define and role model the behaviors they want to see in their people.

2. Authentic values-led customer culture

   Customer-centricity needs to be more than a tagline; there needs to be visible action. This requires senior leadership to embed a culture of customer centricity within the organization through the agreed mindsets, behaviors and metrics. This can influence business outcomes as long as the leadership considers this a long-term strategy and stays focused on communicating, aligning and re-aligning teams towards this goal.

3. Employees feel connected to the customer experience

   CX programs that rely on scores lead to score-chasing behaviors that are unlikely to genuinely move the needle for customers. Instead, businesses should shift focus from metrics to empowerment. This means spending time to connect people to the customer experience through immersion and engagement programs, getting the right data to the right teams, and providing the right tools to capture and act on feedback. Authentic programs that build empathy throughout the organization, not just on the frontline, will influence decision-making.

   See also People still want human contact, not just self-service

4. Innovative experience environment

   The customer environment and the employee environment have traditionally been created in isolation from each other. Integrating them and designing workspaces that reinforce collaboration and connection to the customer, to each other and the wider organization creates an innovative experience environment.

5. Experience management to monitor the business’s vital signs

   Organizations that silo their measurement of experiences will naturally have blind spots that they will be unable to address. Moving toward connected data will help them optimize all of the experiences they deliver across customer, employee, product, and brand. They can then understand the levers that drive change and correlate experiences to financial performance. This will also unify the organization to deliver differentiated experiences.

   It is important to map CX and EX programs to business outcomes and financial results. By demonstrating the tangible benefits of these programs, businesses can gain stronger buy-in from stakeholders and leverage these areas of commonality to create a brand that people want to work for and customers want to buy from.

ABOUT QUALTRICS

Qualtrics is the technology platform that organizations use to collect, manage, and act on experience data, also called X-data™. The Qualtrics XM Platform™ is a system of action, used by teams, departments, and entire organizations to manage the four core experiences of business—customer, product, employee and brand—on one platform. Over 10,000 enterprises worldwide, including more than 75 percent of the Fortune 100 and 99 of the top 100 U.S. business schools, rely on Qualtrics to consistently build products that people love, create more loyal customers, develop a phenomenal employee culture, and build iconic brands.

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