Importance of Feedback Loops at Touchpoints

Had an insightful conversation over the weekend with a colleague about a common pitfall in CX programs: relying solely on surveys and ignoring other valuable insights. Here are some key takeaways: Ease of Implementation Surveys are easy to deploy and manage, providing quantifiable data that’s simple to analyze. This makes them an attractive option for many organizations, especially those with limited resources. Tradition and Comfort Many companies stick to surveys because it’s what they’ve always done. Changing this entrenched practice can be challenging, especially if the leadership team prefers traditional methods. Resource Constraints Surveys can be cost-effective, making them appealing for smaller organizations that may not have the budget for more sophisticated tools. Organizational Silos Feedback often gets trapped within departmental silos, preventing insights from being shared and acted upon. Lack of Ownership Without clear ownership of the feedback loop, survey results can end up being ignored. It’s crucial to have designated teams responsible for analyzing feedback and driving action. Inadequate Analytics Capabilities Many companies lack the analytical capabilities - people and tech - to turn survey data into meaningful insights. Cultural Resistance Taking action on feedback requires change, which can be met with resistance. Companies need a culture of continuous improvement to effectively address feedback. Short-Term Focus Organizations sometimes prioritize short-term gains over long-term improvements, leading to reluctance in making significant changes based on feedback. Here is where we ended in terms of actions to take: 1. Integrate Multiple Data Sources: Combine survey data with digital analytics, social listening, and customer journey mapping for a comprehensive view of the customer experience. 2. Foster a Customer-Centric Culture: Encourage leadership commitment, employee training, and recognition programs that reward customer-centric behavior. 3. Invest in Analytics: Enhance analytics capabilities to turn data into actionable insights. 4. Close the Feedback Loop: Implement a closed-loop feedback system and communicate changes to customers. 5. Design Thinking and Customer Co-Creation: Use design thinking methodologies to deeply understand customer needs and co-create solutions. 6. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Promote collaboration across departments to discuss feedback and develop action plans. 7. Measure Impact and Iterate: Continuously measure the impact of changes and iterate to improve further. What are you doing to get out of the CX-as-a-survey (CXaaS) trap? #customerexperience #cx #surveys #analytics #designthinking #customercentric

A striking stat caught my eye recently: while 82% of companies use NPS surveys, only 34% find them truly valuable. This perfectly captures a massive disconnect in how B2B companies approach customer feedback. We're running programs that should work well, but don't really help us much. I think NPS, and similar VOC programs, when applied in a B2B context have two major flaws. - That 5% of your customers can speak for the other 95% - That you can build a great company getting customer feedback once a quarter Neither of these work in B2B, where 5% of a customer base is a tiny sample, where every customer relationship is complex and unique, and where speed matters a lot. What B2B businesses need are high-velocity feedback loops that move beyond periodic surveys. By capturing and analyzing every customer interaction in real-time — from support tickets to sales calls — you create a direct line to customer voice. This is exactly what we're building at BackEngine. This shift does two critical things: - Gives you insight into what 100% of your customers are actually saying - Ensures those insights instantly reach the teams who can act on them The result? Engineering teams fix issues before they impact multiple customers. Product teams validate decisions with comprehensive data. CS teams prevent problems instead of reacting to them. Executives maintain a real-time view of the business. NPS still has its place for tracking long-term sentiment. But in today's market, maintaining startup-like customer connection as you scale isn't optional — without it, you'll eventually hear what you need to know, but it will likely be too late.

Your feedback process should act as a funnel, catching data from all the various sources and bringing it into a centralized location. As you get feedback from various sources, it’s helpful to be consistent in what you collect. Capturing data in a handful of key areas is particularly useful, including: >Touchpoint. What was the touchpoint, or where was the customer in their journey? For example, this could be after a repair, or an interaction with customer service. >Objective. What was the customer’s objective? For example, they wanted to get their cable working again. >Experience. What was the actual experience? The cable got repaired but it happened outside the promised window of time. >Emotional impact. What was the emotional impact of this experience? The range you establish could be very satisfied to very unsatisfied, on a scale. I’ve seen alternatives such as very happy to very frustrated. What words best capture emotion in your setting? These factors give you a solid foundation for comparing both structured and unstructured feedback. UL, a global company that provides product testing and certification, made a push to more completely capture the on-the-fly feedback their employees were hearing. They created a simple feedback form inside their CRM system. The link can be accessed quickly by any employee, anytime. For example, they can easily pull up the form from their phone and enter the customer’s feedback. Nate Brown, who spearheaded the effort, said at the time, “This is a complete game-changer in how UL understands customers.” Find more examples here: https://lnkd.in/e-t5Zs2b #customerfeedback #customerexperience #customerservice