Customer loyalty is often a major objective within Customer Experience. You can analyze loyal behaviour, for example from your sales figures or your CRM system. How do you find out about the customer’s experience with your organisation and how does this experience influence the intrinsic conviction (from the heart) and the loyal behaviour of the customer?
The topic of the moment; the new privacy legislation that will be enforced from May 25, 2018. Are we expecting a big bang or will everything work out? In any case, from the end of May the reinforced GDPR rules for the collection and processing of personal data will apply. CYS sees the new legislation as a positive step. Because transparency and trust; that’s what it’s all about, also within customer feedback!
AVG or GDPR; what does it mean?
The meaning of GDPR is General Data Protection Regulation. The Dutch version is AVG and stands for Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming. The AVG replaces the Personal Data Protection Act. This law dates from 2001 and you can imagine that it is no longer relevant on many fronts in today’s society. After all, the online landscape has changed enormously! That is why there are strengthened rules and obligations in the field of accountability and information provision for organisations.
Personal data includes not only name and address data, but also email addresses, locations, ages, IP addresses, customer numbers. All data that can be traced back to a natural person are personal data. It is important to consider this for customer feedback, as questionnaires are set at the location of a store or a service technician in the region, for example, and can therefore almost always be traced back to individuals.
The impact on customer feedback
Due to the research that CYS offers to organisations in the field of customer feedback, customer satisfaction and customer journey, responsible handling of the data we process is one of our priorities. With this as a starting point, we take both technical and organisational measures for the security of personal data.
What steps is CYS taking to comply with the legislation?
The new GDPR legislation will have consequences for everyone. CYS handles the data of customers and respondents confidentially and is transparent in its communication about this. We have the means to handle customer feedback and personal data in a responsible manner.
The 6 basic principles or processing principles and the steps we are taking to comply with the stricter legislation regarding personal data processing are briefly explained below:
- Lawful, fair and transparent processing of personal data
Both CYS and our clients must clearly inform respondents about the research they are participating in. The research must be clear and appropriate, and the method of operation must be in accordance with the applicable rules and laws. CYS considers a confidential and transparent environment to be important. - Purpose limitation
CYS (as data processor) and our clients (as data controllers) may only request, store, use and share information for specific, explicitly described and legitimate purposes. We make the purpose of the research clear to everyone beforehand (including the respondents). - Data minimisation
Only data that is necessary for the purpose is used and must be relevant. Not all data is needed for a specific issue, and we do not lose sight of the purpose of the research. This is not just literally about minimising data. If too little data is used, an incomplete picture of the data subjects may wrongly emerge. We have the means to customise this per project and are proactive and flexible in this regard. All data that is part of the research and the processing carried out is recorded in a written processor agreement. - Personal data must be accurate
Data controllers must ensure that data is correct and up to date. Respondents have the right to access, rectification, completion and to be forgotten. This data can be changed via the CYS support department. If a respondent wishes to exercise the above and we as the processor have access to the relevant data, respondents can contact us by email or telephone. We will then ensure that this is handled correctly and in a timely manner in consultation with the client (the data controller). - Storage limitation
CYS can use its own systems to technically ensure that data is automatically archived or deleted after a certain period. This is flexible and dynamic, so the storage limitation can be set differently for each project. In addition, we can also indicate at a specific level which data should be overwritten. We have taken all measures to protect the rights and freedoms of the individuals concerned and their data. Through our customer feedback systems, it is possible to manage this at every level. - Integrity and confidentiality
We attach great importance to a confidential environment. That is why we use automatic encryption storage with logical access restriction. This ensures our customer feedback systems are well secured. The exchange of data only takes place via secure connections where our network security is equipped with a firewall, antivirus, authentication and encryption. To guarantee the trust of respondents, customers and website visitors, we have recorded everything in a Privacy Policy. In addition, we work according to ISO-27001 guidelines and this certification will soon be official. CYS has a clear management system where we know how to handle information security and in which the customer is central. And that coincides perfectly with the arrival of the new legislation!
New privacy legislation is positive for all of us!
Don’t see the new legislation as a burden! The stricter rules are precisely there to minimise risks and prevent abuse. So it not only has benefits for personal purposes, but certainly also for organisations as we protect ourselves and thereby our customers.
If you as an organisation can demonstrate that you handle your customers’ data in a transparent manner according to the rules, you strengthen the relationship with the customer and customers see your organisation as a confidential entity! This has positive consequences for your bond with the customer, and they are more likely to give feedback, remain a customer and ultimately even ensure higher turnover.
The result
The result is displayed as an absolute score, so not as a percentage, and this score lies between -100 and +100. In short, the higher the CES, the less effort customers had to make to be helped. The CES has a strong predictive value focused on the future (repeat) purchase behaviour of the customer. A three-year study by Harvard* among more than 75,000 B2C and B2B customers about their recent experiences with service questions via non-face-to-face channels such as telephone, chat, online and email, shows that:
- 94% of respondents who indicated they experienced little effort intend to remain a customer and make a repeat purchase
- 88% of this group indicates they will also spend more
- Only 1% of this group indicated they spoke negatively about the organisation in question
By comparison: of the customers who experienced more effort while answering a CES question, 81% indicated they spoke negatively about the organisation in question.
*Harvard Business Review, 2010, Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers by Matthew Dixon, Karen Freeman, and Nicholas Toman
