Imagine: a hotel offers beautiful rooms in a top location at a competitive price, but you receive unfriendly service at the reception. Or the other way around: the staff is great, but the rooms are dirty. In both cases, this will result in a poor customer experience, which will likely keep you from returning. An optimal customer experience requires more than just attention to the customer. It’s all about the balance between customer, employee and company. Only when all facets are in harmony can your company provide an excellent experience.
How do you offer an optimal customer experience?
Improving the customer experience requires a holistic approach. This means that you have to listen to the customer as well as the employee and the business processes. By identifying and improving critical points of interest, you can take the customer experience to the next level. But where do you start?
The Customer: Voice of Customer (VoC)
When customers give feedback, they expect you to listen and take action. The Voice of Customer (VoC) provides valuable insights into customer satisfaction, loyalty and enthusiasm. What do customers think of your products or services? What makes them satisfied, and where do you see room for improvement?
By listening to your customers, you can not only prevent negative experiences, but also respond to their needs and expectations. Understanding the customer is crucial to improving the overall experience. Make sure you integrate VoC into your business strategy.
Read also: How to implement you the Voice of the Customer (VOC) in your organization?
The Employee: Voice of Employee (VoE)
Not only the customer, but also the employee plays an essential role in the customer experience. The interaction between employee and customer can make or break the experience. Voice of Employee (VoE) is therefore just as important. Employees who feel involved radiate this enthusiasm to the customer.
But how do you ensure that employees remain motivated and involved? By regularly asking for feedback, for example through an employee satisfaction survey, you gain insight into their needs and motivation. Things such as appreciation, responsibility and job satisfaction contribute to the involvement and performance of your employees.
Discover the energy level of your employees with an employee satisfaction survey. Motivated employees lead to better customer experiences.
The Company: Voice of Business (VoB)
In addition to the voice of the customer and the employee, there is another important factor: the Voice of Business (VoB). This revolves around business processes and results. For an optimal customer experience, the basic conditions of your company must be in order. Consider hygiene factors such as clean rooms, sufficient supplies and financial health.
The hard figures, such as turnover, growth and market share, provide insight into how customer and employee satisfaction influence your business objectives. By combining VoB with VoC and VoE, you can make strategic decisions that improve both the customer experience and your business results.
Customer Experience Management: the complete circle
The connection between Voice of Customer, Voice of Employee and Voice of Business forms the basis of a strong Customer Experience Management (CEM) system. When you understand and implement these three pillars, you create a powerful system that helps you increase customer and employee satisfaction and achieve your business goals.
Curious about more? We would like to invite you for a no-obligation conversation about how we can optimize your customer experience. Or download our eBook ‘The Power of Customer Experience Management’ and discover why CEM is crucial for long-term success.
