Effectively linking customer feedback to business goals and customer needs is essential, but it can be a challenge for customer-centric organizations. It is important to make KPIs understandable without losing the bigger picture. In this article you can read how to set achievable goals for the entire organization, down to the level of individual employees.
From company-wide to individual KPI goals
To challenge both yourself and your team, goals should be ambitious but achievable. Break down general business goals into smaller, manageable objectives for teams, departments or individual employees. This creates clear expectations and motivates everyone to contribute to the organizational goals.
Focus on trends, not benchmarks
While benchmark numbers can be useful, they can be misleading due to the many variables that influence scores. Instead, focus on trends in your own results; these provide a more reliable picture of your progress and provide better management information than a comparison with external benchmarks.
Examples of customer feedback objectives per KPI
When setting goals per customer feedback KPI, customization is essential:
- CSAT: A clear increase, such as from 7 to 8, immediately gives an impression of improvement.
- NPS and CES: For calculative metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Effort Score (CES), the target may vary based on your current score. A 10 point increase may be achievable with a low NPS, but becomes more challenging with higher scores. Start with a general objective for the entire organization and then fine-tune per department or employee.
Percentage targets for fair distribution
Setting a goal for the entire organization, such as an NPS increase from +25 to +35, can be difficult to implement at every level. Differences in tasks sometimes make it harder to set the same goals for everyone. For example, a complaint handler may struggle to achieve the same NPS score as an advisor. To remain fair, set percentage targets based on the maximum achievable. By calculating objectives as a percentage of the maximum (-100 to +100), you can better respond to differences in starting position and departmental context. This ensures equivalent goals that still remain challenging for everyone.
Motivate employees with goal-oriented customer feedback
By setting goals based on the maximum achievable percentage, goals can be consistently derived from company-wide KPIs. This keeps every employee motivated and allows everyone to make a valuable contribution to the customer experience and growing scores within the organization.
