Once upon a time, a young girl asked her mother why she cuts off the end of the chicken before cooking it. The mother replies, “because that’s what my mother used to do”. So, the young girl asked her grandmother why she cut off the end of the chicken before cooking it and her grandmother replies, “because my pot was too small”.

The moral of the story? What we do today does not always offer us value or meaning, and the same can be said when using data to analyse customer experiences.

The Data Boom and Cutting Through the Noise

Big data and analytics have enabled businesses to monitor their customers’ experiences and behaviours, which can then be used to inform decisions. Although businesses adopt these strategies, they are often implemented ineffectively with outdated methods, a lacking CX strategy or take second priority to hitting annual targets.

Just because big data allows us to analyse a wealth of stats and metrics, does not mean that we have to, or we should. Much of the data collected does not provide answers to pressing questions, offer business solutions, and it does not tell us what customers really experience when at your store or on your website.

For example, if you want to understand why customers are leaving your site after adding a product to their basket, you may wish to investigate shipping costs and your customer expectations prior to the online checkout. Maybe you didn’t articulate the cost of shipping early and set the customers’ expectations correctly? Thus, losing their trust and leaving you for a competitor site.

If this is the case, analysing data of shipping costs between your competitors may be more insightful than pouring efforts and data into generic questions, surveys and tests that you have always done. Just as marketing changes with the times, i.e. with social media, so does using data to your advantage.

Customer Journey Mapping Gets the Ball Rolling

Finding a starting question and trying to answer that question with data can often lead to another question – and another. Eventually you have obtained data that answers your pressing questions about customer thoughts and feelings, but how do you know which questions to start with?

One way that businesses are using data to understand customer experiences is by starting with customer journey mapping. This is the process of creating a visual representation of how customers use your website. When paired with data regarding website bounce rates, it can yield interesting questions about why customers do something at any stage of your site. Therefore, customer journey mapping can be used as a starting point to develop your initial questions.

Refine Your CX Strategy with nlighten!

nlighten are leaders in providing solutions to your CX strategy. Aside from offering customer journey mapping services, we are also on hand to train staff  so they understand the framework and principles of being customer smart.

For information on any of our stellar services, get in touch with our professionals, soon!

View the previous nlighten article by Nathalie Schooling: Empathy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

nlighten. enhancing customer experience: www.nlightencx.com