Ed Deason, Head of CX at WiggleCRC shares his insights and experiences on CX Journey, Customer Engagement & CX Metrics as part of the CXO Deep Dive series.

How would you explain your job to a 5-year-old?

I’m here to make sure the people buying from us have a great time, every time.

Is adopting a company-wide customer-centric approach a must for truly seamless customer service?

Yes. You’ll find that all of the companies that are recognised for truly exceptional experiences have one thing in common: a culture that at every level, from front-line to CEO, understands the importance and impact they have on customer experiences.

How do you best maintain customer loyalty among the fierce competition?

Research shows that the most important elements for creating true, long-lasting emotional loyalty are satisfaction, commitment and trust (not rewards).

If you can create an environment where your customers are truly satisfied, trust that you will fulfil your promises, and feel you are committed to them, then you will be well on your way to creating a legion of loyal fans.

What are the fundamental metrics that we should look at to monitor CX?

There’s no silver bullet here. Or one single metric that you should rely on (despite what NPS proponents would have you believe).

Pick the right metrics for the customers you have, and want. Perhaps it’s satisfaction, perhaps it’s renewal rates, perhaps it’s numbers of complaints. Most likely it’s a combination of 10-20 separate measures of health. What’s most important is that you take time to understand what drives changes in those metrics, and can get actionable insight to the teams that can make best use of them.

How have AI & chatbots changed your approach to customer engagement and retention?

Virtual assistants (VAs) can be phenomenal tools, if used sensibly. Right now, the best chatbots take away the conversations that don’t add value for you, or for your customers.

Simple account administration, order changes and processes with pre-determined outcomes are great to move to a VA. This then frees your teams up to build relationships, make recommendations, and add value to the most important customer interactions.

How to qualify what elements of the CX journey requires AI / Machine Learning?

There’s immense value to be had by using AI/LLMs to sift through customer feedback, free-text surveys and verbatim comments. Historically, these mediums are some of the most time-consuming to categorise, report on and create actionable plans.

Implementing AI to summarise, find themes and propose next steps can save organisations significant time and cost, and result in better customer outcomes.

How does employee experience directly effect customer experience?

Your customer experience initiatives will only succeed if your teams are engaged, involved and listened to. There’s no secret here… bring your teams on the journey, ensure they are a part of the decision-making process and make sure that employee experience is considered alongside customer experience when designing new journeys and propositions.

A big thank you to Ed Deason for sharing the insights on CX Journey, Customer Engagement & CX Metrics!

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