The customer experience is important for businesses to understand, as it gives them a better idea of what customers think about them and their inclination to buy future products from the same business. But despite this importance, customer experience is also one of the hardest elements of business to measure because it is time-consuming and customer-centric. Customer support software can help.
Imagine that a customer walks into a store, finds what he or she wants and purchases it. As the customer leaves, the checkout clerk smiles or wishes the customer a good day. From this exchange, how can the company measure customer experience? Calling the customer to know more about the experience is an elaborate process that may not even be welcomed by the concerned customer. Another way is through surveys sent to the email ID of the customer, which again, the customer may not respond to willingly. Hence, the company has to come up different tools that will collect data from many customers, though not all, and will use this information to create a customer experience index.
One popular metric used by many companies as part of a customer support software solution is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). This score is based on a single question of whether the customer would recommend this product to others. When a customer gives a score of nine or ten, then he or she is a loyal customer or promoter, while a score of seven or eight means the customer is satisfied, but is not loyal to the company. A score between zero to six means the customer is not happy with the experience, and as a result, may not buy the product again. Such customers are called detractors. NPS is calculated by subtracting promoters from detractors, and companies have bench-marked a score of seven for good customer experience. However, NPS is not always accurate as scientists are unable to prove the relationship that exists between NPS and business growth.
In short, NPS is one of the best choices available for businesses today. However, it is hoped that better measurement tools come up in the future to measure customer experience.
Edited by Alisen Downey