When organisations think about improving customer service, many businesses are now starting with their own employees. New research suggests that combining a focus on employee experience (EX) alongside customer experience (CX), will deliver long-term improvements to customer service and satisfaction. Merging the two approaches is known as ‘experience management’ (XM).

The best part? When companies get it right, it creates a virtuous circle. Happier employees deliver better service, and customer satisfaction increases. As customers’ experience improves, morale and job satisfaction among employees also increases.

Setup for success

One of the best places to start is giving employees the tools they need to succeed. Equipping customer service teams with the right systems is essential to making work more engaging. For many, this means eliminating admin tasks that take up too much time, effort and energy.

Research by Deloitte found that on average, Australian workers spend nearly one day per week on routine admin tasks. It’s no surprise that 35 per cent feel frustrated by work. This has a significant knock-on impact on employee engagement.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. The same research found that decreasing the time employees spend on routine tasks by just one hour per week would increase employee engagement and boost profitability.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in customer service, where front-line agents can be disconnected from middle and back-office operations, meaning they have to spend valuable time chasing for updates and actions to resolve customer requests.

Instant impact

Taking action can deliver significant results. Using ServiceNow’s Now Platform, Kiwibank overhauled its customer service management for loan applications, by connecting teams and departments to more quickly serve customers. This eliminated the need for manual tasks like finding information, updating multiple records, or contacting different teams to track or request actions.

This led to immediate benefits. Customer response times reduced by 75 per cent from four days to one. Applications needing rework decreased by 83 per cent. Unsurprisingly, customer satisfaction increased. Employee satisfaction also significantly increased, as teams were freed from routine admin and could instead focus on high-value work.

Kiwibank is not alone. Many companies are finding that as they convert more manual processes into digital ones, customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) depend on one another to succeed. When they do, the benefits are substantial: companies defined as leaders in overall digital experience enjoy greater market share, lower capital costs, and other advantages, according to a global survey by ESI ThoughtLab and ServiceNow.

EXPERIENCE LEADERS SEE BIGGER RETURNS

Companies considered leaders in overall digital experience enjoy a wide range of strategic benefits

With the help of new digital tools, merging an organisation’s CX and EX efforts can help raise employee performance and increase customer loyalty.

Companies that made experience a top priority from the C-suite to the front lines, saw gains of up to 20% in both customer satisfaction and employee engagement, according to McKinsey. Customer service costs also fell by as much as 20%.

Harnessing XM

Digital technology and supporting expertise are needed to make the transition from specialised EX and CX teams into a combined XM practice. Data sharing between CX and EX teams is a critical strategy in merging the two practices.

Customer service managers have an advantage in the move to XM. Employees on the front lines are usually the first to notice issues that arise with customers, while customers who interact with engaged employees generally have better overall experiences with a brand.

If we empower employees with data and insights, it helps them address potential problems quickly. The key is having the right platform in place that makes data accessible, and lets work flow between teams and systems.

ServiceNow are the proud Lead Customer Service Partners for the Customer Show!

The Customer Show is the largest and fastest growing Customer Experience Exhibition across Australia & NZ. Housed in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, it is the number one meeting place for business leaders wanting to gear their organisation towards the next frontier of CX.

Join us from 4-5 May 2022 and be introduced to leading case studies on CX transformations, digital innovation, data and marketing insights from some of Australia’s leading professionals – with 7 programs running concurrently across 2 days

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