A heartening 78% of businesses in Ireland take action based on customer feedback…at least some of the time (State of customer experience management survey). The interest in Customer Experience (CX) as a vehicle to achieve business goals is rising.

The survey, perhaps unsurprisingly, revealed that the key desired benefit from a focus on CX is greater customer retention and loyalty. Arguably more noteworthy is that only half of practitioners mentioned employee engagement and retention as a key benefit.

At W5 we know from experience that better CX also benefits employees and that the overall business impact can be astounding. Empowered and engaged employees do better work, driving a virtuous cycle towards better business results. Through many client partnerships we’ve seen how customer-facing employees are acutely aware that they too benefit from delivering better customer experiences – through making internal processes smoother and more efficient. Positive customer sentiment and brand advocacy result.

‘Life is easier if customers are happy’

(Employee quote)

So what can we do to change the narrative around Customer Experience, from one that focuses primarily on customer value to the benefits for both customer and employees, and in turn to the business?

We think ‘right first time’ is a great starting point.

‘Right first time’, as defined in the Cambridge English Dictionary, is:

‘If something is done right first time, it is done perfectly every time, and no time and money is wasted correcting errors caused by doing it too fast or without controlling quality’

By first defining what Right First Time means for customers AND the organisation and employees, we can embed this into process and service review and design.

We encourage all organisations to make the time for customer teams to explore getting it right for customers and employees across key journeys, to define a roadmap for improvement in achieving ‘Right first time’ and then to measure the impact of these activities on the business.

The shared benefits include:

• Improvement in employee sentiment resulting from easier processes, greater communications, empowerment and reduced duplication of effort
• Heightened efficiency leading to cost savings (smoother operations and reduced number of customer interactions from complaints, issues), opening the potential to invest the savings in value-adding activities.
• Reduction in customer errors – the customer doesn’t always ‘get it right’ either, usually through no fault of their own. Making it easier and clearer to interact is invaluable.
• Improved communication throughout the organisation, highlighting possible improvements and sharing the benefits.

Clearly outlining the mutual benefits of great CX for both the customer and the employee can help shift the perception that CX is for customers only and ultimately help deliver better business results.