Survey programs serve as the foundational element of all feedback programs. Yes, there are other channels for listening to the people working in these partner programs—and these should also be tapped—but surveys are the core formal methodology needed for analysis and actionable insights. The results, of course, must be credible in terms of sampling, appropriate data collection, and well-designed questionnaires.

The results must also be properly analyzed, made available in real time to those managing and working on the teams, with action/follow-up a necessity.  This is where dashboards come in. Results are distributed through interactive dashboards. At CustomerImpact, we marry the related competencies of survey methodology and dashboard design.

Dashboards offer tremendous power and flexibility. One of the great advantages is showing how different metrics relate to and impact each other. We incorporate key partner intelligence, customer intelligence, operational, and financial metrics. We survey the team members and managers from both partner companies to gather their insights and perceptions. We look at the different dimensions involved in assessing the strength of the partnership—both hard factors, e.g., financial, and soft factors, e.g., satisfaction, trust. We can also solicit feedback from the customers that are served by the partnership to see how that input correlates with those of the partner team members.

If we’re looking at partner and customer feedback, we can see:

• How a partner compares with its competitors

• Ease of doing business with that partner

• Strengths and weaknesses of each partner

• Quality of support

• Satisfactory conflict resolution

• Degree of culture fit

• Degree of trust

• Extent of management commitment

• Comment themes and actual comments that deliver the “why” behind the scores and make suggestions for improvement

• Overall satisfaction with the partnership

• Correlation of overall partner satisfaction with specific benefits or program elements

And we can drill down on each of those to look at the results by company, type of partnership, respondent role in the partnership, and partner team. This allows us to address relationship issues before the impact performance and discover unmet needs that will enable partners to succeed. Identifying where there is a disconnect in the perceptions of each partner about how well the partnership is working allows both parties to “fix” that issue before it escalates and negatively affects the partner working relationship and ultimately the end user experience. And, knowing which items have a high impact or, conversely, low impact on partner satisfaction, provides input to levels of investment to each of those areas.

Operational data might show:

• Number of leads shared with partners

• Number of joint sales calls

• Support calls per partner

• Hours of training provided

This information helps to build more productive and effective partner channels, advances best practices in alliance management, pinpoints where and how much to invest in partnership management infrastructure and processes. When combined with the partner inputs and financial metrics, one can learn what the best practices of successful alliances are, ensuring there is no interruption to their implementation and applying them to less successful alliances.

Financial data would show:

• Revenues per partner

• Pipeline data

• Marketing costs of each partner

• Revenues per product per partner

• Incremental revenues as a result of partner synergies

• Forecast vs. actual revenues

This information, especially when it is tracked against operational and partner feedback, can increase revenues coming through the partner channel. It can be used to identify the most valuable partners in order to give them more business and reward them for their performance, thereby increasing share of wallet with valued partners. It highlights at-risk partners, providing the opportunity to address their needs. Ultimately, companies should be able to prioritize actions that will strength alliances, resulting in reduced costs, incremental sales, and greater value for the customer.

Since company growth today relies increasingly on alliances, it behooves all partner participants to enhance these collaborations with positive relationships, thereby delivering significantly increased value. Harnessing alliance synergies, managing conflicts effectively, and building alliance management capabilities can be helped tremendously by the use of dashboards that communicate complex information quickly, providing a rapid understanding of business performance.

What best practices are you implementing and what business benefits have you realized?

•    Armed with a robust survey, it becomes necessary to cross the boulder field of fine tuning to ensure that data is valid and can be properly used

•    The glacier of disbelief is where if the team is not careful it could end up in the crevasses of incredulity. Rope up and stick together over this part. Even with good data being gathered there is still the risk of storms and there is a retreat route here which leads back towards the vale of ignorance.  Frequently we find with good customer satisfaction data there is a lack of internal acceptance over the things which drive performance.  In organisations with a strong blame culture this is particularly true.

•    If the doubters are satisfied, then the expedition will end up at the verdant pastures of the alpine meadow of credible results.  Rest and recuperate here, but don’t forget to keep moving. This is where many organisations remain – with good results but without the real desire to improve performance.

•    A stiff climb over the overhang of top commitment should result in the team reaching the hanging valley of performance management.  From here a credible and visible KPI should result in the desire to keep climbing.

•    This is where the going gets tough and many a determined organisation has failed to climb the sheer face of performance improvement, leading, it is rumoured, to the continuous improvement summit. The bodies of previous failed attempts litter the slopes.

What do you think? Thinking of the experiences you have been through, does the metaphor work for you? We’d welcome real-life examples. Knowing the rewards of getting to the summit and being aware of all the hazards that may be encountered, feel free to make inquiries. We will be happy to provide expedition guides!

Based on a recently completed benchmark study by KitshoffGleaves and a wider understanding of the processes involved, we have chosen to offer an analysis of the potential complexity of Customer Satisfaction Measurement using the metaphor of an expedition.

Why an expedition?  The reality is that customer satisfaction measurement is usually seen as an activity, the annual icing on the cake to produce a composite score or index to track performance.  And yet, when we investigated how organisations were using their customer satisfaction data, we found very little evidence of clear action plans for improvements as a result.  If an organisation really wants to improve its customer satisfaction then a journey is critical.

The unwary face many hazards on the journey from their first satisfaction measurement exercise to a truly embedded culture of delivering customer satisfaction. It is a long and arduous journey that has many pitfalls. From our interviews with explorers—some of whom got lost on the journey!—we been able to construct a map highlighting the key features of the landscape.

From our interviews with the survivors, we offer a basic description of some key topographic features that have been described to us.  Please note the figure on this page is not to scale and, like all expeditions, proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance.  Here be dragons!

•    The journey begins at the vale of ignorance – ignoring and not knowing levels of customer satisfaction – with a commitment to get going.  You might think this would have been years ago for many organisations, but with new products and services, start-ups and so on, it actually represents quite a lot of organisations.
•    From base camp, the first survey footpath seems an easy walk for the beginner and with little effort, training or experience the peak of expectation is soon reached.  However, a lack of clarity with questions, no segmentation of customers and so on the survey quickly leads to the plateau of bewilderment where more questions are raised than are answered.  Care is needed at this stage to avoid the trough of despair.
•    Resilient teams have managed to climb the ridge of discovery, refining questions, viewing results from other customer listening tools, e.g., complaints and perhaps even running a focus group to get importance/performance and other qualitative information. A steep, hazardous climb leads to good survey heights. Watch out for budget-eating vultures!

From the summit of good survey heights, it soon becomes clear that the journey is far from over, as we’ll see in Part Two.
Although the entire journey is very different, I have to acknowledge that some of the terms of the first phase were unconsciously influenced by the Gartner hype curve.  I was well-versed in this from Gartner’s e-commerce hype curve of 2000 but was not consciously aware when we began to use the journey metaphor.

When we talk about “listening to customers,” what strikes me is that there are two parts to the equation. What does true listening demand and are we certain we know our customers?

Customers

Reaching all Customers—I’ll start with importance of reaching all customers. With what survey vehicles? Are they properly designed? Are we hearing from customers of all products, across all the channels they use for purchase or support, at every touchpoint, from all regions, and at every stage of the customer lifecycle? Are the conversations in their language of choice?

Enterprise Feedback Programs—Whatever survey tools are used in a well-balanced and integrated customer intelligence program, there should be consistency of methodology, terminology, scale, and definitions.  This ensures that the data collected will be useful not only at the enterprise level, but can also be disseminated across departmental lines. Clearly, the methodology must be sound and the proper number of responses collected (at the aggregate level and for each customer segment), so that you know you are working with a representative sample from which you can draw valid conclusions.

Customer Feedback Program Objectives—The starting point in designing a customer feedback program is determining what the objectives are, so that appropriate survey vehicles are deployed through various channels that reach respondents in the most appropriate way. Timing and frequency are critical, with relationship surveys deployed regularly (quarterly, semi-annually, annually—depending on number of customers and how fast the industry is moving) to solicit customers’ overall impressions of all their experiences, as well as their general impression of the brand. Transaction surveys seek feedback immediately after a transaction has occurred, such as closing of a support case or completion of an installation.  Market research pulse surveys are periodically deployed to answer very specific questions that help companies make product decisions.

Customer Lifecycle—Recently acquired customers, existing customers, and disgruntled customers deciding whether they should choose another vendor will all have different perceptions and experiences. It is important to capture and analyze these in order to acquire more customers, retain existing ones, take the necessary steps to prevent losing them, and even learn what it would take to win them back.

Asking Appropriate Questions—Which customers to ask for what type of feedback? It is critical that survey invitations are delivered to those who are qualified to answer. For example, the individual who called for customer support is the individual who should be asked how it went. The customer who was involved in a new purchase decision is best qualified to talk about the sales process and the performance of the sales person involved. Also, within the questionnaire, respondents should only see questions pertinent to their role and function. For example, they should only be asked to talk about products or channels they are familiar with. This, of course can be accomplished through branching logic that ensures they don’t see questions unrelated to their experiences.

Role of Influencers—Relationship surveys typically seek feedback from the entire customer base, but it is important to know who the influencers are, so that analysis is focused on those important voices separately. Ideally, this information is included in the customer file that is delivered to the survey vendor and uploaded for deployment. Questions in the survey can ask for the respondent’s role and function and also ask for a self-assessment of the degree to which they influence decisions.

Other Feedback Channels—We’ve been talking about inviting customers to take surveys. But there are other ways to hear from customers. Customer-centric companies reach out proactively. Executives, account representatives, and others who interact with customers regularly ask how they are doing. Companies set up customer advisory boards, customer strategy councils, user groups, special interest groups, and the more recent customer communities.

Voice of Social Media—And, finally, we all need to remember that customers are talking about us, if not through these formal outreach venues that companies set up, monitor, and actively participate in, but in those vast spaces known as social media. They are going to do that whether you track their conversations or not. Blogs, social network, microbglogs, message boards, and forums represent a rich source of customer data. Today, you cannot ignore them. See CustomerImpact’s latest offering—Voice of social Media.

Listening

Customers should be asked their opinions on everything, from product to support to ease of doing business with you to value received to how they felt they were treated. What did they like and why, what did they dislike and why, what product enhancements and process improvements do they want. It may be a cliché, but I believe it wholeheartedly—namely, that negative feedback is a gift because it gives you the opportunity to learn and redress wrongs.

Companies are truly listening to customers when they:

• Track and trend customer feedback to pinpoint problem areas and identify growth opportunities

• Identify the key drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty and are able to link them to needed operational changes and desired business outcomes

• Use the data to drive their annual planning priorities

• Use all customer information—demographic and descriptive information, behavior history, attitudes, wants and needs, use of the web site, and assessment of strategic value—as the basis for segmenting customers and then leveraging the insights gained

If you’ve done all of the above, you can be sure you hear the true voice of the custome.

Next week, we’ll examine another key component of customer-centricity—selecting the right metrics.

Forrester Research forecasts U.S. social media budgets to grow from $716 million in 2009 to $3,113 million in 2014, a 34% CAGR, the highest growth rate of all interactive marketing channels, which include mobile marketing, email marketing, display advertising, and search marketing. At the same time, marketers know they must ensure a satisfactory ROI to justify continued spending for social media.

We now have data from “the other side,” namely, those publishing, reading, and participating in blogs, social networks, message boards, and Twitter. Social Media usage continues to grow and plays an increasingly significant role in how purchase decisions are made. That is one of the key findings from the 2010 Social Media Matters study recently conducted by BlogHer, with CustomerImpact providing design and analysis consulting. BlogHer is an amazing success story, having grown during the last four years to a network of 2,500 bloggers and more than 20 million unique visitors every month. It is the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online.

BlogHer respondents, numbering 1,876, described their media usage patterns, motivations, and purchasing behavior. Close to 100% of them are either the primary decision-maker or share responsibility for household purchase decisions. In discussing the key factors in their purchase decision, no big surprise that having conversations with friends and family, visiting a store in person, and conducting Internet searches were at the top of the list. And, as might be expected, newspapers, TV, magazines, and product advertising were at the bottom of the list.

But, a whopping 80% of them cited blogs! And they spend a huge amount of time on blog-related activities. Sixty-eight percent are involved at least weekly, if not more often, in writing their blogs, 68 percent in posting comments to other blogs, and 96 percent in reading other people’s blogs. And they’re not just spending time on blogs. They’re also very active with top Social Media platforms, such as Twitter (53%) and Facebook (83%).

These survey results are really eye-popping. They quantify what many of us “knew” qualitatively. We now know not only the degree of involvement in various Social Media platforms, but also what they are getting out of it. Of bloggers who are considering purchases, 41% look to blogs and 51% look to message boards/forums. If they want to find out about new products, 55% look to blogs and 38% look to message boards/forums.

What do all of the above tell us? These are quite amazing numbers that should serve both as an opportunity not to be squandered and a warning to pay attention and deal with discontent before it deepens and spreads virally.

More about this survey in a subsequent blog. In the meantime, it would be interesting to know about your experiences. Does the Internet figure in your purchase decisions? In what way? How has that changed in the last five years?

Role of Senior Management
In talking about corporate culture, we need to start at the top. Senior management must be absolutely committed to delivering that optimized customer experience. They must ensure that the company is delivering the promise inherent in the brand. Increasing the number of engaged customers who will be loyal and serve as advocates is a goal adhered to and acted upon throughout the entire organization. Otherwise it’s just lip service. To accomplish this, targeted investments are sure to be needed. Only senior management can ensure that staff has:

• Necessary resources to do the job

• Adequate, relevant, and ongoing training

• Appropriate tools

• Access to comprehensive information that is current, accurate, and provides a unified view of all customers

Communication throughout the organization is also key. It’s senior management that drives that tangible translation of commitment to action by communicating clearly and frequently about how critical it is to deliver the optimum customer experience. They see to it that everyone knows what improvements are needed, what improvement plans are underway, and what progress has been made towards achieving them.

Work Environment–Are Employees Engaged?
The work environment is another critical component of corporate culture. There is recognition that engaged employees actively engage customers by reaching out to them, showing empathy, demonstrating their commitment to serve them well, and consistently building loyalty. But it goes beyond employee satisfaction. It means there is alignment of the individual with the mission and priorities of the organization.

How does that occur? By management and employees agreeing on performance goals, managers providing feedback on progress towards those goals, tools being provided to managers to support and grow their staffs, and training made an integral part of the employee’s development plan. Also, employee inputs on improving processes, resolving customer issues, and delighting customers are requested regularly. Staff and their managers receive recognition and are compensated for doing the “right” job for customers.

Importance of Data
A commitment to making decisions based on data is another key component of corporate culture. At a top level, there are two sources of data and both kinds are collected, integrated, and analyzed. Internal data includes operational metrics, financial data, customer behavioral data, and customer demographics.  Customer interaction processes are analyzed and fine-tuned to help all staff deliver efficient and effective service. External data includes customer feedback through surveys and other channels, market trends, technology trends, and competitive information.

Qualitative data, e.g., customer comments, are always sought and are highly valued. Text analysis is applied, providing the ‘why’ behind the scores given, an in-depth understanding of major problems that need to be addressed, and a description of opportunities that exist if exploited correctly. Timeliness and accessibility of the data is critical. Operational managers need visibility into day-to-day metrics in order to align their business activities with the corporate objectives. Employees are also given access so that they understand their role in delivering effective and efficient support, but also to keep a constant watch on they are performing vis-à-vis their performance goals.

Cross-Functional Collaboration
Senior management recognizes that cross-functional information sharing and collaboration is essential. To that end, individual silos are discouraged, barriers to cooperation are removed, and accountability is assigned for processes that span different functions. This is one of the major challenges faced by companies as they strive to deliver the optimum customer experience.

Do you agree with this list? Have I left out any critical aspect of corporate culture? Have you experienced  or seen examples of corporate culture that have helped or hindered the move to customer-centricity? Have you been part of an organization undergoing change in order to put the customer at the center of corporate strategy planning and implementation? What roadblocks did you experience? What worked particularly well?

Next week, we talk about the importance of listening, really listening, to customers. What describes an effective customer feedback program?  Which customers, how often, what data to collect, from which channels, across which touch points, during which stages in the customer life cycle? All in order to feel confident that the true voice of the customer is heard.

So, information is the first step, a big first step since it involves listening to all customer segments, proactively delivered by customers using the communication medium of choice or requested of them through surveys–and truly hearing them. But it doesn’t stop there. The data needs to be analyzed and translated into actions that will strengthen the customer relationship to ensure customer engagement, establish competitive advantage, and deliver bottom-line results.

Which brings me to the hot topic of the day–customer-centricity. It’s being hyped all over–in the press, trade journals, articles, white papers, webinars, other blogs, etc. Companies are certainly talking the talk about it. But, how many are walking the walk? What does an intense customer focus mean and how do you know you’re there? To establish a framework for this discussion, we at CustomerImpact recently launched our online Customer-Centricity Audit, inviting participants to rate how well their company is performing in six critical areas. These are the values that we believe define customer-centricity and the actions needed to support those values and deliver competitive advantage.

•    Corporate Culture–Commitment of the organization to customer-centricity and how that commitment manifests itself throughout the enterprise
•   Customer Listening Program–Existence of enterprise-wide customer feedback programs covering all customer segments in all regions across each product line for every customer touchpoint
•    Service Delivery–Availability of training, technology, efficient and effective processes, and comprehensive  accurate customer information to enable service personnel and all staff to deliver positive customer experiences
•    Metrics Selection–Tracking the key metrics that link to corporate strategy and departmental objectives
•    Analysis & Reporting–Access by executives, managers, and staff to dashboards that incorporate customer, employee, operational, and financial metrics. The key is breaking down the silos of data across the enterprise.
•    Accountability & Action–Existence of a formalized process for planning, implementing, and monitoring action plans, with ongoing review of their success

The underlying premise is that few companies are truly customer-centric today. We see it as a journey, and most companies are still on that journey, which we see as consisting of four stages: Product Focus, Value-added Services, Customer Orientation, and True Customer-Centricity.

Follow our upcoming blogs to see how we define those four stages and describe the elements of the six critical areas discussed above. This is a big topic, worthy of in-depth and ongoing discussion. We see this as a start and welcome comments. If you are interested in going through the self-assessment, please click here: http://www.customerimpact.com/audit

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