Customer Experience Reporting

Delivering the Best Customer Experience in a Mobile Environment

  April 18, 2012 in Customer Experience Reporting, Mystery Shopping by Marci Bikshorn

Recently, we’ve been seeing a shift toward a more digital, specifically mobile, environment in the world of consumers. An increasing number of consumers are using their phones or tablets in-store to check product information and prices. Because of this, you may need to reevaluate and update your current customer experience management program to stay up to date with the changes. Focusing on the mobile user experience, both in-store and out, is now an extremely large part of effective customer satisfaction management.

Let’s look at the research findings and how you can optimize for more effective customer experience management.


Pew Research Findings

According to a study conducted by Pew Research one month prior to and following Christmas, 35% of consumers actually purchased products they found using their mobile phones in-store, while 19% purchased products from an online retailer and 8% from a different retailer.

Consumers are using their mobile phones in-store and brands are beginning to take notice.


Target Delivering the Best Customer Experience via Mobile

When it comes to optimizing for the newly mobile environment, it may help to take a look at Target, a company who stumbled at first, but is now making waves in the digital realm.


Mobile Target: From Disaster to Success

Initially, Target created a banner ad campaign built for both mobile and desktop computers. However, when a user clicked on the mobile banner ad, they were directed to the Target website on their mobile phone. The problem wasn’t that it linked to the website – but that the website wasn’t optimized for a mobile-sized screen. It was the exact same website that would appear on the desktop computer, making the buttons difficult to read and click.

If you have an online presence like a website, company Facebook page or Twitter account, you are inadvertently involved in a mobile marketing campaign. Consumers are not only using mobile, but they are beginning to expect that every retailer website can be accessed via mobile phone.

Curious as to whether your mobile site is functioning correctly for mobile purposes? Try hiring a mystery shopping company that can deliver research with actionable results in terms of your mobile site. At Service Excellence Group, we offer mystery shopping services that allows you not only to gain insight into effective customer satisfaction management in-store, but via mobile devices as well.


Steps Toward Effective Customer Satisfaction Management for Mobile

As Target demonstrated, mobile is beginning to play a key role in your customer experience management initiatives. The good news is, there are steps you can take toward optimizing for the newly mobile environment.

Optimize: Optimizing your online store for mobile usage means to make it easier to use for consumers. Learn from Target’s mistake. Instead of just having your website open up in a tiny mobile-sized window, hire a digital agency to help design a mobile-friendly interface.

Test: Find out consumers’ thoughts. Digital agencies can help you review, analyze results and answer important questions like “Are people using my mobile site?” and “Which pages are they going to most?”. Another way of testing is to do simple surveys to determine consumers’ thoughts and hire mystery shoppers to test the experience firsthand.

Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates Benefits from Customer Experience Measurement Program

  March 07, 2012 in Blog, Case Studies, Customer Experience Reporting by Marci Bikshorn

If you’ve ever watched Undercover Boss, you may know the premise: CEOs of large corporations go undercover to engage at various levels of their company to experience a day in the life of their employees.

In a recent episode, President Rick Tigner of Jackson Wine Estates in Santa Rosa, California, went undercover as ‘Jake’ and got to know a few employees on a more personal level. Along the way, he was able to view first-hand how employees interacted with one another as well as how they interacted with customers.

The premise of Undercover Boss is similar to the services offered by customer experience measurement and solutions providers.Mystery shopping is a powerful research tool that involves undercover shoppers that are postitioned to listen objectively during every step of the customer experience, giving companies unique insight into their best practices.

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3 ‘Magical’ Tips for Attaining Customer Experience Enhancement

  December 13, 2011 in Blog, Consulting & Training, Customer Experience Enhancement, Customer Experience Reporting by Marci Bikshorn

Magical Customer Experience EnhancementIn today’s competitive environment, it’s more important than ever to provide consumers with a positive and memorable experience to separate your business from your competitors. Due to advancements in technology and the way consumers are now interacting with brands, it’s becoming inevitable that they will start to form emotional connections and relationships with the brand or business as a whole and further continue to utilize their goods and services. The question then becomes, how can you improve your customers experience and develop these memorable encounters between the consumer and your brand? (more…)

Ford Uses Customer Feedback for Better Design

  December 06, 2011 in Blog, Brand & Market Research, Customer Experience Reporting, Customer Feedback by Marci Bikshorn

Customer Feedback Solutions

If you haven’t heard, Ford is planning to launch a new MyFord Touch system on 2013 models of the Ford Escape, Flex and Taurus and an update will be available for current owners of the 2011 and 2012 models. Ford recently revamped their system and came up with a solution that is faster and easier to use than the prior technology. New features include maps, voice recognition, compatibility with other devices and ebook support. This new system is much cleaner and simpler than competitive solutions – all thanks to Ford’s emphasis on the consumer.

The Benefits of Customer Feedback Management Services

Ford is a great example of a company listening to the voice of the consumer to create a better product. By implementing customer satisfaction programs, Ford was able to pinpoint the faults of the old technology and foster those specific improvements. In this case, that led to the use of a larger and more readable font size, bigger icons and fewer menus. Much can be gained from listening to your consumers. Here are two great benefits to employing customer feedback systems. (more…)

On-line Reviews Tip the Scales in Your Evaluation of Customer Service. Fact or Fallacy?

  September 07, 2011 in Audits, Blog, Customer Experience Reporting, Customer Feedback by Marci Bikshorn

Controversy abounds in the realities of on-line customer sentiment.  Sizeable numbers of customers are looking at online reviews and these evaluations in customer service and product selection have a considerable impact on buying decisions.  Is it possible to determine if reviews are authentic or forged? (more…)

How to Use Client Satisfaction Surveys to Inspire Customer Delight

  June 02, 2011 in Customer Experience Reporting, Customer Feedback by Marci Bikshorn

Are you delighting your customers? In today’s economy, your consumers are watching their every dollar and their decision on where to spend that dollar is looming. This means your customer retention strategy should go beyond simply satisfying your customers. – To enhance the brand loyalty factor you  , you must ultimately delight them.

Think about some of the most popular brands in the world: Apple, Starbucks, Ritz-Carlton, Coca-Cola, Nike, Disney. What to do all of these brands have in common? They know what pleases their customers and they consistently seek to not only provide what their customers want, but to give their customers goods and services that they can get excited about. And, the delivery of these goods and services is with the focus on the client, not the company. (more…)

Why Should Your Company Implement a Mystery Shopping Program? Survey Says….

  May 19, 2011 in Blog, Brand & Market Research, Customer Experience Reporting, Mystery Shopping by Marci Bikshorn

If there is a common denominator shared by all organizations –financial, retail, service, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality – it is the monumental need for extraordinary customer service.

It is tough to think of a business type that doesn’t exist by its attention to customer service.

Offering extraordinary customer service requires modifying behaviors.  Modifying behaviors requires coaching, persistence, accountability, feedback and practice.

The findings of The American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer presents evidence, benefits and the reasons why your company should implement a mystery shopping program. (more…)

Customer Retention Ideas: Do You Really Need a Customer Relations Department?

  March 24, 2011 in Blog, Consulting & Training, Customer Experience Reporting, Customer Feedback by Marci Bikshorn

Customer Retention Ideas - Customer FeedbackIn our business, our customers judge the service they receive by every person and program component in which they come in contact and that we offer to them.  Many years ago we entertained multiple customer retention ideas, one of which was having a Customer Relations Department – after all we evaluate the customer experience for our clients inside and out.  How can we fail to provide them with every avenue when it comes to resolution of any area in which we may fall short of their expectations?  After much thought and consideration, we realized that every person representing our company should execute the role of any Customer Relations Department.  (more…)

From Customer Service to Customer Experience Enhancement

  March 08, 2011 in Blog, Customer Experience Reporting, Measuring Total Customer Experience, Mystery Shopping by Marci Bikshorn

Customer Experience Enhancement - Mystery ShoppingCustomer Service. Everyone is familiar with the term. For consumers, it’s that hard to define set of expectations everyone has when interacting with servers, sales professionals, and front line providers.

Customer Service. It’s what puts many people off most about “calling the 800 number,” it’s what puts many people off when they can’t find someone to ring up their purchase, it’s what puts many people off when their product and service questions aren’t answered.

But to every organization, large and small, it’s a way of life. And in a business world where only the fittest survive, customer service has long been an organization’s “bread and butter”.

Today we’ll see why, by itself, customer service is just not good enough anymore. We’ll see why it’s time to focus on customer experience enhancement. (more…)

3 Crucial Reasons Your Staff Needs Customer Experience Training

  March 03, 2011 in Blog, Consulting & Training, Customer Experience Reporting by Marci Bikshorn

Evaluation in customer service delivery happens every moment of every day. Thus, customer experience training is like a “lifeline” for any staff – it inspires people, it creates critical building blocks for high performance teamwork, all while reinforcing core values.

Obtaining new customers is a costly process, so retaining current customers is even more important. Customer service is at the heart of keeping customers satisfied. To really position a business or organization for long-term success, monitoring and training your employees to improve a customer’s experience is crucial.

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