Have you heard the saying “Two sides of a coin,” when it comes to businesses, one side is customer experience, and the other is employee experience.
Just because you see one side does not mean the other doesn’t exist or is not as important. Terms like customer-centric and employee-centric will soon become a thing of the past. And Experience Management will be the next buzz word.
When you ask someone how to enhance Customer Experience, they would say something like – listen to your customers, follow-up, improve in areas that customers are unhappy with, etc.
If you change the word with customers to employees, they still make sense, don’t they?
Businesses so far have been navigating the maze when it comes to connecting CX and EX. And the ones, who have, see a significant change in their Customer experience. The reason to improve in both cases is the same – retention.
When it comes to retaining the rules are the same, finding a talented employee or keeping a loyal customer both takes time, effort, and of course, there is a cost attached to it.
CX + EX – why are they more influential together
CX offers innovation in the digital age of accelerated commercialization of products and services. And CX strategies are drafted and executed by your employees. Each of them is essential in building a compelling customer experience, be it your customer service executives or the developers.
We map customer journey while planning customer experience, yet we miss one of the most prominent and most influential touch points – employees. Interaction with your employees will significantly affect brand perception and customer opinions.
The part employees’ play in CX can differ for B2C vs. B2B business. In a B2C organization, each employee is either a prospect or a customer. Whereas, in a B2B setting, employees may not be direct customers but can be brand advocates.
Well-executed employee experience can help build simpler and compelling customer experience.
EX – the secret sauce of CX
Motivated employees don’t mind going the extra mile. Irrespective of the role, industry, or generation, people appreciate being heard and valued. Every employee is an individual at the end of the day, and each of them brings something new to the table. And they expect the experience to match them.
When you stress on customer experience, the connection between CX and EX will become evident to you. A common misconception about employee experience that most people have is that it is all about the compensation, the benefits, and the events, etc. But it is not, the above might be employee benefits they might influence the experience but do not account for it. It’s like offering your customers a discount, it might help in customer experience, but it is not the only aspect of it. If you want to create a powerful Employee experience, start asking your employees the following: does your job make you happy, is it easy, is it hard, is it challenging? Do you get to share your ideas, do you have autonomy, and do you have the tools to help you. Are there options to improve your skill set, professional development facilities, how are your colleagues, do get to have a say in the decisions.
Being a part of the team, getting to share ideas and to be a part of decision making adds value to their journey with your organization. It adds to Employee experience and improves your CX solutions.
Your CuE – Bridging the gap
Companies often tend to forget “employee experience” while focusing on the customer experience. It is quintessential to maintain a balance between the two and making sure that one does not get neglected because of the other. Measure the impact a CX change can have on EX. This way, you can enhance your CX program while ensuring that it will not hurt your EX efforts.
For example, your company offers customer support between 10-9, and the management decides to provide 24×7 supports. This step will help customers resolve their issues faster and at any point in time. But do you have enough staff to cover the shifts? How much slack will your current employees have to pull? Did you take their feedback on this topic? This change can be a perfect move if you add more staff or offer flexible working hours or even remote working options. In this way, it will not just improve your CX plan but also your EX effort. If you increase the working hours without any additional support, it may enhance your CX a bit, but in the long run, it may backfire.
Ever heard this before, “Happy employees, Happy customer?” it is not a mere statement; it is a fact. Many studies have proven that employee experience can benefit your business in more than one way. CX solutions can become even more beneficial when combined with an EX strategy. The market is full of experience management tools that can help you gather feedback and act on the insights, keeping both your customers and your employees satisfied.
Be amongst the first movers in the race of talent, companies with great Employee experience attract better candidates. When you have a team of highly motivated employees providing excellent customer experience will become effortless.
