Measuring CX: Think Hierarchy of Need
- Constant F Percosky III
- Jul 23, 2017
- 2 min read
Many companies pick a single primary customer service metrics to gauge their success at meeting their clients needs. Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSS) to see if the clients are "satisfied" with the product, Net Promoter Score (NPS) to see if they will recommend them to others, Customer Effort Scores on how hard was the effort to do business (CES), etc. While there are debates on which is the best measure to use for an organization, it feels like these measures are more of a partial tally of an overall customer's total happiness with a company's product/services.
I propose that these three scores form a hierarchy of customer need (Customer Hierarchy). Each builds upon the other to move a customer from being a mere customer spectator to a product/service advocate. Like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the most basic of customer needs must be met before any score above it will give useful information to an enterprise.
First off, satisfaction as a measure seems to measure if the basic needs of the customer were met. Did they get the product or service that met their need? If the most basic part of a transaction is not happening then none of the other scores are going to be successful. So CSS measures the bottom step of the Customer Hierarchy.
If the basic needs of the customer are satisfied, then the next question is how difficult was it to achieve that? If the customer got what they needed but the entire transaction was too difficult to carry out, then the likelihood of repeat business drops. CES measures the second tier of the Customer Hierarchy.
Lastly, if the customer was able to get their needs met without significant difficulty, then did the entire experience exceed their expectations. Customer Experience is about understanding, meeting and as best as can be, surpassing their expectations. If the customer transaction can do all those things then they will be delighted and much more likely to provide that coveted "recommendation" to their friends, peers and family. NPS measures the top of the Customer Hierarchy.
Companies should consider utilizing each of these scores rather than focusing on one vs another since they build upon one another. By measuring according to the Customer Hierarchy, companies can better understand at which level their customers needs are not being met and where to focus their improvement efforts. Companies that focus on NPS alone won't truly understand why they gets 4s (or less) vs 5s. Conversely, enterprises using only CSS may get great scores but never know why they are not getting repeat business or word of mouth support because they don't know their customer's feedback from higher in the pyramid.
