Customer-centricity has become a buzzword in the last few years. But its meaning is somewhat ambiguous. What does it really mean to put the customer first?
For one thing, it means changing how you evaluate your company’s success. Rather than company-centric metrics such as revenue earned or savings made, you measure those outcomes that are important to your customer.
True customer-centricity means prioritizing the customer’s needs and delivering a positive experience at every stage of the journey. This requires a digital strategy that’s optimized for the end-user—one that increases opportunities for meaningful and productive conversations and relationship-building between client and advisor. It also means a seamless and omnichannel experience that strikes the perfect balance between convenience and connection.
More and more companies are adopting and measuring Customer Performance Indicators (CPIs) as metrics of success. After all, customers are the ultimate determining factor when it comes to assessing company growth.
CPIs are those metrics valued more by the customer than by the company. They are those things that customers say matters most and are measured in increments that are relevant and make sense to the customer, such as time or money saved or the number of different options available.
CPIs actually go hand in hand with KPIs. The better your CPIs, the better your KPIs. For example, if you’re measuring problem resolution time as a CPI, this is likely to impact both your customer retention and lifetime value KPIs.
Below we look at some of the most important CPIs for digital banking businesses and their relationship with KPIs:
- Average waiting time. Customer satisfaction is dramatically impacted by how long they have to wait before speaking to an agent. And so measuring the amount of time customers have to spend on hold is vital to boosting customer satisfaction levels. All efforts should be made to minimize the average waiting time.
- # of complaints / issues. How many customer support requests or complaints are your customer support team receiving? The more issues and problems that customers are encountering, the lower your customer satisfaction level is likely to be. This is a good indicator that the quality of your service and customer experience could be improved.
- Customer effort per call. This metric measures how easy it is for a customer to get in contact with an agent, discuss their problem or question, and resolve it. How much effort do they have to put in to get a solution? Customers will be more loyal to services that are easy for them to use and so this CPI directly correlates with KPIs like churn rate.
- Quote turnaround time. Customers value convenience and speed, particularly when they’re seeking pricing information. When submitting an online form or providing information over the phone, they want a quote as soon as possible—ideally within seconds. Those companies that can get back to them immediately with an answer are in a much better position to secure their business. If the customer has to wait for a follow-up, they’re likely to go elsewhere.
- Product/service value. This is a totally different take on the standard tactic of measuring how much value customers are providing for the company. Instead, financial organizations should be measuring how much value customers are getting from them and their services. Whether or not a customer finds a service valuable will determine whether or not they stick with that provider, impacting churn rate, customer retention, and lifetime value KPIs.
- First contact resolution rate. Customers want a solution and they want one asap. Therefore, the faster you can resolve their query during their first inquiry, the better. This CPI measures whether a customer issue is addressed satisfactorily during their first inquiry. It’s likely that the higher this CPI, the higher your customer satisfaction rate, boosting loyalty and therefore sales.
- Product/service utilization. By calculating and tracking user activity, financial organizations can gain important insights into customer behavior. What does your team define as an engaged customer? Monitoring and evaluating those features that are being used most by customers could reveal important patterns and uncover opportunities for different pricing tiers. It will also teach you more about your customer—what exactly they’re looking for.
- Customer engagement with self-service content. While self-service tools should save the customer time and effort and offer increased convenience, if they haven’t been optimized with the customer’s needs in mind, they can do more harm than good. Use this CPI to ensure that self-service solutions are saving the customer time and adding measurable value.
Digital Customer Service and Unblu
Unblu’s platform of conversational banking tools offers a powerful way to engage customers and show them that you’re listening and that you care. By creating opportunities to establish connections and build relationships using collaborative solutions, Unblu is revolutionizing customer service. Learn more by booking a demo here and one of our team members will be in contact.