While 80 per cent of surveyed CEOs say they believe they deliver a superior experience, only eight per cent of their surveyed customers agree, highlighting a significant disparity that businesses must address, according to Qualtrics.
“There are two sets of data: operational data [‘O data’] and experience data [‘X data’],” Qualtrics Managing Director APAC and Japan Bill McMurray said.
“X data is the human-factor data – the beliefs, emotions and sentiments that tell you why things are happening and that help predict what will happen next.
“For too long, organisations have only focused on collecting O data, and often fail by not leveraging their X data. This has led to a huge gap between most organisations’ ability to know what’s happening, why it’s happening and how to adapt, which is what we call the experience gap.”
According to Mr McMurray, organisations must bridge the experience gap to deliver a superior customer experience.
“When they are able to do this, they are more likely to generate higher revenues and grow faster than their competitors,” he said. “Businesses should therefore be looking for ways to optimise the four foundational experiences they provide as a business – for their customers, products, employees and their brand.”
Qualtrics recommends embracing an experience management (XM) strategy focused on four foundational experiences – customer, employee, brand and product – in order to retain and grow customers.
“Embracing an XM strategy supports a culture of innovation and dynamic change, which drives improvement at every level,” Mr McMurray said. “Even businesses that believe they already offer a superior customer experience should review their experience gaps because there are likely more improvements to be made that can boost the company’s standing in their customers’ eyes.”