2 Jul 2018 · 6 min read

Talking Customer Experience in 2018 with NICE Satmetrix

As customer experience emerges as the ultimate differentiator for today's brands, NICE Satmetrix tells us their views on the importance of getting it right.

Rob Scott

NICE Satmetrix is a leading global provider of experience management software for organisations who realise the importance of CX in the drive for success. With their flagship product NICE Satmetrix NPX, the company delivers a complete, powerful customer experience management solution that allows brands to tap into several layers of client feedback and analytics information.

As the world progressively moves towards an environment where "experience" is more crucial to maintaining relationships with customers than price, or product features, we spoke to Richard Burns, the Vice President of Sales and Operations for EMEA and APAC, about his view on the value of CX.

What Is Satmetrix and Why Was It Acquired by NICE inContact?

Richard Burns has been working in Satmetrix for some time now - since before it was purchased by NICE as a complement to their existing customer experience offering. Today, Richard uses his background in the world of market research and insights to support a business that's fully-focused on the importance of customer experience to differentiation and marketplace success.

"Satmetrix was created more than 15 years ago,with the aim of helping businesses to improve the experiences of their consumer and business customers, to drive growth and profit."

"It is well known for co-creating the ultimate question for customer experience - the Net Promoter Score®… which is the simple calculation based on 0-10 scale responses to the question “How likely would you be to recommend this business to a friend or colleague?”, and is a proven predictor of growth across industries".

Since they developed the Net Promoter Score®, NICE Satmetrix has been testing and refining best practices for using customer feedback insights as a North Star for enhancing the way that businesses run. Drawing on an ever-increasing database of CX performance data, NICE Satmetrix software guides customers to action on insights so they can create truly unforgettable connections between brands and their customers.

When they were acquired by NICE, Satmetrix were already in a very exciting space. "Our software solution is a compelling offering that gives businesses purpose-built insights into the customer experience and a way to drive action in all parts of the organisation. NICE and Satmetrix had a natural synergy with our combined focus on customer loyalty, and our commitment to working in the cloud,"

Richard said. “And NICE’s strength in the contact centre space makes it exponentially easier for us to expand our data sources for even more compelling insights and targeted actions.”

How Would You Describe the Services You Offer

Essentially, NICE Satmetrix serves customers with a comprehensive software that guides every aspect of a customer experience or voice of the customer program. The goal is to deliver role-specific insights and prompt action throughout the organisation. To that end, the software delivers automated purpose-built dashboards, reports, and workflows. It guides companies to create surveys and collect additional data that deliver those insights, and prompts continual CX progress with built-in assessments, templates, and training. NICE Satmetrix consultancy, success management, and professional services engagements enhance the software, drawing on the world's largest collection of customer experience data.

"We have professional service interactions, but for us, it's not just about doing the work - but providing guidance to our customers. We use our customer success programme to make sure that people are really getting the most out of the software they're using. Then, on the consulting side of things, we can get really creative with intelligent analytics packages and information that actively helps businesses to make important decisions."

How Would You Describe Customer Experience in 2018?

One of the most complex parts of customer experience is the fact that it can mean different things to different people. In 2018, it's hard to define what CX should mean to any single organisation. I asked Richard how he'd explain the concept to someone who had never heard of it before.

"I'd start by framing the concept of customer experience as the result of every single interaction a customer has with a company, throughout their lifecycle. At this point, it's widely established that customer experience is the number one differentiator - more important than price, product, or anything else."

In the answer to the question "what should customer experience be?" Richard believes that the key to success is providing an experience that feels easy and personalised to each individual customer. He feels that CX programs should follow that formula too: informed, effortless, and easy to implement.

"I think at the end of the day, it's about giving the customer what they want, when they want it. And to do that at scale, a simple survey program falls far short. Customer experience programs need a solution that helps them collect data, extract the right insights from it, and proactively use those insights to guide sustained, strategic action."

How Do You Think Customer Experience Has Changed?

Just like the rest of the business world, the baseline thinking about customer experience has changed over time as the way people interact with brands has evolved. Even though the Net Promotor Score® – based on the question of "would you recommend this business to a friend" - was first established in 2003, it remains a key measurement of CX. Indeed, the importance of “recommending” has increased at a rapid rate, and shows no signs of slowing.

"I think it's essential at this point for people to understand what "recommending" something means in the current context. Thanks to social media, it's much easier for people to talk about the things they like and dislike. Customers are ready to have their say, and the power has shifted out of the boardroom into every person's mobile phone."

It's become more important than ever, according to NICE Satmetrix, for companies to make sure that they're responding to – and, more importantly, acting on -- customer feedback in a way that's effective and positive for their brand.

So, Would You Say Customer Expectation Has Changed?

Richard noted that expectations around the customer experience are naturally changing, as people are trained by CX leaders to want everything faster, and with more convenience than ever before. “Today, you’re being compared to the best companies in every industry, not just yours.” However, he believes that businesses are also doing better at delivering advanced customer experiences too.

It's safe to say that Millennials and new demographics are changing the way we go about business, and one of the main trends of the day is that there's much less room for failure.

"Today's customers are much less forgiving and more willing to complain about the things they don't like. If your clients aren't happy, they won't stay silent anymore. And they expect to be able to interact with you – including giving you feedback – in every channel."

As a business, NICE Satmetrix has seen significant growth in recent years, and part of the reason for this is the growing importance of measuring and maintaining customer experience. As things have changed for customer and business connections over the last decade, NICE Satmetrix has moved into an ever-more appealing space.

"Today, everyone understands the importance of giving their customers a voice and listening to them when it comes to establishing stronger CX solutions."

The solution that NICE Satmetrix offers means that people can get customer feedback and overlay it with important analytics and information, resulting in a truly in-depth view of their CX situation that guides the right actions – and ultimately, bottom-line results.

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