This past week was a good one for inQuba. We were fortunate to be awarded four Assegai awards at the annual DMA Direct Marketing Awards Evening. We are very grateful for both the recognition but more importantly the wonderful clients with whom we work to produce the stellar results leading to the award recognition. The link to that post is here
What has been on my mind this past week is the very large and mature CX programs that are in play in many organisations and the relatively emergent field of customer journey management. I would argue that “traditional CX” ie feedback and survey centric programs are a subset of a full customer centric journey analytics and orchestration program and many businesses have large programs which are starting to question the value of “traditional CX”. In this article by HBR there are arguments in terms of why CX programs fail related to leadership and change management.
While I think the article partly makes the case for failure I would argue there is a more fundamental problem. The problems starts with dishonest customers and then goes to a fundamentally flawed approach to measurement. Let me explain:
The “Say Do” Gap
There are great words of Wisdom from David Ogilvy who famously reflected that, “the problem with market research is that people don’t think how they feel, they don’t say what they think, and they don’t do what they say”.
Many studies have been completed to show the different between what customer say and what they do. One of the better ones I came across is discussed by Tim Wade in this article found here :
It was a study of an investment game (actual behaviour) correlated to the investment provider promises.
The investment providers were put into 3 groups:
- One over promised but under delivered (OPUD / Oversell)
- One delivered what they promised (Match / Trustworthy)
- One under promised and over delivered (UPOD / Undersell)
According to what the investors said they would do is presented below:
What Customers “Say”
However, when the actual investments were assessed, the actual profile of investment looked like this:
There are other studies like this one on stated vs derived importance in choosing a medical service provider found here . Again, what people “Say” vs what they “Do” ie how they choose is not always aligned:
Customer Drivers of Choosing a Medical Service Provider
Customer Experience Must Understand What Customers are Doing and Why they Doing What They are Doing!
Traditional survey centric customer experience management is exclusively based on surveys. It does not map out customer journeys and thus falls dramatically short in determining the actual behaviour of customers. Added to the fact that only a handful of customers provide feedback, there is mostly a very incomplete view of customers, their behaviours and motivations.
In a recent study by the CX Network, they examined the top 3 business and journey challenges and the results are below:
Journey Management Challenges
It is somewhat ironic that the companies completing these surveys cannot measure the effectiveness of their CX efforts. The reason for this is precisely because companies do not measure the actual customer behaviours (the second point above). It is ONLY if this happens that you can get a true view of customer behaviour which then can fund (the 4th point above on the list) which is lack of budget. A lack of executive support (point 5 above) is because many traditional CX programs are supported only because they are seen to be the “right thing to do” with no hard evidence as to the bottom-line impact (real executive commitment).
Easy Journey Data Ingestion is the Secret to Successs
The solution to the above conundrums come down to the ability to relatively easily track customer behaviour and then to act based on that behaviour informed by “the why” of customers reason for acting in a certain way (most obtained through omnichannel feedback).
At the core of any journey analytics solution is the ability to build up a single view of the customer and then to track customers across channels, across time and identify when they are or are not progressing to a customer goal. Thus a journey analytics solution is the ONLY way to truly manage CX
Customer Journey Analytics Delivers the CX Management Promise
It follows that if you want to drive revenues, upsell, ensure retention, get customers to onboard and pay premiums and further that getting more end customers to their goals (which should be designed to bring revenue to your organisation), then the approach you MUST take is to be able to track customer behaviour. That is achieved through a Journey Analytics solution.
If your CX program is does not have executive buy-in and it is not driving bottom line impact, consider ditching your survey centric program and upgrade to a 2024 CX program built around a Journey Analytics Solution
Thanks for your time an attention in reading this far. I can see from the stats on this newsletter (what people do) that there is strong interest in Customer Journey Management. I would love to hear what you have to say through your comments
Have a brilliant week ahead and as always, enjoy the journey
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About inQuba Journey Management
Customer Journey Management is revolutionizing how businesses engage with their customers. Like a precision tool, it offers targeted, data-driven insights into specific customer cohorts, behaviors, and use cases, allowing you to act with accuracy and purpose. Unlike traditional CX approaches, which can sometimes yield flat results, our Journey Management solution combines Journey Analytics and Journey Orchestration to deliver a comprehensive view of your customers’ actual journeys.
With inQuba, you can visualize real customer journeys, understand the emotional drivers behind their actions, dynamically remove obstacles, and provide timely, personalized nudges to guide them toward desired outcomes. This strategic approach has proven to double customer conversion rates, transforming both customer experiences and business growth.
We’d love to learn more about your business challenges and discuss how inQuba Journey Management can empower your organization to achieve its goals. Reach out today to find out how we can assist you.
