Wanted: Better Qualitative CX Data
If you want to understand the customer experience (CX), you need both quantitative and qualitative CX data. Quantitative research is certainly valuable, especially leveraging rating systems like Net Promoter Score (NPS) where metrics can be tied to revenue growth. However, to get to the “why” of customer behavior you need more, and better qualitative CX data.
As CX expert Bruce Temkin points out, to understand the customer experience you have to ask the customer directly. You can’t take the human experience and translate it into numbers. Once you convert CX into numbers you have lost what the customer is feeling, which means you cannot design an experience that connects with customers. You need to use voice, video, and other means to capture the qualitative customer experience and apply it to CX.
IVR Surveys Deliver More Open Ends
We have seen a growing trend from CX leaders who want to capture and analyze qualitative customer insights, which means more demand for one-on-one data capture and open-end responses in surveys. Recently, for example, we attended a CX conference supported by Forrester where the CXO of Ford Motor Company indicated that acquiring and analyzing open-ended customer data was one of his top priorities. The challenge is finding the best means to conduct those surveys and make qualitative data actionable.
As shown in the graph, our research shows that IVR voice surveys outperform other survey modes including web, mobile, and SMS. IVR voice surveys not only have a higher frequency of open-ended responses, but generate more and better qualitative research data. IVR voice surveys acquired four to six times more open-ended data (based on a character count per open end) than other survey modes. This means that by using voice surveys you are getting more open-ended responses and more in-depth responses to drive insights and ideation.
From Qualitative to Actionable
Of course, gathering consumer responses is only the first step. Processing and mining this CX data in a timely fashion that provides near real-time insights is key to maximizing its value.
The fastest and most cost-effective technique to make voice open ended data actionable is using real-time transcription. Using ASR speech-to-text auto transcription provides written text that can readily be analyzed for sentiment using key words and phrases. Using real-time auto-transcription also can generate alerts for closed-loop response; an ideal solution for customer service call centers.
Open-ended voice response can give you a more accurate barometer to assess customer sentiment. Voice driven IVRs have been shown to give deliver substantially higher response rates, which indicates deeper consumer engagement. And technology such as real-time speech-to-text transcription can make that qualitative data actionable, flagging problems for immediate attention and providing meta data that creates emotion and sentiment scores for each response.
If you need more qualitative consumer CX data and really want to listen to your customers, consider using open-ended voice IVRs. They are your best tool to gather more accurate emotional response CX data, and you can readily convert voice to text for a more accurate picture of sentiment analysis.
If you want a copy of our latest research showing the performance of different types of qualitative research tools, just drop us a line and we’ll be happy to share the results.
