Have You Implemented Customer Listening Accountability?

Implementing customer listening accountability is prescribed often, but very few do it well.

Every piece of incoming feedback has to have an operating area that will be held accountable for reducing, eliminating, or justifying (and I mean really justifying) that piece of customer frustration. This is a most critical part of the customer experience work—and the part that companies fail to do.

Without the clarity of which feedback goes to what area, you’re collecting more data to add to the piles you already have. And without agreement and commitment from the operational area to own the feedback they get, you won’t get traction or change. Don’t short-change yourself on the amount of time or dedication it will take to get through this stage.

1. Organize the categories of incoming customer information.  Customer feedback has to be classified into something that is actionable.

I have seen customer feedback reports with page after page of verbatim comments on a menagerie of subjects. While these might engender some gasps about the way customers feel about your company, they’re not going to push anybody to make changes to their operation.

2. Track the volume and trend of comments and issues, and separate them into operational areas. There are many tools that will enable the automation of this information into action reports and dashboards for you. Separating this feedback helps identify simple targets to take action on.

For example, tracking and trending customer comments indicating what they don’t like about your return policy is quantifiable, understood, and actionable, and it can be assigned operational accountability.

3. Assign accountability  for the resolution of issues with high feedback counts. Assign the categories directly to operational areas, and send them information about what’s broken.

4. Drive accountability metrics and compensation around the reduction and resolution of issues.  Create public accountability forums  for recording and reporting. Formalizing monthly reviews where the visual depiction of this stuff is posted is truly powerful.

Read More: The Power of Public Accountability

5. Make reliability performance part of the ongoing leadership talk track.

 

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