GAME CHANGERS

HONORING AND ACTING ON THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMERTo close or not to close the loop?

Ipsos Loyalty

T h e

rapid development of social

media, information and feedback

technologies have allowed customers to be

heard and engaged with companies more than

any other time in history. Traditionally, customers

may make their comments and opinions felt in surveys

designed by “wary” field employees responsible for

customer service. The opportunity here is that these

employees may be open to receive proactive and

voluntary feedback from their customers

through their mobile phone, e-mail and

especially social networks.

Ipsos Loyalty

The immediacy and speed of information and insight have also increased because of all the new and different alternatives that now allow connections. In the past, it was common for research professionals to report on customer experience study results every quarter, pick comments and suggestions monthly from the store’s mail box or a weekly review of the book of incidents and complaints. Those days are gone and are no more than a romantic memory.

Not only have the channels for customer connection with companies grown exponentially, but these interactions have exponentially increased their impact on corporate reputation. Research published 10 years ago stablished that bad reviews reached 10 people, but now they can reach thousands, even millions, in just one day. The good news is that companies have also increased their ability to collect information from their customers through advanced CRM systems. These systems not only register purchases, they can track customer relationships and behavior over time.

The amount of information keeps growing, which is not bad. We have to be careful not to be infoxicated (misunderstanding that occurs when the information we receive is more than our capacity to process it). However, if we look at the “half full glass” and decide to work with it, we will be able to appreciate all the opportunities that the available information provides us in order to improve our offering and services.

Let’s look at an everyday example. Imagine we visited a telecom store looking for the most recently launched and highly promoted mobile device. Due to its launch success, it is not available in the store so you leave frustrated without the product you wanted. Minutes later you receive a mobile survey which you reply to with a poor evaluation due to your negative experience.

What should we do with these customers? Should we wait for their bad reviews on social media?

The path embraced by leading companies in the world has become a core principle in Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM): take actions on an individual level with the feedback provided by customers in near real time.

This can allow us to act on the failed service promise as a company, not just to recover the customer’s experience, but to gain back a future sale that is now at risk of going to our competitor. We can illustrate this with an

example. Let’s suppose that the manager of the store visited by the customer receives immediate feedback and contact information via a survey and a closed loop feedback system. He may then call the customer to apologize and explain that due to sales success they are out of stock and propose a solution (like letting him know when the product will be back in stock, saving a unit for him or sending the device to the client from a different store).

Additionally, the manager (having the chance to analyze the customer’s usage history) detects that his service plan is not the most appropriate for his needs and can also offer him a more valuable solution. This is just one great example of how the power of EFM can take a bad experience and turn it into a positive one. This also builds loyalty and shows a real commitment to your clients through proactive problem solving and sales recovery.

Closing the Loop

Case management appears to be an attractive way to really make a difference in customer service. In the optimistic and simplistic example above, we do not want to suggest that what we are just focusing on contacting customers that have negative experiences.

Closing the loop is not just about calling our customers. The process can also improve the service level for everyone, but it requires the company to be fully aligned with the objective of managing the complete customer experience. We have identified 5 key components to this process:

Knowing and prioritizing the most relevant experiences that require action: The exact journey each customer follows through their experience with your company will vary with every customer or with different points of contact. To focus the efforts, we need to know the moments of truth that have most impact on repurchase recommendation and satisfaction. In other words, the moments that are critical in making a positive or negative experience that can generate exuberance or frustration.

Employees in charge of delivering the experience have to participate: Case management has an effect on a team’s daily work because feedback is continuous and the organization sets a higher standard of effort for each level of employee. Once the system starts to work, employees adjust their behavior to improve service because they are increasingly aware of how their behavior directly affects the customers. Additionally, giving autonomy and empowering them generates a feeling of inclusion and responsibility.

Closing the loop is another moment of truth: The contact with the customer must be controlled and designed according to your objectives. We should avoid reminding the customer of the pain experienced. This avoidance forces the company to be selective and only to get in touch with those that you want to contact. When possible the goal is to solve the customer’s problem and communicate future actions that the company will take to prevent them.

It’s a continuous process that requires flexibility to adapt to the environment: Companies are evolving ecosystems that modify their behavior according to the changes in the market. Priorities, services, products and problems change, which requires that case management keep up with the client’s needs.

Finally, it is key to understand that the changes introduced in the style of service resolution will impact the promotion of a cultural change: Starting to manage feedback on an individual basis not only implies having a management process, but also requires the installation of a system to manage alerts and the relevant analysis.. It requires employees to fully embrace the corporate vision of putting the customer in the center as the biggest asset. This is a shift in their way of understanding and thinking about the customer: the customer experience matters for obtaining outstanding financial results.

Two-way communication opens the opportunity to deeply investigate the incident, obtain valuable information that will allow us to understand the problem, and analyze root causes. Root cause analysis allows us to redefine, improve or adjust service protocols that improve the customer experience.

To illustrate with a powerful example, one of the most important furniture retailers in Brazil realized that their top “complaints” were related to the lack of salespeople available to assist customers. In reality, increasing their sales force numbers was not an option. Exploration of the root causes showed that more than half of the cases simply needed a salesperson to be familiar with the measures of products or to utilize a tape measure. As a result, they decided to put measurements on tags, and simple, but functional, tape measures and paper so that clients could take notes.

When and how much?

Once convinced in implementing “closing the loop”, companies must define when and how to start. These are not simple questions to answer, especially when we have recognized the cultural change it involves.

The moment to start should be determined by the following:

· When there is internal alignment with the vision of management.

· Prioritizing the most relevant interactions for the business and customer experience.

· When a process has been developed that clearly identifies its Beginning, End and Results. · Display guidelines, protocols and training on how to communicate with customers.

Volume matters! Interacting with all detractors will impact the system’s effectiveness, having a major effect on recomendation. We have to consider that managing a huge number of cases consumes time and resources. Many companies decide to start from the most critical cases moving down the scale once they know the problems and the best way to face them.

We must never forget to consider that the way you address each case will have an impact on volume. Some companies decide to take management to the point of contact (Front Line) vs a centralized focus (Case Management Team).

As we have already mentioned, working on the front line increases the number of workers that need to adjust their behavior, multiplying the impact on their action capacity. A centralized team may be more efficient with training costs and control. On the other hand, working with clients (especially unsatisfied ones), requires specialized knowledge that can more easily be taught and developed by a centralized team.

The more successful customer centric organizations also include junior and senior level executive management in case reviews and follow up. This sets guidelines and rules for everyone, keeping managers aligned with the client’s service expectations.

New Indicators:

Adding a new client management process is coupled with the inclusion of new key performance indicators (KPIs). Employees responsible for closing the loop will not only face traditional results of average satisfaction, the top 2 box or NPS, but they will also have to consider indicators relevant to process and success of their actions:

“Closing the Loop” Process: An indicator that can control the performance of the organization once an alert is triggered. Companies usually refer to the percentage of open, in process and closed cases that must be monitored to control standards and effectiveness in the contact of clients.

Success when closing the loop: The person responsible for the contact may judge the final status of the case recovery in one way, and afterwards a manager may contact the client again to confirm that the status and final disposition of the case matched expectations.

Ipsos Loyalty

The immediacy and speed of information and insight have also increased because of all the new and different alternatives that now allow connections. In the past, it was common for research professionals to report on customer experience study results every quarter, pick comments and suggestions monthly from the store’s mail box or a weekly review of the book of incidents and complaints. Those days are gone and are no more than a romantic memory.

Not only have the channels for customer connection with companies grown exponentially, but these interactions have exponentially increased their impact on corporate reputation. Research published 10 years ago stablished that bad reviews reached 10 people, but now they can reach thousands, even millions, in just one day. The good news is that companies have also increased their ability to collect information from their customers through advanced CRM systems. These systems not only register purchases, they can track customer relationships and behavior over time.

The amount of information keeps growing, which is not bad. We have to be careful not to be infoxicated (misunderstanding that occurs when the information we receive is more than our capacity to process it). However, if we look at the “half full glass” and decide to work with it, we will be able to appreciate all the opportunities that the available information provides us in order to improve our offering and services.

Let’s look at an everyday example. Imagine we visited a telecom store looking for the most recently launched and highly promoted mobile device. Due to its launch success, it is not available in the store so you leave frustrated without the product you wanted. Minutes later you receive a mobile survey which you reply to with a poor evaluation due to your negative experience.

What should we do with these customers? Should we wait for their bad reviews on social media?

The path embraced by leading companies in the world has become a core principle in Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM): take actions on an individual level with the feedback provided by customers in near real time.

This can allow us to act on the failed service promise as a company, not just to recover the customer’s experience, but to gain back a future sale that is now at risk of going to our competitor. We can illustrate this with an

example. Let’s suppose that the manager of the store visited by the customer receives immediate feedback and contact information via a survey and a closed loop feedback system. He may then call the customer to apologize and explain that due to sales success they are out of stock and propose a solution (like letting him know when the product will be back in stock, saving a unit for him or sending the device to the client from a different store).

Additionally, the manager (having the chance to analyze the customer’s usage history) detects that his service plan is not the most appropriate for his needs and can also offer him a more valuable solution. This is just one great example of how the power of EFM can take a bad experience and turn it into a positive one. This also builds loyalty and shows a real commitment to your clients through proactive problem solving and sales recovery.

Closing the Loop

Case management appears to be an attractive way to really make a difference in customer service. In the optimistic and simplistic example above, we do not want to suggest that what we are just focusing on contacting customers that have negative experiences.

Closing the loop is not just about calling our customers. The process can also improve the service level for everyone, but it requires the company to be fully aligned with the objective of managing the complete customer experience. We have identified 5 key components to this process:

Knowing and prioritizing the most relevant experiences that require action: The exact journey each customer follows through their experience with your company will vary with every customer or with different points of contact. To focus the efforts, we need to know the moments of truth that have most impact on repurchase recommendation and satisfaction. In other words, the moments that are critical in making a positive or negative experience that can generate exuberance or frustration.

Employees in charge of delivering the experience have to participate: Case management has an effect on a team’s daily work because feedback is continuous and the organization sets a higher standard of effort for each level of employee. Once the system starts to work, employees adjust their behavior to improve service because they are increasingly aware of how their behavior directly affects the customers. Additionally, giving autonomy and empowering them generates a feeling of inclusion and responsibility.

Closing the loop is another moment of truth: The contact with the customer must be controlled and designed according to your objectives. We should avoid reminding the customer of the pain experienced. This avoidance forces the company to be selective and only to get in touch with those that you want to contact. When possible the goal is to solve the customer’s problem and communicate future actions that the company will take to prevent them.

(1). . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

(3). . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

It’s a continuous process that requires flexibility to adapt to the environment: Companies are evolving ecosystems that modify their behavior according to the changes in the market. Priorities, services, products and problems change, which requires that case management keep up with the client’s needs.

Finally, it is key to understand that the changes introduced in the style of service resolution will impact the promotion of a cultural change: Starting to manage feedback on an individual basis not only implies having a management process, but also requires the installation of a system to manage alerts and the relevant analysis.. It requires employees to fully embrace the corporate vision of putting the customer in the center as the biggest asset. This is a shift in their way of understanding and thinking about the customer: the customer experience matters for obtaining outstanding financial results.

Two-way communication opens the opportunity to deeply investigate the incident, obtain valuable information that will allow us to understand the problem, and analyze root causes. Root cause analysis allows us to redefine, improve or adjust service protocols that improve the customer experience.

To illustrate with a powerful example, one of the most important furniture retailers in Brazil realized that their top “complaints” were related to the lack of salespeople available to assist customers. In reality, increasing their sales force numbers was not an option. Exploration of the root causes showed that more than half of the cases simply needed a salesperson to be familiar with the measures of products or to utilize a tape measure. As a result, they decided to put measurements on tags, and simple, but functional, tape measures and paper so that clients could take notes.

When and how much?

Once convinced in implementing “closing the loop”, companies must define when and how to start. These are not simple questions to answer, especially when we have recognized the cultural change it involves.

The moment to start should be determined by the following:

· When there is internal alignment with the vision of management.

· Prioritizing the most relevant interactions for the business and customer experience.

· When a process has been developed that clearly identifies its Beginning, End and Results. · Display guidelines, protocols and training on how to communicate with customers.

Volume matters! Interacting with all detractors will impact the system’s effectiveness, having a major effect on recomendation. We have to consider that managing a huge number of cases consumes time and resources. Many companies decide to start from the most critical cases moving down the scale once they know the problems and the best way to face them.

We must never forget to consider that the way you address each case will have an impact on volume. Some companies decide to take management to the point of contact (Front Line) vs a centralized focus (Case Management Team).

As we have already mentioned, working on the front line increases the number of workers that need to adjust their behavior, multiplying the impact on their action capacity. A centralized team may be more efficient with training costs and control. On the other hand, working with clients (especially unsatisfied ones), requires specialized knowledge that can more easily be taught and developed by a centralized team.

The more successful customer centric organizations also include junior and senior level executive management in case reviews and follow up. This sets guidelines and rules for everyone, keeping managers aligned with the client’s service expectations.

New Indicators:

Adding a new client management process is coupled with the inclusion of new key performance indicators (KPIs). Employees responsible for closing the loop will not only face traditional results of average satisfaction, the top 2 box or NPS, but they will also have to consider indicators relevant to process and success of their actions:

“Closing the Loop” Process: An indicator that can control the performance of the organization once an alert is triggered. Companies usually refer to the percentage of open, in process and closed cases that must be monitored to control standards and effectiveness in the contact of clients.

Success when closing the loop: The person responsible for the contact may judge the final status of the case recovery in one way, and afterwards a manager may contact the client again to confirm that the status and final disposition of the case matched expectations.

(2). . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

The immediacy and speed of information and insight have also increased because of all the new and different alternatives that now allow connections. In the past, it was common for research professionals to report on customer experience study results every quarter, pick comments and suggestions monthly from the store’s mail box or a weekly review of the book of incidents and complaints. Those days are gone and are no more than a romantic memory.

Not only have the channels for customer connection with companies grown exponentially, but these interactions have exponentially increased their impact on corporate reputation. Research published 10 years ago stablished that bad reviews reached 10 people, but now they can reach thousands, even millions, in just one day. The good news is that companies have also increased their ability to collect information from their customers through advanced CRM systems. These systems not only register purchases, they can track customer relationships and behavior over time.

The amount of information keeps growing, which is not bad. We have to be careful not to be infoxicated (misunderstanding that occurs when the information we receive is more than our capacity to process it). However, if we look at the “half full glass” and decide to work with it, we will be able to appreciate all the opportunities that the available information provides us in order to improve our offering and services.

Let’s look at an everyday example. Imagine we visited a telecom store looking for the most recently launched and highly promoted mobile device. Due to its launch success, it is not available in the store so you leave frustrated without the product you wanted. Minutes later you receive a mobile survey which you reply to with a poor evaluation due to your negative experience.

What should we do with these customers? Should we wait for their bad reviews on social media?

The path embraced by leading companies in the world has become a core principle in Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM): take actions on an individual level with the feedback provided by customers in near real time.

This can allow us to act on the failed service promise as a company, not just to recover the customer’s experience, but to gain back a future sale that is now at risk of going to our competitor. We can illustrate this with an

example. Let’s suppose that the manager of the store visited by the customer receives immediate feedback and contact information via a survey and a closed loop feedback system. He may then call the customer to apologize and explain that due to sales success they are out of stock and propose a solution (like letting him know when the product will be back in stock, saving a unit for him or sending the device to the client from a different store).

Ipsos Loyalty

Additionally, the manager (having the chance to analyze the customer’s usage history) detects that his service plan is not the most appropriate for his needs and can also offer him a more valuable solution. This is just one great example of how the power of EFM can take a bad experience and turn it into a positive one. This also builds loyalty and shows a real commitment to your clients through proactive problem solving and sales recovery.

Closing the Loop

Case management appears to be an attractive way to really make a difference in customer service. In the optimistic and simplistic example above, we do not want to suggest that what we are just focusing on contacting customers that have negative experiences.

Closing the loop is not just about calling our customers. The process can also improve the service level for everyone, but it requires the company to be fully aligned with the objective of managing the complete customer experience. We have identified 5 key components to this process:

Knowing and prioritizing the most relevant experiences that require action: The exact journey each customer follows through their experience with your company will vary with every customer or with different points of contact. To focus the efforts, we need to know the moments of truth that have most impact on repurchase recommendation and satisfaction. In other words, the moments that are critical in making a positive or negative experience that can generate exuberance or frustration.

Employees in charge of delivering the experience have to participate: Case management has an effect on a team’s daily work because feedback is continuous and the organization sets a higher standard of effort for each level of employee. Once the system starts to work, employees adjust their behavior to improve service because they are increasingly aware of how their behavior directly affects the customers. Additionally, giving autonomy and empowering them generates a feeling of inclusion and responsibility.

Closing the loop is another moment of truth: The contact with the customer must be controlled and designed according to your objectives. We should avoid reminding the customer of the pain experienced. This avoidance forces the company to be selective and only to get in touch with those that you want to contact. When possible the goal is to solve the customer’s problem and communicate future actions that the company will take to prevent them.

(4). . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . It’s a continuous process that requires flexibility to adapt to the environment: Companies are evolving ecosystems that modify their behavior according to the changes in the market. Priorities, services, products and problems change, which requires that case management keep up with the client’s needs.

Finally, it is key to understand that the changes introduced in the style of service resolution will impact the promotion of a cultural change: Starting to manage feedback on an individual basis not only implies having a management process, but also requires the installation of a system to manage alerts and the relevant analysis.. It requires employees to fully embrace the corporate vision of putting the customer in the center as the biggest asset. This is a shift in their way of understanding and thinking about the customer: the customer experience matters for obtaining outstanding financial results.

Two-way communication opens the opportunity to deeply investigate the incident, obtain valuable information that will allow us to understand the problem, and analyze root causes. Root cause analysis allows us to redefine, improve or adjust service protocols that improve the customer experience.

To illustrate with a powerful example, one of the most important furniture retailers in Brazil realized that their top “complaints” were related to the lack of salespeople available to assist customers. In reality, increasing their sales force numbers was not an option. Exploration of the root causes showed that more than half of the cases simply needed a salesperson to be familiar with the measures of products or to utilize a tape measure. As a result, they decided to put measurements on tags, and simple, but functional, tape measures and paper so that clients could take notes.

When and how much?

Once convinced in implementing “closing the loop”, companies must define when and how to start. These are not simple questions to answer, especially when we have recognized the cultural change it involves.

The moment to start should be determined by the following:

· When there is internal alignment with the vision of management.

· Prioritizing the most relevant interactions for the business and customer experience.

· When a process has been developed that clearly identifies its Beginning, End and Results. · Display guidelines, protocols and training on how to communicate with customers.

Volume matters! Interacting with all detractors will impact the system’s effectiveness, having a major effect on recomendation. We have to consider that managing a huge number of cases consumes time and resources. Many companies decide to start from the most critical cases moving down the scale once they know the problems and the best way to face them.

We must never forget to consider that the way you address each case will have an impact on volume. Some companies decide to take management to the point of contact (Front Line) vs a centralized focus (Case Management Team).

As we have already mentioned, working on the front line increases the number of workers that need to adjust their behavior, multiplying the impact on their action capacity. A centralized team may be more efficient with training costs and control. On the other hand, working with clients (especially unsatisfied ones), requires specialized knowledge that can more easily be taught and developed by a centralized team.

The more successful customer centric organizations also include junior and senior level executive management in case reviews and follow up. This sets guidelines and rules for everyone, keeping managers aligned with the client’s service expectations.

New Indicators:

Adding a new client management process is coupled with the inclusion of new key performance indicators (KPIs). Employees responsible for closing the loop will not only face traditional results of average satisfaction, the top 2 box or NPS, but they will also have to consider indicators relevant to process and success of their actions:

“Closing the Loop” Process: An indicator that can control the performance of the organization once an alert is triggered. Companies usually refer to the percentage of open, in process and closed cases that must be monitored to control standards and effectiveness in the contact of clients.

Success when closing the loop: The person responsible for the contact may judge the final status of the case recovery in one way, and afterwards a manager may contact the client again to confirm that the status and final disposition of the case matched expectations.

(5). . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

The immediacy and speed of information and insight have also increased because of all the new and different alternatives that now allow connections. In the past, it was common for research professionals to report on customer experience study results every quarter, pick comments and suggestions monthly from the store’s mail box or a weekly review of the book of incidents and complaints. Those days are gone and are no more than a romantic memory.

Not only have the channels for customer connection with companies grown exponentially, but these interactions have exponentially increased their impact on corporate reputation. Research published 10 years ago stablished that bad reviews reached 10 people, but now they can reach thousands, even millions, in just one day. The good news is that companies have also increased their ability to collect information from their customers through advanced CRM systems. These systems not only register purchases, they can track customer relationships and behavior over time.

The amount of information keeps growing, which is not bad. We have to be careful not to be infoxicated (misunderstanding that occurs when the information we receive is more than our capacity to process it). However, if we look at the “half full glass” and decide to work with it, we will be able to appreciate all the opportunities that the available information provides us in order to improve our offering and services.

Let’s look at an everyday example. Imagine we visited a telecom store looking for the most recently launched and highly promoted mobile device. Due to its launch success, it is not available in the store so you leave frustrated without the product you wanted. Minutes later you receive a mobile survey which you reply to with a poor evaluation due to your negative experience.

What should we do with these customers? Should we wait for their bad reviews on social media?

The path embraced by leading companies in the world has become a core principle in Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM): take actions on an individual level with the feedback provided by customers in near real time.

This can allow us to act on the failed service promise as a company, not just to recover the customer’s experience, but to gain back a future sale that is now at risk of going to our competitor. We can illustrate this with an

example. Let’s suppose that the manager of the store visited by the customer receives immediate feedback and contact information via a survey and a closed loop feedback system. He may then call the customer to apologize and explain that due to sales success they are out of stock and propose a solution (like letting him know when the product will be back in stock, saving a unit for him or sending the device to the client from a different store).

Additionally, the manager (having the chance to analyze the customer’s usage history) detects that his service plan is not the most appropriate for his needs and can also offer him a more valuable solution. This is just one great example of how the power of EFM can take a bad experience and turn it into a positive one. This also builds loyalty and shows a real commitment to your clients through proactive problem solving and sales recovery.

Closing the Loop

Case management appears to be an attractive way to really make a difference in customer service. In the optimistic and simplistic example above, we do not want to suggest that what we are just focusing on contacting customers that have negative experiences.

Closing the loop is not just about calling our customers. The process can also improve the service level for everyone, but it requires the company to be fully aligned with the objective of managing the complete customer experience. We have identified 5 key components to this process:

Knowing and prioritizing the most relevant experiences that require action: The exact journey each customer follows through their experience with your company will vary with every customer or with different points of contact. To focus the efforts, we need to know the moments of truth that have most impact on repurchase recommendation and satisfaction. In other words, the moments that are critical in making a positive or negative experience that can generate exuberance or frustration.

Employees in charge of delivering the experience have to participate: Case management has an effect on a team’s daily work because feedback is continuous and the organization sets a higher standard of effort for each level of employee. Once the system starts to work, employees adjust their behavior to improve service because they are increasingly aware of how their behavior directly affects the customers. Additionally, giving autonomy and empowering them generates a feeling of inclusion and responsibility.

Closing the loop is another moment of truth: The contact with the customer must be controlled and designed according to your objectives. We should avoid reminding the customer of the pain experienced. This avoidance forces the company to be selective and only to get in touch with those that you want to contact. When possible the goal is to solve the customer’s problem and communicate future actions that the company will take to prevent them.

Ipsos Loyalty

It’s a continuous process that requires flexibility to adapt to the environment: Companies are evolving ecosystems that modify their behavior according to the changes in the market. Priorities, services, products and problems change, which requires that case management keep up with the client’s needs.

Finally, it is key to understand that the changes introduced in the style of service resolution will impact the promotion of a cultural change: Starting to manage feedback on an individual basis not only implies having a management process, but also requires the installation of a system to manage alerts and the relevant analysis.. It requires employees to fully embrace the corporate vision of putting the customer in the center as the biggest asset. This is a shift in their way of understanding and thinking about the customer: the customer experience matters for obtaining outstanding financial results.

Two-way communication opens the opportunity to deeply investigate the incident, obtain valuable information that will allow us to understand the problem, and analyze root causes. Root cause analysis allows us to redefine, improve or adjust service protocols that improve the customer experience.

To illustrate with a powerful example, one of the most important furniture retailers in Brazil realized that their top “complaints” were related to the lack of salespeople available to assist customers. In reality, increasing their sales force numbers was not an option. Exploration of the root causes showed that more than half of the cases simply needed a salesperson to be familiar with the measures of products or to utilize a tape measure. As a result, they decided to put measurements on tags, and simple, but functional, tape measures and paper so that clients could take notes.

When and how much?

Once convinced in implementing “closing the loop”, companies must define when and how to start. These are not simple questions to answer, especially when we have recognized the cultural change it involves.

The moment to start should be determined by the following:

· When there is internal alignment with the vision of management.

· Prioritizing the most relevant interactions for the business and customer experience.

· When a process has been developed that clearly identifies its Beginning, End and Results. · Display guidelines, protocols and training on how to communicate with customers.

Volume matters! Interacting with all detractors will impact the system’s effectiveness, having a major effect on recomendation. We have to consider that managing a huge number of cases consumes time and resources. Many companies decide to start from the most critical cases moving down the scale once they know the problems and the best way to face them.

We must never forget to consider that the way you address each case will have an impact on volume. Some companies decide to take management to the point of contact (Front Line) vs a centralized focus (Case Management Team).

As we have already mentioned, working on the front line increases the number of workers that need to adjust their behavior, multiplying the impact on their action capacity. A centralized team may be more efficient with training costs and control. On the other hand, working with clients (especially unsatisfied ones), requires specialized knowledge that can more easily be taught and developed by a centralized team.

The more successful customer centric organizations also include junior and senior level executive management in case reviews and follow up. This sets guidelines and rules for everyone, keeping managers aligned with the client’s service expectations.

New Indicators:

Adding a new client management process is coupled with the inclusion of new key performance indicators (KPIs). Employees responsible for closing the loop will not only face traditional results of average satisfaction, the top 2 box or NPS, but they will also have to consider indicators relevant to process and success of their actions:

“Closing the Loop” Process: An indicator that can control the performance of the organization once an alert is triggered. Companies usually refer to the percentage of open, in process and closed cases that must be monitored to control standards and effectiveness in the contact of clients.

Success when closing the loop: The person responsible for the contact may judge the final status of the case recovery in one way, and afterwards a manager may contact the client again to confirm that the status and final disposition of the case matched expectations.

We hope we have

illustrated that closing the loop really can help organizations

change the nature of the game. This is done by not only improving the

customer’s level of service, but also by making the customer the focus for all the

company’s employees. At Ipsos, we are able to help our clients with these challenges and stay ahead of the curve in regards to

customer feedback management. Effective customer experience

management is now more possible than ever.

HECTOR JASOManaging Director - Ipsos Loyalty Brazil

NICOLÁS FRITIS Head of EFM - Latin America