Organizations are increasingly conducting research into the satisfaction of their customers or employees, or the CX (Customer Experience) or the EX ( Employee Experience). A smaller group investigates both. And a still very select group measures the cohesion between CX and EX. For example, they collect management information to work purposefully on the experience of customers and employees. It is precisely this connection that turns out to be interesting. While those measurements don't have to be that complicated at all.
The more contact customers and employees have, the stronger the connection between CX and EX. After all, employees are - if all goes well - the first 'brand ambassadors' of an organization. When employees do not believe in a product or service, customers notice this immediately. Author and 'management and leadership guru' Simon Sinek (including from Start with why) recently put it this way:
“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.”
He tweeted that. In view of the close to a thousand retweets from fellow Twitter users, this statement is widely recognized and endorsed.
Attention to correlation is growing
Organizations currently pay little attention to the correlation between customer and employee satisfaction. That seems to change rapidly in the coming years. Currently, about 20 percent of employers are already doing 'something' with employee satisfaction. Although that says nothing about the follow-up actions for their measurements. And certainly not about the relationship with customer satisfaction. However, it is expected that in about five years a majority of employers will look at the experience of customers and employees in conjunction, CX and EX so.
Research on cohesion between CX and EX
Looking at studies on the relationship between CX and EX, the expected development is a wise choice of companies. Research and consulting firm Gallup concluded that only 41 percent of employees know what their organization stands for. And how it differs from competitors.
The correlation between employee engagement and customer loyalty is very strong, according to Vega Factor researchers Lindsay McGregor and Neel Doshi. According to their research, the difference in turnover between organizations with a strong and a weak corporate culture is as much as 30 percent. There are undoubtedly industries and job areas where this is less true. But a clear conclusion is that you have to ask yourself how seriously an organization takes customer satisfaction (CX) if it is taken into account for the growth strategy when the EX is not involved.
According to training agency Target Training International, 60 percent of customers stop doing business with a company due to (apparent) indifference from employees. A worrying observation, especially when your services are mainly communicated by employees.
Is the correlation difficult to measure?
If you look at the research data, you may think that the results are caused by the fact that the correlation between CX and EX is difficult to measure. Fortunately, that is not too bad with modern feedback software. Above all, it seems that awareness about the coherence needs to grow. In 2018, there is enough feedback software to do low-threshold satisfaction measurements online.
With some advice and some creativity, you may be able to do simple measurements yourself. Anyone who wants to measure more extensively, professionally and regularly and initiate targeted actions can use an online platform such as GrowPromoter. GrowPromoter is distinctive because of the possibilities for measuring the relationship between EX and CX. Continuous measurement is of great value in this respect. Because a measurement with one score is a snapshot. But with multiple snapshots you can see a trend. And you can influence trends by making adjustments. This applies to the EX and the CX. Satisfied employees = satisfied customers. It's that simple.
