The chat bot failed to help with a product issue after wasting time reviewing the knowledge base and FAQs on the website. Time and patience are slipping away quickly. So you decide to go retro and call customer support directly. The agent who answers is robotically reading from a script. Doubt begins to creep in, but thankfully, the agent resolves your problem! Yet this interaction doesn’t feel like a win. It feels cold and transactional.
What’s missing?
The not-so-secret secret sauce: employee experience (EX).
We lose sleep over metrics like first call resolution, average handle time, and CSAT scores. Don't get me wrong, those are crucial. But let’s be honest with ourselves, who benefits the most with those areas of focus? We’ll realize the answer is whoever holds power in the organizational hierarchy. Improvements in those sexy stats can earn an individual a promotion, a team more resources to grow, and an organization confidence with its stakeholders. But in the race to optimize the customer experience (CX) with the latest wand-waving robots who auto-magically increase operational efficiency, it's easy to overlook the foundation the customer experience is built on: the employee experience.
Your employees are the front line of your brand. They are the original influencers, they were influencers before influencers were even a thing. They are the human voice that your customers interact with daily. Humans are naturally intuitive creatures, so we can sense vibes and tension even if it isn't tangible. The question is, what are your customers sensing from your employees?
If those employees are stressed, disengaged, and burnt out, it's going to seep into every customer conversation. No amount of training on de-escalation techniques or personalization tactics can mask an underlying lack of employee morale.
A common example is understaffing, where you have more customer demand than you have employees available. It’s a guaranteed recipe for frustration and tension for both the employee and the customer, even if the outcome is positive. Why? Over time, both sides will forget the outcome, but neither side will forget how they felt during the interaction.
On the flip side, when employees feel supported, empowered, and valued, they naturally bring those positive vibes to customer interactions. They go from being script-reading robots to authentic brand ambassadors. They're more likely to take ownership, get creative in solving problems, and build genuine rapport.
So how do you cultivate a best-in-breed operation that nails both CX and EX? Here are some strategies:
- Align your metrics: Make sure you're not just tracking customer-facing KPIs, but also employee engagement scores, turnover rates, and agent satisfaction. What gets measured gets managed.
- After metrics are aligned: strive to build a remediation system where if an employee experience metric is trending the wrong way, like an increase in absenteeism, it triggers qualitative investigation – a fancy way of saying someone, be it the supervisor or a neutral party, will speak directly to the employees to learn more about the issue.
- Read more about the employee-focused KPIs you should be measuring to gauge satisfaction.
- Invest in agent empowerment: Give your team the tools, training, and autonomy to really own the customer experience. Trusting them to make judgment calls shows you value their expertise.
- Shawn McCormick is an excellent guide for what this looks like through AI in workforce management.
- Foster a culture of belonging: Create spaces for agents to connect, collaborate, and have fun together. A sense of camaraderie is key for engagement and retention.
- At Aspect, we have Slack channels designated for fun – things like quick games to play online and share results with the team or topics of interest (sports, tv, books, etc.) that offer community connection.
- Celebrate wins big and small: Recognize employees not just for hitting quotas, but for embodying your brand values. A little appreciation goes a long way and with the alignment in values. Your employees will feel a stronger connection to your company, increasing the likelihood of positive progress in reducing attrition.
As a tech dork, I get it - architecting a contact center of the future complete with AI-powered chatbots, slick self-service, and seamless omnichannel journeys is a fun sandbox to play in. Please don't be seduced by the conventional wisdom that CX reigns supreme. As we've explored, the real game-changer is giving EX the same level of focus and investment. Employees are the secret sauce to delighting customers with unforgettable interactions and inspiring loyalty that lasts.
The bottom line: investing in your people isn't just good for morale - it's good for business.
Still wondering whether you should be prioritizing CX over EX or vice versa? Register for our next webinar on February 5, 2025 at 12:00PM EST, Tomorrow's Workforce - CX vs EX: what should your organization prioritize?
