Businesses are always on the hunt for customer feedback. They e-mail us surveys. They ask us to stay on the phone after a service call to rate the interaction. Many rely on metrics such as the Net Promoter Score to track how customers feel about them. The most disciplined firms not only exploit the data to identify problems with their products and services but also get everyone on staff involved in fixing them.
This “customer experience” movement, if we can call it that, reminds me of the period a couple of decades ago when manufacturers (and others) discovered quality. Remember quality circles? Total Quality Management? Company after company learned to use new metrics and to address the root causes of problems. Front-line employees began monitoring their own output and figuring out improvements. Read More
