Not in the mood for reading? Check out this week’s Video Summary with Ken!
Over the years, my role has put me behind the scenes of some amazing experiences. I remember the first charity event I was able to attend with a client as a part of the work we did with them. An evening in New York City by limousine, dinner in the ballroom of one of the fanciest hotels, and entertainment by Barry Manilow. And even though I was never a big fan of that style of music, I was still entertained.
If someone asked me how satisfied I was with the experience, I would have given the top rating. If someone had asked me if I would recommend the experience, again, it would probably be the top rating. Would I be likely to return? When I was invited again, I certainly was happy to join them yet again.
Seems like it was an all-around success. Yet if someone had asked me to respond to using something akin to the Customer Effort Score – was it easy? No! It came only after eighteen months of hard work, having to rent formal wear and making all the other arrangements. In subsequent years, I would just take a train and spend the night at the hotel. Made it much easier.
That was a starting point. Somehow, over the years, I have enjoyed many opportunities to be a part of the game of soccer. A friend of mine started a new team with a young league in Jacksonville. I was able to attend their home opener, an event that broke the attendance record for which I had front row seats and shared the experience with my son. Was able to join the post-match team celebration as well. For most soccer fans, that would be a great experience, perhaps the best of experiences. Still the same answers as above. Three out of four would be answered in the best of affirmative responses, with the fourth being rated fairly low. I spent two years working with them, chasing answers through market research. Fighting off competitors that wanted to work with that team and league.
I was once an Executive Consultant to Orlando Venue Director COPA América Centenario where I had full access to every part of the stadium during the soccer matches, but I was also helping lay down pallets of turf the day before the event. In Louisville, I witnessed a team win their league championship, was on the field for the trophy presentation and spent the rest of the evening celebrating with the entire team. Some might say the most difficult part was the next morning, but there were also dozens of hours working with the front office to find a way to boost the revenue to make the team profitable.
Last week, I had another such opportunity with the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). I was able to enjoy two semi-final matches for the NISA Nation Championship tournament from the comfort of a VIP suite. Just like the other circumstances, this only happened after significant work was done ahead of the scheduled matches. QuestionPro has been a sponsor and the preferred survey partner for NISA for over two years. This included many survey measurements and the analysis of that data. Innovation that also meant working every Saturday night to launch surveys during the national broadcast. Even some of things that we often assume as known are not always “known”.
During my presentation, as I talked about understanding the Fan Experience and the financial benefits of that, I was asked a very succinct question, “What types of metrics measure customer satisfaction?”. As I spoke about the benefits of NPS, CSAT and CES among others, the followup question was “Can’t we just use one?”. Well, if it were only that easy.
How likely are you to recommend your favorite team to a friend that cheers for another team? What was your overall satisfaction while watching your team lose during a poor performance in the rain? The ease of fixing a problem with your tickets that you accidentally transferred out of your account?
The reality is that there is not just one answer to that question about which metrics should be used. There is no easy way to get to the top. There will be stumbles along the way, at times the world will feel like it is aligned against your goal of creating great experiences and you will have more closed-loop tickets in your inbox than internal emails.
It is not easy to create a great customer (or fan) experience and it will never be perfect. Sometimes measures will be higher, sometimes, they will be lower. One thing for certain, if you want to have success in customer experience, there will be a lot of hard work until you see the rewards. Sometimes it includes sitting in the VIP suite.
Is there something wrong with your customer experience?
When you complete an honest assessment, the outcome can be beneficial. Particularly when it comes to your Customer Experience program.
Take five minutes and complete an audit for your organization here.
You may discover a gap in measurement, an opportunity to improve a process, the place where an organizational shift needs to take place or an opportunity to win a greater share of your customers’ wallets.
We all want that bigger “return”. In this situation, the worst case scenario is that you’ll get some information that will help your organization since there is no cost or obligation in completing this audit.
