Happy employees, happy customers: Aligning employee and customer experience
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Customer experience (CX) has been a core strategic focus of organisations, particularly consumer-facing ones, for decades. But the concept of employee experience (EX), although becoming something of a trending topic in HR circles in recent years, has traditionally lagged behind.
This in many ways is shortsighted of leaders as there is no getting away from the fact that EX and CX are inextricably linked. The experience of employees will have a profound impact on their ability and motivation to provide a brilliant customer experience, so it’s time for businesses to stop viewing and addressing them in isolation and instead recognise the symbiosis, making alignment between EX and CX a strategic priority.
In fact, research by Forbes Insight and Salesforce found that 70% of executives believe improved EX leads to improved CX, and that those companies with both high CX and EX see almost double the revenue growth as those who do not.
Bridging the EX & CX gap
When it comes to delivering an exemplary customer experience, the fundamentals start with the employee day-to-day experience. After all, you cannot expect your people to deliver an exemplary customer experience if their day-to-day experience at work is clunky and frustrating.
Far too often we prioritise customer interactions with a view to reducing the load, but overlook the fact that employees are often treated as ‘second class citizens’ when it comes to layering system on top of system, with outdated technology and processes at the core. It’s unlikely then that an employee, however intrinsically motivated, will deliver an empathetic and high-touch service to customers if they aren’t treated well by their employer.
Industry reports support this
Research by MIT Sloan has found that companies in the top quartile of EX developed more successful innovations, deriving twice the revenue from innovations as those in the bottom quartile, and their Net Promoter Scores (NPS) were also twice as high.
And think about it: empowered and motivated employees are more passionate about their work and the company they represent. This translates into genuine interactions with customers, fostering loyalty and trust in the brand.
Create champions from within
In this new report ‘Happy Employees, Happy Customers: Aligning Employee and Customer Experience’ we delve deeper into the links between CX and EX, and explore practical strategies you can start using today to start building better organisation for your people, and for improving customer experience. Here’s a sneak peek into how you begin to align CX & EX:
Go beyond marketing
Your EX needs to stack up to promises offered through any employer brand activity and external customer marketing too. Authenticity is key. But ensure you nail EX internally before you start shouting about it externally.
Lessen the load
Use technology to make your people’s lives easier and empower them to deliver great customer experiences. Above all, ensure your people have the tools to do their jobs well.
Help everyone understand how they contribute to CX
Not all of your people will be in customer-facing roles, and those in more ‘back office’ or functional roles may struggle to see how they contribute to CX. Help connect everyone to the customer by asking customers questions at different points along the journey (for example, how much did the UX or UI of the product influence their buying decision) to help your teams understand how they contribute to CX.
Download the report to access key insights into bridging the gap between CX and EX, plus practical actions, tools and templates that will help you to build a stronger culture, deliver an exemplary customer experience, and see fast revenue growth.
Ready for a conversation?
We help progressive HR leaders embed their strategic agenda at scale and speed. Our plug-and-play software aggregates HR’s systems, communications, policies and initiatives into one beautifully engaging digital knowledge hub, where all HR information is a maximum of two clicks away. Customised to individuals yet scalable to your entire organisation, This will provide a consumer-grade digital experience your people will love – while driving your strategic agenda with clarity and impact.
Suzi Archer 
Director of Customer & Employee Experience at Huler
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