By Michalis Michael, CEO of DigitalMR

To many businesses, the phrase ‘CX measurement’ (customer experience measurement) will bring to mind a thoroughly outdated image of half-hearted customer surveys whose value is reliant on the hope that customers will answer honestly – or, at least, that they will answer at all.

A recent study from McKinsey has revealed that hundreds of companies rely on surveys to gain insight into their customer experience, but 93 per cent are not wholly satisfied with this system. And this is hardly surprising, given that long-standing survey-based scoring systems for CX measurement like the Net Promoter Score have been described by one journal as a poor predictor of business success.

Today, however, we are at the crest of a new wave of CX measurement & management (CXM) driven by a handful of technology companies and their SaaS solutions. By employing powerful new technologies and leveraging them towards the analysis of customer interactions available as text or audio, the next generation of CX measurement is delivering unprecedentedly nuanced actionable information and sometimes insights from the voice of the customer.

Examining what CX measurement looks like in the hands of such specialists quickly reveals that their expert approach towards unstructured data is worthy of urgent investment: this is the future of actionable information that drives business results, and the current and accelerating demand for unstructured data analytics cannot be overstated.

The power and subtlety of CX measurement when internal and external data is combined

How, then, is CX measurement transformed in the hands of this select group of tech companies who are focused on CXM?

With a tech-driven approach, customer surveys are being enhanced by sophisticated AI processes capable of identifying pertinent intelligence from a vast array of unstructured data sources, ranging from Twitter, YouTube and Instagram photos (external data) to, emails, chat messages and call centre transcripts (internal data).

Having collected such data, the right specialists can then extract actionable information through sentiment, customer journey stage and topic annotations, determining – for example – whether customers are detractors or promoters and why. The benefit of this determination is that a whole action process can be designed and executed to pacify detractors and fix problems whilst at the same time passives and promoters are nurtured on a positive customer journey to become brand advocates,

This layered, sophisticated approach to CX allows businesses to open unprecedented, previously unattainable doors of perception into the hearts and minds of customers, replacing an outdated, survey-based model with formidable technology and expert analysis.

Naturally, this approach to CX measurement has led to a great deal of interest from major companies, establishing the field of unstructured data analytics using internal and externally sourced customer interactions  as a lucrative site for prospective investors.

After all, specialist unstructured data analytics including social intelligence is clearly going to dominate the world of CX management moving forward. Companies that do not employ such services will find that their rivals will gain unique and exclusive insights into the shared pool of customers for which they are competing.

More importantly, those businesses will also find that their rivals will even gain insights into themselves: a significant disadvantage that can’t be tolerated for long.

In short: advances in CX measurement in the hands of a select group of tech companies are too powerful to ignore, and this growing field is therefore ripe for investment.

The tangible benefits of engaging unstructured data specialists for CX measurement

On the subject of companies gaining insights into their competitors, it is worth reflecting on the broader, practical advantages that unstructured data analytics organisations are providing their clients – and why they are becoming increasingly indispensable. 

For one thing, it’s long been known that CX is exceptionally important for all businesses who are dependent on a positive customer journey. PwC has found that 32 per cent of customers are prepared to drop a brand – even a brand they love – after even a single negative experience.

But it isn’t just about avoiding negative outcomes – good CX measurement is also about gaining benefits. For example, PwC also notes that businesses with good CX can charge 16 per cent more for their products and services while receiving increased loyalty.

Moreover, returning to the McKinsey study above, it’s clear that businesses are aware of the need for good CX measurement while simultaneously demonstrating dissatisfaction with the dominant low-tech, survey-based approach.

This combination of attitudes firmly suggests that companies are ready to embrace the next generation of CX measurement: a generation fuelled by sophisticated, AI-driven actionable information and insight that can hear every nuance of the customer’s voice and, by extension, improve revenue by optimising the customer journey.

The small number of tech companies capable of providing this new approach to CX measurement therefore suggest themselves as a prime industry for prospective investors looking to realise the barely tapped potential of unstructured data analytics using AI.

Brought to you by DigitalMR.