Digital Transformation or sometimes shortened to “DX” has been a trend in the past two years especially. The pandemic has truly brought about a digital transformation unlike any other. It is always said that if you do not change, circumstances will force you to change. That is exactly what happened.
In order to survive the pandemic, organizations had to be agile to pivot around restrictions, lock-downs and uncertainties, and digital helped or more likely was critical to it all. Imaging if the pandemic happened in 1999. I shudder to think how we would have coped with the state of technology and infrastructure then.
So what does digital have to do with Customer Experience, or CX? Well, one very important metric in CX is called Customer Effort Score. Sometimes, I call it the PITA scale. PITA basically means Pain in the A**. Some organizations really make it painful for you to reach them. That’s where they score highly on the PITA scale. I am sure you have had stories from colleagues or friends about a product or service and they would immediately recoil with a statement like “Hope it doesn’t break. Good luck. You’ll need it.”
So how does digital help this PITA scale problem?
For one thing, First Contact Resolution or FCR is still important. Would you rather contact a company for service or support just once or twice or a dozen times? The faster your problem is resolved, the less painful the entire process will be. The following sankey chart is based on government services but is still a good illustration.
Digital has the best resolution rate of all the other channels. It may not be much but remember, other that a contact center, digital is usually the other fast channel. Digital also has the advantage of being relatively at the convenience of the user vs other channels like in-person which requires a specific time.
So what is a key takeaway from this simple high-level flow?
Two key things. First, digital channels help FCR or First Contact Resolution. If your organization has not yet embraced digital channels, the time is now. Second, do ensure your digital channels work right. That is a separate topic but it did take many years for online digital banking to catch-up to the services available at a branch. The more capabilities your digital channels possess, the higher their FCR will be.
Digital is here and is a critical piece of the CX puzzle. If you can do that well, you should be able to reap some benefits from the improved customer experience. At least, I believe you can reduce your PITA score!
Customer Experience Transformational leader and strategist | Sustainable Future Initiatives | Building People Excellence