The Pandemic vs. Customer Experience
Our customers share how they are using CX data to quickly adapt to change
No one could have predicted that we would be in the throes of a pandemic at the very start of this year. But, when we look back at how this situation has impacted businesses and their customers, even through all the challenges and changes a lot of positives have happened, too. Staying close to our customers, we’ve gained incredible insight on how customer behaviors and expectations have changed, and how businesses around the globe have adapted on-the-go.
Continuing to capture valuable customer feedback
We’ve learned that companies who have stayed open throughout the pandemic have typically continued to receive feedback, and in good volumes. This tells us that people who are visiting locations are continuing to give feedback, given the opportunity to do so safely.
Large electronics retailer, Elkjøp (a subsidiary of Dixons Carphone) has been using HappyOrNot in over 400 stores across six countries for several years. Morten Schwartzmann, Nordic Productivity Manager, confirms: “We have seen that our stores have maintained the hit rate of voters compared to the total amount of customers. What this tells me is that people still want to give us feedback despite of the focus on hygiene and how much you touch when you’re out in the stores.”
A HappyOrNot Smiley Terminal™ in Kraków Airport security control zone. Photo by fotoair.com for the Kraków Airport
Understanding customers’ emotions and expectations
As people continue to share their feedback, businesses are gaining important insights to help them understand the changes in customer perception, behavior, and needs during these challenging times.
Krakow airport, the second busiest airport in Poland, is relying heavily on the CX data during the pandemic. Tomasz Żakowski, Head of Customer Service and Customer Experience Department, explains: “Measuring customer satisfaction during the pandemic is very important to understand how our customers are dealing with new procedures, implemented restrictions, and changes in layouts of the terminals, but also to be prepared to know how they feel should additional measures, that so far may be unknown, occur in the future.”
Rebekah Schulz, Director Community Culture at Georges River Council, a local government area in Australia, adds: “For social and economic recovery, it is critical that businesses start reviewing their customer experience and offerings. If you aren’t getting live feedback data, you cannot adapt and adjust your business quickly enough to the change in need.”
Demonstrating commitment to safety
In these times of uncertainty, businesses have needed to increase communication to their customers to raise awareness about the measures being taken to ensure the health and safety of those who continue to visit in-location.
Shoe Station is a footwear retailer with 21 stores across five US states. VP of Operations, Randy Lambert offers his advice on staying connected with customers: “It’s just as important to let customers know that you have this “great shoe at a great price”, as it is to let them know that when they come in and shop your brick and mortar, that you’re taking all the precautions to keep them safe. That’s also why we feel it’s been important to continue to share our HappyOrNot customer satisfaction scores in our social media channels – it lets our customers know that what we’re saying we’re doing is corroborated – by the customers themselves – through the positive feedback scores.”
A HappyOrNot Smiley Touch™ in Shoe Station Inc.
Improving experiences even in the face of adversity
A positive sign is that the efforts that businesses are making towards ensuring a safe experience for their customers is proving effective, and is validated through improving customer satisfaction scores.
Randy Lambert of Shoe Station tells: “We see in our open feedback customers telling us that that they feel like we’re doing a good job. In fact, our Happy Index score, since May this year, is higher than it was pre-pandemic: from 86 up to 89. This tells me we’re moving in the right direction, making the right decisions, and continuing to ensure we meet our customers’ expectations.”
Rebekah Schulz of George River Council adds: “Continuing to measure customer satisfaction allowed us to ensure that our service levels did not drop during this time and in fact, positive feedback even in the face of adversity became even more important to us than previously would have been. The live feedback allowed us to share positive comments with the team and boost morale, at a time when they needed it most.”
Cure 4 The Kids have witnessed an increase in their Happy Index score from 92 in 2019 to a 95 in 2020. The feedback directed them to introduce a new process which significantly reduced wait times and got patients into the exam room faster. Katherine Salkanovic, Director of Patient Experience, expresses: “Even though there is this pandemic, patient experience should also be a priority. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in the outside world, we need to give the best experience to these families – how else would we do this, but by asking them?”
Contributing as part of the solution
At HappyOrNot, our immediate focus following this crisis was putting health and safety at the top of our priority list. We were quick to develop and deliver innovative anti-COVID enhancements to our products to support the safety measures of our customers and the people who continue to leave feedback via our Smileys.
- Antimicrobial protection on our Smiley products
- Hand sanitizer holder attachments
- Touch-free options
To find out more about our commitment to safety, visit the links above to learn about these latest enhancements. Also, stay tuned part 2 of this blog, coming soon, where we open up about why leveraging CX will be vital for businesses in this ‘Next Normal’.
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