Are your Customer Service Metrics aligned with Customer Needs?

After some posts on Social CRM I feel it is time to write about one of my favorite topics. I wrote about metrics in the Customer world before. Most of them can be considered “rants” against current measurement practice in Call Center / Customer Services today.

Desired Outcomes Metrics – A design thinking approach

Out of the many things that can be wrong about metrics and measurement frameworks, the one thing that is hindering companies from making break-through improvements is the lack of measuring against Customer desired outcomes. The ability to measure against these starts with understanding them. Product, service and/or experience designers are focused on understanding Customer desired outcomes (or needs) first. Only after they understand those they will start the process of ideation on how to meet those outcomes, followed by the actual designing (or prototyping) and testing.

Managers of Customer services departments or otherwise responsible for (parts of) the Customer services experience would do themselves, as well as their Customers, a huge favor when they would do the same; starting with the design (for the avoidance of doubt: I’m not talking visual presentation here) of their balanced scorecards, dashboards or what have you.

Outcomes Customers desire from a company’s Customer service

All outcomes that Customers desire from a company’s Customer services, in my humble opinion, can be summarized in these 4 categories:

1. Understandable information
2. Easy to use
3. Right answer or advice the first time
4. Speed of resolution

In this short deck I show how widely adopted metrics in Customer services are not focused around these desired outcomes. They may even hinder them.

Do you have examples of how you measure against your Customer’s desired outcomes? Or more bad examples that I should include in my little presentation? Please share your views and experiences in the comments.