We saw previously that it is not so much the indicator that is unique to the company but the quality standard that is attached to it. And that’s what will distinguish you in the first place. Secondly, this distinction becomes more obvious when we consider that serious companies evaluate their CX indices using several dozen different criteria, all specific to their market, their environment and their sector of activity.
Some examples of composition of a CX index
The ideal is a clever combination of quantitative (quantified) and other qualitative (according to an assessment scale) evaluation criteria. Here are some examples:
Quantitative criteria- Waiting time (on the phone, standing in line, etc.)
- Number of individuals waiting, standing in line, etc.
- Time to take care of a user
- Duration of the service provision
- Delivery time
- Quality of reception
- Attitudes of staff
- Fluidity of the waiting line
- Quality of staff dress and appearance
- Quality of hygiene and cleanliness of a given space
These criteria vary enormously from one industry to another, of course, but they should always reflect the image conveyed by all components of the organization to customers and the experience they gain from it.
Basing oneself on these customer indicators in conjunction with a qualitative evaluation system (such as an audit or active observation) allows us to have both a global and detailed view of the customer journey and thus be able to constantly improve the organization's CX performance. Thus, the company will compare itself to itself over time, set its own quality standards and seek to constantly optimize them.
Example of operationalization of evaluation criteria
The ultimate goal here is to obtain a composite index, on a metric scale ranging from 0% to 100%. It goes without saying that the higher the CX index and closer to 100%, the more excellent the customer experience.
Each criterion therefore contributes to this overall rating. Let's take the example of a quantitative criterion and another qualitative one and look at how we could operationalize them as objectively as possible. Here are some examples.
| Average waiting time (1) | ||
| Observation | Evaluation | Notation |
| Less than 3 minutes | Excellent | 5 points |
| 3 to 4 minutes | Acceptable but not optimal | 3 points |
| 4 to 5 minutes | Below standards | 1 point |
| More than 5 minutes | Unacceptable | 0 point |
If we assume that all the criteria are of the same importance and therefore have the same weight, they should all be given the same evaluation scale and therefore the same rating scale.
| Quality of reception (2) | ||
| Observation | Evaluation | Notation |
| Procedures followed precisely | Excellent | 5 points |
| Procedures generally followed but not by all employees | Still room for improvement | 3 points |
| Unequal behavior depending on employees and time of day | Below standards | 1 point |
| Procedures ignored most of the time | Unacceptable | 0 point |
By having thus evaluated a certain number of criteria directly linked to the customer experience, it becomes easy to calculate the overall CX performance. The CX index is thus obtained:
| CX Index = | ( Number of points obtained / Maximal number possible of points ) x 100% |
In our example, if the customer experience evaluation is based on the use of 15 criteria, each having a maximum of 5 points, the maximum possible number of points is 5 x 15 = 75 points.
If a given monthly audit awarded 64 points to the evaluation, our CX Index would therefore be ( 64 / 75 ) * 100 = 85.3%. This would be considered a good result for some industries but weak for others. However, the most important thing is not to compare yourself to the competition since it is an index that is specific to the organization. The most important thing is therefore to compare yourself to yourself by trying to improve over time the most poorly evaluated criteria.
But we could go much further and refine our analysis...
In the next parts of this series, we will address the concrete operationalization of the CX index via a real, quantified example.
ostafa El Adraoui
June 2023