Unraveling Customer Science: Overcoming Paradoxes and Leveraging Data for Success

Customer expectations are the new norm in today’s world, and businesses must meet or exceed them to avoid negative impacts. Failure to do so can result in significant financial losses, as seen in the case of Snapchat on February 21, 2018, where a negative tweet from celebrity Kylie Jenner caused the app to lose $1.3 billion in market value. Similarly, US companies lost a total of $1.6 trillion in 2016 due to customers switching to competitors due to poor service.

One of the challenges in achieving customer science is the presence of paradoxes. For example, while it is widely believed that “The Customer is King,” many organizations lack a designated individual with the authority to ensure positive customer interactions. This raises questions about the roles of emerging positions such as chief customer officer or chief experience officer.

Glenn Laverty, former president and CEO of Ricoh Canada, addressed this paradox by integrating customer experience metrics into every employee’s compensation structure. By tying compensation to customer satisfaction, Laverty was able to instill a culture focused on meeting and exceeding customer expectations.

At Boeing, there has been a clear indication that production throughput metrics have taken precedence over safety considerations. Customer science can help organizations create a balanced approach by aligning everyone’s compensation with customer experience metrics.

Claes Fornell, founder of the American Customer Satisfaction Index, has highlighted the data paradox in customer science. Despite organizations collecting more customer data than ever before, there seems to be a disconnect in understanding how to use this data effectively to improve customer satisfaction. As businesses continue to prioritize customer science, it is essential that they leverage data effectively to better meet their customers’ needs and expectations.