If you want to get somewhere, of course you need to know which direction you’re heading. To get there efficiently, you also need a deep understanding of where you currently are.Top-performing companies understand this when it comes to improving customer experience (CX).Unfortunately, fewer than half of contact centers believe customers are happy with their interactions, but modern contact center leaders are setting themselves apart by using customer feedback and real-time insights into customer interactions as a valuable compass to navigate their way to CX improvement.
Top-performers use customer insights to drive CX gains
Many CX leaders are also relying heavily on voice of the customer (VOC) programs, which are directly linked to CX gains. According to a recent report by Aberdeen Research, top-performing VOC users enjoy nearly a 23x greater year-over-year increase in customer satisfaction (CSAT) rates than their peers (36.6% vs. 1.65%), as well as significantly better customer retention rates.That’s why organizations across industries are increasingly turning to integrated solutions that unify data across channels to provide a holistic view of customer needs and agent performance. Equipped with real-time analytics and insight into the voice of the customer, they are making improvements that allow them to better meet customer expectations, streamline operations, and uncover new opportunities for growth.
CX insights success story: Sony Electronics
Sony Electronics is a prime example of the power of this strategy in action.By adopting CXone Mpower, a unified CX platform, CXone Mpower Interaction Analytics, CXone Mpower Autopilot, and CXone Mpower Feedback Management, Sony Electronics achieved record-breaking CSAT scores and operational efficiency gains.Sony and other industry leaders have found that real-time analytics and real-time insights from VOC programs empower them to elevate CX by using:
Unified data to improve omnichannel experience: By collecting data across customer interaction channels (voice, text, social media, and digital messaging) and centralizing it in a single repository, organizations can create a cohesive and effective unified experience.
At Sony, which had previously relied solely on email surveys, feedback management enabled the company to expand its feedback collection to include mid-journey IVR, chat, and SMS surveys, improving response rates by 375%.“We’re a company who values the voice of the customer, so much that we respond to every survey. We go to great lengths to engage directly with our customers and whatever platform they’re on—that’s how we better understand them, how we connect with them,” said Roger Brewer, director of service tools and technology at Sony Electronics.He added, “We've seen a tremendous amount of response by implementing feedback management, because now we're giving the customer the opportunity to provide feedback at the moment they're having an interaction. …It's given us better visibility and insight into those interactions and the customer's voice.”
Real-time feedback to proactively address key CSAT drivers: Comprehensive analytics deliver deep insights into customer sentiment, aiding decision-making at all levels and enabling organizations to proactively address customer needs.
With feedback management, Sony can capture feedback across every channel and access VOC and CX insights in real time. The company now has actionable insights into issues customers are experiencing, as well as positive experiences, so they can close the loop faster and more effectively.
CXone Mpower dashboards provide a centralized view of real-time CX, and comprehensive analytics deliver deep insights into customer sentiment, aiding decision-making at all levels and contributing to record-high levels of CSAT—including increases of 19% for voice, 13% for chat, and 34.8% for SMS.
Conversational data to identify self-service opportunities: An integral part of the CXone Mpower platform, CXone Mpower XO uses AI to understand customer intents and agent tasks, pinpointing the best opportunities for automation based on factors like ROI, sentiment, and volume.
With XO, Sony gained insight that 40% of its inquiries were candidates for automation. They also used ROI data from XO to prioritize the best opportunities, based on volume and cost to serve.To act on these insights, Sony deployed CXone Mpower Autopilot, powered by XO, as its conversational virtual agent. The bot successfully contained 15.9% of customer inquiries, allowing live agents to focus on more complex issues. This automation potential is expected to grow as Sony continues to refine its processes.With the NICE platform, Sony achieved a truly streamlined omnichannel experience, unifying voice, chat, and SMS interactions. This ensured consistent experiences and provided agents with the context needed to deliver personalized support. By using interaction analytics, Sony identified recurring pain points and streamlined agent workflows, allowing the company to improve resolution times and effectively prioritize future automation opportunities. With feedback management, Sony was also able to implement a system to collect mid-journey feedback through IVR, chat, and SMS. This shift boosted response rates dramatically—up to 90% for chat interactions—and provided actionable insights in real time.
Transform CX at scale with real-time insights + AI
Sony’s success underscores the power of real-time insights and AI-driven tools to transform CX and contact center operations. By leveraging the CXone Mpower platform powered by Enlighten AI, Sony not only addressed its existing challenges, but also built a foundation for continued innovation.Read the full case study to learn how you could navigate your way to similarly impactful results in your own contact center.
