If your organization is seeking a capable partner to manage a comprehensive feedback management program for customer experience (CX), employee experience (EX), or any other type of group experience (GX), you’re not alone.
At Drive Research, our team understands that some organizations have current programs that have been in place for years, while others are looking for a new partner to enhance their research program and overall experience on an ongoing, more collaborative basis - and some organizations are simply looking for where to start.
This blog post reflects on how to find the best customer experience research company regardless of where you are in your journey.
What Does a Customer Experience Company Do?
A customer experience company focuses on enhancing and optimizing every interaction a customer has with a brand or business throughout their entire journey.
Here's what such a company typically does:
- Research and Analysis: They conduct in-depth research to understand customer behavior, preferences, pain points, and expectations. This may involve surveys, interviews, data analysis, and market research.
- Strategy Development: Based on their research findings, they develop strategies to improve the overall customer experience. This could involve defining customer personas, mapping out customer journeys, and identifying touchpoints where improvements can be made.
- Feedback Management: They help businesses collect, analyze, and act upon customer feedback to continuously improve their products, services, and processes. This could involve setting up feedback channels such as surveys, social media monitoring, and online reviews.
- Measurement and Optimization: They establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of customer experience initiatives and track progress over time. They use this data to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize the customer experience.
Overall, a customer experience company aims to help businesses build strong relationships with their customers, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately drive growth and profitability.
How To Structure A Customer Experience Feedback Program
Drive Research works with clients to design, field, maintain, execute, and report all aspects of experience management programs, always working closely with our client teams to review and approve work plans and any related materials or processes.
Below, we outline the steps we often follow when creating a CX feedback program for our clients.
Step 1. Set Clear Objectives
First and foremost, define the purpose of the feedback program. Is it to measure overall satisfaction, identify specific pain points, evaluate new products/services, etc.?
We find it’s best to establish clear goals and objectives that align with the company's overall customer experience strategy.
Step 2. Identify Feedback Channels
Based on your target audience and industry, we’ll determine the most appropriate channels for collecting feedback.
In our experience, common channels include online surveys, email feedback requests, in-app feedback forms, social media listening, and customer service interactions.
For more information, here is a great blog post on Ways to Collect Customer Feedback.
Step 3. Collect Feedback
A fully dedicated Drive Research analytical team would manage and conduct each aspect of your program, including survey designs/revisions, sample planning/management, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Our solution also carries a dedicated program manager and team of support to meet the technology and platform demands your organization has.
Step 4. Act on Feedback
It is best to prioritize feedback based on severity, frequency, and impact on the customer experience.
From there, our team can help develop action plans to address identified issues and opportunities for improvement.
We like to involve relevant stakeholders across departments to ensure accountability and collaboration in implementing changes.
Step 5. Monitor and Iterate
The key to a successful customer experience program is collecting ongoing feedback and making adjustments as needed. We regularly review feedback metrics and performance against established objectives.
Here is a great video on The Value of Collecting Continuous Customer Feedback.
Platforms & Technology Used For CX Programs
Drive Research leverages a suite of capabilities from experience management platforms to deliver a comprehensive feedback management solution.
Our team consistently partner with clients to choose the right platform to execute global projects and provide enterprise-level research solutions to some of our largest and most capability-demanding clients.
We combine the skills and expertise of a custom market research solutions firm with a mix of powerful, industry-leading SaaS platforms to provide clients with the best of both worlds.
We manage and leverage the platform while focusing on collaborating and advising your team to execute projects, meet your goals, and fill in the service gaps that often exist with platform-specific, do-it-yourself agreements.
Why Work With Drive Research For Your CX Research
We're Professional Researchers
Trust us. We know what we’re designing for the long term, and what we’re doing on a daily basis.
Drive Research was founded by a certified voice of the customer professional, and most of our researchers have between 10 and 20 years of experience. We conduct nearly 200 research projects a year using full-service quantitative and qualitative methods.
We collaborate with you before and during the designing, executing, and reporting of your research projects and programs; can help co-present results to your organization; can answer questions from your colleagues and you can trust us to interact with them directly when needed.
Our researchers have worked at the US Census Bureau, worked as corporate researchers, have led insights departments at advertising and marketing agencies, and have e taught research and planning to master’s students.
You're Not Looking For a Do-It-Yourself Solution
Take your vacation days. We got this.
Here are some reasons companies often outsource their market research:
- It’s frustrating when the capabilities of your team or the platform you’ve selected for DIY research efforts fall short.
- They don't have the time or resources to be as comprehensive and flexible as your organization, leaders, and stakeholders demand.
- Extra services or an unexpected lack of support from a platform provider aren’t in line with their needs or budget planning.
We provide the partnership and comprehensive solution your program, team, and organization is looking for to succeed.
We Work With Platform Providers.
We are the people among the platforms. We have hands-on experience with Qualtrics, Forsta, Decipher, Confirmit, Maritz, Alchemer, Survey Monkey, and other research platforms.
As online research platform users, we program our own surveys, deploy and manage our own email campaigns, execute fieldwork and collect data, set up dashboards and results portals, and troubleshoot problems on behalf of clients.
Plus, platform providers like Fuel Cycle and Dynata turn to firms like ours when they have reporting and client services overflow needs, need a more customized solution, or when a client needs superior time and attention.
Contact Our Customer Experience Research Company
Unlock the power of consumer insights and elevate your brand with our cutting-edge customer experience market research services. From surveys to focus groups to mystery shopping, Drive Research offers end-to-end research methodologies to equip your business with the insights needed to improve customer experience.
Contact our customer experience company through any of these channels:
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Zach Adams
Zach is the Vice President of Strategy at Drive Research. He leverages his background to advise clients on topics including customer insight, competitive intelligence, branding, positioning, messaging, creative strategy, and organizational leadership.
Learn more about Zach, here.
