CX Prediction 2022.2 — Surveys Are Just the Start

Brand Experience
November 4, 2021

This is part 2 in a 5-part series. Please download our CX Predictions for 2022 ebook for our full report.

Customer experience programs are far more than surveys

Surveys will always play a part in customer experience. Surveys allow researchers to benchmark performance, capture post-purchase feedback, and develop a data cache with periodic surveys.

But surveys are no longer enough. Surveys are table stakes now.

In 2022, CX programs will grow far more comprehensive in scope. Executives have been trying (and largely failing) to integrate customer feedback in a meaningful and profitable way that allows for quick customer interaction and issue resolution, not just data collection. That real-time relationship building has been difficult or impossible in the past, but no longer. Technical advances will finally allow CX managers to contribute meaningfully to relationships in real-time.

Technical advances sound boring. But customer experience doesn’t need to be boring. In fact, let’s imagine it is a game.

Boss Level Feedback Management

Imagine playing your favorite game — console, phone, doesn’t matter the device. You’re alone for a few minutes and just vanquished the level boss. You breathe a sigh of relief.

During a break in game play, a survey appears on-screen. You know it is legit — the survey is offered up in-game and the logo of the game you’re playing appears in the corner. The questions are relevant, about game play and mechanics. Three questions and you’re done. No need to even type your name or email address.

You get back to playing your game. As you do, your data is integrated via API to the gaming company’s customer relationship management (CRM) platform and player profile database. A customer support agent runs a report on top-tier players for your favorite game and your profile appears. The agent sees your survey responses, along with your latest scores and your other favorite games. Additionally, certain keywords could automatically generate an alert in the customer success Slack channel for further investigation.

CX identified and solved a problem in real time, across departments and software platforms.

This isn’t CX sci-fi. This is CX today.

No Playing Around

Surveys alone simply aren’t enough to manage that level of relationship. CX leaders need surveys to collect data, but then that data must feed into other systems, triggering automated workflows and providing solutions quickly.

Surveys. Aren’t. Enough.

In fact, McKinsey declares that “survey-based systems can no longer meet the demands of today’s companies,” because they are:

  • Limited. Only 13% of CX leaders express full confidence that their measurement system provides a representative view of their customer base.
  • Ambiguous. Only 16% of CX leaders think that surveys allow them to address the root causes of performance.
  • Unfocused. Only 4% of CX leaders believe their CX measurement system enables them to calculate a decision’s return on investment (ROI).

CX programs cannot live by surveys alone. In fact, our prediction for 2022 is that customer data becomes one piece of your larger CX program — a broader view empowered by connected data sets.

From Surveys to Interoperability

Surveys are limited in their view — opinions at a single point in the past. But customer feedback collected in surveys can be a part of a larger data set, encompassing the full customer base and spanning the customer journey.

In 2022, expect to see CX leaders invest in data lakes and other means of collecting and analyzing large sets of data.

System interoperability is key — customer experience data is one type of data feeding into a data lake. But it will be complimented with other data that previously had been fragmented or stored in locked systems. Expect your analysts to be busy next year as more data sets become available and CX analytics becomes more comprehensive.

Many companies collect data, but smart companies enable their teams to garner insights and then act on the data. In 2022, we predict fewer success stories involving surveys alone and far more about CX topics like data interoperability.

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