When outsourcing CX, naturally, everyone wants everything to go perfectly – but how do we measure whether or not we’re using the perfect methods for our organization?
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the metrics we measure performance. By identifying what matters to the company and our visions for the future, we can determine what indicators best match the organization’s overall strategy for success.
While not every KPI is appropriate for every business, every company should be using KPIs that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Let’s break down what that means, shall we?
Specific KPIs are focused – while general data might seem like a good idea at first, you want information that tells you exactly what you need to know, when you need it, about what matters most. By letting experts focus on your company’s critical concerns, you’ll be better able to solve or even prevent problems and spot opportunities.
Measurable means that your KPIs should be translatable into comprehensible information. Customer satisfaction is an excellent example: while you can get a feel for how things are going based on how customer interactions are developing, it’s easier to gauge improvement—or the need for improvement—with access to transparency, at-a-glance information. Your CX team should be able to gather data and collate it into valuable, easy-to-understand insights.
The Achievable aspect is simple – just as you wouldn’t want to waste time planning impossibilities, your KPIs should be actionable and grounded in reality. There’s nothing better for building a brighter tomorrow than identifying what’s working today, and that’s why analyzing the actual data of the present is critical to reaching more ambitious goals moving forward.
Your KPIs should also be angled for Relevance, meaning you’re looking for indicators aligning with your company strategy. It’s often said that data is the new currency, so why wouldn’t you want to have as much as possible? The simple answer is that there are just some things that are more distracting than helpful – what you wish to are metrics that help you analyze how your organization is progressing toward what and where you want it to be.
Finally, let’s tackle Time-bound – tracking progress is impossible if you look at outdated information or compare numbers from completely disparate times and circumstances. Your KPIs need to tell you what happened before, what’s happening now, and what to expect next, a critical process best supported by a team of specialists trained to deliver results and information right when everything’s happening.
Once you’ve determined your KPIs, it’s time to discuss them with your team. If everyone knows exactly what you’re aiming for and how you plan to assess development efforts, it becomes immensely easier to work toward that goal efficiently and effectively. With your KPI milestones laid out, it’s just a matter of hitting each benchmark and rising to the next.
