Data Overload? How to Manage the Flow of CX Insights Effectively

waterfall

One of the biggest pros of CX insights is also its biggest drawback. CX. Data. Never. Stops. It’s constantly and passively flowing in via social media, transactional surveys, phone call transcripts, chat transcripts, etc.

As a result, it can be extremely challenging for CX teams to prioritize which insights to share with other teams. There also may be explicit or inferred pressure on CX teams to continually uncover and share new insights.

But change management and optimizing customer experiences takes time. It can sometimes take YEARS to see the impact of our work. From insight to statistically significant improved business outcome, a lot of water has flowed under that metaphorical bridge.

While we all practice more patience and wait for change, how might CX teams organize the constant deluge of insights in the meantime—and control the flow of insights back out to leaders and stakeholder teams?

“You can do anything, but not everything.”

David Allen (author)

Prioritize Insights

Executive summaries are easy for leaders to digest, but after viewing “executive summaries” for dozens of reports over a week—they’ll all feel like a blur.

How can CX teams cut through the noise and create a CX north star for their executive team?

Here are a few ways to contextualize insights:

  • Impact / Feasibility Matrix: Map where actionable insights sit in relationship to other insights’ impact and feasibilty.
  • Customer Journey Map: Stay focused on moments of truth. If an insight doesn’t help further inform a major point of friction or delight, deprioritize it.
  • Kano Model: Invest in solutions that solve customers’ unmet needs and areas of the experience that do not meet customers’ basic needs.

Visualize Insights

Think like a content marketer. How might you keep repackaging key insights and retelling them in new ways to make them stick and find new internal audiences?

Turn insights into infographics, stories, journey maps, explainer videos, or storyboards.

Other visualization ideas to show which insights matter most:

  • Bubble charts
  • Heat maps
  • Decision trees
  • Waterfall charts

Remember, it might be old news to you… but for others, it will be the first time they’ve heard it or the first time that a key insight finally clicks.

Understand Insights

Rather than repackaging insights, perhaps your time is best spent educating leaders and stakeholder teams about how to interpret the insights they already have. Teaching others how to read and make sense of CX insights now will help streamline and shorten insights-to-action over time.

Upskilling ideas:

  • Look in the Mirror: Before proceeding any further, take a hard look at the language and jargon your team uses to communicate about CX insights. Are there places to swap out CX lingo or use more universal, user-friendly terminology? What about the format? Are CX insights communicated in the way other teams want to consume them?
  • Empathy Mapping Workshop: In my experience, people LOVE LOVE LOVE empathy mapping workshops. It’s a creative way to engage with insights, plus it helps teams “practice” using insights by putting themselves in customers’ shoes.
  • CX Day: Leverage all the great content that CXPA and other CX thought leaders put out on CX Day (usually early October each year)—and turn it into all-day “Customer Experience Summit” at your organization. Invite leaders in your company to present their CX success stories. Meanwhile, your CX team might create salons for employees to learn about different aspects of CX or learn CX skills.

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Author: Kristine Remer

Kristine Remer is a CX insights leader, UX researcher, and strategist in Minneapolis. She helps organizations drive significant business outcomes by finding and solving customer problems. She never misses the Minnesota State Fair and loves dark chocolate mochas, kayaking, escape rooms, and planning elaborate treasure hunts for her children.