For as long as there has been business, there have been customers. And for as long as there have been customers, businesses have had to prioritize creating a positive customer experience. The customer experience—how buyers feel about their collective interactions with a brand—defines and motivates customer action. It sets the tone for the entire company/consumer relationship. But with the advent of the information age and the communication technologies that support it, a new facet of customer experience has emerged: digital experience. 

What Is Digital Experience?

Digital experience (also called digital customer experience or abbreviated as DX) is an extension of traditional customer experience. But where customer experience takes every interaction into account, the digital experience focuses more specifically on those interactions that occur with digital touchpoints. This includes communicating with a brand via social media, making a purchase online, receiving an email or text confirming an order, providing user feedback on online channels, using a company app, operating a digital kiosk or point-of-sale terminal, or even simply visiting an organization’s webpage. 

In other words, these touchpoints include a broad range of interactions and are constantly growing to encompass an ever-greater portion of the customer journey. As such, a digital experience is a powerful tool for shaping essential interactions. 

Why is Digital Customer Experience Important?

The digital customer experience has become an essential part of the way that consumers navigate the marketplace. It is common for consumers to switch channels multiple times throughout the course of an interaction. They don’t view a transaction as an online experience, a mobile app experience, or a customer service experience, they view it as one continuous experience that they had. Your brand needs to deliver on all fronts in order to create a memorable experience for these customers. Not only will it make your business better, but in the coming years, it will be the only way your business can survive. Let’s get into the details.

Customer Expectations

First of all, customers want and are coming to rely on the digital experience. They have high expectations for a brand’s online experience and use your online presence and quality to gauge how trustworthy your brand is. They need and want websites that are easy to navigate, have quick load times, and offer a personalized experience.

Competitive Advantage

Creating a unique and positive digital experience helps brands set themselves apart from competitors, too. When people start shopping for something, like say a new pair of headphones, they are going to first go online to see what is available to them, research pricing, and compare brands. Your brand has to have an online presence to be a competitor, and if you want customers to actually choose your product or service, you need to have a robust and thoughtful digital customer experience.

Being online with your business evens the playing field; having a great digital customer experience puts your brand on top. Customers will go with well-designed websites, brands that pay to be more visible through SEO efforts, companies with helpful and high-ranking content, and services with plenty of customer reviews and other types of social proof. If you want your company’s services to rise to the top, then you need to provide a seamless, engaging, and robust digital customer experience that will make consumers choose you over other competitors that are just one click away.

Brand Reputation

A good digital customer experience is critical to a brand’s reputation. Word spreads fast in the age of social media and a bad digital experience can hurt a brand’s reputation. The better customer experiences your consumers have, the more you can fortify your brand reputation. This means prioritizing positive interactions with products and services, engaging with people online, implementing customer feedback, and more. From the first ad or social media content a customer engages with to the checkout button on your website, the digital customer experience is what shapes your presence online and ensures that your brand reputation is protected.

A well-designed digital experience can increase customer engagement and interaction with a brand. Interactive features, personalized content, and social media integration can foster meaningful connections and encourage customers to actively participate and share their experiences with others.

InMoment’s digital experience software can help lay out a well-designed online experience that increases site conversions, identifies web experiences that impede user interactions, and ultimately creates a higher customer lifetime value. 

Factors that Impact Digital Experience

Because digital experience is an extension of customer experience, it is shaped by many of the same factors. These include the following:

• Usability
  How much effort does the interaction demand on the part of the user? Is the digital interface intuitive, or are there areas where a user might become confused or frustrated?
• Availability
  Does the touchpoint conform to user time demands? Is it accessible when the user needs it?
• Performance
  What kind of time commitment does the touchpoint represent? Does it load quickly? Is it responsive to user commands?
• Achievement
  How well does the touchpoint help the user achieve their goals? Do they come away from the experience feeling as though it was successful?
• Pain Points
  Are there any errors, non-functioning components, frustrating interactions, or other hurdles standing in the users’ way as they attempt to interact with the touchpoint?
• Emotion
  How did the customer feel about the interaction overall? Would they consider it positive, or was it a negative experience? 

Taken together, each of these factors points toward a single element vital to digital experience: seamlessness.

Why Is It Important to Offer a Seamless Digital Experience?

As previously addressed, the number of digital touchpoints a customer may choose to interact with is constantly growing. And as digital communications channels continue to supplant traditional ones, even the most basic of interactions will soon depend at least partially on digital technologies. Perhaps even more relevant is the fluidity with which customers now transition between channels. The customer journey is no longer a single, straight path; it’s a complex web that must coalesce every digital channel into a unified experience. 

But as intricate as these new journeys may be, it is essential that this increased complexity not get in the way of the customer’s ability to accomplish their goals. Users aren’t interested in the differences between channels or the specific challenges associated with digital interactions — they simply want to make a purchase or investigate a solution, and they will use whatever channels are most convenient to them at that moment. 

With this in mind, the importance of offering a seamless digital experience becomes much clearer. Customers don’t want to restart (or even slow down) their journey simply because they decided to jump on their smart device or transition to a social platform. They crave consistency, efficiency, and flow, and any interruption is an unwanted intrusion. 

What does this mean for businesses? It means that no matter how or where a customer decides to make contact, they should ultimately encounter the same, seamless experience where they can resume their journey without having to reconstruct the path.

Of course, while meeting customer goals and fulfilling their expectations is a worthy objective in and of itself, the right approach to digital experience also carries with it a number of business advantages:

• A seamless digital experience provides increased opportunities for gathering customer data and user feedback. By expanding on digital touchpoints and incorporating online channels smoothly into the customer journey, you not only give a voice to those who might otherwise go unheard, but you also exponentially increase the amount of user data available to apply toward marketing, sales, and overall company strategy.
• Digital interactions are more than just another way to connect with a business — they’re the most popular way. Unmatched in terms of convenience and capability, digital channels are the preferred method, a position that has only become more stable following the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Today, 8 in 10 consumers (or 81%) plan to increase or maintain their online usage even after COVID restrictions have been fully lifted. Improving the digital experience, therefore, is more important than ever for companies that want to meet customers on their terms.
• You might not suspect this from the flood of advertisements that clog news feeds and interrupt television programs, but traditional advertising is not as effective as it once was. In fact, Forbes reports that a staggering 96% of people are distrustful of ads. A positive digital experience, on the other hand, gives companies a more direct and less suspect avenue for engaging potential buyers. Instead of telling customers what they should do, the organization becomes a trusted partner working with the consumer to reach a satisfactory solution.
• The days when customers would accept subpar digital experiences are long gone. Today’s buyers expect seamlessness, consistency, and personalization when they interact with businesses online. Simply put, the bar has been raised, and those businesses that fall short in the digital experience department are likely to be left behind. Brands with higher user satisfaction rankings for at least three years grow revenues 2.5 times faster and deliver up to 500% more shareholder returns over the following decade.

Each of these advantages leads to and reinforces the same outcome: Increased revenue and improved ROI on customer-facing initiatives. 

What Factors Make a Good Digital Experience? 

Most businesses agree that a positive digital experience is essential. Still, there’s a big difference between recognizing the importance of a good digital experience and knowing how to provide one. Here, we highlight several elements intrinsic to meeting and surpassing customer expectations online:

Making Omnichannel Your Top Priority

Creating an omnichannel customer experience may be the biggest factor determining the success of any modern digital experience plan. But effective omnichannel doesn’t happen on its own; it takes dedicated planning and constant refinement to ensure that every channel is connected, consistent, and capable of providing a seamless user experience. Standardize your brand presence and pick up the thread of the customer journey regardless of when, where, or how your customers reach out.

Following Up on Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is essential to improving the digital experience — if something is failing to meet expectations or if a change significantly improves the experience, the customers are the ones who can give you the most objective reports. So, when they come to you to discuss the situation, don’t let it hang in the air. Follow up on every piece of customer feedback. This may be particularly important when addressing negative issues; working together to resolve concerns and then reaching out afterward to make sure that the customer is satisfied can help turn a potentially bad experience into a good one. 

With InMoment, getting and analyzing customer feedback has never been easier. Our customer experience platform gives you the ability to collect the strongest signals, generate the richest insights, and drive the smartest actions. 

Investing in Long-Term Success

Digital experience is big. The touchpoints it includes are many. The possible ramifications are extensive. On the other hand, this means that seeing the results of any changes to or investments in your digital experience strategy can take time. Make sure that you and any stakeholders within the company are aware of this fact, and that everyone involved has the correct long-term mindset.

Being Transparent with Customers

Business earnings aside, those who benefit most directly from improved digital experience are the customers. As you invest in smoothing out their journey, don’t be shy about sharing. Tell your customers what you’re doing and why. Communicate with them and let them know how a feedback loop is helping optimize their experience. Above all, treat your audience as a partnership; when customers feel like they have a more active role in the business, they become invested in the success of the brand. 

Breaking Down Silos

Providing a good digital experience demands buy-in and coordination throughout your entire organization. This requires unrestricted access to relevant information, which simply is not possible when departments and tools are siloed. Data and communication silos are the natural enemies of centralizing and optimizing the customer digital experience—if you’re going to work toward omnichannel, those silos will have to go. 

Improving Constantly

The digital landscape is constantly evolving—your strategy needs to evolve along with it. Always be on the lookout for areas where you could be improving. This means collecting customer feedback and analyzing customer experience metrics, but it also means trying new layouts and approaches and charting their effectiveness in terms of helping the buyer achieve their goals. This will give you the insights you need to keep your strategy moving forward. 

Features to Improve Your Digital Customer Experience

While it is important to invest in long-term success, be transparent with customers, and break down silos, there are also some technical aspects that need to be addressed to ensure that you are actively working to improve your digital customer experience.

Intuitive Interface

A user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and understand can significantly enhance the digital experience. Make it easy for customers to find what they are looking for and answer their questions with little effort. If your website looks, feels, or moves in a clunky or confusing manner, people won’t even become frustrated—they will simply leave and head to a website that is easier to navigate. Clear navigation, consistent design elements, and logical layouts contribute to ease of use. 

Tip: Try providing a searchable database for FAQs and helpful resources and make sure your navigation bar offers the right shortcuts and links that will address your consumer’s pain points. Make sure checking out is easy and logical and that consumers know exactly what they are getting by engaging with your brand.

Responsive Design

Ensuring that the digital platform works seamlessly across various devices and screen sizes improves accessibility and usability. Responsive design adapts the layout and functionality to provide an optimal experience on smartphones, tablets, and desktops.

Fast Loading Times

Slow loading speeds can frustrate users and lead to abandonment. Optimizing performance through efficient coding, content delivery networks (CDNs), and image compression can improve loading times and overall user satisfaction.

Accessibility Features

Making the digital experience accessible to users with disabilities is essential for inclusivity. Features such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and alt text for images enable individuals with diverse needs to access and interact with the platform.

What Factors Get in the Way of a Good Digital Experience?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of hurdles that can trip up an otherwise positive digital experience. Here’s a list of some of the most common that you will need to watch out for:

• Confusing user interface (UI)
• Content not optimized for mobile screens
• Difficult or non-intuitive navigation
• Difficulty resolving support requests
• Distracting pop-up messages or advertisements
• Hidden fees or other unexpected costs
• Illegal or secretive data collection practices
• Improperly coded input fields
• Inconsistent brand voice between channels
• Delayed responses to queries
• Lack of payment options
• Language barriers
• Lost or delayed orders
• Poor web performance
• Scrolling issues on mobile devices
• Touchpoint outages
• Unfriendly or unhelpful brand representatives
• Unwanted or overly frequent email or text messages

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list, which is why it’s so important to be open and responsive to customer feedback. Your customers will tell you where the journey runs into problems. Then it’s simply a matter of revising the digital experience to meet the users’ expectations. 

How to Measure Digital Customer Experience

In order to measure the success of your digital customer experience, you first need to decide on the metrics that matter the most to your business. By aligning digital customer experience metrics with overarching business strategies, your organization can ensure that your measurement efforts are not only meaningful but also actionable. For example, if you are prioritizing customer retention, you may focus on metrics such as customer lifetime value, repeat purchase rate, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) to gauge the effectiveness of your digital interactions in fostering long-term loyalty and advocacy.

Moreover, as digital customer experience continues to evolve, you must remain agile in your approach to measurement, regularly reassessing and refining your chosen metrics to adapt to changing market dynamics and consumer preferences. By adopting a data-driven mindset and leveraging insights gleaned from these key performance indicators, organizations can iteratively enhance their digital strategies and deliver exceptional experiences that resonate with customers and drive sustainable growth.

What A Great Digital Customer Experience Looks Like in Action 

A great digital customer experience seamlessly blends various elements to create a harmonious interaction. In a perfect world, the customer accesses a digital platform that has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, the experience feels tailored to them, and their experience is consistent across channels. 

To exemplify what a great digital customer experience looks like, let’s look at a guest’s experience with a hospitality brand. The guest visits the hotel’s mobile website or app to book a room. The interface is user-friendly, with clear descriptions, images, and pricing. The guest receives personalized recommendations based on their preferences, such as room type, amenities, and location.

After booking, the guest receives a confirmation email or message with all the details of their reservation. They also receive a pre-arrival guide with information about the hotel, local attractions, and transportation options.

Upon arrival, the guest can choose between traditional check-in at the front desk or using a mobile check-in feature on the hotel’s app. If they opt for mobile check-in, they receive a digital room key on their smartphone, allowing them to bypass the front desk and go straight to their room.

In their room, the guest finds a personalized welcome message on the TV screen or a digital tablet. If the guest needs assistance or recommendations during their stay, they can easily reach out to the hotel’s virtual concierge through the app or website. 

This experience represents an experience where the business met the customer where they were and did everything to accommodate their various needs and travel references. When creating a digital experience for your brand, keep in mind the different ways in which customers may want to engage with you, and be sure to set up your customer experience program to account for that.  

Why Do You Need A Digital Customer Experience Strategy?

A digital customer experience strategy is a must-have for organizations that are looking to increase customer acquisition and retention. Customers increasingly prefer to interact with businesses digitally, whether it’s through websites, mobile apps, social media, or other online channels. As a matter of fact, 74% of customers expect any service that would be available in person or over the phone to be available online. 

A well-executed digital customer experience strategy can differentiate a business from its competitors by delivering exceptional experiences that delight customers and keep them coming back. Furthermore, The quality of a business’s digital customer experience directly impacts its image and brand reputation. A positive experience can enhance brand perception, increase customer trust, and generate positive word-of-mouth referrals. 

A digital customer experience strategy also offers businesses the flexibility to adapt quickly to changing market conditions, customer preferences, and emerging technologies. This enables businesses to stay agile and responsive, ensuring that they can pivot and evolve to meet evolving customer needs.

How to Improve Your Digital Customer Experience Strategy

If you already have a digital experience strategy, then you are on the right track. However, these strategies are not a one-and-done thing. They need to be continuously monitored and improved in order to realize the best results for your business. Here are some things you can do to improve your digital customer experience strategy: 

• Data-driven Insights: Leverage data and predictive customer analytics to gain insights into customer behavior, interactions, and engagement across your digital touchpoints. You can use these insights to identify and prioritize areas of improvement. 
• Optimize the User Experience (UX): No matter your product or service, you will not succeed. You can optimize the user experience of your digital platforms by conducting usability tests, A/B testing, and user research. 
• Create Personalized Experiences: By leveraging customer data and insights, businesses can deliver tailored content, recommendations, and offers that resonate with individual customers. This can be achieved through techniques such as dynamic website content, personalized emails, targeted advertising, and product recommendations based on past behavior. The goal is to make customers feel understood and valued, leading to increased engagement and satisfaction.
• Employee Training and Engagement: It is important to invest in training and empowering employees to deliver results. Ensure that frontline employees are knowledgeable about digital platforms and best practices for engaging and assisting customers across digital channels. 

By following these steps and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, your business can enhance the existing digital customer experience strategy to deliver exceptional experiences that drive customer satisfaction, loyalty, and business growth.

Make Every Customer Experience an Omnichannel Experience

Digital devices, channels, and expectations are growing, and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future. As such, the line that once separated customer experience from digital experience no longer exists. Instead, the modern customer journey is all-encompassing — an omnichannel experience to help ensure a streamlined and supportive customer journey for every buyer. By optimizing the digital experience, you’ll be setting the groundwork for satisfied customers and improved returns for your business. 

Want to learn more about digital experience transformation and how your organization can develop a successful digital strategy? Access Your Digital Experience Transformation Roadmap ebook and if you’re ready to take the digital experience further than ever before, book a demo with InMoment today! 

References 

Fullstory. Investing in your digital experience matters: 3 takeaways from our consumer survey. (https://www.fullstory.com/blog/digital-experience-consumer-survey/). Access 3/12/2024.  

Forbes. 7 Reasons People Hate Your Ads And What Do About It. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2022/06/27/7-reasons-people-hate-your-ads-and-what-do-about-it/?sh=6110612a4eaa). Access 3/12/2024. 

Harvard Business Review. Are You Undervaluing Your Customers? (https://hbr.org/2020/01/are-you-undervaluing-your-customers). Access 3/12/2024. 

Salesforce. State of the Connected Customer Report. (https://www.salesforce.com/resources/research-reports/state-of-the-connected-customer/). Accessed 3/21/2024.

So many businesses today are focused on getting feedback for the sake of getting feedback. They want 5-star reviews and soaring metrics. But, most businesses fail to act on a lot of the feedback they receive. In order to create a truly great customer experience, you need to implement a customer feedback loop that will integrate your customers into the business. 

What is a Feedback Loop?

A feedback loop, specifically the customer feedback loop, is defined as the process companies use to gather customer feedback and then respond to it by improving some aspect of the business or product. It is a loop because as the company makes improvements, the customers weigh in with feedback on how the improvements are faring. The company then adjusts the improvements to fit the voice of the customer. It is a constant loop of feedback and improvements. There are also two subcategories of feedback loops: a positive feedback loop and a negative feedback loop. 

Positive Feedback Loop

The positive feedback loop is just as it sounds. Customers provide positive feedback to a company, and then the company makes note of what they are doing well so that they can continue to do those things in the future. 

Consider a credit union that deploys a new 24/7 chat function to their mobile app and website. This app responds to customer concerns at all hours of the day, and provides prompt and accurate resolutions to their problems. When the interaction is over and the credit union deploys a customer satisfaction survey, the customer will answer that they were satisfied with their experience. The credit union will make note of this and make sure that future products meet the benchmark set by the successful chat function. 

Negative Feedback Loop

On the other hand, a negative feedback loop is when customers provide negative feedback about their specific pain points with a product or service. An organization can act on these insights by fixing the existing product or service, and then making sure similar issues don’t appear in the future. 

As an example, let’s imagine the same financial services firm from earlier experiences a prolonged period of poor customer service due to understaffing or inadequate training. As a result, some customers decide to send in complaints and may even switch to competing financial institutions that offer better customer support experiences. 

To alleviate this issue, the financial services firm invests in better employee onboarding and continuous employee development. 

How Does A Feedback Loop Work?

A communication feedback loop works by customers communicating with a business, the business analyzing the feedback, and then acting on it. This can be thought of as a continuous cycle and relationship between the customer and business, but can also be thought of as a repeating list. Here is a quick breakdown of how the feedback loop works:

• Customer Interaction: The feedback loop starts with a customer interacting with a product, service, or brand. This interaction could be through purchases, support inquiries, google reviews, or any other form of engagement.
• Feedback Generation: Following the interaction, the customer forms an opinion or experience based on their interaction. This could be positive, negative, or neutral feedback about their experience.
• Feedback Collection: The feedback is then collected by the company through various channels such as surveys, reviews, social media, customer service interactions, and more.
• Analysis and Action: The collected feedback is analyzed by the company to identify patterns, trends, and areas for improvement. Based on this analysis, actions are taken to address any issues, capitalize on strengths, or make enhancements to the product, service, or customer experience.
• Implementation: Changes or improvements resulting from the analysis are implemented in the product, service, or customer experience. This could involve refining processes, updating features, enhancing customer service training, or any other actions aimed at improving the overall customer experience.
• Customer Response: Customers interact with the updated product, service, or experience, and their responses are observed. If the changes positively impact the customer experience, it reinforces positive behavior, loyalty, and satisfaction. If the changes do not have the desired effect or worsen the experience, adjustments may be necessary.
• Repeat: The feedback loop is an ongoing, iterative process. As customers continue to interact with the product, service, or brand, their feedback informs further improvements and adjustments, creating a continuous cycle of enhancement and refinement.

Why Are Customer Feedback Loops Important?

Customer feedback loops are an integral part of creating an integrated customer experience. Some of the most important data from your customers is qualitative, not quantitative. You need to have a way to hear that qualitative feedback, make sense of it, and act on it in order to create experiences your customers will continue to enjoy. 

When businesses actively seek and act on customer feedback, it builds trust and strengthens the relationship between the company and its customers. Customers appreciate when their feedback is acknowledged and acted upon, leading to increased loyalty and advocacy.

Ultimately, customer feedback loops can drive revenue growth by improving customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases, refer others to the business, and positively impact the company’s bottom line.

Customer Feedback Loop Examples

Customer feedback loops can take various forms across different industries and businesses. At the end of the day, the best customer feedback loop is the one that works best for your business. The key is to choose the methods that align with the business’s goals, target audience, and resources. Here are some examples of different ways to kickstart a customer feedback loop: 

Customer Surveys

Sending out a survey to customers after a purchase, service interaction, or event is a common client loop example. Surveys can gather feedback on various aspects of the customer experience, such as product satisfaction, service quality, and overall brand perception.

Online Reviews and Ratings

Encouraging customers to leave reviews and ratings on platforms like Google, Yelp, or TripAdvisor provides valuable feedback for businesses. Monitoring these reviews is as just as important as knowing how to respond to reviews as it allows businesses to address concerns, thank satisfied customers, and improve their online reputation.

Social Media Monitoring

Understanding the importance of social media marketing is another way to implement a successful feedback loop. Monitoring social media channels for mentions, comments, and direct messages provides real-time feedback on customer sentiment and experiences. Engaging with customers on social media allows businesses to address issues promptly and build relationships with their audience.

Customer Service Interactions

Customer service interactions via phone, email, chat, or in-person provide direct feedback on customer experiences. Recording and analyzing customer service interactions help businesses identify recurring issues, training needs, and opportunities for improvement.

Product Usage Data

Analyzing product usage data, such as website analytics, app usage metrics, and product telemetry, provides insights into how customers interact with products and services. Understanding user behavior through a user feedback loop helps businesses identify usability issues, feature preferences, and areas for optimization.

Feedback Forms and Comment Boxes

Placing feedback forms or comment boxes in physical locations or on digital platforms allows customers to provide feedback conveniently. This can be particularly useful in retail stores, restaurants, hotels, and other service-oriented businesses.

Focus Groups and User Testing

Conducting focus groups or user testing sessions allows businesses to gather qualitative feedback from customers in a controlled environment. Observing how customers interact with prototypes or new features provides valuable insights into usability and functionality.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) Surveys

Net Promoter Score surveys measure customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend a product or service to others. By asking a single question (“How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?”), businesses can gauge overall customer satisfaction and identify promoters, detractors, and opportunities for improvement.

Customer Feedback Loop Best Practices

When collecting customer feedback, there are certain practices you want to follow to make sure you are getting accurate feedback that can be utilized. The most important practice to follow is to define clear objectives for collecting customer feedback. Determine what specific insights you want to gain and how you plan to use the feedback to improve the customer experience. 

Once you put goals into place and move on to actually collecting feedback, it is important to utilize multiple channels. Building an omnichannel customer experience will help you collect feedback from multiple sources that are viewable in one central location. This is so vital because your customers interact with your business in different ways, and you need to be able to communicate with them effectively regardless of the channel they are on. 

Lastly, treat feedback collection and analysis as an ongoing process rather than a one-time effort. Continuously seek feedback, iterate on improvements, and measure the impact of changes on the customer experience. Remember that the customer feedback loop is a loop, not a line. By continuously working to understand and act on your customer’s feedback, you will improve your own customer’s view of your business and the consumer view of your business in comparison to your competitors. 

How Feedback Loops Impact the Customer Experience

Feedback loops have a significant impact on the customer experience in several ways. The customers are the most important part of any business, so prioritizing their feedback makes them feel valued. Engaging customers in feedback loops fosters a sense of ownership and involvement in the brand. This will lead to increased customer experience metrics such as Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction Score, and Customer Effort Score.  

Along with increased metrics, feedback loops help businesses identify issues and pain points in the customer service process or in their products and services. These insights help businesses identify problems that they were not aware of before. Addressing these issues from customer feedback helps the business see them before they have shown up through other channels such as churn metrics, customer exit interviews, or more. Feedback loops improve the customer experience by improving business processes. 

Start a Customer Feedback Loop with InMoment

In order to effectively utilize feedback loops, you need the right solution. InMoment’s XI Platform offers a robust suite of features designed to empower businesses to understand and improve the customer experience at every touchpoint. Learn more about our customer experience platform to see how we can improve your customer feedback processes today!

It is hard to talk about survey methodology and practices without mentioning the Likert scale. While some may think the Likert scale is only used in academic research, it is a cornerstone of survey strategies across various industries such as travel & hospitality, automotive, and financial services.

What is the Likert Scale?

The Likert Scale, named after psychologist Rensis Likert, is a widely used tool in social science research and survey methodology for measuring attitudes, opinions, and perceptions of respondents. The Likert Scale usually ranges from five to seven points, with respondents selecting a response that best reflects their agreement or disagreement with each statement. The typical format includes options such as “Strongly Disagree,” “Disagree,” “Neutral,” “Agree,” and “Strongly Agree.” In some cases, scales may also include “Don’t Know” or “Not Applicable” options.

Researchers analyze the responses to calculate measures of central tendency (like mean or median) and dispersion (like standard deviation) to understand the distribution of opinions or attitudes within the sample population. This scale provides a structured way to quantify subjective opinions, making it easier to analyze and compare data across respondents and groups.

What are the Different Types of Likert Scales?

There are several variations of Likert scales, differing primarily in the number of response options provided to respondents. The two most common types are the 5-point Likert scale and the 7-point Likert scale.

5-Point Likert Scale:

In this scale, respondents are typically presented with a statement and five response options ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.” The options might look like this:

• Strongly Disagree
• Disagree
• Neither Agree nor Disagree (Neutral)
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

7-Point Likert Scale:

The 7-point Likert scale expands on the 5-point scale by providing additional response options, usually to offer more nuanced distinctions between levels of agreement and disagreement. The options might look like this:

• Strongly Disagree
• Disagree
• Somewhat Disagree
• Neither Agree nor Disagree (Neutral)
• Somewhat Agree
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

Both scales serve the same purpose of measuring attitudes or opinions, but the 7-point Likert scale allows for a finer granularity of responses, which can sometimes provide more detailed insights into respondents’ attitudes or perceptions. The choice between the two scales depends on the specific needs of the research or survey design and the level of detail desired in the responses.

What is the Best Type of Likert Scale to Use?

The choice of which Likert scale to use depends on several factors, including the research objectives, the nature of the survey questions, and the preferences of the researcher or organization conducting the survey. There isn’t a universally “best” type of Likert scale; rather, it’s about selecting the most appropriate scale for the specific context. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when choosing a Likert scale:

Research Objectives

Consider the goals of your research and the type of data you need to collect. If you require more nuanced responses to accurately capture the variability in respondents’ attitudes or opinions, a 7-point Likert scale might be more suitable. However, if simplicity and ease of interpretation are priorities, a 5-point Likert scale could suffice.

Question Complexity

The complexity of the survey questions can influence the choice of the Likert scale. If the questions are straightforward and do not require fine-grained distinctions in responses, a simpler scale like the 5-point Likert scale may be sufficient. On the other hand, if the questions are more complex or cover a wide range of opinions, a 7-point Likert scale might provide more flexibility.

Response Bias

Consider the potential for response bias in your survey. Providing more response options (e.g., with a 7-point Likert scale) can sometimes reduce the likelihood of respondents selecting neutral options as a default. However, too many response options could overwhelm respondents and lead to careless responses.

Comparison with Existing Data

If you have existing data or are conducting research in a field where a particular Likert scale is commonly used, it may be advantageous to maintain consistency for easier comparison and analysis across studies.

Ultimately, the choice of the Likert scale should be made thoughtfully, taking into account the specific requirements of the research, the characteristics of the respondents, and the overall survey design. It’s often beneficial to pilot test different versions of the Likert scale to gauge respondent understanding and ensure the scale effectively captures the intended attitudes or opinions.

Examples of Likert Scale Questions

Writing effective Likert scale questions involves careful consideration of the topic, clarity of language, and ensuring that response options adequately capture the range of attitudes or opinions you want to measure. These factors are of the utmost importance to limit any type of voluntary response bias in sampling. Remember, whoever answers the question will be answering by selecting a range of emotions such as “satisfied/agree” or “not satisfied/disagree.” So, more often than not, these questions will be statements that reflect aspects of the topic you are trying to assess. Here are some examples of Likert scale questions:

• I am likely to recommend this product to others.
• The quality of the product meets my expectations.
• I am happy with the level of support provided by customer service.
• How pleased are you with your job?
• I thought this system was easy to use.

These examples represent Likert questions that can be direct questions or statements about a range of products and services. 

Examples of Bad Likert Scale Questions

Poorly constructed Likert questions often consist of double-barreled statements that contain ambiguous language that causes them to be biased or misleading. Consider the following examples:

• “Do you agree that the product is excellent and worth recommending?”

This question is double-barreled, combining two distinct concepts (“excellent” and “worth recommending”) into a single statement. This question would not yield a meaningful response as the question is comparing two items into one question. 

• “How much do you like the product: very much, much, somewhat, little, very little?”

This question lacks a clear direction or anchor for respondents to understand the meaning of each response option. It also uses imprecise language (e.g., “somewhat”) that may be interpreted differently by respondents. This question would also not yield a meaningful response. 

How to Analyze Likert Scale Data

After your surveys have been completed, it is time to analyze the data. When it comes to analyzing Likert scale data, there are a number of ways to segment the data. Which method you choose will ultimately end on the initial research questions. Some examples of this data analysis are descriptive, frequency, and regression analysis. 

• Descriptive analysis: Calculate the mean, median, mode, and standard deviation for each response on the Likert scale for a quick summarization of the data. 
• Frequency analysis: Total the number of items each response was selected and use the quantitative data to create tables or charts to show the distribution of each answer. 
• Regression analysis: Depending on the objective of the survey, you may be able to analyze the relationship between the various Likert responses and an independent variable. 

Advantages of Using the Likert Scale

The Likert scale offers several advantages for organizations that are looking to implement a simple, effective survey methodology. Likert scales are straightforward and easy to understand for both respondents and researchers. Along with ease of use, here are some other benefits of utilizing the Likert scale: 

• Flexibility: Likert scales can be adapted to measure a wide range of constructs, including attitudes, opinions, behaviors, satisfaction levels, and more. Researchers can customize Likert scale questions to fit their specific research objectives and contexts.
• Comparability: Likert scale data enables researchers to compare responses across different groups, variables, or time points. This comparability facilitates meaningful analysis of trends, differences, or relationships within the data.
• Standardization: Likert scales provide a standardized format for measuring attitudes or opinions, enhancing the consistency and replicability of research findings. This standardization allows for easier comparison of results across studies and populations.

Limitations of the Likert Scale

The Likert scale offers many advantages, but those are not without a small set of limitations. One of the biggest limitations of the Likert scale is the finite number of responses that respondents are limited to. These may not fully capture the complexity of respondents’ attitudes or opinions. This can lead to oversimplification or loss of nuance in the data.

Along with this, respondents may exhibit response bias, such as acquiescence bias (tendency to agree with statements) or social desirability bias (tendency to provide socially acceptable responses), particularly if the scale lacks anonymity or if respondents feel pressured to conform to perceived norms.

Despite these limitations, the Likert scale remains a widely used and valuable tool for measuring attitudes, opinions, and perceptions in various research settings. Researchers should carefully consider these limitations and take steps to mitigate potential biases and challenges when designing and interpreting Likert scale surveys.

When to Use the Likert Scale

Likert scales are well-suited for assessing individuals’ attitudes or opinions toward specific topics, issues, products, services, or experiences. This can come in the form of a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey or a Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSAT). For example, they can be used to gauge satisfaction with customer service or perceptions of organizational culture. 

Furthermore, Likert scales are effective in quantifying subjective perceptions or experiences. Researchers can use Likert scales to measure perceptions of quality, trust, reliability, fairness, or effectiveness in various domains. This can be used to ask customers about their personal experiences with an organization and make those answers measurable. 

How the Likert Scale Effects Your CX Efforts

The Likert scale is a great tool to be utilized in your customer experience efforts. They are a great way to provide a structured method for measuring customer satisfaction across various touchpoints in the customer journey. By asking customers to rate their satisfaction levels with specific aspects of their experience (e.g., product quality, service responsiveness, website usability), organizations can identify areas of strength and areas for improvement.

Similarly, Likert scale data provides valuable insights that can inform strategic decision-making and resource allocation. By identifying areas with low satisfaction scores or high variability in responses, organizations can prioritize investments in CX improvement initiatives that are most likely to have a positive impact on customer loyalty and retention. 

Involving customers in the feedback process through Likert scale surveys can enhance engagement and satisfaction. By demonstrating a commitment to listening to customer feedback and taking action based on their responses, organizations can build trust, loyalty, and advocacy among their customer base.

Utilize the Likert Scale with InMoment

InMoment’s XI Platform allows you to utilize the Likert Scale to gather actionable feedback, measure satisfaction, and drive meaningful improvements. Schedule a demo today to see how we can help your business.