Our research found that the best way to improve customer experience and service is to focus on employee engagement at your company. There is a direct correlation between engaged employees and the satisfaction of your customer and ultimately achieving your business outcomes.
In other words, employee engagement drives customer satisfaction. Richard Branson says, “Take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers”.
A recent employee engagement survey concluded that organizations that have more than 50% employee engagement retain more than 80% of their customers. These employees will go the extra mile to resolve the client’s problems or work late to close a sale. They contribute to a culture that consistently delivers great service. They take ownership, deliver on their commitments, in and outside the organization, and are passionate about satisfying the customer because they own the results of their work.
In short, engaged employees are a prerequisite for building a high-performance team within an organization.
Customer experiences don’t happen in a vacuum. They are the result of employee activities. Businesses that understand the importance of employee engagement and manage it through a formal program to align to their customer experience goals, achieve far superior results. Companies with a formal employee engagement program achieve 39% greater annual growth in revenue from new customers.
Customers pay careful attention to how a company treats its employees. When you offer a great employee experience, your customers are far more likely to stick around and use your business, because they remember how great the people are who work there. Treat your employees poorly, however, and you can be almost certain that you’ll run into problems with your customers.
Treating your employees well, and people will notice. It opens the doors for new partnerships, especially when other businesses see how well you take care of your people. When employees support and love the brand they work for, they create amazing experiences. Who wouldn’t want to work with a brand that provides an amazing employee experience?
When your employees feel like they and their co-workers are treated with respect and are valued, they feel a sense of empowerment. They are proud to be part of the team and are more creative and innovative. When they know an employer respects them, they feel comfortable making decisions and solve problems.
On the other hand, employees who are ignored and discounted and who have to ask for permission to think will not make any extra effort to help the customer. Why should they care about customers, when the company doesn’t care about them?
Customer retention is far less expensive than customer acquisition (much like employee retention). Employees who are treated well and feel valued are not afraid to offer more to their customers. That logic on its own should highlight the importance of employee engagement.