It’s no secret that customer experience is the name of the game for any consumer-facing brand, especially as every sector attempts to bounce back and develop further after the devastating effects of the pandemic. But while many brands focus heavily upon CX, it is often at the expense of other important facets of the business which add value to the end-customer. Employee experience is one of these facets, and in the age of the “Great Resignation,”employee retention is more essential than ever before.
When building, assessing, and iterating on new experiences in a brand, the forward-thinking business leader will cover all bases, ensuring that not only are digital experiences effective at the point of the customer, but also at the other end of the transaction chain: the employee.
But if experience-led transformation for employees is the key to improving retention in 2022, where should already-stretched businesses begin?
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, once-physical interactions were forced to occur digitally as consumers and brands alike retreated behind closed doors. Over the last two years, digital touch points transformed massively, as businesses learned the power of messaging, video chatting, audio messages and personalized AI to reach customers. This use for technology capabilities –maintaining an underlying human connection through business transaction journeys –can be applied just as easily to employee experiences as to customer experiences.
Lock downs may be lifted, but employee experiences should still benefit from the digital transformation that customer experience saw throughout the pandemic.
Employees are a business’s greatest asset, and today’s digitally connected employee can effectively communicate with the Connected Customer to facilitate speedy, seamless digital exchanges. By building digital chat systems or personalized AI into their offering, businesses can enable employees to easily communicate with customers in a way that is just as effective than before the pandemic, if not more so.
Technology can enhance employee experiences, but without a training system that keeps employees fluent in each new innovation, customers and employees alike can suffer. It is very important to remember that successful experiences for any audience, internal or external, cannot be built in a vacuum. The intended user or recipient must be involved at each stage, from ideation to final training or learning, to ensure that both the experience and the user work in harmony. Putting this in the context of an employee, training teams efficiently and thoroughly on technological innovations is key to a positive experience for both the employee using the device, program or system, and for the customer at the other end of the transaction chain.
When working on keeping every employee informed and aware of the intricate details of digital experiences, remember that every employee is different. Not every employee is a tech expert, who lives on their mobile and taps and swipes all day long. It is therefore essential that the digital experiences that employees use daily are extremely simple and comprehensible, with interfaces that are clear to use.
Get in touch today to find out how you can ensure that your digital experience is not only effective at the point of the customer, but also for your employees.