{"id":18679,"date":"2026-02-26T12:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/a-smarter-approach-to-measuring-customer-experience\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:05:40","slug":"a-smarter-approach-to-measuring-customer-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/a-smarter-approach-to-measuring-customer-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"A Smarter Approach to Measuring Customer Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alice Mollon\/Ikon Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

A data-driven approach<\/span> to understanding and improving the customer experience is critical to company health. But ironically, the proliferation of customer experience (CX) metrics is making the practice of doing so more challenging. At a large organization, metrics may number in the hundreds \u2014 so many that it is difficult to manage them, apply insights from them across the whole customer journey, and communicate what they mean to top executives.<\/p>\n

Today, a typical customer receives a CX survey within minutes of checking out of a hotel, ordering a product, or contacting a service center. What began with simple satisfaction surveys and customer interviews has evolved into a complex system of metrics encompassing customer perceptions (measures of customers\u2019 feelings), operational indicators (measures of how well the company\u2019s CX-related processes work), and financial outcomes (such as sales, profits, and market share). Companies often collect specific metrics because the measurements are well known or commonly tracked within their industry, without carefully considering whether they are relevant to improving their customers\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n

As a result, effectively using the plethora of CX metrics being collected is becoming increasingly challenging for managers. We will explain how to create more efficient and effective CX management programs by eliminating low-value metrics and mapping a smaller set of key CX metrics across the customer journey. Those practices emerged from our consulting work with a group of 14 companies in the subscription services sector that had come together to share data and practices. Our insights are also grounded in our experience and our review of the existing literature.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Managing CX Metrics Overload<\/h3>\n

According to research firm Gartner, most large companies use more than 50 CX metrics \u2014 with some using as many as 200 \u2014 with various metrics managed by different people in different parts of the organization.1<\/a> Among the 14 subscription services companies we observed, we found that across channels \u2014 call centers, chat, web pages, email, and brick-and-mortar retail locations \u2014 all of them employed multiple measures of CX performance, totaling well over 100 CX metrics used within the industry. Collecting, compiling, and analyzing the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual data measurements required extensive human and financial resources. We set out to determine which metrics provide the greatest value and which are of low value and could be eliminated, starting with a deep look at the CX metrics used in the call center channel.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Call center performance data informs managers primarily about operational effectiveness and efficiency and, to a lesser degree, customer perceptions, which are typically measured through metrics such as net promoter score (NPS) and customer satisfaction score (CSAT). While operational and perception data are essential, companies are most interested in tracking how CX investments affect measures such as sales, customer retention, and market share. A key question for the companies was \u201cWhich call center metrics reveal valuable insights into customer knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, and how do these affect company performance metrics?\u201d<\/p>\n

First, we created a list of all CX metrics used within the call center channel and narrowed the list to those metrics for which the subscription services companies had shared operating definitions and measurement methods. This resulted in a final list of 13 CX metrics that the companies agreed were the most relevant for key dependent variables of churn, contact rate, and NPS. For companies in a different industry, a CX manager conducting a similar analysis might use more than three dependent variables; the number of dependent variables depends upon the complexity of the business and marketplace situation. Companies that have an extensive product mix, serve multiple markets through an omnichannel strategy, and require complex customer journey mapping may identify dozens of relevant CX metrics.<\/p>\n

Next, to identify potentially redundant or low-value CX metrics, we performed a regression analysis of the 13 metrics used to monitor call center performance and determined the strongest and weakest contributor metrics to the dependent variables. (See \u201cPredictor Scores for CX Metrics.\u201d) The aim was to learn whether one or more of the 13 metrics could be eliminated without sacrificing important information. Multiple regression analyses can be conducted to identify groups of CX metrics that account for 75% or more of the variance in the dependent variables. We recommend identifying at least six metrics that indicate customer perceptions, operational performance, and financial outcomes \u2014 two within each of those three metric categories.<\/p>\n

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