June podcast roundup: Measuring customer effort

We’re halfway through our latest podcast series! If you’ve been listening along as each episode rolls out, you’ll have followed along with us as we traced the origins of customer effort, explored the findings that revolutionized CX in The Effortless Experience, and began to unpack how customer loyalty really works. This month, we dove even further into the science behind measuring customer effort with AI and machine learning—including the birth of our very own effort score, the Tethr Effort Index.

Missed a few episodes? Catch up with a quick summary of each one below: 

Episode 4: The Four-Cell Framework

Here in the fourth episode, we discuss the four-cell framework best used to understand what drives customer loyalty. This framework is best illustrated using a small grid, showing the low and high ends of both customer experience and product stickiness, and how each of these relates to each other. We discuss each of the four cells, from chronic suck, to forgivable, to bearable, to “The Promised Land”, including examples of brands that fall into each of these categories. Brands that fall into the high-effort cells are great examples of why measuring customer effort (and working to reduce it!) is really, really important. 

Episode 5: Measuring Customer Effort

So, we know that we should measure effort, but aren’t there plenty of other ways to do that? In episode five, we tackle the differences between NPS, CES, and CSAT. While the conversation starts out heated—there’s a lot of strong opinions out there about what score is “the best”—we conclude that there’s really no single perfect question you can ask your customers. The best approach is actually a blended one that combines elements of all three scoring methodologies, measuring relationships, products, and effort all together. 

Episode 6: The Tethr Effort Index

It’s time for the technical stuff! In this episode, we discuss the technology behind Tethr, including automatic speech recognition, the troubles with transcription, and how we train the machine. Our scoring methodology, the Tethr Effort Index (TEI) is a big part of this, since Tethr + TEI provides a massive data asset for contact center leaders. The insights that these scores provide can empower progressive leaders in an unprecedented way to really contribute to crucial business decisions. That’s why we believe TEI is the best approach on the market today for measuring customer effort.

Episode 7: Pillar One - Channel Stickiness 

In the final June episode, we discuss the first pillar of a low-effort experience: Channel stickiness. We all want first-contact resolution, but with so many channel options out there for customers in the digital age, that’s a lot of channels to monitor and ensure 100% effectiveness. And when your customer has to pursue a second channel or an additional contact, that’s a high-effort moment for them. We discuss some ways to improve channel stickiness—like the Tethr ABCs.

And that’s all folks! These four episodes from the month of June have taken us on a journey through the science behind the Tethr platform to the nitty-gritty pillars of a successful approach to measuring customer effort. Be sure to tune in next month for the next three pillars, as well as a look at what’s to come. 

Catch the latest episodes of Customer Effort: Through an AI Lens on Spotify, Google, or your podcast provider of choice. To get updates each time a new episode is released, sign up here.