The Complete Guide to Customer Experience Research

What sets companies apart in this competitive online market is how they treat their customers – how easy, helpful, and enjoyable the experience is. In fact, 90% of companies focus on making the customer experience better.

That's where customer experience research (CX research) comes in. It helps companies discover what customers truly want, what frustrates and disappoints them, and how to improve every interaction.

In this article, you'll learn what CX research is, why it's important, how to do it right, and how to turn feedback into real business results.

What is customer experience research?

CX research is the process businesses use to understand the feelings and thoughts of their customers. It involves gathering feedback, observing behaviors, and analyzing data to get a clear picture of what clients like, dislike, and expect from your brand, products, services or business. Customer experience research enables companies to:

• Identify pain points prior to their becoming bigger problems
• Discover what customers are actually excited by
• Create products and services to match real needs
• Build more loyal relationships with higher retention

So, why is customer experience research important? Without this research, businesses risk making assumptions based on zero or partial data, leading to ineffective decision-making. With a research process in place, businesses can deliver an excellent customer experience, which, according to a recent Deloitte report, has a number of significant benefits, especially improved customer loyalty.

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The main types of customer experience research

Below are the most important types of customer experience market research, including NPS, CES, CSAT, and other measurement frameworks.

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Net Promoter Score measures customer loyalty by primarily asking how likely a customer is to recommend a product or service on a scale from 0 to 10. It helps companies identify promoters (loyal customers), passives, and detractors (dissatisfied customers).

Benefits:

• Tracking overall patterns of customer loyalty
• Identifying brand promoters and potential threats
• Predicting business expansion through customer loyalty

Customer Effort Score (CES)

Customer Effort Score measures customers' efforts in accomplishing something or fixing an issue, such as making a purchase or contacting support. It helps uncover areas where customers may struggle during their interaction with the company.

Benefits:

• Identifying pain points in the customer journey
• Reducing customers' effort for improved satisfaction
• Enhancing efficiency in processes and retention

CSAT

Customer Satisfaction Score measures the degree to which customers are satisfied with an individual interaction or experience through a request for rating (usually on a 1-to-5 scale). It's used to gain real-time feedback from touchpoints like purchases or customer service calls.

Benefits:

• Receiving rapid, targeted customer feedback
• Identifying specific areas for improvement
• Monitoring satisfaction over time for multiple interactions

Usability testing

You observe how users interact with a website or product to identify where they are getting stuck. Apply usability testing to identify design or functionality problems that might hinder a seamless user experience.

Benefits:

• Laying out areas of customers' confusion or frustration
• Improving navigation and interface design

Behavioral analysis

Helps to find out how visitors act, where they click, and what their navigation patterns and purchasing habits are. It enables organizations to uncover underlying motivations and preferences influencing customer actions.

Benefits:

• Revealing underlying customer tastes and bottlenecks
• Customizing experiences from real data

7 best customer experience research methods

To truly understand your customers and improve their experience, you may employ a variety of research techniques. Some of the best techniques, among others, are listed below:

1. Surveys

Commonly used for measuring: NPS, CSAT, CES

Surveys are the most effective and popular way of getting bulk customer opinions. 

• Application: Getting general views about satisfaction, loyalty, and actions.
• Strengths: Quick data capture, easy analysis, scalable in terms of customer segments.
• Weaknesses: Response bias, risk of survey fatigue, superficial depth.

2. Focus groups

Generally used for measuring: CES, usability testing

Focus groups are structured interviews with a small panel of customers to explore opinions, feelings, and reactions in a dynamic setting.

• Use: Exploring attitudes and testing new ideas.
• Benefits: Rich qualitative insights, instant discussion.
• Drawbacks: Small sample size, groupthink issues.

Groupthink occurs when members in a small group express similar opinions in order to conform with each other, rather than saying what they truly believe.

3. Customer interviews

Commonly used for measuring: Usability testing, CSAT

One-to-one interviews that provide helpful insights into individual customer experiences, motivations, and pain points.

• Application: Gaining insight into complex customer journeys and emotional levers.
• Benefits: Rich, individualized findings.
• Drawbacks: Time-consuming, experienced moderators required.

4. Customer journey mapping

Generally used for measuring: CES, behavioral analysis

Mapping the customer journey visually helps to capture every touchpoint and emotion customers experience from initial contact to making the purchase or establishing loyalty.

• Use: Finding points of interaction and opportunities along the entire experience.
• Benefits: End-to-end perspective, cross-functional alignment.
• Disadvantages: Requires a lot of data and cross-functional effort.

5. Qualitative research

Commonly used for measuring: CSAT, usability testing

Allows open-ended question surveys, interviews, and observational studies. This research enables you to look into the "why" of customer behaviors.

• Application: Discovering customer motivations and unmet needs.
• Benefits: Contextual, in-depth insights.
• Disadvantages: Harder to scale, subjective interpretation.

6. Product data analysis

Mainly used for measuring: Behavioral analysis

Reviewing actual usage data (clickstreams, feature take-up, drop-off) to understand how customers are engaging with your products or services.

• Application: Behavior analysis to reveal pain points or success in actual usage.
• Strengths: Unbiased, real-time monitoring of behavior.
• Weaknesses: Lacking emotional context, requires data expertise.

7. Social media listening

Commonly used for measuring: NPS, behavioral analysis

This method means monitoring social media sites for mentions, reviews, and discussions about your brand, products, or services.

• Application: Capturing spontaneous customer opinions and emerging trends.
• Advantages: Time-sequence feedback, access to raw customer voices.
• Disadvantages: Potentially noisy data, requires sophisticated tools to get sentiment right.

Customer experience measurement is essential across industries, but the methodology can vary by business model. Business-to-business or B2B customer experience research will likely focus on long-term relationships, sophisticated buying paths, and multiple decision-makers. At the same time, business-to-consumer (B2C) research can focus more on usability, emotional response, or product feedback.

Want to gain a 360-degree view of the customer experience that works across industries? Then, combine the customer experience research methods we discussed. One of the most powerful combinations is the quantitative data (surveys, behavioral analytics) + qualitative feedback (interviews, focus groups) + real-world observations (usability testing, journey mapping). 

How to conduct research on customer experience in 5 steps

Having a specific plan to carry out high-quality CX is critical. Below are five key steps to guide your process:

1. Pick your tools

Dependable software will help you gather and analyze information in a timely manner. Checkbox's Enterprise Feedback Management (EFM) platform, for instance, provides adaptable enterprise feedback management solutions that make it easy to create surveys, secure data, and integrate with your current infrastructure. Just contact us to get a free trial, and start your research with purpose and precision.

2. Set goals

You should determine what you want to know about your customers. Specifically stated goals will focus your research on creating the most valuable insights. 

3. Choose the best research methods

Choose from the top methods like surveys, interviews, and behavioral data to research customer experience. Blending methods typically work best.

4. Collect data thoughtfully

Select the appropriate participants and write questions that are concise and free of prejudice. You can use survey software with branded templates to create polished, logical surveys fast.

5. Analyze and act

Closely analyze the data for patterns and actionable insights. Use findings to improve customer experience continually. 

The common challenges customer experience researchers face

You will face challenges when conducting customer experience market research. These problems and how to overcome them are listed below:

• Siloing across teams: Encourage cross-departmental collaboration by sharing goals and results openly to avoid misunderstanding.
• Survey and question creation challenges: Apply established question templates and conduct expert reviews to ensure clarity and eliminate bias.
• Challenges finding respondents: Leverage diverse participant outreach methods and channels, and offer incentives to maximize response rates.
• Incomplete surveys and data: Create short, eye-catching, compelling surveys. Send reminders to maximize completion levels.
• Lack of budget: Prioritize affordable methods like online surveys distributed through your existing channels and leverage scalable tools with flexible pricing like Checkbox. 
• Data quality and AI responses: Low-quality or bot responses will skew your results. Incorporate attention-check questions, CAPTCHA, and use data validation techniques to remove fake data.
• Effectively analyzing data: Use analytics tools that simplify visualization and interpretation of the obtained data.

10 CX research questions to ask customers

Your key to obtaining meaningful insights is asking the correct and relevant customer survey questions. Below is a list of well-crafted questions and the most suitable research methods for them:

• How likely would you be to recommend our product/service to others? (Best for: Surveys – NPS)

• How satisfied were you with your most recent experience with our company? (Best for: Surveys – CSAT)

• How easy was your most recent interaction with us? (Best for: Surveys – CES)

• What was the most challenging aspect of using our product/service? (Best for: Customer interviews, focus groups)

• Could you share a notable experience you've had with our brand? (Best for: Customer interviews, qualitative research)

• I'd appreciate hearing about any changes that would make your experience better. (Best for: Surveys, customer interviews)

• What are your most frequent features, and why? (Best for: Behavioral analysis, product data analysis)

• Can you walk us through step by step how you purchased our product? (Best for: Customer journey mapping, usability testing)

• How do you typically interact with our brand (online, in-store, mobile)? (Best for: Surveys, focus groups)

• Have you had any problems or frustrations recently? If yes, can you elaborate? (Best for: Surveys, interviews)

Understanding customer experience data

Collecting customer experience data is one thing. To realize its full potential, you need to analyze it carefully. Start by looking at patterns and trends. These indicate what customers reliably feel or do across touchpoints. 

Segmenting the data by customer demographics, behavior, or specific interactions enables you to find narrow insights that get lost in the overall view. 

Visualization tools like heatmaps or charts will present otherwise complex data in an easier-to-understand and easier-to-discuss form to your team.

It is also a great decision to combine quantitative data (numerical data, scores) with qualitative feedback (open-ended question responses, interviews) in order to understand not only what is happening but why. 

Lastly, always validate your findings to base your decisions on fact, rather than assumption.

Harnessing customer experience research data effectively

Use your obtained insights to prioritize improvements that will have the biggest impact on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. 

Share these findings widely across departments like marketing, product development, and customer support to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the same goals.

Then, bring those insights into practice: personalize customer interactions based on behavior and preferences. This will boost customer engagement and help build longer-lasting relationships.

To make sure your efforts are effective, track the results over time and adjust your improvement strategy as needed.

Finally, consider using professional survey tools that streamline data collection and feedback. With them, your teams will be able to respond quickly and continuously enhance the customer experience.

The future of customer experience research 

What technological developments can we expect in the future to enhance the customer experience?

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning will enable businesses to predict customer demand and customize experiences in real time. 
• Omnichannel feedback systems will gather insights subtly from digital media, store visits, social media, and more. 
• Real-time analytics dashboards will help your teams to make faster and more data-driven, accurate decisions. 
• Privacy and data security will be in the spotlight as customers demand greater control of their personal data. 
• Voice of the Customer (VoC) systems will be deeply integrated into business processes, creating a culture focused on customer excellence. Employee feedback software like Checkbox makes it possible to capture, analyze, and act on feedback at scale, which will help enhance customer experiences and make internal processes smoother.

Final thoughts

Now, you know what customer experience research is, its main types, methods, and trends. This research is your map to growth. Collect the data, analyze it, and act on customer insights. Thus, your businesses can strengthen loyalty, boost revenue, and stand out in competitive markets. 

‍Contact us and discover how you can make the most of your VoC questions and data today with Checkbox to make meaningful change and design experiences your customers will love.