Customer and employee engagement are both vital components of strategy for companies in the eating and drinking-out market, but few operators are consciously linking the two together, new research by CGA Peach for customer experience specialists InMoment (formerly Empathica) reveals.
Customer Engagement Survey 2014
The survey, based on a poll of nearly 100 senior executives from leading restaurant, pub and bar chains, found that just over 90% of companies see guest feedback as a top five key performance indicator (KPI) for their business, including 22% that have it has their number one KPI. Although that still leaves10% who only rate it as ‘moderately’ important and not a key focus.
While 95% also believe employee engagement is ‘very important’ in driving customer engagement, 1-in-7 don’t actually track it, and just 16% correlate employee engagement against customer satisfaction – although 33% say they intend to.
Most common methods of measuring levels of staff engagement are by staff turnover and exit interviews, rather than by engaging while still on the workforce – although 54% of respondents do use online or paper surveys.
Customer experience dependent on service and staff
“With the customer experience so dependent on service and staff quality, not to mention employee morale, this appears a major gap in the market’s insight. There’s a need for more joined-up thinking, especially when it comes to front-line teams”, said Peter Martin, vice-president of industry research experts CGA Peach, which conducted the research.
The survey suggests that a more systematic approach to both staff and guest engagement is needed if firms are to pull out more meaningful insights to improve their operations.
The survey’s five main recommendations
- Improve board-level buy-in – lead from the top, deliver at the front
- Get HR, marketing and operations to talk to each other and share data – especially amalgamating customer and employee feedback
- Link employee recognition and reward to customer KPIs
- Introduce real-time feed-back to frontline managers (and teams)
- Better understand the drivers of engagement
As Gary Topiol, managing director international at InMoment which commissioned the research, observed: “Businesses that are customer centric have the message clearly reinforced from the board down. They intertwine everything they do with this perspective – it is not something you do, but who you are.”
Making sense of data
As leaders told the survey, brands have more data at their fingertips than ever before, with nine in 10 reporting an increase in the volume coming in over the last couple of years. But making sense of it all is one of the biggest challenges they currently face.
As InMoment’s Topiol added: “Distilling ever expanding volumes of data into simple and actionable messages is critical to a successful programme, while giving frontline staff the tools and support to build plans that are relevant to their local customer base is both empowering to the team and rewarding to their customers.”
Too much data, not enough analysis?
The report also found that while about a third of CEOs will complain about too much data and not enough analysis being a barrier to delivering positive change, those at the top of organisations generally still see less value in that data than their frontline operations directors.
The majority of leaders, 71%, see employee recognition and reward based on customer KPIs as a way of driving positive outcomes on the frontline, with two-thirds saying that involving their ‘in-store’ teams in finding solutions will do the same. Only 6 out of 10, however, share real-time feedback with store or site managers.
Quick wins to be had
“This new piece of research, carried out in June, demonstrates there are quick wins to be had for companies to improve their engagement with their two most important groups of people. With frontline teams in restaurants and pubs responsible for delivering those great customer experiences, and with those same staff being the main contact point with the paying public, building better two-way communication between head office and site managers about their customers could become the biggest opportunity to gain competitive advantage,” added CGA Peach’s Martin.
“Linked to this is the opportunity to demand more from external technology and insight suppliers, as well as from within their own organisations,” said InMoment’s Topiol.
The full ‘Customer Engagement Survey 2014’ research is available as a white paper which can be downloaded here
About the survey
The Customer & Employee Engagement Survey was conducted online in June 2014 by CGA Peach for InMoment. A total of 130 senior executives from leading UK eating-out chains were invited to participate and 93 qualified respondents completed the survey.
Companies and brands that took part include:
Abokado, ASK Italian, Barburrito. Be at One, Bella Italia, Burger & Lobster, CG Restaurants, Café Rouge, Costa, Crussh!, Davy’s Wine Bar, Draft House, EAT, Ed’s Easy Diner, Five Guys, Fullers, GBK, Geronimo Inns, Glendola Leisure, Hall & Woodhouse, Harris + Hoole, Harry Ramsden, IHG, Intertain, La Tasca, Las Iguanas, Le Pain Quotidien, Leon, Loungers, Mitchells & Butlers, Marstons, McMullens, Nando’s, New Inventive Pub Company, Novus Leisure, Peach Pubs, Ping Pong, Pizza Express, Pizza Hut, Red Hot World Buffet, Stix n Sushi, Strada, Tampopo, TCG, Vapiano, Wahaca, Whitbread, Whyte & Brown, YO! Sushi,Young’s, Zizzi.
About InMoment
InMoment is a cloud-based customer experience (CX) optimisation platform that gives companies the ability to listen to and engage with their customers to improve business results through better experiences. Through its Experience Hub™, InMoment provides Voice of Customer (VoC), Social Reviews & Advocacy, and Employee Engagement technology, as well as strategic guidance and tactical instruction, support, and services, to 350 brands across 25 industries in 128 countries. The company is the leading VoC vendor for the food services, retail, and contact centre industries, with deep domain expertise in B2B, healthcare, hospitality, and numerous others.
About CGA Peach
Is the leading business intelligence and networking business in the UK eating and drinking out markets.
For more information about CGA Peach click here