General CX

CX Metrics Part 1: Customer Experience Metrics

Learn how to use customer experience metrics to track your CX progress and identify growth areas. This is the first article in our six-part CX metrics series.

Metrics are no stranger to anyone in the business world. However, not everyone is familiar with the full range of metrics at their disposal. So, we’ve decided to create this six-article series to explain the most common metrics applied to various aspects of the customer experience:

• Customer experience (CX) metrics
• Sales metrics
• Usability metrics
• Process metrics
• Customer service (CS) metrics
• Employee metrics

Classifying which metrics belong to which category isn’t set in stone; some could easily fit into several categories. We’ve compiled and categorized these customer experience metrics based on our experience of what our clients have found helpful at specific points in their CX journey.

Hang on, though. Why should CXers care about metrics from other areas, like sales? Because these metrics contain valuable insight into the customer experience. This article will focus on CX metrics, so we know they have a direct impact on our understanding of our customers. But for all the upcoming articles on non-CX metrics, we’ll include an explanation of how they tie into the customer experience.

Before we dive into CX metrics, let’s quickly review the different types of metrics and why they are important. 

CX Metrics: What they are and why you should care

Measuring various aspects of our customer experience (or anything else in business) gives us insight into our performance in that area. Without metrics – or with the wrong choice of metrics – it’s hard to make any kind of real progress. Everything would be based on guesswork.

However, choosing the right type of metric is essential to getting the right information. Thus, metrics are divided into two broad categories: qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Metrics

Customer experience metrics can be classed into two categories:

1. Qualitative metrics usually answer questions about how the customer feels about their experience. It helps us understand how people feel and why they might take a given action. Common qualitative metrics include user interviews, surveys, user diaries, card sorting, and usability testing, among others.
2. Quantitative metrics answer questions about ‘how much’ or ‘how often’; these are usually expressed numerically. These often describe the ‘cold hard facts’ of an experience: when, where, what, or how many. Common quantitative metrics include click-through rates, completion rates, time on task, and more.

However, there’s something very important to remember about qualitative and quantitative data. Not all metrics or research methods fit neatly into one category or the other. For example, surveys can capture both qualitative and quantitative data. And you’ll need both kinds of metrics throughout your CX journey. The key to choosing the right type of metric is to clearly understand why, what, and how you’re measuring this experience.

Key customer experience metrics

Now that we have reviewed metrics in general, let’s zero in on the ones that directly measure the customer experience. Here are the ones we use most frequently at CX by Design:

• NPS (Net Promoter Score) measures how happy customers are with your offering or some other part of your business (e.g. returns, customer service, delivery, etc.). Questions along the line of “How likely are you to recommend us to friends?” are used to capture NPS data.
• CSAT (Customer Satisfaction score) indicates how satisfied customers are with your product, service, or some other part of your business. Questions like “How satisfied are you with the service you received from our support agent?” are used to capture CSAT data. Note: While CSAT and NPS are quite similar, most companies use CSAT to measure customer satisfaction and NPS to measure customer loyalty. Furthermore, CSAT is usually deployed in the moment, immediately after some specific part of the customer journey. NPS is used to evaluate an entire flow.
• Churn rate reflects the percentage of customers who are likely to stop using your company in a given timeframe. A high churn rate can indicate customer dissatisfaction and problems with branding, customer service, and other core parts of your offering. Churn rate information can help you understand how and where to improve your offering, customer service, pricing, and outreach.
• Retention rate, in this context, refers to the percentage of customers that will continue doing business with your company over a specific timeframe. It’s closely tied with satisfaction and loyalty. This is particularly important, as repeat customers are the backbone of your business. (Note: Retention rates can also be applied to employees, with similar inferences.)
• Referral rate reflects how many new customers are coming to your company because of recommendations from a current customer. This can also be used to measure the effectiveness of a referral program. A high referral rate indicates your customers are happy with your brand and service.
• Conversion rate refers to how many customers take a desired action – e.g. clicking an ad, reaching out to a salesperson, redeeming an offer, or buying a product. This metric is essential for determining the success of marketing campaigns, the effectiveness of websites, and so on.
• Add to cart rate simply indicates how many e-commerce shoppers add at least one item to their online cart during one visit to the store site. (Note that the customer doesn’t have to complete the purchase for the item to be counted.) This metric provides insight into consumer interests, product mix, and the digital experience of an e-commerce site or app.
• Cart abandonment rate reflects the percentage of online shoppers who leave the site without completing their purchase – i.e. abandoning their cart full of items. It’s good to note that cart abandonment rates tend to be high across all e-commerce sites; it’s hovered around 70% for over a decade. Very high cart abandonment rates can signal technical website problems like slow loading times, distrust in the security of your website, a confusing or complex checkout process, or other issues.

There’s one more customer experience barometer that you won’t often find on lists of CX metrics: expectation vs. reality. Asking the customer “How closely did this experience match your expectations?” and listening to their answers can provide valuable feedback. You can use this insight to craft an even better experience, and, ultimately, a better brand.

CX metrics in action: How to measure customer satisfaction (CSAT)

CSAT scores are often collected during a specific touchpoint. Likert scales like the one below are a very common tool, but others are available.

To calculate your average (or composite) CSAT score, simply add up all the numbers and divide them by the number of participants.

To find the percentage of satisfied customers, total the number of satisfied or very satisfied respondents (on a five-point Likert scale, these would be the people who replied with a 4 or 5). Divide this by the total number of respondents and times that by 100 to get your percentage.

You can also use an online CSAT calculator like this one by SmartSurvey to do the math for you.

Measuring the customer experience with metrics

And there you have it – 9 foundational metrics that will give you an inside look at your customer experience. Once you understand the purpose of each of these customer experience metrics, it’s much easier to choose the most effective benchmarks for growth and success.

But other metrics tie into the customer experience, although a bit more indirectly. In the next article, we’ll discuss how sales stats can also contribute to your understanding of customer experience metrics. Join us then, and in the meantime don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest in CX ideas!