What psychics can tell us about CX

Delivering unwelcome news is never easy. Luckily, I had psychics to show me how to stop worrying and accept bad news. A few years back I did research for a psychic hotline to gauge customer satisfaction. So, in an ironic twist the psychics were coming to me for advice on what to do, because even the psychics know that CX is too important to leave up to cosmic forces. 

We were able to confirm the obvious assumptions such as customers were happier when they got good news in the reading. There was a segment of callers, however, who did not call back for a second reading. By concentrating on this segment, we were able to determine why they did not call for a second reading. Through the research we were able to determine that a subset of this group had a reading that did not provide any resolution to the call. It did not matter if the news was good or bad. In fact, customers were more accepting of bad news if they were able make some sense out of it. What they did not like is when the crystal ball leaves them hanging. Satisfaction scores for bad news with a resolution were almost on par with scores for good news. 

By changing the call procedure to make sure every caller had some sort of resolution, the percentage of first-time callers who called back increased. This finding is also useful for reporting data in general. Reporting data will always be a mix of good and bad news. With proper context and a way forward, bad news can be just as welcome as good news. This is particularly important since opportunity for improvement and innovation often lies buried within the bad news. By ensuring the bad news will be heard, you can open those previously closed doors to improvement and innovation.