Top 5 Digital Customer Experience Metrics to Monitor

64% of US customers say good CX has more impact on them than great ads. 

PwC research

Great customer experience (CX) can turn one-time customers into passionate advocates. The bad news is that you do not have many chances to make it right. A single negative experience is enough for 17% of consumers to walk away from you for good.

Customer Experience Metrics

To manage CX effectively, you first need to measure it. But how can you measure something as abstract as CX? The key is combining the five most important CX metrics:

1. Customer Satisfaction Score 

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a standard metric to gauge user satisfaction with a product or service at a given moment. How does it work in practice, though? Here’s a brief overview.

Customers usually answer the question, How satisfied were you with our product or service on a scale of one to five? Five shows the highest satisfaction, while one represents the lowest. To calculate the score, divide the number of customers who gave a rating of 4 or 5 by the total number of respondents, then multiply by 100.

Depending on your product, you should decide on the optimal point in the customer journey to ask this question. For example, if you provide a mental health support chatbot, you might want to ask this question after the conversation ends. If you offer a content authoring solution, it could be more appropriate to ask once users have completed onboarding and used the subscription for a while.

Be careful not to overwhelm your customers with this question frequently. Ironically, trying too hard to measure CSAT could negatively affect your overall CX. 

2. Net Promoter Score

Net promoter score (NPS) shows how likely your audience is to recommend your product to others on a scale of one to ten. Unlike CSAT, which captures satisfaction in the moment, this score evaluates customer loyalty. 

This metric allows you to predict how fast you can scale your business. A high NPS score (above 0) means positive customer relationships and emotional connections to your brand, with customers willing to promote it within their networks.

Keep in mind that building these connections is not an overnight process. Therefore, do not rush to measure your NPS too soon. First, ensure customers have had enough time with your brand to appreciate its benefits.

To calculate the NPS score, you should group customers’ responses into detractors (0-6), passives (7-8), and promoters (9-10). Then, subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters.

3. Churn Rate

The churn rate shows the percentage of customers who stopped using your product or service within a given period. A high churn rate suggests that areas in your CX may need improvement, whether it is speed, convenience, or a personal touch. 

This metric is crucial, as attracting new customers is always more challenging than retaining and engaging existing ones. Your current customers already understand the value of your product or service, so you do not need to go the extra mile to convince them to make a purchase.

To find your churn rate, divide lost customers by the total number of customers at the start of the period, then multiply by 100. For subscription-based businesses, it makes sense to calculate this rate monthly to track how many users unsubscribed.

4. Customer Lifetime Value

Customer lifetime value (CLV) shows you the value each customer contributes to your brand. This metric is crucial for customer retention. It lets you segment your audience by the revenue they bring to your business. Then, you can personalize your marketing efforts to those who bring the most value to ensure they stick around. 

On the flip side, CLV can highlight segments that contribute the least value. This can be a sign for you to examine their feedback, revise existing pain points, and look for ways to set a stage for long-term relationships with them.

To calculate it, multiply the average purchase value by the average number of purchases. Then multiply that result by the average customer lifespan.

5. Social Media Engagement

Social media engagement reflects the percentage of customers who viewed and interacted with content. Businesses aim to increase this engagement to build a community among their audience and form stronger emotional connections. 

To calculate engagement, you divide the number of public interactions on a post by your total follower count, then multiply by 100. Yet, from my experience, this formula suffers from a serious drawback. While it allows you to compare results with competitors, it does not always reflect whether your content strikes a chord with your audience. 

By using follower count in the calculation, we disregard the fact that only some followers stumble upon your post. A more comprehensive approach is to divide the number of interactions by the reach and then multiply by 100. This result will reveal what type of content your audience values, rather than what the platform’s algorithms decide to promote.

Things to consider when measuring CX

If performance on certain metrics looks weak, it does not necessarily mean you must scrap your CX strategy.  Apart from these five metrics, there are several actions you should take to accurately assess your CX:

Seek Customer Feedback

Sometimes, metrics alone may not be your most reliable allies. For example, CSAT scores do not always capture customers’ true feelings about your brand. Customers might check the 4^th and 5^th boxes but still have valuable ideas for improving your CX. Some may feel uncomfortable giving negative ratings but would be more open to sharing constructive suggestions. 

Use AI to Make Sense of Customers’ Suggestions

Why do some companies keep ignoring customer feedback? Processing thousands of comments manually is an uphill battle for many. Since it is difficult to structure and analyze feedback from all users, organizations may turn a blind eye to potential insights into why customers feel the way they do. 

AI-powered solutions can help by analyzing and structuring these comments in seconds. This approach bridges quantitative data from metrics with qualitative insights, providing a deeper understanding of what outstanding CX looks like from the customer’s perspective.

Let Experts Guide Technology

Keep in mind that AI is just a tool –– it cannot address experience problems on its own. No matter how advanced, technology lacks the human empathy to understand customers’ pain points and walk in their shoes. Marketing experts should guide the model by asking the right questions and analyzing results to create a smooth experience for the audience.

Final Words

Humans naturally seek to quantify the world, from tracking successes to analyzing failures. Businesses crave quantitative data to benchmark their progress against industry standards and pinpoint areas for improvement. They aim for objective, bias-free data to make informed decisions grounded in evidence rather than intuition. 

Measuring CX is pivotal for uncovering customer pain points and deciding where to focus resources. While these five metrics are valuable for evaluating performance, they are not a set-in-stone formula for assessing experience. You might often need to combine customer feedback with metric data to paint a fuller picture of the customer journey.