Businesses in the digital age are investing heavily in customer experiences (CX). This is a great shift as customer experience is now a key factor in sales and marketing. Delivering a strong CX is equated to improved profitability and growth. It also guarantees improved customer loyalty, which makes it imperative to measure return on digital sales experiences.
However, putting more money into customer experiences means businesses also have the obligation to the keeper a closer eye on CX spending vis-a-vis returns to determine whether the organization is making any profit. This is where ROX comes in.
Read on to find out what return on experience (ROX) means, what it entails, and how to measure your organization’s return on sales experience.
What’s Return On Experience?
Return on Experience (ROX) is a metric for measuring, understanding, and ultimately increasing the value of a business’s investments. It is measured across three areas;
- Customer experience
- Employee experience
- Leadership experience
According to PwC, the return on experience metric is an innovative way for organizations to redesign the dynamic impact that the above three facts have on one another and your brand.
However, it’s important to remember that the return on experience metric is a little different from standard ROI metrics, such as the net promoter score, brand health index, or a balanced scorecard. While the three above focus more the finances, ROX also has an element of culture elevation and top-line growth.
Nevertheless, ROX directly impacts the organization’s profitability. Research shows that companies that prioritize experience can charge up to 16% premium on their products and services. A recent NIT study even shows that companies that provide great experiences are 25% more profitable than those that don’t. This is why forward-thinking companies need to periodically measure return on digital sales experiences to establish their true standing position and use the data for decision making.
Sales as a Digital Experience
You’re probably wondering what makes sales a digital experience. Or more likely, when sales became a digital experience.
Although it’s a little new, savvy businesses are now treating sales as an opportunity to extend the customer experience. With more than 58% of sales now happening online, the organizations see the selling process as an opportunity to impress the consumer further to win them over for good.
For instance, many organizations now invest in personalized sales content to shorten the journey from curious strangers to qualified leads. Others also provide Return on Investment (ROI) calculators to help consumers find value in price when shopping. Workflows that automate contact reviews and AI-powered algorithms that help shoppers find the products they need faster are also common today.
All these are tools and features designed to enhance the sales experience. They are purposely designed to improve buyer satisfaction.
7 Ways to measure return on digital sales experiences
Since businesses spend a lot of money in designing sales experiences, it’s only logical that they measure return on digital sales experiences to determine whether they’re getting value for their money. The following are seven common metrics you can measure return on sales experiences.
Upsell and cross-sell rates
Your most valuable asset in sales is your existing customer base. The best sales experiences can help turn existing customers into prospects for other products within the brand. Of course, it depends on what you sell. However, a great sales experience can help existing customers learn about other existing products within your brand with little or no involvement from your sales team. For instance, a car dealer can cross-sell and upsell their repair shops to a parts customer without involving the salesperson.
Qualified leads
Another metric to measure return on sales experiences is qualified leads. A great sales experience yields multiple qualified leads. This is easy to measure. All you need to do is track the number of sales-qualified leads against previous benchmarks. Is there a markable difference? Also, track the number of leads that move from marketing to sales. If you can see a substantial difference compared to existing benchmarks, then your sales experience campaign is working. Otherwise, you need to do something about it.
Average close rate
The close rate is the total of closed sales and sales-qualified leads for a pre-defined period divided by the number of closed deals and multiplied by a hundred. The rates vary by industry. Therefore, the most important thing is to focus on improving your close rate. Great sales experiences are one of the best ways to boost sales close rates. For instance, you can implement AI solutions for lead scoring so salespeople can focus on leads most likely to close. The bottom line is that a higher close rate usually points to a successful sales experience campaign.
Average deal cycle times
Average deal cycle times are a straightforward metric. Begin by adding the total number of days from initial contact to deal close for all sales. Then, divide the number by the number of deals. The answer is your average deal cycle time. It’s another metric that tends to improve when you have a working sales experience campaign. For instance, companies that use content and digital process flow to move customers through the sales process faster have a shorter average deal time.
Revenue boost
Finally, you can also measure the return on digital sales experiences by tracking your revenue performance. That’s because all the metrics above eventually impact revenue. A shorter cycle time, thanks to an effective sales experience campaign, for instance, will lead to a revenue jump. The same applies if your sales experience campaign improves the average close rate. The improvement is ultimately manifested in improved revenues.
Other metrics on how to measure return on digital sales experiences
Besides the above five, organizations can also track return on digital sales experiences by monitoring partner experience metrics such as partner deals, partner satisfaction, and partner engagement. If your B2B partner is excited about your relationship, then you know your sales experience campaign is working. You’d also know that your sales experience investment is paying off if the partner seems satisfied with the relationship.
Otherwise, you have work to do. The good news is that sales experience analytics data can also uncover valuable insights to remove friction and build better partner relationships.
Summary
Forward-thinking businesses must take customer experience seriously and establish mechanisms to track and measure return on digital sales experiences to prove value. More specifically, it’s time digital businesses began to measure return on sales ROX.
