I hear in many online & offline conversations among golf club managers about CX (customer experience) metrics and measurement.
On one hand, it is perfect if a golf club is measuring customer experience, but we should not forget that focusing on single number metrics (e.g NPS, CES (Customer Effort Score) or CSAT (Customer Satisfaction)) will not tell the whole story.
My concern with single CX metrics is that they overlook many other factors and statistics that can influence customer behavior.
Within the golf industry, I primarily hear about the use of NPS. One of the reasons for the popularity of NPS is its simplicity.
However, using a single question or number will not provide the kind of insight that golf clubs (and other businesses as well) need to deliver consistent, memorable, and differentiated customer experiences.
The single number mentioned above, CX metrics, will not be able to tell you why your guests and golf club members are behaving in a certain way.
I tend to recommend using qualitative research, as it can offer far more insights and be combined with the above-mentioned CX metrics.
This typically involves customer surveys, interviews, and even ethnographic studies.
By conducting such research, you will be able to understand your guests’ and golf club members’ desires, goals, and needs, but also how they truly feel about your golf club.
CX metrics – the emotion dimension
You have probably noticed that, over the last couple of years, or let’s say the previous decade, the communication of various brands from many different industries has become emotion-focused.
It is an excellent understanding that customers’ purchasing decisions are not 100% rational.
A Harvard professor, Gerald Zaltman, said that emotion is what really drives purchasing behaviors, as well as decision-making in general.
Let’s give emotional and personal context to the above-mentioned CX metrics.
In other words, it is essential to humanize our data by creating customer personas.
By creating customer personas, you will gain a deeper understanding of homogeneous groups and identify key traits within them.
Here is a template for a customer persona:
By understanding the personalities of your golf club members and guests, you will be able to connect them with other individuals within the club as well.
Thus, it will be easier to build a community in your golf club and develop emotional engagement as well.