Guest Blog: Understanding the Impact of Competitive Benchmarking Programs

This week we feature an article by Daniel Bakst who explains why competitive benchmarking is key to better serving your customer base. – Shep Hyken

Contextualizing your brand’s place amongst competitors in the industry you encompass is vital to creating a leading Customer Experience. Mystery shopping is a great way to capture an understanding of how your brand is performing in the eyes of your customer, but if your team does not have the ability to place this data alongside information from the rest of the industry, then you will be unable to accurately reflect how you stack up. Pointing the magnifying glass of a mystery shopping program towards your competitors is called competitive benchmarking, and brands with this kind of program will be able to better serve their own customer base.

Brands in any industry can benefit from a competitive benchmarking program because the information collected can have a direct impact on the Customer Experience platform you produce. However, it is important to begin this program at the right point of your organizational timeline. If you are not investing anything into CX measurement at the moment, it may be more valuable to discover more about your own brand’s performance before beginning to measure what your competitors are doing. Once you have a hefty portion of self-analysis, begin to branch outwards to compare how your experience is perceived compared to industry competition.

While there is a considerable investment necessary to complete these research projects, some of the insights collected can have a direct impact on your brand identity and experience, thus impacting customer retention and satisfaction rates. By shifting the focus of your measurement programs externally, you can collect information as to which specific brands are most valued by the customers, as well as what specific moments along the customer journey have the greatest impact on brand perception. Expanding the scope of your research beyond self-assessment allows your brand to understand and replicate what has been working for leading competitors, in addition to avoiding common problems faced by the rest of the industry.

One organizational aspect that is a great opportunity for competitive benchmarking is the digital Customer Experience. Whether it is an eCommerce store or just measuring a site experience, gathering quantifiable data about how your competitors’ sites perform can set an easily understandable goal for your website. These shops are relatively easy for evaluators because it can be completed in the comfort of their homes, and they grant you a better understanding of what improvements you need to make on your site to become the number one destination in your industry.

Additionally, competitive benchmarking can grant great insights to your marketing team, helping you to better deliver your brand message to customers. Specific information and citations about how you are outperforming the competition can be a great asset to convince customers to choose your brand over the competition, especially considering the vast amount of options available to customers across different industries.

Competitive benchmarking is an often-overlooked aspect of Customer Experience measurement, but brands that can effectively implement these programs will have better opportunities to shine in the eyes of their customers. These programs can illuminate industry trends, ensuring that you do not fall behind the pack in terms of the value provided to customers. Start crafting a better Customer Experience than your competitors by measuring and understanding what is happening throughout the industry you encompass.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article: How Zappos And Nordstrom Use Convenience To Create Confidence

Daniel Bakst is the Social & Digital Marketing Associate for Second To None, a leading Customer Experience research firm that empowers customer-centric brands to deliver consistent, intentional and authentic consumer experiences. They adeptly design and manage mystery shopping, compliance, engagement and voice of customer solutions grounded in strategic relevance, program integrity and actionable insights.