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Experience Management Resources

Comprehensive client experience management resources, B2B NPS benchmarks, guides, webinars, podcast episodes, and case studies.

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Webinars
5 min read

Inside the Mind of the Staffing Buyer

Net Promoter® Score
Research/Data
Industry Benchmarks
Staffing
Staffing

When: Thursday, February 6th @ 11am PT | 2pm ET

Predicting Needs and Exceeding Expectations

Is your staffing firm ready to thrive in 2025 and beyond? With growth hard to find in the staffing industry over the past 2 years, a deep understanding of customer needs has become even more imperative for growth-oriented firms. 

Join ClearlyRated founder, Eric Gregg, and Director of Analytics and Research, Darreon Day, for an exclusive deep dive into the annual ClearlyRated buyer study, featuring insights from over 500 hiring managers and staffing buyers.

In this insightful webinar, you will:

  • Uncover the latest trends shaping buyer behavior: Discover how hiring managers are approaching staffing solutions in the year ahead and adapt your strategies to win more business.
  • Gain a competitive edge: Learn how to overcome objections related to price and flexibility, and position your firm as the ideal partner.
  • Master the art of differentiation: Understand the crucial role specialization plays in the buyer's decision-making process and how to showcase your unique value proposition.
  • Navigate emerging challenges: Explore the impact of nontraditional threats like offshoring and automation, and develop effective counter-strategies.
  • Unlock the secrets to exceeding expectations: Go beyond basic service delivery and create truly remarkable client experiences that drive loyalty and referrals.

Speakers:

Eric Gregg

Eric Gregg

Founder & CX Strategist, ClearlyRated

Connect on LinkedIn

Darreon Day

Darreon Day

Director of Analytics & Research, ClearlyRated

Connect on LinkedIn

Many thanks to our sponsors:

Webinars
5 min read

497 Clients Tell You What They Really Want From Accounting Firms

Net Promoter® Score
Research/Data
Industry Benchmarks
Accounting
Staffing

When: Tuesday, February 4th @ 10am PT | 1pm ET

Tired of guessing what your clients want?

In today's competitive landscape, accounting firms can't afford to rely on assumptions. Join ClearlyRated founder, Eric Gregg, and Director of Analytics and Research, Darreon Day, for a data-packed webinar revealing exclusive insights from nearly 500 accounting clients and buyers. 

In this insightful webinar, you’ll:

  • Uncover the latest trends shaping buyer behavior: Discover how buyers of accounting services are approaching solutions in the year ahead and adapt your strategies to win more business.
  • Gain a competitive edge: Learn how to tap into the buyer mindset, including ways to de-risk their decision to use your firm.
  • Master the art of differentiation: Understand the crucial role specialization plays in the buyer's decision-making process and how to showcase your unique value proposition.
  • Avoid service failures: Learn about the most common (and costly) service failures in the eyes of accounting clients.
  • Unlock the secrets to exceeding expectations: Go beyond basic service delivery and create truly remarkable client experiences that drive loyalty and referrals.

Speakers:

Eric Gregg

Founder & CX Strategist, ClearlyRated

Connect on LinkedIn

Darreon Day

Director of Analytics & Research, ClearlyRated

Connect on LinkedIn

Many thanks to our sponsor:

Webinars
5 min read

The Year Ahead in Staffing: From AI to Z

Staffing
Firm Growth
Staffing

After a challenging past 2 years in staffing, most in the industry are forecasting renewed growth in 2025. However, savvy firms recognize that growth is predicated on their ability to successfully navigate economic uncertainty, changing demographics and emerging technologies including powerful AI models. 

Join ClearlyRated Founder and CX Strategist, Eric Gregg, in a conversation with Danny Ashraf, CareerBuilder + Monster’s longest tenured staffing industry expert, and Noah Yosif, Chief Economist for the American Staffing Association. Together they will share insights, trends, and predictions for the year ahead, as well as pragmatic advice for how your firm can stay ahead of the competition.

In this insightful webinar, you will:

  • The latest economic data and trends likely to impact the industry in 2025
  • How top firms are utilizing AI models to maximize the impact of their firm’s client and candidate data
  • Keys to maximizing the client and candidate experience to unlock additional growth
  • What to expect in 2025 and how to prepare your firm to take advantage of key trends to achieve your growth goals

Speakers:

Eric Gregg

Founder & CX Strategist, ClearlyRated

Connect on LinkedIn

Danny Ashraf

Director of Sales, CareerBuilder+Monster

Connect on LinkedIn

Noah Yosif

Chief Economist & Head of Research,

American Staffing Association

Connect on LinkedIn

Many thanks to our sponsors:

Report
5 min read

2025 Staffing Buyer Insights Report (Client Edition)

Staffing
Industry Benchmarks
Staffing

Stay Ahead in Staffing: Anticipate and Adapt to Client Needs

In the rapidly changing world of staffing, it’s essential for firms to stay current on how client expectations and needs are evolving. With this data-driven report ClearlyRated aims to equip staffing firms with essential insights that can help them position to attract and retain clients, enhance client relationships and drive success.

After surveying nearly 500 staffing buyers, analysts reviewed the data and identified ten key trends that can guide staffing firm leaders.

What’s in the report?

  • 2025 Survey Findings: 10 Staffing Buyer Trends
  • Data-Driven Takeaways: Understand the numbers behind each trend and learn the essential takeaways your firm needs to succeed
  • Strategic Guidance for 2025: Equip your firm with actionable strategies to thrive in a competitive landscape

Download your copy today and thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

Many thanks to our sponsors:

Report
5 min read

2025 Accounting Buyer Insights Report

Accounting
Industry Benchmarks
Accounting

Stay Ahead in Accounting: Anticipate and Adapt to Client Needs

In the rapidly changing world of accounting, it’s essential for firms to stay current on how client expectations and needs are evolving. With this data-driven report ClearlyRated aims to equip accounting firms with essential insights that can help them position to attract and retain clients, enhance client relationships and drive success.

After surveying nearly 500 accounting buyers, analysts reviewed the data and identified eight key trends that can guide accounting firm leaders.

What’s in the report?

  • 2025 Survey Findings: 8 Accounting Buyer Trends
  • Data-Driven Takeaways: Understand the numbers behind each trend and learn the essential takeaways your firm needs to succeed
  • Strategic Guidance for 2025: Equip your firm with actionable strategies to thrive in a competitive landscape

Download your copy today and thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

Many thanks to our sponsor

Webinars
5 min read

Buyer Be Aware - CX Trends Impacting B2B Service Firms in 2025 and Beyond

Client Experience
NPS
Net Promoter® Score
Research/Data
Service Insights from ClearlyRated
B2B

Client expectations are evolving rapidly, and professional service firms must adapt to stay competitive. Join ClearlyRated Founder and CX Strategist, Eric Gregg, as he unveils the latest  CX trends shaping the future of client experience. Discover how to leverage these insights to drive growth, boost client retention, and position your firm for long-term success.

Key Takeaways:

  • The top client experience trends impacting professional service firms
  • How to measure and improve client satisfaction
  • Strategies for building strong client relationships
  • The role of technology in enhancing client experiences
  • Actionable steps to implement a world-class client experience program

Presenter

Eric Gregg, Co-Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

State of Staffing: Unlocking 2025 Growth in an Uncertain Economy

Client Experience
Net Promoter® Score
NPS
Research/Data
Service Insights from ClearlyRated
Staffing

Make sense of the last 2 years of staffing economic headwinds and what it means for growth in 2025 and beyond. In this interactive, fast-paced session, noted industry speaker, Eric Gregg will help make sense of the industry data, and share insights into proven strategies for accelerating growth during uncertain economic times. This session will be a must attend for you and your leadership team as you solidify your 2025 business plan.

Key Takeaways:

  • The industry trends most impacting the staffing industry and your firm.
  • Key solutions to help your firm grow during uncertain economic times.
  • Techniques to differentiate your firm and break through the noise.
  • Insight into how buyers decide which staffing firms to utilize and why they buy.

Moderator

Eric Gregg, Co-Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

Staffing World Encore: Evolving the Mindset From Founder to CEO

No items found.
Staffing

The perception often is the shelf life of company founders comes with an expiration date as it relates to leading and scaling from start-up to a large company. But many founders, across many industries, have bucked this trend. But what are the skills needed to transition from high-growth startup to sustainably growing enterprise? While hiring a new CEO might not be necessary, evolving to a CEO mindset is.

In this session, four staffing industry founders representing four different staffing industry segments share their stories evolving from founders to CEOs of large staffing companies. They’ll describe their experiences and lessons learned successfully leading alongside private equity partners, their mindset in making the decision to do so, and what it took to position their organizations to combined market valuations and multiple exits in excess of $2 billion.

Moderator

Eric Gregg, Co-Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

2024 Accounting Client Satisfaction Benchmark Report Sneak Peek

Client Experience
Industry Benchmarks
NPS
Net Promoter® Score
Research/Data
Accounting

Join one of the industry’s leading voices on buyer behavior and client experience, ClearlyRated founder Eric Gregg, as he provides a sneak peek into the changing needs of accounting buyers and how firms can best position themselves for growth in 2025 and beyond.

The ClearlyRated buyer survey will share key satisfaction benchmarks and drivers, along with the most impactful trends facing your accounting firm now and in the future.

What you'll learn:

  • How buyers of accounting services make decisions about which firms to use, and how your firm can stand out
  • How economic uncertainty impacts satisfaction and how best to create client loyalty
  • What current clients wish their accounting firm contacts would do differently, and how top firms outperform
  • How new and emerging technologies have altered the buying decisions of accounting clients

We'd like to thank our research sponsor:

Speaker

Eric Gregg, Co-Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

2024 Legal Client Satisfaction Benchmark Report Sneak Peek

NPS
Net Promoter® Score
Client Experience
Research/Data
Legal

Join one of the industry’s leading voices on buyer behavior and client experience, ClearlyRated founder Eric Gregg, as he provides a sneak peek into the changing needs of legal buyers and how firms can best position themselves for growth in 2025 and beyond.

The ClearlyRated buyer survey will share key satisfaction benchmarks and drivers, along with the most impactful trends facing your law firm now and in the future.

What you'll learn:

  • How buyers of legal services make decisions about which firms to use, and how your firm can stand out
  • How economic uncertainty impacts satisfaction and how best to create client loyalty
  • What current clients wish their law firm contacts would do differently, and how top firms outperform
  • How new and emerging technologies have altered the buying decisions of legal clients

Speaker

Eric Gregg, Co-Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

Inside the Mind of the Hiring Manager - 2024 Staffing Buyer Survey Sneak Peek

Client Experience
Industry Benchmarks
Net Promoter® Score
NPS

For the past 2 years, staffing firm growth has been mired by one of the longest industry recessions ever recorded. Join one of the industry’s leading voices on buyer behavior, ClearlyRated founder Eric Gregg, as he provides a sneak peek into the changing needs of the hiring manager and how staffing firms can best position their firms for growth in 2025 and beyond.

For the 15th straight year, the ClearlyRated buyer survey will share key satisfaction benchmarks and drivers, along with the most impactful trends facing your staffing firm now and in the future.

What you'll learn:

  • How the value proposition of staffing is changing, and how best to get new orders in today’s environment
  • How hiring managers and HR leaders decide which staffing firm to utilize, and how your firm can stand out in the process
  • How economic uncertainty impacts client satisfaction and how best to create loyalty
  • How has new and emerging technology changed the talent acquisition process for organizations

Speaker

Eric Gregg, Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

CX for Accounting - How Best of Accounting™ Firms Outpace the Industry

Best of Accounting
Client Experience
Industry Benchmarks
NPS
Net Promoter® Score
Accounting

Join ClearlyRated founder and CX strategist, Eric Gregg for a fast-paced, 30-minute discussion of how Best of Accounting firms leverage the program to outpace the competition.

More than just a survey, learn how ClearlyRated is helping firms unlock growth through better service, stronger social proof, and improved reputation, with the industry's largest database to benchmark your performance.

What you'll learn:

  • The role that CX has in accelerating accounting firm growth
  • How the Best of Accounting designation is earned, and how the program impacts growth
  • Simple tools for improving retention and increasing expansion
  • How to turn client testimonials into new opportunities

About our Moderator

Eric Gregg, Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

CX for Staffing - How Best of Staffing® Firms Outpace the Industry

Best of Staffing
Client Experience
Industry Benchmarks
NPS
Net Promoter® Score
Staffing

With industry revenue on the decline the past two years in staffing, growth has been challenging for many firms. Join ClearlyRated founder and CX strategist, Eric Gregg for a fast-paced, 30-minute discussion of how Best of Staffing® firms leverage the program to outpace the competition.

More than just a survey, learn how ClearlyRated is helping firms unlock growth through better service, stronger social proof, and improved reputation, with the industry's largest database to benchmark your performance.

What you'll learn:

  • The role that CX has in accelerating staffing firm growth
  • How the Best of Staffing designation is earned, and how the program impacts growth
  • Simple tools for improving retention and increasing expansion
  • How to turn client and talent testimonials into new opportunities and new job orders

About our Moderator

Eric Gregg, Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

Peer Insights: Achieving Law Firm Growth Through CX Best Practices

Client Experience
Employee Experience
Industry Benchmarks
Net Promoter® Score
NPS
Legal

In today’s competitive legal landscape, the key differentiator isn’t just your firm’s legal prowess—it’s the quality of the client experience (CX) you provide. For law firm partners, CMOs, and business development leaders, the ability to measure and enhance CX is a powerful growth catalyst.

Join us for a compelling session featuring a panel of industry experts who have have firsthand experience with the intricacies of client experience initiatives and measurement.

Moderated by ClearlyRated Founder and CX Strategist, Eric Gregg, the discussion will include insights from Judy Bodenhamer, Managing Director at Client Experience Group, and Lisa M. Simon, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Holland & Hart LLP. This interactive session will equip you with actionable insights and proven strategies.

What you'll gain: peer wisdom and proven strategies.

  • Roadmap to Successful CX Initiatives: Discover the essential steps to effectively launch and manage a client experience initiative in your firm.
  • Avoid Common Pitfalls: Learn from the missteps and challenges our panelists have faced, so you can navigate your own CX journey more smoothly.
  • Actionable Client Feedback: Uncover the most effective techniques for collecting, analyzing, and acting on client feedback to drive tangible improvements.
  • Calculating and Proving ROI: Gain insights into how to measure the return on investment for your CX efforts, convincing stakeholders of its critical value.
  • Interactive Q&A: Engage directly with our panelists to ask questions and share your experiences, ensuring personalized learning and the fostering of industry connections.

Whether you’re spearheading a new CX initiative or looking to refine your existing strategy, this webinar offers invaluable insights from those who’ve successfully navigated the path to CX excellence.

About our Moderator

Eric Gregg, Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

Peer Insights: Driving Accounting Firm Growth Through CX Excellence

Client Experience
Employee Experience
Industry Benchmarks
NPS
Net Promoter® Score
Accounting

In the ever-competitive world of accounting, standing out requires more than just exceptional technical expertise—it demands an unparalleled client experience (CX). For marketers, partners, and business development leaders at accounting firms, this challenge is an opportunity to innovate and drive growth. That’s why our upcoming webinar is the perfect chance to dive into best practices from those leading the charge in CX excellence.

Join us for an in-depth discussion featuring a panel of industry leaders from top-performing accounting firms who have successfully implemented CX initiatives and seen transformative results.

Our expert panelists, Sarah Cirelli, Chief Marketing Officer at Grassi Advisors & Accountants, and Suzanne Reed, Chief Marketing Officer at LBMC, are seasoned professionals from leading accounting firms who have been in the trenches of client experience initiatives. Moderated by ClearlyRated Founder and CX Strategist, Eric Gregg, this conversation will delve into the practices, strategies, and mindsets that have propelled their firms to the forefront of client experience excellence.

What you'll gain: peer wisdom and proven strategies.

  • Roadmap to Successful CX Initiatives: Discover the essential steps to effectively launch and manage a client experience initiative in your firm.
  • Avoid Common Pitfalls: Learn from the missteps and challenges our panelists have faced, so you can navigate your own CX journey more smoothly.
  • Actionable Client Feedback: Uncover the most effective techniques for collecting, analyzing, and acting on client feedback to drive tangible improvements.
  • Calculating and Proving ROI: Gain insights into how to measure the return on investment for your CX efforts, convincing stakeholders of its critical value.
  • Interactive Q&A: Engage directly with our panelists to ask questions and share your experiences, ensuring personalized learning and the fostering of industry connections.

Whether you’re spearheading a new CX initiative or looking to refine your existing strategy, this webinar offers invaluable insights from those who’ve successfully navigated the path to CX excellence.

About our Moderator

Eric Gregg, Founder & CX Strategist

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and the team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 7.2 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms.

Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

Mastering CX: Best Practices for the Insurance Industry

Client Experience
Industry Benchmarks
Net Promoter® Score
NPS
Insurance

Are your customers truly content with the service they’re receiving? When was the last time you asked them for feedback?

Join Cris Schulz, Director of Business Development at ClearlyRated, and delve into CX best practices and insights to elevate your customer experience game.

Drawing from proprietary data into satisfaction drivers for insurance firms and Net Promoter® Score (NPS) benchmarks, this session is a must-attend for insurance providers looking to unlock the full potential of their client relationships. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn CX best practices to drive exceptional customer experiences and business growth.

What you’ll learn:

  • The latest insurance industry NPS® benchmarks
  • Highlights from ClearlyRated’s proprietary research into what drives satisfaction for insurance buyers
  • The connection between client and internal employee experience and business growth for insurance firms

Presenter

Cris Schulz, Director of Business Development

With 25 years’ experience in sales and marketing for B2B companies, Cris brings a pragmatic approach to ClearlyRated’s industry-leading research for insurance companies. As a former President of the American Marketing Association’s Oregon chapter, Cris is adept at translating research trends into sales and marketing techniques that help insurance companies outgrow their competitors. Backed by data from more than 7 million verified ratings and two decades of B2B industry research into what drives client satisfaction, Cris’ sessions are fact-based and high energy, with tangible steps to immediately impact the firms she works with.

Webinars
5 min read

Inside the Data: Highlights from our Latest Staffing Industry Benchmark Study

Client Experience
Net Promoter® Score
NPS
Research/Data
Product Updates
Legal

Join ClearlyRated’s CEO Eric Gregg for this quick-hit 30-minute webinar as he reveals brand new research, including the latest NPS® benchmarks for the staffing industry and highlights from our Industry Benchmark Study. Get a sneak preview of our upcoming report, and gain insight into the minds of staffing buyers and candidates.

What you'll learn:

  • The latest research on NPS benchmarks for staffing and recruiting agencies
  • Key factors influencing staffing buyer decisions
  • The drivers of satisfaction for staffing buyers and candidates
  • Strategies to elevate client experiences from satisfaction to loyalty
  • The evolution of CX to always-on experience management

Empower your firm with actionable insights into client expectations and learn how to craft exceptional client experiences that not only prevent churn but also pave the way for organic growth within your existing accounts.

Presenter

Eric Gregg, Co-Founder & CX Strategist
Connect on LinkedIn

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and his team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 6.7 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms. Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Webinars
5 min read

Inside the Data: Highlights from our Latest Legal Industry Benchmark Study

Client Experience
Net Promoter® Score
NPS
Product Updates
Research/Data
Legal

Join ClearlyRated’s CEO Eric Gregg for this quick-hit 30-minute webinar as he reveals brand new research, including the latest NPS® benchmarks for the legal industry and highlights from our Industry Benchmark Study. Get a sneak preview of our upcoming report, and gain insight into the minds of legal buyers.

What you'll learn:

  • The latest research on NPS benchmarks for law firms
  • Key factors influencing legal buyer decisions
  • The drivers of satisfaction for legal buyers
  • Strategies to elevate client experiences from satisfaction to loyalty
  • The evolution of CX to always-on experience management

Empower your firm with actionable insights into client expectations and learn how to craft exceptional client experiences that not only prevent churn but also pave the way for organic growth within your existing accounts.

Presenter

Eric Gregg, Co-Founder & CX Strategist
Connect on LinkedIn

With two decades of research experience in B2B professional services, Eric Gregg and his team at ClearlyRated have analyzed more than 6.7 million surveys with the goal of determining what drives success for professional services firms. Eric has served as an adjunct faculty member in Portland State University’s marketing program, and has published numerous articles, business cases, and technical notes in the field of marketing, client loyalty and employee satisfaction. His research and consulting have been featured in articles and as a noted industry speaker.

Blog
Read time

17 Effective Employee Retention Strategies In 2025

B2B

If you think traditional perks and annual bonuses are enough to retain your employees, you’re in for a surprise.

The workforce has undergone a major transition in recent years, influenced by generational shifts, tech advancements, and changing work models. The old employee retention playbooks don’t work anymore.

Retaining top talent now requires a deep understanding of employee needs and expectations. The modern workforce is prioritizing things beyond the paycheck, like the option to work remotely, flexible work timings, sabbatical leaves, and career development programs.

Not sure where to start?

This article reveals 17 employee retention strategies for 2025 that go beyond the basics along with the practical ways to execute them.

Why Employee Retention Matters for Businesses 

Employee retention influences every aspect of a business, from culture to productivity and even customer satisfaction. 

Here's why investing in employee retention is important:  

Financial impact: The cost of replacing an employee can be 1.5 to 2 times their annual salary, which can be far higher than retaining current ones. By keeping your current talent, you save on recruitment, onboarding, and training costs.

Operational impact: New hires typically take months to reach full productivity, temporarily slowing down operations. In contrast, seasoned employees have expertise that takes years to develop and cannot be easily documented, replicated, or transferred. Retention also safeguards intellectual property and sensitive data from moving to competitors.

External impact: Long-term employees build strong, trusting relationships with clients. Their deep understanding of customer needs drives better service and long-term business growth, particularly in service-based industries.

Internal impact: Lower retention can negatively impact the morale of remaining employees. When colleagues leave, it can create a sense of instability, with other employees feeling disengaged or uncertain about their future.

With a clear understanding of how employee retention affects your business, from costs and productivity to client relationships, let's now shift our focus to 17 effective strategies for preventing turnover.

The Best 17 Employee Retention Strategies 

Following are some tried-and-tested employee retention strategies used by companies worldwide to hold onto their best talent.

1. Understanding Employee Needs and Expectations

To retain employees, you must actively learn what they want from their roles, careers, and workplace environment. Train managers to implement one-on-one meetings or a 5-15 framework where employees spend 15 minutes preparing weekly reports and managers spend 5 minutes reviewing them. 

Map career trajectory through quarterly meetings, create individual growth plans, and track professional milestones. Use skip-level meetings and focus groups to gather unfiltered organizational insights.

Surveys are great for understanding your employees’ mindset. Go beyond traditional lengthy surveys. Conduct anonymous pulse surveys or company-wide employee satisfaction surveys to identify pain points. Then, act on this feedback. Share survey findings, including what changes will be implemented and which ones are not possible, during monthly or quarterly town halls.

2. Build a Positive Workplace Culture

Create a work environment where employees feel safe, respected, and motivated. Define company values, mission, and goals, and show how each employee contributes to the bigger picture. Be supportive and flexible to accommodate individual employee needs like working location, timings, emergencies, etc.

Also, ensure a safe workplace for everyone by establishing a zero-tolerance policy for bullying and harassment. 

Conduct team-building activities, like Scavenger hunts, off-site events, or team retreats, to help employees connect across different departments and levels. Recognize employees and strive to be an inclusive organization by hiring people from diverse backgrounds. 

3. Offering Competitive Compensation and Benefits

Salary and benefits remain key factors in employee retention. 55% of employees (Lattice Report 2022) consider leaving the company for higher compensation. 

Start by analyzing industry wage statistics from trusted resources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics or platforms like PayScale to verify if you offer competitive salaries. Go a step further and study what your direct competitors are paying using tools like Glassdoor. 

Internally, maintain pay parity so that employees in similar roles and at similar seniority levels are compensated fairly. Think beyond base pay by offering benefits that include health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and retention and performance-based bonuses. 

4. Encouraging Employee Engagement

Employees fully engaged with their jobs have an 87% less chance of leaving their current employer. Retain employees by creating an engaging experience.

Assign projects that align with the employee’s passions or strengths. Implement engagement initiatives like hackathons, cross-team challenges, or gamified recognition like offering badges and virtual trophies. Engage the new hires by sending them onboarding material and packages. 

Regularly gather feedback through engagement surveys and use the results to build actionable plans. Closing the loop by communicating changes made shows employees that their input drives action, making them feel valued.

ClearlyRated is a comprehensive survey platform that lets you design and launch employee surveys within minutes. It also has built-in features for employee recognition.  

5. Build a Supportive Leadership Team

Leadership can make or break an employee’s experience. Have managers and leaders who empower, support, and advocate for their teams. 

Train new/transitioned managers on active listening and conflict resolution. Host bi-weekly "leadership circles" where managers share challenges and solutions. Create accountability through manager feedback surveys. Pair new employees with mentors and encourage open-door policies for all leadership roles. 

Leaders must also regularly check in on their team’s workload and advocate for their needs, whether it’s securing the necessary resources or pushing for well-deserved promotions.

6.Implementing Effective Work-Life Balance Policies

Work-life balance is essential for preventing burnout and retaining talent, with 25% of Gen Zs and 31% of millennials choosing an organization for work-life balance.

Consider implementing a “no email/meetings after work hours” policy. When employees take time off, allow them to fully disconnect by setting clear boundaries and designating a colleague to cover their responsibilities. Shift towards performance-based metrics, focusing on results rather than clock-in hours, to build a culture centered on output.

Offer your employees the flexibility to alternate between working in the office and working remotely. Encourage shareable online calendars to monitor meeting loads and after-hours work. You must also provide vacation leaves that expire within the same year to urge employees to take their time off.

7. Provide Flexible Scheduling and Reduced Workdays

Allow your employees to have flexible schedules and work fewer days if needed to maintain productivity.

Test flexible models through pilot programs, like a four-day workweek or adjustable daily start times. Collect feedback at all levels to see what works best for both the company and employees. For instance, introduce a “Focus Friday” with no meetings to improve concentration and productivity. 

Such initiatives acknowledge that employees have unique needs and give them the autonomy to manage their schedules.

8. Employee Recognition Programs

Employees stay loyal to organizations that value and recognize them. As per a Bonusly survey, 46% of the employees have left a job because they felt unappreciated. 

Create recognition programs that highlight different levels of achievement, from major milestones like closing a big client to smaller wins such as receiving positive customer feedback. This makes recognition a part of your company culture. Use a mix of monetary rewards (bonuses, gift cards) and non-monetary ones (public recognition, awards, shoutouts).

Implement peer-to-peer recognition where employees can nominate colleagues for specific achievements or give them shoutouts. Set up channels in your communication tools like Slack or MS Teams for instant appreciation.

If you’re using ClearlyRated’s survey platform, you get an in-built Shout Out feature that lets you give employees the recognition they deserve.

9. Building a Culture of Trust and Openness

Trust is the foundation of any lasting professional relationship. Build it through transparency in decision-making and communication.

Maintain an open line of communication so that employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, challenges, and ideas. Host town halls, feedback forums, and monthly AMA (Ask Me Anything) sessions with leadership for honest, constructive conversations. 

Train managers to be transparent by discussing both company successes and failures. Reinforce trust by sharing company metrics and goals. 

Be careful with company data and create a framework for handling sensitive information with care. Clearly define what constitutes confidential data and ensure that employees understand the boundaries of what can be shared in various communication channels. Implement strict protocols around the release of sensitive company information.

As a leader, acknowledge mistakes and promote a culture where failures are seen as opportunities for growth, not blame.

10. Create an Emphasis on Teamwork

As per ADP Research, employees who feel part of a team are more likely to be highly engaged. Retain employees by creating a sense of collective responsibility for company goals. 

You may organize team activities that directly align with your business objectives. For example, run a "Hackathon" where teams solve a real company challenge, like building an internal process or a new product feature. 

Encourage role-playing for support/sales scenarios, helping employees collaborate and learn. Set up clear, shared KPIs like project delivery timelines, CSAT scores, and team incentives for achievements. Break down silos with informal interaction opportunities like assigning a cross-functional team to plan an event or virtual coffees for remote employees.

11. Address Burnout and Mental Health

Research indicates that up to 44% of employees experience burnout (SHRM research, 2024). Burned-out employees are 63% more likely to take a sick day and 2.6 times as likely to be actively seeking a different job. Addressing it should be a top priority for organizations.

Managers should regularly review deadlines to ensure they are realistic and attainable and conduct one-on-one check-ins to assess whether employees are feeling overloaded. Make it easy for employees to take leaves and short breaks throughout the day. Implement flexible start and end times to give employees more control over their schedules.

Train managers to recognize signs of burnout early like declining performance, frequent absences, withdrawal from team activities, etc. Create a stigma-free environment for discussing mental health concerns. 

You must also track wellness indicators like work hours patterns, meeting loads, etc to identify potential concerns. Provide free access to mental health resources, such as counseling services and stress management workshops, and encourage their use. 

12. Provide Wellness Offerings

More than half of Gen Zs and millennials consider wellness programs important or extremely important when looking for a job. This underlines the importance of investments in employee well-being to attract and retain top talent.  

Create wellness programs that address physical, mental, and financial well-being. Offer a range of benefits, such as gym memberships, subscriptions to meditation apps, financial advisory services, ergonomic setups for home offices, or nutrition counseling. Organize challenges like step competitions or healthy luncheons to encourage healthy habits and team bonding.

13. Give Other Job Perks

40% of employers believe workers leave their jobs to find employment that offers better benefits. Balance salaries with non-monetary job perks that make employees appreciated. 

These include paid volunteer days, employer-covered family insurance, free office snacks, remote work bonuses, discounts on local businesses, or exclusive invitations to events. 

Customize these perks to suit the preferences of your workforce, and be sure to communicate them clearly. When employees feel they are receiving something extra, they’re more likely to stay with the company.

14. Foster Growth and Offer Professional and Personal Development

Make sure employees are constantly encouraged to grow at your company. Give them the opportunity to upskill in areas relevant to their roles or careers. Set up mentorship programs, both within and outside of the team. For instance, you can urge software developers in your company to earn certifications in emerging tech like AI and offer financial support for these.

Host skill-building sessions led by senior leaders or invite industry experts to run workshops for junior employees. Create individual development plans based on quarterly reviews and transparent promotion criteria for employees to understand exactly what skills, achievements, and competencies are required to be eligible for promotions. 

Challenge employees like letting them lead a project to stretch their abilities.  Also, offer opportunities to attend conferences, workshops, or trainings that help them develop and see their future in your company. 

15. Manage for Retention

82% of employees would quit due to a bad manager. Clearly, managers play a huge role in shaping the employee experience. Train them to adopt a retention-focused managerial style that prioritizes not only results but also actively supports employee growth, development, and well-being. 

Here are a few things you can do: 

  • Regularly review eNPS (employee NPS) and performance metrics to identify at-risk employees
  • Provide clear career progression paths and solve any issues your team has before they lead to turnover
  • Give them autonomy and ownership over projects
  • Be receptive to their ideas
  • Support them in overcoming daily challenges
  • Advocate for their needs in leadership meetings
  • Offer performance-based rewards

16. Know When It’s Time To Say Goodbye

While investing in employee development and trying to resolve performance issues is important, there comes a point when continued efforts may not yield the desired results. Know when it’s time to end the employee relationship with signs like constant underperformance despite coaching or misalignment with the company’s values and goals. 

Before making this decision, explore retention options to see if a department transfer or a shift in responsibilities could reignite their engagement. If a transition is still necessary, have all their tasks and responsibilities documented so that you can onboard the new hires with ease. 

Offer support like outplacement services or career coaching to help the departing employee. Be transparent and compassionate during the exit process and part ways on good terms.

17. Exit Interview Insights for Retention Improvement

Exit interviews have a lot of potential to improve retention for current and future employees.

Instead of treating them as a formality, structure these interviews to dig deep into the departing employee’s true reasons for leaving. Ask open-ended questions about what could have been done differently and how the organization can improve, focusing on specifics related to management, workplace culture, or job expectations. 

If possible, have interviewers who don’t have a direct personal connection to the departing employee for unbiased conversations. Time the interview well; neither too early, when the employee may not yet be ready to reflect on their experience, nor too late, when they may already be disengaged or mentally checked out.

Let employees know that feedback will stay anonymous and confidential. Collect and analyze patterns from these interviews, then use the findings to make possible changes. 

Keep employee retention high with ClearlyRated 

Employee retention is all about creating a workplace where people actually want to stay and grow. ClearlyRated fits well into your employee retention strategy by keeping you connected with your team every step of the way.

From launching surveys to recognizing employees, ClearlyRated enables you to understand, act, and continuously improve your employee experience. 

Here’s how: 

  • ClearlyRated offers fully customizable survey designs so that you can capture insights that are specific to how your team works and interacts; whether it’s a collaborative culture or a flexible remote setup.
  • Improve participation by deploying the survey with ClearlyRated’s guidance on the best ways to engage your team. 
  • Its dashboard calculates your Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) and gives insights into employee perception of optimism, fairness, recognition, etc.
  • With the tool’s identity-based questions and industry benchmarks, you can gauge the diversity of your workforce.
  • ClearlyRated also allows you to segment satisfaction by identity and demographics to pinpoint disparities in the employee experience.
  • Its built-in “Shout Out” feature lets you recognize outstanding contributions from your team when a client gives you a high NPS.
  • ClearlyRated is more than just a survey platform. It’s your partner in building a team that feels heard, valued, and motivated to work with your organization.

Learn more about the platform by booking a demo today.  

Execute one strategy, at a time

Now, you don’t have to execute all the employee retention strategies at once. Instead, prioritize based on your organization’s most pressing needs and current challenges. 

The first step is identifying the root issues contributing to low retention at your company. Use tools like ClearlyRated to gather unfiltered employee feedback and narrow down areas for improvement, whether it’s recognition, communication, or opportunities for growth. Once you understand the key issues, focus on strategies that will make the biggest impact right away.

Gradually roll out more initiatives, allowing time to evaluate their ROI and make any necessary adjustments. Remember, small, meaningful changes can add up and greatly improve your employee experience.

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Employee Engagement Surveys - All You Need To Know

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Disengaged employees result in a 32% decrease in operating income.

Here’s another shocker. According to Gallup, 85% of employees worldwide are either disengaged or actively disengaged in their jobs. That means a large portion of businesses are likely incurring, or about to incur losses.

Now, this isn’t just another problem for you; it directly impacts your revenue, growth, and overall success. Your employees are your most valuable asset, and if they aren’t engaged, your company’s future could be at risk. One way to understand employee needs, concerns, and aspirations is through employee engagement surveys. But what questions should you ask to truly understand them?

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about employee engagement surveys – the most important questions to ask, the benefits of conducting them, a step-by-step approach, and how a tool like ClearlyRated can help.

What is Employee Engagement? 

Employee engagement is an indicator of how invested employees are in their jobs. Engaged employees are typically more productive, motivated, and less likely to leave their jobs. They actively participate in company initiatives, share innovative ideas, and create a positive work culture. 

It’s important to note that employee engagement is not the same as employee satisfaction.

Satisfaction is a narrower concept that focuses on how content and happy employees are with their immediate working conditions, such as compensation, benefits, work-life balance, and relationships with managers and co-workers. They may not be necessarily aligned with the company’s vision or motivated to go above and beyond.

The impact of employee engagement in numbers

Here are a few stats that quantify the importance of engaged employees. 

Levels of employee engagement 

Employee engagement can be categorized into four levels. We will further explore four key aspects for each level –emotional commitment, behavioral indicators, organizational impact, and measurable outcomes. Use these four categories to classify your survey respondents.

1. Highly engaged

  • Emotional commitment: Only 31% of employees are engaged in a workplace. Such employees are deeply invested in their work and the company’s success. They view the organization's goals as aligned with their own purpose and career growth. 
  • Behavioral indicators: Demonstrate discretionary effort and are 2.5 times more likely to exceed expectations. They proactively support colleagues and drive team initiatives.
  • Organizational impact: Contribute to higher productivity, improved innovation, and reduced turnover. 22% more likely to say that they will not job hunt.
  • Measurable outcomes: These employees will have high scores on engagement surveys (8-10/10), consistent participation in company activities, and a role in shaping a positive work culture.

2. Moderately engaged

  • Emotional commitment: These employees meet expectations and deliver quality work but lack full emotional investment in organizational goals.
  • Behavioral indicators: Fulfill responsibilities but don’t usually take the lead or initiate change. Participation in company events is moderate, and they show limited enthusiasm for new opportunities. Their lack of engagement can sometimes stem from poor team collaboration, especially in remote roles. Increased in-office collaboration may help move them into the engaged category.
  • Organizational impact: Generally steady in performance but at risk of disengagement if not supported or recognized. They might leave if offered a better opportunity elsewhere. Creating a recognition-rich working environment can transition them to engaged employees in no time. 
  • Measurable outcomes: Average scores (7-8) in engagement surveys, meeting but not exceeding key performance indicators (KPIs), and fluctuating participation rates in new initiatives.

3. Barely engaged

  • Engagement level: Exhibit minimal enthusiasm or interest. These employees do the bare minimum and avoid additional responsibilities. 
  • Behavioral indicators: Passive during meetings, rarely contribute new ideas, and often show signs of burnout or job dissatisfaction.
  • Organizational impact: Their lack of engagement can spread to others, affecting team morale and productivity. Absenteeism and task errors may also increase. 
  • Measurable outcomes: Low scores on engagement surveys, high rates of task incompletion, and frequent absences. These employees are more likely to job hunt or disengage further.

4. Disengaged

  • Emotional commitment: These employees feel detached from the company, their roles, and colleagues. They may actively express dissatisfaction.
  • Behavioral indicators: Frequently underperform, are resistant to change, and can influence others negatively through criticism or gossip. Absenteeism and turnover are high in this group. Nearly 69% of disengaged employees would leave for as little as a 5% increase in pay.  
  • Organizational impact: Directly contributes to lost productivity and higher operational costs. Just one disengaged employee costs an organization $2,246 per year
  • Measurable outcomes: A drop in engagement survey participation, high absenteeism rates, and increased turnover risk. Targeted interventions are necessary to address their concerns. 

It’s important to note that employees are not permanently assigned to these categories. Engagement levels can fluctuate over time based on various factors such as changes in leadership, team dynamics, or workplace initiatives. 

By actively addressing their concerns, you can move employees from one category to a higher level, improving overall engagement across your organization.

Why Measure Employee Engagement? 

Employee engagement directly impacts business performance, with highly engaged organizations reporting 23% higher profitability (Gallup, 2023). Here are five evidence-based reasons to measure engagement

1.Identify areas for improvement 

Measuring employee engagement reveals insights into key areas, like team collaboration, leadership performance, and workplace flexibility. 

Let’s say your employee engagement survey reveals that many employees feel they don’t have enough vacation leaves to recharge. If you respond by increasing vacation days and then observe a noticeable drop in absenteeism, it’s concrete evidence that your efforts are making a measurable difference.

Similarly, if low eNPS scores point to a lack of growth opportunities, introducing professional development programs can help address this issue. 

2.Predicting and reducing turnover 

High employee turnover is costly and disruptive. A Gallup article shows replacing an employee can cost 1.5 to 2 times their salary.

If your teams show declining engagement scores, these are early warning signs of potential turnover within the next few months. With this advance notice, companies have the chance to implement retention strategies, like offering targeted training, addressing compensation issues, or improving work conditions, to keep valuable employees from leaving.

3.Align company goals with employee goals 

Employees and the company often have different motivations and goals. Engagement metrics help bridge these gaps. When employees see their personal goals aligned with company initiatives, they’re more motivated to contribute.

For example, if an employee wants to improve customer relationship management but is repeatedly assigned backend tasks with no client interaction, it creates a misalignment that can leave them feeling disconnected from their career goals.

4.Evaluate company culture 

While many companies claim to have a great culture, the true picture often comes from the employees' perspective. Engagement metrics provide objective data about the employee experience. 

If surveys show low scores in team strength, leadership can take steps to implement team recognition programs or promote collaboration through team-building activities.

5.Tracking the ROI of any new HR changes or initiatives

Introducing a new HR policy, like a hybrid work model or wellness program? Engagement metrics help quantify the impact of these investments. They let you see whether changes are moving the needle in the right direction or if further tweaks are needed. 

This data also helps HR teams justify resources for successful programs and quickly adjust or discontinue ineffective ones, ensuring efficient resource utilization. 

Pro-tip: Use a platform like ClearlyRated to automate both employee and customer experience management, all from a single, easy-to-use dashboard.

What is an Employee Engagement Survey?

Employee engagement survey is a method to measure how emotionally committed and invested employees are in their work and the organization. 

Unlike other employee surveys, the engagement survey evaluates factors such as job satisfaction, motivation, sense of purpose, and alignment with company values. These directly impact engagement and productivity.

Questions of these surveys typically assess various aspects of the employee experience, from job satisfaction to career growth opportunities. 

Employee engagement survey questions are usually answered on a scale (1 to 5 or 1 to 10) making it easy to track changes over time. You must have a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions for detailed feedback. 

These surveys can be conducted anonymously or non-anonymously, depending on the goal. Anonymous surveys are those where respondents’ identities are not linked to their answers, ensuring privacy and encouraging honest feedback. Non-anonymous surveys link responses to individual employees, allowing for personalized follow-ups and targeted actions.

Benefits of Employee Engagement Surveys 

Employee engagement surveys can be of different types, such as culture pulse surveys, employee benefits surveys, and eNPS surveys, each focusing on different aspects of the employee experience. Regardless of the type, these surveys can help your company with.

1.Early detection of issues and improvement areas

Employee surveys can give you early warnings about potential workplace problems. For example, if multiple employees in a department report feeling overwhelmed with their workload, it could signal understaffing issues that may in the future lead to burnout or resignations. 

Similarly, if surveys show low scores in career development opportunities, HR must establish training programs before talented employees start looking elsewhere. Circulating surveys is a proactive approach and much more effective than dealing with problems after they've escalated.

Use ClearlyRated's real-time detractor alerts to spot dissatisfied employees early and resolve their concerns before they escalate. 

2.Higher employee retention 

When employees feel heard and valued, they're more likely to stay with the company. Taking action on their feedback, whether by adjusting work-from-home policies, creating more recognition programs, or offering better benefits, improves their morale. This is because they see their input leading to tangible changes in their work environment. 

ClearlyRated makes it easy to recognize your employees. When a client rates your company a 9 or 10 on the NPS scale, the tool auto-generates a shout-out to appreciate the involved employees, motivating and engaging them.

With higher morale, employees invest more effort into their work, leading to improved outcomes. Most importantly, consistent surveying and taking action build trust in leadership, showing that they genuinely care about their employees.

3.Opens up a two-way communication channel 

Engagement surveys aren’t just about collecting feedback. They create a continuous loop of communication between employees and leadership. 

Let’s say, a survey reveals that 65% of employees feel disconnected from senior leadership decisions. You may deploy solutions like holding monthly "Strategy Spotlights" or “Townhalls” where executives share project updates and major decisions. 

Create department-specific action committees based on the feedback. For instance, an IT team that reported communication barriers with other departments now holds bi-weekly cross-functional standups to improve communication. 

Now the same team must build feedback verification loops. Send out follow-up pulse surveys to measure the effectiveness of changes. Document success stories, such as, after engineering teams reported feeling siloed, implementing cross-team workshops/sessions led to three new product features and reduced project delays by 30%. 

4.Helps track progress over time 

Consistent surveying creates measurable data points that allow companies to track their journey. Surveys conducted at regular intervals help track improvements (or setbacks) in specific areas. 

Implement tracking methods to turn employee feedback into quantifiable business insights. 

You can do cohort analysis (grouping similar characteristic surveyors) to track how engagement patterns evolve among different employee segments (new hires, tenured employees, or across departments)

Similarly, if a leadership development program costs $50,000 and correlates with a 15% increase in team productivity metrics and a 20% reduction in turnover costs, you can calculate precise ROI.

Benchmark your metrics against both internal and external standards. For instance, an eNPS of +20 based on your past scores might seem positive. But, if your industry's top quartile averages +35, it indicates room for improvement. 

Track correlations between engagement metrics and business KPIs to identify where your efforts will have the greatest impact.

Step-By-Step Guide to Conducting Employee Engagement Surveys 

Now comes the execution part. The following process will help you in successfully conducting a survey on employee engagement at your company. Every step matters, so be sure to follow each one closely.

Step 1: Design your survey 

This step involves planning the structure, length, and format of your survey while keeping the end user (your employees) in mind. 

The design phase is also where you'll make important decisions about anonymity, language options, and accessibility. Consider the survey's length and follow the KISS (keep it short and simple) framework to avoid survey fatigue. Your survey should also be visually appealing and easy to navigate.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind 

  • A good rule of thumb is to stick to 10-15 questions that can be completed in under 10 minutes
  • Use a mix of question types, such as Likert scales (ratings) for quantitative data and open-ended questions for qualitative data
  • Include clear survey instructions like the deadline, POC, and a progress bar to show the completion status 
  • Ensure the survey is mobile-responsive, as many employees may complete it on their phones
  • Share the number of questions included in the survey to set clear expectations for the employee
  • Add a "save and continue" option for longer surveys
  • Test with a pilot group before the full launch to identify confusing questions, technical issues, or problems with the survey flow. 

ClearlyRated lets you create short and sweet surveys that precisely capture employee sentiment, collect the most valuable insights, and customize them for your industry.

Step 2: Prepare questions to ask your employees

The questions you choose will directly impact the quality of insights you collect. First, jot down all the questions you find relevant.  

Now, validate the questions to check if each question actually measures what it intends to. For example, rather than directly asking "Are you satisfied with your job?" (which often leads to faking good responses), measure different aspects of job satisfaction through multiple items. 

Implement response bias prevention techniques such as rotating question order, mixing positive and negative statements, and including attention check questions

(example below).

When crafting questions, consider both response consistency and test-retest reliability. 

For example, instead of a single question about workload, include multiple related items that can be cross-validated: "I have enough time to complete my daily tasks" (direct), "I frequently work beyond normal hours to meet deadlines" (inverse), and "My workload is comparable to others in similar roles" (relative). 

Phrase your questions carefully. For example, “How often do you feel your efforts are recognized by the organization?” is better than “Do you feel appreciated at work?”. Similarly, ask “How inclusive do you feel the company culture is?” instead of “Do you think the company treats everyone fairly?”

Use established psychometric scales where possible – the Maslach Burnout Inventory or Utrecht Work Engagement Scale provide scientifically validated question sets. For qualitative responses, employ cognitive interviewing techniques to validate question interpretation.

Finally, test question sets with a small pilot group first, analyzing response patterns and internal consistency before full deployment. 

Step 3: Identify the themes for your survey

This step involves mapping out the key areas your survey will focus on. It’s important to choose themes that align with your company’s objectives, challenges, and common engagement drivers. Be sure to balance the number of questions across each theme. 

Here’s a list of common themes and related questions for your survey. We selected these based on patterns found in successful engagement surveys, addressing common disengagement areas like job satisfaction, team dynamics, and manager relationships.

ThemeQuestionsJob satisfactionHow satisfied are you with your current role and responsibilities?Career growthDo you feel supported in pursuing your career goals within the company?Recognition and rewardsDo you feel recognized and appreciated for the work you do?CommunicationIs it easy for you to communicate your ideas and concerns to your manager or leadership? Do you feel informed about company goals, updates, and changes?Leadership and managementDoes your manager provide the support and guidance you need to perform well?Work-life balanceDoes the company support a healthy balance between your work and personal life?CollaborationCan you easily work with other teams or colleagues without barriers or conflict?Workplace cultureDo you feel company is inclusive and fair to all employees?

Step 4: Launch your survey

Timing and communication are everything when launching your survey. Aim to send out surveys during less busy periods, such as mid-week and outside of major deadlines or project crunch times. 

For example, avoid end-of-quarter dates when teams are under pressure. Set a participation rate target, such as 60-70%, to measure engagement success. Offer the option to answer anonymously to encourage more responses.  Be prepared for unexpected events, like clashes with urgent projects, and have a contingency plan to delay or relaunch the survey based on the situation, so you’re not scrambling to make decisions on the fly.

Coordinate with other departments for a smooth rollout and send friendly reminders to respondents to complete the survey. Don’t forget to offer assistance to employees if needed. 

ClearlyRated assists you through every stage of sending the survey, from organizing contact lists to sending pre-survey announcements that explain why employee input matters and how the feedback will drive meaningful change.

Step 5: Analyze survey responses

Once your survey closes, it’s time to draw conclusions from the raw data. Identify trends and patterns rather than focusing on individual responses. Pay close attention to both high and low scores, correlations between different themes, and areas where employees left detailed feedback. 

If responses are not anonymous, break down your data by department or team to pinpoint where issues are most prevalent. For example, if a particular department scores low on leadership support, you know where to direct your attention first. Consider looking at past engagement scores to track improvements.

Using ClearlyRated, generate an in-depth analysis of your survey results, including industry benchmarks, NPS scores, and detailed feedback.

Step 6: Document and share your findings 

The final step is translating your findings into clear reports that highlight key takeaways, action recommendations, next steps, and timelines. Use visuals like graphs and charts to make the data easy to digest. Then, share these reports with your leadership team and employees, outlining how you plan to act on the feedback.

For instance, if employees expressed a need for more flexible work hours, outline the next steps, like piloting a flex-time program. This step bridges the gap between data collection and actual organizational change.

Remember, the real benefit of engagement surveys comes not from conducting them, but from creating actionable plans based on the responses and following through with changes. Regular surveys without visible action can actually decrease engagement by making employees feel their feedback is ignored.

Why Use ClearlyRated for Your Employee Engagement Surveys? 

Executing the six-step process for every survey can take up a lot of your time and divert you from high-impact tasks.

ClearlyRated is a complete survey platform that does all the heavy lifting of conducting surveys for you, automating both customer and employee experience management. It’s suitable for companies of all sizes and offers a wide range of features, including customizable survey designs, advanced logic, and SMS survey invitations to maximize participation.

The real strength of the tool lies in its analytics and integration capabilities. With real-time detractor alerts, unlimited dashboard logins, and deep CRM integration with platforms like Salesforce and Dynamics, you can quickly act on any feedback. The platform also offers NPS segmentation and tracking features for accountability across locations and departments.

ClearlyRated also supports marketing the outcomes, allowing you to share survey results on platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, display star ratings on your website and email signature, and download them for future use.

Explore the full range of features that ClearlyRated offers. Book a demo and learn how we can help you build a loyal and engaged team.

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13 Best NPS Software Platforms & Tools to Use in 2024

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Net Promoter Score (NPS) is used by over two-thirds of Fortune 1000 companies to measure customer loyalty. It's simple yet powerful: by asking customers how likely they are to recommend your product or service, you gain valuable insights into their satisfaction and potential word-of-mouth impact.

However, collecting NPS data is just the beginning. Businesses need robust NPS software that not only gathers feedback but also provides actionable insights. The right tool can help you identify trends, segment customers, and drive meaningful product or service improvements.

In this article, we've researched and compared 13 top NPS software options. We'll cover their key features, strengths, and potential drawbacks. By the end, you'll understand:

  • What capabilities to look for in NPS software
  • How different tools cater to various business needs and sizes
  • Which options offer the best value for your specific requirements

But before we explore the top NPS tools, it’s essential to understand what NPS software is and how it can transform your approach to customer feedback. So, let’s get started!

What is NPS Software?

NPS, or Net Promoter Score software, is a must-have tool for businesses to collect valuable first-party data straight from their customers. It measures customer loyalty by asking: "How likely are you to recommend our product or service to a friend or colleague?"

Customers respond with a score from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely), classifying them into Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. The resulting score ranges from -100 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction and loyalty. Customers can also share open-ended feedback.

NPS can be applied as Relationship NPS (long-term loyalty trends) or Transactional NPS (immediate feedback on specific interactions). Advanced solutions offer real-time reporting, CRM and analytics integration, and text analytics for open-ended responses.

Implementing an NPS program can present challenges like survey fatigue or result interpretation difficulties. The right software can help overcome these by optimizing survey timing and providing actionable insights, ensuring prompt address of customer concerns.

Why Do You Need NPS Software?

NPS platforms help you gauge how likely customers are to make repeat purchases, advocate for your brand, and stay loyal even in competitive markets.

Let’s explore some key reasons why you need NPS software in more detail:

Closing the feedback loop

NPS tools not only gather customer feedback but also close the feedback loop. Many platforms offer automated alerts for negative feedback, enabling your team to quickly address detractors and recover potential lost loyalty. 

Additionally, NPS software can integrate with CRM systems, allowing for personalized follow-ups based on customer sentiment, so you can reach out in a more targeted and meaningful way. 

User-friendly

NPS Platforms typically offer pre-built survey templates, making it easy to create and distribute surveys via email or as pop-ups on your website post-purchase. Many tools also come with integration options for seamless survey deployment across multiple customer touchpoints. 

Plus, calculating your NPS results can be done with a basic spreadsheet, or you can leverage built-in analytics that automatically track and report on your customer scores.

A shared language

NPS software creates a shared language by categorizing customers as Promoters, Passives, and Detractors, helping every department—from sales to product development—align around customer sentiment. 

By distributing these insights across teams, NPS tools foster a customer-centric culture, enabling everyone to understand what drives loyalty and dissatisfaction. 

Many platforms also feature automated report generation and department-specific dashboards, ensuring that insights are tailored and actionable for every team.

Better benchmarking

Since NPS is a universally recognized metric, it allows you to benchmark your score against industry standards. Many NPS tools offer access to benchmarking databases, making it easy to see how your performance stacks up against competitors in your sector. 

Increased revenue

Happy, loyal customers are more likely to stay longer, spend more, and refer new customers. 

In fact, research from Harvard Business Review shows that a 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25%-95% increase in profit. Of course, the range is broad, but it highlights how even small increases in customer retention can lead to significant improvements in profitability.

NPS software enables you to focus on fostering these long-term relationships by identifying and nurturing Promoters, leading to sustained revenue growth and business expansion over time.

Improved customer experience

By regularly collecting and analyzing feedback, you can make data-driven decisions to enhance your products, services, and support. 

Advanced features like text analytics enable you to dive deep into open-ended feedback, uncovering trends and customer sentiment beyond just scores. 

Additionally, many NPS platforms integrate with product management tools, helping you prioritize improvements based on customer input and directly tie feedback to your development roadmap.

How to Evaluate and Choose the Best NPS Software

When selecting NPS software, consider what works for your specific business type (B2B or B2C). Here are eight essential factors:

  1. Ease of use: Look for features like drag-and-drop survey builders, pre-built templates, and automated workflows to reduce the learning curve.
  2. Customer success: Seek providers offering dedicated account managers, comprehensive onboarding, and ongoing support.
  3. Your use case: Consider specific needs based on company size and industry (e.g., multi-language support, in-app surveys, role-based reporting).
  4. Infrastructure and security: Ensure robust measures like end-to-end encryption, GDPR compliance, SOC 2 certification, and role-based access control.
  5. Scalability: Choose a platform that can handle increasing survey volumes, support multiple business units, and offer customizable dashboards.
  6. Integrations: Look for pre-built integrations with CRMs, marketing automation platforms, and customer support systems. Bi-directional integration capabilities are ideal.
  7. Self-service capabilities: Seek user role management features and self-service reporting tools for team independence.
  8. Support: Choose a provider offering various support options (24/7 phone, email, live chat) and a comprehensive knowledge base.

Comparison Table of the Best Net Promoter Score Software in 2025

Now that we know what features to look for in NPS software, here’s our round-up of some of the best NPS software platforms for you to use in 2025:

Tool Key Features Free Trial Free Version Pricing G2 Rating
ClearlyRated
  • Client feedback
  • NPS surveys
  • Employee satisfaction
Yes No Contact for pricing 4.8
SurveySparrow
  • Conversational surveys
  • Automation
  • NPS
  • Offline surveys
Yes Yes Starts at $19 per user 4.4
Qualtrics XM
  • Surveys
  • Customer experience
  • Analytics
  • Feedback management
Yes Yes Custom pricing 4.4
InMoment
  • Customer experience
  • Feedback analysis
  • Sentiment analysis
No No Custom pricing 4.7
ZonkaFeedback
  • NPS surveys
  • Advanced data privacy
  • CX automation
  • AI-based text analysis
Yes Yes Starts at $49/month per 3 users 4.7
AskNicely
  • NPS surveys
  • Feedback
  • Recognition tools for teams
No No Custom pricing 4.7
Survicate
  • Feedback surveys
  • NPS
  • CSAT
  • Email integration
  • Website widgets
No Yes Starts at $99 per month 4.7
SurveySensum
  • NPS surveys
  • Sentiment analysis
  • AI-driven text analysis
Yes Yes Custom pricing 4.6
Delighted
  • NPS, CSAT, CES surveys
  • Multi-channel distribution
No Yes Starts at $224 per month 4.0
NiceReply
  • Automated workflows
  • Push notifications
  • NPS
  • Predictive analytics
  • Feedback management
Yes No $59/month per 3 users 4.5
Medallia
  • Customer experience management
  • NPS surveys
  • Predictive analysis
  • Real-time reporting
No No Custom pricing 4.5
Reputation.com
  • Review management
  • Customer feedback
  • Survey analytics
Yes Yes Custom pricing 4.8
GetFeedback
  • Customer feedback
  • NPS
  • CSAT
  • Analytics integration
No Yes Custom pricing 4.5

13 Best NPS Software to Use in 2025

Let's explore the top players in the industry in detail:

  1. ClearlyRated

Via: ClearlyRated

ClearlyRated is a client feedback and reputation management platform specifically designed for professional service firms, including staffing, accounting, legal, and consulting industries. It enables businesses to collect, analyze, and leverage client feedback through tailored surveys and Net Promoter Score (NPS) metrics

By sending out straightforward surveys that ask clients how likely they are to recommend your services, ClearlyRated allows you to categorize responses into promoters, passives, and detractors. This approach provides a clear snapshot of customer sentiment and helps identify areas for improvement.

What sets ClearlyRated apart is its focus on real-time feedback and in-depth analytics. Businesses can quickly respond to customer input, addressing concerns as they arise, while detailed reports track NPS over time and benchmark against industry standards. This data-driven insight not only aids in enhancing customer experience but also fosters loyalty by demonstrating a commitment to client feedback.

Key Features

Client Feedback and NPS Management

ClearlyRated excels in client feedback and NPS management, offering clear metrics that enable service-based businesses to enhance client satisfaction and retention. 

With a focus on professional service industries, the platform is particularly well-suited for companies seeking tailored feedback solutions.

Take a look at what this user had to say about ClearlyRated:

In-Depth Analytics and Tracking Capabilities

ClearlyRated provides in-depth analytics and real-time reporting for data-driven decisions. It tracks NPS along with key metrics like response rates, CSAT, and CLV, offering a holistic view of customer sentiment and loyalty.

Users have shown great appreciation for the analytics features, with one commenting that,

Source: G2

Users can access detailed reports with visualized trends, compare NPS against industry benchmarks, and segment feedback by various factors. This enables businesses to identify trends, pinpoint improvement areas, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Here’s what a user had to say about the platform’s reporting capabilities:

Another user praises ClearlyRated’s reports, saying,

Integration with Tools

ClearlyRated offers plug-and-play and pre-built integrations with popular CRM systems and business tools, connecting with systems like Salesforce, Bullhorn, and Erecruit. 

One-click integrations simplify the process, eliminating manual data entry and allowing real-time feedback sync across platforms.

Ease of Use and User Interface

ClearlyRated features an intuitive interface with drag-and-drop survey builders, clear navigation menus, and customizable dashboards.

 Its simple design ensures users of all technical skill levels can operate the system efficiently, speeding up onboarding and reducing the learning curve.

Source: G2

Pros

  • Access industry-specific insights to compare performance against industry standards and improve client satisfaction
  • Navigate the easy-to-use platform with minimal training required for new users
  • Benefit from highly responsive customer service for timely support

Cons

  • Some users say the website gets slower as the amount of data increases

Pricing

  • Available in Premium, Plus & Enterprise plans: Custom pricing
  1. SurveySparrow

Via: SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow is a powerful net promoter score tool that automates processes and distributes surveys across multiple channels, ensuring you reach customers wherever they are. With built-in sentiment analysis and word cloud visualizations, you can dive deeper into customer satisfaction and really understand their feelings.

Key Features

  • Supports scheduled NPS surveys
  • Consolidates all customer data into one dashboard for easy visualization
  • Contact management, audience management, and segmentation features
  • Features skip logic, conditional logic, question piping, and branching options
  • Preview functionality and dynamic lists for better management
  • Offers tools for CSAT, CES, VoC, in addition to NPS surveys
  • Segment your audience with built-in contact and audience management features for targeted surveys and better insights

Pros

  • Supports multilingual surveys
  • Good for capturing visual feedback with multimedia questions
  • Reasonable pricing options

Cons

  • No email marketing features
  • Some users say that the triggers are not well-written, lacking proper batching, leading to significant issues within the Salesforce Org

Source: G2

Pricing

SurveySparrow offers a limited free version, with paid plans starting at $19 per month per user. The pricing tiers are as follows:

  • Free forever
  • Basic: $19/month per user
  • Starter: $39/month per user
  • Business: $79/month per 3 users
  • Professional: $249/month per 5 users
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing

*All prices are billed annually

  1. Qualtrics XM

Via: Qualtrics

Unlike SurveySparrow’s multi-channel outreach, Qualtrics XM sets itself apart with its powerful experience management platform that combines NPS with advanced analytics and the predictive insights offered by its Predict iQ feature. 

The Predict iQ platform analyzes survey responses and integrated data to forecast whether a respondent is likely to churn. When new survey responses are received, Predict iQ can assess the likelihood of future churn for those respondents. 

To make these predictions, Predict iQ employs Neural Networks—specifically, a subset known as Deep Learning—as well as Regression techniques to create candidate models. It tests various model configurations for each dataset and selects the one that best aligns with the data.

The platform also features role-based dashboards and detailed NPS reports, which empower your team to address specific concerns effectively. This tailored approach ensures that actions are taken based on the unique needs of your customers, ultimately driving satisfaction and loyalty.

Key Features

  • Enhance survey quality and increase responses with advanced AI-driven NPS analytics for actionable insights
  • Access instant insights from NPS scores, sentiment analysis, and personalized dashboards tailored to user roles
  • Protect customer data with industry-leading security practices and compliance measures
  • Customize unlimited surveys with over 20 variables designed to align with your brand and objectives
  • Deploy NPS surveys across multiple channels, including email, web, and mobile platforms

Pros

  • Industry-leading NPS platform featuring advanced analytics and AI-powered insights
  • Actionable reporting and dashboards tailored to various user roles
  • Omnichannel feedback collection to ensure maximum reach

Cons

  • Setup and usage can be complex without proper training

Pricing

  • Custom pricing
  1. InMoment

Via: InMoment

If you want a net promoter tool that helps you analyze scores based on business drivers like account type, product version, and user characteristics, InMoment could be the perfect fit. This tool not only identifies areas for improvement but also encourages promoters to share their positive experiences through optional post-survey prompts, like leaving reviews or joining referral programs.

With its real-time NPS analytics, InMoment provides valuable insights while supporting multiple languages and channels. This makes it easy to engage a diverse range of customers, allowing you to take timely and effective actions that enhance customer loyalty and close the feedback loop.

Key Features

  • View real-time NPS scores and response counts with continuous updates on customer sentiment
  • Monitor rolling average NPS to identify trends over time
  • Create custom filters to analyze NPS by various business drivers like account type or product version
  • Automatic identification of recurring themes and topics in customer feedback
  • Survey a sample of your customers daily using trusted NPS settings or your defined parameters

Pros

  • Micro-surveys and in-app NPS for real-time feedback and higher response rates
  • AI-driven sentiment analysis for enhanced insights
  • Advanced targeting and segmentation capabilities

Cons

  • Limited flexibility for customizing surveys
  • Some users say the platform can be slow and unreliable at times, leading to data losses

Source: G2

Pricing

  • Available in CoreCX, Enterprise & Custom plans: Custom pricing
  1. ZonkaFeedback

Via: ZonkaFeedback

Zonka Feedback is a comprehensive NPS survey tool offering CX automation and customizable, multichannel surveys across all customer touchpoints. It enables a well-rounded customer engagement strategy, automating workflows for follow-ups and leveraging promoters as brand advocates.

The platform provides detailed reports, trend analysis, and text analytics to identify risks and improve satisfaction. Features like survey throttling prevent over-surveying, while survey redirection channels promoters into advocacy programs.

Zonka Feedback's automation capabilities streamline issue resolution and positive feedback amplification, helping maintain healthy customer relationships.

Key Features

  • Create NPS surveys using pre-designed templates for relationship or transaction NPS
  • Set up automation to display NPS surveys on your website or app
  • Access insightful NPS reports, including meter and trends reports
  • Prevent over-surveying with throttling features
  • Personalize and white-label surveys to reflect your company’s brand
  • Keep your team in the loop by sending instant alerts to assigned teams regarding detractors
  • Turn detractors into passives and passives into promoters, measuring customer loyalty effectively

Pros

  • CX automation helps reduce operational costs and minimize errors
  • AI text analysis identifies customer behavior and enhances CLTV
  • Multichannel NPS allows for customer engagement across various touchpoints

Cons

  • Lacks a benchmarking feature

Pricing

  • Free forever
  • Starter: $49/month per 3 users
  • Growth: $199/month per 5 users
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing
  1. AskNicely

Via: AskNicely

AskNicely allows you to automatically share NPS data and insights across teams like customer success, marketing, and product, which helps everyone make informed, data-driven decisions. Plus, it features direct customer replies within the platform, giving you valuable feedback on agent performance.

But it doesn’t stop at just surveys; AskNicely also offers leaderboards to help you analyze NPS scores. This lets you identify areas for improvement and the necessary steps to enhance the overall customer experience. 

Key Features

  • Automate survey distribution, follow-ups, and task assignments to close the feedback loop
  • Improve feedback processes with customizable workflows 
  • Use AI to analyze sentiments in unstructured feedback data
  • Evaluate and enhance agent performance through customer feedback reviews
  • Conduct surveys via email, SMS, and websites for maximum reach

Pros

  • Use AI to analyze NPS responses and identify underlying reasons for scores
  • Enable targeted follow-up emails and tasks based on NPS results
  • Integration with internal communication tools for gathering employee NPS feedback

Cons

  • Some users say the date filtering is not tied to calendar quarters

Pricing

  • Available in Starter, Standard & Advanced plans: Custom pricing
  1. Survicate

Via: Survicate

Survicate is a customer feedback tool offering Mobile App Surveys, Website Feedback Surveys, and various Surveys & Forms. It boosts NPS response rates through features like email preview embedding.

The platform calculates NPS scores in real-time and offers advanced filtering for deep analysis of individual customer journeys. Survicate enables sorting customers by satisfaction levels for targeted campaigns.

Its key strengths include easy report generation and sharing, facilitating effective feedback loop closure.

Key Features

  • User-friendly design for creating visually appealing surveys
  • Multiple options for triggering surveys at the right moment
  • Access to a questioning library that stores customer inquiries
  • Unlimited free users and surveys for broad accessibility
  • Flexible integration options with other tools and platforms

Pros

  • Reliable NPS calculations that account for partial responses
  • Enhanced targeting features for more meaningful and unbiased results
  • Fully customizable surveys to align with your brand identity

Cons

  • You can't combine NPS surveys from different channels, so you'll need to manually merge the feedback and calculate a global NPS score
  • There may be delays in publishing NPS surveys and receiving updates. For instance, sometimes the survey doesn’t launch, or we need at least one response before it can be displayed publicly 

Source: G2

Pricing

  • Good: $109.10/month (€99/month per 5 seats)
  • Better: $164.20/month (€149/month per 10 seats)
  • Best: $274.40/month (€249/month per 15 seats)
  • Better than the Rest: $329.50/month (€299/month for custom seats)
  1. SurveySensum

Via: SurveySensum

If you want a user-friendly NPS survey tool that offers streamlined NPS program creation through quick deployment and thorough analysis, SurveySensum has to be your go-to NPS tool. You can schedule surveys at times that work best for you, ensuring your questions are targeted and relevant. 

One of its best features is its AI-driven text and sentiment analysis, helping you uncover important themes from open-ended feedback without the hassle of manual coding. Plus, its automated workflows ensure that every piece of feedback gets a timely response, so nothing slips through the cracks.

Key Features

  • Easily create NPS surveys with templates for loyalty and follow-up questions
  • Distribute surveys via email, SMS, WhatsApp, websites, QR codes, and social media
  • Automate reminders for non-responders to boost engagement and reduce fatigue
  • Role-based dashboards offer tailored insights for different users
  • Use AI text analysis to identify key trends in customer feedback
  • Trigger automated reminders and follow-ups based on NPS scores

Pros

  • AI-driven text analysis for immediate insights
  • Customizable dashboards that cater to specific user needs
  • Smooth integration with popular CRM systems

Cons

  • Some users say it requires an API for integration with various CRM systems, complicating the setup process

Pricing

  • Free forever
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing
  1. Delighted

Via: Delighted

Delighted is an intuitive NPS software that enables you to craft customer and employee surveys in over 30 languages. With this tool, you can gather various types of feedback, including NPS, CSAT, CES, and five-star ratings. Users can easily distribute surveys through email, SMS, web, or direct links. 

Plus, Delighted supports numerous integrations and lets customers provide detailed insights through open-ended follow-up responses to specific NPS questions.

Key Features

  • Supports survey creation in multiple languages with over 30 options available
  • Provides a real-time dashboard for instant insights
  • Includes feedback scoring and detailed reporting
  • Set up email notifications for responses to simplify feedback collection
  • Use graphs to visualize survey results for simple interpretation and analysis

Pros

  • Get detailed reports, trends, and AI-driven text analytics for thorough analysis
  • Enhance workflows with smooth integrations and effective feedback loop management
  • Make data-driven decisions with insightful reporting and benchmarking

Cons

  • Doesn’t support SMS surveys or provide an Android SDK

Pricing

  • Starter: $17/month per 2 users
  • Growth: $35/month per 3 users
  • Advanced: $134/month per 5 users
  • Premium: $224/month per 10 users
  1. NiceReply

Via: NiceReply

Nicereply, a licensed NPS vendor, integrates surveys into email workflows and automates them after support interactions. It monitors complaints and tracks engagement, with automated workflows and push notifications for quick action on negative feedback.

The platform enables detailed customer profiling from NPS insights, allowing targeted actions to boost satisfaction, improve service, and foster loyalty.

Key Features

  • Survey tool designed for marketers and customer support teams
  • Gather NPS, CES, or CSAT feedback through web pages or email
  • Set up follow-up actions by extracting survey responses
  • Use eNPS to gauge employee loyalty and spot trends that affect customer satisfaction
  • Access all NPS data, trends, and customer feedback in one centralized dashboard
  • Identify at-risk customers and prioritize outreach using predictive analysis

Pros

  • Seamless integration of surveys into current workflows
  • Automated processes to enhance feedback management
  • Predictive analytics for proactive outreach
  • Close the feedback loop by directly addressing customer feedback

Cons

  • Relies heavily on integrations, which limits standalone functionality
  • No built-in platform for sending email surveys directly from the tool

Pricing

  • Starter: $59/month per 3 users
  • Essential: $119/month per 10 users
  • Growth: $239/month per 25 users
  • Business: $359/month per 50 users
  1. Medallia

Via: Medallia

With Medallia, you can manage high-volume NPS surveys and analyze both structured and unstructured data to uncover the key drivers of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, all powered by AI insights. 

It’s features like predictive analysis and real-time reporting lets you create detailed customer profiles to understand their needs better. The platform uses a combination of machine learning and human insights to automatically analyze survey responses, promoting collaboration among team members. 

This allows for timely actions to address concerns and enhance overall customer experience, making it one of the best top net promoter score tools, next to ClearlyRated, of course.

Key Features

  • Use AI and ML to forecast customer behavior
  • Quickly gather and analyze user feedback through predictive analytics
  • Create detailed experience profiles for an in-depth understanding of each customer
  • Categorize NPS scores for targeted analysis 
  • Monitor key NPS metrics and customer sentiment in real-time 

Pros

  • Effectively manages high-volume NPS surveys
  • Prioritizes improvement efforts through driver analysis based on impact
  • Offers thorough customer profiling

Cons

  • Integration with existing systems can be time-consuming

Pricing

  • Custom pricing
  1. Reputation

Via: Reputation.com

Reputation is an AI-driven online reputation management and customer experience platform with robust NPS capabilities. It analyzes public and private feedback data to provide predictive insights and strengthen online presence.

The platform features Reputation Score X, consolidating customer interactions across touchpoints for actionable insights. It unifies all feedback under one roof and uses Conversational Surveys via SMS for real-time, engaging feedback collection.

Reputation's comprehensive approach helps companies increase satisfaction, improve brand reputation, and drive growth.

Key Features

  • Consolidate data from reviews, social media, and surveys into a single dashboard
  • Get instant notifications for new reviews and customer feedback
  • Access actionable insights on sentiment, trends, and competitive performance
  • Simplify the process of soliciting and gathering customer reviews
  • Create detailed reports tailored to reputation management metrics

Pros

  • Combines data from various channels for a comprehensive view
  • Provides immediate alerts for new reviews and feedback
  • Streamlines the solicitation and collection of reviews

Cons

  • Some users might find the features and customization options initially as overwhelming

Pricing

  • Custom pricing
  1. GetFeedback

Via: GetFeedback

GetFeedback by Momentive is a versatile NPS survey tool that provides ready-to-use templates for quickly gathering actionable feedback for your business. Focusing on agility and cross-device compatibility, the platform ensures you can receive real-time insights from your customers.

For GetFeedback, NPS is only one aspect of a broader customer experience program. In fact, you can conduct intricate CX research studies across various channels and touchpoints. The platform’s analytics feature allows you to gain insights into your users' experiences and take action based on your findings.

Additionally, GetFeedback includes automated workflows, benchmarking for targeted actions, and omnichannel survey distribution, making it a popular choice among NPS survey tools.

Key Features

  • Easily launch and manage multiple NPS surveys
  • Deliver surveys via SMS and websites
  • Embed surveys in mobile apps using SDKs for iOS and Android
  • Integrate with Salesforce for personalized survey targeting and improved customer engagement

Pros

  • Intuitive interface with helpful automation features
  • Benchmarking capabilities for data-driven insights and industry comparisons
  • AI-powered insights for effective data analysis

Cons

  • Fewer customization options compared to some of the best NPS survey tools. Some users say it lacks the option to edit CCS, HTML, etc.
  • Integration setup is needed to maximize CRM functionalities

Pricing

  • Custom pricing

Get Started with ClearlyRated

Choosing the right NPS survey tool is essential for unlocking valuable customer insights. Each tool mentioned offers unique features that cater to different business needs. Whether your focus is on customization, advanced analytics, or seamless integration, you can find a tool that suits your requirements. 

If you’re looking for robust Net Promoter Score software, ClearlyRated could be just what you need! This platform enables you to create NPS surveys and questions, set up follow-ups, and collect detailed responses. With its capabilities to track various metrics and alert you about detractors, you can proactively manage customer feedback.

Moreover, ClearlyRated's customizable survey designs, automated workflows for different NPS segments, and AI-driven sentiment analysis empower you to transform detractors into promoters, enhancing the overall customer experience.

So why wait? Book a free demo with ClearlyRated and get started today!

FAQs

What does NPS stand for?

NPS stands for Net Promoter Score. It’s a metric that measures customer loyalty and satisfaction by asking how likely customers are to recommend a company's product or service to others.

What is a good NPS score in software?

A good NPS score in the software industry typically falls between 30 and 50. Scores above 50 are considered excellent, while scores above 70 indicate exceptional customer loyalty and satisfaction. However, what's deemed a "good" score can vary based on the industry, so it’s important to benchmark against peers.

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Voice of the Customer: What Is It How to Build It

B2B

Companies that use customer feedback are 2.5 times more likely to outperform their competitors in revenue growth. Yet, 75% of organizations struggle to turn customer insights into actionable business decisions. 

Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs are designed to help you collect feedback from multiple channels. They have become important to industry leaders like Amazon and Apple as they boost business performance. 

In this article, we will help you design and improve a VoC program that achieves meaningful results for your business.

What Is the Voice of the Customer?

Voice of the Customer (VoC) is a systematic process of capturing, analyzing, and acting on customer feedback and behavioral data to drive business decisions.

Customers share their thoughts through different channels, such as:

  • Community forums
  • Support interactions
  • Feedback forms
  • Social media posts
  • Customer surveys

However, it’s important to have support from all departments to create an effective VoC strategy. Every team plays a key role in enhancing the customer experience. It’s important for everyone to agree on how to gather feedback, share insights, and apply those findings to improve their part of the customer journey.

The Benefits of a Voice of the Customer Program

Many businesses without a VoC program depend heavily on sales data alone. Sales data shows what products perform well but misses why customers make these choices. This gap limits understanding and ignores key details about customer satisfaction and preferences.

VoC insights offer a complete picture and help businesses understand customer needs more deeply. It captures direct feedback for companies to make targeted improvements. 

Here are some major benefits of a strong VoC program:

Enhance Customer Loyalty

Retaining loyal customers is often easier than winning new ones. A Bain & Company study found that a 5% increase in retention rates can raise profits by 25% to 95%.

When you run a VoC program, customers can share concerns openly. This direct feedback lets your business respond quickly, improving customer satisfaction. As a result, you can reduce customer churn and increase loyalty.

Research from Oracle highlights this impact on customer experience with these interesting statistics:

  • 46% of consumers felt positive when a company responded to a negative comment
  • 89% of consumers turned to a competitor after a poor experience
  • 24% of consumers who faced bad service shared their experiences on social media 

A great example of loyalty through VoC is Sephora’s "Beauty Insider" program. Members use points to try sample products and special experiences, like makeovers. This approach works well in beauty, where creativity and testing products are key.

Sephora also taps into beauty communities, like Reddit’s "r/makeupaddiction," which has over 6.3 million members. It created a "Beauty Insider Community" where members get advice and ideas from each other.

Sephora keeps its program fresh by updating rewards based on feedback, meeting changing customer needs, and keeping loyalty high.

Beauty Insider’s hybrid model mixes points and loyalty tiers, such as "Insider," "VIB," and "Rouge." In 2024, Sephora added new levels in the UK: "MySephora Bronze," "MySephora Silver," and "MySephora Gold." This tiered approach keeps conversations going online, with many Reddit threads on using Sephora points.

Improve Brand Reputation

A strong VoC program can greatly improve your brand’s reputation. When you respond quickly and thoughtfully to customer feedback, you show that you value their opinions. This builds trust and shows commitment to customer satisfaction.

Research supports this. For instance, companies with active VoC programs saw a 55% increase in customer retention rate and a 23% decrease in yearly customer service expenses.

A good VoC program can also prevent crises. By resolving issues early, your business can stop small problems from growing into public issues. For example, Delta Airlines uses VoC to catch negative feedback early. By acting quickly, they avoid bigger issues and build positive customer relationships.

Social proof is another key benefit. Positive reviews and testimonials strengthen brand reputation and draw new customers. According to Nielsen, 92% of customers trust recommendations from others. If you create a VoC program, it will encourage satisfied customers to share their positive experiences.

Reduce Customer Complaints and Faster Resolutions

Gathering customer feedback in a structured manner enables businesses to identify issues before they escalate. And early detection means you can tackle problems proactively, which is essential for keeping customers happy. 

A VoC program will also help you assess the severity of different issues. By prioritizing based on urgency and impact, you can resolve high-priority concerns quickly, leading to faster resolutions.

Encourage Product Innovation

VoC insights help companies keep up with changing trends and customer preferences. Understanding what customers want encourages innovation in products and services.

For example, Microsoft used VoC data to develop Office 365 features based on user requests. This allowed them to launch new features faster. Fast response to VoC insights also builds a competitive advantage, showing that you adapt quickly to customer needs. VoC data can reduce R&D costs by focusing only on needed features. 

When you align products with customer expectations, you create a better user experience. This strengthens customer loyalty, boosts sales, and helps you stay competitive in a fast-changing market.

Increase in Revenue

Retaining customers and growing your base directly raises revenue. A strong VoC program lets you track what customers want and are willing to pay for.

VoC insights also reveal cross-sell and upsell opportunities. Amazon uses VoC feedback to recommend related items, increasing sales by 35% through targeted product suggestions. Aligning your offers with customer desires leads to more purchases, helping your revenue grow.

3 Questions to Consider Before Building a Voice of the Customer Program

While building an effective VoC program, you must ask the right questions to make a big difference. 

These three questions can help guide companies in their efforts to enhance the customer experience, boost retention, and increase revenue.

Question #1: What Is the Goal of the Voice of the Customer Program?

Having a well-defined purpose is crucial for any voice of the customer program. The strategies you choose should align with your business goals. Before diving into the program, it's helpful for companies to explore potential objectives and identify which will be the most beneficial for their unique requirement.

Objectives for a VoC program typically fall into two categories: benchmarking and continuous improvement.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking focuses on comparing performance across different metrics. Some survey providers claim to serve both benchmarking and continuous improvement, but a closer look at their survey structures reveals the truth. 

Benchmarking surveys often contain numerous rating questions and are heavily metrics-oriented. For instance, one vendor uses the first 13 questions solely for benchmarking, sometimes including just one open-ended question in a 30- or 40-question set.

To make benchmarking effective, it’s important to maintain consistency in the survey experience. Every respondent should receive the same set of questions, regardless of their website journey. Otherwise, the survey can feel lengthy and irrelevant. When questions are too long or not directly related, the quality of responses tends to drop. 

Ultimately, the value of benchmarking surveys lies in comparative performance. 

However, understanding why scores rank as they do often requires a further, more granular voice of the customer research.

Continuous Improvement

On the other hand, continuous improvement goals can be tailored to specific customer interactions. These surveys may include rating questions along with open-ended ones that encourage respondents to explain their ratings. This approach provides deeper insights into what drives customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Companies should select their objective based on the type of information they wish to gather. Some common goals include:

  • Customer Research
  • Customer Retention
  • Acquiring New Customers
  • Improving Brand Image
  • Cost Reduction
  • Increasing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Question #2: What Metrics Should Be Measured Throughout the VoC Program?

After defining the goal of the VoC program, the next step is to determine which metrics will effectively measure progress. Some commonly used metrics include the Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Effort Score (CES), and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT).

When selecting these metrics, consider how they fit into the broader business picture. You should also combine quantitative data with qualitative insights from customer feedback for a well-rounded understanding. 

Regularly reviewing and adjusting your metrics ensures you stay responsive to both evolving customer needs and shifting business objectives.

Question #3: How Should the Success of the VoC Program Be Measured?

Last but not least, your VoC program needs to inspire action. 

Evaluate success by evaluating what has changed since the program's implementation. Success measurement relies on setting clear goals and selecting specific metrics that align with those objectives. Companies should keep track of whether their metrics improve over time. 

The adjustments made to enhance these metrics should guide the company toward its primary goals.

Building a Voice of the Customer Program: Best Practices

Building a VoC program gives you direct access to your customers’ needs. Their feedback provides valuable insights and warnings that can influence your business's success. 

These five essentials can set your VoC program on continuous improvement.

Identify Customer Touchpoints

Understanding how your customers experience your brand means recognizing the various touchpoints they encounter along the way. Customers may first notice your brand through an online search or an ad. They might browse your blog, explore customer reviews, or visit your website. Some may visit a physical store and, later on, connect with your customer service team.

Mapping out these touchpoints within a customer journey map helps you see the full scope of their experience. By combining insights from all touchpoints, you can gain a complete view of customer experiences, which helps inform your decision-making and identify where improvements will make the most difference.

Collect and Connect Feedback Across Data Channels

Relying on just one or two channels to gather feedback often doesn’t cover the complete picture of customer needs, behaviors, and preferences. Without a comprehensive approach, VoC programs miss valuable insights and deliver a limited view of customer satisfaction. 

To capture the whole story, you need feedback from every channel your customers interact with.

Client feedback and reputation management platforms like ClearlyRated make it easier to capture insights across multiple channels. By deploying customized surveys, ClearlyRated gathers responses that reveal how likely customers are to recommend your services. 

It then categorizes them into promoters, passives, and detractors, giving you a clear snapshot of overall customer sentiment and areas where improvements can be made. With this data, you’re not just collecting feedback; you’re building a foundation for a seamless customer experience across channels.

Analyze Customer Data

Collecting data is only half the story—you need to understand it. To make sense of customer insights, standardizing your approach to data analysis is essential. 

Tools like natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis can help decode customer sentiments, emotions, and preferences.

By translating raw data into actionable insights, you gain a clearer view of what customers value or find frustrating. These insights go beyond surface-level satisfaction, helping your team understand the deeper needs, wants, and feelings that drive customer choices. With this data, your organization can more accurately measure and improve the customer experience.

Collaborate with Teams Across the Entire Organization

Building an effective VoC program requires teamwork across departments. Different teams must join forces to gather, analyze, and act on the insights. By using collaborative action-planning tools, departments can align on customer-focused strategies. 

ClearlyRated, for example, allows you to tag project owners, set deadlines, and provide step-by-step guides to ensure everyone knows how to make customers happy.

Take Action and Deliver Insights to the Right People

It’s also essential to connect the right people with the right insights. Configurable dashboards make it easy to share relevant data across roles, from frontline staff to leadership. 

With ClearlyRated’s automatic alerts based on location, feedback type, or behavior, teams can quickly address concerns and track feedback over time. This data-driven collaboration helps foster customer loyalty, as clients see that their feedback is valued and acted upon, creating a culture of continuous improvement.

You can automatically involve the right stakeholders based on feedback from the leadership team on the frontline.

Monitor and Act on Customer Experience Trends

Regular monitoring helps companies track their progress over time. 

Often, companies get confused while choosing the right metrics. Instead, focus on one key metric. Create a system that encourages smooth feedback flow. 

As employees respond to feedback, you will see that metric improve over time.

How to Collect VoC Data

When it comes to gathering VoC data, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Different methods provide unique benefits, so many companies combine several techniques to provide a fuller picture of customer perspectives. 

Let’s look at some key methods and how each adds value to understanding customer experiences.

Customer Interviews

Direct interviews are one of the most simple ways to gather customer insights. Whether conducted face-to-face, by phone, or via email, interviews allow for in-depth exploration of customer opinions. 

This method remains popular because it allows companies to capture the unique perspectives and specific feedback customers provide in their interactions with a brand.

Surveys

Surveys are essential for gathering Voice of Customer (VoC) data, offering an efficient way to collect targeted feedback at specific points in the customer journey. Surveys can be delivered in many ways—by email, SMS, or directly on a website. The structure and types of questions can vary widely, from multiple-choice to open-ended formats, allowing companies to tailor questions to specific insights they need. 

ClearlyRated’s NPS surveys are a highly effective way to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction by categorizing responses into promoters, passives, and detractors. Promoters are highly satisfied customers who are likely to recommend the brand. At the same time, passives are satisfied but not enthusiastic, and detractors are unhappy customers who might discourage others from engaging with the brand. 

This system provides a quick, intuitive view of how customers feel about the brand, helping companies identify strengths and areas that need improvement.

The platform’s survey approach works because it focuses on creating tailored survey experiences that resonate with clients. By customizing survey questions, companies can dive deeper into specific areas, gathering insights not only on general satisfaction but also on the finer aspects of their services. This feedback allows businesses to respond more effectively to customer needs. 

Additionally, ClearlyRated’s dashboard calculates your Net Promoter® Score and gives insights into your customer’s perceptions of optimism, community, fairness, recognition, advancement, feedback, pride, belonging, meritocracy, and diversity.

Live Chat

Live chat on a website has become a go-to tool for real-time feedback. This feature offers a window into the customer experience as it’s happening. Live chats can also provide an opportunity to schedule follow-up surveys, so companies can track satisfaction levels over time. 

Responding instantly to customer concerns helps prevent negative experiences, reducing the chance of dissatisfaction before they leave the site.

Online Reviews and Social Media

For a modern approach to gathering VoC data, online reviews and social media interactions are invaluable. This approach allows for two-way communication, helping businesses understand customer needs and anticipate trends.

Maintaining a positive brand reputation is crucial for customer retention. Responding to online reviews shows that a company values customer opinions. A solid review management strategy helps businesses identify customer frustrations and take steps to address them.

Website Behavior 

Understanding customer behavior on a website can reveal a lot about their experience. Tools like heat maps track where users click, scroll, and linger, helping businesses optimize the site’s layout and functionality. These insights allow companies to test changes and adjustments to enhance user experience. 

Plus, tracking on-site behavior is a powerful way to make the website more user-friendly, directly responding to customer interaction patterns.

Focus Groups

Focus groups bring together a small, diverse group of people to discuss their thoughts on a product, service, or topic. 

Unlike surveys or interviews, focus groups provide qualitative data that offers depth and detail. Participants can share their thoughts openly, providing context that often isn’t captured in quantitative data. 

By using focus groups, businesses can access a more nuanced understanding of customer perceptions and preferences, which can be especially useful for fine-tuning products or marketing strategies.

How Companies are Changing the Business Landscape With VoC

Customer-perceived quality and above-average service drive business success. When customers share their feedback, they expect action and updates on progress.

To build customer loyalty, you need a clear view of customers, markets, and employees.

As one of the largest insurance brokerage and consulting firms in the US, Woodruff Sawyer protects the people and assets of more than 4,000 companies. Customer experience was a key priority for them. 

In 2014, they invested in a data-driven approach to enhance their services. Their commitment to client experience and unique service needs set them apart. They sought measurable data about client experiences and wanted direct feedback.

Although Woodruff Sawyer’s client ratings were excellent from the start, they found some detractors.

They needed a Net Promoter Score (NPS) solution to harness actionable data. This led them to ClearlyRated. The ClearlyRated program uses NPS methodology, providing more than just survey data.

Melinda Miu, Woodruff Sawyer’s Assistant Vice President of Marketing, said: 

“From a communications perspective, NPS has provided us with a metric to credibly demonstrate the level of service we provide. Every single NPS survey that we’ve launched since 2014 has scored us in the world-class range for service. Our most recent NPS based on our 2021 survey was 86.1%—far exceeding the insurance industry average of 34%. These metrics make it possible for us to tell our story in a way that provides proof of our claims of excellence.” 

Woodruff Sawyer is an excellent example of a brand that incorporates the voice of the customer into their marketing and communications to help tell their story of service excellence. 

Their story highlights the transformative power of VoC in shaping business strategies and fostering lasting customer relationships.

Use ClearlyRated to Fuel Your VoC Program

Today, businesses don’t need to rely on feedback from just a few customers. They can be a part of every customer interaction, gaining insights across all stages of the customer journey. This opens up an entirely new level of understanding, giving companies the power to make smarter decisions that enhance customer experiences.

ClearlyRated brings a unique mix of award-winning technology and specialized services to the table, making Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs more effective, manageable, and scalable. With ClearlyRated, interpreting VoC data becomes very easy, helping businesses identify where their focus should be to make a lasting impact on both customers and overall success.

Moreover, ClearlyRated's customizable survey designs, automated workflows for different NPS segments, and AI-driven sentiment analysis empower you to transform detractors into promoters, creating a more positive experience all around. Book a free demo with ClearlyRatedto get started!

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The NPS Question: Examples and Template for 2024

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Did you know that companies with high NPS scores grow twice as fast as their competitors? 

When you use the right NPS question, you can better understand customer satisfaction and its reasons. It’s important to pay attention to tone and words used as clear questions lead to meaningful answers.

In this article, we’ll share effective NPS questions and templates to gather valuable customer insights.

What is an NPS Survey Question?

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey asks a single core question:

"On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our business to a friend or colleague?"

This question measures customer loyalty. It asks how likely customers are to recommend your business.

Recommendations show strong loyalty, and satisfied customers are more likely to share their positive experiences with people they trust.

The 0-10 scale helps capture a wider range of customer feelings. A "yes/no" question wouldn’t show the full spectrum of satisfaction. The 0-10 scale lets customers share their opinions, from very dissatisfied (0) to very satisfied (10).

Asking about recommendations to a "friend or colleague" adds personal trust. It goes beyond asking if customers would buy again and taps into the social and personal side of loyalty.

You often ask the NPS question at key moments in the customer journey. These include:

  • After a purchase
  • After a service interaction
  • After onboarding

Businesses deliver the NPS question through different channels, such as:

  • Email surveys
  • On-site pop-ups
  • SMS messages
  • In-app prompts

You may use NPS alongside other measures like CSAT or CES. However, its simplicity and focus on recommendations make it easy to use in many situations.

NPS Survey Structure

An NPS survey is a two-part questionnaire:

  • Rating question: Customers rate a business, product, or service on a scale from 0 to 10. Here’s an example:
  • Follow-up question: The second part of the questionnaire, also known as an open-ended question, asks customers why they gave their specific score. This question can be as simple as:  "What’s the main reason behind your score?" You can showcase this question after customers click the survey link in your email. Here’s what it would look like:

That’s it! Just ask these two questions. Then, you can calculate your NPS with the data you’ll collect from the responses.

Every time you ask someone to do something, like clicking a link, you create an obstacle. This often leads to fewer people completing the survey. 

At ClearlyRated, we’ve found that each extra click reduces response rates. As a rule, if you keep it to two questions, you can expect about a 25% response rate. This means that 25% of people who receive the survey fill it out and send it back. You can and should aim for even higher numbers.

To improve your response rates, you can follow these best practices:

  • Personalize your emails
  • Send them from a reliable, spam-free server
  • Make sure your emails work on mobile devices
  • Follow up with customers who don’t respond

Below are some more tips to improve your response rates:

tips to improve your response rate.

[Image Source: ClearlyRated]

Questions to Ask in Your NPS Survey

When planning your NPS survey, keep it simple and focused. Too many questions can confuse your respondents and dilute the feedback.

Start by defining the main goal of your survey. Do you want to improve customer retention, understand loyalty, or fix problems? This will help you craft clear questions.

As you create your survey, keep these factors in mind:

  • Customer segment: Are you asking new or long-time customers?
  • Customer journey: Are you asking after a purchase or renewal?
  • Trigger events: Did something recent spark the survey?
  • Customer behavior: Have you seen any positive or negative trends?
  • Pain points: What issues hurt loyalty, and how can you fix them?
  • Survey channel: Will you send the survey by email, in-app, or another way?

The more you know your audience, the better you can customize your NPS questions.

Now, let’s look at some great NPS question examples. These will work for different situations, including campaigns, and help you get useful feedback.

Rating Survey Questions

These questions use numeric rating systems to measure customer satisfaction. As a result, you can understand customer experience quickly. Plus, you can easily analyze this data.

Here are some NPS question examples for different situations:

  • Post-purchase feedback: On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product to a friend?
  • Service interaction follow-up: How likely are you to recommend our support team after your recent experience?
  • Feature use feedback: How satisfied are you with our new feature on a scale from 0 to 10?
  • Subscription renewal: Based on your experience, how likely are you to renew your subscription?
  • Onboarding experience: How likely are you to recommend our platform after completing onboarding?
  • Event feedback: How likely are you to recommend attending another event we host?
  • Product launch: On a scale of 0 to 10, how happy are you with our latest product launch?

These NPS questions help you measure satisfaction at different customer touchpoints.

Open-Ended Survey Questions

Open-ended questions let customers share their thoughts. They help you understand experiences in more detail. These questions are great for getting suggestions, addressing concerns, and learning customer motivations. They help you spot areas for improvement and understand customer feelings on a personal level.

Here are some NPS question examples that prompt detailed feedback:

  • What could we have done differently to improve your service experience?
  • What made you try our product, and how can we make it better?
  • Why would you (or wouldn’t) recommend us to a friend?
  • What features would improve your experience with our product?
  • What influenced your decision to renew (or not renew) your subscription?
  • How can we improve our onboarding process to meet your needs?
  • What did you enjoy most about our event? What would you change for next time?
  • What do you think of our latest product? How can we improve it?

These NPS questions offer insights that numerical scores alone can’t give.

Thank You Messages

Sending a thank-you message after a survey shows you value your clients or team members' opinions. They take time to share their thoughts, and you should acknowledge it.

Here are some examples of thank-you messages you can send:

  • Thank you for your feedback! We are always working to improve, and your input helps.
  • We appreciate you taking the time to complete our survey. Your voice helps us serve you better.
  • Your feedback is important to us. We look forward to using it to improve your experience.

Next, we’ll cover specific client and talent survey questions to help you create better surveys and follow up with a sincere thank-you message.

Client Survey Questions

When you ask your clients for feedback, keep the questions relevant and clear. This will help you get accurate responses and insights you need to improve your services. 

Once clients answer, send a thank-you message. Make it personal to show appreciation.

Here are some client survey questions you can ask:

  • How satisfied are you with our service delivery?
  • What part of our service do you think we could improve?
  • What value do you feel you get from working with us?
  • Is there any service we currently don’t offer that you’d like to see?
  • What’s the most significant benefit you've gained from working with our team?
  • How well do you think we understand your business needs?
  • Would you consider using our services again?

Talent Survey Questions

Employees are the foundation of any successful business, so their feedback is important. You can gain insights into different areas by creating thoughtful talent survey questions, such as:

  • Workplace environment
  • Job satisfaction
  • Areas for growth 

Just as with clients, following up with a thank-you message reinforces that their voice is heard and appreciated.

Below are some of the talent survey questions you can send to your employees:

  • How valued do you feel within the company?
  • Do you have the resources you need to perform your role effectively?
  • What’s the biggest challenge you face in your current role?
  • On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with your career progression here?
  • What would improve your day-to-day work experience?
  • Do you feel that leadership communicates expectations clearly?
  • What motivates you the most in your current position?
  • Is there anything you would change about the company culture?

Sending a follow-up thank-you message to employees who participate in a survey makes them feel recognized, showing that their input is required to shape the company’s direction..

What to Do With Feedback From the NPS Questions

Once you've gathered responses from your NPS survey, it’s time to dive into the results. Start by organizing feedback into Promoters, Passives, and Detractors. From there, you can identify patterns and create plans you can customize to each group. 

Let’s explore how to do that efficiently.

1. Follow Up with Detractors via Emails

For smaller surveys, it’s always great to respond personally, but when you’re dealing with a large number of responses, it might not be practical to reply to everyone. Your Promoters and Passives will be satisfied with a simple thank-you message. 

However, you need to reach out directly to Detractors—those who provided. Fixing the problem or offering an apology or discount can rebuild trust, which can turn dissatisfied customers into loyal ones.

2. Add NPS Data to Your CRM

Adding NPS feedback to your CRM can give you a clear view of customer satisfaction trends over time. You can track ratings and feedback for individual customers or segments. This way, you can spot patterns in dissatisfaction or praise.

For example, if an existing customer consistently gives low scores, this could highlight a gap in your service or product that you need to address urgently. You can use these insights to adjust your product offerings or refine your ideal customer profile (ICP).

3. Maximizing Open-Ended Feedback

One of the most valuable aspects of your Net Promoter Score survey questions is the open-ended feedback. Negative feedback from Detractors might feel tough to hear, but it’s important for you to improve your services. Addressing these pain points can prevent future complaints and keep your customers loyal.

Meanwhile, Passives, though generally satisfied, often reveal minor issues that keep them from becoming Promoters. You need to listen to and act on their suggestions to turn them into loyal supporters. 

Promoters, on the other hand, provide feedback that highlight your business's strengths. Their positive comments are not just encouraging; they reveal what’s working well and offer a roadmap for expanding on your successes.

How Do I Make a Good NPS Survey?

Creating an effective NPS survey requires more than asking customers about how likely they are to recommend your business. A well-designed survey gathers meaningful, actionable feedback, which helps drive improvements across various areas of your business. 

The first step in creating a good NPS survey is to keep it short. 

ClearlyRated makes it easier for you with its customizable NPS surveys that capture customer sentiment without making the process complicated.

The platform goes beyond the basics by offering customizable net promoter score templates, allowing you to modify the NPS question or add tailored follow-ups. This means you can capture insights that are directly relevant to your business. 

Secondly, timing and audience are equally important. Hence, you need to customize your NPS survey to target customers or journey stages. 

For example, asking a customer who just completed a purchase will get different insights than someone who’s been with your company for years. 

ClearlyRated’s solution allows you to target the ideal respondents based on their interaction with your business. This ensures you receive valuable feedback. 

The platform also integrates with your CRM like Salesforce, Bullhorn, and Erecruit to ensure that surveys reach the right people at the right time so that the responses are more meaningful. 

Now, once you gather the data, you need to turn it into action. ClearlyRated’s analytics dashboard allows you to track NPS trends, segment feedback by customer type, and prioritize responses.

Identify trends, whether they come from loyal Promoters or dissatisfied Detractors, using the analytics dashboard

This system allows for quick follow-ups, helping you address negative feedback. At the same time, it uses promoters for testimonials or referrals. Their detailed analysis transforms raw data into actionable strategies. 

On the other hand, you can access response rates, customer satisfaction scores (CSAT), and customer lifetime value (CLV). Combining this data, companies gain a full view of customer sentiment and loyalty over time.

As a result, companies can better understand their strengths and weaknesses. This allows them to improve client retention, reduce churn, and drive long-term growth.

Survey Your Customers with ClearlyRated

When you use the NPS correctly, you truly understand your customers and build loyalty. 

Your customers' perceptions of your brand are shaped by how well your team interacts with them, how effectively your products and services meet their needs, and their overall relationship with your company. ClearlyRated empowers you to do more with NPS by offering tailored survey creation, automated follow-ups, and advanced analytics. The platform tracks key metrics and notifies you about detractors, giving you the tools to respond promptly. 

Plus, with features like customizable workflows and AI-driven sentiment analysis, ClearlyRated allows you to convert negative experiences into positive ones, turning detractors into loyal promoters.

Ready to take your survey questions to the next level? Start by booking a free demo with ClearlyRated today!

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Service Recovery: Definition, Types & Strategies

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Did you know that customers who experience a service failure and receive a fast, effective solution are often more loyal than those who never faced an issue? Research shows that up to 70% of customers are willing to buy again if their complaints are resolved, and that number jumps to 95% if the issue is fixed quickly and in their favor. 

Building trust is necessary in a marketplace full of new brands struggling to gain a competitive edge. With so many choices, consumers prefer brands that prioritize transparency, quality, and clear communication. If you want this trust to be more meaningful, you must create a high-quality company culture. Trust among employees and leadership makes this culture genuine.

In this article, we’ll dive into service recovery strategies that help repair customer relationships, increase brand loyalty, and show how to empower your team for successful service recovery. 

What is Service Recovery?

Service recovery is the process of reaching out to customers to address any negative experience they’ve had with your business. The goal of service recovery is to identify and understand customer issues, work to resolve them, and ultimately regain their trust. 

These strategies resolve the problem and leave customers with a positive experience, even though they experienced dissatisfaction in the beginning. As a result, it encourages them to stay loyal.

What is the Service Recovery Paradox?

The Service Recovery Paradox (SRP) is an interesting concept in customer service. It says that a company can actually build more loyalty from a customer after a service failure, if they handle the recovery well.

It might sound like nonsense at first, right? How could a bad experience actually improve customer loyalty? 

The key here is that it’s not about the failure itself – it’s about how your business responds when things go wrong. If a customer’s issue is resolved quickly, with care, and maybe even a bit of extra effort, they can end up feeling even more loyal than before the problem occurred.

The Service Recovery Paradox (SRP) Model

Take a hotel, for example. If a guest arrives and finds their room isn’t ready, the initial disappointment is understandable. But if the hotel staff quickly apologizes, offers a free drink, and upgrades the room, that guest might leave feeling more valued than they would have if everything had gone smoothly from the start.

Companies that effectively recover from failures show customers they are committed to fixing problems. When a company goes above and beyond to make things right, customers notice. It sends a message that their experience matters, even when things don’t go perfectly. 

For businesses, it’s an opportunity to turn a negative situation into a chance for deeper customer loyalty. 

In the end, how you handle mistakes can be more important than the mistakes themselves.

When Do You Need to Implement Service Recovery Strategies?

A company should implement service recovery strategies to turn a customer’s negative experience into a positive outcome. 

Here are some common situations where service recovery strategies make a big difference:

1. Direct customer communications

In direct interactions, customers may voice complaints or concerns directly to the company. These situations need immediate and empathetic responses to show customers they’re heard:

  • Verbal complaints: When customers call or speak to a representative about an issue, the rep should respond quickly and offer solutions on the spot
  • Written complaints: Emails or contact forms with complaints require prompt replies that acknowledge the issue and outline a resolution
  • Support ticket escalations: Escalated tickets often represent more complex issues. Prioritizing these can help prevent further customer dissatisfaction

2. Public feedback channels

Public platforms amplify customer voices, so a quick response here is crucial for protecting the brand’s image:

  • Social media mentions: Addressing complaints on social media promptly shows transparency and commitment to resolving issues.
  • Review platforms: Following up on negative reviews demonstrates care and a willingness to improve.
  • Online forums and community discussions: Engaging in online communities helps keep your brand’s reputation positive and shows you value feedback.

3. Performance metrics

Tracking customer satisfaction and other performance indicators helps identify service recovery needs before they escalate:

  • Customer satisfaction scores (CSAT): Low CSAT scores signal dissatisfaction, prompting a need for immediate action to understand and address the root causes.
  • Net promoter score (NPS) trends: Falling NPS scores can reveal declining loyalty, so it’s essential to identify problem areas and work on improvements.
  • Service level agreement (SLA) breaches: Not meeting SLAs impacts trust. Service recovery can help repair relationships with affected customers.
  • Customer effort scores (CES): High CES often indicates frustration with the service. Reducing this effort can improve the customer experience.

4. Observable service failures

Sometimes, service failures are evident without direct customer feedback. Addressing these quickly shows a proactive commitment to quality:

  • Product defects: Fixing defects and compensating affected customers can help restore trust.
  • Service delays: Communicating delays and offering remedies demonstrates accountability.
  • System outages: Providing clear updates and compensating affected users can ease frustration during outages.
  • Billing errors: Correcting billing issues and communicating transparently helps maintain trust.

In these moments, each response is responsible for the company’s image. A customer experience platform like ClearlyRated can quickly address these issues and deliver insights to turn such feedback into actionable steps. This ensures every interaction results in a positive experience in the end.

What are the Best Service Recovery Strategies?

Below are the 7 best service recovery strategies businesses must implement during a customer service crisis.

1. Make the service fail-safe

The first step in effective service recovery is to prevent problems before they happen by making your service as reliable as possible. This requires a commitment from leadership and should be a core part of your company’s culture.

To make your service fail-safe:

  • Quality control processes: Regularly test products or services to catch issues early. This reduces the chance of customer-impacting errors
  • Staff training: Equip employees with the skills and knowledge to deliver consistent quality. Well-trained teams can prevent common mistakes and handle issues before they escalate
  • Service standards: Set clear guidelines for service performance and response times. This ensures that everyone on your team understands the level of quality customers expect

By focusing on these preventive measures, you build a strong foundation for service reliability and reduce the likelihood of service failures.

2. Track complaints

Research suggests that 91% of customers prefer switching to a competitor than making a complaint.

To retain customers, you must make it easy for them to voice their concerns. Use feedback tools like QR codes, helplines, or social media. A ticketing system can track these complaints and ensure they are handled swiftly.

3.Take immediate action

Customers expect fast responses when they reach out with complaints, and long wait times can drive them away. Studies show that up to 75% of customers are likely to abandon a brand due to slow response times. Respond quickly to reassure them that their issue is a priority. Aim to acknowledge their complaint within 15 minutes to 1 hour and, if possible, resolve the issue within 24 hours.

To further improve response speed:

  • Set escalation procedures: For complex issues, establish clear steps for escalation to ensure higher-level support gets involved without delay. This helps prevent prolonged wait times for urgent cases
  • Leverage automation: Use automated responses to acknowledge complaints immediately and keep customers informed throughout the resolution process. Automation tools can also route cases to the right teams, speeding up overall response times

When offering a solution takes time, provide regular updates to keep customers in the loop. This approach shows that you're actively working on their concerns and builds trust.

4. Explain the situation to the customer

When a service failure occurs, it’s important to be clear and transparent with the customer. An honest explanation can help them understand and even empathize with your situation. 

However, balance is crucial—be informative without overburdening them with too much detail. Here’s how:

  • Be transparent but concise: Instead of saying, "Our system had a technical error," give a more thoughtful response, like, "Our payment system temporarily went offline, which caused a delay in processing your transaction." This is clear, direct, and specific without diving too deep into technical jargon
  • Avoid blame or excuses: A poor explanation might sound like, “It wasn’t our fault; another department caused the delay.” Instead, try, “We encountered an unexpected delay, and we’re working on a solution to prevent this in the future.” This approach shows accountability
  • Show smpathy and commitment to resolution: For example, say, “I understand how frustrating this must be. We are actively resolving the issue and ensuring it doesn’t happen again.” This statement shows you value the customer’s experience and are committed to improvement

By clearly explaining what went wrong, taking accountability, and providing reassurance, you help rebuild trust and encourage understanding without oversharing.

5. Demonstrate empathy and commitment

There’s no excuse for making a customer feel like their issue isn’t important. Always show that you’re doing everything possible to resolve the problem quickly. 

If they’ve gone through a lot of trouble, consider offering something extra as a goodwill gesture to rebuild the relationship. For example, you can give customers an exclusive offer, like early access to a new product or a VIP customer service line. 

Or, a personalized, sincere apology (email or handwritten note) can make a big difference. For instance, a hotel might send a note with a small gift to a guest who had a disrupted stay.

These gestures show appreciation and can make the customer feel valued.

6. Forge a strong relationship with customers

To build a strong relationship with your customers, focus on specific actions that show you care. Personalize your communication by using customer data to offer tailored recommendations and rewards. This makes customers feel valued and understood.

Incorporate a loyalty program to encourage repeat business. Offer rewards, exclusive deals, or early access to products for loyal customers. This keeps them engaged and shows appreciation.

Listen to your customers and respond to their feedback. This builds trust and shows you are committed to meeting their needs. By being transparent and consistent, you turn a simple transaction into a lasting relationship.

7. Customer experience after service recovery

Once the service recovery process is complete, it’s important to gauge how the customer feels to ensure their satisfaction. You can use surveys, follow-up emails, or direct conversations to gauge their experience. 

Additionally, tools like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) surveys can provide valuable insights into how well the recovery met their expectations.

Control charts are a useful tool to track the consistency and quality of your recovery efforts over time. They help you visualize the performance of your service recovery process and identify any deviations from expected outcomes. These charts show data points over a period, allowing you to spot trends or issues that need attention.

To track recovery effectiveness, focus on metrics such as resolution time, customer effort score, repeat incidents, and the customer’s likelihood to recommend your business. These specific metrics will help you monitor the success of your service recovery and identify areas for improvement.

What are the Benefits of Having Efficient Service Recovery Strategies?

Given below are the benefits of having robust service recovery strategies in place:

Improves customer retention

Along with fixing issues, service recovery also strengthens relationships. When you treat customers with respect and fulfill their needs, even longtime customers feel validated in their loyalty. Plus, new ones become more likely to stay. 

A Zendesk study indicated that almost three out of five customers feel loyalty towards a brand that offers good customer service. 

You can also customize these strategies to each customer type to add a personal touch. This can have a long-lasting impact.

Increases loyalty

A strong bond with your customers means more opportunities. Loyal customers are often easier to upsell or cross-sell to, and they’re less likely to be affected by price changes if your service remains excellent. 

Even if things don’t go well, good service recovery strategies nurture this bond and maintains commitment of customers.

Creates brand ambassadors

Happy customers spread the word and become ambassadors for your brand. Companies that excel at service recovery create a lasting impression. This makes customers eager to share their experiences. 

Service recovery also highlights your brand values, which makes it evident tour business cares about its promises.

Troubleshooting service failures

Inefficiencies and failures can happen, especially in complex processes. Recurring issues, such as high cart abandonment or customer churn, indicate that your business needs adjustments in its processes. 

In these cases, you can use customer feedback surveys to find out what went wrong, track trends, and identify common issues for improvement.

Increases customer satisfaction

Service recovery strategies also significantly improve customer satisfaction. When customers see you have addressed their concerns professionally, they feel valued and respected. 

In contrast, satisfied customers are more likely to stay loyal. This can turn a challenging situation into a chance for stronger connections.

What are the Steps a Business Should Take to Build a Service Recovery Team?

Here’s how you build a team that focuses on providing the best customer care.

Involve the leadership team

Involving the leadership team is crucial for successful service recovery. Start by clearly defining the roles of key leaders. 

For example, the CEO should support the overall vision for customer satisfaction, while customer service managers ensure day-to-day operations run smoothly. The IT or operations leader might help provide the necessary tools for tracking and managing customer complaints.

Each leader has a key responsibility in making service recovery work, such as: 

  • The CEO or senior executives should set the tone, demonstrating they’re committed to customer satisfaction
  • Customer service managers need to oversee recovery processes, ensuring staff are trained to handle complaints effectively
  • Other leaders, such as IT or HR, should provide the resources, like tools or training, needed to resolve issues quickly

To secure executive buy-in, present clear data on how customer dissatisfaction impacts the bottom line. Show how investing in service recovery can lead to higher customer loyalty and retention, which ultimately boosts profits. Make the case that improving service recovery is not just about solving problems but about growing the business.

Write down recovery criteria

To effectively manage service recovery, set clear criteria to determine when action is needed. 

  • First, define priority levels for different types of issues. For example, issues that cause significant disruption, like a service outage, should be marked as high priority, while minor concerns can be low priority
  • Next, establish response time standards. For high-priority issues, your team should aim to respond within hours, while lower-priority concerns might have a longer response window, like within one business day
  • Set escalation thresholds to ensure timely action. If a problem isn't resolved within the agreed-upon time, it should be escalated to higher-level staff. This keeps issues from getting ignored and ensures customers receive the attention they need 

As your business grows, these criteria should be reviewed and adjusted to meet new needs and challenges.

Start a service recovery team

If you want your service recovery strategies to succeed, you must establish a specialized team. This team should be highly trained in handling complaints and resolving issues. 

The team should have essential skills like strong communication, problem-solving, and empathy. They should be trained in how to manage difficult situations and offer solutions quickly. Offer regular training sessions to improve their skills, focusing on customer service best practices and conflict resolution.

Team size will depend on your company's needs. For smaller businesses, a team of 3-5 people may be enough, while larger organizations may need 10-15.

The team should report to the customer service manager or a senior leader to ensure recovery efforts are aligned with overall business goals. Additionally, encourage cross-functional collaboration with departments like IT, operations, and product development. This will ensure the team has the support they need to resolve issues and continuously improve the service recovery process.

Build a process

Create clear processes to handle different types of customer issues effectively. These steps help the team respond consistently and keep the customer experience smooth: 

  • Step 1: Start by defining service level agreements (SLAs) that outline how quickly the team should respond to and resolve different types of issues. For example, high-priority issues should be addressed within hours, while lower-priority concerns may have a longer resolution time
  • Step 2: Document each step of the process so that the team can follow it consistently. This ensures no detail is overlooked and helps maintain a smooth customer experience. For example, document the process for handling software onboarding feedback, including working with sales to explain the product’s benefits and answering any questions quickly
  • Step 3: Establish communication protocols to ensure the team coordinates effectively. Set guidelines for how team members should communicate with customers, other departments, and leadership. Use clear, empathetic language and keep the customer informed throughout the process
  • Step 4: Choose the right technology and tools to support the process. A CRM system can help track customer issues and ensure timely follow-ups. Automated workflows can help assign tasks and keep things on track
  • Step 5: Finally, define handoff procedures to ensure smooth transitions between team members or departments. For example, if a customer issue requires technical support, make sure the customer’s information and issue details are passed to the right team without delays. This will improve efficiency and keep customers satisfied

Measure the impact of your service recovery strategies

After resolving an issue, reach out to the customer for feedback. This follow-up helps you understand what went well and what needs improvement. It also strengthens the positive experience by showing the customer that their satisfaction matters.

To measure the impact of your service recovery strategies, set benchmark standards. Compare your results against industry best practices or previous performance to see where you stand. 

For example, if your goal is to improve customer retention, track whether customers return for future purchases after their issues are resolved.

Identify success indicators such as customer satisfaction scores, repeat purchases, and referrals. If these indicators improve after service recovery, it shows your strategies are working.

If the results are poor, create an action plan to address the gaps. This might include additional training, better tools, or updated processes. 

Lastly, regularly review the service recovery process to ensure it evolves with customer needs and continues to deliver positive outcomes.

Best Practices for Implementing Effective Service Recovery Strategies 

Here are some best practices to ensure your service recovery strategies remain effective.

Make feedback easy

Make it easy for customers to share feedback. Many companies miss out on valuable insights because they don't provide clear ways for customers to voice concerns. This is where an online survey tool like ClearlyRated comes into the picture by offering simple feedback methods such as surveys, live chats, or support tickets. 

The platform allows you to integrate feedback forms with your support channels, email, or website. This makes it easy for customers to share their thoughts anytime.

You can focus on keeping the feedback process easy to access and understand. Ensure that feedback requests reach the right people at the right time. This increases the quality of responses and helps you gather meaningful insights.

It’s also important to take action on the feedback you receive. Let customers know their input leads to improvements. This shows them that their opinions matter and helps you build stronger, long-lasting relationships.

The platform also integrates with your CRM like Salesforce, Bullhorn, and Erecruit to ensure that surveys reach the right people at the right time so that the responses are more meaningful. 

Plus, with features like customizable workflows and AI-driven sentiment analysis, ClearlyRated allows you to convert negative experiences into positive ones.

Keep surveys at every interaction touchpoint

Customers often reach out through various channels, and social media is becoming more and more popular for expressing concerns. Nearly 47% of all customers will call out brands on social media to gain attention. 

To stay ahead, make feedback surveys available at all key touchpoint,  like during customer support interactions or after service experiences. You can place feedback forms on your website, in emails, or even through your customer service channels. 

Personalize them and send them by text or email at the right times so customers feel heard before issues escalate.

Develop a culture where complaints are welcome

To develop a culture where complaints are welcome, encourage customers to voice their concerns. Each complaint is a chance to improve and resolve issues. Build a process that lets you handle complaints in a structured yet flexible way. Train your team to listen with empathy and focus on finding solutions. 

Moreover, encourage employees to see complaints as opportunities to grow and improve the customer experience. When customers see their feedback valued, it strengthens trust and loyalty.

Additionally, ensure your team is empowered to resolve issues quickly and efficiently. Give them the tools and authority they need to address problems in real time. This not only shows customers you care but also helps turn negative experiences into positive ones. 

By creating a supportive environment where feedback is welcomed, you build stronger relationships and improve your service overall.

Be proactive in communication

Being proactive in communication can prevent problems from escalating and improve customer satisfaction. 

When an issue arises, respond quickly. Acknowledge the customer’s concern immediately to show that you are aware and actively working on a solution. 

For example, if a customer reports a delay in service, send a brief message like, “We’ve received your concern and are currently looking into it. We’ll keep you updated.”

Additionally, provide clear timelines for resolution. If you expect a delay, let the customer know when they can expect an update or solution. For instance, "We’re working on this and will update you by the end of the day."

You can also use automated messages to acknowledge receipt of a query. For example, a simple confirmation like, “Thank you for reaching out. We’re reviewing your issue and will get back to you shortly,” helps customers feel heard right away.

Proactive communication isn’t just about quick responses—it’s also about being transparent. If the issue will take time to fix, let the customer know, and keep them in the loop with regular updates. This approach reassures customers that their concerns are being handled and that they are valued.

Real-Time Examples of Excellent Service Recovery

1. Uniti Med + ClearlyRated

Uniti Med, a medical staffing agency, helps healthcare facilities fill staffing needs. The company had trouble gathering feedback from its talent. Before working with ClearlyRated, Uniti Med had no reliable process for collecting feedback from healthcare professionals. Leaders couldn’t measure talent experience or know how to improve it. Gathering feedback from traveling healthcare professionals was especially difficult.

ClearlyRated’s solution led to a 33.8% response rate, above the industry average. For the first time, Uniti Med received valuable feedback on services, priorities, and areas for improvement. This feedback helped boost internal morale and supported external marketing efforts. It also encouraged more healthcare professionals to join the company. Uniti Med earned an NPS score of 86.6% in the first year.

2. Cross Country Healthcare + ClearlyRated

Cross Country Locums wanted to improve its talent experience and customer experience but lacked a way to collect feedback and track performance. 

Before partnering with ClearlyRated, the company used manual processes. Teams sent individual evaluation forms to clients and talent after each assignment and tracked results using spreadsheets. While the feedback was positive, the process was slow and prone to mistakes. Additionally, they couldn’t easily share the results.

With ClearlyRated, Cross Country Locums launched a formal NPS program targeting both clients and talent. ClearlyRated provided a survey platform, expert guidance, and ongoing support. 

Cross Country now runs monthly surveys with detailed reports, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their feedback process.

The Future of Service Recovery

The future of service recovery will focus on predictive solutions, real-time data analysis, and automation. The use of these advanced technologies will transform how businesses handle customer dissatisfaction.

Predictive analytics will allow companies to predict issues before they arise, using data-driven insights to identify patterns and common problems. 

On the other hand, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants will manage simpler recovery tasks instantly, providing 24/7 support. This will allow human agents to handle complex cases with a personal touch. 

Social media will play a more significant role as brands respond swiftly to complaints on public platforms. This will ensure transparency and brand reputation.

What’s Next?

When you use service recovery strategies correctly, you truly understand your customers and build loyalty. 

By training employees to handle issues with empathy and professionalism, you create a team that can address challenges confidently and consistently. These strategies help close service gaps, improve customer satisfaction, and strengthen your relationships with customers.

When you adopt these strategies, it reduces service gaps and allows your team to address issues confidently. To take your service recovery strategies to the next level, use tools like ClearlyRated!

These tools go beyond surveys and NPS and offer advanced features like automated follow-ups and analytics to help you track and measure the impact of your recovery strategies. You can target the ideal customers based on their interaction with your business. This ensures you receive valuable feedback. 

Advanced tools, like AI and machine learning, will further enhance these strategies and make them smarter and more responsive. 

And finally, refine your process, set clear goals, and ensure your team is well-prepared to act quickly and effectively. With these actions in place, you can continuously improve the customer experience and keep your customers loyal.

So, what are you waiting for? Start by booking a free demo with ClearlyRated today!

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Improve Your Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) In 2024

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As of 2024, the US labor shortage is 70%, 5 percent below the global average due to low labor market participation, aging populations, declining birth rates, and a skills and talent mismatch.  Employee retention is now more crucial to organizations than ever before.

Employee referrals have increased the hiring rate by 30% and reduced hiring time by 55% compared to traditional recruiting methods. More importantly, referral programs yield a 49% increase in employee satisfaction, with many referred candidates being a great cultural fit.

Measuring employee satisfaction can be a difficult and time-consuming process. Fortunately, eNPS simplifies this process so organizations can easily gauge and improve employee satisfaction. Increasing your eNPS score makes your business an attractive workplace and can drive more referrals and ultimately easier talent acquisition. 

This guide will break down:

• What is eNPS 

• How eNPS compares to NPS

• How to structure eNPS surveys

• How to measure and calculate your eNPS score.


Plus, you'll learn what constitutes a good eNPS, the benefits of regular surveys, industry benchmarks, and proven strategies to improve your score. 

What Is eNPS?

eNPS measures how likely employees are to recommend their organization as a place to work.eNPS is calculated by asking employees a simple question : “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or colleague?”

Based on their responses, employees are categorized into Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), and Detractors (0-6). The final eNPS score is obtained by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters.

eNPS vs. NPS

As the acronym suggests, NPS, or Net Promoter score, measures customer loyalty and engagement rather than employee loyalty and satisfaction that eNPS measures. Here’s a table to highlight the key differences between the two: 

Criteria eNPSNPSAudienceEmployees of an organizationCustomers who have used the company's products or servicesStrategyMeasures how likely employees are to recommend the workplaceAssesses quality of products/servicesInfluenceEvaluates internal environment and employee engagementEnhances service/product quality and customer satisfactionAnonymity Anonymity is crucial for honest feedbackAnonymity is less of an issue for feedbackPurposeImproves employee engagement, satisfaction, and retentionImproves customer loyalty and competitiveness


However, there are similarities between eNPS and NPS. For example, both use the same calculation system which categorizes employees as Promoters, Passives and Detractors. The survey questions are similar to—NPS will ask customers about recommending a product or a service and eNPS will ask employees about recommending a company or organization.

How To Measure eNPS

As we mentioned earlier, employees’ responses to the eNPS survey fall into three distinct classifications:

  • Promoters: those providing ratings of 9 or 10 signify strong satisfaction and commitment,
  • Passives: individuals giving scores of 7 or 8 indicate moderate contentment without deep-seated loyalty,
  • Detractors: respondents with scores up to 6 represent displeased staff members who might adversely affect organizational morale and standing.

How to Interpret Your eNPS Score

eNPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (those who score 0-6) from the percentage of promoters (those who score 9-10), giving a score between -100 and +100.

Utilize the eNPS formula which states: eNPS = % promoters - % detractors. Take for instance, should you have 80% of employees as promoters and 15% as detractors, then your resulting eNPS would stand at +65. and commitment.

Interpreting Promoter Feedback

Promoters respond with a score of 9 or 10. These employees are highly engaged and enthusiastic about the company, and their input can highlight key strengths that should be maintained or further amplified. By recognizing and celebrating the positive experiences of promoters, leaders can strengthen these areas, creating a ripple effect that enhances overall morale and encourages others to become advocates for the organization.

Interpreting Passive Feedback

Passive employees respond with a score of 7 or 8. These employees are moderately satisfied but lack the enthusiasm or loyalty of promoters. Their feedback often points to areas that, if addressed, could push them toward becoming stronger advocates for the company. Taking time to analyze passive responses allows leaders to identify opportunities for improvement that may not be as immediately obvious as those highlighted by detractors or promoters.

Interpreting Detractor Feedback

Detractors respond with a score of 0 to 6. These individuals are notably discontent with the organization, and their insights can be critical in pinpointing root causes of unhappiness. Demonstrating responsiveness to such feedback makes employees feel heard and valued —potentially boosting eNPS scores as time progresses.

To make this section flow better within the context of the article, you could introduce it as a recommended tool for simplifying and managing eNPS efforts. Here’s a revised approach that feels more integrated:

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eNPS Case Studies: Employee Satisfaction Across Key Industries

Similar to the way customer loyalty metrics operate, elevated eNPS scores suggest that employees harbor positive sentiments toward their company. Take for example a tech firm revealing an impressive eNPS of 40. This suggests strong employee commitment and allegiance. Conversely, a retail enterprise with an eNPS score of -5 would be indicative of having more staff members as detractors than advocates. Let’s take a closer look and analyze some industry examples of eNPS: 

1) Tech Industry: Salesforce

Salesforce recently reported an eNPS of 48 rated by 457 employees. This score is well above the tech industry average of 25, indicating a highly engaged workforce. Factors like flexible work policies and career growth opportunities likely contribute to this high score.

Salesforce can maintain momentum by investing further in employee development and well-being initiatives. They should also focus on keeping lines of communication open to sustain employee satisfaction over time.

2) B2B Industry: IBM

IBM recently reported an eNPS of 32, based on feedback from 1,200 employees. This score sits above the B2B industry average of around 20, reflecting a generally engaged and motivated workforce. Key factors driving this positive rating likely include IBM's emphasis on continuous learning opportunities, flexible work arrangements, and a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion.

To maintain or even improve this eNPS, IBM could focus on personalized career growth paths and further enhancements to work-life balance. Additionally, keeping open communication channels and regularly gathering employee feedback on leadership and team dynamics can sustain high engagement levels over time.

3) Retail Sector: Walmart 

Walmart’s eNPS has recently scored -21 in surveys from 9009 employees.This is below the retail industry average, which ranges from 15 to 20. Such a score reflects dissatisfaction, likely due to high turnover and perceived low wages.

Walmart could improve by enhancing employee benefits and recognition programs. A focus on management training and employee well-being could help increase engagement and satisfaction.

4) Manufacturing: General Electric (GE)

GE’s eNPS is around -3, with the industry average sitting around 20 and 30. This suggests there is room for improvement, particularly in areas like workplace safety and benefits.

GE should focus on enhancing safety protocols and offering better development programs to boost engagement and retention

While eNPS is a valuable indicator of employee sentiment, it should not be used in isolation. Companies should pair eNPS data with qualitative feedback and other metrics like employee turnover to get a comprehensive view of engagement and satisfaction.

What Are the Benefits of eNPS Surveys?

The primary benefit of eNPS surveys is that organizations can quickly gather employee feedback, enabling rapid responses to concerns and improving morale. However, the advantages go beyond this, with additional benefits such as:

Reduces Escalating Issues

Addressing concerns promptly through eNPS surveys helps prevent problems from worsening, maintaining a positive and efficient workplace. Companies with high employee engagement experience 65% lower employee turnover

Cost-efficiencies and Savings

eNPS is a more affordable option compared to comprehensive employee satisfaction surveys, making it suitable for businesses of any size. More importantly, a study from The Engagement Institute found that disengaged employees cost companies between $450 and $550 billion a year—highlighting the importance of eNPS .

Easy Comparison with Industry Averages

The quantitative nature of eNPS facilitates straightforward comparisons with industry benchmarks, clarifying an organization’s position with competitors. 

Deeper Insights from Qualitative Responses

Open-ended questions in eNPS surveys provide a deeper understanding of the reasons behind employee ratings, enabling tailored actions for improvement.

How to Improve Your Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)?

Improving your eNPS score requires a focused, action-oriented approach in a few key areas that directly influence employee satisfaction and engagement.

1. Enhancing Workplace Culture

Create a positive environment by establishing regular feedback channels, promoting team-building activities, and fostering inclusivity through diversity training. These actions strengthen connections, boost morale, and keep employees engaged.

2. Implementing Recognition Programs

Instituting programs that acknowledge employee achievements can serve as a potent instrument for elevating both employee satisfaction and retention rates. Offering formal rewards, facilitating peer recognition, and delivering impromptu accolades, all help to lift employees’ spirits.

3. Strengthening Leadership

Effective leadership is critical. Provide leadership training that emphasizes empathy, communication, and transparency to build trust and increase employee loyalty.

4. Supporting Career Development

Invest in career growth by offering mentorship, training, and clear advancement paths. Employees who see potential for growth are more likely to stay and promote the company.

5. Promoting Work-Life Balance

Encourage flexibility through remote work options, reasonable workloads, and time-off policies. A balanced approach helps reduce burnout and improves overall job satisfaction.

6. Aligning Compensation and Benefits

Ensure competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, and regular salary reviews. Fair compensation is a foundational element of employee contentment.

7. Embedding Company Mission and Values

Communicate your company’s mission and values clearly. Employees who align with the company’s purpose are more engaged and motivated to contribute positively.

Tips for Successfully Using eNPS

To effectively leverage eNPS, it's important to not only gather feedback but also take meaningful action based on the results. Here are some key tips to help you maximize the impact of your eNPS strategy.

Tactical Approach 

Guaranteeing respondents’ anonymity stands as an indispensable factor—employees must feel confident in sharing their real perspectives without the concern of negative consequences. This safeguard promotes authentic responses, crucial for uncovering true issues and potential enhancements.

Consistent Measurement 

Executing these evaluations on a quarterly basis keeps the feedback pertinent and provides insight into employee sentiment trends over time. A routine schedule affirms an organization’s commitment to addressing employee needs promptly while integrating ongoing feedback channels enhances sustained engagement and progress.

Engage with Employees Post-Survey

By actively responding to survey insights and bridging experience deficits, companies affirm their dedication to refining the overall employee journey. Ensuring executive buy-in and establishing actionable plans before deploying eNPS surveys leads to swift reactions that elevate both employee morale and participation levels.

Survey Design

Craft surveys that are simple and focused. Use clear, concise questions, mixing quantitative (0-10 scale) with open-ended questions to gain deeper insights. For example, ask, “What’s one thing we could do to improve your experience?” This ensures you gather both numerical data and actionable feedback.

Data Analysis

After gathering feedback, analyze the data to identify trends and patterns. Segment results by departments or roles to spot specific issues. For instance, if a particular team scores consistently lower, it could signal management or workload concerns that require immediate attention.

Action Planning

Turn insights into concrete action plans. Involve leadership to ensure quick implementation of necessary changes. For example, if feedback highlights concerns about work-life balance, consider introducing flexible work schedules. Communicate these changes to employees to show that their input leads to real improvements.

Measure eNPS with ClearlyRated

ClearlyRated’s platform is built around three essential steps for effective employee experience management. It starts by helping you understand your workforce through sophisticated, tailored surveys, giving you a comprehensive view of your team’s engagement and satisfaction.

Next, activate and drive immediate ROI with ClearlyRated’s Automated Actions, ensuring seamless and efficient measurement of both past and future employee experiences. Building a positive workplace culture becomes effortless—generate validated feedback and testimonials from your top performers and seamlessly incorporate them into your employer branding efforts using custom EX (Employee Experience) playbooks.

Find out more about how ClearlyRated works here or book a demo here

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NPS® 101 for Accounting Firms

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Client retention remains a top challenge for accounting firms. A recent study shows that 36% of accounting firms struggle to keep clients loyal amid rising competition and shifting expectations. Ensuring client satisfaction and loyalty is vital to firm success.

The challenges extend beyond retention. Firms also need to stand out and meet increasingly complex client expectations in a digital-first world. Clients want seamless, hassle-free experiences and consistent, high-quality service.

How can accounting firms ensure they meet these expectations? The first step is understanding client satisfaction levels. One effective tool for this is the Net Promoter Score (NPS®), which measures client loyalty and highlights improvement areas. Simple and widely used, NPS helps firms boost retention, improve reputation, and differentiate their services.

In this article, we’ll cover NPS—what it is, why it’s useful for accounting firms, and how to use it to measure and enhance client satisfaction.

What is NPS? A Primer for Accounting Firms

Even if you’re not familiar with the concept of NPS, you’ve likely participated in an NPS survey.

NPS is a powerful tool for measuring client loyalty. You ask clients one question: “How likely are you to recommend our firm to a friend or colleague?” They respond on a scale from 0 to 10. This quick survey helps gauge satisfaction and identify areas needing improvement.

This quick survey helps you gauge client satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

However, the true power of the NPS methodology lies in reporting. To calculate NPS, responses to the survey question are divided into three categories:

  • Promoters (9-10): Your most loyal, enthusiastic clients. They're likely to refer new business and remain long-term clients.
  • Passives (7-8): Satisfied but not enthusiastic clients. Competitive offerings might sway them.
  • Detractors (0-6): Unsatisfied clients who may leave and potentially share negative feedback.

Your firm’s NPS “score” is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters.

For example, ClearlyRated’s lifetime NPS score is 84%, which is derived from the 86% of promoters across our company survey history minus the 2% detractors across our company survey history. 86% – 2% = 84% NPS.

Importance of NPS for Accounting Firms

Where the competition is high, retaining clients is just as crucial as acquiring new ones, and NPS helps accounting firms understand where they stand in terms of loyalty. It measures how likely clients are to recommend your services, directly affecting your firm's growth.

For instance, Perkins & Co., a Portland-based accounting firm, used NPS to enhance their client services. By identifying areas where clients felt supported and where they saw room for improvement, the firm could make data-driven decisions to elevate their client experience. This approach led them to earn the “Best of Accounting” award, an honor given to firms with exceptional client satisfaction. Perkins & Co. achieved a remarkable NPS score of 84, far exceeding the accounting industry’s average. This accolade has boosted their reputation, attracted referrals, and helped build long-term client relationships.

For accounting firms, where trust and long-term relationships are vital, NPS can highlight hidden pain points. For example, if several clients rate your firm low due to slow response times, it signals the need to improve communication efficiency. By addressing these issues, firms can enhance service quality, boost retention, and increase referrals—leading to more stable revenue streams.

Regular NPS surveys provide a clear view of how clients feel about your services. By acting on this feedback, accounting firms can refine their approach, build stronger relationships, and grow through client loyalty and positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Why Accounting Firms Should Focus on NPS

By prioritizing NPS, companies can effectively gauge client satisfaction, leverage promoters, and make data-driven improvements to their services. 

Here's a detailed breakdown of why accounting firms should focus on NPS:

Client Retention and Growth

A strong NPS directly impacts client retention and future growth. According to recent surveys, 94% of accounting clients are likely to make a referral with their “highly trusted” advisors if asked.​

This highlights the importance of creating a positive experience that leads to word-of-mouth marketing. Promoters are more likely to provide testimonials, which can help both retention and acquisition efforts​.

Furthermore, regular feedback from NPS surveys helps firms identify detractors and areas of improvement This proactive approach allows them to address issues before they lead to client churn. Keeping existing clients satisfied in an industry where relationships are crucial can have long-term financial benefits.

Competitive Edge in a Crowded Market

According to a survey, more than 85% of buyers consider online reviews and ratings as trusted sources when determining whether to engage with a firm​.

Accounting companies can gather positive reviews and testimonials by maintaining high NPS scores. This creates a powerful reputation that differentiates them from competitors. Negative reviews can significantly hurt a firm's credibility, as it takes twice as many positive reviews to reverse the damage caused by just one negative one​.

However, a high NPS can help mitigate this impact. Firms with a strong NPS demonstrate a loyal client base, which can be leveraged in marketing efforts. 

For example, an accounting firm might highlight its NPS score in promotional materials, showcasing it as evidence of client satisfaction and trust. In fact, 72% of respondents say that peer testimonials significantly influence their decision when choosing a firm, and an actionable NPS strategy can fuel this with authentic reviews and referrals​.

This can help reassure potential clients, strengthening the firm’s reputation even in the face of occasional negative feedback.

What is a ‘Good’ NPS Score for an Accounting Firm?

When it comes to NPS, you have a few options for determining what constitutes a “good” score for your firm. 

  • Look at global NPS standards – which categorize 50% NPS as “excellent” and 70% NPS as “world class.” These benchmarks apply across industries and give a general sense of where your firm stands.
  • Compare your NPS score to others within the accounting industry. For instance, the 2023 Accounting Industry NPS Benchmark sits at 41%, which gives you an idea of the average. Notably, service leaders—those recognized as 2023 Best of Accounting award winners—achieved an average NPS score of 81%. This difference illustrates the gap between average firms and top performers in the industry.
  • Look to service leaders across industries. While broader industry comparisons can be helpful, it’s important to focus on your own accounting firm’s trends over time. Regularly measuring and improving your NPS can ensure you're not just meeting industry standards but pushing toward becoming a service leader.

How to Implement NPS in Accounting Firms

For accounting firms, implementing NPS can be a game-changer. It offers a straightforward way to capture client feedback, uncover valuable insights, and enhance service delivery. By acting on the data gathered, firms can make targeted improvements that boost client satisfaction and foster long-term loyalty. 

And when clients are loyal, the impact extends beyond improved relationships—firms can see higher retention rates, increased referrals, and ultimately, revenue growth.

Here's how you can implement NPS in your accounting firm:

Setting up NPS Surveys

An effective NPS survey consists of two key elements:

  • The core question: "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our firm to a friend or colleague?"
  • An open-ended follow-up: "What's the primary reason for your score?"

This combination provides quantitative data and qualitative insights crucial for understanding client sentiment.

Choose a survey tool that integrates with your firm's existing systems and automates follow-ups. Integrate survey data with your CRM to track responses over time, identifying trends that inform service improvements.

Choosing the Right Time to Send Surveys

Timing is crucial for obtaining actionable feedback. For accounting firms, optimal survey moments include:

  • After completing a tax return
  • Upon finalizing an audit
  • Following the conclusion of a consulting engagement

For ongoing client relationships, consider quarterly or bi-annual surveys to monitor long-term satisfaction without causing survey fatigue.

Analyzing NPS Data for Accounting Firms

Once you’ve collected NPS survey responses, the next step is to make sense of the data. 

Interpreting the Scores

While we've covered the basics of Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), and Detractors (0-6), the key lies in understanding the implications for your firm:

  • Promoters: Focus on what delights these clients and replicate it across your practice.
  • Passives: Identify what's preventing them from becoming promoters. Often, small improvements can make a big difference.
  • Detractors: Prioritize addressing their concerns to prevent client churn and negative word-of-mouth.

Remember, your NPS is the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors.

Segment Your Analysis

Break down NPS data by:

  • Service lines (tax, audit, advisory)
  • Client size or industry
  • Partner or team handling the account

This segmentation can reveal areas of excellence or concern within specific parts of your practice.

Identify Patterns in Feedback

Look for recurring themes in the open-ended responses. For accounting firms, common areas might include:

  • Timeliness of deliverables
  • Clarity of financial explanations
  • Proactivity in tax planning or financial advice

Understanding these patterns helps prioritize improvement efforts.

Correlate NPS with Financial Metrics

Link NPS data to financial outcomes such as:

  • Client retention rates
  • Revenue per client
  • Referral business generated

This correlation can demonstrate the tangible impact of client satisfaction on your firm's bottom line.

💡 Pro Tip: Establish a regular review process where partners and team leads discuss NPS. 

Pairing NPS data with other metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV) or client churn rates can provide a more holistic view of client loyalty and retention efforts.

Improving NPS Scores in Accounting Firms

Now that you’ve gathered your NPS data and analyzed it, the next step is to take action to improve your score. 

Here’s how accounting firms can respond effectively and ensure feedback drives positive change:

Responding to Promoters

Engaging with feedback—both positive and negative—is critical for improving your NPS score. 

When you receive praise from Promoters, it’s a great opportunity to strengthen relationships. A simple “thank you” goes a long way, but you can also take it further by asking them for testimonials or referrals.

These satisfied clients are your best advocates, and their recommendations can help attract new clients.

Addressing Detractor Feedback

Detractors, on the other hand, provide the most critical feedback, and this is where you can make the most impact. 

For example, the Detractor might leave a harsh comment, such as, "I’ve been frustrated with your customer service team’s lack of availability during critical moments of the tax season." This client is at risk of leaving your accounting firm unless you address their concerns quickly.

Reaching out to dissatisfied clients directly to resolve their concerns not only helps turn their experience around but also shows that your firm values client relationships.

Personalized responses that acknowledge their pain points—whether it’s service delays or communication breakdowns—help rebuild trust. Swift follow-ups and showing a genuine willingness to improve can potentially turn a Detractor into a Promoter over time.

Implementing Systemic Changes

Improving your NPS score isn’t just about reacting to individual feedback—it’s about implementing systemic changes that prioritize client needs. 

For instance, if multiple clients mention slow response times or inefficient processes, it may signal the need to improve your internal processes. This could involve implementing more efficient communication tools or adopting new technology to enhance service delivery. 

Additionally, you can offer more personalized services or flexible billing options to make clients feel heard and appreciated. These systemic changes help improve your service delivery and ensure your firm adapts to evolving client expectations. 

Real-Life Examples/ Case Studies of NPS in Accounting Firms

Let’s explore some real-life cases where firms leveraged NPS to improve client relationships, boost retention, and drive growth.

1. American Express Credit Cards

With an impressive NPS of 32, it’s clear that American Express is doing something right. A big part of their success comes from positive interactions and excellent customer service, which really makes cardholders feel valued.

Their generous rewards program adds even more appeal, showing customers they’re getting a great deal. This approach has effectively discouraged account switching, as many prefer to stay with American Express rather than chase after introductory offers elsewhere.

Derek Martin, the director of global consumer card sales at American Express, emphasized in an interview that NPS isn't just a superficial measure. Instead, it plays a crucial role in driving significant improvements in customer experience and positively impacting the company's bottom line.

“People who say you can’t correlate the data to actual revenue items—it’s not true, at least not in my case,” says Martin. “I can show you data that says that as Net Promoter Score rises, customers spend more money, they’re more loyal, they’re putting more dollars on an American Express card, and they’re leaving us less.” — Source

2. Perkins & Co. + ClearlyRated

At Perkins & Co., the leaders recognized how crucial good data is for an accounting firm. 

However, until 2011, they didn’t track any metrics related to their service performance. Their client satisfaction data was inconsistent, mainly coming from casual chats with clients. This created a bias, as they usually engaged with clients they already had strong relationships with. 

Furthermore, without service benchmarks from the accounting industry, they couldn't accurately gauge how they compared to competitors.

It soon became evident that they needed a genuine understanding of their service leaders’ relationships with clients. They required a way to verify their assumptions rather than just relying on gut feelings.

By leveraging NPS, Perkins & Co. gathered quantifiable data and anecdotal feedback that helped them refine their client service approach. They used this feedback to improve internal processes, enhance their communication standards across the firm, and celebrate service wins through ClearlyRated's "shout-out" feature. 

The firm has also used positive client testimonials from the NPS process to support its marketing efforts. Their dedication to client feedback through NPS earned them ClearlyRated's "Best of Accounting" award for multiple years, highlighting their commitment to excellent service.

Moreover, they are also the first-ever ClearlyRated Best of Accounting 10-Year Diamond Winner for client satisfaction.

Read the entire case study here.

Why Does NPS Work?

NPS works because of the following reasons:

  • It’s simple. Because it’s a single metric, NPS is easy to measure, track over time, and use to benchmark your firm’s client satisfaction and service quality against the rest of the industry.
  • NPS is a data-driven approach that relies on insights directly from the client. The concise format of the survey allows you to focus on the information that really matters while taking the guesswork out of assessing how your clients feel about you.
  • Time is everything (it’s short!). People tend to turn and run when they see long surveys. And as much as your clients are ready and willing to provide you with feedback – they are protective of their time.
  • It promotes transparency. By quantifying intangible concepts like client satisfaction and service quality, NPS provides accounting firms with a singular metric to weigh performance, set improvement goals, and rally the team around. When everyone in the organization clearly understands how their behavior can inform NPS, they’ll begin to obsess over client satisfaction and service quality as a practice and a philosophy.

Check out the best NPS software to capture and understand your customers’ loyalty towards your brand!

How to Encourage Clients to Participate in NPS Surveys

To enhance participation in NPS surveys, it’s essential to create a seamless experience for clients, making their engagement as effortless as possible.

Simplifying the Process for Clients

According to research, surveys that are concise tend to yield higher response rates. This makes it crucial to keep surveys short and straightforward. To enhance participation, utilize digital platforms that simplify client engagement.

Tools like email and SMS not only offer quick access to surveys but also cater to the on-the-go nature of clients today.  

In fact, mobile-optimized surveys can be completed 30-40% faster than those designed for desktop use. This approach not only increases convenience but also maximizes the likelihood of receiving timely feedback.

Offering Incentives for Feedback

An incentive could be anything from a small discount on future services to entry into a prize draw. 

Research indicates that incentives can significantly increase survey completion rates. Moreover, a study published by Giftogram indicates that incentivizing participation can increase response rates beyond 20%.

Similarly, encourage clients to share their feedback by clearly communicating how their input can enhance your services. By framing participation as a way for clients to help shape their own experiences, you foster a sense of involvement and ownership in the process. 

Using NPS to Attract New Clients

Attracting new clients requires more than just traditional marketing tactics, and leveraging NPS is a powerful way to do just that. Here’s how accounting firms can showcase their strengths and build credibility with potential clients:

Marketing with Positive NPS Scores

When you showcase your firm’s NPS, it sends a clear message to potential clients about your commitment to customer satisfaction. Accounting firms can effectively incorporate their NPS into marketing materials, such as brochures, websites, and social media posts, to emphasize their dedication to delivering exceptional service.

For example, including your NPS score in a prominent position on your website can reassure prospective clients of your reliability and quality. Research shows that businesses with high NPS scores often enjoy a reputation for reliability and quality, attracting new clients looking for trustworthy service providers.

Additionally, displaying testimonials from satisfied clients alongside NPS scores can create a compelling narrative that enhances your firm’s credibility.

Building Trust Through Transparency

Transparency is crucial in establishing trust with potential clients, and sharing your NPS publicly reflects that openness. 

When clients see that you are willing to discuss both your strengths and areas for improvement, it builds confidence in your ability to meet their needs. 

By openly discussing your NPS results, you demonstrate accountability and position your firm as a proactive player in the industry. This level of trust can significantly influence a prospective client's decision-making process, ultimately paving the way for new business opportunities.

Leverage ClearlyRated as a Solution for Accounting Firms

As we saw above, understanding client satisfaction through NPS can provide invaluable insights that shape business strategies and improve service offerings. By collecting and analyzing this feedback, firms can enhance client relationships, boost retention rates, and attract new clients.

If you’re ready to enhance your client feedback initiatives, ClearlyRated offers tailored solutions for accounting firms.

It enables accounting firms to create NPS surveys and questions, set up follow-ups, and collect detailed responses, providing clear insights into client sentiment.

Our veteran team of survey experts has compiled a Satisfaction Survey Checklist specifically for accounting firms to ensure your client survey initiative is successful. This resource will help you avoid common pitfalls and build a roadmap for your survey efforts.

Moreover, ClearlyRated offers comprehensive analytics and benchmarking features, allowing firms to track their NPS against industry standards. You can access valuable resources, including the latest benchmarks for the accounting industry, to see how your firm stacks up against competitors.

So why wait? Book a free demo with ClearlyRated and get started today!

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The State of Staffing—And How Firms Can Rise Above the Fray

Staffing

This is a milestone year for ClearlyRated. We’re about to publish our 15th annual staffing industry benchmark study on staffing buyer behavior—and it couldn’t come at a more crucial time. 

To shed some light on what’s going on and offer guidance on how to navigate the future, ClearlyRated’s co-founder, Eric Gregg, recently hosted a webinar sharing early information from this year’s findings: Inside the Mind of the Hiring Manager: 2024 Staffing Buyer Survey Sneak Peek

In case you missed Eric's webinar, we've written up this recap.

[Some background on our report and related survey: Over a two-week period (Sept. 27, 2024 – October 10, 2024), we collected responses from 505 hiring managers across four countries who have recently used a staffing firm to help with hiring.]

Staffing by the Numbers: Two Years of Choppy Water May Soon Calm

The high-level takeaway: Hiring is down, so is the use of temporary labor. Read on for the details—and below that, some positive news. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), job openings peaked in early 2022 and have since dropped. The number of job openings today is 34% lower than that peak. That said, today's total is still 12% higher than pre-pandemic. However, while there may be more job openings, actual hiring is down both from its peak in early 2022 and from pre-pandemic levels. 

At the same time, BLS data shows a startling new trend: While overall employment has continued to rise, the use of temporary help has declined since late 2022. This trend bucks 17 years’ of data during which those two forms of labor have consistently traveled the same path.

“We’ve been in this industry since ‘05-’06 and have never seen this kind of decoupling,” Eric said. While temporary help made up 2.14% of the workforce in late 2021, this number has steadily declined to 1.7% per the most recent numbers. This marks a 15-year low (not counting a steep drop during the early days of the pandemic that quickly bounced back).

What’s causing the decline in temporary labor?

Eric explained that the following factors that may be contributing to the decline in temporary help:

  • Companies are doing more in-house.
  • Automation, nearshoring, and offshoring have all increased.
  • The diversification of the workforce: While temporary help is declining, there’s been an increase in SOW-based projects, the number of independent contractors and consultants, and undocumented workers. 
  • Inflationary pressure could be turning companies away from hiring temporary help, which could be attributed to backlash from pandemic price increases.

The good news

Thankfully, while researching and comparing economic and industry data for this report, we found signs that companies may soon hire more temporary help. Eric explained that he and other industry experts discovered an interesting relationship between what’s called the “Anxious Index,” or percentage of economists who believe a recession will come in the next quarter, and the amount of temporary help companies hire. 

When they overlayed historical Anxious Index data on year-over-year changes in temporary help, they found that when the Anxiety Index begins to fall, a bump in temporary labor follows. The good news: Right now, the Anxious Index is beginning to ebb while optimism flows. This means we could soon see a rebound in temporary help.  

Beside this indication of an industry recovery, we found two silver linings:

  • Average quit rates are down 32% from their peak in the first half of 2022 and down 11% from pre-pandemic numbers.
  • Average layoffs are also down—28% lower than their peak in late 2020 and 12% lower than pre-pandemic.

These silver linings are likely due to a tighter job market in which talent wants to stay put longer for fear of not finding work. That said, with hiring down and a declining demand for temporary help, staffing firms are facing increasing pressure from competition. That makes their customer experience (CX) more important than ever.

The State of CX in Staffing

After studying data from Staffing Industry Analysts, we found that CX-focused staffing firms grow 16.1% faster than competitors. This means a $100 million firm that focuses on providing a positive CX can expect to generate an additional $16.9 million over four years. 

Client NPS in the U.S. staffing industry has been on the rise since 2019, and it’s currently at an all-time high. Eric points out that when we look at historical data, we find that it’s common for staffing NPS to improve during industry recessions, which is exactly what we’re seeing now. 

Wise firms won’t slack on their CX, especially in this economic environment. As the competition for requisitions rises, so does the likelihood that competitors are also focused on improving CX to win and keep business. Don’t miss the boat. Take a look at the following resources on how to measure and improve your CX:

For more industry insights and benchmarks, stay tuned for our full benchmark report coming in early 2025. In the meantime, watch Eric’s full webinar to get detailed insights on the state of CX in staffing, including the method he uses to predict changes in temporary help penetration numbers, and the five lessons he pulled from our report with the key opportunities they present.

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Net Promoter Score (NPS): The Ultimate Guide (2024)

Uncategorized

Most of us have seen this screen in our inboxes or apps:

This straightforward question unlocks one of the biggest insights needed for any business to function: customer satisfaction. 

Measuring customer satisfaction is crucial for understanding retention and brand loyalty. When customers are satisfied, they're more likely to stay loyal to your brand, which helps reduce churn rates and drives sustainable growth.

So, how can you tell if your customers are truly satisfied with your service? That’s where the Net Promoter® Score (NPS®) comes into play.

In this guide, we’ll dive into the key concepts, calculations, and best practices for leveraging Net Promoter Score in 2024 and beyond. We’ll also discuss methods for analyzing NPS data and strategies to enhance customer loyalty and fuel business growth.

What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer satisfaction by gauging how happy customers are with your brand. You can conduct NPS surveys through various channels, like email or in-app notifications, tailored to your industry’s needs. The central question is straightforward: "How likely are you to recommend our business to a friend or colleague?" Customers respond on a scale from 0 to 10.

The ratings are then aggregated, resulting in a score that ranges from -100 to 100. The higher the score, the more likely customers are to promote your business to others.

NPS stands out from other metrics like Customer Effort Score (CES) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT). While CES focuses on how easy it is for customers to use your service and CSAT measures their satisfaction levels, NPS is regarded as the gold standard for evaluating customer loyalty and satisfaction due to its simplicity and effectiveness.

NPS provides valuable insights into your customers’ behaviors and can predict their likelihood to purchase or refer others, helping you enhance the customer experience and boost retention.

Why is NPS important?

The ultimate goal of NPS is to monitor customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement, but it does a lot more than that.

Helps understand customer sentiments and loyalty

NPS not only measures customer sentiment but also segments customers into three categories: detractors, promoters, and passives. This breakdown allows businesses to pinpoint actionable feedback and focus on areas needing improvement. It drives customer advocacy programs by nurturing satisfied customers into brand champions while empowering support and success teams to effectively tackle challenges faced by less satisfied clients.

Predicts business growth

Companies with a high NPS are likely to record increased referrals, high customer retention rates, and stronger brand loyalty. According to our benchmarks, the accounting industry recorded an all-time high in NPS in 2023, owing to meeting SLAs for emails/calls, and delivering results within established timelines. This, coupled with excellent service quality, further helped retain customers and fueled business growth in this sector. Additionally, our research into staffing firms revealed a $1.4M revenue growth opportunity for firms when they run dedicated NPS programs.

This type of predictable revenue/revenue potential is crucial for financial stability. It allows for better resource planning, like staffing adjustments and service expansion. It also supports long-term growth by keeping cash flow consistent, thus letting firms invest in new areas of growth.

How to calculate Net Promoter Score

While you can include other qualitative questions, the quantitative part of NPS is straightforward. 

Net Promoter Score = (Percentage of Promoters - Percentage of Detractors). This score can range from -100 to 100.

For instance, if 75% of customers are Promoters, 15% are Passive, and 10% are Detractors, your NPS score would be 75 - 10 = 60.

How to interpret Net Promoter Score

A negative NPS indicates more detractors than advocates and vice versa for a positive score. However the average NPS varies greatly based on your industry. 

Let's quickly look at what each term means:

Promoters

Promoters are your customers who give you a 9 or 10 on your NPS survey. They’re not just satisfied—they’re enthusiastic about your product or service, and they’re likely to recommend you to others. These are the people who drive positive word-of-mouth and contribute to growth by bringing in new customers, often at no extra cost to you.

While they pose a low risk of churn, happy customers need attention as well. Engaging with promoters consistently can solidify their loyalty and turn them into advocates for life. Create opportunities for them to be brand ambassadors—offer exclusive perks, invite them to provide feedback on new features, or give them early access to product launches. Acknowledging their support not only makes them feel valued but also encourages them to keep spreading the word about your brand. 

Passives

Passives score a 7 or 8 on your NPS survey, meaning they’re somewhat satisfied but not fully sold on your services. They’re sitting on the fence, and if a competitor offers a better deal, they might jump ship. 

If you’ve looked closely at the NPS formula, you’ll notice passives don’t directly affect your score, which is why they’re often overlooked. But they're the group you can influence most. By addressing their concerns, improving their experience, and making them feel valued, you have a real shot at turning them into promoters. Engage with them through personalized follow-ups, ask for feedback, and offer small but meaningful incentives like exclusive content or early access to new features. It’s about showing them you’re listening and committed to making things better. 

Detractor

Detractors are those who give you a score between 0 and 6 on your NPS survey, and they’re the customers most dissatisfied with your service. They’re more likely to leave, and worse, they can actively hurt your brand by sharing negative feedback with others. This makes them a high priority for retention efforts—because they’re not just at risk of churning; they could also be steering others away from your business.

Detractors can feel like a lost cause, but they’re actually a huge opportunity to make meaningful improvements. The key is reaching out directly, listening carefully to their frustrations, and taking swift, concrete actions to fix the issues that matter most to them. By addressing their pain points and showing that you genuinely care about their experience, you can turn things around. In some cases, this level of personal attention and effort can even convert a detractor into a loyal promoter—someone who not only sticks with you but starts advocating for your brand.

What is a good NPS score? 

Here’s a quick breakdown:

  • Above 0: This means you’ve got more promoters than detractors, but there’s still a lot of room to grow.
  • Above 20: Favourable, but there’s definitely room for improvement.
  • Over 50: This is excellent. You’re doing things right!
  • Above 70: You’re in world-class territory—this is as good as it gets.

Comparing your NPS by industry

At ClearlyRated, we’ve been helping service firms track their NPS since 2010. Over the years, we’ve consistently benchmarked NPS across various industries in the US. Below are the benchmarks for the top three industries we work with, based on our 2023 report.

IndustryNPS Score (2023)NPS Score Change Since Previous Assessment Staffing36%+38%Accounting41%+2%Insurance36%-6%

How to conduct NPS surveys and gather customer feedback

There are multiple channels through which you can gather responses for your NPS survey, depending on how extensive/simple the survey.

Pop-up surveys on website / mobile apps

Pop-up surveys are an excellent way to gather customer feedback in real-time. You can set the NPS survey to appear on key pages, like the “thank you” page, where customers can see it right after making a purchase. For instance, Uber collects feedback immediately after every ride, ensuring they capture fresh impressions. Additionally, you can implement it as an exit survey when customers attempt to leave your website, giving you valuable insights just before they go. 

The disadvantage here is that you cannot pose multiple questions, or questions that are qualitative in nature as it adds friction for your customers. 

Email surveys

You can also choose to collect NPS feedback through emails, inviting customers to fill out a survey after they make a purchase or interact with your brand.

While email surveys require a bit more effort from customers to open and click through, they offer the advantage of allowing customers to reflect on their experience with your product or service in their own time. This can lead to more thoughtful responses and a clearer picture of whether they would recommend you to others. On the downside, email surveys can have lower response rates since customers might overlook or forget to complete them. Additionally, email surveys are typically more detailed, which can make them more time-consuming for respondents.

Phone Calls

Conducting NPS surveys over the phone adds a personal touch that can lead to richer feedback. By speaking directly with customers, you can ask follow-up questions and clarify their responses in real-time. This interaction allows you to dive deeper into their experiences, providing valuable insights into both their satisfaction levels and any pain points they may have encountered.

Moreover, phone calls often result in higher engagement rates compared to written surveys, as customers may feel more inclined to share their thoughts when speaking with a representative. Just be sure to communicate the purpose of the call clearly and respect their time—after all, it’s about creating a dialogue, not a sales pitch. Following up on their feedback afterward can also help build stronger relationships, showing customers that their opinions matter.

A disadvantage of phone calls is that they are time-consuming and resource-intensive. Some clients might find them intrusive. 

Face-to-Face Interviews

NPS feedback collected in person is very different because of the dynamic and interactive setting. When you meet with clients face-to-face, you can gauge their physical reactions, which can add layers of understanding to their feedback. This method fosters a sense of connection and openness, allowing customers to feel more comfortable sharing their genuine thoughts.

While this approach might require more logistical planning, such as scheduling and location considerations, the depth of feedback you can obtain makes it well worth the effort. Plus, this direct engagement can leave a lasting impression, reinforcing customer loyalty and trust in your brand.

On the flip side, organizing in-person interviews can be challenging and resource-heavy. They require more time for scheduling and travel, which may not be feasible. Additionally, some customers may feel uncomfortable in a face-to-face setting, which could lead to guarded responses that don’t fully capture their true feelings​.

Step By Step Process To Create an NPS Survey

Most NPS programs are run with trusted partners like ClearlyRated. Regardless of your choice of service provider, we’ve covered the best practices to ensure that your NPS surveys get the maximum responses.

Common mistakes to avoid when using Net Promoter Score

While using the NPS method is straightforward, several common pitfalls can impact the effectiveness of your surveys.

Asking Too Many Questions

While it’s tempting to gather as much feedback as possible, bombarding customers with too many questions can lead to frustration. Each additional question can drop your response rate by up to 10%. To achieve a high response rate, keep the survey simple and quick. Ensure it’s mobile-friendly, and consider embedding it in a personalized email rather than just sending a plain link.

Focusing Exclusively on the Score

Brands that pay attention to customer feedback are 1.6 times more likely to achieve high satisfaction rates. However, this only happens when they genuinely listen to customers and act on their feedback. Many businesses fall into the trap of solely measuring and calculating their NPS, neglecting the valuable insights that customer comments provide. Use the NPS score as a starting point, but dig deeper to understand what drives customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.

Overlooking Data Segmentation

While the NPS score gives you a snapshot of customer loyalty, it’s crucial to segment the data by demographics, feedback, and product usage. This approach helps reveal patterns and trends that the overall score might obscure, preventing wasted time and resources on issues that don’t matter to specific groups. Analyzing NPS data by segments allows you to identify strengths and weaknesses, enabling you to tailor your strategies to meet the specific needs of different customer groups.

NPS Case Studies

The NPS score drives growth, and this can be seen in a couple of industries. Here are two success stories from companies that have benefited from NPS.

Essential; StaffCARE (ESC): ESC, a leading provider of ACA-compliant health insurance and employee benefits, faced the challenge of quantifying the service it provides to customers.

ESC worked with ClearlyRated to gather feedback from their entire customer base. The outcome was a 74% NPS in their first annual survey, a world-class score based on the global NPS standards.

“We saw the amazing impact that ClearlyRated’s Net Promoter® Score survey program has had in the staffing industry, and we knew that the same benefits were applicable in our business. We had been looking for an opportunity to invest in an independent, third-party feedback system to more thoroughly understand how our clients view ESC. We saw how the ClearlyRated solution could bring more credibility to our message while allowing us to drill down much deeper on our successes and areas for improvement.”

– Aaron Lesher

Executive Vice President at Essential StaffCARE

Woodruff Sawyer: Since 2014, Woodruff Sawyer's has maintained its exceptionally high NPS with the most recent being 86.1%. This figure exceeds the insurance industry average of 34%. NPS survey results have enabled them to identify detractors and curate service-oriented approaches to address these issues before they escalate and lead to revenue loss.

“Our team is passionate about serving clients and helping them succeed. When we launched our first ClearlyRated survey, we took our first step towards a formal, direct feedback mechanism. We used the survey to understand: Are we delivering an outstanding experience? Where are we doing well? Where are we not?”

– Melinda Miu

Woodruff Sawyer’s Assistant Vice President of Marketing

Integrating NPS Into Your Business Strategy

Incorporating NPS into your business processes goes beyond just collecting scores; it’s about actively using customer feedback to drive informed decisions and implement improvements. This means identifying pain points from survey data, developing actionable plans to address these challenges, and effectively communicating those plans with your team.

By taking customer feedback seriously and showing tangible improvements over time, businesses can boost customer satisfaction and loyalty, giving them a competitive edge. 

If you’re looking for a starting point, the ClearlyRated CX program provides a reliable method to assess customer loyalty through NPS surveys. This platform helps you pinpoint friction points in the customer experience, allowing you to make informed decisions and implement changes that align with your goals.

Schedule a demo to see how ClearlyRated can help you improve your NPS score.

FAQs on Net Promoter Score (NPS)

How often should I send NPS surveys to customers?

The frequency of NPS surveys depends on your business, but generally, relational NPS surveys should be sent quarterly or semi-annually. This timing helps you effectively track customer satisfaction and loyalty over time without overwhelming your customers with too many requests. However, if the nature of your business necessitates a higher frequency of customer feedback, ClearlyRated has options for you to run that each week.

Who uses Net Promoter Score?

Net Promoter Score is widely utilized across various industries to gauge customer satisfaction and loyalty. This includes sectors like technology, finance, legal, IT, telecommunications, staffing, accounting, and HR services. Essentially, if you value customer feedback, NPS is a great tool for you!

Is NPS capable of forecasting business growth?

Absolutely! NPS can serve as a valuable indicator of future business growth. It provides a comprehensive view of your customer experience, where high scores often correlate with increased satisfaction, lower churn rates, and overall business expansion.

How can I improve my NPS score?

To enhance your NPS score, focus on addressing customer feedback. This means analyzing the insights you receive, closing any gaps in service, engaging with your promoters, tracking your progress, and consistently delivering a positive customer experience. By doing so, you'll not only boost your score but also strengthen customer loyalty.

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What Can a ClearlyRated 'Best of' Award Do For You?

B2B

You’ve probably seen competitors touting various industry awards and wondered whether it’s worth pursuing one of your own. While some awards are just pay-for-play, others you truly have to earn—and those mean the most. ClearyRated’s ‘Best of’ award falls into that second category. 

But who’s eligible, how do you earn the award, and what are the perks of being a winner? We’re here to answer these burning questions.

What are the ClearlyRated ‘Best of’ awards?

Each year for the past 15 years, ClearlyRated has recognized B2B service firms in North America whose service has been recognized as excellent by their clients and/or employees.

The ‘Best of’ Awards for Client and Employee Satisfaction are awarded in the following industries: Accounting, HR services, Insurance, IT services, Legal, RPO, and Staffing & Recruiting. Firms can earn additional designations - the Best of Diamond Awards - for consistent excellence over 5, 10, and, now, 15 years.

A pull quote from a ClearlyRated accounting client that reads, "“The awards we earn from ClearlyRated are a differentiator for us... We feature our awards and NPS on our website, talk about it on our social media, and include it in our proposals and marketing materials. Our Best of Accounting award gives us credibility, and we take huge pride in it.” "

‘Best of' award process and eligibility

Eligibility for this annual award is based on each firm’s Net Promoter® Score (NPS®), which is determined by verified ratings provided by their clients and employees. ClearlyRated validates every firm's score, measures them against industry benchmarks, and announces the winners in every industry during our Winner Announcement Day each February - more on that below!

Only companies that receive at least a 20% survey response rate with at least 15 responses, or that receive at least 250 total responses, are eligible to earn a ClearlyRated ‘Best of’ award. For this year's competition, they must also earn an NPS score of at least 50%.

Less than 2% B2B service firms in any industry in North American earn the award, making them a credible and sought-after differentiator of service quality.

Register for the "Best of" Award Today

How ClearlyRated celebrates the ‘Best of’ winners

The first Tuesday in February is one of the biggest days of the year for us here at ClearlyRated - Winner Announcement Day! What do we do to help winner celebrate? Let's try to count the ways.

We: publish press releases announcing the 'Best of' winners for every industry; post on all of our social media channels about the winners in each industry; re-post and boost our clients' winner announcement social posts; send congratulations emails to each winning firm; get our association partners in each industry in on the public celebrations with visibility to their audiences; shoot fireworks from the roof of our Portland, OR headquarters... okay that last one was a joke, but you get the idea. We love celebrating our winners and the excitement is palpable throughout ClearlyRated and beyond.

All the ways we help our winners celebrate

But that's how we celebrate. The winners themselves get so much more:

  • Winning firms names and award badges prominently displayed on the ClearlyRated B2B business directory
  • Customized press release templates with actual NPS data from each winning firm alongside industry benchmarks
  • 'Best of' winner badges, with a Best Practices guide to maximizing their impact brand reputation and marketing and sales efforts
  • A social media toolkit that includes 'Best of' Winner social sharing images, hashtags, and tips
  • Access to the winners-only award merchandise shop
  • Resources for leveraging the deluge of testimonials and shout outs that winning firms receive from adoring clients in their surveys
  • Exclusive 'Best of' winner data and benchmarking
  • A winners-only webinar about how to maximize the value of your best of win
  • The full support of our world-class Customer Success team

Pretty amazing, right? Don't just take our word for it...

What ClearlyRated clients say

Here’s what ClearlyRated clients have said about their experience with the 'Best of' program—including what it has done for their service and reputation:

‘Best of' award timing

The annual 'Best of' awards calendar is cyclical, starting with the Winner Announcement Day in February. Firms must survey by December to compete to earn a 'Best of' award in time for the Winner Announcements in February.

Firms who don't survey in time for Winner Announcements can still earn the award for that year if they survey by July, but they'll miss the Winner Announcement celebrations. The competition to earn the following year's award begins in August. Below is the awards cycle for the 2025 award season.

Register for the 'Best of' Awards today!

Ready to get started and prove that your firm is one of the best? Simply fill out the form below and we'll be in touch!

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Four Customer Experience Tips for Accounting Firms

Accounting

Customer experience (CX) strategist and ClearlyRated co-founder, Eric Gregg recently spoke with two CMOs from top-performing accounting firms. Each has successfully implemented CX initiatives with transformative results. Eric was joined by Sarah Cirelli, CMO at Grassi, and Suzanne Reed, CMO at LBMC. A four-time winner of ClearlyRated’s Best of Accounting Client Satisfaction award, Grassi has earned an overall client rating of 4.8 stars. Newer to using ClearlyRated, LBMC already has 180 verified ratings, 40 client testimonials, and a 4.6-star client rating.

<< Watch the webinar | Peer Insights: Driving Accounting Firm Growth Through CX Excellence >>

Expert Guidance from our Accounting CX Panelists

Their conversation was packed with insights for everyone, from the customer experience beginner to firms with well-oiled CX machines. As always, we won’t gate-keep! ICYMI, here are four key tips from our panelists.

1. Suzanne Reed on how to make a business case for your customer experience program

When selling the idea of investing in a CX initiative within her firm, Suzanne touched on these three points to explain how it would deliver high returns on investment (ROI). Here they are in her words:

✅ It helps drive growth

“Retaining and expanding our current client accounts is a hugely important part of our growth strategy. A CX initiative will help us make sure that we've got the right client experience and understand what our clients are looking for from us.”

✅ It helps maintain a consistently positive experience as organizations evolve.

“As a firm, we are going to go through changes, including leadership succession planning. Putting a formal client experience program in place is a proactive step toward maintaining consistency in our CX and provides a channel for open communication with our clients.”

✅ It helps stay ahead of client needs.

“Not only can we pinpoint where we may be falling short and even prevent accounts from moving to our competitors, but we can also ask our clients what they’re worried about or wanting for the future. Their answers help us plan for those needs so we can best help our clients. Now instead of clients having to come to us and ask for things, we can proactively help them and cross-sell by saying: ‘We believe these other services would be beneficial to you.’”

2. Sarah Cirelli on how to prepare and maintain client data

Sarah will be the first to say that cleaning up client data isn’t the most fun experience but she adds, “Thank goodness we did it, because once we were done, we were in a much better place.” 

After Grassi’s very first survey, her team learned what many do: The majority of the client contact information they had was for billing contacts, not the people who interacted with their services and should get the survey. 

Their solution: After pulling the list of clients they wanted to survey, Cirelli’s team segmented them by partner and, over the course of three days, they ran what they called a “data clinic.”

“We cycled partners in and out the door,” she explains. “Sitting with them hip to hip, we went through their list. I don't even want to tell you a scary percentage of client contacts we identified who had never received any information or thought leadership from the firm.”

Despite the potential tedium of a project like this, Sarah says that it ended up being a wholesome experience between her team and the partners: “It was actually a great project for us—we bonded over it.” She continues:

A graphic pull quote that reads, "By the time we were done, we were happy we did it because we learned a lot from it and were in a good place to move forward.”

Her ultimate advice, echoed by Eric: Just do it. The first time is the hardest, but it’s a simple matter of regular data hygiene to maintain it from there.

3. Suzanne Reed on identifying and winning over unhappy clients

“It can be hard to say something to somebody’s face. That's why it’s helpful to have a third party asking the questions. People feel they can be more honest,” Suzanne says. She goes on:

We all make mistakes, she notes, but when we recover well we create a memorable positive experience. Not only do we have a better chance of retaining those clients, but even creating more vocal brand ambassadors. 

“I’ve actually seen some detractors – clients who were initially dissatisfied – end up becoming more loyal to us after a service recovery than some of our promoters,” Suzanne says. “So, I like to jump on those detractors immediately when they come up in our survey responses.”

4. Sarah Cirelli on how to use surveys for account expansion

Sarah shared one of the most impactful questions her team has asked in their customer satisfaction survey: Is there any service that Grassi doesn’t currently provide that you wish we did? 

“Maybe they’re already getting those services from another firm and would like to move them to us, or maybe it would just help them if they could tack something new onto their services with us,” Sarah says. Either way, she didn't expect to generate such obvious new business from their survey—but they did.

“We ended up getting about 30 new opportunities the first time we asked, and that was just from our current clients. It was mind blowing. Our managing partner, of course, loved it.”

Watch the full webinar for more insights

Learn how Sarah nurtures top-to-bottom positivity around Grassi’s CX surveys. Hear Eric’s advice on how to make the most of “shout outs.” And get the goods on how and why Suzanne’s team at LBMC has begun surveying multiple times a year.

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How to Grow Your Bottom Line by Developing CX Maturity

B2B

Providing a positive customer experience (CX) is a must if you want a successful business, and understanding your position on our CX maturity model can guide you there.

While only a small minority of customers will tell you when they have a service issue, most will complain about it to others. Fair enough—many of us get uncomfortable with confrontation. On the other hand, though, a great CX yields strong benefits. A Gartner report on customer service showed that 86% of customers will spend more money with a company after receiving value-enhanced services and almost all of them (97%) will reciprocate those good vibes by sharing news of their good experience with others. 

This shows that by providing a positive CX, you can improve your company’s bottom line. In fact, we have compelling proof that CX-driven accounting firms grow at a faster rate than their peers. 

But what does a good CX really look like, and how do you build one?

The Stages of CX Maturity

To answer the above question, we’ll start by covering the five stages of CX maturity.

Stage 0 – Your CX knowledge is anecdotal

Your organization doesn't have a standard, reliable way to measure and track the quality of your CX across the board. You don’t know your Net Promoter® Score (NPS®), and you lack related insights. 

Impact: At this stage, your CX is unknown. You cannot, therefore, improve it or capitalize on it.

Stage 1 – You have a CX report card

You measure CX metrics like NPS and can use industry benchmarks to compare your CX to your peers. While you can use point-in-time insights to identify at-risk accounts, you don’t have ongoing reporting to learn what’s going well or where you’re failing. 

Impact: When you can get meaningful reports, you improve your visibility into your CX and can begin to manage your online reputation.

Stage 2 – You’ve operationalized your CX reporting

If you use NPS surveys as a way to measure your CX, you get decent response rates and have a process for following up on customer feedback. Your team is proficient not only at measuring and reporting on CX, but also using those insights to take action. You use CX feedback reports to:

  • Connect with at-risk accounts and save the relationship before they churn. 
  • Identify areas for improvement and create action plans that raise your future NPS. 
  • Gather positive feedback to support your marketing and sales efforts. 

Impact: You have the knowledge and power to improve your NPS, retention numbers, and online reputation.

Stage 3 – You have a CX-centric firm culture

By measuring, tracking, and reporting on CX metrics like NPS, you have clear proof of a positive CX. You also use validated customer feedback to guide business decisions, prioritizing your product and service roadmaps in ways that matter most to your customers. CX excellence is now integral to your brand story.  

Impact: Your NPS stays above industry standards, improving both customer and talent retention. You use CX insights to improve marketing materials, expand current customer accounts and boost new client acquisition (often thanks to referrals from happy customers), all of which help grow your firm’s revenue and gross margin.

Stage 4 – Your firm is CX driven

Your firm could serve as the best practice model for your industry. Not only do you regularly gather customer feedback to track CX metrics, but you also have processes for responding to customer feedback both at the micro level (i.e. individual customers) and the macro level (i.e. using trending insights to improve your overall CX). Your team consistently delivers remarkable experiences, and many of your customers act as brand ambassadors, singing your praise to potential customers.

Impact: In addition to the benefits from Stage 3, you have a team of productive professionals who take pride in providing great customer service.

The ClearlyRated CX Maturity Model
The ClearlyRated CX Maturity Model

5 Tips for advancing your CX maturity

We’ve spent two decades working with hundreds of firms across various industries to track and improve their CX, so we’ve seen what works best. Firms that consistently provide the best CX do the following:

  1. They have an established process for collecting data from their clients (and often their own talent!). They then use these insights to predict and prevent churn while making firm-wide CX (and EX) improvements.
  2. They automate their survey process with strategic integrations. Our clients have integrated Clearlyrated’s survey platform with Salesforce, Bullhorn, erecruit, Microsoft Dynamics, and Avionté. (Our Hubspot integration is coming soon!)
  3. They involve their workforce. Top CX firms make sure their client-facing teams understand and actively support their CX measurement efforts. They route feedback to appropriate customer-facing team members while also celebrating CX shout-outs internally. Doing so boosts morale—and by rewarding CX excellence, they nurture a CX-focused culture.
  4. They create processes for responding to and acting on survey insights. CX-driven firms don’t just survey their customers, they respond to the feedback. This shows customers that they care about their experience, building trust and fostering long-term relationships.
  5. They’re proactive about using customer engagement to discover up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. ClearlyRated can help you customize your surveys to effectively capture new business opportunities from existing customers.

If you would like to deepen your understanding of your firm’s CX and identify ways to make meaningful improvements and grow your CX maturity, learn more about client satisfaction surveys.

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5 Strategies for Staffing Firm Growth In An Economic Downturn

Staffing

As an industry partner since 2007, ClearlyRated has helped more than 300 staffing firms annually navigate growth through various economic conditions—from the downturns of 2008 and 2020 to the rapid expansions of 2021 and 2022. However, the sustained decline of the past 24 months presents an unprecedented challenge. While current conditions make growth challenging, it is not unattainable. Below are five proven strategies to help your firm gain market share and unlock growth in today’s market.

Our 5 Strategies for Staffing Firm Growth In An Economic Downturn

1. Make your firm the safe option for prospects and candidates

Most staffing firms focus their marketing and sales efforts on differentiating themselves from competitors, yet they often neglect to provide tangible proof of their claims. Today’s prospects and candidates expect evidence of quality. Ratings, reviews, testimonials, and referrals are significantly more trusted than traditional marketing and sales efforts. In times of economic uncertainty, risk aversion increases. It’s crucial not only to be the best firm to partner with, but also the least risky.

2. Double down on sales enablement resources

Many staffing firm leaders aim to increase their pipeline but often overlook the importance of equipping their sales teams with essential resources to help them both get meetings, and also turn those meetings into orders and revenue. Benchmarks, thought leadership, and industry-specific tools can be invaluable for prospective clients and job candidates. To see a rise in meetings and engagement, invest time in understanding how to add real value. Share industry-specific hiring trends, wage fluctuations, interview best practices, or other high-value content. This approach helps your account managers and recruiters demonstrate their expertise in a credible and differentiated manner.

3. Focus on the candidate experience to minimize churn

With volume down, many firms concentrate on securing new orders. While this focus is natural given the decline in order volume and revenue, it’s essential not to overlook the historically low unemployment rate. Talent remains hard to find, and in our industry, an unfilled order is worse than no order at all. Both scenarios have the same revenue implications, but an unfilled order also drains resources that could be better utilized elsewhere. Economic downturns demand diligence with clients, but not at the expense of your candidate experience.

4. Minimize unwanted turnover of internal staff

Here’s a quick calculation: Multiply the average weekly margin generated by a productive recruiter by the number of weeks it takes to fill a position and get the new hire up to speed. For most firms, this yields a loss of over $250k in margin for each productive recruiter or account manager who leaves. In 2024, ClearlyRated data shows that the typical firm lost more than 1 in 3 of their account managers and recruiters to churn. Although the market isn't as heated as it was two years ago, your best talent will still have other options. Ensure you have robust retention strategies in place to keep your top performers through challenging times.

5. Focus marketing and sales resources narrowly to win

Firms that successfully navigate economic uncertainty often resist the urge to broaden their focus. Instead, they concentrate their marketing and sales efforts on the two to three areas where they excel the most. This might be a specific type of placement, industry, or project type. Identify where you have a competitive advantage and target your efforts towards prospects that fit this profile.

Economic headwinds make growth challenging, but not impossible. By focusing on delivering exceptional experiences and honing in on areas of strength, your firm can not only weather a weak broader economy but also be well-positioned for accelerated growth when conditions improve.

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Preventing Customer Churn – Why B2B Clients Leave and How to Keep Them

B2B

Business wisdom 101: Working to keep your customers is less costly than constantly acquiring new ones. Preventing customer churn is essential to maintain stability as you pursue growth. Plus, adding customers isn’t the only way to grow. You can also expand current customers’ spend. So, without further adieu, we’ll help you consider how to avoid the cost of client churn by answering these questions about predicting which clients are likely heading toward off ramps–and ways to redirect them.

Top Reasons B2B Clients Churn

At ClearlyRated, we live and breathe customer experience (CX), so we love to research what matters most to B2B customers. Over the years, we’ve pinpointed the most common reasons customers cite for replacing a B2B service provider. These include:

  • Unmet expectations
  • High cost for perceived service value
  • Slow or unreliable communication
  • Unhelpful staff 
  • Lack of B2B CX management 

Take heart in the fact that most of these factors are service related. That means, they’re within your control. With an internal focus on delivering a positive CX through proactive communication and responsive customer care, you can better position your firm to retain its customers.

How To Identify At-Risk Clients

Understanding what leads to customer churn can help you prevent it, but you also need to detect which clients are likely considering and exit. Look for these five signs that your clients may be unhappy so you can intercede before their eyes wander toward your competitors.

1. They reference your contract terms (or worse, your competitors’ claims)

If your client feels they need to bring up your contract for any reason other than renewal, you’re in hot water. And if they bring up a competitor, it’s a sure sign that they’ve begun considering other options or at the very least want to put the pressure on your team to improve.

2. They’ve complained

This one is obvious, but worth noting because too often client complaints aren’t given the attention they deserve. Don’t get defensive. Instead, be grateful that the client has given you an opening to make things better. Fans of The Office will remember well when Jim and Pam committed to “having the fight” rather than rolling over and watching their marriage die. Take a cue from America’s sweethearts: Fight for your clients. Meet their complaints with an open mind and a willingness to make things right.

3. You receive little-to-no communication from them

While a silent customer can easily fall into the background amidst other squeakier wheels, pay attention! True, they may be just fine. Or they could feel frustrated, ignored, and ready to shop around.

4. They’re not spending what they used to

If regular spend is trending down, it’s a sure sign of a relationship that may be approaching its last breaths. Pay attention to customer spending reports and reach out to those with reduced their spend to see whether and how you can help to get things moving in the right direction.

5. They’ve given you a low Net Promoter® Score (NPS®)

If you measure your NPS, you know that getting a low score from one of your clients is a clear sign that they're unhappy. It also means they’re likely to churn. In fact, our analysis of 3,700 clients of staffing firms over three years revealed that Detractors (clients that rate your firm somewhere between 0 to 6 on the NPS scale) are 56% more likely to churn than Promoters, which are your most satisfied clients.

Effective Strategies to Prevent B2B Customer Churn

Creating and maintaining a positive CX should be at the heart of your client retention strategy. You can do this by:

  • Maintaining internal communication and sharing client information and feedback across teams
  • Encouraging regular communication with clients and asking for feedback
  • Responding quickly to address any complaints
  • Setting up a quarterly business review (QBR) schedule
  • Offering value-add services 
  • Acting as a consultative partner by sharing industry news and helpful content 

Even the best firms experience customer churn. Here’s how to predict and prevent it:

1. Identify dissatisfied customers then address their concerns to win them over

Here’s a positive (and true) perspective: Service failures present an opportunity to build a stronger relationship than before. This is a well-documented phenomenon called the service recovery paradox. Our data shows after clients have experienced a problem followed by a resolution within 24 hours, they give their service provider a higher NPS than before. Here’s how to achieve that:

  • Communicate internally
  • Follow up with your client within 24 hours and show empathy with their situation
  • Invite them to a meeting
  • Ask questions to get to the root of the issue
  • Create a recovery plan with clear expectations, timelines, and check-ins
  • Ask if there’s anything else
  • Recover with the individual (not just the company)

2. Capitalize on your happiest customers

While you certainly want to convert unhappy customers with service recovery, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to neglect your loyal ones. Happy customers, or Promoters as we call them, typically spend more with your firm than unhappy ones. They’re also more likely to help you grow your business by referring you to potential clients and boosting your online reputation with positive reviews.


To maximize the benefits of these customer relationships, actively communicate with and appreciate your Promoters. Continue providing exemplary service, and when they give you referrals, go the extra mile in thanking them for their confidence in your firm. By treating your Promoters like the star clients they are, not only will you retain them more easily but you’ll also reap the benefits of their goodwill when asking for testimonials, reviews, and referrals.

3. Measure and improve your CX

Without a way to identify Detractors and Promoters, the above advice is moot. That’s why many B2B firms use NPS customer satisfaction surveys. The data they get helps them measure and track their CX, and the qualitative feedback customers share can help them improve their services and keep up with competitors. Just remember: If you evaluate your CX using client surveys, make sure to maintain an open line of communication. Create and follow a post-survey action plan so your clients know that you appreciated their feedback, that you’ve listened and that they didn’t waste their time.

Want expert guidance in creating, managing and responding to customer surveys? Learn more about ClearlyRated’s NPS survey platform.

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Service Recovery: Best Practices for B2B Service Firms

B2B

Did you know: Successful service recovery following a mistake can actually create customers who are more loyal than if they’d received flawless service from the start? (It’s true—learn more about the service recovery paradox).

When you think about it, it makes sense. Who doesn’t love a good redemption story? It’s what rom-com dreams are made of. The best ones feature a little stumble from their romantic leads, and their efforts to overcome and re-win their partner’s heart make their happily-ever-after feel even sweeter in the end.

Like our romantic heroes, when you identify and fix a service issue with humility, while making things even better than before, you build a stronger foundation of trust. You show that when things get tough, you’ll stick around and fight for your customers. Here’s how you can ride off into the sunset with any whose trust your team may have fumbled.

Common service recovery questions

We’ve helped dozens of firms measure and improve their customer experience (CX) over the years, and a common thread was that many weren’t prepared for service recovery. But we can’t express enough how important this is, especially when dealing with NPS survey detractors. So, before we cover how to protect your CX and your revenue with a strong service recovery process, we’ll answer a couple common questions about service recovery to make sure we’re on the same page.

Question: What does service recovery mean?

Answer: Service recovery is the way your team creates a happy customer after they’ve experienced some type of problem or disappointment. Even if that customer feels just plain neglected, your team should know what steps they need to take to overcome the issue and make their customer happy.

Question: How does service recovery fit into my overall CX strategy?

Answer: CX strategy covers everything from reactive customer service to proactive customer loyalty efforts. It should also include a plan for how you’ll recover from service issues. If a customer’s email slips through the cracks and goes unanswered, or a report they’re waiting for is late, what will your team do? If you don’t know the answer to that question, then you haven’t yet baked a service recovery plan into your CX strategy—and it’s high time you do.  Don’t worry, though, our next section gives you a good framework to get started. 

Service Recovery Rules to Live By

How can you make your service recovery such a delightful experience that it overshadows the initial issue and turns unhappy customers into brand advocates? Here’s what works for us—and what we’ve seen our clients successfully put into practice when rescuing their relationship with a dissatisfied customer.

Say sorry—even if it’s not your “fault.”

Ask your team to adopt the mindset that your customer is always right (while still having their back!). When they do, the rest of your recovery efforts will naturally align. Even if you feel certain that your team isn’t at fault, apologizing is a helpful first step. After all, an unhappy customer isn’t the result you strive for, so you should at least be sorry they’re not satisfied. Plus, a quick apology can cool brewing dissatisfaction by showing that you’re willing to make things right, which opens the door to a successful service recovery.  

Don’t be defensive.

Anything that pulls you away from being a compassionate advocate for your client will result in a haphazard service recovery. So, while it may feel intuitive to shelter yourself and your team from blame, you’ll recover more smoothly from a service failure when you’re not feeling and acting defensive. Rather than minimizing the issue or treating your client like they’re overreacting, take responsibility where you can.

Don’t make excuses.

Telling your client why something happened doesn’t change the fact that it happened. And if you start out by rehashing the issue, you’ll not only remind them of why they’re irritated in the first place but also delay the solution and further waste their time, likely annoying them even more. They don’t care why it happened, they just want it to be fixed. Prioritize your conversation around what you can do to help the client resolve the issue.

Show empathy and remember the individual.

After failing to provide excellent service, say something like, “I’m so sorry. That’s not how we typically do things, and you have every right to feel frustrated. I’ll look into how we can fix this.” With that one statement you’ve apologized, taken responsibility, expressed empathy, and assured them that you’ll fix the problem. You should also keep in mind that the service issue has had individual consequences. For instance, as a result of the service issue, your client contact may have looked unprepared in front of their boss. While it’s natural to focus on resolving the issue at the company level, make sure you also acknowledge and apologize at the personal level to preserve that relationship and create two-way empathy.

Identify the core issue, then fix it.

Before you can move forward, your team must first make things right by resolving the issue. Figure out what caused the issue to get to the root of the problem. Then take action. Fix it so something like this can’t happen again. Finally share the details about how you’re (already) solving the problem with your client so they know you’re on top of things moving forward.

Make sure your customer is happy. Go big or go home.

Your service recovery must be more memorable than your service failure. If you made a small mistake, you need to recover like you’ve made a huge mistake. If you missed a deadline by a day, for instance, prioritize your recovery as if you missed it by a week. This way, your client can’t miss how dedicated you are towards making things right.

Service recovery has a silver lining

While you’re certainly never excited about disappointing a client, you can turn a service failure into an opportunity to nurture your client relationship. Think of it as a rare chance to demonstrate the care and support clients receive when working with your firm. Show your commitment to long-term relationships by going to any length in order to fix a problem. Once you have, your clients will be so impressed by your recovery that they may not even remember the issue you needed to recover from.

Ready to strengthen the foundation of trust with your customers? Try ClearlyRated and discover the power of effective service recovery with a free client survey.

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B2B Firms Must Prioritize CX Management—Are You Ready?

B2B

What I’m about to write shouldn’t surprise anyone. Unfortunately, based on how B2B firms compare with their B2C cousins, it might. Here goes: Customer experience (CX) management is not a “nice to have” for B2B firms — it’s mission critical.

According to PwC research, 86% of clients say the quality of a professional services firm’s CX is a top factor in determining whether to hire them. Our own survey of B2B buyers revealed that 98% of clients expect a response to their calls and emails within 24 hours, and two-thirds expect a call back within 4 hours.

What is CXM and what does it do for B2B firms?

CX management (CXM) isn’t just about reacting quickly to calls and emails. It also includes efforts to make things quick and easy for customers, often by offering intuitive self-service tools. On the other hand, there may be times when a good CX means smoothing the way with high-touch customer care. Finally a truly CX-focused firm always ensures that it delivers its promised value to customers. To cover all those bases, B2B service providers need to manage and measure their CX success across multiple touchpoints, from publishing content that encourages self-guided research to training account reps to offer service and guidance to managing survey programs and acting on customer feedback.

Yes, CXM is a lot — but it’s worth it! When you provide an exceptional CX, your customers’ loyalty and positive word of mouth will pay you back in dividends. As Gartner’s Customer Service Experience report states, “Great service experiences may stem customer attrition, but only ‘value enhancing’ service experiences drive retention and growth.” We’ll let the numbers do the talking: 86% of customers are likely to spend more money after receiving value-enhanced services, and 97% will share their positive experience with others.

85% of customers will spend more money after a value-enhanced CX

3 points that prove B2B CX is having its moment

If you haven’t yet announced to your team that 2024 will be your “CX Era,” get ready to. I’ll give you three more reasons.

1. Ignoring your CX leads to B2B customer loss.

A bad experience is one of the top reasons a customer will leave a brand, and younger generations are increasingly likely to abandon ship for this reason. According to the B2B Buyer Report, 74% of B2B buyers would switch suppliers if offered a better experience. And it’s not all hypothetical. According to Forrester, 67% of clients say that they’ve already switched professional service firms due to a poor CX.

67% of B2B customers switched providers due to poor CX

2. Your B2B clients are B2C consumers—and they expect a good CX.

Your clients lead double lives. Shocking, I know. When they’re not at work, they’re at home… being consumers — consumers who benefit from great CX journeys provided by B2C companies. This means that B2B customer expectations are higher, and they’re losing patience.

Kevin Neher, a McKinsey & Company Senior Partner on a Harvard Business Review-hosted podcast said it well: “What we’re seeing is that it’s B2B companies… companies that serve businesses, companies that serve all these other industries, are now the ones trying to catch up.” He points out that someone who can get a package from Amazon in less than 48 hours is going to start to wonder why they can’t get the supplies they need for their business as quickly.

In fact, research from McKinsey has been pointing out B2B’s lagging CX since 2016, when it published comparison stats (back then B2B companies’ CX ratings already lagged 15–35% behind B2C ratings) and astutely predicted that the gap would grow ever more obvious as B2B customer expectations rise.

3. Great CXM fosters customer loyalty that fuels growth.

Consider this stat from Forrester: 73% of clients are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. Sounds pretty good considering we’ve all been racked with inflationary pressure, right? Plus, customer retention is less expensive than customer acquisition.

Here’s more from another McKinsey report: Companies that have improved their CX see their sales revenues improve by up to 7%, bumping their profitability by up to 2%. And that’s not all! Their overall shareholder return increased by up to 10%.

73% of B2B customers will pay more for a better CX

Arrive early to the B2B CX buffet table—there’s a feast for the taking

B2C companies have understood the innate value of investing in their CX for a while now, but B2B firms have been slower. According to research by B2B International, just 14% of large B2B companies are truly customer centric. While 31% are at least engaged in a fledgling customer focus, it still presents a huge white space for B2B CX champions to win the game. Imagine all the low-hanging fruit your firm could pick if you master it early.

I’ll share a round up of our most updated NPS benchmarks by industry below. The Net Promoter Score® is a great gauge of a company’s CX efforts. As you compare the numbers, keep two things in mind:

  1. The firms included in our benchmarks are demonstrating a certain threshold of CXM by using our client satisfaction survey program, so they’re likely ahead of most competitors in their field and
  2. Leading B2C companies include Starbucks and USAA, with a 77% and a 75% NPS, respectively.

Average 2023 NPS by industry

Please notice the positive movement over the past few years, which shows the possibilities for quick improvement once you dedicate resources to your CX.

  • B2B Services = 39%
    (-1% YOY, but +14 points since 2020)
  • IT Services = 42%
    (-2 points YOY, +4 since 2020, +28 since its low in 2017)
  • Legal Services = 37%
    (+5 points YOY; +11 since 2020)
  • Insurance = 36%
    (-6 points YOY, +19% since 2020)
  • HR Services = 46%
    (+9% YOY, +31 since 2020)
  • Staffing = 36%
    (+5 YOY, +8% since 2020, +38 points since a low of -2% in 2019)
  • Accounting –+41%
    (+2% YOY, +18 points since 2020)

How to move your B2B CX forward

To catch up with consumer expectations, B2B companies can’t just, well… catch up. They need to move beyond traditional internal CXM that simply “measures and diagnoses” into fully modernized, proactive CXM that acts on customer insights, enhances your online reputation and, based on the merit of your CX, helps acquire new business. To do this, keep in mind that your own employees are an important audience too, as they affect your CX. Happy employees help inspire 360-degree loyalty.

To achieve this, you can’t just think you know how your clients feel, you must work to know how they feel. In fact, based on our own research we know that 16% of customers won’t ever tell you or your firm when they have a service issue, yet 74% will complain about it to others. Ouch. This is why companies must move from static, annual surveys that yield outdated intel by the time they get it, to timely, insight-focused surveys that you can act on now and use to anticipate upcoming needs.

Learn more about how to move your tired B2B CX forward. Watch my webinar The Evolution of CX: What’s Now and What’s Next in which we share 10 ways to improve your CX.

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The Evolution of Client Experience in Staffing

Staffing

In light of decreasing trust in various institutions over the years, the focus on client experience (CX) is growing significantly. In our recent webinar, The Evolution of CX, we shed light on this trend in the context of the staffing industry, with implications that reach far beyond.

Client Experience as the Heart of Decision-Making

The current era reveals an interesting pattern – trust in establishments, from organized religion to business entities and governments, is diminishing. This trend, which Gallup's 2023 Confidence in Institutionssurvey confirms, presents an unparalleled challenge to all sectors, including the staffing industry. To overcome this, companies must meet the challenge of delivering on their promises and fostering client trust.Evidence-based research adds more weight to this argument. A study by PwC revealed that a whopping 86% of clients choose a professional service firm based on the quality of customer experience. Beyond that, the urgency of response times has escalated, with our most recent staffing industry benchmark study, conducted in partnership with ClearEdge, revealing that 98% of clients expect a response to their call or email within 24 hours, and close to two-thirds expect a response within four hours.

Bar chart in black and red showing the point when consumer stops interacting with a company

Negative experiences can prompt clients to switch service firms, reducing their likelihood to recommend the brand and impacting the company's bottom line. A remarkable statistic from Forrester suggests that 67% of clients have switched professional service firms due to poor customer experience. Additionally, about half of clients report having a negative customer experience with a professional service firm in the past year. However, on a positive note, almost 73% of clients are ready and willing to pay more for a better customer experience.

The Evolution of CX: From Insights to Action

In response to these evolving client expectations, the staffing industry has progressively adopted client experience management as a strategic defense against commoditization. This approach demands adaptability, innovation, and preparedness for continuous evolution.Many firms are expanding their CX programs, emphasizing client, candidate, and employee experiences. Each interaction shapes the client's overall experience and influences their perception of your brand.We are currently seeing a transition from mere measurement of CX to action based on insights. Simultaneously, the practice of feedback collection is evolving from a static calendar-based operation to a more dynamic, journey-based approach.Looking ahead, CX is poised to move towards a customer health program, where anticipating customer’s needs is as important as receiving their feedback. The aim is to track customer sentiment in real time, requiring adjustments in approach and a client-centric business model.

Conclusion

This shift towards a comprehensive and anticipatory customer experience approach could be the solution to reestablishing trust, ensuring business success, and most importantly, creating improved experiences for everyone. The future of the staffing industry rests on the continuous optimization of stakeholder (client, candidate and internal employee) experiences.*Watch a quick 30-minute webinar “The Evolution of CX: What’s Now and What’s Next”, presented by Eric Gregg, ClearlyRated CEO & Founder.

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Sagging Survey Response Rates (+ How to Overcome Them)

B2B

When it comes to getting ROI on your customer experience (CX) survey program, response rates play a huge role. Higher response rates paint a fuller picture of your CX. This helps you identify where to improve and, when the feedback is positive, can garner reviews that boost your marketing efforts. Survey programs with high response rates are also more likely to help you identify and re-engage customer accounts that would otherwise be at risk if you hadn’t asked for their feedback. The bad news? Obtaining good response rates is getting harder.

ClearlyRated Maintains Stable Survey Response Rates Amid Industry Decline

Publicly available data shows that the average response rate for CX programs has been dropping. The above chart illustrates this trend with data shared by three large survey companies including ClearlyRated – the only company showing a slight increase from 2018 to 2022. B2B survey companies aren’t alone, though. Survey response rates are dropping across industries, affecting public opinion studies and B2C survey programs alike. Why are they dropping? We don’t have a surefire answer, but we have some educated ideas.

Why Are Response Rates Going Down?

Looking at wider email trends, often a main avenue for soliciting survey responses, it’s easy to see that breaking through the crowd is getting more difficult. In 2022, 333.2 billion emails were sent and received each day, displaying a year-over-year (YOY) increase of 4.2%. So far in 2023, an average of 347.3 billion emails are sent daily – a YOY increase of 4.2% – and the numbers are projected to continue growing as you can see in the chart below.

Total Email Sends Continuously Increasing

[caption id="attachment_7294" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]

Total Email Sends Line Chart

THE RADICATI GROUP, INC.[/caption]Of course, this increase is partially due to the uptick in worldwide email users, but the amount of increased emails sent per user has increased significantly in the last decade. The fact is: The average email user is getting more emails per day every year. And the number of emails sent is inversely related to average response rates. As one number goes up, the other goes down. Email fatigue is real, and many users turn to mass deletions to keep their inboxes under control. This means many email subject lines never get seen, let alone their emails opened and read. We at ClearlyRated, however, have considered another potential culprit for low response rates: Lack of follow up from surveyors. We work closely with our clients to help them run survey programs that include follow up plans – both during and after survey periods – and we’ve seen short-term and long-term increases in their response rates that boost ROI. So, what can you do with this information to help your organization break ahead of the pack when it comes to response rates?

How to Improve Your Survey Response Rates and Get Better ROI from Your Survey Program

Okay, so now you realize that you’re not alone if you’ve seen lower response rates in your own efforts. Response rates are down across industries. But you don’t have to accept this as your fate. Armed with this information, you can adjust expectations within your organization while also doing everything in your power to keep your response rates as high as possible.As you can see from the first chart in this blog post, ClearlyRated survey programs enjoy higher response rates than the industry average. We like to think that’s because we’ve identified best practices and care enough to guide our clients in following them. While there’s no silver bullet, here are three ways to boost survey program response rates.

1. Carefully curate your contact list.

The biggest problem we see related to low response rate is that companies pull every email address for every single point of contact they’ve worked with. While they may figure that more email addresses increases their chances for more responses, this practice often negatively affects response rates. That’s because companies that do this end up including client contacts who haven’t worked with them for years, not to mention people who never actually interacted with their services—like someone from accounting who simply paid the bills. So, if you’re facing a low response rate, the first thing you should check is your data set and the criteria you use to create it. Pull a fresh list, strip it of duplicates and generic email addresses, and then go a step further. Send it to your employees that work directly with your clients to ask them for verification. If possible, integrate your survey tool with your CRM so you’ll be more likely to start with cleaner data. ClearlyRated, for instance, integrates with Bullhorn and Salesforce, with more CRM and ATS integrations, including niche systems, in the works.

2. Educate clients pre-survey and actively engage them during the survey period.

Give your client base a heads up before your survey launch, so they can begin thinking about what they’d like to share and can keep an eye out for their survey invitations. You can do this via mass communication channels and by asking employees in the field to touch base personally—especially for key accounts. After your survey has launched, watch the response data. Get a list of who hasn’t responded and try to figure out why. Many of our clients have had success by encouraging client-facing employees to check in and ask for survey responses. To help focus your efforts, consider prioritizing your non-response list using financial data. These efforts can encourage an immediate boost in your response rates. A note when it comes to poor feedback: Don’t sit on it. Act immediately. The ClearlyRated platform, for example, includes a feature for instant sharing to get feedback to the right internal contacts for service recovery.

3. Share results post survey.

Once your survey has closed, go through your data. Identify trends and delve deeply into the comments. Focus on quality and depth of feedback. Learn from it, make positive changes, and then engage your client base by sharing these insights and the actions you’ll take to do better. Use the 2-1-1 formula for client survey follow up: Share two things you’ve learned you’re doing well, one area you found you can improve, and one action you’re taking to make progress on it. Closing the feedback loop by reporting back to your clients can help increase your response rate over time. When you follow up, it teaches clients that you truly value their feedback and that they can help improve their experience by responding to your surveys. Those who responded will be glad they did and will continue to in the future, while those who didn't are more likely to answer the next survey. Not only are your program’s response rates likely to increase over time, but client engagement and retention will too. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even buck industry trends and watch your response rates steadily climb.When you work with an expert provider, they should build these best practices and more into their process, helping their clients achieve higher response rates and more satisfaction data to take action on.

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Best Staffing Firms for Women 2024 Winners

Staffing

ClearlyRated is thrilled to announce the trailblazing staffing firms that have earned inclusion on the 2024 Best Staffing Firms for Women list. Join us in celebrating the staffing and recruiting firms that have gone above and beyond to cultivate a workplace culture that champions gender equality, professional growth, and opportunities for women!

2024 Best Staffing Firms for Women

How Firms Earn Inclusion on the List

Staffing and recruiting firms that conducted internal employee surveys with ClearlyRated are eligible to earn the Best of Staffing® award in the Employee Satisfaction category. Within this category, firms that included identity-based demographic survey questions and met the following criteria related to female employee Net Promoter® Score (eNPS) and representation earned the prestigious designation as a member of the Best Staffing Firms for Women list:

  • SIZE: A minimum of 15 employee survey responses, and at least 47% of the responses from employees who identify as Female
  • SATISFACTION: Net Promoter® Score (NPS®) of 50% or above for those who identify as Female
  • REPRESENTATION: Females representation above U.S. workforce (at least 47% of staff who identify as Female)
  • OPPORTUNITY: Females represent at least 47% of total leadership roles (Branch Manager and above)
  • EQUITY: There is no significant gap in satisfaction (less than 5 percentage points) between male and female employees at the firm.

The Benefits of Earning the BSFW Designation

Fewer than 0.2% of staffing firms in the United States and Canada qualified to earn the Best Staffing Firms for Women designation, making this a prestigious recognition for staffing firms seeking to hire and retain top internal talent. Some additional benefits:

  • Positive PR exposure via inclusion on the published list, which ClearlyRated will promote via a press release to the North American newswire
  • Increased traffic to your ClearlyRated profile page via links in the published list, which drives more lead generation opportunity and visits to your website
  • Additional opportunities to highlight and celebrate your Best of Staffing Employee win and BSFW list inclusion with your employees internally and with recruits externally

Think your firm does an exceptional job of supporting and championing its female employees? If you’d like to see your firm on the 2025 Best Staffing Firms for Women list, complete this registration form now to get started!

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How to Leverage NPS in Your Marketing Communications

B2B

The Net Promoter® Score (NPS®) is a powerful tool. One simple question to your customers can reveal the health of your entire customer experience (CX). From there, you can pinpoint and fix areas of weakness, improving your CX. You can also uncover and capitalize on CX strengths, even celebrate those successes internally. Morale boost anyone? With good NPS survey software, it’s even possible to segment data, slicing and dicing to examine how the perception of your CX changes depending on various customer demographics and locations. Most NPS users know all this (and love it), but all too often they also miss a golden opportunity—one that’s indicated in the title of this blog post. They underutilize their NPS in marketing communications.

5 Ways to Use NPS in Your Marketing Efforts

You’ve invested in an NPS survey program. Ideally, you’ve also been using those insights to improve your CX and earn an NPS you can be proud of. That’s hard work! Get the most out of it by using your NPS in your marketing efforts. Here are five ways you can start now.

1. Create an NPS landing page or blog post to showcase your CX and explain your score.

Remember: When you started your program, you educated people internally. Now it’s time to educate externally. Why? The challenge of using NPS in marketing communications is that your audience may not understand what this score means and how it’s measured. Some customers might even see an outstanding NPS and think it’s terrible. To the average person, a 70% NPS may look like an D on a report card (even though it’s a world-class NPS!). That’s why starting with education makes sense. Just keep in mind that they’re not likely to be motivated to learn about NPS, so keep things simple, digestible and fun.Create an NPS landing page. This page will serve as the hub for all NPS-related marketing communications. Offer a brief, simple explanation of what NPS is, how it’s calculated and why your organization cares about it (Psst! It’s because you care about your customers). Even just explaining that NPS can range from -100% to +100% goes a long way. We also highly recommend sharing your industry benchmark alongside your own score to offer context. If you have a 42% NPS while the rest of your industry hovers around 25%, that means you offer a far better CX than any other companies your prospects may be considering. Here are industry benchmarks for accounting, staffing, B2B services, HR services, legal services, insurance, and IT services. Finally, most people love visuals. If you’ve put a lot of effort into improving your CX, consider showing a graph that illustrates how your NPS has improved over time. This very clearly shows that you care about your customers and have made an effort to deliver a great CX. While you’re at it, why not share some of your NPS program wins? Consider including a bulleted list of what you learned from NPS surveys and each action you took to improve. Bonus points if you can show the boost in NPS tied to each improvement.

2. Share NPS updates with current customers via email.

Now that you’ve gathered all your NPS wisdom in one place, you can parse that out and share. Get to work repurposing your NPS content and educating your customers, always offering a link back to your landing page. Email updates are a great option for spreading the word. You can show your NPS next to the industry average. You can include insights gained from NPS surveys and how you plan to respond. Beyond automating a thank you email or sms message to those who answer your NPS surveys (with a link to your landing page), share positive updates whenever you have them. If you’ve finished making a positive change to your processes or added a new tool or feature based on NPS survey feedback, why not share the good news? Or you can plan a regular NPS progress update with current customers. Communications like these remind them that you’re always looking out for their experience.

3. Display your NPS and any related award badges.

Some NPS survey programs come with the opportunity to earn awards based on customer satisfaction, like our own Best Of awards. These awards signal to current and potential customers that you’re focused on delivering great service — and that you’re succeeding. So, if you earn a CX-based award, share the good news! Add any associated badges, logos, or icons to your website, social channels, email signatures, and maybe even your Zoom backgrounds. Write an announcement about how and why you earned the award and publish it on your blog, sharing a link on social media. And don’t be shy about calling out all-stars on your team with a tagged mention. It gives them the accolades they deserve while organically bumping your reach on social channels. Once again, you can always include a link to your NPS landing page.

4. Talk about it on your social media channels.

Regularly use your NPS survey program to produce engaging social media content. Beyond sharing your NPS with the context of industry benchmarks, announce related awards on your social channels. Share quotes from positive feedback you receive. Share a shout out to your employees when they’re mentioned as being part of a great experience. Show humility and public gratitude for feedback that helps you grow — just post the customer feedback or suggestion you received and explain what you’ve done to make things better. All this activity displays active, consistent customer care.

5. Ask for reviews and testimonials, and develop case studies.

When someone takes an NPS survey, they’re giving you their time and some valuable feedback. Make the most of it. Respond to detractors with care and a helpful plan of action. Formerly unsatisfied customers have the potential to be won over and turned into your biggest champions. And when you receive great NPS survey feedback, use it to produce marketing materials. Good reviews can turn into testimonials and case studies—great marketing content. So, reach out to promoters. Thank them, engage them, and maybe even ask for referrals. While NPS surveys are a great way to gather customer and employee feedback, that’s not all they do. Don’t stop at collecting feedback. Use it to improve your CX and produce effective marketing content while you’re at it. For more on this very topic, listen to myself and our VP of Customer Success, Bridget Harper in our Survey Says podcast episode.

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Why Customer Experience is Crucial for IT Service Providers

IT

Given today's digital landscape, a great customer experience (CX) has become so vital for IT Service providers that it's virtually a make-or-break requirement. By being committed to managing CX effectively, these firms can steer a strategic path towards success, trust, credibility, and growth.

The Stakes Are High

The game of delivering impeccable IT services is rapidly changing. The customer experience (CX) used to be a "nice to have”, but it's shifted to a mission-critical component of the whole operations landscape. Ensuring that a strategic roadmap includes CX at its core isn't a matter of choice for IT firms – it's an absolute necessity.

Amplifying Your CX and Reaping the Rewards

Bringing this to life looks like fully tuning into CX management — and it means making certain that you're excellent at capturing customer experience successes at every possible interaction. This includes crafting useful content, managing feedback, and, most importantly, infusing customer insights into operations.Facing up to the complexity of total CX management might feel like a tall order, but its value far outweighs the challenge. A standout CX equates to building customer loyalty and garnering positive referrals. And remember, while 16% of customers might not tell you about their service issue, 74% will complain about it to others.

A Customer Service Experience report by Gartner confirms that enhancing service experiences drives retention and growth. In fact, 86% of customers are likely to spend more money after receiving value-enhanced services, and a striking 97% will share their experience.

Why Should Your Firm Invest in CX in 2024?

  • Trust and Credibility | Browsing the internet has become second nature to most clients. With an impressive and well-curated online presence, your firm sends a message of professionalism and reliability that helps build a strong trust foundation with potential clients.
  • Competitive Edge | In a highly competitive landscape, a robust online reputation, symbolizing quality service and positive customer experiences, can set your firm apart from others. It ensures you're the first one clients think of when they require the services you offer.
  • Business Growth | An impressive online presence, coupled with rave reviews and positive testimonials, attracts more prospects leading to business expansion.
  • Recurring Business | Having an excellent customer experience isn't just about flashy marketing efforts. It's about living up to the promises you make to your clients. When you consistently deliver remarkable service, they'll become loyal customers, ensuring a consistent stream of business.

Key Strategies to Enhance CX

  • Understand and Set Goals with Customers | Every customer comes with unique needs and expectations. It’s important for your IT firm to not only listen and understand but also to tailor your services accordingly. Treat each customer as a partner with shared goals to build a long-lasting business relationship.
  • Prioritize Security and Privacy | Given the rising concerns of data breaches, it's crucial to assure clients that their information is safe with you. Display your compliance with international security standards such as GDPR or HIPAA prominently.
  • Offer Self-Service and Automation | As technology evolves, the act of empowering customers to resolve their common problems has become more accessible. By offering self-service options like FAQs, automated responses and chatbots, you not only provide instant solutions but also help in reducing the workload of your customer service team.
  • Provide Proactive Education and Support | Educating your customers about how to make the most out of your solutions and services you offer, proves valuable. Regularly update your customers about new features, common issues and how to resolve them.

Why is NPS Uniquely Useful?

The Net Promoter Score® (NPS) is a great gauge of a company’s CX efforts. The NPS was at an all-time high for the IT Services industry in 2022 since ClearlyRated first measured industry satisfaction in 2011. For reference as you review the numbers, keep in mind that leading B2C companies including Starbucks and USAA, have a 77% and a 75% NPS, respectively. Although the IT industry’s NPS isn’t as strong as its B2C cousins, it has still dramatically increased since ClearlyRated first started measuring NPS in 2011.

  • 2023 IT Services NPS benchmark = 42%
  • -2 points YOY
  • +4 since 2020
  • +39 since its low in 2011

|Look into Insights on 2023 Rankings | NPS® Benchmarks for the IT Services Industry

Building on Solid CX Foundations

For IT service providers to ensure they stay on the ball, they need to boot out the manual mode and bring on proactive CX management. This shift includes using customer insights to gain an online reputation, drive new business, transition from detecting and evaluating customer experience issues, and begin refining the CX from the ground up.

CX Maturity

Managing CX effectively means understanding customer buying behavior, a factor that has grown in importance given that 73% of customers now consider CX as the ultimate decision-maker according to PwC. It involves evolving from rigid, annual surveys to continuous, real-time feedback. This evolving approach enables action in the now and allows for predicting future customer needs, ensuring satisfied customers and ongoing business. Migrating to a customer-focused management style is more than worth the effort – it's a real game-changer.Watch our On Demand webinar - Inside the Data: Highlights from our latest IT Services Industry Benchmark Study

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Why DEI Questions Matter in an Employee Survey

B2B

These days it goes without saying: The pandemic and simultaneous social movements gave people a new perspective and reordered their priorities. For many people, work and career got knocked down a few rungs while flexibility, fulfillment, and inclusion moved up. Hence, the Great Resignation (or the Great Reshuffle, depending on how we look at it). Thankfully, the record-high quit rates we saw in 2021 and 2022 have slowed, as noted in the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report. But as the dust settles, we’re still faced with increasingly high employee disengagement. Believe it or not, you can unlock powerful data by conducting an employee survey. To engage and hold onto your employees, you must nurture an atmosphere that fosters true inclusion and a sense of belonging for all. As our CEO Eric Gregg suggested early in the pandemic, leaders must show their employees that they care about their experience and want to support them—not just with words, but with tangible action. He noted that, for those who don’t, “It might not lead to a talent flight today, [but] it’s going to lead to a talent flight tomorrow.” As the COVID-19 began to spread across the globe, we at ClearlyRated were busy creating an employee-facing survey program for our clients. Little did we know how essential it would be to meet such a timely need. We launched our internal employee satisfaction survey program in June of 2020. Not long after, we started receiving many thoughtful questions from our clients and partners about the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) aspect of the program. Here’s a peek behind the curtain with Eric’s take on how and why we ensured that:

  1. DEI insights are baked into our employee surveys.
  2. Employees will feel comfortable sharing honest feedback.

Q: How did ClearlyRated decide to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) considerations into the internal employee survey product?

Eric: The idea to include DEI in our employee surveys came from one of the newer members of our team at the time who asked an important question: “Is it enough to impact just within our four figurative walls, or is there an opportunity to impact a wider audience?” The question struck a chord. Why wouldn’t we utilize our skills and experience to help our clients take action on something they likely already care about but don’t always know how to address? We serve multiple industries that employ millions of people directly and many more millions of people in a temporary capacity. Helping to positively influence the entire industries and improve EX across the board made a ton of sense. We already knew as we watched the pandemic cross the ocean that it’d be important to get feedback from employees. There was so much anxiety, change and social unrest. And we could give firm leaders an opportunity to assess where they were on their DEI path and give them the tools to improve.

Q: What are the questions in the survey that ask about DEI, and how did ClearlyRated select them?

Eric: This was a challenge. When planning a survey, what you aim to do is balance its depth, the number of questions, and its accessibility so that people who have many different things going on will take it to deliver a high response rate. Our existing survey had important questions for overall employee experience—one’s we’d been leveraging for over a decade—so we started with that. Then we did our homework and pulled three additional DEI-focused questions around the sense of belonging; leadership actions; and the opportunity for advancement regardless of race, gender and any other aspect other than performance. What’s even more important than those questions, and those questions are vitally important, is understanding how on all of the other questions—on fairness of compensation, flexibility, overall willingness to recommend the firm—differ spending on whether respondents are a white male versus a non-white male, a female, or a member of the LGBTQ+ community. We’re uniquely positioned to gather and use those demographics to help firms identify if they’re inadvertently leaving people behind. The only way you create a place where people can bring their best and full selves to work every single day is by understanding where those differences lie.

Q: How can business leaders ensure that employees feel comfortable answering survey questions?

Eric: The question is: How do you make sure your employees feel comfortable and confident answering the questions openly and honestly, especially the more personal survey questions? It’s one thing to answer, “What does this company do well?” and “What does this company need to improve?” It’s another thing to ask respondents to identify themselves in a particular way that may make them feel vulnerable. The key is to consider how your survey process can build trust. One of the things we do for clients at ClearlyRated is send the survey ourselves. This way, the surveys are coming from an objective third party (me, actually) rather than appearing to come from HR or even the CEO of the firm. And we coach our teams to explain that from the beginning—that an outside party is conducting the survey and that their employer won’t have direct access to it. When it comes to segmenting data – drilling down to specific groups of people – wel also help to make sure there are parameters in place that minimize the ability for somebody to drill down deep enough to identify individuals. A lot of that comes down to managing sample sizes. If the number of a particular group of people is below the sample size threshold, then we help clients build safeties into their system that prevent people from segementing too far, even inadvertently.

Q: In what ways will the DEI insights generated from the ClearlyRated employee survey empower business leaders to take action?

Eric: The most important thing following a survey program is to take action on the feedback you receive, especially around DEI. With the data that a good survey program provides, you’ll get a view of how your entire organization views the state of your DEI and any progress you’ve may. You’ll also have the ability to highlight how perceptions may differ by various demographic groups. Finally, you’ll gain context by gaining the option to compare your data with your industry peers’ to see how your journey measures up. With that knowledge, leaders can consider logical next steps. We recommend focusing on a gap analysis. Are there areas where the perceptions vary by demographic? We understand that somebody who’s new to an organization may have a different perspective than a colleague who’s been with you for 10 years, but we should all aim to eliminate cases where somebody feels like their opportunities are different because of how they identify. The only way that that happens is taking real action based on strong data insights.

Do you have questions about DEI or ClearlyRated’s Employee Satisfaction Survey Program?

We’d be more than happy to connect with you on this topic and others related to EX. Feel free to contact the ClearlyRated team or chat with a real person now to learn more about our employee satisfaction survey program. Want to learn more before chatting with us? No problem. Click here for a self-guided demo of our employee survey program. You can also watch the full video here with Eric’s perspective on how B2B service firms can leverage the ClearlyRated employee satisfaction survey to measure and improve their DEI outcomes. This video was recorded in 2020 around the initial launch of our employee survey program.

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Best Staffing Firms for Women Webinar Recap

Staffing

Recently, we had the pleasure of announcing our inaugural list of Best Staffing Firms for Women. This designation recognizes firms that deliberately foster work environments in which women can thrive and are more likely to receive parity in career growth and compensation.

Why Are We Shining a Light on Women in Staffing?

As our CEO, Eric Gregg, shared in a recent webinar, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Strategies from the Best Staffing Firms for Women,” women represent 68% of the staffing workforce, yet are:

  • 62% less likely than men to feel they’re compensated fairly
  • 26% less likely to feel they “always belong” at their firm
  • 42% less likely to to believe that their firm operates a meritocracy

And their perceptions are not wrong. The fact is: Women in staffing are underrepresented in higher-level roles and compensated at lower rates than men at every level. When we look at the numbers, we see that women in staffing are below the “equity line” in both director-level (-13.5%) and executive-level roles (-35%). On the flip side, women are overrepresented in support roles. This imbalance doesn’t stop at representation. Overall, women in staffing earn $0.77 for every dollar their male counterparts are paid. In fact, there isn’t a single staffing role in which women match their male peers in compensation. In many cases the higher women rise, the less money they make in comparison. Female branch managers, for instance, make $0.82 for every $1.00 their male peers get paid. And while women have gained ground since the 1970s in terms of compensation, the additional loads they bore during the pandemic led to a severe setback in their collective compensation as compared to men’s. Despite being undervalued, women offer many benefits to their employers—especially when in leadership roles. An article published by the American Psychological Association notes, “Decades of studies show women leaders help increase productivity, enhance collaboration, inspire organizational dedication, and improve fairness.” So, how can you attract more women to your organization and better support your female employees to prepare them for leadership roles? Eric explored this with Tammi Heaton, the co-CEO of Pridestaff, and Kim Whiteley, SVP of MeeDerby. Tammi and Kim have spent 26 years and 16 years at their companies, respectively, and each of their organizations made the list of Best Staffing Firms for Women.

Ways to Support Women in Staffing From Best Staffing Firms for Women Winners

During the webinar, Eric, Tammi, and Kim explored the ‘whys’ behind women’s leadership gap as well as what their own organizations do to actively support and promote women in their workforces. Below are some actionable takeaways. 1. Give women opportunities to expand their capabilities and experience—and encourage them to broaden their perceptions around their own potential.Tammi suggests offering women opportunities to grow by exposing them to things they wouldn’t normally do via sub-committees or customer advisory boards. Not only will they gain experience, but they’ll also build their network. She noted that this practice spurred her own career beginning in 2002 when she shared an idea with leaders and was empowered to put a plan together and run with it. “Half of what we know isn’t taught in school,” Tammi says, so it’s essential to create a work atmosphere where women feel empowered to grow. Supporting their ideas and encouraging them to pursue their plans can retain women over time and improve their readiness for leadership roles. Progress can be made by nudging women toward leadership roles. Tammi and Kim both acknowledged that everyone is always slightly underqualified for their next job. But women, they noted, tend to feel this more acutely than men. We noticed this at ClearlyRated too. Often, women candidates were disqualifying themselves before they’d even applied for our open roles. To remedy that, we’ve added language to our job descriptions explaining that we consider applicants who don’t meet all the criteria. 2. Promote mentorship and leadership development.“Ask women about their challenges and how they perceive their skills and potential, especially because women have a tendency to be harder on themselves,” says Tammi, who encourages active career pathing conversations. She also recommends connecting female employees with women mentors who are already in leadership positions. Connecting women with formal mentor relationships and leadership programs can help talented women who wouldn’t normally advocate for themselves. Kim noted that several MeeDerby clients earned a spot on the Best Staffing Firms for Women list. One such firm is Adecco which recruits female employees into Engage 2022, its formal leadership development program for women. Adecco’s CEO has committed to fill 50% of its VP-level roles with women leaders by 2030.3. Foster flexibility.Kim pointed out that the years in which most people advance their careers often coincide with typical childbearing years. Many women get passed over because they’re pregnant, on leave or caring for young children. This issue has been exacerbated as an increasing number of women also begin to care for their parents along with their children.“These women get overlooked rather than included in conversations,” she says, yet they’re still more than capable of taking on challenges and excelling. “Ask them what they can handle and manage. When we do, we learn that they can manage a lot more than we think as long as we give them the opportunity to do it—and the flexibility to do it in a way that works for them.”After she had her son, Kim left a former job herself. She had also been managing care for her parents and wanted to work at an organization that allowed her to be performance-driven while also having more control over her schedule. Fortunately, she landed at MeeDerby where employees are given the flexibility to handle personal responsibilities with a schedule that works for them while still gaining opportunities to rise in the organization.“We just ask that if you’re going to be away from your desk, you give a heads up to your team so people will know not to expect an immediate response. You don’t even need to explain why,” she says.She and Tammi both recommend thinking outside the box about how a job can get done. Tammi shared that PrideStaff supports women returning to work by allowing them to ease back in, sometimes with a three-day schedule. Some women who returned to work via this option, she says, are now top performers. “Empathy doesn’t mean there’s a lack of accountability,” Tammi says.When an employee needs extra flexibility due to outside circumstances, she recommends that managers offer support and several options while setting expectations and timelines to prevent surprises on either side. 4. Actively recruit women who’ve felt sidelined or left behind at past roles. YUPRO is another of MeeDerby’s clients that qualified for a spot on the Best Staffing Firms for Women list. Its CEO Michelle Sims encourages employees to refer to anyone who felt they didn’t have a voice at another organization. Her current head of recruiting came into the company this way.Tammi echoed the importance of reaching out to people who’ve felt sidelined, adding that PrideStaff’s first franchise owners were women who felt left out in their organizations. Now she affirms that they are PrideStaff’s strongest performing branches. To hear more details from their discussion as well as Tammi and Kim’s answers to the following attendee questions, watch the full webinar.

  1. “What advice do you have for male-dominated organizations that have so far failed to consider women for leadership roles?”
  2. “As we look forward to the next five years, do you see it getting better in the industry? Is there any real change happening?”
  3. “What are some things you can do in your recruiting process to hire the next generation of female leaders?”
  4. “Are there programs you’d recommend women participate in within the industry to further their career and grow their network?”
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Has AI Already Taken Over Online Reviews?

B2B

On their own, fake online reviews are nothing new but what is new is a powerful tool – AI – that can write them more convincingly and more quickly — and it’d be short-sighted not to admit the temptation that many businesses will face. In 2022, alone, Tripadvisor detected 1.3 million and Google identified 115 million fake reviews. The importance of online reviews and ratings to business success can’t be understated. Unfortunately, this has incentivized companies of all types and sizes to push for reviews that are anything but genuine. Until recently, most fake reviews were generated by online review farms – often in third-world locations – paid to improve businesses’ online ratings. If you’ve read any of those reviews, you likely recognized them for what they were thanks to canned, overused phrases and imperfect English. But today’s AI changes everything with its command of multiple languages, its lightning speed, and the fact that it’s a low-cost tool. Already a Guardian journalist has demonstrated ChatGPT’s ability to crank out differentiated, well-written fake reviews. It may not be long before bad actors use tools like these to publish fake reviews at a rate in which today’s detection procedures simply can’t keep up.

The Current (and Ever-Evolving) State of AI-Generated Content

Scroll through popular social media outlets, and you’re likely to see AI-generated images— some comically obvious and others harder to perceive. In fact, experts have issued warnings such as: “Detecting deepfakes and AI-generated content is an ongoing challenge as the technology continues to evolve. As AI models improve and become more sophisticated, identifying disinformation becomes increasingly complex.”For the purposes of AI’s effects on online reviews, let’s focus on AI-generated text. AI-generated copy has proliferated since the late 2022 release of ChatGPT, a powerful and commonly used generative AI tool. Already AI-penned content can be found in product listings on eCommerce websites, in marketing copy, and as entire eBooks published in Amazon’s Kindle store. But will the public remain comfortable with AI’s growing uses? Forbes Advisor published survey results in July 2023 that show mixed public sentiment. On one hand, more than 75% of consumers are concerned about AI’s potential to spread misinformation and a majority aren’t completely comfortable with businesses using AI. That said, 65% say they would personally use ChatGPT over search engines to find information online. And as more people interact with AI, it will get even better at appearing to write as a real person—which takes us back to its potential for fake online reviews.

AI’s Infiltration of Online Reviews

As early as April 2023, there were reports of AI-generated reviews on Amazon. How could the world be sure? Well, it’s a dead giveaway when a review begins: “As an AI language model…” But we all learn from our mistakes, right?Plus, as NBC News points out, “AI-generated reviews aren't entirely against Amazon's rules. An Amazon spokesperson said the company allows customers to post AI-generated reviews as long as they are authentic and don’t violate policy guidelines.” But how can platforms be certain the review is based on an authentic experience? While Amazon is allowing users to post reviews written with help from AI, it’s been cracking down on fake review providers, filing a lawsuit and requesting assistance from social media platforms where businesses connect with review brokers and where these brokers create fake accounts from which to publish fake reviews.As mainstream review sites strategize, review farms can get ever savvier with the help of AI tools—and we mere mortals may have a harder time detecting the fakes. In fact, one study found that humans can only identify fake reviews 55% of the time. Will that number go down as AI-generated reviews get sneakier?

The Federal Trade Commission’s Response

In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took a stand for protecting online transparency by making an example of companies that cherry-picked reviews (by only publishing positive ones), gated reviews (by filtering rating results and only asking happy customers to write a review), and encouraged entirely fake reviews. This year, the FTC issued a warning about “the widespread emergence of generative AI, which is likely to make it easier for bad actors to write fake reviews."To deter companies in its war against fake reviews, the FTC has sought a new weapon for its arsenal: a fine of up to $50,000per infraction aimed at companies that either sell, buy, or promote fake reviews and ratings. The question here is: How easy is it to detect fake reviews—and will FTC enforcement be able to keep up with perpetrators?

Proactive vs. Reactive Approaches: How ClearlyRated Blocks Fake Reviews

To promote online transparency, we don’t rely on a reactive detection and removal process for fake reviews. While admirable in its aims, a reactive approach just won’t cut it, especially with the threat of AI-generated content. Our strategy positions us to be proactive instead, verifying reviews as they are collected and before any are published. With this process in place, we prevent fake reviews from being sought and published in the first place. From the beginning, we designed our platform to make it extremely difficult for any company to collect fake reviews. Our customer intake process screens for potential bad actors, and our platform only allows reviews from contacts in our customers’ data sets. This means that only real, vetted customers can rate or review companies with a ClearlyRated profile. Not one review or rating can appear on any of our customers’ profiles without the reviewer receiving a personal invitation as a member of their customer data set.Finally, we employ a proprietary system that automatically searches for and flags various signals. This system helps us identify potential issues that may otherwise slip through the cracks, such as companies answering surveys for customers who didn’t respond. In fact, we do catch two to three rogue actors each year who try to submit fake reviews for their companies—and we have a process for remediation depending on the severity. Our goal has always been to help our customers improve their customer experience (CX) by getting a full understanding of their CX, and to recognize those that earn positive customer feedback. By cheating the system, everyone loses.Unfortunately, most review platforms don’t have a way to verify whether each reviewer actually interacted with the company they’re rating. Therefore, it falls to consumers to keep the source in mind when reading reviews. Look into and recognize the differences between review platforms before deciding whether you trust them. You may decide that not all review platforms hold the same weight, and you’ll be wiser for it. While we sincerely hope this isn’t the case, it may not be long before having verified ratings, reviews, and testimonials will become a true differentiator. Why not start promoting that now—on your website, in proposals, and during conversations with your customers? Demonstrate your commitment to transparency and your goal of delivering a great CX. Learn more about how ClearlyRated can help you achieve that goal today.

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What We Learned by Analyzing Client Survey Response Rate Data

B2B

At ClearlyRated we believe it's good business for B2B service providers to place the client experience (CX) at the heart of their growth strategy. That’s why we’ve made it our mission since 2003 to help B2B firms get honest feedback about their service. Doing so helps them both to improve their CX and to credibility differentiate themselves based on it. However, in order for businesses to get the most out of their survey feedback, they need to focus on their response rates. Helping B2B firms get honest feedback has not only positioned us to guide firms on improving their CX, but also to gather proprietary data from decades’ of surveys across multiple industries. Knowledge is power, so we’ve decided to draw new insights from our vast data set—and to share them with you, specifically our data on response rates.

How We’ve Used Our Data to Unlock Insights and Define Best Practices

We’ve harnessed the information in our data sets to both create a new tool and publish a deep study. Now we offer our new Response Rate Calculator to any B2B firm that wants to predict their client survey response rate based on day one of their survey launch. Also, after compiling and analyzing data from the NPS® surveys in our Best of Staffing® survey program, we completed a comprehensive study focused on improving client survey response rates. The insights from this analysis can help organizations yield higher response rates with more meaningful feedback. In this way, we hope to help our clients improve their survey programs and ultimately, their customer experience. Get a sneak peek into some of the best practices below.

3 Ways to Improve Your Survey Response Rates

Set up your client satisfaction survey for early success with these three three survey design tips.

Make the survey invitation personal.

While addressing the recipient by name is a good start, this tip goes beyond that. When communicating about your survey program, keep it personal by sending emails from someone the recipient will know rather than a generic company email address.* You can also ditch the fancy-looking HTML email in favor of plain text emails to achieve a higher response rate. * This doesn’t apply to survey invitations when you employ an objective third-party survey partner that sends the survey. In this case, your staff can still communicate personally about the survey program ahead of its launch.

Keep your survey short and sweet.

Longer surveys often yield incomplete responses and abandoned surveys. Remember: your respondents have busy schedules and many other tasks on their plate. Respect their time and get better response rates by carefully selecting your survey questions and writing them in simple language. Keep the full survey under 10 questions and make answering easy with multiple choice or sliding scale answers. You can include an optional comments field for those who want to add more detail to their responses.

Create an accessible survey experience.

Make it easy for clients to answer your survey whenever they find a free moment. This may mean responding to your survey on their phone while waiting for the dentist or on their tablet while taking the train home, so ensure your survey is mobile-friendly. Finally, you should also consider adding a “preview” option that allows respondents to see all questions (hopefully a short list!) before they respond, so they can assess how long it will take them. Keep in mind that they’re more likely to complete your survey if it’s short and to the point. Get more best practices to maximize the response rate to your client satisfaction survey, including when and how to communicate with clients about your survey program as well as how to ensure they receive your survey invitations. After all, if they don’t get your survey, how can they respond to it?

What Else Can You Find in Our Response Rate Report?

Download our response rate analysis report to learn more about managing successful client survey programs that help you deliver your best service, creating strong relationships with your customers and using their positive feedback to grow your client base. Our report includes information on:

  • Response rate trends and benchmarks
  • Additional best practices for getting higher survey response rates
  • And more takeaways about the types of client respondents you may have and how to encourage their feedback
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3 Tips to Get Data and Feedback on Your Employee Experience

Staffing

Originally published May 2022, updated June 2023 Throughout the early 2020s, the pandemic paired with social upheavals and shifting worker priorities led to climbing turnover rates. As companies across all industries struggled with retention, more were forced to care about their employee experience. While many organizations have long understood the importance of their client and customer experience (CX), less realize how essential their employee experience is to success—and slacking on employee experience is growing riskier.Why? Unengaged employees can harm your ability to deliver positive CX. And declining retention rates can lead to low morale and instability among your workforce. Winning at EX stabilizes and engages your workforce while increasing your chances of scoring a great CX. To begin, get a solid understanding of where your employee experience currently stands. Identify what you’re doing right, where you have space to improve, and where your biggest risks lie. By capitalizing on what you do well and learning how you can improve from your employees, you can improve engagement, boost employee wellbeing, and better support DEI initiatives. Do this by gathering both objective quantitative data (rating numbers) and subjective qualitative employee feedback (comments). One of the simplest, fastest and most sustainable ways to obtain essential employee experience data is an employee survey program.

Use these three tips to execute an employee survey that maximizes its positive impact on your firm:

1. Don’t go too general. Do get specific with your questions.

Vanilla questions yield vanilla feedback. Go deeper. Invite feedback on specific aspects of your EX, including opportunities for growth, benefits and perks, and your firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. DEI plays a major role in EX and engagement. Research shows that inclusive companies are more likely to coach people for improved performance and to identify and build leaders—both factors contribute to better retention rates. So include questions that help assess your firm’s DEI performance and ask for specific feedback on how you can improve these efforts. Then be prepared to act on your employees’ feedback.

2. Don’t ask for names. Do keep things anonymous.

When you launch an employee survey, you want real, honest feedback—right? Well, you’ll be more likely to get it if you keep responses anonymous. This gives your employees the freedom to give candid feedback without fear of retaliation. In fact, studies have shown that anonymous surveys “promote greater disclosure of sensitive… information compared to non-anonymous methods.” Plus, employees who typically don’t like to draw attention to themselves are more likely to share, generating higher overall disclosure rates and more accurate results. When you give your staff peace of mind that their feedback is anonymous, you’ll likely see an increased response rate and more honest feedback—two elements that go a long way in transforming your EX efforts. Working with third-party survey providers can both ensure that anonymity is protected and help your employees feel more comfortable sharing their feedback.

3. Don’t overcomplicate EX reports. Enable ongoing tracking and unlock clear comparisons by keeping it simple.

Implement an employee satisfaction metric like Employee Net Promoter® Score (eNPS) that can be tracked over time and compared across teams within your firm. Keep in mind that a simple metric doesn’t keep you from segmenting data to gain valuable insights. On the contrary, it makes slicing and dicing data easier, giving you the ability to compare eNPS scores by department, office location, or demographics like gender, race, and age. Segmenting data groups can help you identify and learn from bright spots as well as draw out insights on exactly where you need to make improvements. It also unlocks the ability to more easily compare your organization’s EX against industry benchmarks to see how you measure up and why you might be leaking talent to competitors. If ever there was a time to invest in EX, it’s now. Internal employee engagement and retention are more essential than ever in maintaining stability within your organization and delivering an outstanding CX that keeps you competitive for the long term.

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TekPartners Earns the Best of Staffing 10 Year Diamond Award

Staffing

This year, ClearlyRated has the honor of recognizing our first ever cohort of 10 Year Diamond Award winning firms! This award is the crowning achievement for Best of Staffing firms, earned only by a handful of elite organizations that have won the Best of Staffing designation for 10 consecutive years. Among them is TekPartners, an IT staffing provider headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL.TekPartners has earned the Best of Staffing designation for Talent Satisfaction 12 years in a row! We had the opportunity to sit down with Jay Bevilacqua, CEO of TekPartners, to hear his thoughts on the Best of Staffing program and what the 10 Year Diamond Award means to the TekPartners team.

Jay Bevilacqua, CEO, TekPartners

What does winning the Best of Staffing 10 Year Diamond Award for Client Satisfaction meant to you and the TekPartners team?

Jay: Winning this award demonstrates that we are staying true to our commitment to give our talent the best possible experience each time they work with us. It is always our goal to provide superior service to each candidate we work with, so seeing the overwhelmingly positive survey responses is a sign that we are in sync with our talent. We take the feedback we receive very seriously and have used those comments to improve our services, continuously honing our processes to meet the changing demands of the marketplace. Winning this award shows that we doing our best and adhering to our Core Values, as well as our mission to help connect the right people with the right jobs so both our talent and our clients can succeed.

What does it take to maintain such a high level of excellence for such a long time?

Jay: It takes a great leadership team, a collaborative environment, and the ability to pivot and adapt when things change. We have weathered an enormous amount of changes in just the last few years, and it was all possible thanks to our team’s ability to harness strategic thinking and a persevering attitude toward the challenges we’ve met along the way. Our company is rooted in the idea of “people helping people” and that’s what it all comes down to – maintaining a focus on helping each person we work with by putting them foremost as we strive to place them.

What's an important lesson that you've learned from participating in Best of Staffing for so many years?

Jay: It’s important to be open to change and to accept all comments, both positive and negative, with grace. Even the occasional negative comment or review can be a learning experience for our team and help us improve our service. Being open to taking that feedback and utilizing it to create positive change is essential to surviving and adapting in our industry. There is always room to grow and change for the better, so keeping an open mind and building on past success is an important part of creating future success.

Were there any surprises along the way?

Jay: The pandemic was certainly a surprise! Any journey this long will have its ups and downs, but the last few years were highly unusual. Our industry definitely saw a great deal of change, but we worked to build deeper relationships with our clients and talent, seizing opportunities as they arose. While it may have been rocky for a little while in some ways, we always knew that the build back was going to be better than the set back. The one thing that came out of all of this is that we all learned to work in a different way, and we got a little closer from working further apart. We have been able to provide life-changing opportunities for our talent as well as for our own employees as a result.

What advice would you give to someone about to participate in Best of Staffing for the first time?

Jay: Be open to the feedback. Take both the good and bad responses to heart, but don’t dwell on it either. You can learn something from each response in order to improve services and processes for next time. Being able to have this insight into your talent’s thoughts on your company is an invaluable tool, so take advantage of that in order to work toward improving and refining your processes along the way.

Do you have any exciting plans for showing off your 10 Year Diamond Award?

Jay: We proudly display our awards in our lobby for everyone to see as they come into our headquarters, so we are looking forward to adding this one to a place of honor. We also featured the award in a press release and on our social media.

Is there anything we haven't covered that you'd like to share?

Jay: This award means a lot to us as an organization because it shows how we measure up against other organizations in the industry. We want to be a top provider of IT staffing for both our clients and consultants and consistently provide superior service by going above and beyond the competition. This award not only shows us what we are doing right, but helps drive us toward greater achievements in the future.

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ClearlyRated ‘Best of’ Industry Awards Calendar

B2B
ClearlyRated Best of Industry Logos
A calendar of ClearlyRated ‘Best of’ industry awards and their registration deadlines.

Last Update: January 9, 2024Every year, ClearlyRated recognizes leading firms in professional service industries whose clients (and/or placed talent or internal employees) have ranked them in the elite class of service excellence.These annual service excellence awards are based exclusively on Net Promoter® Score (NPS) ratings gathered through the ClearlyRated survey program. Eligibility requirements are robust, and all ratings are validated and measured against industry standards on an annual basis - with each year's winners announced starting in February.

ClearlyRated ‘Best of’ Industry Awards Cycle

At the beginning of February each year, ClearlyRated publishes lists of the ‘Best of’ award-winning B2B firms in each of our awarded industries for the current year. As additional firms qualify for the award(s) in their industry, those firm names are added to the published list of winners for the current award year. See the current 2023 ‘Best of’ award-winning firms in our awarded industries:2023 Best of Accounting2023 Best of HR Services2023 Best of Insurance2023 Best of Legal2023 Best of RPO2023 Best of Staffing

Public Announcement Dates for ‘Best of’ Industry Awards

We like to make quite a bit of brouhaha around the announcement of the winner lists at the beginning of February each year. We celebrate the award-winning firms by spreading the word of their NPS® excellence as far and wide as possible. You may have seen our announcement emails, videos, social media posts, podcasts, case studies, and newswire coverage during our February ‘Best of’ industry awards season.‘Best of’ Industry awards announcement dates:

  • 2024 ‘Best of’ Industry Award announcement: Tuesday, February 6, 2024
  • 2025 ‘Best of’ Industry Award announcement: Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Special designation announcement dates:

  • 2024 Best Staffing Firms for Women List announcement: Tuesday, March 19, 2024

The Best Staffing Firms for Women (BSFW) list is an additional special designation that recognizes the staffing firms that provide the best employee experience and advancement opportunities for their female internal employees. >> See the 2023 Best Staffing Firms for Women List to learn more about the Best Staffing Firms for Women designation.

Registration Deadlines for ‘Best of’ Industry Awards
  • Registration deadline to qualify for 2024 ‘Best of’ industry awards: Friday, May 17, 2024
  • Priority registration deadline to survey your stakeholders for the 2025 ‘Best of’ industry awards before the holiday season: Friday, August 16, 2024

Register for the award program in your industry here:Register for Best of Accounting | Register for Best of HR Services | Register for Best of Insurance | Register for Best of Legal | Register for Best of RPO | Register for Best of StaffingAward Eligibility Criteria: Winners for each industry award are selected with a proven competition methodology that eliminates error and ensures firms are unable to game the system.

  • To be eligible for a ClearlyRated industry award, your firm must be located in the United States or Canada.
  • Using the ClearlyRated survey process, clients (and/or placed talent or internal employees) of participating B2B firms are sent an online survey asking them to rate their satisfaction with their firm based on the Net Promoter® survey methodology.
  • Each firm's survey responses are calculated and validated by third party research firm and competition administrator, ClearlyRated.
  • Based on industry benchmarks for the given award year, ClearlyRated determines the minimum satisfaction score that firms must earn to be awarded - ensuring client satisfaction and service quality of winning firms is significantly higher than the industry average.

Learn more about award eligibility in your industry:

If you have any questions whatsoever about the ‘Best of’ industry awards, the upcoming deadlines, or the survey process, please don't hesitate to contact us now!Additional resources:

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Digital Surveys vs. Paper Surveys

B2B

We’ll come right out with it – Digital surveys beat paper surveys. The '90s have made a comeback, but that doesn’t extend to old-school survey techniques. The only time it’s better to use a paper survey is when the majority of your survey pool can’t be reached online. The fact is; paper surveys are time consuming and more expensive. Plus, they risk data loss. Digital surveys, on the other hand, save money and require less labor. Online surveys don’t require two-way postage, multiple mailings, or costly replacement questionnaires. You also don’t need to spend time manually entering responses into a database. Instead, your response data gets captured and cataloged automatically for near real-time analysis. This enables you to use the extra time that would have been spent inputting the data to review the responses and develop your CX strategy. So you may think this debate is an obvious one (favoring digital surveys) but believe it or not, from our experience traditional leaders are typically more comfortable with paper surveys. You might also hear them say the common (and often dreaded) phrase "We've always done it this way", but you're in luck to help fuel your case for modernization, we've compiled 6 advantages of digital surveys that show why they win this debate.

6 Advantages of Digital Surveys Over Paper Surveys

Digital surveys do more than save time and money. They also create a more efficient process, more accurate databases, and a more convenient experience. Here are six ways online surveys do it better than paper surveys.

1. They generate more data.

Response rates for mailed surveys have been declining for years. These days, online surveys get higher response rates than paper surveys. Higher response rates translate to more data and more accurate insights. Why do online surveys yield better response rates? It may be due in part to convenience (we’ll get to that), but it’s also the fact that your team has more control from start to finish. For instance, you can track responses and easily retarget anyone who hasn’t yet responded. Plus, your surveys and the responses can’t get lost in transit. Digital responses get captured immediately and safely stored in databases. Depending on the software you use, you may even get instant data analysis.

2. They enable a more efficient process.

Online surveys can be set up and launched more easily than paper surveys—and your responses roll in almost instantly. This means your team spends less time creating the survey and entering data, and more time analyzing feedback to make timely improvements. Following the 80/20 rule is key to survey success. 80% of your time should be spent responding to feedback and only 20% should be focused on the survey design. When you get immediate access to survey feedback, you can take action sooner and improve your service recovery

3. They create less room for error.

When you mail paper surveys, your staff must read individual responses then manually enter each survey’s data—hopefully correctly. Unfortunately, human error tends to creep in, especially when a task gets tedious, and muddy data will lead to incorrect insights. But when you launch an online survey, no one gets tasked with logging the response data. Instead your respondents enter their answers directly into your system, leaving less room for error and yielding more accurate results. Plus, if you make an error when creating your digital survey, you can make live updates. Incorrect email addresses are more easily rectified than physical addresses, and typos in your answer options can be immediately corrected when your survey is hosted online.

4. They’re more convenient.

You should always look for ways to improve your customer experience, and streamlining their survey experience by offering it online does just that. People are simply used to doing things digitally now. Plus, digital surveys can be done more quickly than paper ones, so people are more likely to respond. Also, online surveys make it easier for your clients to take the survey in their own time, especially when your online survey is mobile responsive. This means they can respond on their phones while riding the train into work or waiting in the school car line to pick up their child. They also won’t have to keep track of a physical envelope and make sure to place it in a mailbox. Instead, they simply tap a link, answer the survey on their chosen device, and get immediate confirmation that their feedback has been captured.

5. They improve flexibility.

Digital surveys unlock the ability to employ survey logic that just wouldn’t work with a printed survey. This means you can tailor question paths based on respondents’ answers. Let’s say someone indicates that they only use one of your two solutions. You can program your survey to automatically skip any following questions that relate to the unused solution—and add one to assess their interest in and need for the additional solution. This customization, only possible with online surveys, is yet another way digital surveys improve the experience for survey takers.

6. They offer more ways to collect and use positive feedback.

Some online survey partners go a step beyond surveying. They also:

    • Make it easier to gather a library of client testimonials
    • Generate client satisfaction scores that you can use to track your progress and illustrate your reputation for great service
    • Offer ways to qualify for and earn third-party awards which you can use in your marketing efforts to prove credibility and a positive track record

Our research shows that every generation, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers, takes validated ratings, client satisfaction scores, and third-party awards into account when selecting B2B service providers. So, yes, we may be biased. But, as our customer success gurus Ryen and Bridget say in their recent podcast episode, “Digital surveys are the way of the future.” If you want to hear their thoughts about paper versus online surveys (and whether to put marshmallows in your hot chocolate), listen to this Survey Says podcast episode: The Debate: Paper vs. Digital Surveys.

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Recruitment During Recession: 8 Tips for Staffing Agencies

Staffing

The current economic landscape is fraught with uncertainty. In light of persistent inflation, a looming recession, and a volatile labor market, many businesses are choosing to eliminate portions of their staff. For instance, tech giants are shaving off their workforce by the tens of thousands and tech analysts say this trend could continue into Q1 and beyond. Staffing firms, whose purpose is to help companies fill open positions, could in consequence experience a decline in business. Despite this somewhat bleak prognostic for 2023, staffing firms can ensure the continued success of their business by strategically planning their next steps. Here are some tips:

Tip 1: Be financially prepared

Being adequately prepared for a recession can reduce the fear, anxiety, and losses that come with it. Know which resources (such as lines of credit, grants, and business loans) are available to you should you need them. It is wise to secure financing before you need it.

Tip 2: Gather relevant data

In the business world, data is key. Being data-driven helps staffing firms establish baselines, benchmarks, and goals to keep moving forward. In times of recession, effective data collection and analysis will allow you to direct scarce resources to where they are most needed. It’s important to know what you are doing well and what could be improved. For this purpose, you can use a job posting platform that gives you 24/7 access to your data and analytics.

Tip 3: Keep up with trends

Read about industry trends and labor market shifts to see how you can overcome potential challenges and make the most of a situation. For example, according to a recent Talent.com survey, a majority of workers said they would switch their industry of employment if a recession impacted their current industry. This trend can be beneficial for your business, as an increase in the number of people looking for new opportunities can mean more activity for staffing professionals. Combine your research on the labor market with frequent competition audits to get a comprehensive view of the ever-evolving staffing ecosystem.

Tip 4: Diversify your client roster

Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket. Diversity is your strength. If you are only serving one sector, you could take a larger hit. Forming strategic alliances with companies operating in different industries can greatly reduce the impact of an economic downturn.

Tip 5: Work with established names

Large companies tend to have more experience and more resources to combat the declines in revenue and earnings brought about by a recession. Be careful when choosing new partners, a recession might not be the best time to take a chance on smaller, riskier clients.

Tip 6: Build a strong team

Make sure your boat is filled with captains who are ready to weather the storm with you and keep your staffing firm afloat. Having experienced staffers among your ranks will ensure you can cover multiple skill sets during hard times. You can use a comprehensive recruitment platform with robust job distribution features to find your special people.

Tip 7: Focus on automation

When the economy is declining, time management is crucial. Automating the most repetitive parts of the hiring process can go a long way toward reducing the time spent analyzing data and pondering decisions. With programmatic advertising, for example, a staffing firm can buy, place, and optimize job ads in high volume and for a lesser price. Additional key benefits of programmatic advertising include creating efficiency and helping with bandwidth issues.

Tip 8: Reinforce your reputation

In the past, recessions have caused countless companies to go out of business. Your clients are aware of this possibility and want to know that you are still thriving. You want to be perceived as a stable and adaptable staffing firm, despite what challenges a volatile economy may throw your way. To ensure client trust and loyalty, make sure to clearly communicate your ability to meet clients’ needs in your marketing and sales material.

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Online Reputation Management 101: Protecting Your Brand's Image

B2B

People like to talk—about experiences, about other people, and about businesses. And they don’t always keep their thoughts to in-person conversations. People often share their ideas, opinions, and experiences online where they reach a much wider audience and this can shape your online reputation. Some favorite outlets for airing their thoughts include social media, review sites, in forums, and on blogs to name a few. If you don’t think people are talking about your business, well, you just might be an ostrich with your head in the sand. They are. And you can take the opportunity to listen, learn, and use it to your advantage. In fact, this wise and strategic behavior has a very scientific name: Online reputation management.

What is Online Reputation Management?

Online reputation management is more than monitoring social media, though that does have its place. Your online reputation is built on all the ways your brand appears online. This includes ratings and reviews, blog posts, your website, forums, social media (psst! This includes relevant hashtags and conversations, not just your company’s claimed profiles) and more. Together, these channels mold what your prospects and customers think of your brand.Managing your online reputation includes paying attention to what people are saying online, responding when you can, and actively asking for feedback and reviews.

Why Does Your Online Reputation Matter?

We’re glad you asked! Your online reputation affects your prospects’ buying decisions and your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts—for better or worse. How does online reputation affect buying decisions? Let’s say a potential customer decides to read up on your company before signing on the dotted line. After some tapping and a few clicks, they’re perusing online reviews. What will they see? The answer to that question can make or break your sale. Research shows that 86% of people shopping for B2B services read third-party online reviews prior to making buying decisions—and they give them a lot of weight. In fact, prospective clients of B2B service providers trust online ratings and reviews twice as much as they do your website when trying to determine the quality of your firm. And that’s not all.How you handle your online reputation management can even win over current unsatisfied customers who would otherwise leave your company by contract end. How? By proactively asking for and responding to feedback and reviews, you’ll get a chance to hear them out and smooth over any issues before they decide to leave you. Nearly eight in 10 people say they will forgive a company for a mistake after receiving excellent service, and a majority are more likely to feel good about companies that respond to reviews in general. << Learn more about the service recovery paradox>>Okay, what about boosting SEO? While determining which webpages to display, search engines’ algorithms give priority to validated star ratings (which typically come from online reputation management efforts). This is especially true for local search rankings. Even if ratings don’t boost your rankings, those stars are more likely to grab a user’s eye, enhance your credibility, and ultimately bring them to your website.

3 Steps to Begin Managing Your Reputation

Sold on the benefits of managing your online reputation? We hope so! Now you may be wondering how to get started. We recommend these three steps.Step 1: Actively manage your brand’s presence on major rating sitesTo begin managing your online reputation, you must first know where to look. We recommend claiming your business profiles where possible and monitoring the following categories:

  • Major search engines with ratings (Google, Yelp and Glassdoor)
  • Popular job sites, like Indeed and Glassdoor)
  • Relevant B2B rating sites, like ClearlyRated and G2
  • Social media, including your owned channels plus related hashtags and the comments on competitors’ pages
  • Your website, including areas where users can leave reviews and commentsA note: Your site doesn’t and shouldn’t remain static. User-generated content like reviews and ratings make it alive with fresh new content, signaling to search engines that it’s valuable online real estate users would want to visit.

Step #2: Create a process for responding to reviews—both positive and negative ones.Your business likely has customer reviews whether you’ve begun to actively request them or not. But once you start a formal process, you’ll likely both increase your number of reviews and your ability to use them to your benefit. To do so, you need a clear process that includes ownership and autonomy. Once you determine who will respond to feedback, help this person set up notifications and monitor reviews. Set goals for their response time and provide prepared templates they can use as guidelines for responding to both positive and negative reviews. Finally, train your teams on a clear process to communicate feedback internally.Step #3: Ask for online reviews.Request feedback regularly on official and personal levels. Make it easy for people to review your company, and always thank them for their honest feedback. For more on the importance of online reviews, click here to listen to our webinar with ClearlyRated founders Eric Gregg and Nathan Goff as they address this very topic. BONUS STEPS: Improve Your Online ReputationTo foster a stellar customer experience, take your online reputation management two steps further.Step #4: Invest in the client experience (CX).When you take feedback from your reviews and use it to improve, you’ll create a better CX which will likely result in more positive ratings.Step #5: Address issues that arise before they become negative reviews.Learn from your mistakes. As you do, consider how to better maintain open communication with your clients (hint: proactive customer survey programs are a huge help here!). This will help you identify and address issues before they manifest as a bad public review. If you are using the Net Promoter® Score metric play close attention to passives. While your passives are presumably “satisfied”, they shouldn’t be discounted altogether. They may not be outright referring your firm to others, but they’re also not exclusively loyal to your firm either. By focusing your efforts here, you could save your firm some future detractors.

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List of Firms that Earned ClearlyRated's 2023 Award for Employee Satisfaction

B2B

We are very pleased to announce the 2023 winners of ClearlyRated's Employee Satisfaction award. We can't speak highly enough of the firms on this list who dedicated time, energy, and resources to asking their internal staff for feedback and ensuring their employees felt supported. In a year marked by high turnover and labor market volatility, high marks of employee satisfaction are truly something to be proud of. Congratulations to these winners!

2023 Best of Staffing® Winners for Employee Satisfaction
2023 Best of Accounting Winners for Employee Satisfaction
2023 Best of HR Services Winners for Employee Satisfaction

Think your firm belongs on ClearlyRated's Best of Employee winner list? Contact us today!

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7 Things to Know About Doing Online Reviews Right

B2B

Online reviews are powerful marketing tools. Organizations with effective review programs build powerful credibility and are better at earning trust. In fact, our proprietary research shows that 87% of buyers use online ratings and reviews while deciding whether to work with a B2B service supplier. And reviews get even more powerful when customers see them somewhere other than your own website—1.7x more powerful to be exact. To help companies better understand the power of online reviews, our co-founders Eric Gregg (CEO) and Nathan Goff (CTO) joined forces and held their first-ever co-hosted webinar. They not only discussed how to capture online reviews consistently but also how to use them for business success. Let’s cover the top takeaways.

1. People trust review sites to help them make wise decisions.

Okay, we kinda covered this in the first paragraph, but it’s essential information and we’ll go a bit deeper here. Trust of ratings for review sites are very high—in the 80% range. However, trust varies greatly by generation: The older the generation, the less likely they are to rely on online reviews while making their buying decisions. So, take your target audience into consideration when it comes to seeking reviews and which platforms you utilize. Keep in mind, though, that Millennials and Gen Z are increasingly taking on leadership roles. Don’t overlook their affinity for utilizing online reviews!

online reviews chart by generations

2. Make Google a top priority

‘Let’s google it’ has become a common phrase. After all, Google knows everything, right? Try this: Search for your firm on Google and see which review sites show up first. Those are the ones with quality SEO that Google likes. Since Google is the powerhouse of search engines, consider concentrating your efforts on those sites to get your star ratings to appear on search engine results. After all, star ratings grab searchers’ attention. An important note about Google: Google isn’t exclusive to its Google reviews. Its search results often include star ratings generated by sources other than Google Reviews. So, while Google Reviews is a great tool for obtaining feedback, you don’t have to focus solely on this channel. Plus, for B2B service firms and other niche companies, there are often specialized review platforms used by potential customers and clients. And when several review sites show similar ratings, their collective story builds credibility.

3. Nobody expects your reviews to be perfect.

Not every review will be stellar, but that's ok–even ideal! You might get some important feedback you can use to improve. Plus, having some variation in your reviews shows authenticity which can improve viewer trust. Consumers are smart—a 4.7 rating can be better than a pure 5.0. Why? It shows people that your reviews aren’t a flurry of fake 5-star praise. So, when you get the inevitable poor review, take a deep breath and remember this: Bad reviews can be overcome. The key is in how you respond, so let’s get to that…

4. Your response matters. Always respond.

As Nathan says, “Not responding is the worst thing you can do.” As you respond to reviews, it shows you care about your customers’ feedback and proves that you’re engaged in providing a great experience. So, capitalize on the goodwill that comes with a positive review. Respond with a heartfelt thanks, making sure to vary any templated responses. When you get helpful feedback, acknowledge it in your response and, if possible, share how you’ll put any suggestions into practice. And when you get a bad review, don’t get combative. Acknowledge the reviewer’s experience and create an opportunity for positive follow-up. You may even get the opportunity to win that reviewer back, along with new clients who see how well you handled the situation. Whatever you do, don’t ignore a negative review and certainly don’t delete it (even if you wield that power).

5. The best way to combat a negative review is to bury it in positive reviews.

Once you’ve responded to a negative review, the next best step is to bury it in positive reviews—and when you ask for reviews, the majority will be positive. Just take a look at this graph that Eric shared during the webinar:

online reviews promotor graph

6. Review gating is bad.

Don’t discriminate by asking only those clients who you know will give rave reviews. This is called review gating, and the FTC has been cracking down. When you seek reviews through a formal program, it’s important to ask everyone. The bottom line: Don't risk drawing regulatory attention. It's not worth it, especially when you remember that variety in your ratings increases trust anyway.

7. Building reviews is a marathon, not a sprint.

Finally, it’s important to note that collecting online reviews is a marathon, not a sprint. A library of reviews won’t come in overnight. Our research shows that just 2–3% of those asked will leave a review, so don’t stop with one attempt. Power your review efforts with a consistent process, especially because people’s trust in online review sites only shows signs of strengthening over time. Related resources: On-Demand Webinar: The Growing Impact of Online Reviews — Get more insights from Eric and Nathan.Let’s Google It: How to Get Your Star Ratings on GoogleSurvey Says Podcast Episode during which our client success experts, Bridget Harper and Ryen Salo, discuss specifics about requesting star reviews and getting your ratings to appear on Google.

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How Firms Can Best Serve Clients During a Labor Shortage

Staffing

Recent labor shortages seem to have touched every business in America, from large corporations to small-town, family-run businesses. And these companies are leaning heavily on staffing firms to find talent thanks to a job market tilted in candidates’ favor. But staffing firms are dealing with the same challenging circumstances. As firms struggle to find, recruit, and hire workers of all kinds for companies of all types, they must look for additional ways to serve and guide their clients. But what do staffing buyers most need right now? What are their frustrations? What would make them leave one firm to try another?We surveyed 620+ hiring managers in the course of 3 weeks to understand what drives their buying decisions. The survey results make up the most robust and diverse buyer study in the marketplace. The respondent data consists of a good mix of strategy utilizers who spend more versus those who are opportunistic who need support temporarily or for a specific aspect of their business. More of the respondent data includes:

  • 68% are at organizations with 250 employees or more
  • 54% are the lead contact at their company for their staffing firm
  • Average age: 42
  • Top industries represented: professional services, manufacturing, software/technology, healthcare, and retail

2022 Staffing Buyer Trends

To explore and share our survey findings, our CEO Eric Gregg hosted a webinar with guest Dave Kollmorgen, Sales Director for CareerBuilder’s staffing and recruiting group. They discussed today’s employment market and the state of the staffing industry before getting into the survey results. Below are some highlights of what they covered.

Key takeaways from our staffing buyer survey:

  • More than 60% of companies expect to increase their spend with staffing firms over the next 12 months. They also plan to hire more freelancers and independent contractors (48%) and increase spend with agencies (40%). Here are the top reasons as to why they plan to increase their spend.
staffing firm chart on why they use staffing firms
  • Beyond continuing to trust staffing firms for finding talent, many buyers expressed the desire to receive guidance and advice from their staffing firms on how to be competitive while hiring. Nearly 9 in 10 clients believe firms are good at keeping up with new workforce trends but then only 50% of staffing firm detractors say this is true. (Watch the webinar to get more details on exactly how clients want help and which topics they feel firms know better than they do.)
  • In terms of staffing credibility, buyers perceive staffing firms to have more credibility in the following areas:
    • Access to candidates with specialized skills
    • Speed to source potential candidates
    • Recruiting expertise
  • They perceive staffing firms to have less credibility when it comes to cost effectiveness and finding the ideal fit for their culture.
  • Staffing firms can stand out to their clients by bringing educated information and data on pay wages, flexibility, etc. and by being consultative.
  • Buyers want help hiring diverse candidates. Overall, buyer perception of DEI in the staffing industry is good and this matters to hiring managers. Most agree that staffing firms should prioritize DEI initiatives and help them hire more diverse candidates, and many think that large staffing firms are more likely to be ahead of others in terms of implementing DEI initiatives in recruiting practices.
  • Hiring managers who feel their primary firm is ahead of others in DEI have a 65% NPS, yet those who feel their primary firm is behind in DEI have a 9% NPS.
staffing firm chart on DEI initiatives
  • Most staffing clients stick with a firm for around three years. When they switch, it’s typically due to high turnover numbers.
  • The most important factor to staffing buyers during the vetting process is a firm’s responsiveness to their questions and the overall experience they have with the firm. They also care about information that demonstrates low risk in hiring the firm. Think testimonials and case studies from similar clients, referrals that tout service quality, and positive online ratings and reviews.
  • More than 80% of staffing buyers believe that hiring remote workers through staffing firms gives them access to a larger talent pool. But they want and need help from their staffing partners to make these successful hires, including assimilating and training temporary remote talent.
  • When buyers can’t offer remote roles, they want guidance on how to offer other flexible work options and which ones tend to attract and retain more candidates in their field.
  • Overall, how satisfied are hiring managers? In 2022, staffing firm client NPS is at 31% (46% promoters and 15% detractors). In 2019, the NPS dropped to -2% (which probably isn’t too surprising) and has dramatically increased in the last 3 years.

As a staffing firm, you can’t escape the labor shortage. Yet, finding workers is your bread and butter. But there’s a silver lining: This also makes staffing companies the foremost experts on helping clients with more than just hiring. As you can see from the above takeaways, staffing buyers want guidance from their staffing partners as much as they want talent. And this is where your company can find insights on how to both market your services and make up for any current challenges in finding talent for your clients.

Want to learn more about buyer loyalty, the difference between buyer preferences by generation, or what buyers want to know about offering flexible work? Watch our full webinar on demand to learn from Eric and Dave as they dive deeper into each portion of the survey findings.

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Integrity Staffing Overcomes CX Pains to Achieve World-Class Client Satisfaction Scores

Staffing

Sometimes an outside perspective can shake things up to expose lurking issues and reveal a sustainable solution. That’s what happened for Integrity Staffing Solutions, now a 5-time Best of Staffing Client Satisfaction winner.

Challenge

When it came to Integrity Staffing's client experience (CX), leaders at Integrity didn’t know what they didn’t know. But ignorance isn’t always bliss. They wanted to do right by their clients, and remaining unaware of hidden dissatisfaction was potentially putting them at risk of losing clients to their competitors.“We had CX pains, but the importance of CX – and how NPS can help – didn’t begin to dawn on us until after ClearlyRated reached out in 2012,” says Megan Couch, Chief Experience Officer. Upon running their first NPS survey with ClearlyRated, Integrity’s score was 23% (global NPS standards classify 50% NPS as excellent and 70% NPS as world-class; get staffing industry benchmarks). It became clear to them that they needed a process to both gather client feedback and follow up on it so they could build stronger relationships and use the insights for continual improvement.

“People give more honest feedback when it's through a survey. If you ask everyone in our organization what's the most important thing, they'd say NPS.”

- Megan Couch, Chief Experience Officer

Solution

ClearlyRated’s solution included:

  • NPS and CX education
  • ClearlyRated platform training
  • Survey execution
  • Clear guidance on how to follow up with clients
  • Ongoing support and program maintenance

With ClearlyRated’s guidance, Integrity learned from their first survey experience. They focused on improving their CX based on that initial feedback and later launched a regular NPS survey program using ClearlyRated’s platform, processes and expert guidance.

“ClearlyRated laid out a clear map of what we should do and guided us every step of the way. They’ve always been transparent about the process and patient with our questions. Plus, they’re always improving and adding to the platform which is already easy to use and produces clear, actionable reports.”

- Megan Couch, Chief Experience Officer

By prioritizing top-to-bottom training, Integrity helped their internal teams understand the survey’s importance and uses. Now their client-facing staff know how to prepare for and respond to survey feedback. Integrity’s leaders audit client follow up after each NPS survey to ensure that every possible improvement takes place.

The Outcome

Integrity’s first 23% NPS was just their baseline, not their entire story. It gave them a starting point and they took the feedback to heart, prioritizing CX improvements. Their NPS now hovers between world-class scores of 70–80%, they have a permanent communication channel for client feedback, and their team lives a client-first culture.

“Today we want every piece of feedback we can get from clients – the good, the bad and the ugly – because we know how to respond to it and take action to improve our CX. Client feedback has led us to create successful new programs, streamline our recruiting process to better serve our clients, and more—none of which would have happened without our NPS survey program.”

- Megan Couch, Chief Experience Officer

Increased Client Retention

As their NPS continued to increase so did their client retention. According to Megan, there was a significant increase in retention rates along with a better client experience based on their own feedback. They were able to expand their service offerings because the survey provided them with valuable information regarding their clients’ needs. Integrity Staffing continues to improve annually with an NPS average of 79%!For more on Integrity Staffing Solutions’ CX journey listen to our podcast where our hosts Ryen Salo and Bridget Harper had the pleasure of chatting with Megan.

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4 Simple Ways to Get High-Quality Referrals from Your Customers

B2B

Referrals are the best—right? Not only are they the least expensive way to generate leads but they’re often the highest quality leads. Plus, B2B buyers hold high trust for referrals while looking for new vendors. In fact, 84% of B2B decision makers begin their buying process with a referral. But before you can reap the benefits of a robust referral program or simply ask your business development team to begin requesting them, you need to make sure your company is truly referable.

What does it mean to be referable?

When you achieve true referability, it means your clients both:

  • Feel comfortable referring others to your business and
  • Want to refer others to you

The key is to give clients confidence that they won’t be steering someone in the wrong direction. Even then they’ll only want to refer people to your business if they experience one or all of the following:

  1. They feel that you’ve made a noticeable impact on their success
  2. They care about you and your success
  3. They receive an incentive to refer others to your business

This means that to increase your referability you should focus on:

  1. Giving clients long-term confidence in your business.
  2. Earning their advocacy through an outstanding client experience (CX)—and maybe even give them some skin in the game (if referral programs are allowed in your industry)

4 Ways to Be More Referable

Boost your referability with these four tips. They’ll help you demonstrate value and earn your clients’ trust so they’ll be happy to give you referrals.

1. Invest in your CX at every stage.

Your CX starts before you’ve even earned a paying customer. That’s right, how you treat your prospects is the first stage of your CX. It’s when you win them over and likely make some brand promises about what you’ll deliver and how. The next stage is onboarding new clients. This is ultimately when you want to make sure they feel good about their decision to work with you. From there your CX continues indefinitely but never grows less important. This is why it’s essential to consistently and continually request feedback from your clients. Only then can you identify weak points in your CX and capitalize on your strengths. As you do, your clients see you demonstrate care by asking for their feedback and responding to it with positive changes, they’ll be more likely to trust your company both now and in the future. And once you’ve earned their trust, they’re more likely to give you referrals.

2. Formalize and communicate your unique process.

Think about how you deliver your product or service. Is there a clearly defined process? Maybe it starts with which questions you ask prospects and how you educate them on potential solutions. Next consider your onboarding period. As you welcome new clients, do you use unique checklists or assign an onboarding specialist to guide them through onboarding and early training? For existing clients, what are your communication standards, check-in frequencies, and service level agreements (SLAs)? Finally, how often do you check on your SLAs? Each step of your process should enhance your CX, adding value for every stage of your relationship. Record your process, making sure every person and team is trained on it and knows their part. Once you do, you can share it with current and prospective clients so they know what to expect and can see you delivering what you promised.

3. Prepare to welcome and wow referrals.

Referrals are valuable leads. Not only are you more likely to close deals that start with referrals, but referred clients often have a higher lifetime value. So don’t waste them. Make sure your teams know how important it is to respond to referrals quickly. You may even consider creating an accelerated process for responding to referred leads. Roll out the red carpet and make every referred prospect glad they found you. Plus, when you treat these leads well, the person who referred them to you will be more likely to send others your way.

4. Always thank clients for their referrals.

Whether or not a client’s referral results in a closed sale, always thank them. They went out on a limb for your business, and that’s not something to take lightly. It’s something to share gratitude for and encourage. Consider including this as a step in your process for responding to referrals. While a quick email is nice, consider going the extra mile with a handwritten card or even a small gift.

Learn How to Identify the Right CX Goals and Generate More Referrals

If you’d like to learn more about how to improve your CX, you can start with your current clients. Ask them for feedback on your service, processes and team. One of the best ways to do so is with a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey. NPS surveys require little time from your clients, and the right program will not only capture client feedback data but also help you analyze it for actionable insights. As your work to foster a positive CX, you’ll be ready to make the most of any and all referrals that come your way. You may even launch a successful referral program. To learn more about our NPS survey solutions, including how to integrate referral programs, chat with a live person now or click to see how it works.

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The Power of Radical Transparency in Online Reviews

B2B

Gone are the days when buyers had to make uneducated purchasing decisions. Now 89% of global consumers consult online reviews before deciding whether to buy. And that makes total sense. Let’s say you’re in the store comparing two vacuums (yay adulting!). Both have similar features, but one’s cheaper. Do you automatically go for that one or do you wonder why it’s less expensive? Chances are you whip out your smartphone to check out the product reviews before investing in either vacuum. Online reviews are also a great tool for making B2B buying decisions. And, for the most part, people trust them. But that trust is starting to erode thanks to a sneaky issue lurking in the shadows: review gating. You might have heard of “review filtering,” “review incentivization,” or using “qualifying questions” before asking customers for reviews. While these customer review strategies may sound like helpful features at first blush, they don’t result in an entirely truthful impression of what potential customers think about a company and its products or services. The ironic part: Review transparency is actually a good thing — not just for buyers, but companies too.

Buyer Trust, Brand Loyalty, and Review Gating: Making the Case for Online Review Transparency

If you’re leery of asking all of your customers for online reviews, consider this important fact: Most reviews are good anyway. Nearly 90% of all reviews are 4+ stars. And when your company gets a negative review, it has a chance to respond publicly, often completely winning over those formerly unhappy customers. This is known as the Service Recovery Paradox, and it may even help you get new customers who see your public response.

The Business Benefits of Authentic Reviews

When all customer reviews – good and bad – get aired publicly, potential buyers get an honest view of a company’s offerings while businesses get valuable feedback they can use to improve. And that’s not all. Companies also enjoy these benefits:

  • A higher volume of online reviews yields better search engine visibility. One study showed that after eliminating gating practices, companies saw their review volume grow by nearly 70% while the average star rating only fell by five hundredths of a point.
  • Prime opportunities to win over unsatisfied customers by responding to reviews and demonstrating helpful customer service. In fact, 78% of people will forgive a company for a mistake after receiving excellent service, and a majority feel positively about companies that respond to reviews.
  • Improved authenticity which builds trust. When you stop gating reviews, you’ll likely have a sprinkling of ratings below five stars. And that’s a good thing. Showing some variation in your reviews and ratings shows consumers they can trust the reviews’ authenticity. In fact, conversion rates are better when companies are in the 4-star range but slump if the average is a perfect five stars.

The Drawbacks of Review Gating

Companies that gate reviews risk losing buyer trust and missing valuable cues from their customers. Plus, any practice that could suppress negative reviews while elevating positive ones violates Yelp’s and Google’s terms of service and even Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules.In a recent effort to ensure consumers get an accurate impression of customer experiences, the FTC has begun a public education campaign on review gating that is targeted to review sites and companies participating in review gating activities. In fact, in early 2022 it put 10 review management platforms on notice for potential “review gating,” even fining one company $4.2 million for completely blocking negative product reviews. So, keep in mind that if your company asks customers for reviews, it needs to ask everyone. Do not cherry pick—the recent FTC actions have made it clear that is not allowed.The following practices are customer review “don’ts” per the FTC:

  • Sending review requests to a select group of customers
  • Preventing negative reviews from posting publicly via built-in filters
  • Steering unhappy customers away from posting reviews
  • Using pre-review surveys to identify happy customers before asking for reviews
  • Routing negative feedback away from review sites and into private channels
  • Delaying the publication of negative reviews
  • Creating unique survey paths based on user responses, such as filtering based on your Net Promoter® Scores

Our Take on Review Transparency

At ClearlyRated, we’re big fans of online review transparency. We believe in authenticity and proactivity when it comes to customer feedback. Allowing honest ratings, and especially responding to detractors and negative reviews, improves the customer experience and helps business service providers build better relationships. That’s why we designed our new Reviews feature in ClearlyRated’s Amplify product to comply with FTC guidelines. When you have the Reviews feature enabled, every survey respondent will be asked if they would like to leave an online review. You’ll be compliant with FTC guidelines, and even better, you can expect to grow the volume of your online reviews and increase your visibility in search engine results. Plus, you’ll hear genuine customer feedback that can help your organization improve and strengthen client relationships.

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Correcting Common Misconceptions about NPS Surveys

B2B

At ClearlyRated, we’ve consistently championed the Net Promoter® Score (NPS®) satisfaction survey. We believe in the power and beautiful simplicity of beginning with one question: How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague? This question gives survey takers real-life context, easily identifies your happy customers and your unhappy customers, and allows you to benchmark your client satisfaction against others in the industry, among other advantages. But, occasionally, NPS surveys come under fire.

Get a quick refresher on Net Promoter® Score (NPS).

Think NPS® Doesn’t Work? You Could be Doing it Wrong.

Sometimes skepticism comes from people who’ve never tried NPS surveys. They don’t understand how one question could help you learn so much. Other times, the naysayers are companies that have tried it but, thanks to a subpar partnership or uninformed internal processes, they succumbed to common NPS mistakes. Let’s clear up misconceptions about NPS surveys and how to decipher their findings once and for all.

Myth #1 - They ask just one question, and it doesn’t provide enough information.

Not true. They start with one question—and this isn’t a bad thing. It’s an essential question (How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?). In fact, kicking off with this one question improves response rates and immediately gets to the crux of the matter, keeping things clear and simple. This way it’s easy to compare against industry benchmarks and quickly identify how clients feel about your organization in a way that directly translates to your bottom line. Plus, NPS surveys have evolved. After respondents answer that first, all-important question, give them the option to answer more simple questions to tease out additional insights. Before NPS, satisfaction surveys often included 30 questions and required customers to spend at least 10 minutes providing their feedback. But people are busy. Not only are they less likely to finish a longer survey, but they'll also be less inclined to even consider starting one next time you send it. By reducing their required commitment to just one question, you get more responses and easy-to-digest results that you can respond to with more agility. You can even segment NPS results by team, by location, and by market to hone in on great performances and opportunities to improve. This delivers unprecedented context to evaluate your team’s performance. Plus, don’t neglect your option to ask important follow-up questions within the survey. Just prioritize the topics that could most impact your firm and your clients when planning those questions.

Myth #2 - The simplicity of NPS can only help firms with lagging technical prowess.

Not so. Technology enriches NPS. In fact, the two go hand in hand. NPS can help any organization better understand their customer satisfaction, improve their customer experience (CX), and even encourage testimonials and referrals regardless of how tech-savvy they are. NPS surveys do this by delivering rich data. And, regardless of whether your current tech is adequate, the right survey partner uses their own tech platform to deliver actionable insights and helpful tools to help your firm respond to both good and bad feedback. NPS may seem simple, but it generates robust data to slice and dice for new insights. ClearlyRated provides a real-time dashboard and even full-service account management to guide you in deciphering data, identifying trends, and generating insights. We also provide a Financial Impact Report to help customers leverage their survey results into business growth.

Myth #3 - NPS surveys deliver stale data.

*cough* User error *cough* Honestly, this depends entirely on how you run your survey program. If you seem to be looking back on old data – numbers that are a reflection of six months or even a year ago rather than now – ask yourself some soul-searching questions. Consider how often you send surveys, and how quickly you review your data afterward. The fact is, it’s possible to get real-time NPS pulses. It all comes down to the way you (or your survey partner) administer(s) your survey program. Rather than a long, annual survey that takes more time to field, analyze, and digest, we recommend fielding shorter, simpler surveys with more frequency. Then make time to review the results and respond appropriately. After all, customer sentiment can quickly change. If you rely on infrequent surveys, you not only risk missing data but also key moments when you could have made a difference. By seeking real-time insights, you protect the health of your business.

Myth #4 - NPS surveys are time-consuming and expensive.

Depending on your survey partner, NPS surveys could be as simple as handing over a contact list. If you already have clean data and an organized list, you’re well on your way! Your partner may even handle integrations that automate list updates and connect with valuable related tools. But if you need to clean your room, then yes, that may take you some time. We’d argue, though, that decluttering your data and organizing a contact list is something you should do whether you use NPS surveys or not. Any time you spend on NPS surveys should be during the rewarding, post-survey period when you have rich data and can create a plan of action based on the results. You know the saying: Time flies when you’re having fun.Now… expensive? Everyone has different ideas about what constitutes the label “expensive,” but for us everything comes back to ROI. Any NPS platform worth its salt should make it easy to take action in real time when an account is at risk. We’ve often seen NPS survey programs help our clients both protect revenue - by discovery and recovery from service issues of Detractor accounts - and expand revenue - by expanding Promoter accounts. The recovery or expansion of just one account may very well cover the cost of the entire program, and when you take swift action on the feedback and insights (whether positive or negative), you can supercharge your program ROI.

Next steps

NPS surveys are a boon to business—when they’re done right. Get tips on creating, maintaining, and utilizing an effective NPS survey program:

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The 5-Star Experience and How to Achieve It

B2B

Who has time to listen to podcasts these days? Well, actually, we hope you do because we’ve launched a series! But if you’re running low on time or just want to see if it’s worth a listen before committing yourself, check out this quick recap of one of our most popular episodes. Together, Bridget Harper, our VP of Customer Success, and Ryen Salo, our Director of Customer Success, discuss how to deliver a 5-star customer experience (CX)—including how we at ClearlyRated deliver our own. Because, as Bridget says, we can’t really consult on the 5-star experience if we aren’t delivering it ourselves.

5 Takeaways from our “Survey Says” Podcast Episode

We won’t pretend that this list sums up all the wisdom Bridget and Ryen impart during the full 30-minute episode, but here’s a handful of good nuggets to help you build a 5-star CX.

1. Customer journey maps are a non-negotiable must.

Before you can deliver a great experience, you need to know what what the ideal customer journey would look like and what your customers are actually experiencing now. If you don’t have a journey map for your CX, and especially if you’ve never done something like this before, get a template online. Use it to map out your ideal customer journey. Then be honest with yourselves when portions of your current CX could use some TLC.

2. Create and use an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) as your guiding star.

Who is your ideal customer? What do they deal with day in and day out? Find out what motivates them and what their pain points are. Then you’ll have a better idea of how to best meet their needs and deliver what they want. …Plus, there’s always “ICP, you know me!” When you give this episode a full listen, you’ll understand. We promise.

3. Measure your progress to identify opportunities and celebrate wins.

After you’ve mapped out the customer journey, consider whether there are any important inflection points. Identify where you might improve your CX. Then decide how you’ll measure and track your progress. If you’re not tracking important CX metrics, you risk missing out on opportunities to improve and to find (and celebrate) your strengths.

4. A positive CX needs to start strong.

The best way to kick off a great CX is by focusing on customer onboarding. Depending on what you learn, this may be the best place in your customer journey to start improvement efforts. Just don’t leave customers hanging after you’ve given them great expectations. Work to maintain a good CX throughout their entire journey.

5. Survey programs can help you measure and track your entire customer journey.

You knew we couldn’t talk about CX or measuring it without bringing up customer surveys, right? That’s because they’re one of the most effective tools for garnering valuable customer feedback. Sending a survey shows that you’re interested in hearing from your customers. You can then demonstrate that you care by responding to what you learn and communicating improvements based on customer feedback. Win-win!

Get Even More Useful Guidance

Want more advice, like how to improve CX through personalization or the many uses of coffee gift cards? Just want to hang out with Bridget and Ryen to laugh at them (their jokes, of course!)? We invite you to visit our ClearyRated Survey Says Podcast page to listen to this full episode and others.

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The State of DEI in the Accounting Industry

Accounting

Never before has diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) held the attention of so many organizations. And it’s about time. Many have publicly pledged to do better, but where do things truly lie after all the talk? Some studies have tracked whether there’s been real action and true progress, and we’ll get to them. But before we explore those reports, let’s get our terms straight, especially since the full focus of DEI has expanded from diversity and inclusion (D&I).Diversity - The presence of differences in and among a group of people. The can include race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, age, religion, sexual orientation, political beliefs, socioeconomic status, and (dis)ability.Inclusion - A sense of belonging, of feeling welcomed, accepted and valued, not just despite differences but partially because of them. True inclusion goes beyond this general feeling, inviting diverse individuals to fully participate in opportunities and decisions within an organization.Equity - While equality may be the outcome of equity, they are not the same. Equality is treating everyone equally, or the same. Equity, on the other hand, recognizes that not every person starts from the same point or with the same advantages and opportunities. So Equity efforts focus on offering additional support and resources to those who need it to get on equal footing with their colleagues and peers. Equity initiatives can be in the form of training, mentoring, or other development assistance.Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are interrelated with the ultimate goal of creating equal opportunity within a workforce.

The State of DEI Efforts Across Industries

For its 2021 Global D&I Survey, PwC gathered about 5,000 responses across 26+ industries and 50+ countries. Researchers found that 75% of organizations explicitly identify D&I as a priority, but how involved are the leaders at those organizations? Just 17% appoint a C-suite peer to lead D&I efforts, while 27% identify a D&I leader that reports directly to senior execs. That means just 44% have the involvement of high-level leaders. In 2022, reports started to include equity (E) in the D&I equation. A 2022 Workplace DEI Report that included 2,100+ companies across all industries found that just 49% had defined a strategic diversity plan. According to a KPMG survey, though, nearly 80% of companies across industries made plans to raise their DEI budget for 2022. Let’s summarize:

  • 75% of organizations explicitly prioritize D&I
  • 44% have high-level leaders involved
  • 49% have a defined diversity plan
  • 80% have higher DEI budgets in 2022

How does the Accounting industry measure up? Is it behind, on par, or ahead?

Where DEI Stands in the Accounting Industry

ClearlyRated partnered with the Association for Accounting Marketing and bbr consulting to find out how accounting firms' DEI progress tracks against overall trends. Together we conducted a survey of accounting marketers and business developers in the spring of 2022, representing 100+ accounting firms. This DEI research shows where the accounting industry currently stands and provides actionable knowledge entirely unique to accounting firms. Below are our key findings.

Accounting firms are behind on prioritizing DEI.

When it comes to prioritizing DEI action, accounting as a whole seems to be falling behind. Just 53% of respondents said their firm has taken direct action toward DEI initiatives.

  • 47% said their firms have not taken direct action toward DEI initiatives
  • 8% said their firm is not currently interested in undertaking DEI initiatives

The bigger the firm, though, the more likely it is to have made visible efforts related to DEI. Of the 53% of firms that have, this is the breakdown by size:

  • 64% of firms with 250+ employees
  • 48% of firms with 100-249 employees
  • 40% of firms with <100 employees

The percentage of accounting firms with formal DEI strategies matches that of the wider business world.

Half of respondents said their firms have a formal DEI strategy, which is on par with the business world overall. But a minority of respondents felt their firm is allocating enough time and budget for stated DEI initiatives. At firms without a formal strategy, 69% of respondents reported feeling that their firm is behind others — a sentiment that is far lower at firms with a defined DEI strategy.

DEI improves employee satisfaction at accounting firms.

Firms tend to have much higher employee NPS® scores, at an average of 78%, when they accomplish both these factors:

  • They have a DEI strategy in place.
  • Their employees report feeling that their firm isn’t behind others in DEI.

Firms that are seen by their employees as behind on DEI earn an eNPS of just 31%.

Getting leaders involved is key to driving progress on DEI.

When leadership takes ownership of DEI initiatives, survey respondents were more likely to feel their employer had made progress. Yet, many relegate this essential initiative to the HR function. Still, this is an area where accounting firms are on par with other industries: 43% say DEI is primarily owned by leadership, while that number is about 44% across industries. Why is it important to have leadership involved? Take a look at these stats:

  • 63% of respondents who feel their firm is ahead on DEI initiatives say that firm leadership primarily owns DEI.
  • 74% of those who feel their firm is behind on DEI initiatives say that HR primarily owns DEI.

Racial and gender diversity were together identified as the most important DEI trait.

According to 94% of respondents, displaying racial and gender diversity within staff and leadership should be the most important focus for DEI. And 80% feel this is also important to clients, not just internal employees. The second most important factor respondents identified was not only showing action but also measurable progress toward DEI initiatives.

Equitable representation is the area where the most DEI progress has been made.

When asked about which areas their firm has made the most progress, both of the top answers focused on equitable representation — among employees (73%) and leaders (71%). Not far behind was reaching diverse candidates. But low on the totem pole, with the least progress, were pay equity (49%) and blind hiring (21%).

Researchers identified 3 key areas with room for improvement.

These include: racial and ethnic diversity, DEI-focused career advancement opportunities, and DEI employee training.Racial and Ethnic Diversity

  • Only 54% of respondents agreed that their firm displays racial or ethnic diversity amongst all employees.
  • When it comes to this type of diversity in leadership, just 29% agreed.

DEI-Focused Career Advancement Opportunities When asked if their firm provides career advancement opportunities to help certain groups advance their careers, three groups stood out as being left behind:

  • Physically and/or mentally disabled employees
  • LGBTQIA+ employees
  • Racial or ethnic minority employees

DEI Employee TrainingJust 52% of respondents said their firm offers DEI-specific training. Out of those that do, just 45% make it mandatory and most offer training only on a semi-annual basis (or even less often). Most DEI training focuses on unconscious and implicit bias (93%) and, simply, the meaning of DEI (81%). Trailing behind were the following training topics:

  • 68% Cultural awareness and belonging
  • 63% anti-harassment (actionable)
  • 50% addressing microagressions (actionable)
  • 44% reducing prejudice (actionable)

As Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, president of bbr marketing, states in her Accounting Today article, “While having a DEI strategy in place is a great start, unless it is consistently applied and leads to lasting change, it is simply lip service.”

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Why Your M&A Needs a Pulse Survey

B2B

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have been increasingly frequent across many industries. They’re an effective tool to drive growth and strengthen an organization’s market position, especially in challenging business climates—and these are challenging times. That may be why 92% of respondents to Deloitte’s survey on the future of M&A expect deal volume to either increase or stay the same over the next 12 months. Clearly, M&A are here to stay. But too often, M&A deals result in disappointing outcomes. Why is that?Professor of Marketing at Rice University, Vikas Mittal, suggests that it may come down to leadership’s tunnel vision—focusing only on the deal’s financial aspects and operational efficiencies while forgetting about its customers. We agree. But we’d also add employees to the mix.

Why CX and EX are Essential to M&A Success

Customer satisfaction is a reliable predictor of sales success, and it often relates directly to the employee experience (EX). Countless times, research has shown that fostering both positive EX and customer experience (CX) leads to better financial outcomes. Happy employees lead to happier customers, and vice versa. When employees must constantly deal with unhappy customers, morale can drop while stress levels rise. So, especially when a merger or acquisition shakes things up, companies should keep an eye on their customer and employee satisfaction.

Pulse Surveys as an M&A Tool

Taking pulse surveys of customers and employees–both existing and new–before, during and after the M&A process can help organizations track the health of their CX and EX.Before the M&A process, this tool can uncover expectations (good or bad) so you can plan accordingly with your eyes wide open, not your head in the sand. Continue pulse surveys during M&A to get real-time feedback on how your organization is doing and to keep open communication with both constituents. You’ll be more likely to discover issues early and can make nimble adjustments. You’ll also know whether expectations are being met (or even exceeded). Many companies choose to continue their survey program after a successful transition, fostering great CX and EX and maintaining retention.“By proactively taking this step, firms are significantly ahead of their competition in creating and fostering an environment where clients and employees feel heard and valued,” says Ryen Salo, Direct of Customer Success at ClearlyRated. “Getting out ahead of any unforeseen issues and gaining a better understanding of what's going well for clients and employees during the transition of an M&A will only lead to a stronger and more collaborative culture in the long run.”

ClearlyRated’s M&A Pulse Surveys

It’s clear that CX and EX play a key role in any successful merge. Take pulse surveys of affected clients and customers with ClearlyRated's M&A Pulse Surveys. As long-time experts in EX, CX and related survey programs, we’ve specifically designed our M&A Pulse Surveys to deliver meaningful insights and peace of mind. We deliver guidance and assistance throughout the process. From planning survey questions and fielding responses to analyzing results and taking action, we’ll help as you plan a successful integration of your team and your customers.If you're ready to get started, contact us today!

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Introducing ClearlyRated Amplify & Amplify Pro

B2B

Our goal at ClearlyRated has always been to help you build credible proof of the exceptional experiences you deliver to your clients and internal staff, and to leverage that proof to grow your business. Which is why we're so excited to announce a suite of new tools designed to make achieving that goal easier and more automated, all while allowing you greater control and customization.

Welcome to Amplify & Amplify Pro

~NEW~ Amplify Recruiters

Amplify Recruiters is a dynamic, customizable tool for recruiting professionals. Recruiter pages help nurture relationships with high-quality talent by highlighting their careers, personalities, specializations, job openings, accolades, and awards. But it's so much more than a profile page. Built on ClearlyRated’s industry-leading satisfaction survey program, Amplify Recruiters gives recruiters and their firms the unmatched ability to manage their candidate, client, and employee experience, as well as their brand's online reputation, all on one platform. Watch our video then click here to learn more!

Enhanced Testimonial Capture

Capturing social proof of your service excellence is more important than ever. 84% of B2B buyers say they trust testimonials, and more than 9 in 10 say that seeing testimonials from businesses similar to their own impacts their decision to work with a provider. Further, consistently adding fresh and unique testimonials on your ClearlyRated profile page is key to improving your Google search results.We've long made testimonial capture and sharing a key part of the ClearlyRated survey experience, and this new release takes getting quality, consistently quotable testimonials for use in your marketing to a new level. It promises to increase the ROI of your satisfaction survey program and build even more credible evidence of your incredible customer service. To learn more, watch our video about the upgrades we've made to this feature.

Referrals

We've also fielded a lot of requests over the years to find a way to integrate our customers' referral programs into our survey platform. Now with Amplify Pro Referrals, you can, and we couldn't be more excited! We've made it simple to encourage your survey takers to contribute to your referral program. If you are a staffing firm that uses Staffing Referrals, we also have a brand new integration that makes it easy for your candidates to make a referral through that platform as well. With Amplify Pro Referrals, you can even configure a 'soft referral,' to promote events, webinars, publications - whatever you want! We provide customizable templates for multiple use cases, and you can even create your own from scratch. Learn more about Amplify Pro Referrals in our explainer video!

External Reviews

Online reviews for B2B buying are here to stay. The world of online reviews can be a murky place, and consumers are right to be skeptical if they see a brand or product with thousands of 5-star reviews and nothing less. The flip side of this is that consumers are also increasingly savvy, and have learned to spot authenticity. Increasing the number of reviews on third-party sites such as Google and Indeed builds trust in, and awareness of, your brand.The feedback that ClearlyRated's clients collect from our Net Promoter® Survey program is completely authentic, and we want to help make sure that feedback is visible in as many places as possible. That's why Amplify Pro Reviews makes it easy for your survey takers to share their experience across many reputable review sites. To learn more about how this works, watch our explainer video!

Amplify Pro Widgets

Let your excellence do the talking with Amplify Pro Widgets. Transform any of your webpages into a showcase of your dedication to being the best for your customers. Amplify Pro Widgets are fully customizable, update automatically, and are designed to help you attract business and grow your bottom line.

Harness Your Service Excellence

If you've been curious about how a ClearlyRated satisfaction survey program can enhance your brand's reputation, build trust, deliver unrivaled business insights, improve your customer service, and grow your bottom line, there's literally never been a better time to find out. Our new Amplify and Amplify Pro features set the stage for the future of our platform and provide immediate results for your business.Interested in learning more? Want to know about pricing for your firm? Contact us below for a free consultation!

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Why ClearlyRated Turned Its Employee Survey on Itself

B2B

In late 2020, nearly every organization was trying to regain its footing while the world navigated COVID-19. The pandemic caused both predictable outcomes (think remote work) and unexpected effects (hello, Great Resignation). To help our clients understand what their employees were going through and how they were doing as an employer, we launched employee surveys. With this tool, our clients could get real-time employee feedback. They also got our expert guidance on how to review and analyze results, segment data without compromising employee privacy, and strategize their next steps.Early in 2021, we used this data to launch staffing industry benchmarks related to the employee experience (EX). Our staffing clients could now compare their EX scores with others in the industry, giving them a better idea as to whether they were doing relatively well or had work to do. Imagine having an internal Glassdoor that gives you the first peek at employee feedback so you can identify and fix any issues, or celebrate your wins. Once we’d successfully helped current clients use the employee survey tool and generated industry benchmarks, we figured it was our turn to take a look in the mirror. Once we could take a breath after sprinting to create, test, release and help clients with this new tool, we thought, “Uh, duh. We should take this ourselves.” And that’s just what we did. During Q2 of 2022, we launched our own employee survey with a 90% response rate. To be fully transparent, we had two main reasons:

1. We wanted to walk our talk.

We’ve surveyed our clients for a long time, but we hadn’t yet used our tool on the employee side — and it was time. Plus, we could then confidently serve as an example of how the tool works to future and current clients. First-hand experience is best, right? We now have our own public example of employee ratings on our Directory page.

See ClearlyRated ratings and testimonials on ClearlyRated.

2. Like many others, our turnover rate spiked during 2021.

We wanted to understand what was going on with our employee experience and how we could do better. Throughout 2020 and 2021, we made big adjustments to when, where, and how we all work. Our workforce is now fully dispersed and working from anywhere. While this seemed like what people wanted, we couldn’t be sure whether people still felt connected to our mission and in tune with their teams. Plus, we’ve onboarded new people who weren’t here when we still worked in close physical proximity to one another. Were they still feeling included, though they joined after we’d gone fully remote? Clearly we had a lot of questions about the health of our workforce, and we didn’t want to wait for the next turnover report to find out whether our changes were helpful or hurtful. By then, it’d be too late. What better way to find out than using our own employee survey tool?

What We Learned By Surveying Our Employees

You know that exciting-trepidation feeling you get before learning whether you’ve made the team, gotten hired, or achieved anything you worked really hard for? Yeah. That’s how we felt awaiting our results. In the end, it was fun, inspiring, and incredibly beneficial. While reviewing our results, we saw some commonalities with our clients. For instance, compensation is nearly always one of the lower-ranked factors. We realized we could get more competitive with our salaries.We also saw some bright spots. Our employees reported that we’d managed to maintain a great work environment and positive team cultures despite having lost the in-person element. They also celebrated our flexibility, confirming we were on the right path.

What We Did With Our New EX Insights

First we focused internally, using what we’d learned from our results to develop and share a roadmap for improving employee satisfaction. We’d do this by capitalizing on what we’ve done well and by working on compensation, including being more transparent about why compensation is the way it is. Hey, we get it: Portland (where we’re HQ’d) is an expensive city! We also recognized our responsibility to use this experience externally. Our employee ratings now show on our public ClearlyRated directory page along with our client ratings. So, our clients and potential clients can see a transparent example of how this works (not to mention how we treat our people and our clients).

Why We Believe Every Organization Should Survey Its Employees

Following the workforce upheaval of the past two years, it’s clear that lengthy annual surveys just aren’t going to cut it anymore if you want to hold onto your employees. While those tools still serve a purpose, you need to know in real-time whether your employer brand is beginning to wilt on the vine. Plus, you can get instant feedback on whether employees feel they’re benefiting from any updates or changes you make in response to their suggestions. Our employee survey worked for us. We plan to continue surveying our employees on a regular basis—and we can help you do it too. Learn more about ClearlyRated’s Employee Satisfaction Survey.

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Take Action and Boost Employee Experience (EX) in 2022

Staffing

“2022 Will Go Down As The Year Executives Were Forced To Care About EX” – a prediction by Forrester analysts. This is especially true for staffing firms which tend to focus on client experience (CX) and talent experience (TX) over employee experience (EX). But that needs to change. High internal turnover has been accepted as par for the course for too long.

Our industry now faces frighteningly accelerated turnover which can ruin your ability to deliver positive CX and TX. You must, therefore, win at EX before you have a prayer of success. It’s cemented its position as the next big differentiator for staffing firms.

3 Tips to Get Data and Feedback on Your Employee Experience

To begin, get a solid understanding of where your EX stands now. Gather objective quantitative data and subjective qualitative employee feedback. This information can help you identify what you’re doing right, where you have space to improve, and where your biggest risks lie. By capitalizing on what you do well and learning how you can improve from your employees, you can improve engagement, boost employee wellbeing, and better support DEI initiatives.One of the simplest and fastest ways to obtain essential EX data is via an employee survey program. Use these three tips to execute an employee survey that maximizes its positive impact on your firm:

  1. Don’t go too general. Do get specific. Vanilla questions yield vanilla feedback. SO, invite feedback on specific aspects of the employee experience, especially your firm’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. DEI plays a major role in employee experience and engagement. Research shows that inclusive companies are more likely to coach people for improved performance and identify and build leaders–both factors contribute to better retention rates. So include questions that help assess your firm’s performance related to DEI and invite feedback on how you can improve these efforts.
  2. Don’t ask for names. Do keep things anonymous. When you launch an employee survey, you want real, honest feedback–right? You’ll be more likely to get it if you keep responses anonymous. This gives your employees the freedom to give candid feedback without fear of retaliation. When you can give your staff peace of mind that their feedback is anonymous, it often increases response rate and yields honest feedback—two elements that go a long way in transforming your EX efforts. So, consider working with a third-party survey provider that will ensure anonymity is protected.
  3. Don’t make things complicated. Keep it simple to enable ongoing tracking and unlock clear comparisons. Implement an employee satisfaction metric like Net Promotor® Score (NPS) that can be tracked over time and compared across teams within your firm. The ability to compare scores by manager, office location, or demographics like gender, race, and age can help you identify and learn from bright spots as well as draw out insights on exactly where you need to make improvements. It also allows you to compare your EX to other organizations that use the same metric.

If ever there was a time to invest in EX, it’s now. Internal employee engagement and retention are more essential than ever in staffing and recruiting. Take the next step: Learn more about ClearlyRated’s Employee Survey Program.

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5 Ways NPS® Score Drive Business Growth

B2B

Net Promoter® Score (NPS) is a powerful metric for business service firms. It is one of the most effective metrics because it directly asks the customer how likely they are to refer the company to a friend or colleague.NPS surveys help answer the following questions:

  • How satisfied are our clients?
  • Are there issues we don’t know about?
  • Where do we need to improve?
  • Which accounts are at risk?
  • What are we doing right?
  • Which customers are Promoters, Passives, and Detractors?

If your business takes the NPS metric seriously, listens to the responses, and is proactive with with taking action - business growth will follow. Here are the top 5 ways NPS surveys can drive business growth:

  1. Boost Internal Morale — Happy Employees = Improved CX = Revenue Growth
  2. Collect and Tell Good Stories 62% of customers believe they’ve read fake online reviews. It’s time to gather trustworthy, credible testimonials
  3. Visually Display Credibility — Earning and displaying awards for customer experience can deliver free PR opportunities and positive brand recognition, increase credibility and employee morale, and attract talent and customers
  4. Convert Passives to Promoters — Promoters tend to increase their spend 10% a year, while passives are 50% less likely than Promoters to refer to or repurchase from you
  5. Expand Accounts That Already Love You 2% increase of total annual revenue thanks to account expansion alone
NPS and Business Growth Infographic

Infographic sources:Proprietary ClearlyRated data."The Business Case for Service Excellence." ClearlyRated. March 23, 2021.“The Key to Happy Customers? Happy Employees.” The Harvard Business Review. August, 19, 2019.

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List of Firms that Earned ClearlyRated's 2022 Award for Employee Satisfaction

B2B

We are very pleased to announce the 2022 winners of ClearlyRated's Employee Satisfaction award!While we have a long track record of recognizing firms in the staffing and accounting industries for their exceptional client satisfaction scores, this is only the second year that we invited organizations to survey their internal stakeholders—their employees—and to weigh their employee satisfaction levels against the rest of the industry.Without further ado, here are the winners of our 2022 award for employee satisfaction, by industry:

2022 Best of Staffing® Winners for Employee Satisfaction
2022 Best of Accounting Winners for Employee Satisfaction

We can't speak highly enough of the firms on this list who dedicated time, energy, and resources to asking their internal staff for feedback and ensuring their employees felt supported. In a year marked by high turnover and labor market volatility, high marks of employee satisfaction are truly something to be proud of. Congratulations to these winners!

best of award call to action
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Fear of Feedback: How to Overcome Common Objections to Starting a Survey Program

B2B

Client-facing survey programs are like x-rays for your business operations. You may find that everything is healthy, or you may detect issues. The latter is what can also lead to survey objections from your team. However, if you detect issues, a good Net Promoter Survey® (NPS) program makes it easy to drill down so you can find and fix the problem before it grows. In this way, it sets the stage to build a strong customer experience (CX) that permeates your organization’s culture. With an advanced NPS program in place you can:

  • Get feedback from clients in near real time
  • Analyze response data with simple search, segment, and filter options
  • Integrate client feedback data with your CRM, ATS, or other client database

5 NPS Survey Objections and How to Overcome Them

Despite the benefits satisfaction survey programs deliver, CX champions sometimes meet internal roadblocks. Here are five common fears and how you can overcome them.Objection 1: We don’t want to overwhelm busy clients.Ah, yes — survey fatigue. Leaders often assume, “Because I don’t take surveys, our clients won’t.” But this line of thought also includes the fear of low client engagement that keeps response rates even lower. But poor engagement is something you want to fix, right? Show your clients you care by asking for their feedback in a systematic way and using it to drive real improvements to their service. Here are some ways to overcome survey fatigue and boost response rate:

  • Personalize the ask. Sales and accounts teams can use this as a positive client touchpoint.
  • Don’t take up too much time. Keep your survey short.
  • Offer incentives to survey respondents, like raffles or choosing a charity and donating a lump sum that grows with your number of responses.
  • Communicate results post-survey to your staff and your client base to show them that their feedback matters.

Objection 2: We’re not ready.This could be for any number of reasons. “Our data isn’t clean.” “We don’t have an easy way to manage the data.” “The lift will be too much.” It’s a classic case of analysis paralysis. The fact is your organization will never get around to it if people only focus on the reasons why you can’t. Your team simply must start somewhere, and when you do, you’ll be able to find ways to make things easier moving forward. As people see evidence of positive changes resulting from client feedback, your team will likely be more driven to improve their efforts around the initiative. Objection 3: We might get negative feedback.Yep. This is true. We won’t sugarcoat it. But keep in mind that, whether you hear them or not, customer sentiments are there. What good is sticking your head in the sand? Your organization needs this feedback. If you don’t get it, you risk a steady decline in your reputation as service issues don’t get the attention they deserve. Plus, there’s something called the “Service Recovery Paradox” (SRP). Basically, you earn more loyalty from your clients after you’ve made a mistake but then fixed it. This has nothing to do with the service failure and everything to do with how your firm handles it. If you don’t ask, though, you won’t have the chance to make things right and recover. So, frame the survey as a tool to help your organization improve, build on its strengths, and strengthen client relationships. Objection 4: We won’t know what to do with the feedback.It’s true that you shouldn’t ask for feedback if you don’t plan to do anything with it. If clients see room for improvement and take the time to answer your survey honestly, they should feel like you care about their feedback. If you ignore it, you’ll rub salt in the wound. While this concern may be the most fair objection, that doesn’t mean you have to accept it. Simply commit to take action after reviewing the survey results. Here’s how:

  • Own it. In other words, plan to stay accountable to the results. Use this opportunity to take in feedback, make plans to improve and communicate those plans internally.
  • When you find nuggets of good news in your survey results, celebrate those wins with internal employees. If you’re using ClearlyRated, there’s even a built-in “shout out” feature to help you spread the word and boost morale.
  • Be transparent with clients about any issues you uncover—and how you plan to address them. When you provide specifics about how you’re (already) solving the problem, you assure clients that you’ve taken their feedback to heart. Use the 2-1-1 method for your follow up plan.

Objection 5: We already know how our clients feel. You may hear, “I talk to my clients all the time. I know how they feel.” Okay, but how often do they really talk? And do they connect with every client? Too often business leaders and those on the frontlines want to cherry pick clients for getting feedback (psst! This relates to the fear of negative feedback). Remind them that the true purpose of survey programs is gaining a full understanding of your CX. Only then can you improve overall customer retention and optimize account growth efforts. Remember that not all survey results will be bad. Through their survey programs, many companies find very satisfied customers and learn how to capitalize on strengths. We wish you well as you chart the path toward procuring valuable customer feedback for your organization—and we’ll be glad to help. Learn more or even contact us today.

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New Report: 2022 Staffing Employee Turnover

Staffing

The Leading Indicators of Turnover at Staffing Firms

As all staffing leaders know, supply and demand in the labor market are not in line. Demand is high while supply is low. It’s a job seeker’s market, and many potential candidates aren’t even looking for work. Naturally, this lack of supply shrinks the available talent pools recruiters can pull from, but it also hits staffing firms from another angle: increased employee turnover. You may ask why this presents a new problem. After all, turnover has always been higher in this industry than others. But at this moment, your firm’s “normal” talent leakage may be about to break the entire dam. Backfilling a flood of open roles can become a huge distraction for leadership and managers. It can also kill morale and productivity, negatively affecting the talent experience and client experience your firm delivers. Simply put, your firm’s reputation is on the line.As it became crystal clear that internal employee satisfaction at staffing firms could make or break their futures, ClearlyRated launched its Best of Staffing Employee Satisfaction survey in 2020. We now have proprietary data sets from both 2020 and 2021 that include responses from 3,000 staffing employees at 28 firms. They deliver key insights on employee satisfaction during this pivotal watershed period for the U.S. workforce.

A New Way to Understand – Even Predict – Staffing Employee Turnover

To build upon takeaways from individual years, the ClearlyRated team decided to compare the results of both surveys, creating the only data set of its kind. Our 2022 Staffing Employee Turnover Report outlines how the events of 2020 and 2021 affected internal turnover at staffing firms. For instance, account managers/executives and recruiters have been the hardest roles to hold on to. In fact, more than 40% of account managers/executives left their roles between 2020 and 2021. This research helped us not only understand who is leaving but also why… and we uncovered more than we expected.While looking for trends related to which roles suffered the highest turnover rates and why those employees were leaving, we identified distinct employee behaviors and demographics that correlate to a higher likelihood to quit. We even discovered the leading firm-wide indicator of employee churn. Our report not only includes all this information but also explains how staffing leaders can use it to predict turnover rates in the coming year—both firm-wide and at an individual level. Knowledge is power. Once you know your potential for turnover, you can prepare for it. Better yet, you may even be able to temper your talent leakage before it becomes a flood. Download our 2022 Staffing Employee Turnover Report now.

employee turnover report
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TX, CX and EX – The Juggle is Real

Staffing

Staffing Firms Can (and Must) Hold on to Their Talent

Virtually every business leader understands the importance of customer experience (CX). And, thanks to historically high turnover, most are grappling with a forced reckoning related to employee experience (EX). But staffing companies must deal with yet a third ‘X’: Talent experience (TX). How do they juggle all three? Well, they’re actually interrelated.To explore how the three X’s dovetail, especially in today’s competitive labor market, ClearlyRated’s CEO Eric Gregg led a webinar for the American Staffing Association (ASA) with guest speaker Daniel Culbertson, senior economist for the Indeed Hiring Lab. Their mission: To explain why firms must prioritize employee experience (EX) alongside client experience (CX) and talent experience (TX)—and how to do it. Daniel shared insights about the current playing field using proprietary data from the Indeed Hiring Lab. Then, he and Eric discussed how firms can win the hiring and retention game. In case you missed it, the recap with key insights is below, but don’t miss out on the full webinar. Watch it on-demand with an ASA member login: The Rise of Employee Experience and Client Experience.

Key Insights: The Labor Market Playing Field

Like any economist worth his salt, Daniel described the labor market using supply and demand. When it comes to supply, the U.S. is roughly 2.5-3 million workers shy compared with pre-pandemic numbers. And while demand lowered by 20 million jobs at the start of the pandemic, the tides have turned. Companies are hurting for people to fill their jobs. While supply is low, demand is now high. In fact, U.S. job postings on Indeed are 61% higher than the pre-pandemic baseline. For details on which occupational sectors have the steepest competition and which are faring best, watch the webinar.

Statisic graphic for TX, CX, and EX

So, what’s driving this depressed supply of workers (both employees and talent for staffing companies)? We all know about the Great Resignation, the Turnover Tsunami, the Employee Exodus, but that relates to participating members of the workforce. What about those who were forced out of a job early in the pandemic and haven’t yet chosen to come back? Why haven’t they returned? Will they? Daniel shared data from a recent Indeed Hiring Lab Job Search Survey, exploring potential answers for the nonexistent rebound in people looking for work:

  • Unemployment payments did not account for most people who stayed out of the workforce, so the tapering of those payments hardly made a dent.
  • Many people have chosen to take early retirement.
  • Disruptions to in-person school and daycare continued throughout 2021, even after vaccinations were widely available.

Indeed’s Job Search Survey showed that, while COVID fears have lessened, "care responsibilities" are increasingly keeping unemployed workers from looking for jobs (even after the school year started). And it doesn’t help that the childcare sector has experienced a nosedive in job seeker interest. Daniel pointed out that disruptions to school and childcare disproportionately affect fields that tend to be filled mostly by women as well as industries and companies that depend on part-time and temporary workers (hi, Staffing!). Yet another challenge for staffing is that the HR field is aggressively hiring. “And where does HR love to find its talent?” Eric asked. If you’re in staffing, you know the answer: From recruitment firms. As a result, the two staffing roles with the highest turnover are account executives and recruiters. Our current labor shortage, therefore, hits the staffing industry in two ways: a low supply of talent for placements and a struggle with internal retention. For more information, including turnover data broken down by gender and race/ethnicity, watch the webinar.

What You Can Do About It: The Rise of EX

So why is EX so important? According to Eric, it’s the first ‘X’ to focus on: “Internal employee retention and engagement mark where companies will win or fall behind during the next couple years.” Think about it: If you can’t keep good employees with positive attitudes, how will your CX fare? What about your TX? When you can’t hold onto your people, you risk underserving both your talent and your clients. Internal staff stability is, therefore, key to growth.If you can succeed with EX, your firm will gain the competitive advantage of continuity, keeping good people who deliver outstanding CX and TX. Firms that fail at EX will flounder. As their internal talent leaks away, so will their external talent pool. And as that pool shrinks, so will their client rosters. So, work to keep your employees. Understand what they want and how you can deliver it, realizing that what you want and need from a job may not align with their wants and needs. We touched on this topic in a blog post highlighting the importance of DEI and CX, relating directly to EX. As Daniel pointed out, report after report shows that what most employees want right now is flexibility. According to Indeed data, remote work continues to bring heavy interest from job seekers. That’s not groundbreaking news, but employers aren’t responding quickly enough. Just 7% of employees want to be in an office full-time, yet 38% of companies remain in office environments full-time. Just keep in mind that an increasing number of companies offer remote work, so you can’t count on this as your main differentiator when it comes to flexibility. Given the nationwide struggle with dependent care, consider how to offer flexible options that better support parents and caregivers beyond working remotely. Finally, good workers are in high demand. That means other employers will pay to poach yours. You may have dabbled in short-term hiring band-aids like signing bonuses, but if you want long-term retention, then growth in base pay is essential. That’s especially true when you pair the tight labor market with inflation. Employees’ costs of living are rising. At the same time, they see evidence both of their strengthened negotiating power and of increased mobility between careers. Yet Forrester analysts made the bold prediction that 100% of organizations will fail to appropriately adjust compensation this year. Don’t prove them right. Check your compensation and adjust accordingly to market demand.Companies that anticipate employee needs (and proactively provide for them) poise themselves for victory on the talent playing field. Want more? Use your ASA login to view the on-demand webinar for more data, trends, and takeaways (plus earn ASA CE credit and/or 1.0 PDC for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP®).

ASA Webinar for Client and Employee Experience
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5 Ways to Keep Your Employer Brand Promises

B2B

Your employer brand is essential. It tells people what they can expect as an employee of your organization. And if that brand – and their expectations – are positive, then your good reputation will likely yield more qualified candidates. That’s 50% more candidates to be exact, according to research by LinkedIn. More good candidates mean a faster time-to-hire and a reduced cost-per-hire. Plus, that same research shows that 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before they apply for a job. Would they apply to yours?

Why Your Employer Brand Matters

A great employer brand can do more than improve recruitment efforts. As long as it’s honest (we’ll get to that!), it can also boost retention rates and employee engagement. Companies with positive employer brands experience less turnover thanks to happy employees who are engaged in their work. Happier employees boost your bottom line in two ways:

  1. They reduce recruitment costs.
  2. They increase revenue, both directly and indirectly.

How’d we come up with that second point? The fact is: Happy employees equal happier customers, and happier customers spend more with your company over time.But here’s the catch: You can’t lie your way to a good employer brand. And if you try, the word will get out.

Why You Must Keep Your Employer Brand Promises

Your employer brand likely makes several promises, from competitive pay and quality benefits to a balanced work/life equation and an inclusive culture. These promises may sound great, but they won’t deliver any long-term benefit unless you set out to keep them. In fact, you could end up doing more damage than good if you don’t. Let’s say your company plans to capitalize on the fact that most candidates increasingly value an inclusive culture and 76% specifically weigh diversity while applying for jobs. So, you add language about your company’s focus on building an inclusive, diverse workforce to your career-focused webpages and social media channels. But don’t expect candidates to be satisfied. Some may even seek out your current or past employees’ experiences to make sure it’s not just lip service that isn’t backed up by any real effort—especially when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In fact, according to a Glassdoor report, job seekers aren’t sure that employers’ websites, senior leaders or recruiters are entirely honest when it comes to presenting diversity in their employer brand. Yet, 66% will trust your employees’ word. The good news: When your leadership sincerely puts in the effort to keep your employer brand promises, your employees are more likely to support your organization and spread the word. And you need their endorsement. According to LinkedIn, candidates trust your employees’ words 3x more than your organization’s when it comes to providing credible information about the employee experience.

5 Ways to Keep Your Promises

Employers that care about building a positive (and truthful) employer brand that includes DEI efforts can follow these five steps to support their efforts:

  1. Ask for good, honest feedback. Use employee surveys to pose questions around your employer brand, particularly what your employees think about your DEI performance. And when you do, always allow anonymity.
  2. Include identity-based questions to measure the diversity of your workforce. This helps you track the effectiveness of DEI efforts when it comes to the numbers while also helping you determine whether your diverse employees are satisfied and likely to stick around.
  3. After capturing your employees’ perceptions, dig deeper into your survey results. Segment your data appropriately and use satisfaction benchmarks from industry-leading sources (e-hem, like us) to pinpoint potential weaknesses and identify strengths.
  4. Hone in on two or three key areas for improvement before tackling the rest of your list. Communicate your plans to employees and, as you make progress, share regular updates.
  5. Track your progress and be transparent along the way—share results widely and update employees regularly.

When you stay true to what’s promised and authentically represent what it’s like to work for your company, you’ll be on your way to improving your workplace and strengthening your employer brand.

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CX Measurement Methodologies and Best Practices

B2B

My team at ClearlyRated spends a lot of time talking about client satisfaction and loyalty. We truly believe that for business service providers, the client experience (CX) must be at the heart of your business’ growth strategy. But in order for CX to inform business performance, it must be measured. Measuring CX is the only way that you can actively manage and improve CX—which, for service providers, is the basis of your competitive differentiation. It’s why your clients buy from you in the first place, and why they stay with you for the long haul. Measuring the client experience can help you identify at-risk revenue and get ahead of costly client churn. It can help you understand your CX strengths and weaknesses. It can help you identify your happiest clients for potential referrals, testimonials, as well as cross-sell and upsell opportunities. And it can help you build your firm’s reputation with tangible proof of the experience you deliver.

3 Types of CX Measurement Methodologies

Surveys are the most common approach for gathering client feedback and for measuring the client experience. But within a survey, the question remains: What methodology should your firm use to measure CX? Here are 3 of the most common CX measurement methodologies utilized in business:

1. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

The CSAT metric requires customers to rate their satisfaction with your service, business, or product. The scale can vary, but we most commonly see this question asked on a 5-point scale.

2. Customer Effort Score (CES)

Most commonly implemented by business-to-consumer organizations, the CES is a metric that measures how much effort a customer must exert to get an issue resolved, a request fulfilled, a product purchased/returned or a question answered. ​​CES surveys typically ask the question, “on a scale of ‘very easy’ to ‘very difficult’, how easy was it to interact with [company name].”

3. Net Promoter® Score (NPS®)

A widely adopted methodology for measuring customer loyalty, especially in business service firms, NPS measures your client’s willingness to recommend your firm to a friend or colleague on a scale from 0 to 10. All 3 of these methodologies deliver on the key benefits of a CX initiative. However, I am a huge advocate of the Net Promoter Score as an industry-best methodology for business service providers.

net promotor score calculation

CX Best Practice for Business Service Firms: Why NPS Provides Outsized Benefits

From the way the question is designed, to the built-in benchmarking, NPS provides outsized benefits at scale for firms looking for a systematic way to measure the client experience. Here's how:

  • The framing of the question, which asks about a client’s willingness to refer rather than their subjective experience of satisfaction or effort, gets around bias and invites a more direct answer from your client. With NPS, you are essentially asking clients whether they would be willing to put their reputation on the line on behalf of your brand. What could be more direct than that?
  • The fact that the question hinges on a willingness to refer connects directly to your firm’s most important source of new business: referrals. Not only does NPS provide insight into the health of your reputation among clients, but it also points you specifically to those clients that are ready to refer—opening new avenues for business development and revenue growth.
  • The NPS methodology provides a clear rubric for interpreting client responses. Clients who respond with a 9 or 10 on the willingness to refer scale are considered Promoters—your happiest clients who you can (and should) work with to build reputation and earn new business. Clients who respond with a 7 or 8 are considered Passives—these clients are not actively unhappy but are identifying a “meh” experience that can be equally dangerous to your brand. Finally, clients who respond with a 0 to 6 are known as Detractors—these unhappy clients are speaking up to make their issues known. Detractors are offering you a lifeline, providing feedback so that you can resolve their concerns and elevate their experience before it’s too late.
  • The “score” behind the Net Promoter Score provides valuable benchmarking to help you understand performance across teams, as well as within your industry at-large. The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the % of Detractors from the % of Promoters in your client base. We know from universal NPS standards that anything above a 50% NPS is considered “excellent,” anything above 70% is considered “world-class”. The NPS benchmark for insurance firms in 2022 is 42%—just above average and below excellent. These valuable benchmarks provide you with unprecedented context to evaluate your team’s performance. With NPS you can even segment scoring by team, by location, by market, or by individual performer—and apply these same benchmarks to create clarity and set goals.
  • The frequency of surveying- Harvard Business Review recommends the question be asked throughout the buyer's journey to get the most valuable and candid feedback. The frequency, however, will be dependent on the industry. Our team has research-backed knowledge in this area and can also share the estimated response rate based on the frequency of surveying.

Not convinced about the Net Promoter Score? Check out the blog post I wrote in response to a Wall Street Journal article back in 2019. It’s my “defense of NPS,” and addresses some common misconceptions and skepticisms about this powerful methodology. We also address everything NPS in our latest resource, Net Promotor Score® A Leading Metric to Business Success.

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3 Reasons Why DEI Should Be a Part of Your Client Experience Strategy

B2B

Here at ClearlyRated, our primary purpose is to help business service firms maximize and differentiate on the client experience (CX). So when we launched our employee satisfaction survey that helps those same firms measure the employee experience as well as their performance on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), we fielded some understandable questions about how DEI and CX relate. In this blog post, I’ll clarify the way that these two concepts are inextricably linked, as well as three compelling reasons why DEI can, and should, be part of your client experience strategy.

Employee Experience: The Link Between DEI and CX

For business service firms, the members of your internal team are the lifeblood of your clients’ experiences. That means the experience that your employees have working at your firm is inextricably linked to the experience that they, in turn, deliver to your clients—and research demonstrates that how your firm invests in diversity, equity, and inclusion plays a major role in employee experience and engagement. For example, a Glassdoor survey found that 67% of people consider diversity an important factor when deciding where to work. And a study by Deloitte University found that Millennials who feel that they're working for a company that fosters an inclusive culture are 38% more likely to be actively engaged than those who do not.Beyond how your employees feel about working at your firm, DEI can have an outsized impact on how clients experience working with you as well. Below are three reasons why DEI should be a part of your client experience strategy.

3 Reasons to Align DEI with CX
  1. The “trickle down” effect.DEI requires attentive listening. This skill must be developed to ensure that everyone’s individual perspectives and needs are not only heard, but addressed, by their team and organization. While this attunement can be trained individually, it can also be taught company-wide, expanding into an interpersonal philosophy that’s infused into every interaction your firm has with internal stakeholders and clients alike. This attunement towards the unique, individual needs of a team member can trickle down to interactions that your team has with clients, providing the foundation for an unmatched, personalized service experience that will boost retention and reputation.
  2. Authenticity deepens relationships. One of the many goals of DEI is to help employees feel safe in bringing their authentic selves to work, which can directly impact the client experience. Think about it… clients don’t hire a firm, they hire a person or a team that they trust to get things done. And once they’re working with your firm, those same clients will continue to show up for employees that they have authentic connections with. When employees feel like they can be their authentic selves, they show up that way with clients, developing an even deeper relationship and fueling opportunities for account expansion and growth.
  3. Building a culture of excellence.We’ve already established that DEI efforts directly impact recruitment and retention outcomes (look back at the section on Employee Experience: The Link Between DEI and CX to review those statistics). And because we know that clients think about working with a person or a team more than they think about working with a brand or a firm, your ability to retain top talent is a mission-critical aspect of the client experience.But let’s take a moment to think beyond recruitment and retention, to zoom out to a longer time scale and think about culture-building. DEI plays a critical role in creating a work environment that not only invites your team to bring their authentic selves to work, it also provides the foundation for a remarkable culture where team members are inspired to deliver their best work, not just to your firm but to the clients they serve. We would expect to see the cumulative effect of a culture of excellence driving remarkable client experience outcomes in revenue and financial reporting. Fortunately for us there is some really compelling research that demonstrates the link between DEI and revenue outcomes. For example, Gartner predicts that by 2022, 75% of organizations with front-line decision-making teams that have diverse talent and embrace inclusive strategies will exceed financial targets. And McKinsey & Company reports that companies in the top quartile for gender, racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians.

I hope this article has provided some new perspective on how, and why, DEI plays a significant role in your firm’s client experience strategy. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to my team to further discuss how DEI can be woven in to your CX initiative, or to learn more about how our employee survey helps business service firms measure DEI outcomes.

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4 Tips for Recruiting Millennials and Zoomers in 2022

Staffing

As a global career platform helping both candidates get job opportunities and recruiters reach out to them through optimized campaigns, Talent.com often receives questions from clients and partners about recruiting specific generations. In this article, find four factors you can apply to your recruitment strategies specific to hiring Millennials, who make up the largest portion of the workforce, and Zoomers, who are coming of age and gradually entering the workforce.

1. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Generally, Millennials and Zoomers tend to want to work for companies whose values are aligned with their own. This trend is often represented in their desire to join a company with a strong stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In fact, according to a 2020 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 79% of new graduates consider a diverse workforce to be ‘’very important.’’ However, as an organization it’s vital to stay away from pseudo-activism and make sure your efforts are authentic. This can be accomplished by using real employee pictures, videos, and quotes on your career page and in your job adverts to highlight your existing diverse workforce, for example.Also, leveraging new technologies now available can be of great help with diversity initiatives. For instance, you can use a programmatic platform to get your job advertisements on niche job boards to diversify your talent sources. Utilizing blind resume screening methods to block out demographic information, or editing tools that make your job descriptions more inclusive, are other ways to make the recruitment process more equitable.

2. Mobile First Approach

It’s no secret that mobile technology is transforming the realm of recruitment. An average of 70% of job seekers are searching and applying for jobs on their mobile devices according to Talent.com data, and that percentage will no doubt increase over time. Therefore, to attract Millennial and Zoomer talent, it’s important to begin adopting not only a mobile-friendly approach, but a mobile-first approach.A fully mobile-responsive website is a must. Plus, with texting as the preferred form of communication for Millennials and Zoomers, now is the time to include it in your recruitment strategies. This can be accomplished by leaning on the technological capabilities of your existing job platform partners, such as using SMS job alerts. For example, candidates can sign up to receive relevant, daily job ads directly on their phone as they job hunt on the go. What’s more, engagement with SMS alerts is on the rise. On Talent.com, the delivery rate of SMS job alerts has increased by 29%, while the click-through-rate has seen a 10% increase since 2019.Lastly, have you ever heard of recruitment chatbots? These digital assistants can be useful for busy recruiters looking to save time, send mass texts, and reach younger generations. Chatbots can schedule interviews, help with pre-screening candidates, and are available 24/7.

3. Flexible Work Advantages

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our personal and professional lives. The world is now learning how to better foster a more flexible work environment, something that Millennials and Zoomers have long preferred. Adjusting work hours to fit an employee’s needs is one example and, of course, working remotely. The option to work remotely from any city or even country is a highly coveted perk for a young workforce.This preference for remote work is clear from job seeker behavior on Talent.com; jobs advertised with ''remote work'' options are getting more clicks. If you have remote jobs to recruit for, don’t be afraid to include “work from home” in the job titles, as well as geo-expand your advertising. This means using your job platform to post your jobs in multiple locations at the same time to reach top talent in various cities.

4. Salary Transparency

Through Talent.com’s periodic user experience research, it was discovered that job seekers, by and large, want to see the salary associated with a job. Disclosing salary information early on (for example, directly in the job ad) saves time for candidates and recruiters. Plus, if the salary is competitive, it can give you an edge over other employers and even attract passive candidates.While a high salary is a great tool to attract quality hires, it certainly isn’t the only one and, sometimes, isn’t even the most attractive. In fact, Millennials and Zoomers report paying great attention to benefits and perks, such as pet-friendly offices or student loan repayment assistance, when evaluating a potential future employer.

Connecting with Technology

Take away with you one or all four of these tips, but know they are not the only tools available to you for recruiting young job seekers. Updating your recruitment strategy to be more inclusive, mobile first, and targeted to the aspects of work that appeal most to Millennials and Zoomers can be a complex task. It requires a multi-level strategy, and you can and should utilize technology to help.Another area to explore, for example, is the power of social media platforms for attracting Millennial and Zoomer candidates, from Instagram to TikTok and beyond. The young people entering the workforce are digital natives who grew up on smart phones and with the internet at their fingertips. Meet them virtually where they're at to find success in recruitment in 2022 and beyond!

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Insurance CX Makeover: 4 Steps to Transform your CX Program

Insurance

We know a positive client experience is a critical factor in any insurance firm’s success. In fact, recently published research suggests clients who have a poor experience with their firm (as indicated by their satisfaction rating) are nine times more likely to be actively looking for a new insurance provider1. And as the industry and our client base continue to navigate unprecedented change and disruption, many business leaders are taking another look at their existing CX programs to examine success, and look towards innovations that may deliver an outsized impact for their firm. At ClearlyRated, we’ve worked with more than 350 business service firms, including providers of commercial insurance, and our team has fielded more than 5 million surveys to fuel their CX initiatives. Here are 4 strategies that we have seen transform CX initiatives and fuel real growth in our modern business climate.

  1. Understand the client journey. It can be easy to misinterpret the “client experience” as a monolith. But in reality the client experience is not static. It ebbs and flows with the client journey, which starts the moment a prospect decides to work with you (or even before, during the sales process). Understanding the client journey will help you build a more robust CX program by identifying critical moments when the client experience is most likely to be impacted. From onboarding to paying an invoice, renewing a contract, seeking additional services, or even—because it does happen—terminating a relationship with your firm, each of these moments represents a unique facet of the client experience that you can be capturing in your client survey program to fuel insights and transform your CX outcomes.
  2. Add outsized value for true CX impact. If you think of your CX strategy as a series of levers, do you know which levers your team can pull to create an outsized impact on the client experience? Put differently, do you know which actions and processes to invest time and energy into that will demonstrably improve CX outcomes? Recent research identifies critical client perceptions that are tightly correlated with high satisfaction (as reported by the client)¹. Those perceptions include (from most valuable to least valuable):
insurance CX client perceptions
  1. These findings are an aggregate view of key drivers of client satisfaction for insurance providers based in the U.S., and as such they offer a strong starting point for identifying key areas of investment. But your firm can, and should, leverage your CX initiative to identify those client perceptions that are most tightly correlated with satisfaction in your own client base, and use that intelligence to build a plan for improving the client experience. Building a data-informed foundation for your CX strategy will deliver an outsized impact on any investment. According to McKinsey & Company, delivering a superior customer experience requires significant investments, relentless improvements, and collaboration across customer channels and business functions.
  2. Reduce stress during the buying process. Prospective clients are facing a challenging and complex landscape when it comes to purchasing commercial insurance. In fact, 92% of business service buyers say they experience stress during the buying process². Competitive differentiation between service providers is slim, and in the aftermath of COVID-19, buyers are feeling more risk averse than ever. Fortunately, your CX program can help reassure prospects as they navigate these uncertain times. Asking for referrals from happy clients identified in your CX initiative can deliver on prospects’ most ideal resources during the purchase process: a referral from a friend or colleague1. Testimonials, the second most persuasive resource buyers use during their purchase decision, can (and I would argue, should!) be sourced directly from your CX initiative to supercharge business development efforts and deliver credible proof of the service you deliver. Similarly, satisfaction scores and online ratings (both of which can be tied into your CX program) go a long way towards easing the anxiety of the buyer, and are proven to be more persuasive than your own sales and marketing materials, even your website1.
  3. Empower your client support team. At its heart, a CX initiative is an intelligence gathering campaign. But who has access to that intelligence, and how quickly? While it’s impossible to overstate the value of integrating client feedback into larger business initiatives, it’s even more critical to ensure that feedback is available to the teams who can use it to inform relationship efforts as soon as humanly possible. If you’re working with a digital client survey to source CX insights, be sure to integrate those findings into your CRM or database where client relationship managers and support teams have access. These folks are the face of your brand, they are the true source of the client experience. Empowering them with real-time feedback data will help them tailor the service they deliver based on the wants, needs, and sentiments of the clients in their portfolio. In short, giving client support teams access to client feedback in real time will empower them to perform to the best of their ability.

I hope these 4 strategies have provided new insights for thinking about (and measuring the success of) your firm’s CX initiative! If you’d like to discuss any of these strategies with my team, please feel free to contact us. We’d be happy to share more about our mindset related to CX strategy for insurance firms, details about our research, or to discuss how ClearlyRated can help your firm level-up its CX initiative. Interested in learning more about our NPS survey program? Click here for our feature on the Insurance Marketing and Communications Association's (IMCA) website.¹ Source: ClearlyRated’s 2021 Service Benchmark Study² Source: ClearlyRated’s 2020 Service Benchmark Study

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How Staffing Firms Add Millions of Dollars to Their Top-Line Growth

Staffing

At ClearlyRated, we try to approach everything from a research perspective—including our own software. We don’t just want to know if something works; we want to know how much it works and why.And thanks to our clients’ generosity, we have lots of insight into how ClearlyRated’s Net Promoter® Score satisfaction survey helps staffing firms identify at-risk accounts, target growth opportunities, and demonstrate value.For example, we know that firms that work with us have an average NPS® score 48 points higher than the industry average.Our clients also:

But these metrics are meaningless if they don’t translate into real revenue growth.If good service is good business—and the data suggests it is—improving your firm's operational and service excellence should result in improvements to top-line growth and bottom line profit.After analyzing a decade of data from staffing firms just like yours, we can confidently say it does: Addressing client and talent satisfaction and at-risk revenue through the ClearlyRated NPS survey program can represent a $1.4M revenue growth opportunity for staffing firms in the ballpark of $25M annual sales.

The ClearlyRated Survey Program

While the real-dollar impact at your firm will depend on a number of factors—including firm size, average client revenue, client satisfaction, and more—the process we use to identify these opportunities is the same at all firms, and it starts with our NPS survey, designed specifically for staffing firms.Any NPS survey program will include “the NPS question.”

But our surveys also include industry-specific driver questions that target the specific areas of service delivery that most reliably impact NPS—and therefore revenue—according to our staffing firm buyer research.The results from this survey drive all of the other features of this program and help you get the most from the data you collect from your clients.If you’re asking how this translates into real-dollar improvements, there are three key areas where our program helps staffing firms realize that revenue benefit:

  1. Upselling or cross-selling accounts that already love working with you
  2. Identifying and addressing dissatisfied accounts and recovering at-risk revenue
  3. De-risking decision-making for new accounts with compelling proof of service excellence

These three areas each represent a powerful opportunity to create internal efficiency, improve the service experience for key stakeholders (including clients and placed talent), and ultimately drive business growth.

Expand Accounts Effectively by Targeting Your Promoters

The most overlooked path to increasing revenue through an NPS survey isn’t actually about addressing dissatisfaction—it’s about effectively taking advantage of the places where you’re already doing great. Often the only thing standing between a successful upsell or cross-selling opportunity is the basic act of identifying those clients most amenable to increasing their spend and making the ask.In fact, our staffing client data indicates that your Promoters—clients who answer with a 9 or 10 when asked if they would recommend your firm to friends or colleagues—are likely to increase spend by 11% the following year.Our dashboard is designed to make it easy to identify these opportunities. After your clients have responded to their surveys, it only takes a glance to see where your efforts should be spent.

For many firms, expanding their existing accounts represents the most immediate source of rapid growth.According to our model, which is based off of a conservative estimate of $75k annual revenue per client, account expansion alone represents a revenue increase of 2% or more of total annual revenue.

Use Your Survey Feedback to Protect At-Risk Revenue

Of course, no staffing firm is without its Detractors. Asking a client to invest further when they’re already dissatisfied with your firm is unlikely to be successful, making it paramount to identify who’s satisfied (and who isn’t) before making the ask.Instead, you should be using your survey results dashboard to help you identify opportunities to resolve client or talent dissatisfaction as soon as you’re able. Our program makes that possible in two simple ways.First, our dashboard automatically delivers Detractor Alerts so you can take immediate action to resolve concerns when someone is less than satisfied.

This allows you to take advantage of the service recovery paradox, which is an increase of client loyalty that results from the successful resolution of their issue or concern.Additionally, our dashboard makes it easy to see where proactive reachout might be effective by color-coding less-than-satisfied clients and talent, so you and your team can identify opportunities at a glance.

As you know, the staffing industry can be volatile: The average yearly churn alone can represent upwards of 26% of total revenue, and that doesn’t account for Detractors of your firm, who are significantly more likely to reduce spend in the following year.But our survey program can help you identify and address that churn: Two-thirds of ClearlyRated clients report saving a dissatisfied account identified through their survey program.In fact, in 2020, 66% of our 300+ annual staffing firm clients reported identifying at-risk revenue through our post-survey follow up.

When it comes to dissatisfied clients, identifying the detractors isn’t enough, however—you have to act on the data you’re gathering to make sure that the service breakdown doesn’t happen again. Whether it’s process updates, communication changes, or other operational improvements, it’s important to take this opportunity to ensure that preventable service failures don’t continue.We’ve designed the ClearlyRated reporting dashboard to aggregate this data into metrics you can actually use, helping you ensure you’re taking action in the areas that matter most. This allows you to create a culture of operational excellence that helps you reliably meet—and exceed—your clients' expectations.

Help Prospects Get to “Yes” by Sharing Proof of Service Excellence

When it comes to Promoters and Detractors, our survey program helps you ensure that you’re able to capitalize on the value you’ve created and address areas where you’ve fallen short of expectations.But business growth is not just about creating value for your clients. You have to compellingly communicate that value as well. And that’s why we’ve aggregated NPS survey results into a suite of product features that can tell the story of your service excellence.

  • ClearlyRated.com profile pages feature your clients’ positive feedback and aggregated star ratings in a search-optimized format that’s easy for your prospects to find.
  • Star rating widgets allow you to easily add social proof of your firm’s excellence to your email signature and About page.
  • Our proprietary #goodnews suite includes social sharing features and easy reporting for testimonials and other “voice of the client” marketing collateral to make sharing easy.
  • Shout Out notifications broadcast the positive contributions your employees make to your entire organization, helping you tell the service story of your firm internally.
  • Our Best of Staffing Award recognizes firms that meet world-class standards of service excellence, helping derisk decision making for prospects looking to partner with a firm they can trust. (Fewer than 2% of firms nationwide qualify!)

These product features help our clients communicate the value they provide when they’re at their best, mitigating prospects’ fears around the buying process and assuring them that your firm can meet their promises so they can invest in your services with confidence.As a result, our clients consistently demonstrate patterns of growth well above the industry average.Through ClearlyRated, staffing firms receive thousands of dollars worth of additional online SEO exposure, and even modest estimates put the value at 3-5x the cost.

98% of our Clients Report a Positive ROI

From these three areas combined, the average staffing firm that utilizes ClearlyRated’s satisfaction survey software sees a real-dollar benefit equal to roughly 4-5% of expected annual revenue.That means our suite of proprietary client satisfaction features can represent a 30x return on investment for firms targeting 5M in total annual revenue.

The secret to the success of our NPS survey program?It allows staffing firms just like yours to link client feedback to action. It’s the reason almost all of our clients report a positive return on their investment in our survey software, and it’s the reason so many of our clients have continued to partner with us year after year.

We Work With Staffing Firms Just Like Yours

If you’re wondering what our clients look like and whether or not they represent your firm, we’re confident that they do.

A quick client snapshot:

  • 300+ staffing firms annually
  • 6 out of the top 10 North American staffing firms by size (according to SIA)
  • 35% of the top 100 firms according to SIA in 2019 and 2020

All told, our survey software protects over 40 billion dollars—and counting—in staffing industry revenue each year.

Good Service IS Good Business: We’ll Prove it to You

We’ve designed this entire process from the ground up to deliver world-class service while we help you deliver yours. In fact, 88% of our enterprise-level clients mention the service they receive from their account manager to be among the highlights of working with our team. All told, our comprehensive program allows your firm to:

  • identify your most enthusiastic supporters,
  • shore up faltering relationships,
  • understand the best avenues for internal improvements,
  • strike at the heart of operational issues contributing to client dissatisfaction,
  • measure the efficacy of the changes you make,
  • and improve your ability to speak to the high levels of service you provide.

Our program gives you the tools you need to deliver on your promises of service excellence—and the collateral to prove it—in an industry where 39% of hiring managers leave their firms because they’re dissatisfied with the service they receive.

ClearlyRated at Your Firm

Interested in the real-dollar impact of implementing our program at your firm? We’ll use the forecasting models we’ve developed off thousands of NPS surveys and years of our clients' financial data to crunch the numbers for you. Book a demo to see if ClearlyRated is a good fit for your firm.

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7 Strategies for Making Real Organizational Change

B2B

In Part 1 of our 2-part blog series focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Continuing the Conversation, I shared some of the latest data that ClearlyRated has published about the state of DEI in staffing. But what to do with this information? That’s where the three panelists from our recent American Staffing Association webinar (DeLibra Wesley, CEO and Founder of National Recruiting Consultants; Leslie Vickrey, CEO and Founder of ClearEdge Marketing; and Robin Mee, President and Founder of Mee Derby) bring the full weight of their perspectives and experience.

Below, I’ve summarized seven strategies shared by our panelists for how organizations of every shape, size, and industry can begin to make real organizational progress towards diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Lessons from the Field: 7 Strategies for Making Real Organizational Change

  1. Focus your DEI efforts internally first
  2. Make inclusiveness a priority
  3. Hire outside the box
  4. Know your culture and what makes for a “culture fit”
  5. Understand what drives the gender pay gap and how to root it out at your firm
  6. Institutionalize allyship
  7. Treat DEI as a business imperative

1. Focus your DEI efforts internally first

When it comes to DEI, it may feel urgently important for your firm to make a public statement. And that’s good—in order for the tidal changes that are necessary to occur, we must all invest in publicly acknowledging and rectifying the situation. But the work must start from within.

One of the most gripping examples that our panelists gave of DEI efforts gone wrong was the story of Black professionals in the tech industry speaking out against what is described as “diversity theater.”

Our panelist Leslie Vickrey (CEO and Founder of ClearEdge Marketing) shared an article published by Wired Magazine that highlights a glaring disconnect between how some companies publicly and privately address calls for equity and fairness.

The uncomfortable reality highlighted in this article is not limited to the tech industry. Organizations across the country are pledging money and committing to rectifying internal bias while their existing employees continue to face ongoing discrimination in the workplace and, in many cases, are forced to remain silent on issues of social and racial justice. Leslie points out just how harmful these performative actions can be:

It can be tempting to change your logo during Pride Month or Black History Month, or to pledge support on Wone's Pay Day - but these are on-off actions, and they can really backfire when the internal and external messages don't align.

“Businesses that gloss over their own internal dynamics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion risk dramatically eroding trust with their employees. It can be tempting to change your logo during Pride Month or Black History Month, or to pledge support on Women’s Pay Day—but these are one-off actions, and they can really backfire when the internal and external messages don’t align. Employees will be the first to notice when your corporate actions don’t match your rhetoric. That’s not a recipe for attracting a diverse team.”

Before you join the chorus, your company must find its authentic voice on the issue. For more ideas about how to get started from within, check out my recent blog post covering 3 Critical Steps for Addressing Issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Your Firm.

2. Make inclusiveness a priority

Panelist DeLibra Wesley (CEO and Founder of National Recruiting Consultants) discussed how her approach to helping organizations build towards diversity, equity, and inclusion has shifted over time.

These days, DeLibra says, “My goal out of the gate is to work towards helping companies prioritize inclusiveness in both their policies and cultural practices. I want to help businesses understand that there is a true benefit to nobody feeling left out, nobody feeling unsupported. We need to be thinking about how to support folks who have been historically underserved by employers in corporate America. I’m talking caregivers and parents, people who have experienced the loss of a loved one, folks with disabilities. There are so many levers we can pull, from remote work and flexible scheduling to more robust leave policies; we truly have the opportunity to transform the corporate culture towards empathy and inclusion.”

Beyond being brave enough to highlight an issue that most of us would rather skirt around, I want to acknowledge that the latest research suggests that DeLibra’s prioritization of inclusive practices and cultural norms is SPOT ON when it comes to addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workforce. The data is especially convincing when we look along gender lines (remember that, though women make up roughly ⅔rds of the workforce in the staffing industry, fewer than 1 in 3 executive roles are held by women).

Robin Mee (President and Founder of Mee Derby), introduced us to a survey that TrueBlue (a leading staffing, recruiting, and workforce management solutions provider) conducted to uncover why women weren’t being promoted into executive roles within the organization. What they found is that many women were dropping out of the career path after they reached management because they weren’t sure they could have a family and continue to advance in their career (or their company) and do both well.

“Nobody should have to choose between having a family and having a career. Flexibility is key. The pandemic has forced many companies who were previously opposed to remote offciting to be predictive and flexible with people working from home. If we can achieve remote teams, we are giving women so much more flexibility than they’ve ever had before.”

Covid-19 has set women in the workplace back decades, but some of the outcomes from the pandemic (like increased flexibility and remote work) could infrastructurally improve and accelerate the access that women have to roles and advancement in the workplace going forward. But we must not lose this moment - consider how your business can center inclusiveness as you continue to design and evolve your “new normal”.

3. Hire outside the box

Another hot topic that was discussed on the panel was the question of hiring and retaining underrepresented (and specifically BIPOC) employees. In an industry that’s underrepresented in this area, particularly with Black and Hispanic professionals, Robin Mee provided some helpful guidance.

“We have to think bigger when it comes to recruiting talent. There are age-old strategies, like incentivizing referrals from internal employees for new talent, that maintain the status quo—if you know and are liked by someone internally, then your chances of being hired are much greater. But guess what? Practices like these are how we got here in the first place! I’m not saying that referrals and references shouldn’t play a role in assessing an applicant, but what if you could re-allocate those resources towards an entirely untapped network of individuals? How could you truly diversify the sources by which you are inviting talent to consider applying for a career with your business?”

Two specific ideas that Robin has for us are to:

  • Take another look at your college recruiting program (if you have one). How could you diversify the institutions that you’re working with to source talent? Perhaps you could de-prioritize private institutions? Or invest more to recruit at schools where you’re specifically more likely to find talent that may be part of an underrepresented demographic at your firm?
  • Actively look at (and seek out candidates) outside of your industry. Robin spoke specifically about the staffing industry, though I suspect this sentiment applies much more broadly: “There aren’t enough staffing industry professionals to go around, and we know there’s not much diversity in the industry. To hire outside of the industry, you’ve got to think outside the box. Do you really need a candidate with that specific experience or degree? Or do you need someone with demonstrated skills and capabilities? What hiring practices can you build to search for and validate those skills and capabilities rather than leaning on industry experience or degrees alone?”


Robin was also very clear about the fact that any shift in hiring for a more diverse workforce must be a priority for the business, and must be met with intentional, consistent effort if it is ever going to have a shot at making lasting change.

“If you really want to make progress, you must insist on diversity with every slate of candidates that are brought in for every internal position. The definition of diversity might shift for every hire or the given team that a hire is being made for. What does that team, specifically, need? What are they missing? Being intentional and prioritizing the goal of bringing forth a diverse set of candidates for every position is absolutely critical.”

4. Know your culture and, more specifically, what makes for a “culture fit”

During the presentation, our panel fielded a question from the audience: “When prioritizing hiring a diverse workforce, how do you deal with comments from the hiring committee that a candidate is ‘not a culture fit?’"

DeLibra’s response: “In my career as a recruiter, I was trained to always ask questions. ‘So this candidate is not a culture fit? Tell me why. Tell me about your culture and what it is about your culture that’s so different so that I can help you recruit better.’ In my experience, “culture fit” issues are usually ageism—‘I don’t want to hire this person because they are in an age group that I’m not used to working with.’ Ageism is hiring discrimination, and as an industry it’s critical that staffing and recruiting firms build systems and processes that protect themselves and their clients from this discriminatory practice.”

Robin also had some very clear insights on this topic: “Ageism is a real hot button issue for me. We see more discrimination around age than any other area when working with our clients. Only 6% of people that are working in the staffing industry are over 56 years old. That puts it in a very stark light, a snapshot we should all be a bit horrified about. We have to ask a lot of questions and ask them up front so that we can understand the skills and attributes that are most important. One common issue we find is when businesses are looking for candidates with some specific amount of experience—say 5-8 years’ experience. That’s a clear marker for age, and it’s antithetical to our task of presenting every candidate we can find that is qualified and interested in the role.”

Leslie offered up a systems-level approach for combating the “culture fit” issue: “Has your company done the work to set the tone for what your culture is? Having a clear way to talk about company culture, and ensuring that everyone on your team understands how to think about and talk about company culture, can be really helpful for empowering your team in the hiring process while also fortifying against discriminatory practices. We are seeing a lot of companies deep dive on who they really are and investing in really understanding and documenting core values. Once you have those values clarified, you can begin to reorient your entire recruiting strategy around those values, and when an ambiguous comment about ‘culture fit’ inevitably arises, you can ask the person making that observation to be more specific. Which of our company values, specifically, do you find that this candidate does not align with and why?”

5. Understand what drives the gender pay gap and how to root it out at your firm

We know there is a gender pay gap in staffing (as well as across the general workforce). But what might be driving this dynamic?

Robin suggests that salary discussions at the start of an employment process play a major role: “Historically, it was common practice for companies to ask about compensation history before making an offer or even advancing a candidate through the hiring process. This practice intrinsically put women at a disadvantage, because the gender pay gap, though egregious now, has historically been much worse. So if the female candidate has a lower salary history, she can be made a lower offer and theoretically still be willing to take the position. Salary bands are now leveling the playing field, and as of 2017 employers are no longer allowed to ask about compensation history until after an offer is made. We have to educate, and educate our friends and colleagues and kids that when they get asked questions about compensation it is their right to not answer that question and how to navigate that. We need to consult women on the process of negotiating, up front, for an amount that another professional (presumably male) would be able to secure for himself in that hiring process.”

DeLibra provides another layer of context to what may be driving the gender pay gap: “I have seen many businesses with an internal culture of talent acquisition teams being praised for closing someone at a lower amount. As an industry we need to start praising for something different, not for low balling, but for involving them in the equity discussion, using measures that pay people for experience and skills not just because they didn’t know to ask for more. I’ve seen examples of women making $30k less than their counterparts yet over-performing those individuals. Over 5 years that’s $150k that women didn’t have available in their household. We should be incentivizing talent acquisition teams to find ways to make hiring and compensation rates fair and equitable. Companies need to pay people what they’re worth.”

Career Advancement Disparity

Beyond a difference in pay within a set of roles, the research also demonstrates a lack of career parity: women are not in the same position to earn wages because they’re not being considered for higher level roles. Leslie had some unique insights to share about the dynamics at play with career advancement and earning potential for female professionals:

“We have a huge gap in our industry when it comes to representation in leadership. We have a lot of women in our industry who have made it up the ladder, then they stop at the C Suite. Like many women, I came up in the industry on a team that had no P&L responsibility. And, looking around, a lot of my female peers are in the same boat. Positions that have been more approachable for women (like HR and Marketing) are often considered “overhead” positions, and because they lack P&L responsibility the women who occupy those positions have less access to the experience of what it takes to run a company. So, when opportunities to advance to executive positions open up, they are perceived as less qualified than counterparts who have managed P&L. A lot of my thinking on this topic has been informed by a discussion I had with Tammy Browning, current SVP and President at Kelly OCG on the ClearEdge podcast. Tammy shared that, within her company they are specifically training on P&L financials so that all managers can gain access to the skills and experience of operating a company. Tammy’s goal is to help close the gap on gender when it comes to succession planning. The more we can cross train in these functions and different areas, the more we can raise women and minorities up.”

Beyond access to direct experience with P&L, Robin points out what many of us have suspected for some time but that recent research has proven beyond a doubt: “Men are hired for potential and women are hired for experience—especially when it comes to leadership positions. Hiring for potential is critical, and we need to be doing everything to get out of our own way to give women the same access to those opportunities. That’s where we come back to flexible work arrangements, support for remote work and travel, and taking strides to provide the type of leadership environment that makes it clear that women do actually belong there.”

Each of our panelists have given us a great deal to think about (and address) within our own internal organizations. But if you need a bit more inspiration on the topic of pay equity, look no further than Salesforce. This 57,000-person organization is in its sixth year of auditing its compensation practices to ensure equal pay at all levels and across all teams. Each year they report out on their findings, and what action they are taking to rectify the pay gap issue to make their workforce a more inclusive and equitable place for all of their employees.

6. Institutionalize allyship

A common theme heard among the panelists was the critical role that mentors, sponsors, and allies have to play in the advancement of folks who are typically underrepresented in the workplace.

DeLibra says: “As a BIPOC professional, I have experienced and lived through many of the struggles that we are trying to address with these DEI efforts. I have also seen first-hand what a difference it has made for me to have someone in my organization value my talent enough to “block” while I’m being “tackled” so that I can keep on the course and keep doing great work. The role of the advocate, ally, or sponsor is crucial to opening new doors for historically underrepresented professionals. That person, ideally a person who is ‘in the room where it happens,’ is speaking on your behalf and advocating for your work behind closed doors and in the meetings that you don’t yet have access to. I won’t lie, it’s rare to find those people within an organization, especially in leadership positions. So, to my fellow business leaders, make this an active effort! Incentivize yourself and your peers to find the folks who are hungry but might not have access to opportunities, and work with them to build a path forward. Stand up for them behind closed doors. Be an ally! To my fellow BIPOC professionals, find an ally. Find a way to hook onto someone who can help your career, who can block for you while you’re being tackled."

Leslie spoke about her perspective on leveraging her own power to be an ally: “There are so many things I could say about being an ally. But it’s really pretty simple: if you are in a position of power, use it. Use your voice and do something. Think about all of the power that even a managerial position holds: as a manager you can impact someone’s pay, title, and upward mobility. Harness that power to help those who are fighting an uphill battle for representation and pay! If you are on a board and you know there are open positions, you’re in a position of power to add diversity to your board. If you’re forming a board or being asked for board recommendations, put people up in those roles, be an ally. For speaking engagements, make introductions and connections to empower women and minorities. Use every waking moment and every position of power that you inhabit to create opportunities for others.”

What strikes me hearing these thoughts from DeLibra and Leslie, is just how much opportunity for allyship exists, inherently, within corporate structures. What would it look like to formalize that a bit more? To literally incentivize members of leadership to prioritize the advancement of women and minorities in the workplace? Allyship, and institutionalizing it, provides us with a significant opportunity to address issues related to DEI head-on in our individual places of work.

7. Treat DEI as a business imperative

Last, but certainly not least, I want to highlight an overarching call that all three of our panelists made throughout the webinar… which is to give DEI the credence it deserves as a critical business imperative.

All three of our experts spoke about the need for organizations to be intentional, purposeful, and direct with their DEI efforts. But I thought that Leslie summed it up nicely when she said: “DEI is more than a program or initiative, which has a connotation as being more short-term. It’s really a business imperative. Companies should not put out a statement if they’re not willing to do the work. Hiring a few people (to check the diversity box) is not a business imperative. And candidates and employees alike will see right through it. When DEI is little more than lip service, you risk hiring people and losing them, you risk developing a negative reputation, you risk losing any kind of referral pipeline. It’s really the opposite of what you’re trying to do.”

Final Thoughts

Hopefully you are here at the end of this blog post because you are invested in making DEI an integral component of your business. If you’d like to continue your research and hear more from this panel, I encourage you to keep up with the work that DeLibra, Robin, and Leslie are doing. Here are a few ways and places you can follow them:

And if you have any interest in learning about how ClearlyRated’s employee survey can support the DEI efforts at your firm, please feel free to contact us or check out the resources below.

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5 Tech Trends Driving the Future of CX Strategy

B2B

Today, nearly every client experience in nearly every business service sector is driven or supported by rapidly-evolving digital technology. And as more firms invest in initiatives that measure and improve the client experience (commonly known as ‘CX initiatives’), we are seeing the significant impact of technological innovation on the implementation and outcomes of CX strategy.In our work as a client experience research firm as well as a client satisfaction survey provider, we’ve long enjoyed a multi-industry, cross-border view of the issues that are at the cutting edge of CX strategy for business service firms. And while there are hundreds of CX solutions clamoring for executive attention (and investment dollars), there are 5 technological trends we expect will serve as leading indicators for the solutions that will deliver outsized impact today, and keep your firm at the cutting edge of CX for years to come.

Here are our top 5 technological trends to watch for business service firms investing in a CX initiative:
  1. Integrations (i.e. integrating client feedback data into your client database): Integrations are rapidly becoming the way of life in our software-empowered world. Businesses realize the exponential power that can be derived from data that exists beyond just one piece of technological “real estate.”Similarly, we are seeing integrations make waves in the CX space. The question, “Where does the client feedback data live?” draws a line in the sand between gate-keeping and democratizing access to that data. For example, most firms engaged in a CX program employ digital survey software to gather feedback from their clients. But if that survey data doesn’t make it into the platforms where your client-facing team can see it, weigh it, and take action on it (think CRM or ATS systems), then the CX program is cutting itself short on impact.More than that, integrating client feedback data into other business databases provides insight into deeper relationships between client sentiment (as recorded in your survey), client behavior (like contract size and renewal history), and client demographics (like the client’s industry, team size, and annual revenue). These side-by-side data points, and the trends that can be built when they are tracked together over time, offer a remarkable opportunity for forward-thinking firms to build a CX-centered business plan.
  2. Automation (i.e. automating surveys to capture client feedback at critical moments): Just like integrations can help democratize access to client feedback data, they can also help reduce the amount of manual effort that goes into launching a survey, especially when it comes to identifying the right clients to invite feedback from and when to trigger that request.Let me take a step back… It’s common for businesses starting out with a CX program to conduct an annual or quarterly survey, “timing” the ask for feedback around a larger business cycle. This strategy makes sense for garnering feedback on the overall relationship with a client, especially when there is a great deal of effort that goes into moving through a single feedback cycle. Typically, most of this effort is spent sourcing, scrubbing, and finalizing client contact lists, and requires a team member (sometimes even an entire team) to manage the process to collect these critical insights from clients.Survey automation changes all of that. Through automated survey programs, businesses are able to trigger automatic surveys from their CRM or ATS database to specific clients at specific “moments in time.” You can ask questions that are tailored to each specific client and the critical moment that triggered the survey (i.e. onboarding, mid-contract, end-of-engagement, renewal, etc.), providing a number of new opportunities to gather critical intelligence on the client experience.
  3. Predictive Analytics (i.e. leveraging client feedback for predictive modeling): In the section highlighting integrations, I touched on the benefits of merging client data sets to develop a more holistic view of a client’s behavior and sentiment profile. But that’s just the beginning. Beyond analyzing 1-to-1 relationships between client feedback and behavior, or even historical trends between them, there is an opportunity to mine these data sets in a way that develops predictive indicators that can help your firm model out future-state revenue. You can also use analytics to understand how resource allocation may impact a given client’s experience and willingness to continue working with your firm. One powerful example comes from my friends at Rehmann, a top 50 accounting and advisory firm, with locations across 3 states. They run a comprehensive, automated client survey program, but aren’t content to stop at “how are we doing?”. They also look at engagement levels in other ways, such as email, phone or in-person meetings, registration for webinars, and time-since-last-contact to develop a more fully formed understanding of their clients’ engagement. Wilson Allen, a consulting firm that helps professional service firms improve business performance, works alongside firms like Rehmann to help build and connect an entire ecosystem of engagement data to their core processes, putting the keys to growth in front of each partner in real-time.Many firms are barely scratching the surface of the predictive intelligence that can be mined across client data sets. This will most certainly be an area of investment and expansion in the world of CX for professional service providers.
  4. Online reputation (i.e. translating client feedback into online ratings and reviews): Online ratings and reviews are a growing interest for providers of professional services. Since the onset of COVID-19, in-person connection and word-of-mouth marketing are more difficult to come by. Your brand’s online presence, and the virtual thoughts and feelings shared by your clients, significantly impact your chances of sourcing new opportunities and winning new clients. Leading-edge programs tie their CX initiatives directly to online reputation strategy. Working from real customer feedback, these firms drive new, validated online ratings and reviews to deliver more credible proof of the service they provide in the channel where prospects spend the majority of their time researching—online. Today this looks like adding functionality to your survey program that asks clients to rate you on your target websites (perhaps Google, Yelp, or Glassdoor if you’re focused on surveying employees). Some firms go further by investing in client feedback programs like G2 and ClearlyRated that automatically translate client satisfaction scores into online star ratings on a validated and indexed rating site. With prospective buyers increasingly turning to online research, and consistently trusting information from your existing clients more than any sales or marketing you could publish, we expect this technology trend to drive the future of CX strategy in an outsized way.
  5. Mobile-first technology (i.e. centering mobile design and user experience in CX): Believe it or not, mobile technologies (i.e. smartphones) likely represent your firm’s primary channel for client engagement. Many other consumer-based industries have been fast to adopt this strategy, but business service providers have moved more slowly to adopt a mobile-first mindset and prioritize the mobile user experience in their CX strategy. In a survey conducted by Adobe, 92% of respondents consider their smartphone to be their primary device. In many firms, a shift towards mobile has already happened (or is happening) related to digital marketing efforts, but what does this look like for CX initiatives? First and foremost, ensure that any content you ask your clients to interact with, like surveys or third-party applications, are designed with mobile in mind (responsive design is the gold standard). You could even think about mobile as a separate communication channel from the web. Many CX technologies enable texting (in addition to emailing survey invitations) to supplement feedback campaigns, meeting clients where they are most likely to pay attention and improving engagement and responsiveness to survey requests.

For further information regarding technology trends and how they will impact the future of CX, please feel free to contact ClearlyRated—our expert team would be happy to walk through how we can assist your firm in designing a CX strategy for sustained ROI!

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6 Ways to Combat Survey Fatigue and Supercharge Your CX Initiative

B2B

Any firm that embarks on a CX (or “client experience”) initiative knows that means asking their clients for feedback. These days, that feedback method is usually a digital survey, sent to clients via email, asking for quantitative and qualitative feedback on the experience they’ve had with your firm. But how do you avoid exhausting your clients with questions, also known as "survey fatigue"?The benefits of implementing a digital survey are immense and we are certainly not telling you to stop. A well-designed digital survey provides access to client feedback in real-time, makes responses easy to search, segment, and filter, allows you to integrate client feedback data with your CRM, ATS, or other important client database, and sets the stage for a scalable CX initiative that grows with your organization and team. As more businesses implement CX initiatives and digital surveys, clients are, in-kind, being asked for feedback more frequently by the brands and service providers they work with. I’ve heard from many business and service leaders who are concerned about clients expressing overwhelm (survey fatigue) with the amount of feedback they’re being asked for. This can dramatically impact survey response rate as well as general client sentiment as it relates to your CX initiative.

What Can Your Firm Do About Survey Fatigue?

Survey fatigue is real. Your clients are experiencing a deluge of demands on their time, and everyone from their dentist to their coffee shop to their software provider are asking for feedback, and they’re asking often. Your firm is just one more drop in the bucket of feedback requests. When faced with survey fatigue, it’s easy to become discouraged, to think about surveying less or not at all. But, as any firm embarking on a CX initiative knows, asking for and responding to client feedback matters. We know that client satisfaction is tightly correlated to survey frequency—and that if the goal is truly to improve the client experience, that surveys must maintain their seat at the center of the strategy.

boxing gloves to combat survey fatigue
6 Strategies for Combating Survey Fatigue

We have found a few key strategies that, when integrated into a CX initiative, can help boost client engagement with your survey initiative and keep response rates high for the long run:

  1. Personalize the ask. In their simplest form, surveys can feel wildly impersonal. Some might see this as a benefit but, in reality, an impersonal ask for feedback is a one-way ticket to low response rates. At ClearlyRated we find that the more personal the ask, the more likely a client is to take the time to provide feedback. We encourage firms to send survey invitation emails from an actual human (rather than a generic inbox) and to have relationship owners sending supplemental emails and making phone calls to encourage their clients to respond to the survey. Not only does the personal touch make it more likely that clients will respond, but it will begin to demonstrate the import of their feedback to your business.
  2. Follow up on responses. Regardless of how a client responds to your survey, hearing back about their response goes a long way to keeping them engaged in the survey process. It’s critical to follow up with any unhappy clients (once you’ve identified a service issue the speed and caliber of your response are critical to retaining that account), but even clients who are “fine” or “happy” deserve to know that you have received and processed their feedback. This can be as simple as bringing up a client’s response on your next account call with them, taking time to thank them for their feedback, and using their feedback to guide the conversation about how you can create a remarkable experience for them going forward.
  3. Communicate about results to your entire client-base. Your clients deserve to know what you learned from your survey, and what actions you plan to take based on it. Whether they participated in the survey or not, being privy to the findings and next steps will help your clients feel included and make it more likely that they will take time to respond to future surveys.
  4. Keep the questionnaire short. Perhaps the simplest strategy (but the most difficult to stay disciplined on) is survey length. We’ve tested all manner of surveys, and have found that no more than 10 questions (ideally fewer!) maximizes response rate. What’s more, most of those questions should be multiple choice, so that the total time burden of the survey stays small. Be sure to let clients know that it’s a brief survey when you send your survey invitations!
  5. Provide opportunities for clients to recognize star performers. Clients who feel supported by your team will want to seize every opportunity to recognize the folks who have gone above and beyond for them. Providing an avenue for clients to formally recognize service superstars on your team will give them one more reason to prioritize your survey over the many other feedback requests that they receive every day.
  6. Offer an incentive. A final tactic to increase survey response rate is to offer an incentive. You may have seen this idea applied through a “drawing” for some type of monetary value. For example, survey respondents are entered into a drawing for a gift card (we commonly see $150 or $200 values used in this incentive). Another route, which some of our professional service providers have seen success with, is to make a monetary donation on behalf of all respondents. For example, your firm could donate $2 (or other sum) to a community organization or non-profit for every client who completes the survey. This route provides the benefit of clients feeling a direct impact based on their action, and provides another talking point (sharing the total donation made) when your team follows up with their clients about their survey response and findings. It’s important to note that, to the greatest extent possible, the incentive should be tailored to match the interests and motivations of your clients. Be sure to mention any survey incentives at the time of the ask (for example, in the email where you ask clients to participate in the survey) and also within any additional communications to support the survey program.
Set Your Survey Apart, Supercharge Your CX Initiative

Implementing the steps above will demonstrate to clients that their feedback is an integral component of your business strategy, and that the time and energy they spend to complete your survey will fuel continuous improvement in the service you deliver and the experience they have with your firm. Once clients understand that your survey is more than “just another survey,” they’ll feel invested in the process and help to fuel the insights and improvements that your CX program is designed to deliver. At ClearlyRated we have researched backed data to help you develop a well-planned survey and get the desired results. Contact us today if you have further questions and would like to start the conversation to begin your CX initiative.

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DEI: Continuing the Conversation, Part 1 [ASA Webinar]

Staffing

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace (“DEI” for short) is a top-of-mind topic for professionals and leaders across organizations and industries. It’s no different at ClearlyRated. In the past year our team has taken collective action towards addressing our own policies and culture, while also focusing research and product initiatives towards helping ourselves and our customers contextualize the scope of the issue within our industry, understand our employees’ needs and perceptions, and build informed plans of action for creating positive change. One thing that we’ve learned along the way? None of this work happens in a vacuum. In fact, some of our greatest breakthroughs have come through honest, vulnerable, sometimes challenging (and always enlightening) discussions with peers and colleagues who are placing DEI at the heart of their work. It makes sense, then, that I would jump at the opportunity to moderate a discussion between three professionals who are driving innovative thinking and creating lasting outcomes for DEI in their respective industries. Last month, in partnership with the American Staffing Association, I had the privilege to host DeLibra Wesley, CEO and Founder of National Recruiting Consultants, Leslie Vickrey, CEO and Founder of ClearEdge Marketing, and Robin Mee, President and Founder of Mee Derby, for a panel webinar where we reviewed the latest DEI research from the staffing industry, and discussed their experiences and strategies for making real organizational change.

The recording of this webinar is free to members of the American Staffing Association >> This panel covered a lot of ground in one hour, and in Part 2 of this blog series, I'm going to share some of the key strategies and takeaways that can, and should, influence how your business thinks about investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion. But first, I want to take a little time to frame the conversation and provide some context in the form of data we've collected this year.

What the Latest Data Tells Us About DEI in Staffing

All three of our panelists serve or work in the staffing and recruiting industry, but their insights and takeaways are widely applicable to organizations across the business landscape. As a starting point, I shared some of the latest data that ClearlyRated has published about the state of DEI in staffing. Here are a few compelling findings:

  • Compared to data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the staffing industry skews young, with approximately 71% of professionals identifying as Gen Y or younger.
  • Black and Hispanic professionals are underrepresented when compared to BLS’ general workforce numbers, especially in leadership.
  • The staffing industry does a good job of attracting female professionals (⅔ of employees identify as female) but less than 1 in 3 women make it to executive positions.
  • Just 3.7% of white male professionals report being Detractors of their firm - making them the least likely group to experience dissatisfaction at work. Black and Hispanic males are nearly 3x as likely to be dissatisfied, white females are 2x as likely, Black or Hispanic women are more than 3x as likely to be dissatisfied than their white male counterparts.
  • There is a gender pay gap in staffing. On average, women make just $.77 for every $1 that men earn. We find the pay gap is less problematic in earlier, better defined career positions, and becomes more egregious as women advance in their career.

All of this data, and much more, can be found in the full report, which is available for free!

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Download of Report
Check back next week for Part 2 of this blog series!

Now that you've seen some of the data I urge you to, if you have not, watch the webinar! Our panelists bring a lot of vulnerability and passion to this topic, and share so much great information. Best of all - it's free for ASA members.In our next post we will: dissect the rich conversation from the webinar, share key takeaways, and provide you with action items you can implement right away at your firm.

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3 Critical Steps for Addressing Issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Your Firm

For those of us working in the professional service industries such as staffing and accounting, it likely isn't a surprise that our industries lack diversity. Some of us have long assumed there is a pay equity gap, and we have seen with our own eyes the lack of diversity in leadership. But, often those are assumptions, driven by our own experiences and not by data. Until now. For the first time ever, we have significant data to help staffing and accounting firm leaders understand the current state of diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) in our industry.

  • Compared to the general workforce, professionals identifying as Black and Hispanic are underrepresented in the staffing¹ and accounting industries.
  • The U.S. Department of Labor reports that, in 2020, women in the American workforce earned just 82 cents for every dollar a man earned. We find that the gender pay gap in the staffing and recruiting profession is even worse - with women earning just 77 cents on the dollar,¹ even when correcting for age and years of experience. The gap is smallest in early-career positions such as recruiter or account manager, but expands as women are promoted into branch leadership and director roles. In the accounting industry, female accountants and auditors made just 78 cents to the dollar that men earned in 2020. Even in the human resources profession, female HR managers made just 91 cents on the dollar that men earned in 2020.
  • In the staffing industry, Black or Hispanic women are more than 3x as likely as white men to be Detractors of their firm (learn more about Detractors and NPS >>). What’s more, Black or Hispanic women are 19.3% less likely than white men to feel like they belong, 10.4% less likely to perceive opportunities for advancement within the firm, and a whopping 29.8% less likely to report that they perceive their compensation package to be fair.¹

Maybe these trends are new to you. Maybe - if you’re like me - the data confirms dynamics that you’ve suspected for a while. Either way, now is the time to do something about it.What can your firm do to address the issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion?One of the most common questions that I hear from business service firms after I present DEI data is - “What can we do?” The good news is, this response tells me something that the data does not—which is that business leaders legitimately care about leveling the playing field and making their places of work inclusive and engaging for all professionals - regardless of age, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective. The bad news is, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. There are no hacks, only a legitimate amount of work to be done, regardless of where your firm is on its DEI journey. That work must be driven by leadership to explore the specific demographic trends and cultural needs within your organization, build a roadmap for where you want to take your business, and commit the resources to making that journey happen.

3 critical steps for addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion at your firm

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach, I want to share three steps that will be critical to the success of any DEI effort in your organization.

Step 1: Get to know your biases.

In case this is your first time hearing about bias, I want to take a moment to define what bias is and why it’s okay to have biases. From a human development perspective, bias is a natural and universal strategy that our brains have adapted to help us make faster judgment calls in a way that preserves mental energy and keeps us safe. You can probably imagine why this was critical to human survival in hunter-gatherer times. But even in our modern professional climate, where many of us are asked to make hundreds of decisions and judgement calls a day, our brain invites bias to the table as a “hack” to help us make those decisions less taxing. Nice, right? Here’s the downside. Bias, and more specifically implicit bias, introduces patterned decision-making that, over time, limits our exposure and perspective to what’s familiar—i.e. what we’ve experienced before.Take me for example. As a white, able-bodied, cisgendered, heterosexual male who grew up in small town in Montana (where the population was largely white, able-bodied, cisgendered, and heterosexual) it would be understandable that my brain would build a pattern to bias my decision-making around, let’s say, hiring (something that I do all the time as a CEO), in favor of other demonstrably white, able-bodied, cisgendered, and heterosexual professionals. Uh-oh. No thank you, bias! Unfortunately, the problem becomes more sinister when we consider the historical systemic inequities that have made American workplaces more hospitable environments for white, able-bodied, cisgendered, and heterosexual professionals. Put differently, there have been decades, even centuries of discrimination within American workplaces, as well as state and federal laws, that disenfranchise people of color, people living with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. This history is why, in no small part, we are here talking about DEI initiatives in the first place. We actively contribute to the problem when we allow our biases to steer us towards what’s familiar without taking into account the shortcomings of our limited experience or the historical context of discrimination. Conversely, we can combat the problem by engaging in active study of our biases, and by building a culture that acknowledges bias and works to build systems that protect us from blindly following bias.All of this to say. You have biases, I have biases, we all have biases, and that’s “okay.” There’s really no way around it. What’s not okay—or, more specifically, what makes biases problematic—is when we allow our biases to take the driver’s seat and bypass our critical thinking brain, especially when it comes to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

Step 2: Combat your biases with real data.

One of the reasons that I lean so heavily on industry data when speaking about issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion is that cold hard facts are one of the most powerful ways to combat bias.For example, my perspective as a white, able-bodied, cisgendered, heterosexual male CEO is that all of my employees feel welcome in our organization, that everyone has equal access to opportunities for advancement, and that our diversity efforts are recognized and appreciated. But would every single one of my employees agree with me? Until I ask, I am not really addressing my biases. In this case, in addition to the biases that are inherent in my identity and how I grew up, I also have biases associated with the power that I hold as CEO of this organization. Understanding perspectives across not only identities but also across roles within the organization is critical to filling in my blind spots and ensuring that I understand the reality of our workplace and culture from the perspective of my staff, not just from my purview. This opportunity to combat bias with real data is the reason why we designed ClearlyRated’s employee satisfaction survey program: to help business service firms measure their team's perceptions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Here are a few ways that organizations use our employee survey to assess their performance related to DEI:

  • Measure employee satisfaction, and examine whether it varies by demographic. Obviously, employee satisfaction is a critical factor in your organization’s success. But when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion, it’s important to understand whether there are trends dictating which members of your team are and are not satisfied. Remember at the start of this blog post when I mentioned that, in the staffing industry, Black or Hispanic women are more than 3x as likely as white men to be Detractors of their firm? You can, and should, care whether this dynamic exists within your organization. And you will never know until you ask.
  • Assess your team’s perception of meritocracy within the organization. Do your employees feel that the best people get promoted regardless of their identity? How consistent is that perception? Once again, it’s critical to look at responses across key demographics like race, gender, sexual orientation, department, and seniority.
  • Understand how your employees assess your diversity efforts. If you’re reading this blog post, you (and, hopefully, your organization) are committed, in some way, to making diversity of identity, thought, and experience a priority in the workplace. I know from first-hand experience that a lot of effort goes into this work, but those efforts aren’t always seen or perceived by the entire staff. What’s more, you may be communicating with staff about diversity initiatives, but they may be reading your actions differently. It’s important to measure this perception, and to understand whether employees feel that management within the organization demonstrates a commitment to diversity through their actions, not just their words. As with all questions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, always be sure to examine responses across key demographics to tease out any blind spots.
  • Uncover whether your employees feel they belong at your organization. Inclusion, while difficult to measure, can be a critical factor in ensuring that DEI efforts generate sustained cultural improvements. We help organizations measure inclusion with a question that gets at how employees would rate their sense of belonging in the workplace. As with the other questions, you should take the extra step to examine these responses across key demographics like race, gender, sexual orientation, department, and seniority to identify where engagement and belonging may be lacking.

Don’t let your biases blind you to the work that must happen inside of your organization. Arm yourself with real data, and use this new awareness to build your understanding of your organization, your culture, and the work that needs to be done related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Step 3: Make a commitment, make a plan, and then execute.

Did you know that, when evaluating potential employers, 70% of job seekers value a company’s commitment to diversity? The truth is, demonstrating a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace is no longer optional. When it comes to employer branding, companies that don’t take a stand on these issues (and demonstrate the steps they are taking to address them within their own organizations) are going to be left behind.Step 3 is purposefully broad. The commitments that your company can and should make must fit within the cultural context of your organization. They should be directly informed by the perceptions of your employees (see step 2) and they should target those biases that are most pervasive in your workplace (see step 1). That said, I do have a few recommendations that can be universally applied when moving through this step in your DEI initiative.Recommendation #1: When you are making commitments, be sincere. That may sound obvious, but I know from personal experience that the risk of “performative” action is high when it comes to DEI. What I mean by that is that it’s very easy to feel inclined to say something because other organizations are saying it (i.e. “peer pressure to say the right thing”), rather than sourcing a stated commitment around diversity, equity, and inclusion from a deeply held belief within the organization. Refer back to step 1, examine your biases, practice speaking about systemic inequities, and develop a common language that can be codified into a company-wide commitment. Recommendation #2: Commit time to building a plan for how you will make progress on your stated DEI commitments. It’s essential during this planning phase that you invite input from across the organization (we know the power of diverse voices!). What’s more, the folks within your organization who may struggle the most with belonging or feeling that they have equitable access to opportunity are the folks who are most needed at the table when building these plans.Recommendation #3: Focus on a few goals that you and the team believe will help you make progress towards your commitments. As always, when it comes to setting goals, it’s important to be specific. Set goals that you feel are both important and attainable. Make sure they are measurable, so that the entire organization can understand whether they have been met. Your goals can be:

  • Metrics (like setting a goal for a minimum eNPS benchmark across demographic and seniority groups)
  • Process-oriented (like implementing a blind hiring process in the next quarter)
  • Or outcome-oriented (like delivering a report on pay equity across the organization).

And of course, you can set any combination and quantity of goals that you like... As long as you are willing to dedicate the resources to execute on them. Recommendation #4: Resource your commitments. Keep in mind that these goals will not be achieved in a vacuum. You and your team will need to prioritize and dedicate time, energy, and fiscal resources to seeing them through to the end. Do not set goals that you cannot (or will not) commit to supporting as an organization. Not only is that a recipe for failure when it comes to hitting your goals, but you also risk eroding trust within your organization. Think big, and be pragmatic. Do not set your team up to fail.What you need to get started… Like any organizational initiative, the success of your DEI efforts will require buy-in from the very top. More often than not, securing support and resources from firm leadership can be the biggest hurdle to getting started. Here are a few ideas to mobilize internal support:

  • Consider pulling in the HR manager in your organization, or whoever is responsible for employee engagement and retention. Ask them what it would take to make DEI a priority initiative, and what they would need to make the case to leadership.
  • Build a case for taking action with any and every relevant resource and data point you can get your hands on (please feel free to utilize this blog post and any of the data trends cited or referenced!).

Find other firms in your industry who are already taking action (I promise, they exist) and utilize their efforts as a mobilizing force within your firm. The reality is, DEI is a top issue for employees and prospective talent, and your firm will not want to be left behind as the competition takes meaningful action.¹ 2021 study from ClearlyRated of more than 4,000 internal staff across 67 firms and 93 brands

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Leverage Your Survey Results into Business Growth with ClearlyRated’s Financial Impact Report

B2B

In today’s data-centric world, it can be tempting to gather data about everything.And while it’s easy to see how client satisfaction data helps us learn more about our clients’ experience with our firms, we hear all the time about just how overwhelming it can be to look at all that aggregated information and figure out what to do with it.

As one firm leader put it: “It’s great that I have the data, but what do I do with it once I have it?”

Effective Action Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

Here at ClearlyRated, we understand that it’s not just gathering the data that’s important—you have to be able to act on it.But if you’re not a survey expert yourself, how do you know what action to take? Luckily, we’ve got over a decade of experience translating data into real business insights for B2B firms just like yours.

With our Financial Impact Report, you can see your firm’s opportunity to address at-risk revenue, your best options to grow your most satisfied accounts, and the real-dollar impact of your reputation-building efforts at a glance.And thanks to the financial modeling we’ve done with actual client data from firms in the industries we serve, we can confidently predict the real-dollar benefit that results from taking action on your NPS survey data, helping you prioritize the course of action that’s likely to contribute most to your business development efforts and your firm’s bottom line.

How the Financial Impact Report Helps You Translate Your Data into Dollars

It makes intuitive sense that high client satisfaction results in a financial benefit for your firm, and our client research confirms that there is a clear—and predictable—correlation between NPS and revenue.Click here to learn more about the link between NPS and revenue in the staffing industry >>Our Financial Impact Report applies modeling generated from that data to your firm’s NPS survey results, translates your data into a dollar amount, and—critically—links you to lists of the relevant accounts with a single click, making it easy to reach out and take the action indicated in the report.

Take Advantage of Multiple Avenues to Manage Risk and Grow Your Firm

One of our key intentions with the Financial Impact Report is to highlight all of the different ways you can use your NPS survey results to improve, share, and benefit from your efforts to provide world-class service at your firm.This is how ClearlyRated's Financial Impact Report simplifies that process.

1: Maximize Client Retention

After their results come in, the most immediate point of action for most of our clients is following up with the Detractors that have been identified through our NPS survey. In case you’re new to the NPS® methodology, Detractors are survey respondents who rate your firm between 0 and 6 on the Net Promoter scale, indicating that they would not recommend your services to a friend or colleague.A majority of our clients report that they have identified at least one at-risk account through our survey, and our research indicates that firms can typically recover one-third of the detractors they identify through our survey program.

When these results surface—and they inevitably do—you should follow up with them as soon as possible and do what you can to make the situation right. In this category, the cost of inaction is high: Our research shows that Detractors are 40% less likely to order from their firm the following year. If they do stay, they’re likely to decrease their spend by 17%, as they shop around, looking for a firm who can address their service concerns.

The Financial Impact Report aggregates all the information you need to take immediate action and highlights the revenue at stake, enabling outreach while helping you set revenue expectations for your organization based on the detractor recovery rates from our model.Take Action: Reach out to your Detractors, understand the cause of their dissatisfaction, and do what you can to make it right.

2: Address Declining Trends in Satisfaction

While most firms intuitively understand the importance of addressing immediate service concerns, our experience has shown that it’s harder to tease out those accounts where proactive action could prevent future dissatisfaction.ClearlyRated's Financial Impact Report does that work for you. With a single click, you’re able to see a list of accounts with declining satisfaction trend lines—former Promoters who now indicate they are not as likely to recommend you to a friend or a colleague.

And while the financial impact of a Passive isn’t quite as significant as that of a Detractor, they do have a tendency to decrease their spend on an annual basis. But the real threat to your firm is just how easily a Passive can transition to a Detractor with a small slip in their service experience, which could potentially mean a further reduction of spend down the line.Learn more about the impact of Passives on your staffing firm’s bottom line >>Take Action: Investigate the survey responses your clients have provided and work to understand how their experience with your firm has negatively impacted their satisfaction.

3: Upsell Existing Accounts

While it’s easy to see the impact of addressing at-risk revenue, one of the most overlooked avenues for expansion lies with your most satisfied clients. Strategically, these are the accounts that present the most opportunity to expand revenue—our data indicates that promoters increase their spend by 8% in the following year.The Financial Impact Report generates a list of your most satisfied clients, helping you target your expansion efforts towards the accounts that are most likely to reward your efforts with a "yes!"

Take Action: Confidently reach out to your satisfied clients with upsell, cross-sell, or expansion offers.

4: See the Impact of your Online Reputation

We believe that good business is driven by good service, and we stand behind that. But we also know that part of the struggle to drive growth is about getting your firm in front of prospects and proving that service commitment in a way they find believable. Especially in the post-Covid economy, online reputation is key to success in that effort.When you survey with ClearlyRated, your firm gains access to an online profile page that displays star ratings, testimonials, and your “Best of” award status.

Our Financial Impact Report aggregates the impact of these combined features, presenting you with easy-to-understand analytics and attaching the traffic you’ve attained to its associated dollar value.

Learn how accounting firms use ClearlyRated to build their online reputation >>Take Action:Reach out to your Account Manager to request a ClearlyRated Profile SEO Audit and then follow the steps we provide to improve your firm’s search engine optimization (SEO).

5: Validate the Value of Your Program to Internal Stakeholders

While it can be overwhelming to distill your data into concrete forward action from an operational perspective, it can be even more difficult to communicate that operational value to internal stakeholders and decision makers, who may be inclined to see things differently than you do.Especially when times are uncertain, the value of your work and your insight into client satisfaction might be hard to enumerate.Our Financial Impact Report allows you to simplify the process of proving out the value of your survey program to the other stakeholders in your organization.

In a single—automatically generated!—email, you have all the information you need to compare the current and future impact of your survey program with the investment you’ve made into gaining insight into client satisfaction.Take Action: Share the Financial Impact Report in a PowerPoint presentation highlighting your team’s recent wins.

Our Client Data Helps You Take Action on Yours

It’s natural to have questions about where our financial models originate and whether you can expect to have similar results at your firm.While every firm is different, and your exact outcomes may differ from our predictions, we’re confident that our models—which are based on thousands of NPS scores and years of financial data—will be instructive for your firm.Know your firm’s ACV? Run some calculations for yourself based on our model >>We protect billions of dollars of revenue for North American B2B firms in staffing, accounting, HR Services, and more, and we’d love to help you understand how our model can help you link your satisfaction data to your financial growth goals.Learn more about how our financial models can identify opportunities for expansion at your firm or get in touch!We’d be happy to walk you through the exact impact you can expect when you launch a NPS satisfaction survey at your firm.

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List of Firms that Earned ClearlyRated's 2021 Award for Employee Satisfaction

B2B

I'm very pleased to announce the first-ever winners of ClearlyRated's employee satisfaction award!While we have a long track record of recognizing firms in the staffing, accounting, and HR services industries for their exceptional client satisfaction scores, this is the first year that we invited organizations to survey their internal stakeholders—their employees—and to weigh their employee satisfaction levels against the rest of the industry.Without further ado, here are the winners of our 2021 award for employee satisfaction, by industry:

2021 Best of Staffing® Winners for Employee Satisfaction
2021 Best of Accounting Winners for Employee Satisfaction
2021 Best of HR Services Winners for Employee Satisfaction

I can't speak highly enough of the firms on this list who, despite all of the obstacles that they faced in 2020, dedicated time, energy, and resources to asking their internal staff for feedback and ensuring their employees felt supported. In one of the most disruptive years in recent history, high marks of employee satisfaction are truly something to be proud of. Congratulations to these winners!If you want to learn more about how your firm can be considered for this award in 2022, get in touch.

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GUEST POST: When HR Meets AI - The Algorithms Behind Recruitment

Staffing

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the recruitment marketing industry in unprecedented ways. With remote work policies now being the norm, companies have had to adapt their activities and habits to accommodate employees, customers and partners in the safest way possible. And as the demand increases for certain industries, other sectors are struggling to stay afloat.Amid all this change and uncertainty, recruiters are looking to maximize their ROI and acquire high quality talent with the most efficient tools and technology. This article will outline key focus areas for staffing and recruiting firms to consider as they make decisions about their technological investments in 2021. Specifically, we will be taking you behind the scenes of AI-powered recruitment, through the lens of Talent.com’s tools and features.Talent.com is a global career platform helping both candidates get job opportunities and recruiters reach out to them through optimized campaigns. This article will educate you on how your technological investments can:

  • Create an unmatched candidate experience that delivers job searches tailored to each individual
  • Arm recruiters with comprehensive, customizable analytics to more efficiently reach candidates and make decisions
  • Empower you with deep expertise and a knowledgeable team of Account Managers and Data Analysts
1. A Seamless Candidate Experience

The candidate experience is at the heart of the recruitment process. Job seekers will form an opinion of a company based on how smooth and efficient the application process feels to them. Their expectations create a need for any recruitment touchpoint to be a seamless one. And it all starts with helping them search for the right job.How does the job search engine work? On Talent.com, search results are generated with the help of automated programs called spiders or crawlers. These intricate bots compile job listings from various sites, such as job boards, company career pages and staffing agencies’ websites. This produces a vast, constantly updated index of heterogeneous job listings from all levels and industries. Any job seeker can then enter the keywords of his or her choice into the search bar and get customized results.How are search results determined? Search results are impacted by factors such as geolocation and relevancy, with sponsored offers appearing first. Geolocation, and other information, is gathered when users are invited to create a profile. The information in their profiles helps shape the job search. Relevancy is based on their previous interactions with the site. Their clicks and job views reveal information which is then used to customize their job results. Consequently, the same keyword will yield different results based on who is searching it.The algorithms also learn over time and become better at serving each profile as they accumulate more information. Based on previous user data (clicks), user profiles are built by AI Specialists with collaborative filtering techniques to help further increase relevance in job searches.Anatoly Khomenko, who’s been working as a Machine Learning Engineer at Talent.com for two years, shares how pattern recognition helps determine which jobs appear first:“Collaborative filtering is a machine learning technique which allows us to understand how similar two users are. If they have similar profiles, we can deduce that if User A likes something, User B will also like it. Basically, we draw conclusions out of multiple user profiles and how they interact with our jobs, namely their clicks.”How are prospective candidates being nurtured? The aforementioned techniques are used not only in search results but also in job alerts. This means that once a user has applied for a job on the website, they will receive customized notifications of similar jobs. These job alerts, which are curated to match each job seeker’s skill set and career goals, are sent via email or SMS, depending on personal preference and the location of the candidate.What does this mean for my business?As seen above, user-centric algorithms help make the early candidate experience a customized and seamless one. With customized results, insightful nurturing strategies and a user-friendly interface, applicants have all the tools they need to find the job that’s right for them.Keeping the platform’s efficiency as top priority, Machine Learning Engineers perform testing of the algorithms to ensure they are constantly optimized for the best candidate experience. Long gone are the days of traditional job posting; recruitment marketing is evolving at a very fast pace. In such a competitive environment it is important to take advantage of new technologies such as AI and automation.

2. Time-Efficient Recruitment

Now that we’ve detailed how algorithms enhance the candidate experience, let’s discover what they can do for businesses looking to fill a position.Automatic CategorizationTalent.com boasts over 30 million available jobs worldwide. However, not all of these jobs are unique positions. Many jobs, while entailing the same responsibilities, have different titles, depending on the region or the company.In order to help standardize job descriptions, the Talent.com platform relies upon exhaustive job classification databases, namely O*NET for North America and ESCO for Europe. These existing databases help identify and categorize the skills, competencies and qualifications that are relevant for each job.Data Scientists use these recognized tools to create automatic keyword detection algorithms. These algorithms help relevancy in job ads through suggestions. Not only is this feature a major time-saver, it also acts as a uniformization tool and helps bridge the gaps between job seekers and job offers, especially in cases where language discrepancies might occur. What's more, as the job database increases in volume, our tools develop and adapt using ever-changing natural language processing techniques.Advanced AnalyticsIn this constantly changing world, filled with technological developments and raging competition, it is important for recruiters today to keep an eye on their budget and their campaigns at all times. On Talent.com, recruiters enjoy transparency in the form of total access and control over their own data and performance metrics through a comprehensive dashboard.The comprehensive dashboard enables recruiters to:

  • See the progress of their clicks and budget allocations
  • Find out exactly how people interact with job postings over time, whether that be through job alerts, direct traffic, or via targeted networks
  • Manage, search, export and rank their candidates
  • Group jobs together, whether sponsored or not, for increased efficiency. For example, jobs can be categorized by geolocation or priority level, depending on company needs.

Multi-channel adaptationWhether or not you are already using an ATS for your recruitment needs, you can reap the benefits of flexibility when it comes to application methods. The Talent.com platform can adapt to your existing recruitment protocols and redirect candidates to your internal platform or ATS - its level of involvement in the application process is up to you.The whole application process can also take place on Talent.com, with the help of useful features designed to improve application rates. For example, the “Quick Apply” button allows candidates to apply to jobs directly on the website using their existing profiles. Screening questions, such as “What is your highest education level?” can also be placed at the beginning of any application process to help filter candidates faster.

3. The People Who Make It Work

As detailed above, artificial intelligence helps both candidates and recruiters find what they are looking for in a more insightful and efficient manner. With that being said, the best results are achieved when humans and technology work hand-in-hand, so let’s talk about the people whose expertise makes it all come together.Talent.com’s team of Account Managers and Performance Analysts guide and inform recruiters throughout their candidate search. They give personalized, context-sensitive advice that the machine is not able to give with confidence. And they make sense of the advanced analytics and data visualizations provided by the platform with the aim of constantly enhancing job campaigns.A great AI-powered job search engine is best supported by a team of trustworthy professionals with a deep comprehension of recruitment marketing and a willingness to share this knowledge with businesses to help them attract candidates and reach their goals.

Conclusion

The future of recruitment marketing will be built by machines and humans working alongside one another to optimize job campaigns, with adaptability remaining a top priority for talent acquisition specialists.As we have seen, the candidate experience is enriched by customized search results and targeted alerts meant to nurture prospective candidates. Also, recruiters can save time and money by making good use of solutions that leverage machine learning and automation. When these solutions display a high focus on results and transparency of data, recruiters can focus on what they do best: connecting talented people with the right opportunities.Visit Talent.com to be at the forefront of recruitment technology innovation.

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How to Win Your Client Experience (CX) Program With ROI: Key Steps to Take for Positive Results

The true ROI of any Client Experience (CX) program comes from the action your firm takes with the client data you’ve gathered. The more comprehensive the action, the higher ROI from your program! That means addressing both negative feedback (to identify and protect at-risk revenue) AND positive feedback (to build reputation and earn new business). Below are 3 steps you can take with unhappy clients, as well as 3 steps to take with happy ones (6 steps in total!) to maximize the ROI of your CX initiative.

Detractors: 3 Steps You Must Take To Maximize ROI
  • Identify unhappy clients as quickly as possible. Research shows that a swift response to a service issue significantly impacts a client’s likelihood of continuing to work with you. According to our 2019 Benchmark Report, a slower response rate directly results in a decreased Net Promoter® score (NPS). Those firms who responded within 12 hours had a NPS of 71% while those who responded more than 48 hours after had an NPS of -10%. You see the trend! Make sure your CX program enables real-time alerts when an unhappy client makes themselves known.
  • Follow up, immediately. Don’t leave unhappy clients sitting in a void. Pick up the phone, and follow best practices for service recovery to ensure your client feels heard and that their needs are being addressed.
  • Make the change(s). Simply listening to your clients’ concerns and apologizing for the issue they’ve experienced isn’t enough. To truly maximize the ROI of any CX initiative, you must feed these client needs and insights into your business operations. Work across the organization to make changes and hold your team accountable to practices that the data demonstrates will improve the client experience. According to Hubspot, here are some examples of how to handle an unhappy customer and the proper language to use.
Promoters: 3 Steps You Must Take To Maximize ROI
  • Ask for referrals. Promoters have gone on the record to state that they would be willing to refer your firm to their network. What better time to follow up and ask for those referrals? Similarly, keep tabs on Promoters so when a future prospect asks for references, you can make an informed, relevant decision about who to put them in touch with.
  • Leverage testimonials to amplify the voice of your happiest clients. Promoters are the perfect clients to ask for testimonials. Our recommendation is to systematize the collection of testimonials in your CX initiative, so that you have a full library from which you can weave the voice of the client throughout communication channels. Testimonials make great social media content, website features, and proposal additions—to name just a few.
  • Invite clients to spotlight service all-stars. A remarkable client experience is the outcome of remarkable service. Which means behind every Promoter there is a member of your team who has gone above and beyond to deliver an experience worth talking about. What better way to fuel employee engagement and retention than to invite clients to shout out the professionals that make their day?

I hope you’ve found some actionable information in this post. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to my team with any questions about the strategies above, about the ClearlyRated CX program, or about maximizing the value of CX at your firm!

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DEI in Staffing: An Look at the 2020 Data

Staffing

In June 2020, we committed to using ClearlyRated’s resources and platform to help address the systemic injustices that came to a more collective national awareness as a result of the George Floyd protests.While we’ve been collaborating with other organizations in the staffing industry to more deeply understand the world of staffing professionals (i.e. internal employees of staffing and recruiting firms) since 2008, this is the first year we’ve collected demographic data and DEI sentiment from survey respondents.While the full findings from the 2020 State of the Staffing Professional report, conducted in partnership with CareerBuilder and the American Staffing Association, are yet to be released, we’re sharing our initial DEI findings now with the hope that the increased insight will be of service while we collectively continue to examine our organizations for systemic inequality and work to correct it.

There’s #goodnews: Overall, industry satisfaction is higher than ever before.

We’re happy to announce that the majority of staffing professionals who took our survey indicate they are satisfied with their jobs, proud of their firm, and feel well-represented by their leadership.

  • The overall NPS for staffing professionals this year is 56%, up from 38% last year. It’s the highest industry NPS we’ve seen in twelve years of industry benchmarking.
  • 86% of our survey respondents feel that their firm did everything possible to ensure their well-being during the COVID-19 outbreak.
  • And the majority of every demographic subset we examined feel as though leadership at their company encourages diversity.

Overall, the findings from this year’s 2020 Staffing Professionals Study indicate that we have a lot to be proud of, even in the context of this unprecedented year.That being said, this year’s look into the demographics of staffing professionals and their perspectives, their compensation, and their sense of belonging show us that we still have a lot of work to do if we want the staffing industry to accommodate all subgroups of the population in an equitable way.Understanding and improving everyone’s experience is not just an opportunity to impact the well-documented, industry-wide trend of losing 25% of our workforce to turnover every year. It’s also an opportunity for each of us to contribute to the effort to address bias, eliminate compensation gaps, and reduce discrimination in the U.S.—both within our organizations, and outside of them.

Women are much more likely to be dissatisfied with their firm than men.

While the overall industry NPS is the highest we’ve ever seen, the segmented data indicates that this sentiment is most strongly held by men of all races, with women in general—and white women in particular—among the least satisfied.In fact, female respondents are 10xmore likely to be Detractors than their male counterparts, and the NPS of white women is a mere 46%, a far cry from the 68% NPS of white men.

Overall, the majority of women would still recommend their experience at their firm, but we need to ask ourselves why our female colleagues are less willing to recommend their workplaces than their male counterparts.Some findings that could answer this question include:

  • Discrimination: Women are 7x more likely than men to agree with the statement “I have been the victim of discrimination at this company.”
  • Compensation: The vast majority of female respondents indicated that an increase in base pay (73%) or bonuses (75%) would positively impact their productivity. Women are 1.5x more likely than men to feel this way.
  • Poor perception of career growth: Women are more than 2x more likely than men to strongly disagree with the statement “my firm offers a clear path forward in my career and opportunities for promotion,” and female respondents who are looking to leave their current position are over twice as likely as men to cite “poor career growth” as a reason to leave their firm or the industry as a whole.
  • Recognition: Women are 1.7x more likely than men to say that increasing the recognition they receive in their positions would increase their career growth, and overall less likely than men to agree that they receive recognition for a job well done.
  • Skills Growth / Resources: Women are nearly 8x more likely than men to say that they want to leave their firm because they’re lacking the tools or technology they need to do their job and nearly 6x more likely to cite poor skills growth as a reason to leave.
Women are at highest risk for internal turnover, and concerns about compensation are a strong motivating factor.

Almost half of female survey-takers report that they are actively looking or open to leaving their firm in the next year, and women are nearly twice as likely to be open to new employment opportunities than men.

When asked why they are considering leaving their firm, female respondents are 1.5x more likely than men to choose compensation as a motivating factor. For white women who are open to leaving or actively looking to leave their firm, this was the most-cited reason—a shocking 81% indicated this was a factor.But it’s not just women who are considering a new position who cite compensation as a concern.Overall, women are less likely than men to perceive they are fairly paid for similar work, less likely to find that their company’s benefits meet their needs, less likely to say compensation attracted them to their current job, and less likely to cite compensation as a factor in why they choose to stay.

Self-reported median income is lower for all female respondents, while women of color are virtually unrepresented at highest tiers of compensation.

While it’s outside the scope of this study to determine whether or not women’s perceptions about their compensation are truly representative of the trends within the staffing industry at large, our findings do suggest women are more likely to make less money in the staffing profession than men.Across all segments, and accounting for leadership, women reported making less than their male colleagues.

  • Of the cohort of respondents who completed our study, women of all races were most likely to report making between 40 – 59k a year. For men of all races, median reported earnings were 100 – 119k.
  • When we look at highly compensated earners, 48% of all male respondents reported making 100K or more in 2019, compared to just 23% of female respondents.
  • This inequitable distribution of compensation is further compounded by race, especially at the highest levels: Only 4% of our non-white female respondents made 120k or more, compared to 11% of non-white men, 18% of white women, and 34% of white men.

As a result, it’s not surprising that women of all races who completed the survey are less likely to agree with the statement “I am paid fairly compared to people who do similar work at other companies,” with female BIPOC least likely of all subgroups to agree.Whether the staffing industry is reflecting another instance of the well-known and well-documented gender pay gap is yet unclear—according to the most recent research, women nationwide still make 78.3 cents on the dollar.What we do know is that perception is reality in the eye of the beholder. These findings suggest that female staffing firm employees are unlikely to perceive themselves as being paid fairly compared to their male counterparts.When considering how to respond to this information, it may be helpful to walk through your two options: either women’s perceptions about their compensation are true, and staffing firms need to do a compensation study to determine if they’re true and adjust accordingly—or their perceptions are not true, and we need to find a way to demonstrate the truth to our employees in a way that is compelling and believable.In the meantime, it would be a mistake to assume that this perception is not influencing women’s long-term prospects in our industry.

BIPOC employees are less likely to see themselves making a career in the staffing industry, more likely to experience & witness discrimination

While analyzing the findings from this study, it became clear that sentiment didn’t always fall neatly into gender or racial binaries. We often needed to examine responses by gender and racial background in order to illuminate the full nuance of our survey-takers’ experience.However, there were several instances within the findings where it was clear racial background was the primary influence for respondents’ experience in staffing, and many of these discrepancies are cause for concern.For example, BIPOC of both genders are much less likely to indicate they planned to make a career in staffing than their white counterparts.While non-white respondents are only 5 percentage points less likely to see themselves in staffing for the next five years, they are 23 percentage points less likely to see themselves in staffing for the rest of their career.

Other trends: white employees are 1.5x more likely to see themselves working in staffing for the rest of their career, while non-white employees are 2.6x more likely to be respond neutrally about their future in staffing.This pattern is reflected in perceptions of job security as well: while 81% of white men agreed with the statement “I feel I have job security,” only 50% of non-white men felt the same.One possible cause for this discrepancy in career sentiment may be discrimination experienced in the workforce.We found that a total of 14% of our non-white survey respondents across all genders indicated that they have personally been the victim of discrimination at their firms.Furthermore, an alarming 1 out of 4 female BIPOC respondents (26%) indicated that they have personally witnessed discrimination at their firms, the highest percentage of any segmented demographic.While male BIPOC didn’t express the same level of agreement with statements regarding overt discrimination, they were over 3x as likely to express neutrality as non-white women.This neutral perspective was a pattern reflected in non-white male responses across the survey.Combined with the fact that male BIPOC are least likely to think that their firm encourages diversity and have a similar lack of optimism about their opportunities as their female BIPOC counterparts, it is possible that this trend towards responding neutrally is a reflection of ambivalence or sentiments that are difficult to express more directly.

Other findings that may explain non-white survey takers’ disparity in sentiment when it comes to their careers in staffing include:A decreased sense of belonging. Non-white respondents are significantly less likely to agree with the statement that they feel like they belong at their firm.While fewer than 5% of BIPOC respondents disagree with the statement “I feel I belong at my firm” outright, BIPOC of both genders are much more likely than their white counterparts to be ambivalent about their status within the organization, and non-white males report the lowest perception of belonging among any demographic subgroup.

Patterns in personal belief. Our results show that women and non-white people of all genders are less likely to believe that there are opportunities for advancement at their firm than white males.BIPOC of both genders are also less likely to be optimistic about what the next year holds for them, and much less likely to perceive that their firm offers a clear path forward for promotion. In fact, white respondents of both genders are 1.8x more likely to agree this is true.

Whether or not survey respondents’ are accurately representing larger-scale, industry-wide trends in career opportunities for BIPOC, perception is again reality in the eye of the beholder, and this belief may keep non-white staffing professionals from self-electing for leadership opportunities or other career advancement opportunities.Discrepancies in compensation between white and non-white populations. As noted above, it seems as though self-reported compensation patterns are impacted by race and gender simultaneously—women of all races are likely to report lower earnings than their male counterparts, and female BIPOC report lowest median earnings of all.Other notable findings:

  • Among respondents, 35% of non-white men reported making 59k a year or less. Only 16% of white men reported the same.
  • Among non-white women, the discrepancy was similar: 61% of female BIPOC reported earning 59k a year or less, while only 48% of white women reported the same.

A similar pattern emerged among those who reported higher earnings.

  • Virtually no female BIPOC participants in the study reported making more than 120k.
  • White respondents of all genders were 3x as likely to report earning 120k or more a year than our non-white participants.
  • And white men in particular were nearly 5x as likely as men of color to report making more than 200k a year.

Intentionally addressing some (or all) of these disparities and perceptions—including committing to establishing and enforcing meaningful anti-discrimination policies—has a lot of potential to help your non-white employees and colleagues feel as though they have opportunity to find long-term success in your firm.

Secondary benefits are disproportionately desired by women & BIPOC employees; may be one big key to retention.

As a whole, 64% of non-white respondents looking to leave their firms desired to leave the staffing industry altogether, and women are 1.3x more likely than men to indicate they desired a career outside of staffing.Respondents looking to leave their jobs or the staffing industry as a whole are universally motivated by compensation-related issues, including insufficient compensation, possible reduction in pay, fear of being laid off, and perceived lack of career growth.Where some interesting differences between white men and the rest of our participants began to emerge was concerning non-compensation-related sentiments.

Some interesting takeaways concerning our respondents who indicated they are open to new employment opportunities in the coming year:

  • Close to 20% (or more, depending on the concern) of women who indicated they are open to leaving their current position indicated a non-compensation or career-related concern as a contributing factor.
  • Compared to men, women are 7.8x as likely to feel they didn’t have the tools or technology they needed to feel successful, 5.9x as likely to be concerned about poor skills growth, 3.5x as likely to feel they didn’t have a flexible enough schedule, and 3.4x as likely to be concerned about their ability to work remotely.
  • Burnout was a problem for both genders, but this is particularly true of men who are open to considering other employment opportunities, as they are 1.6x as likely as women to report feeling burned out. This may be due to the fact that men report working more hours: 73% of men indicated they worked more than 40 hours per week, compared to 62% of women.
  • While both genders reported problems with their immediate manager as a concern, men are 4.7x more likely to indicate this is an issue.

Concerns about schedule flexibility and remote work were not limited to staffing professionals who were dissatisfied with their current place of employment, however.Among the broader survey population (both those who are open to new opportunities and those who are committed to their firm), we found these trends:

  • Women in general are less likely to agree that their work schedule allows sufficient flexibility to meet their personal/family needs, but BIPOC men are least likely to agree across all demographics.
  • BIPOC employees are 1.25x more likely than white participants to say schedule flexibility is a reason they stay at their firm (46%), second only to their perception of job security (48%).
  • White women and non-white men are equally likely to indicate remote work as a reason they stay at their firms (37%). Women in general are 1.5x more likely to value remote work than men.

When asked directly about preferences for remote work, 82% of all women indicate that they’d like to work remotely at least some of the time, and 40% of non-white women say they’d like to work remotely most of the time, the highest of any segmented demographic.

While some of these benefits might be appreciated by all employees, examining and improving your employees’ access to flexible scheduling, remote work, resources, upskilling opportunities, and benefits may be the difference between keeping and not keeping strong future leaders who are women or people of color.

Diversity Data: More Industry Insight to Come

We are so grateful for CareerBuilder and American Staffing Association’s support and sponsorship of this critical research, and we’re very excited to have taken the first step to better represent the perspective of underrepresented minorities within staffing.If anything is clear from the results of this year’s study, it’s that the perceptions, reactions, and desires of white men are not necessarily representative of the feelings and perspectives of women and BIPOC—and that there is significant disparity within those populations as well.This affirms our perception that we need to be more intentional about seeking out, segmenting, and sharing the perspectives of all of the different kinds of people who commit their lives to and power the staffing industry, as reported averages may be obscuring some significant differences in sentiment.If you take one thing away from these findings, it should be this: It is more important than ever to seek out and respond to the diverse perspectives of the people who belong to your organization.And this is just the first step.Our newly launched Internal Employee Survey Program will give us access to thousands of responses from staffing professionals across the country, allowing us to understand with even more certainty the perspective of underrepresented minorities.Introducing ClearlyRated’s Internal Employee Survey Program >>Access to this data will give us the opportunity to be even more prescriptive about what diversity, equity, and inclusion could look like in staffing.With a larger body of respondents, we’ll also be able to more confidently describe the demographics within our industry, helping us ensure our workforce is representative at all levels of compensation and leadership.If you’d like to survey your internal employees at your firm in order to contribute to our data generation efforts—and to learn more about how your employees feel about working at your firm in particular—we’d love to invite you to learn more about our Internal Employee Survey Program.

Next Steps

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How Aronson LLC Delivers on Client Service During COVID-19

Accounting

Even before the coronavirus outbreak swept through the United States in March of 2020, the Aronson LLC team was investing time and resources to map out a client survey initiative.“Aronson has always had a firm commitment to client service, but we have relied on anecdotal feedback gathered by partners to determine how well we are delivering on that promise. At the start of the year, we set out to find a way to build quantitative evidence of our clients’ experience with the firm, and we wanted to use that feedback to identify opportunities to innovate and deliver greater value across our service lines and industry groups.” - Carrie Hankey, Director of Marketing and Business Development

I had the opportunity to sit down with Carrie Hankey, Aronson’s Director of Marketing and Business Development, to discuss their decision to begin surveying clients, how their client survey program has progressed with ClearlyRated’s Net Promoter® survey program, how they are leveraging client feedback in their day-to-day operations, and how they hope to expand this client intelligence initiative in the future.

About Aronson LLC (and their decision to launch a client survey during COVID-19)

Aronson LLC is a nationally ranked Top 100 assurance, tax, and consulting firm. Based in Rockville, Maryland, the Aronson team has organized firm growth around three pillars: delivering outstanding client service, ensuring opportunities for their team members, and building authentic relationships in the community.

Aronson and ClearlyRated partnered in 2020 (in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic) to field the firm’s first ever client satisfaction survey. Like all businesses, the Aronson team was looking for every opportunity to deliver value at a time when clients were facing massive uncertainty and new complexities that were challenging the bedrock of their business operations.“We knew that we wanted to launch our client survey in 2020, even before the pandemic hit. But COVID really expedited the need. We wanted to understand what was happening in our core industries, and we knew that a survey would be able to give us deeper and more comprehensive intelligence than we could collect individually.” - Carrie Hankey, Director of Marketing and Business DevelopmentFielding their client survey during the pandemic has provided Aronson with unprecedented insight into their clients’ journeys. Beyond the perceptions that clients have about their experience working with and being supported by Aronson, Carrie and her team were able to measure the impact that the firm has been making with their efforts to provide outsized value during COVID-19. Their ClearlyRated client survey provided evidence about which of the additional resources, webinars, and consultative offerings were providing the most value as clients navigated through the first phase of economic disruption.

Operational Focus: The driving value of Aronson’s NPS initiative

One of the biggest priorities for Carrie and the Aronson team when fielding their first client survey was to keep the partner group heavily involved in the survey communications and outcomes. Creating a sense of inclusion around the client survey effort helped ensure that partners bought into the strategy, and allowed them visibility into the methodology and how that information would be used. With the support of Aronson’s Managing Partner, Larry Davis, Carrie was able to keep each partner closely tied to their respective clients’ feedback, maximizing their visibility into survey results and providing them with actionable information.Additionally, the NPS data gathered from clients across the firm has provided a much-needed structure for assessing the health of relationships. The initial survey results have provided the Aronson team with a benchmark set of data to build from and allow partners to work into their own assessments."We knew going into this client survey that we’d be measuring NPS and drivers over time. That long-term vision has allowed us to create benchmarks from a firm-wide client experience perspective, and also from the partner perspective. These benchmarks allow our partners to see what they're doing well and where they might need to work on client service, and they can choose to invest and improve as they are able." - Carrie Hankey, Director of Marketing and Business Development

Unexpected benefits of the NPS survey program

As Carrie and I spoke, there were two things that she identified as unexpected (and outsized) benefits of moving through a client survey program.

1. Identifying at-risk revenue

As their NPS survey results came in, the Aronson team identified an at-risk account that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Due to a small internal disconnect, the stakeholders at this account hadn’t received some information they’d expected about an upcoming transition and were feeling dissatisfied as a result.Thanks to the real-time feedback generated through ClearlyRated’s client survey program, Carrie was able to alert the partner in charge of that account, who quickly picked up the phone and worked with the client to clarify and resolve the issue.“While the aggregated feedback from the NPS survey is valuable, the immediate feedback that’s generated when a client has a concern is immeasurable. I think, ultimately, we're saving an account because of it." - Carrie Hankey, Director of Marketing and Business Development

2. Spotlighting outstanding achievements in client service

In addition to uncovering (and quickly resolving) unforeseen client service issues, the Aronson team has seen an outsized impact from one of ClearlyRated’s flagship survey features: Shout Outs.Clients who identify themselves as very satisfied are invited to recognize members of the Aronson team who they believe have gone above and beyond for them. What comes out of this recognition is a “Shout Out” - and each Shout Out that is collected within the survey dashboard can be pulled in aggregate or segmented in any way that client feedback is organized.“When our Head of Talent, Kevin Gerrity, found out about the Shout Outs and testimonials generated by the client survey, he realized they would be ‘a gold mine’ for our People Team. We have since granted his team access to the survey dashboard so they can access the results, allowing them to take advantage of glowing client feedback to spotlight internal employees and increase employee engagement. Additionally, they are incorporating client Shout Outs into personnel files to use as another piece of quantitative evidence for tying performance back to client service. It’s a win-win.” - Carrie Hankey, Director of Marketing and Business Development

Building for the Future: Where Aronson plans to take their client survey practice in 2021

Carrie and the Aronson team have a robust vision for how to continue to operationalize client feedback in the day-to-day operations of their business. An immediate opportunity that Carrie is working to implement is the integration of the ClearlyRated survey program with Aronson's CRM system.“Being able to deliver real-time feedback within client records in our CRM will empower our partners with even more information in the environment where they spend the most time. We expect that, as more surveys are rolled out, that the ability for partners to track client experience trends over time directly from the CRM will add exponential value.”After integrating their ClearlyRated client feedback into their CRM, the Aronson team will be exploring additional opportunities to survey across critical moments in the client experience. Beyond an annual survey to measure the status of client relationships, they will explore surveying at end of engagement.Last, but certainly not least, Carrie plans to focus some of her team’s efforts towards leveraging client feedback in their marketing and business development strategy. In their first survey alone, Aronson gathered 87 new testimonials from clients who gave them a 9 or 10 on the Net Promoter scale. Those testimonials are available on Aronson’s profile page on ClearlyRated.com alongside their 4.9 out of 5 star client rating!

What’s more, Aronson LLC earned an exceptional Net Promoter Score of 86.6%. This is a huge feat when you consider the fact that anything above 70% is considered a world-class NPS, and it is an especially powerful number when you compare it to the industry average NPS of just 23%.

These proof points will be powerful resources for the Aronson team as they find new and innovative ways to tell the firm’s story of client service excellence.

Closing Thought: What Carrie wants you to know about launching a client survey

I asked Carrie to share one piece of advice that she would give to other accounting firms who are launching a client survey initiative. Here is what she had to say:“Lean on ClearlyRated! They know how to leverage best practices to create a successful experience for stakeholders and clients alike. In addition, take the time to involve your client relationship partners. With their buy-in, the process will be smooth and they’ll be eager to help and receive the results!”Thank you so much to Carrie and the entire Aronson team for entrusting us with your first-ever client survey! We can’t wait to see how you will harness the power of client feedback to build stronger relationships and fuel firm growth.

Interested in working with ClearlyRated to launch a client survey at your firm?

We'd love to explore the potential of a program just like this at your firm. Get in touch today!

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GUEST POST: How to Staff in This New Era of Work - What can be learned from the coronavirus pandemic and a renewed focus on diversity? CareerBuilder offers insights to navigate the path forward.

Staffing

American businesses are well into #TheGreatRehire – jobs are coming back and economies are recovering – but millions of workers remain unemployed. Staffing firms completely pivoted strategies, even as their own workers managed a pandemic and its economic repercussions. Now that we are a year into the pandemic and weathered hiring rollercoasters, what’s next? Where do staffing firms go from here?The good news is that staffing firms are in a unique spot to drive and predict the future of hiring.

Continue to utilize temporary workers

Temporary work is a great indicator of employment and industry growth, as we saw after the 2008 recession. We’re in an atmosphere where customers are going to be risk-averse and invest in temporary labor, opening up a huge opportunity for staffing. For example, in February of this year, more than 50,000 temp jobs returned to the workforce, reflecting a yearlong trend. While the economy recovers and employers start hiring again, it will continue to move slowly. Temporary or contract workers can help build confidence, while also playing into the now-normal of working remotely.

Certain roles will return faster or have a greater need

Throughout this economic recovery, we’ve seen the rise in childcare and education roles, as daycares and schools re-open or shift. The growth of industries that were hardest hit should be of primary focus for staffing firms in 2021 – specifically in the retail and hospitality sectors. Those jobs will come roaring back full-force and staffing firms should be ready.Also on the rise are accounting, finance, and customer service roles, along with heightened remote work options among all professional roles and even in contract or temporary jobs. Firms who can serve these increasing and shifting needs will see success.

Prioritize skills-based hiring

Like so many other workplace trends, the pandemic accelerated the growing practice of skills-based hiring. This strategy is a smart way for employers to find the best matches for the team while supporting candidates changing industries.Focus on skillsets instead of primarily on previous job titles or specific experiences to widen your talent pool and promote diversity. Additionally, you’ll make employment more accessible for the 84% of job seekers who are open to switching industries.Upskilling and reskilling candidates will continue to be a viable option for employers, as candidates have strong interpersonal or soft skills, or even transferable technical skills, but they need a boost.

Lean on technology

Staffing firms have not been immune to layoffs and reduction of teams. With limited time and smaller staffs, you need more ways to be efficient with your HR technology. Find tools that are designed to save you time and consider how our needs to connect virtually have changed.Move beyond just Zoom and Microsoft Teams, as this digital-first work world isn't leaving any time soon. With platforms that allow for scheduled chat sessions with 10 people in one-on-one interviews, to automated talent network features, make sure your tech is working for you.Focus on automation, virtual hiring events, and other ways to outsource daily recruitment tasks to technology. This will allow recruiters to focus on people and finding the perfect candidate, instead of manual administrative duties.

The takeaway of 2020 will be diversity and overall candidate experience

National conversations on race, equity, and discrimination are shaping workplace conversations just as much as the pandemic. While we’re seeing a good portion of staffing firms organize around diversity and inclusion, there is still a long way to go.CareerBuilder has been focused on its own initiatives, including better understanding how our technology can help firms and clients remove bias from their process. Companies should consider the strong, tangible benefits of diversity and work to find solutions that move them toward a more inclusive environment.This also directly relates to the candidate experience, from the moment they land on a website and apply for a role, to that initial call with a recruiter. Candidates will have questions about how companies have responded to both the public discourse on equality and the coronavirus pandemic. Staffing firms and their clients should be prepared for those answers. Additionally, with millions of Americans unemployed, we know how difficult it can be to try to serve everyone. But don’t lose sight of the fact that if a candidate has a bad experience with you, they’ll remember that.Take note of trends on which roles are emerging or changing, lean on technology to navigate change, prioritize candidate experience and diversity, and continue preparing for a more competitive candidate environment because we’ll get there again.

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If You Want to Capture the Full ROI of Your NPS® Survey Program, Start With Your #goodnews

B2B

Since our founding in 2003, ClearlyRated has administered more than 5 million Net Promoter® Score (NPS®) surveys on behalf of B2B service firms who are striving to place the client experience (and, for staffing firms, the talent experience) at the heart of their growth strategy.In that time, we've learned that most business service providers look to invest in a NPS survey so they can answer key operational questions like: How satisfied are our clients? Are there any issues that we don't know about? Where do we need to improve? Which key accounts are at risk of leaving?These diagnostic questions are immensely valuable for retaining revenue and fueling firm growth, especially during challenging economic times.However, this diagnostic focus centers on identifying and responding to problems—a limited scope that misses a critical strategy for maximizing the ROI of your NPS survey program: recognizing, leveraging, and taking action on the positive feedback from your happiest clients...and this glowing praise is more valuable and important than you might think.

Harness the Power of Positive Feedback to Maximize the ROI of your Survey Program

If you’re not using your survey program to speak to your firm’s strengths, reinforce your internal culture of service excellence, recognize the efforts of your employees, and celebrate where you’re doing things right, you are not getting the full value of your survey initiative.

That’s why the ClearlyRated survey program integrates a full suite of product features that allow you to automatically solicit, leverage, and share the positive feedback you receive from your clients. ClearlyRated’s #goodnews survey features:

  • Empower your team to share positive client feedback across channels (including Google search results, email correspondence, your website, marketing materials, and social media feeds).
  • Ensure that prospects have access to clear, compelling proof of the client experience your team delivers.
  • Help your internal teams feel recognized and committed to delivering world-class service.
  • Guarantee you have everything you need to prove the value of your service offerings with compelling, persuasive collateral that’s been gathered for you.

All that—plus insight into any service issues, unsatisfied clients, and opportunities for improvement.Let’s take a look at everything our program offers to help you capture, communicate, and capitalize on everything you’re already doing right.

Our Proprietary #goodnews Survey Features Help You Capture and Share Your Own Good News

We firmly believe that it’s good business to focus on the positive, and that belief has been borne out by our industry research over and over again.Whether we’re looking at how employee satisfaction is impacted by internal recognition, the persuasiveness of testimonials vs. your website, or the impact of online reputation on buying decisions, one thing is clear: Your prospects, clients, and employees are looking for and impacted by positive feedback about working with your firm.As such, the ClearlyRated survey program integrates the capacity to gather, assess, and share the positive feedback with the stakeholders who need to see it the most. We accomplish this through the following built-in features:Client Testimonials

As part of the survey experience, Promoters (your most satisfied clients) are automatically invited to approve their open-ended feedback for use as a testimonial in your firm’s marketing and sales materials, and the resulting collateral is stored for you within your survey dashboard, ready to be implemented wherever you need it most.

Shout Outs for your Employees

With one additional follow up question, Promoters are also invited to recognize a member of your team who has gone “above and beyond,” generating a Shout Out that can be shared internally to recognize top performers and boost morale.

Integrated Social Sharing Features

With just a few simple clicks from your ClearlyRated survey dashboard, testimonials and Shout Outs generated by your client survey can be published to Facebook and LinkedIn, offering credible social proof of your team’s exceptional service to your personal and professional networks.

Online Star Ratings

Your firm’s aggregate Net Promoter Score is translated into a 5-star rating and published to our exclusive provider directory at ClearlyRated.com alongside approved testimonials, key business information, and any “Best Of” awards you’ve received.

And that’s only the features you and your clients can see. Our entire directory has been created with search engine optimization (SEO) and domain authority (DA) in mind, helping ensure that your online information lands higher in search results and your star ratings are easily accessible to anyone who searches for your business.

Star Ratings Widget&Star Ratings Email Widget

Online reputation is important, but your clients and prospects shouldn’t need to Google your business in order to see credible proof of your service excellence. We make it simple for your company to feature those star ratings on your website or within your corporate email signatures with our simple Star Ratings Widgets, which are a cinch to install and automatically update in sync with your online profile.

Industry Awards for Client Satisfaction

Last, but certainly not least, for staffing, accounting, legal, RPO, and other outsourced HR service firms, we administer a client satisfaction award to help you credibly prove your commitment to service excellence and stand out from the competition. Your award win comes with resources to help you brand yourself as a winner, and your Clearlyrated.com profile page is updated with your award history.

All Survey Packages Come Equipped with These Features

Every single NPS survey program will help you identify issues and room for improvement problems. At ClearlyRated, we stand apart by centering and operationalizing the positive feedback you receive.As such, these #goodnews features are available at every package level. Without them, our clients would not be receiving the maximum return on their survey investment—and you would be leaving value on the table.These are just a few of the ways that we’re making good on our promise to help you measure the client experience, build online reputation, and differentiate on service quality.

Contact Us To Learn More

It’s never too late to start focusing on the positive, whether this is your first survey attempt or you’ve been surveying your clients for years.Call us at 1 (800) 921-2640 or contact us using our online form to learn more about how we can help you maximize the value of your survey program—and get you positioned to share the truth of your service excellence with your prospects and clients in a way that’s easy to execute and even easier to believe.

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5 Steps to Improve Your Firm’s Online Reputation

Accounting

The economic disruption and uncertainty caused by COVID-19 has created a new layer of complexity for accounting firm marketers and business development professionals.Buyers across all industries are demonstrating heightened aversion to risk when choosing a new firm. At the same time, your team’s capacity to build trust and alleviate concerns about risk has been dramatically impacted by new social and public health protocols.

Now that we’re unable to connect with prospects in person, buyers are required to rely on digital resources to vet service providers, determine their level of trust in your claims about your services, and ultimately, decide whether or not they believe the promises your firm makes about the experience of partnering with you enough to commit.

Online Reputation: What It Is & Why It’s Important

Online reputation is a term that broadly describes the way your prospects and consumers think of your brand based on all of the ways that your brand shows up online: online ratings and reviews, blog posts, testimonials, your website, social media presence, and more.It is closely tied to search engine optimization (SEO) in that SEO seeks to optimize how and when your brand appears in search for a given term. But online reputation as a concept is broader – it speaks to the impression that your brand leaves on people who have encountered it online.

Learn more about how client ratings impact your firm’s SEO >>

One obvious component of online reputation involves online ratings from your clients (sometimes also referred to as “star ratings”). Whether we like it or not, the world of online ratings and reviews is here to stay.If you’re not already concerned with online ratings and reviews, here are a few compelling reasons to pay attention:

  • Research shows that 86% of buyers of B2B services look to online, third-party reviews as proof that the purchase they are considering will deliver the value they seek.
  • Prospective clients of B2B service providers report that online ratings and reviews are 2x as trustworthy as a company’s website when weighing top resources for determining the quality of a firm.
  • Search engines give priority to validated star ratings when determining which web pages to return on a given search. Search engine algorithms respect these validated ratings because they have been proven, over time, to be desired and relevant to searchers.

Online Reputation in Accounting: A Historically Underutilized Strategy

Accounting firms, like other professional service providers, have historically paid less attention to online ratings and reviews than other consumer-facing industries.In fact, 60.7% of non-ClearlyRated accounting firms have fewer than 5 reviews online—total.And while prospects experience big differences in how they decide which restaurant to eat at and how they decide which CPA firm to partner with, their behavior as a buyer is evolving—and it’s evolving towards the desire for more information.According to ClearlyRated’s 2020 Industry Benchmark Study:

  • 4 in 5 accounting firm prospects will research a firm before reaching out to engage with them directly.
  • 84% of buyers of corporate accounting services say that a firm's online ratings and reviews have an impact on their decision to work with a given service provider.
  • Even after being referred to a firm by a trusted friend or colleague, 9 in 10 accounting buyers will continue to research the firm before reaching out. Of those, no fewer than 60% actively seek out online ratings and reviews.

What’s interesting about this research is that it was gathered prior to the pandemic. These dynamics existed even when face-to-face interactions with prospects were an acceptable reality.What we have seen since COVID-19 is that the economic uncertainty of a global pandemic has accelerated “the trend towards trust” in professional services buying. It’s no longer enough to deliver world-class service; your firm must be able to independently and credibly prove it, and for that, your online reputation plays a significant role.

5 Steps to Improve Your Firm’s Online Reputation

The world of online reputation can feel overwhelming, so here are a few steps that I would recommend for any accounting firm marketers looking to build your firm’s online reputation.

Step #1: Actively manage your brand’s presence on major rating sites.

When prioritizing your efforts, start with “The Big 3”: Google, Glassdoor, and Yelp.

  • Google reviews make up some of your most visible online ratings, especially when prospects or clients are using the Google search engine to learn more about you.
  • Glassdoor reviews are considered highly credible and tend to show up right away when searching for a brand online.
  • And Yelp, one of the pioneers of online ratings and reviews as we know them, is still an important platform to manage—even if they have earned some negative press in the past few years.

Once you are monitoring and managing your presence on these three sites, turn your attention to sites that more specifically target your audience. Sites like G2 (formerly G2 Crowd) and ClearlyRated.com specifically focus on informing purchase decisions made by buyers of business services.Something else to consider: while positive reviews are important, the sheer volume of reviews matters as well. Remember that 60% of accounting firms have 5 reviews or fewer available for prospects to consider. If nothing else, seek to increase the number of perspectives available for your potential buyers to review.

Step #2: Create a process for responding to reviews—both positive and negative ones.

Once you have identified the various online rating and review environments where you will manage your brand’s presence, it’s critical to build a process for responding to those reviews.First, you need to understand how to respond to reviews on each of the websites where your ratings appear. Set up notifications to help your team monitor activity on each platform. Have baseline scripts in place for responding to positive and negative reviews.Once you’ve responded to the review itself, be sure to relay the message to the appropriate members of your internal team! Better yet, set up a system so this happens automatically.On our platform, negative responses are flagged and an alert is sent out as soon as the response is received, allowing you to take action immediately, track the actions you or your team have taken in order to resolve, and escalate when appropriate.

This step is critical to improving your online reputation efforts. If feedback is never translated back to the field, then underlying issues are bound to go unresolved.

Step #3: Ask your clients and candidates for online reviews.

It’s critical that you do not avoid asking for public feedback out of fear of receiving negative reviews. It’s far riskier to leave your online reputation to chance than it is to proactively ask for feedback. Make it as easy as possible for clients to share their experience working with you by identifying the sites that matter the most to your team. Then offer prompts to your clients to help them get started.When you survey your clients with our NPS® survey program, these prompts are collected and posted automatically as part of the survey process, meaning you don’t need to lift a finger to ensure you have a steady stream of online reviews.

Try to request feedback on a regular cadence (quarterly or monthly) to provide a steady drip of ratings and reviews to be published across your online profiles, but do not inundate your clients with these requests. Ask for just one review from one person at a time.And then, once their feedback has been received, personally reach out to each reviewer (if their identity is available) and thank them for leaving you feedback.Last, but certainly not least, empower your relationship-facing team to ask for similar feedback. Invite them to listen for satisfaction cues that might make for a successful ask and offer an email script for them to utilize.

Step #4: Invest in the client experience.

This may seem obvious, but your brand’s online reputation is really just an extension of the experience that clients (and employees) have with your firm.If you want to cultivate a high volume of positive ratings and reviews, it’s critical to take a hard look at how you are servicing, meeting, and ideally exceeding the needs of your clients and internal staff. One of the best ways to improve the client and employee experience at your firm is by taking steps to measure that experience through an NPS® survey program.Gaining a realistic understanding of the perceptions held by your stakeholders about the service you provide is the first step towards building a service worth talking about.

See how the award-winning accounting firm Perkins uses ClearlyRated to drive their service excellence >>

Step #5: Address issues that arise before they become negative reviews.

Nothing can disrupt your day like an unexpected negative review on an important rating site.When the worst inevitably does happen (it does, and it will), it’s ideal to have a plan in place in order to quickly respond to and take action on critical feedback. But we would be remiss if we didn’t also encourage you to take steps to proactively address issues before they ever land on a public website.Of course, proactively addressing issues requires that you know they exist in the first place.This is one more way that a satisfaction survey program can dramatically influence your firm’s online reputation. Beyond a formalized survey, train your team to recognize signs of waning satisfaction and encourage them to reach out when these signals appear.Proactively addressing issues offline can help prevent a damaging negative review, and may even foster more long-term loyalty in the end.

Online Reputation Matters. ClearlyRated Can Help.

While it takes some effort, managing your online reputation is worth it: your clients and prospects are looking for this information to make decisions about your firm, and they find this information compelling, especially in the current context of COVID-19.We only expect this trend to continue.Contact us or learn more about how ClearlyRated can:

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Never Miss Out on a Critical Client Conversation Again with ClearlyRated's Real-Time Detractor Notifications

B2B

One of the most common “aha!” moments that we hear from our customers has to do with the value of our real-time client feedback. Many satisfaction survey programs can gather feedback and sentiment from your clients, but how many of them make sure that you see the most critical feedback the moment it’s been shared with you?This may feel like splitting hairs, but it’s crucial. Especially when it comes to clients who have experienced a service issue (and who are taking time out of their day to tell you about their concerns), real-time access to that feedback is the first, most critical step in taking immediate action and protecting revenue that may otherwise be at risk.

Detractor notifications allow you to identify client concerns and take immediate action to resolve them

Protecting revenue is a key driver of value for any client survey initiative. That’s why the ClearlyRated Net Promoter® survey program has a built-in feature that triggers real-time email notifications whenever a Detractor response is generated by your client (or employee) survey.In case you’re new to the NPS® methodology, Detractors are survey respondents who rate your firm between 0 and 6 on the Net Promoter scale.

Detractors are a fact of life. All businesses stumble in their efforts to deliver an exceptional customer experience, but the stakes are much higher for professional service providers and other B2B service firms.In the industries that ClearlyRated supports, the concept of “service” (and your ability to deliver it in an exceptional, unrivaled way) is often what sets your firm apart from your competitors and why clients stay with you for the long haul. That’s why it’s so critical to ask your clients for feedback to begin with. How will you know if you’re truly delivering on their service expectations if you don’t ask? And when you do ask, it’s critical that you are set up to take immediate action when issues arise.

How ClearlyRated’s Detractor notifications work

Detractor notifications are an embedded feature of our client survey program, available to every single firm that elects to survey their clients with us.Before your survey is deployed, you'll have the opportunity to customize the notifications in our tool. Anyone at your firm with an email address will be able to receive Detractor notifications, whether or not they're also managing your survey. Once you've flagged the people at your firm who need to be notified of any client concerns, our software will take care of the rest, sending through real-time email alerts whenever a Detractor response comes through.

As you can see, the Detractor notification email flags individual Detractor responses and includes some critical information to help you triage the situation, including:

  • Key identifying information to help you quickly understand who the client is, what services they have hired your firm to provide, and who their relationship holder is.
  • Contact information (phone number and email address) so that you can take immediate action by reaching out to address their concerns.
  • A recap of the client’s survey responses, including their responses to the Net Promoter question, driver questions, and open-ended questions, so that whoever follows up can do so in a way that specifically addresses their concerns.

We find that answers to the open-ended questions are critical for shaping the nature of your follow-up and recovery process with the client. These questions ask:

  • “What is the primary reason behind the rating you provided?” A Detractor’s answer to this question will provide more specific information about any issues they have experienced and can guide your team’s efforts to resolve the issues.
  • “What is one thing we could be doing differently to increase the value of our services to you?” While every survey respondent (regardless of the rating they provide your firm) is invited to answer this question, it’s important to pay close attention to how Detractors respond here. Information and suggestions that are fielded by this question represent opportunities for your firm to win back loyalty from this client by proving that you are listening to their feedback and working to implement their requests.
Detractors are providing you with a lifeline; don’t turn it away.

One of the biggest mistakes your firm can make with a client survey initiative is to ask for feedback and then not take action on that feedback.While nobody (myself included) likes to hear that their key stakeholders are experiencing an issue or are dissatisfied, you will find that growing a business becomes nearly impossible if your team does not take a data-driven and action-oriented approach to identifying service issues that your clients are experiencing—and then taking steps to resolve them.Every single business that surveys their clients (or employees) with ClearlyRated has access to a comprehensive set of resources to help you think through, and plan for, following up with Detractors. If you plan to survey with another program, lean on our 10-step framework for recovering from service failures as a resource for following up with unhappy clients.The good news? We know that identifying Detractors presents a great opportunity, even if the initial feedback received is negative.These clients have taken time out of their busy lives to provide you with information to help you win back their loyalty. They are invested enough in trying to make it work with your team that they have provided you with a lifeline, they just need you to use it. And thanks to the service recovery paradox, we know that your firm has an opportunity to win even more loyalty with a client who has experienced a service issue based on the caliber (and the speed) of your efforts to resolve their issue.

Identify (and protect) at-risk revenue with ClearlyRated

Our survey program is built with revenue in mind. Our Detractor notifications are just one part of a system that’s wholly designed to empower your firm to harness client feedback for growth.Reach out to us today to learn more about the ClearlyRated survey software and how our tool can help your firm.

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Integrate Your ClearlyRated NPS® Survey Program with Salesforce

B2B

At ClearlyRated, we take pride in building bridges between our Net Promoter® survey program and the technologies that power your relationship with your clients. We know that the ability to see survey results directly within your company’s CRM is just one way that we can help you make your survey results visible throughout your organization and, more importantly, get critical client feedback into the hands of the teams that can take action on it. Guided by our clients, we have built critical integrations with both Bullhorn ATS and Microsoft Dynamics, and I am now thrilled to announce that the ClearlyRated NPS® survey program also integrates with Salesforce! Even better, this integration also applies to Bullhorn for Salesforce (formerly known as Talent Rover), which is a Salesforce-based CRM and ATS hybrid designed to support recruiting firms.

Equip your team with client feedback and insights

A client satisfaction survey program is only as powerful as the actions you take (and improvements you make) on the client feedback that you receive. This feedback is only effective when it is made accessible to your client-facing staff, giving the relationship holders within your organization an opportunity to implement change.Unfortunately, many professional service firms field surveys without considering how to efficiently and effectively deliver client feedback back to their client-facing team members. We know one of the largest obstacles that professional service providers face when trying to capture this ROI is finding an efficient way to tighten the feedback loop. The ClearlyRated Salesforce integration helps business service firms maximize the ROI of their NPS survey program by making real-time client feedback accessible within a client’s contact record in Salesforce. The members of your team who oversee a specific client relationship can immediately access the client’s current and historical satisfaction ratings, sentiments, and service perceptions—directly from within Salesforce.

Access client survey data directly within lead and contact records

With ClearlyRated’s Salesforce integration, feedback from your client satisfaction survey program is accessible in the detail view of your leads and contacts within Salesforce. This integration allows for access to real-time information that improves client relationships (like historical satisfaction scores and feedback) to be seamlessly accessed directly in Salesforce. ClearlyRated survey responses can be displayed within the Salesforce interface on the Lead page or Contact page (or both: you get to decide). This allows you to see survey responses associated with each Salesforce contact without leaving Salesforce.

How to get the integration

If you are currently using Salesforce and are actively subscribed to ClearlyRated—the integration is available to you at no additional cost! Head over to your ClearlyRated dashboard for a step-by-step guide with built-in documentation for how to set up your Salesforce integration. You will need a Salesforce administrator to set up the ClearlyRated integration within your Salesforce account. If you don’t already work with ClearlyRated, we’d love to chat more with you about how we can help measure the client (and employee) experience at your firm. Please feel free to contact us for more information about our survey program. Or, you can read about ClearlyRated’s survey program for your industry here.

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Share Powerful Testimonials Directly to LinkedIn and Facebook with ClearlyRated’s Social Sharing Feature

B2B

At ClearlyRated, we know that client survey programs are only as powerful as the action that’s taken on the feedback that's received.But it's not just negative feedback that needs to be addressed. Positive feedback from your clients (and for staffing firms, placed talent) is powerful too. And more often than not, positive feedback is treated like a pleasant byproduct of a survey instead of a key differentiator for your organization.ClearlyRated is one of the only survey programs that is specifically designed to help you capitalize on positive feedback from your clients. We not only help B2B service providers get credit for the great service they provide, we also make it as easy and streamlined as possible to share meaningful responses to their networks.

We developed our Social Sharing Feature to accompany our client and talent survey programs, enabling you and your team to share the positive feedback you’ve earned to your personal and professional social networks. We're putting the "good news" from your own Promoters at your fingertips to help you tell a compelling story about your team's dedication to providing exceptional service.

How ClearlyRated’s Social Sharing Feature Works

Our survey program empowers businesses to automatically gather approved testimonials and Shout Outs to share among their teams. With our Social Sharing feature, you're able to take the responses you receive through these features and publish them directly to LinkedIn or Facebook with standard tools that are located conveniently within the survey dashboard.If you are already surveying with us, you can easily access this feature from your survey page or your online profile management page. With a few simple clicks, you can share the good news that you and your team have worked so hard to earn for your business.

Some things to keep in mind:

  • This tool allows you to share testimonials and Shout Outs to LinkedIn and Facebook. (Shout Outs are currently only available to share on LinkedIn.)
  • Before sharing, you can personalize your post by adding your own message to congratulate any individuals highlighted or provide more context about the good news! Also consider adding the social tags of the individual or company you're referring to so they can share with their networks, too.
  • What’s great about this feature is that a link to your ClearlyRated profile page is attached to every post so anyone who clicks the link will be directed to view more of your hard-earned testimonials and shout outs.
Get Social Proof In Front of Prospects and Partners with ClearlyRated's Social Sharing Feature

A ClearlyRated research study of more than 500 buyers of B2B services shows testimonials—particularly from your existing or past clients—are more than twice as persuasive as anything you say about yourself and second only to a personal referral in persuasiveness to your buyers.And that doesn't include the impact of good news on your social feeds' engagement metrics. Our own #goodnews social sharing initiative over the months of April and May drove engagement metrics by more than 350% when compared to the two months before, resulted in nearly twice as many clicks, and delivered our most-seen post of all time... and it wasn't even close. Our Social Sharing Feature helps you to quickly and easily publish these voice-of-the-client insights to the networks where your prospects and partners are most likely to see them—helping you boost engagement while credibly proving your service excellence to your social circles.

Some Examples of our Social Sharing Feature in Action

James Selker, the Director of Customer Care, Technical Interviewing , Salesforce Administrator, and Project Management at SSi People, shared a standard testimonial from a job seeker directly from our tool:

And in this example, our CEO and founder Eric Gregg added some personalization while sharing client Shout Outs for our Senior Account Manager Ryen Salo and Client Services Manager Anna Griffin:

And these are only two possibilities of how to use the content you solicit through your services—feel free to get creative!With the ClearlyRated Social Sharing feature, it’s never been easier to capitalize on powerful positive feedback, make noise about your team’s dedication to providing exceptional service, and maximize the ROI of your organization’s survey program.

How to get started with Social Sharing

If you currently have an active subscription with ClearlyRated, the Social Sharing feature is available to you at no extra cost!To activate the Social Sharing feature, head to your ClearlyRated survey dashboard (view results of a specific survey or go to Online Profile > Profile Pages), or click here to learn more.Please note: You may not have access to this feature based on the management role you have been assigned within your survey dashboard. Contact the survey administrator at your organization or reach out to your ClearlyRated Account Manager for more information.And, if you don’t already work with ClearlyRated, we’d be more than happy to chat with you about how our NPS® client surveys can help you identify at-risk revenue, differentiate on service quality, and capitalize on positive feedback. Please feel free to contact us for more information about our survey program or Social Sharing feature.Or, if you'd like to learn more, you can read about ClearlyRated’s NPS survey program here.

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Focusing on DEI with ClearlyRated Employee Satisfaction Program

B2B

With the launch of ClearlyRated's internal employee satisfaction survey program, we have received some thoughtful and timely questions from our clients and partners about the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) aspect of the program. These questions include:

  • Why is now the time for companies to invest in surveying their employees and measuring their DEI efforts?(0:00 - 1:21 on video; or jump to my transcribed answer)
  • How did ClearlyRated decide to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) considerations into the internal employee survey product?(1:26 - 3:02 on video; or jump to my transcribed answer)
  • What are the questions in the survey that ask about DEI and how did ClearlyRated select them?(3:05 - 5:02 on video; or jump to my transcribed answer)
  • How can business leaders ensure that employees feel comfortable answering survey questions openly and honestly?(5:05 - 6:53 on video; or jump to my transcribed answer)
  • What actions will business leaders be empowered to take with DEI insights generated from the ClearlyRated employee survey?(6:57 - 8:17; or jump to my transcribed answer)

Check out the video above (or the transcribed Q&A below) to get my perspective on this important initiative, and how B2B service firms can leverage the ClearlyRated employee satisfaction survey to measure and improve their DEI outcomes.

Why is now the time for companies to invest in surveying their employees and measuring their DEI efforts?

The key thing to understand here is that for most people in this country and in the world today, they are dealing with additional anxiety around work, around health, around their sense of belonging in a way that they haven’t—we haven’t—societally experienced collectively like this in most of our lifetimes. And so to not take this opportunity to show your employees with actual action that you care about their experience and that you want to be supporting them throughout that, it’s gonna give you a black eye that is going to last, not months, but years in terms of their perception of the leadership of your team. And in addition to that, they need to feel heard and they need to be heard during this time period. There are so many things that you might not understand that you’re doing that is actually creating more anxiety for your employees. And while it might not lead to a talent flight today, it’s going to lead to a talent flight tomorrow. We have to engage our employees and give them the opportunity to bring their best selves to work. And the only way you do that when there’s so much going on outside of their work lives is to help understand how best to support them within their work lives.

How did ClearlyRated decide to incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) considerations into the internal employee survey product?

As much as I would like to say that it was my idea and my brainchild from the start, it wasn’t. It actually came from one of the newer members of our team who really asked an important question which is “Is it enough to just impact within our four figurative walls or is there an opportunity to impact a wider audience? We serve multiple industries that employ many millions of people directly and many more millions of people in a temporary capacity. And so why wouldn’t we utilize our skills of getting experience data and getting—and providing people with a platform to care about something and take action on something they already care about. Why wouldn’t we utilize that to really influence the entire industry.” And it really made a ton of sense and because of that, it was just the logical thing for us to do is—we already knew it’s going to be important to get feedback from employees during this time when there’s so much anxiety, so much change, so much social unrest. And to then be able to give firm leaders an opportunity to really, very simply assess where they are on that path and give them the tools to improve that just made logical sense.

What are the questions in the survey that ask about DEI and how did ClearlyRated select them?

There’s a challenge on this because what you really want to do when you’re designing a survey is that you want to balance effectively the depth of the survey, the number of questions, along with the accessibility of the survey and the ability for people to take that survey amongst all the many things that are going on so you get a really high response rate. And so what we did was we took our existing survey which had some important questions for overall employee experience that we’ve been leveraging for over a decade. And we went and did our homework and pulled three additional DEI focused questions around the sense of belonging, around what leadership’s doing though they’re actions, and around the opportunity for advancement regardless of race, gender, and any other aspect other than performance. And so we started there and those are the questions that are added to that survey. But what’s actually even more important than those questions, and those questions are vitally important, is understanding how on all of the other questions: fairness of compensation, having flexibility in their life, just overall willingness to recommend the firm. How did those questions differ if you’re a white male versus a non-white male, a female, if you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community? All of those things really matter a lot and we’re uniquely positioned to be able to take those demographics and help firms understand if they’re leaving people behind inadvertently in how they run their business. And so making sure we’re creating a place where people can bring their best selves to work and their full selves to work every single day. The only way you do that is by understanding where those differences lie.

How can business leaders ensure that employees feel comfortable answering survey questions openly and honestly?

The question is how do you make sure your employees feel comfortable and confident in answering the questions openly and honestly on the survey questionnaire like this, especially one that is so personal, right? It’s one thing to answer “What does this company do well? What does this company need to improve?” It’s another thing to put down—you know—to identify in a particular way that potentially makes you feel very vulnerable. And so the key to that really comes to trust and there’s something in your process that can build trust. One of the things that we do is we actually send the survey. It doesn’t look and feel like it’s coming from the CEO of the firm. It actually comes from me. And we coach our teams to speak to that internally and say “look there will be an outside party that is conducting the survey. In addition, you’ll be receiving an email directly from them. We won’t have direct access to that.” And then behind the scenes, it’s not enough to just say “hey we’re not going to target that way.” You have to actually have things put in place to minimize the ability for somebody to drill down deep enough to be able to identify somebody. If you have a leadership team of 10 people and half of them are men and half of them are women, and only two of the men are in the age group 50+, and one of those people identify as LGBTQ+, it’s pretty easy to identify who that person is when you can get down to a sample size of one. So you have to avoid that and you have to have things built into your system that prevent people from even inadvertently doing something like that.

What actions will business leaders be empowered to take with DEI insights generated from the ClearlyRated employee survey?

So there’s a couple things that are gonna be really important. And the most important thing is that you do actually take action on this. We need to recognize that this is an opportunity to fundamentally shift, in a positive way, the industries that we’re a part of. And the only way that that happens is taking action on really strong data. And so, people that participate in the program with us, they’re not only going to be able to see how their entire organization use their progress around diversity, equity, and inclusion, but they’re also going to be able to see—highlight those differences by the demographic groups. And then most importantly, they’re going to be able to get the context of being able to compare that to their peers within the industry to understand where they are on that journey. And what the logical next steps are to be able to take. The biggest thing that we really look at is where is that gap analysis? Where are the perceptions of the experience and the actual experience vary different based on demographic areas that we wouldn’t want them to be different? We understand that somebody that’s new to an organization might have a different perspective than somebody that’s been there for 10 years, but there should never be a case where somebody feels like their opportunities are different because of how they identify.

Do you have other questions about DEI or ClearlyRated's Employee Satisfaction Survey Program?

I'd be more than happy to continue this discussion with you. Please feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn or to contact the ClearlyRated team if you'd like to learn more about our employee satisfaction survey program.

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ClearlyRated Integrates with Microsoft Dynamics

B2B

Here at ClearlyRated, we are always looking for ways to make client feedback more accessible. We know that one method to accomplish this is by leveraging technology to make survey data available directly within the systems that your team already relies upon for their day-to-day work.Which is why we are excited to announce that the ClearlyRated NPS survey program now integrates with Microsoft Dynamics—a CRM widely used by professional service providers!Our integration with Microsoft Dynamics will allow your team to view their clients’ survey responses directly within the affiliated contact record in Microsoft Dynamics. That means a client’s historical Net Promoter® ratings for your firm as well as their responses to open-ended and driver survey questions are easily accessed from the place where your team is most likely to look for information about that client—your CRM.

Empower your team with real-time insights into clients' experiences

Your client feedback is only as powerful as the action that is taken with it. And we have seen time and again that one of the largest hurdles that professional service providers face when trying to capture this ROI is getting client feedback into the hands of the people who need it the most: your client-facing staff and relationship holders.The ClearlyRated Microsoft Dynamics integration empowers professional service providers to automatically, and seamlessly, share real-time client feedback with their client-facing teams. Leveraging this integration, service providers are able to bypass the more manual aspects of distributing client responses, and secure the full ROI of their NPS survey program from start to finish.

ClearlyRated data appears as a custom tab in Microsoft Dynamics

Once integrated, any member of your team can easily navigate to the ClearlyRated tab in Microsoft Dynamics. The custom tab appears in the top navigation bar within a client contact (but may also be integrated in different ways depending on your preferences in the Microsoft Dynamics platform).

If a client has participated in a ClearlyRated survey, all of their historical survey responses as well as any new feedback will automatically populate in the ClearlyRated tab within the client's contact record in Microsoft Dynamics. Using iframe technology, the information in the tab will look the same way it appears in the ClearlyRated survey dashboard. This information includes:

  • Full survey response
  • Historical view of responses for that contact
  • Testimonials and shout outs
  • Issue tracking

How to get the integration

If you are currently utilizing Microsoft Dynamics and have an active subscription with ClearlyRated—the integration is available to you at no extra cost! To ensure your data is secure, email-based authentication will occur on the first use of the integration and every 30 days following. Head over to your ClearlyRated dashboard for a step-by-step guide with built-in documentation for how to set up your Microsoft Dynamics integration (note: to set up an integration, you must be an admin-level user).And, if you don’t already work with ClearlyRated, we’d love to chat more with you about how we can help measure the client experience at your firm. Please feel free to contact us for more information about our survey program. Or, you can read about ClearlyRated’s survey program for your industry here.

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