The increase in the technological tools available on the market has placed consumers in an ideal position to demand a tailored, channel-agnostic, socially conscious and social-media-powered experience from businesses.

In light of this, PwC believes it is time for companies to start introducing another metric that specifically focuses on the customer experience – the ‘return on experience’ (ROX) – over and above the traditional return on investment metric used to determine a company’s success.

“Because consumers today are so discerning and powerful, it is our perspective that most organisations need to invest far more in customer experience,” PwC’s tenth yearly Global Consumer Insights Survey (GCIS) argues.

While many companies are already measuring customer satisfaction, specifically measuring ROX will help bring about further understanding of the earnings on investments in the parts of the company directly related to how people interact with the brand.

“Whether your organisation sells household goods, health services, cars or financial services, delivering a superior experience will be what makes you a winner,” says PwC global consumer markets leader John Maxwell.

“Not only are consumers the strongest link in the global economic chain, but PwC’s GCIS shows that the technological tools available to them have put them in a position to demand a tailored, seamless and multichannel shopping and social-media-powered experience,” PwC Africa retail and consumer leader Anton Hugo says.

Many organisations currently attempt to measure customer satisfaction or quantify the direct investment in customer-facing tools and resources; however, most spend far more time measuring their investments and outcomes in other parts of the business, or take too siloed an approach to customer experience, he says.

“Our survey findings show that shoppers who are willing to pay premium prices want better services . . . and added conveniences, such as mobile payments and cutting-edge technology,” Hugo adds.

Another report by PwC shows that companies that invest in and deliver superior experiences to both consumers and employees are able to charge a premium of up to 16% for their products and services.

The GCIS explains that an ROX framework zeroes in on “customer touchpoints”, identifying exceptional performance aspects and aligning the core capabilities with information technology systems, data infrastructure, business processes and performance metrics.

The framework further identifies a company’s ‘critical few’ behaviours that are most important to creating and delivering excellent customer and employee experiences.