All of the above is directly related to Customer Experience (CX) management—the sum of all impressions of a product or brand. This concept is broader than just a user-friendly interface or a beautiful app design. Ultimately, audience loyalty, monetization, and the overall competitiveness of the product depend on the quality of CX.
Using the case study of a CX maturity assessment conducted for a Kazakhstani bank by Rocket Tech's discovery unit, we examine how analyzing a company's customer-centricity helps improve key business metrics.
What is Customer Experience (CX)?
Customer Experience (CX) is the sum of all user interactions with a product, from the first impression to post-sale service. Customers evaluate the convenience of the interface, the response speed of the support team, the transparency of information, the quality of content, and how well the product or service meets their expectations and skills.
The more consciously a business approaches CX development, the more benefits it can gain. For example:
- Customer retention. Loyal users make repeat purchases more often, become brand ambassadors, and recommend it to others.
- Revenue growth. According to research, 86% of consumers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.
- Business process efficiency. Products and services adapted to the real needs of customers reduce the number of returns and complaints. Consequently, the load on technical support decreases.
How a CX Maturity Audit Helped a Top-5 Kazakhstani Bank Increase Customer Loyalty and Average Deposit Size
In early 2024, one of the leading banks in Kazakhstan approached Rocket Tech's discovery research department with the task of assessing the maturity level of its customer experience (CX) management. The company's management realized that their decisions to improve service were based on internal assumptions rather than objective data. Despite a high level of digitalization and a variety of products, the bank faced several critical challenges:
- An increase in complaints about service and support. Customers frequently noted the difficulty of interacting with the contact center and delays in resolving requests.
- Low NPS (Net Promoter Score) metrics. Customers willingly used the products but did not recommend the bank to friends and acquaintances.
- High churn rate. Despite a convenient mobile app, users were switching to competitors.
- Lack of a systematic approach to CX management. Interaction with customers was built intuitively rather than based on clear processes and metrics.
The bank's management wanted not only to identify existing problems but also to receive a specific action plan to eliminate them. To answer these questions, Rocket Tech analysts assessed the organization's maturity level in customer experience management. This determined which aspects of CX required increased attention and why the bank was falling short of industry leaders.
The analysts used the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) methodology, which includes five maturity levels in customer experience management:
- Customer-Negligent – management does not consider CX a strategic priority. Interaction with customers is chaotic, and complaints are ignored or handled on a case-by-case basis without analyzing the root causes.
- Customer-Chaotic – the business begins to realize the importance of CX. Initiatives to improve the customer experience appear in some departments, but they lack systematicity and unified standards.
- Customer-Aware – CX becomes part of the business strategy and is supported by metrics based on regular customer satisfaction research.
- Customer-Centric – key business processes are optimized taking into account customer feedback. IT teams develop personalized services, and all company communication channels are integrated into a single system.
- Customer-Champion – CX is embedded in all aspects of the business, from product development to corporate culture. The company implements advanced technologies to predict customer needs and sets standards for the entire industry.
A business's CX maturity can be analyzed across four key areas, including organization, personnel, processes, and technologies. In their work with the bank, the analysts conducted employee surveys, customer data analysis, and in-depth interviews with department heads. In total, they needed to study 59 indicators, and to do this, they had to ask the business a broad pool of questions:
- Organization
- How integrated is CX into the business strategy?
- Are management and departments engaged in customer experience management?
- Is there an assessment and goal-setting system in the field of CX?
- Personnel
- How do employees interact with customers and take feedback into account?
- Is there an employee training system based on customer service standards?
- What is the satisfaction level of the employees themselves who work with customers?
- Processes
- How systematically is work with customer requests and complaints conducted?
- Is analytics structured for working with CX?
- Are data used to predict customer needs?
- Technologies
- What customer experience personalization tools does the company use?
- Is there CRM integration and omnichannel service?
- How automated are data processing and predictive analytics?
Assessment Results
Based on the results of the study, the bank received 57 points out of 100, which corresponded to the Customer-Aware level. In this case, the organization realizes the importance of CX, conducts analytics, and implements initiatives, but customer experience management is still not systematized.
Strengths:
- High level of digitalization: a convenient mobile app, a developed product ecosystem.
- The bank collects and analyzes feedback but uses it selectively rather than strategically.
- CX is among the priority areas, but the company lacks a centralized CX strategy.
Areas for improvement:
- The contact center and customer support operated inefficiently due to fragmented communication channels.
- There was no automated system for analyzing data on customer needs.
- There were no clear standards for interacting with customers at all levels (online, offline, call center).
- Weak integration of omnichannel solutions: a customer could receive a different level of service in the app, at a branch, and over the phone.
Following the CX maturity assessment, the bank's team received a list of recommendations from Rocket Tech analysts to improve user experience management.
First and foremost—create a centralized CX strategy. This should include establishing unified customer service standards across all channels and appointing CX managers.
The second step is improving customer support operations. For example, through predictive analysis of customer problems using AI tools. The bank was also recommended to reduce wait times in the contact center through automated request routing.
The third step is developing customer behavior analytics. This requires implementing a system for collecting and analyzing customer data in real time, as well as ML algorithms to predict customer needs and personalize offers.
The fourth step is a focus on omnichannel. This involves combining data from the mobile app, contact center, and offline branches into a single system. Developing a unified CX platform to track customer interactions with the bank will help solve this task.
The fifth step is to increase the level of personalization, whether it be special offers based on customer behavioral data, individual discounts for loyal customers, etc.
How Did the Assessment Help the Bank?
After implementing the recommendations, the bank conducted a reassessment 9 months later and reached the Customer-Centric level, scoring 72 points. The improvements were reflected in key metrics:
- Customer churn (churn rate) decreased by 18% as support quality improved.
- Customer loyalty level (NPS) increased by 12 points thanks to personalized offers.
- Average deposit size increased by 10% due to sales personalization.
- Conversion to repeat purchases increased by 15% due to improved personalization.
This case study showed that a systematic approach to CX management allows not only for improving the customer experience but also for significantly boosting the bank's business metrics. The CX maturity assessment helped the company identify weaknesses and build a strategy that provides a competitive advantage.
Conclusion
A CX maturity assessment allows a business not only to understand its current level of customer experience management but also to develop a clear development plan. As the bank's case study showed, transitioning from fragmented initiatives to a systematic approach yields measurable results.
Such diagnostics are an investment with a return in the short term. An independent look at the company's operations allows for identifying hidden problems and finding growth points without bias. Additionally, regular CX maturity assessment helps the company adapt to changes and increase customer satisfaction.
Author: Oleg Kachalin, Rocket Firm Group co-founder, Rocket Tech Head of Discovery, UI/UX & Product Design expert
