Is Your Closed-Loop Feedback Program Falling Flat? Try This Framework

Many CX leaders launch closed-loop feedback (CLF) programs with a goal of driving action, only to later discover that their programs aren’t delivering the expected insights or impact. Here’s what brands get wrong and how to unlock better results.

Key takeaways

• Properly implemented, a closed-loop feedback (CLF) program can help brands prevent churn and grow customer loyalty.

• A common issue with CLF programs is a disconnect between effort and results. Many companies fail to define clear objectives and track the right data, which leads to a lack of meaningful insights and unresolved customer issues.

• The CLF Soundness Check framework focuses on four key steps to help companies properly manage their programs to achieve stronger business outcomes: Set Objectives, Define Required Behaviors, Capture Relevant Data, and Track Results

As a Principal CX Advisor at Medallia, I’ve heard countless clients express concerns about closed-loop feedback and how their programs aren’t delivering anticipated results, leaving them with unfulfilled expectations. Often they find their CLF programs become mere “check-the-box” activities that fail to provide valid input for continuous innovation.

Closed-loop feedback programs can and should be transformative. CX teams can use them to collect valuable customer feedback and harness these insights to solve customer issues at the 1:1 level, the inner-loop part of the program. They then share aggregate learnings within the organization to drive structural improvements from root cause analysis, the outer-loop part of the program. 

Properly implemented, a CLF program can help brands prevent churn by recovering at-risk customers in real time. CLF alerts can be set up so the right team members — those who have the ability to take action — get notified about a customer in distress. They can then intervene in a timely manner, resolve their issues, and retain or potentially even grow their relationship and loyalty. After all, customer retention is a key business outcome that helps show the value of your CX program.

The problem is, many brands end up discovering months — or even years — after launching their CLF programs that their efforts aren’t delivering the insights they expect and that they aren’t seeing the results they’re looking for. As a partner to CX leaders across verticals in both B2C and B2B, I have found that this conversation usually begins with, “We need better reporting for our closed loop program to understand if it’s having an impact.”

Having carefully reviewed the CLF data for countless clients, I’ve identified four critical steps necessary for achieving success with closed-loop feedback programs. I’ve brought them together into a framework I call the “Closed-Loop Feedback (CLF) Soundness Check” — a structure you can use to lay the groundwork for a closed-loop feedback program that drives stronger business outcomes.

Get Better Results Using the CLF Soundness Check Framework

The CLF Soundness Check contains four key steps: Set Objectives, Define Required Behaviors, Capture Relevant Data, and Track Results. This methodology works whether you are starting a program from scratch, or reassessing a program that’s been active for months or years. Let’s look at each step in detail.

Set Objectives

CLF programs should not be created in isolation. CX leaders must align with cross-organizational stakeholders on the CLF program objectives from the beginning. Without early stakeholder buy-in and collaborative program building, teams will lack the commitment needed for implementation, training, and coaching.

Collectively identify and assign alert owners. These should be employees with supervisory roles, escalation experience, authority to resolve issues, and strong soft skills such as patience and empathy. Also assign coaches, typically the alert owners’ supervisors, who are responsible for ongoing monitoring, training and support.

Depending on your business, common objectives may include recovering at-risk customers in real time, identifying the root cause(s) of common pain points, and building stronger relationships for referrals and/or sales. 

Ultimately, CLF programs should provide insights for a governance body like a CX Council or steering committee to guide decisions and drive action.

Define Required Behaviors

Next, collaborate with stakeholders to define expected behaviors that support the agreed-upon objectives.

For example, if real-time customer recovery is an objective, two-way conversations are crucial. Establish business-appropriate guidelines. Specify contact methods, such as phone, email, or video conference, and the number of attempts they should make. For instance, a team might mandate first outreach within 48 hours, and expect that at least two but no more than three attempts are made to reach the customer, using alternative contact methods. 

It is also important to define acceptable use cases for one-way communication, such as using Medallia’s Smart Response to easily send personalized thank-you messages that invite but don’t require a response. This may be appropriate for outreach customers who do not have an unresolved issue, or for those who gave higher scores in their survey.

Capture Relevant Data

Once the team identifies desired behaviors, Medallia’s CX platform offers a case management form to track them. This form captures data including  contact attempts, successful outreach and problem resolution rates, CLF volumes, SLA adherence, escalations, and outreach quality.

Consider the collectively agreed-upon behaviors. Ensure the form clearly captures them, such as “Two-way communication – Yes/No,” “Number of contact attempts”, and “Communication methods used.” And of course the employee will need to capture root cause(s), problem resolution status, actions taken, etc. To avoid overwhelming alert owners, design the form with conditional logic. For example, only display “Problem Resolved Yes/No” if two-way communication has occurred.

This data now serves two purposes. First, it gives coaches insights to what is actually happening with CLF, and it allows them to provide support and training to help alert owners manage their processes against the set objectives. Second, aggregation of this data will provide insights across the organization to support the outer loop.  

Track Results

With the right data now being captured, we can address the original request for better reporting. Be sure your reports clearly reflect the alert owners’ responses.

Pro tip: If data is captured in the case management form, report it in Medallia. I frequently uncover reporting gaps during CLF reviews. Simple additions like a comment stream for “Other” responses (e.g., Key Problem Area, Action Taken) or a donut chart for communication types can be invaluable and provide coaches with actionable information.

Real-World Examples: The CLF Soundness Check Framework for Better Outcomes

When one B2B financial services firm took a closer look at their CLF program, they realized there was a huge discrepancy between what was reflected in their program’s reporting and what customers experienced. They discovered that when their survey identified customers who indicated they had issues, 86% of the time alert owners used an automated email as the only form of client outreach. And a meager 6% of the time clients responded back to that email. Despite never having two-way communication with the vast majority of customers, the team was closing out 94% of cases as “Problem Resolved – Yes”.

After two years of running a CLF program, another B2B brand took a closer look at their reporting and found out that over 80% of issues that had been marked as “closed” had a note that said “TBC — awaiting client feedback,” meaning they weren’t actually resolved, they were “to be continued.” This was not identified as a pattern since the “Other” comments were only available in each individual record. Creating a comment stream showing “Other” inputs made the issue immediately apparent. 

In another example, a retail bank reviewed their CLF program, identified gaps in their training and processes, and rolled out a new e-learning program so that every alert owner and coach involved in the CLF program would be on the same page and have the same understanding of  expectations. The bank set clear direction regarding procedures and behaviors to ensure more consistent efforts across the organization. They also introduced new reporting that allowed coaches to focus on the quality and effectiveness of the team’s outreach. 

Organizations often measure CLF success by case closure speed, but fast closure doesn’t equate to optimal resolution. The CLF Soundness Check framework provided these brands with tools to reset programs and drive true inner-loop improvements.

Take Your Closed-Loop Feedback Program to the Next Level

Brands with the most effective CLF programs don’t just react; they act with purpose. By embracing this framework, they transform feedback into actionable insights, driving not just individual resolutions, but systemic, organization-wide change. 

It’s time to unlock your CLF program’s true potential and talk to a Medallia expert.