flossing for pain points
insights and recommendations for delta dental of illinois’s CX strategy
As part of the final interview stage for a CX Analyst role with Delta Dental of Illinois, I was assigned a challenger where I had to produce an executive summary and presentation offering my insights and recommendations to address shared BBB (Better Business Bureau) complaints about the company’s customer experience.
This was a particularly engaging, thought-provoking challenge because I had no prior CX experience! Nonetheless, my objective with this challenger was to prove that my passion for user-centric experiences, commitment towards deriving actionable insights, and creativity in maximizing my transferable skills in UX and communications make me a strong, intentional and determined candidate for the CX analyst role.
case study overview
role
CX analyst
timeline
1 week
skills
writing, storytelling, insights analysis, visual design
the challenge
To thoughtfully analyze the current CX of Delta Dental of Illinois’s customer service based on four specific BBB complaints and Delta Dental of Illinois’s responses to these BBB complaints
To derive and present CX insights and recommendations based on my analysis
what was my first step? to learn.
Going into this process, I thought my UX background would initially be sufficient to analyze Delta Dental of Illinois’s current state of CX, but some quick Google searching about CX principles and standards made me realize I had a lot of learning to do!
In order to create a more thoughtful, CX-specific analysis, I believed learning general CX principals, standards, and KPIs was an integral first step in this project as I’d have a more informed lens from which I can note viable opportunities for CX improvement. Below are some of the CX takeaways that stuck with me…
cx self-education takeaways:
CX is comprised of individual moments/interactions with customer—it’s important to identify the most significant ones to ensure overall impactful CX improvement
an effective CX comes from listening to customer needs—it’s not about working towards “creating the CX” as CX is comprised of customers’ emotions, memories, and thoughts associated with past interactions with the brand
Omnichannel is a common CX strategy used to implement a more seamless interaction experience between the company and customers
there are a lot of KPIs that CX teams use to asses the effectiveness of their CX strategy, including CSAT (customer satisfaction score), NPS (net promoter score), FRT (first response time), and customer lifetime value (LTV)
observe. observe. observe.
Now that I had some foundational CX knowledge to guide me moving forward, I almost went straight into analyzing because I was excited to finally apply what I learned!
But I quickly stopped myself and thought that it might be more productive to first objectively note observations about the BBB complaints and Delta Dental of Illinois’s responses.
I decided to follow a stream-of-consciousness note-taking style and jot down any and all observations and questions that arose as I mindfully read through the BBB complaints and Delta Dental of Illinois’s responses. I recognize it seems like an old-school approach, but I thought this objective note-taking approach allowed me to generate as many topics for discussion going into the analysis stage without personal judgement limiting the breadth of my initial observations.
with plenty of questions and observations noted for each BBB complaint and Delta Dental response…
i synthesized my questions and observations into SIX problem statements regarding Delta Dental’s CX.
there’s a disconnect in external communication between Delta Dental and members…
there’s a disconnect in communication internally when handling member issues…
whatever feedback loops. if any, in place failed to capture customers’ negative experiences prior to being escalated as BBB complaints…
there are long delays in the issuing and reimbursement of checks…
customers are left in the dark about the statuses of their checks or claims…
submitting claims currently sounds like a cumbersome process…
gotta synthesize so I can prioritize!
By synthesizing and analyzing all my notes into six problem statements, I was able to see at-a-glance what’s not working in the CX of Delta Dental of Illinois without needing to comb through my meticulous notes.
Synthesizing my notes into six problem statements also allowed me to easily compare these concerns with Delta Dental of Illinois’s current CX strategy goals so I can readily identify which CX issues should be prioritized in this analysis.
mom! look at my shiny teeth!
(after all the synthesis, analysis, and prioritization, this was my final product!)
executive summary
A 4-page document detailing the challenge background, proposal, business value, and next steps.