The Postal Service is dedicated to delivering excellent customer experiences to every customer at every channel touch point. In FY2013, we revamped how we measure customer experience and replaced our previous metric and measurement system, Customer Experience Measurement (CEM), with a refined Customer Insights (CI) measurement system as the key measure of customer experience for our National Performance Assessment (NPA) system and our employee Pay for Performance System (PES). Last year served as the baseline measure for this new metric and compensable targets were established for FY2015.
The CEM was sunsetted at the end of FY2013 and replaced by CI as a National Performance metric. The CI composite metric provides a more diversified view and deeper insight into our customers’ experiences with USPS as a whole. The new CI composite metric is based on a hybrid set of measurements, which when taken together, present an improved view of customer satisfaction. The new survey metrics are both relational and event-based and are comprised of four key components: Point of Sale (POS), Business Service Network (BSN), Delivery (Residential/Small & Medium Business) and Customer Care Center (CCC).
The POS survey is an event-based survey that was in place during FY2013, but it was not incorporated into the Customer Experience performance. This has been integrated into the metric for FY2014. The POS survey includes all retail customers who conduct transactions at Postal Service locations with POS equipment.
The BSN survey is an event-based survey for accounts in Postal Service’s CustomerFirst! database that have reported service issues. The BSN assists major mailers with the resolution of service issues and information requests. The survey measures the customer’s level of satisfaction with their BSN Account Representative.
The Delivery survey is a relational/event-based survey mailed to randomly selected residential and small- and medium-sized business customers (those with fewer than 250 employees at one site) who are asked to complete a survey online or via telephone.
The CCC survey is an event-based survey for residential customers who call the USPS Care Center at 1-800-ASK-USPS and interact with a live agent. A random sampling of all callers is afforded an opportunity to participate in the survey, which measures customer satisfaction with the agent’s performance.
Providing a positive customer experience is one of the core strategies that drive overall customer satisfaction and it remains the primary focus of our improvement efforts. We continue to promote the importance of customer service and provide customer insights through monthly videos, weekly messaging, tools and resources to inform and engage employees. We have standardized the complaint-handling and resolution process by providing guidelines that give direction from initial contact through completion, with a quality resolution. Additionally, we continue to provide detailed diagnostic reports that identify Post Offices with opportunities to improve the customer experience and verbatim customer comments to provide specific feedback. We provide regular web-based information sessions to ensure our field managers know how to use these tools. Our intent is to improve processes and enhance systems in ways that support timely and thorough resolution of customer concerns and inquiries. We know that creating an organizationwide culture of responsiveness is critical in retaining our current customer base and acquiring new customers; both are essential in driving revenue growth.
