How to Build Valuable Customer Experience Reporting

Data is critical to the success of any business function. It’s no surprise that when customer service leaders evaluate tools, they focus heavily on analytics. They want to know what metrics a tool offers, what customer experience reports are available natively, and how easily they can access and interpret the information needed to guide decisions. These reports are essential for understanding trends, identifying areas of improvement, and ultimately driving business growth.

However, one common mistake new CX leaders make is stopping at surface-level insights. They select a tool with impressive dashboards and downloadable reports and assume these will provide all the answers. Unfortunately, relying solely on ready-made reports limits insights and creates a narrow view of business performance. Leaders often take the data at face value, viewing it in isolation, which leads to missed opportunities and incorrect assumptions.

For instance, imagine a customer service manager reviewing the team’s ticket metrics. They notice that agents are resolving fewer tickets per hour than before. The initial reaction might be to assume that agents are becoming less efficient or are not motivated enough.

Tickets per Hour (Agent)

At first glance, it appears agents are losing efficiency.

However, deeper customer experience reporting reveals that the chatbot resolution rate has increased, meaning that the simpler inquiries are being handled by automation. This leaves agents with more complex and time-consuming cases, naturally resulting in fewer tickets per hour.

Tickets per Hour (Agent & Bot)

Looking at metrics in reference to one another tells a different story.

Another factor might be the overall service volume. If inquiries have decreased, agents would naturally have fewer cases to handle. This example demonstrates the importance of viewing CX data holistically. A single metric, such as tickets per hour, can be misleading unless it is considered alongside other relevant metrics. The real value of customer experience reporting lies in comparing multiple data points across functions such as marketing, logistics, and finance. Customized reports that blend these elements are essential for obtaining actionable insights.

Creating meaningful reports requires moving beyond out-of-the-box dashboards. Leaders need to leverage platform data and build custom customer experience reports tailored to the unique needs of their organization. These reports enable them to make well-informed decisions and drive meaningful improvements.

One of the most valuable custom reports is the “Product to Contact Reason” report, which identifies the reasons why customers contact support about specific products. To generate this report, the ticketing system must capture the product type and the nature of the inquiry. This can be done manually by agents through ticket fields or automated with AI tools.

The insights from this report allow teams to optimize product pages, adjust marketing content, and refine user guides. If customers consistently ask the same questions about a product, it signals that pre-sale content may need improvement. Similarly, the report highlights pain points in product adoption, prompting teams to develop better onboarding materials.

Example Product Breakdown: Gorilla Sticker

This product has two main pain-points that could be addressed, one with product team and one with marketing team.

Tracking these trends also provides valuable feedback for product managers. If inquiries reveal frequent issues with a product, it creates an opportunity for collaboration between the service and product teams to implement improvements or introduce new features. By integrating product performance data with customer feedback, businesses can enhance both the customer experience and product quality.

Another essential report is “Contact Reason to Handle Time,” which requires the ticketing system to measure how long each type of inquiry takes to resolve. This report offers insights into which inquiries consume the most time, helping identify areas where processes need streamlining or where agents need additional support. If certain inquiries are consistently slow to resolve, it may indicate a need for better internal resources, such as knowledge base articles or macros.

Average Handle Time for Contact Reason

This report shows troubleshooting the app takes significantly more time than troubleshooting the product.

Analyzing handle times can also reveal where automation could be beneficial. If some inquiries are resolved quickly and consistently, introducing chatbots or automated workflows can free up agents to focus on more complex tasks. On the flip side, this report can help managers identify agents who may struggle with certain types of inquiries and provide targeted training or tools to improve their performance.

Building on handle-time analysis, the “Contact Reason to Cost Per Ticket” report connects inquiry types with departmental costs. This report is crucial for prioritizing which issues to address immediately. If a particular type of inquiry is both time-consuming and costly, it becomes clear where to focus improvement efforts first.

The “Contact Reason to CSAT” report is another critical tool for CX leaders. This report links inquiry types with customer satisfaction scores, offering insight into which interactions are most likely to result in positive or negative feedback. If specific types of inquiries consistently lead to low CSAT scores, it may indicate that agents need better training, response times need improvement, or internal processes need adjustment. Even seemingly obvious insights—like customers with expired warranties being dissatisfied—can prompt action to improve the experience, such as refining how those inquiries are handled. The goal is to design targeted improvements that will increase CSAT across the board.

CSAT by Contact Reason

By improving CSAT scores for order cancellations and app troubleshooting, we can improve CSAT overall.

Marketing and customer service often go hand in hand, and a “Service Volume to Marketing Email” report highlights this connection. Every marketing email sent to customers has the potential to generate additional service inquiries. Sometimes these inquiries are directly related to the promotion, while other times the marketing email simply serves as a reminder for customers to address an issue they’ve been postponing. For example, a customer may start a return or ask a product-related question after receiving a marketing message.

Understanding the impact of marketing emails on service volume allows CX leaders to forecast demand more accurately. If certain email campaigns consistently lead to a spike in inquiries, staffing can be adjusted accordingly to handle the influx. With this insight, businesses can avoid being caught off guard by unexpected surges in volume and ensure their teams are well-prepared to maintain service levels.

Tickets to Marketing Emails

Each marketing email creates a bump in service volume, with promotions and announcements having greater impact than educational content.

Warranty claims are another area where effective customer experience reporting is essential. The “Warranty Claims to Sales” report compares the number of warranty claims with product sales, providing valuable context. A thousand warranty claims may seem like a large number, but without knowing the total sales volume, it’s impossible to determine whether that figure is significant. If the claims represent only a small fraction of total sales, the issue may not be as urgent. Conversely, if the claims account for a substantial percentage, it signals a potential quality issue that requires immediate attention.

This report also provides insights into when customers are most likely to encounter issues with a product. Identifying these patterns allows teams to forecast service volume

Warranty Claims to Sales

Compared to product sales, a concerning number of warranty claims are submitted during the final three months.

Lastly, a “Ticket Volume to Sales” report focuses on the relationship between sales and customer inquiries. This report is particularly valuable for businesses with transactional inquiries, such as order tracking or returns. By analyzing the ratio of inquiries to sales, CX leaders can predict future service demand based on sales forecasts.

This insight enables better staffing decisions and helps businesses avoid overpaying for tools that charge per inquiry. With a clear understanding of inquiry patterns, teams can optimize their resources and ensure they are adequately prepared to handle peak periods without overspending.

In conclusion, effective customer experience reporting goes beyond pre-built dashboards and basic metrics. To unlock the full potential of CX data, businesses must create custom customer experience reports that connect data points across functions and provide actionable insights.

These reports empower leaders to make informed decisions, identify areas for improvement, and collaborate more effectively with other departments. A holistic approach to reporting ensures that businesses are not only reactive but proactive, driving meaningful change that benefits both customers and the organization. By leveraging advanced reporting tools and aligning CX data with business goals, companies can deliver exceptional experiences and achieve sustainable growth.

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