As the year 2020 moves forward, uncertainty continues to be a major factor of the human experience due to Covid-19, civic unrest, economic changes, job losses, technology advances, political divisions, family and health and safety concerns. Each individual has their own experiences that drive their daily decisions and actions. Because there are so many moving parts, organizations that are not consistently communicating will have a more difficult time understanding the wide range of expectations and perceptions that come about during times like the present. It is not a time for organizations to make guesses as to how people feel about the changes that are occurring. Capturing individual feedback is crucial to bridging the gap between the unknown and real-time knowledge. With today’s technology, each organization can and should have real-time insight of their employees and customers on a daily basis to make positive decisions that improve lives.
Safety and Certainty
The pandemic has shown populations that their individual health is more vulnerable. As more people experience the impact of Covid-19, their individual lives have changed as well as their ongoing expectations and perceptions of the world around them. People want to protect themselves and their family’s health and safety. As customers, patients, or employees, they are looking for organizations that respect this most important need. Here are some examples to review how changes are being made to improve safety and certainty:
Healthcare: How do patients feel about going into a healthcare facility today?
Due to hospitals and local physician offices testing and treating patients for the Covid-19 virus, the health care facilities become an area of uncertainty for patients and their family members. Healthcare facilities have been under so much pressure during this pandemic. With some areas having less covid cases, hospitals and surgical centers are opening up to new patients. However, potential patients are tremendously concerned about their safety and question whether to enter due to this fear. To address the need of safety and certainty, here are a couple examples in the healthcare industry:
- Having separate operating rooms and intensive care units for covid-19 patients
- Increasing the use of telehealth to keep patients and the community healthy and safe
- Educating patients that hospitals are clean and that the need of safety is being addressed
- Improving the safety and efficiency of important patient touchpoints – Ex. Emergency Room
- Reducing fear with education and by connecting more with the patient
Education: How do students feel about returning to school in the fall?
Education is being quickly forced to redesign the student experience to be ready for education in the fall. Every education institution is working to find solutions to drive a solid learning experience while at the same time protecting the health and safety of all students and teachers. Here are some ways education institutions are preparing to help students feel safe:
- Increasing the use of eLearning to lower the amount of individual contact
- Lecture sizes will be downsized
- Increase hybrid options on taking courses
- Have separate areas for those students who are infected with the virus
- Increase communication on how the student experience will look like
Employees: Do employees feel safe in their work?
Employees return to work to find new work cultures, rules, policies, and other impacts to their work environment. This requires each employee to expend extra energy to adapt to all these new changes. The need of adaptation to these changes is an excellent opportunity for organizations to take a lead on employee safety by listening and responding to all employees. Understanding how employees feel will be vital to improving productivity and overall company culture. Here are a couple ways employers are taking on safety and certainty in the workplace:
- Using Social Distancing Technology to monitor and enforce new rules
- Changing the design of work environments
- Addressing high traffic areas like break rooms, lobbies, common areas, and office space
- Increasing use of remote working
- Leadership taking a larger role in employee safety and leading by example
Government: How do citizens feel about the decisions being made at the city, county and state level?
As government services slowly ramp up, the citizens of local communities and the state or looking to obtain needed services as well as leadership through these uncertain times. Local and state governments can lead the way by obtaining real-time insight into how people feel about the changes in services as well as social distancing policies and other decisions that impact individuals and businesses. Government can increase communication with its citizens to provide the certainty and need for safety. Here are some examples:
- Increasing the focus on the citizen experience
- Using more communication between government entities
- Drive safety and certainty with more community engagement and feedback
- Give citizens more of a voice in their government services and community
- Using more online solutions to reduce in-person visits
Transportation: How do people feel about their safety as they travel?
People want to move around but they also want to do this safely. Whether the transportation is through public or private means, listening and learning to the passengers is important to increase certainty and improve economic conditions. Travel is changing and here are some examples you can expect for keeping safe while traveling:
- Airlines are redesigning the travel experience to improve safety
- Trains and Subways are doing more changes to increase passenger safety
- The bus travel ecosystem is evolving to change with the new normal
- Major hotel and resorts are putting guest safety as their top priority
- Cruise ships are cancelling voyages as they redesign the guest experience
Customers: What is changing in terms of customer decisions during these uncertain times?
Customer trends from earlier in the year have changed due to recent events. With large concerns of health, safety, job security, economic conditions, and changing brand perceptions, customers are changing the way they buy the goods and services they need. Here are a few ways that they are changing:
- Customers want more touchless options
- More customers are shopping online and seeking more product pick-up options
- Customers increasingly want brands to match their individual values
- Increase desire for easy transition between physical and digital touchpoints
- More use of credit card and digital payment structures
Conclusion
The year 2020 has been the year of uncertainty so far. With the human need of certainty, it is more important now for organizations to be in constant communication to listen and learn how people are feeling about the ongoing changes around them. With today’s technology, every organization can and should be on top of daily perceptions and doing so in real-time. By listening and learning in real-time, negative experiences can be quickly changed and positive experiences can be replicated. Organizations that take leadership and provide the positive certainty that individuals require will be remembered and talked about in the years ahead. With uncertainty comes opportunities to increase loyalty in customers and employees along with improving the brand of the organization and its leadership.
About SmileyAnswers
SmileyAnswers is the leading reseller of the HappyOrNot® Reporting System within the United States, Canada, and the U.K. HappyOrNot® has over 1.5 billion feedbacks to date and is a leader in capturing the real-time insight of customers, patients, and employees. With the recent addition of the Smiley Link and Smiley Digital, SmileyAnswers is in the unique position to capture a whole journey Live by using the Smiley’s for both digital and physical touchpoints. Organizations can “listen” to how people feel at all the important touchpoints. After capturing real-time feedback at these touchpoints, organizations can then “learn” what and where the hidden pain points are to make immediate positive changes. Finally, successes can be shared with Live Sharing, Social Sharing, digital boards, social media, email, power points, and more. This process can be repeated daily throughout the year to constantly improve the human experience.
