menu

“Until occupancy is an issue we don’t have to worry about customer experience”

Share

By Lauren Todorovic, CEO CarePage

When we first started CarePage, I heard this comment many times when speaking with operators. Back then I was a little surprised it was verbalised… the old “until occupancy is an issue we really don’t have to worry about customer experience”. 

It was rather jarring to hear those words verbalised out loud. 

But when I heard it again in the last few months I wondered, how we are still having this same conversation?

So I feel we need to talk about it…

Why are we waiting for ‘low occupancy’ to measure customer experience in the first place?

Providers today must think of their customers as people, not simply customer numbers to process.

If we only gather customer insights when occupancy is a problem,  then we are basically saying that the ‘customers’ opinion only matters when our bottom line starts to take a hit.

Customer-centric providers live and breathe their customers and are laser-focused on providing amazing experiences.

They are innovative and give aged care a good name.

More broadly speaking, when it comes to CX strategies, organisations that prioritise customer insights are miles ahead. And are often rewarded with growth and increased revenue. 

In fact, organisations that deliver a superior customer experience bring in 5.7 times more revenue than their competitors. Companies that invest in customer experience see financial gains and strong customer-focussed cultures.


Today many companies are slow to go through a digital transformation, which is one of the first steps to becoming more customer-centric. 

85% of enterprise decision-makers say they have a time frame of two years to make significant inroads into digital transformation or they will fall behind their competitors and suffer financially.

Customer centricity comes in many forms, ranging from adopting new technology to getting feedback and building relationships. 

What impact will  the Royal Commission findings have on  voice-of-customer?

The recent Aged Care Royal Commission highlighted the need to give greater weight to the voice of people receiving aged care, and the importance of consumer experience reporting, Royal Commission Final Report, 2021.

Furthermore the royal commission has made one thing abundantly clear -providers need to allocate resources and implement mechanisms to support regular feedback from, and engagement with, people receiving aged care, their representatives, and staff. And they need to analyse this feedback to understand their views on the quality and safety and action feedback to deliver improvement in services

For many providers the last few years have seen them preparing the business for a more customer-centric aged care landscape.And many are well on their way to reaping the rewards. For these providers voice-of-customer has well and truly moved from a “nice to have” to a “must have”, with many wondering how they operated without it.


For others they are in their infancy stages of planning their CX strategy (and in some instances EX strategy) which is ok, because the important thing they have started somewhere, and haven’t delayed such critical insights for the business. 

Without customer experience data actual performance can’t be accurately measured.

Are you looking for assistance with planning your voice-of-customer and team member program?