Fiserv + Qualtrics

After years of CX success, payments processor Fiserv hit a wall and its Net Promoter Score-based program stopped driving improvements. Fiserv pushed deeper, partnering with Qualtrics to uncover a new level of customer insights using machine learning. By detecting subtle variations in sentiment, the new system reclassified many Passives as Promoters and Detractors, giving Fiserv a larger, richer picture of its most- and least-satisfied customers. Fiserv then factored in additional context such as how often the customers had experienced outages or price increases, and how often they interacted with customer service. The result is a fuller, more detailed picture of customer behavior that’s once again producing high-impact CX insights. 

Fiserv used its model to build a profile of its unhappiest customers, including both NPS Detractors and also behavioral lookalikes who hadn’t provided an NPS response. The company then looked at customers who fit that high-risk profile yet ultimately stuck with the company. Fiserv’s leaders studied the actions taken to salvage those customer relationships, and replicated them with current at-risk customers. 

Fiserv also identified several hallmarks among successful new accounts that matured into promoters. The team built new sales templates based on those key attributes, leading to an increase in happiness among new clients. 

Fiserv gains deeper CX insight thanks to AI prompt 

When Fiserv realized that too many customers completed its relationship surveys using simple, one-word answers that didn’t provide enough detail to understand their pain points, Fiserv implemented Qualtrics’ AI-powered “Response Clarity” functionality, which detects short or incomplete answers and asks respondents to elaborate. The follow-up prompt quickly proved to be highly valuable, as 40% of respondents prompted by AI, went on to expand upon their answers.