Perhaps the most effective way to identify the gaps in customer satisfaction is through the use of SWOT analysis – looking at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Use SWOT Analysis to Identify Gaps in Customer Satisfaction
SWOT analysis is not a new idea; it’s been around for more than 50 years – but it is ideally suited for considering where gaps in customer satisfaction lie. And if you can understand that, then you can see where you should focus attention on your digital transformation strategy.
To conduct an effective SWOT analysis, you first need to separate the internal and external factors, then consider whether they are helpful or harmful to your interests. In a fast-changing competitive environment, this can help you get clarity about how you consider your organization’s prospects. It will also give you a framework for how you present your proposal to the organization’s leadership team to gain support for your digital transformation strategy.
Check Out a SWOT Analysis of the Blue Cross
🐕 Let’s think about what the SWOT analysis might have been for our Tap Dogs example. It’s good practice to start with the external factors.
The External Factors
Opportunities
The emergence of photo and video sharing social networks gives access to a huge reach.
Contactless payment technology means you can put a card reader in the jackets of well-trained dogs.
Updates on charities’ work are easier and cheaper to publish and distribute thanks to digital technology.
Threats
Under 35s are more demanding of causes they support – they require better information about the charity’s activities and greater transparency about how the money raised from donations is spent.
Charity donations can be harder to source as people in the U.K. are more cautious with their money following ten years of austerity keeping income growth down.
Many people are moving toward a more cashless life, as contactless cards and smartphone payments have increased – so, loose change is harder to collect.
The number of charities competing for attention and donations has grown.
The Internal Factors
Weaknesses
Donations are often collected as cash – like bucket collections or door to door.
The charity is struggling to maintain attention.
Strengths
Many people care strongly about animals and can be quite easily motivated.
Those who care about animals, love to interact with them.
People who care about animals like to take and share photos of them.
The charity has a strong reputation for helping all kinds of animals.
The charity has access to many well-trained, lovable, dependable dogs through their network of volunteers .
From this SWOT analysis, you can see that while the threats and weaknesses are not yet making the charity’s position desperate, and with external factors changing around them, there is a strong case for a proactive approach to digital transformation that allows them to build their capabilities gradually before a crisis hits.
Let's Recap!
SWOT analysis will help you identify gaps in customer satisfaction.
Consider both internal and external factors, both positive and negative, in your analysis.
Your SWOT analysis will provide a framework to approach senior management with your digital transformation proposal.
In the next chapter, we will examine how to respond to what your SWOT analysis has revealed.
