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Every organization wants to provide a great experience, regardless of industry. But often, the greatest opportunities for improvement aren't dramatic failures or bottlenecks. They’re the small gaps, the moments you’re not seeing, that collectively undermine customer loyalty and satisfaction.

The tough part is spotting them.

Your team is close to your operations — designing services, solving problems, interacting directly with your customers — and that closeness can sometimes create blind spots. It’s hard to view your own processes through your customer’s eyes. So, you miss the small obstacles, points of confusion, or messages that just aren’t landing.

Why it happens, and why it matters

Your greatest opportunity to grow or retain loyalty may be sitting in plain sight, hidden in a confusing form, a slow-loading webpage, or a policy that makes perfect sense internally but feels restrictive to your customer. These aren't reasons to tear everything up and start from scratch; you just need to identify small points of friction and make tweaks that collectively add up to a much smoother, more satisfying experience.

Our approach with Nav360: Viewing your experience through your customers’ eyes

We know it can be tough to pinpoint exactly where the gaps lie, which is why we highlight them through a close, comprehensive view of your service, from your customers’ perspective, through their decisions, their struggles, and their moments of satisfaction.

Getting this 360-degree view is key, allowing us to go beyond surface-level observations. It lets you cut through internal assumptions and biases and see your service the way your customers do. An external perspective highlights things you may not have noticed, simply because you’re “too close” to them.

We gather direct feedback, observe journeys first-hand, and piece together a complete picture, letting us find opportunities you hadn’t noticed and make small, strategic tweaks that deliver significant ROI, helping you focus your efforts where they’ll have the greatest impact.

An example: Uncovering gaps in student experience

We recently applied our Nav360 approach at a large university experiencing dramatic growth, adding over 2,000 students in a single year. To ensure this impressive growth translated into an even stronger, more intuitive experience, we identified subtle opportunities within their student enrollment journey that could further elevate satisfaction and boost long-term student retention.

Using Nav360, we teamed up with the university's stakeholders to dig into every step of the journey, from inquiry to enrollment. We interviewed three student persona types—current freshmen, adult learners, and admitted-but-not-enrolled students—along with key university staff. We walked through their student enrollment journey and conducted onsite observational research of their tour experiences, documenting our key findings.

Our qualitative research revealed various impactful blind spots within the university’s financial communication, events, and virtual tours. With these identified, we shifted our focus toward solutions — small, purposeful tweaks that would collectively make a huge difference. Here’s what we suggested to close those gaps and transform the student enrollment experience:

• University comparison tool: Our findings indicated that prospective students frequently undertake their own comparative research across various universities. To streamline this essential evaluation phase, we suggested implementing a universally accessible comparison tool. This resource would enable students to effortlessly contrast critical information—such as size, cost, and programs—showcasing the university's distinct competitive advantages.
• Enhanced digital experience: Technical issues causing slow-loading virtual tours were a clear barrier. Our recommendations focused on redesigning the tour to be more interactive and helpful, significantly improving the overall digital customer experience.
• Aligned activities with expectations: We identified a need for more tailored options for adult learners. Our insights pointed to adding adult-specific tour options and evening/weekend sessions to match their unique needs, demonstrating a commitment to personalized service design.
• Amplified student voice: To ensure continuous improvement, we emphasized the importance of a "Voice of the Student" survey program. This initiative would gather ongoing feedback from prospective and current students, ensuring future decisions were driven by their perspectives and fostering continuous experience optimization

Together, these small, purposeful recommendations will lay the groundwork for significant improvements. By acting on these insights, the university will have the opportunity to dramatically enhance its enrollment experience and demonstrate that it is actively listening to its students and addressing their needs directly, thereby strengthening its brand reputation and fostering deeper student loyalty.

Small gaps, big impact with AdviseCX

Your greatest opportunity to improve loyalty and satisfaction may be hidden in plain sight. It’s often the small things, confusing messages, cumbersome processes, or a lack of tailored communication that collectively undermine your customer’s experience.

Partnering with AdviseCX, we can spot these gaps and help you make small, purposeful tweaks that add up to a big impact. Our Nav360 framework lets you view your service through your customers’ eyes, identifying opportunities you hadn’t noticed and turning them into powerful, actionable solutions.