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Driving Service Excellence Through Research-Driven Insight

Author: Richard McGimpsey, Head of Insights & Research, Sodexo Government

Innovation
Published on Jun. 05, 2025

The Power of Customer Experience Monitoring

In our Sodexo Defence business, we see insight as more than just a business tool—it's the cornerstone of our entire approach to service excellence. We've departed from the traditional marketing mindset by prioritising robust listening systems over rigid adherence to output measures. By establishing frameworks that capture ongoing client and consumer feedback, we've made operational improvements significantly more achievable and effective.

While annual KPIs have their place, our true advantage comes from our constant cycle of listening, analysing, interpreting, and—most critically—visibly acting on feedback. We don't simply ask, "How can we improve by year-end?" Instead, we focus on "How can we enhance what we do every single day based on what we're hearing?"

Driving Daily Service Excellence

Our commitment to daily refinement is powered by frequent, multi-channel measurement of experiences across all audience segments. This approach includes:

Two online client relationship surveys annually complemented by year-round face-to-face qualitative engagements
Ongoing consumer experience tracking across UK Government operations since 2023
Data collection through our consumer app, email surveys, and via QR codes placed at service locations
Targeted ad-hoc surveys and in-depth annual relationship studies.

Beyond Numbers: Understanding Emotional Drivers

We know that Quantitative metrics tell only part of the story and so since 2023, we’ve been conducting an ongoing qualitative focus group programme to explore consumer priorities and preferences more deeply. At Sodexo, we recognise a fundamental truth: emotions drive behaviours, and every consumer decision has an emotional component.

This insight shapes our research approach—we measure not just functional satisfaction but how our services make people feel and how they enhance their daily lives. This emotional intelligence gives us a competitive edge in service design and delivery.

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Client-Consumer Partnership

We see our clients and consumers as essential partners in our continuous improvement journey. By maintaining genuine curiosity and a desire to evolve, we ensure our services remain aligned with changing priorities and expectations.

Acting visibly on feedback is a cornerstone of our approach. That's why we continue expanding our customer experience (CX) measurement capabilities—so continuous insights can be communicated to frontline teams and clients in the most engaging and actionable way.

Future-Ready Insights

In the coming months, Sodexo will make strategic investments in our insights ecosystem—enhancing everything from feedback management to advanced analytics and compelling data visualisation. These improvements will create a comprehensive framework supporting both long-term strategic planning and immediate, visible enhancements to customer experience.

Because at Sodexo, we understand that excellence isn't built in annual reviews— it all starts with the everyday.

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