Organizations continue to invest heavily in improving customer experience. They redesign digital journeys, expand self-service, introduce AI, and personalize customer communications to create more meaningful interactions.
While these initiatives receive considerable attention, one important factor is often overlooked: the experience of the employees responsible for creating and managing those communications.
Every billing statement, payment reminder, regulatory notice, Explanation of Benefits (EOB), and servicing communication begins long before it reaches a customer. It passes through content authors, compliance teams, business users, and approval workflows before it is ever delivered. When those internal processes are slow or disconnected, the customer eventually feels the impact.
Research from Forrester and Aspire suggests that employee experience in customer communications is becoming an increasingly important part of delivering better customer outcomes.
Research is reinforcing what many organizations are already seeing
A recent blog post by Forrester discusses Forrester's Employee Experience (EX) Index™, introduced as part of its Total Experience framework. It highlights the close relationship between employee experience, customer experience, brand perception, and business performance.
The research suggests that organizations create better customer outcomes when employees have the tools, processes, and support they need to perform their roles effectively. Rather than treating employee experience as a separate initiative, Forrester positions it as an important contributor to overall business success.
In comparison, Aspire's latest customer communications research reaches a similar conclusion from a different perspective.
Aspire’s research shows that customer communications are no longer viewed simply as documents to be produced. Organizations increasingly see them as part of broader customer experience, digital transformation, and business modernization initiatives. It also highlights the growing demand for intuitive business-user tools, streamlined workflows, and reduced reliance on IT for routine communication updates.
These findings point to a common theme: improving customer communications starts with how they are created and managed.
Where customer communication teams encounter unnecessary friction
Many communication teams continue to work with processes that were designed for a different era.
Common challenges include:
- Heavy dependence on IT or external vendors for routine communication updates
- Manual approval processes that slow regulatory and business changes
- Separate tools for print and digital communication
- Multiple communication templates are managed across different teams
- Limited visibility into communication versions and approvals
None of these challenges are customer-facing, yet each one impacts the customer's communications experience. Delays in updating content, inconsistent messaging, or lengthy approval cycles can make it harder for organizations to respond quickly when customer expectations or regulatory requirements change.
Empowered communication teams create better customer experiences
Removing operational barriers is more than improving employee productivity. It creates a stronger foundation for every customer communication the organization delivers.
When business users can manage approved content through governed workflows, organizations can:
- Respond more quickly to regulatory and business changes
- Reduce reliance on IT for routine communication updates
- Maintain consistent messaging across print and digital channels
- Improve communication, governance, and approval visibility
- Deliver customer communications quicker and with greater confidence
These improvements help communication teams focus on creating better customer experiences instead of managing manual processes.
Customer communications have become a strategic business capability
The role of customer communication has changed significantly over the past several years.
Organizations no longer view communications simply as documents to produce and distribute. Customer communications now influence digital adoption, self-service, operational efficiency, trust, and regulatory responsiveness.
As that role expands, the experience of the teams responsible for managing customer communications becomes increasingly important. Giving employees modern tools, efficient workflows, and greater business-user control make organizations more agile, while maintaining the governance and consistency that regulated industries require.
Looking ahead
Organizations will continue investing in AI, digital transformation, and customer experience initiatives. Those investments will achieve greater value when they also address the operational experience of the teams responsible for customer communications.
Research from Forrester and Aspire points in the same direction. Organizations that make it easier to create, manage, approve, and deliver customer communications are better positioned to improve customer experiences, respond to change, and operate more efficiently.
Employee experience in customer communications is no longer simply an internal operational consideration. It is becoming an important part of how organizations deliver better customer outcomes.
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