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Customer Experience

The World of CX

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As life gets back to normal, and our superheroes begin to control the pandemic, businesses are holding onto the CX strategies that they had adopted earlier. Many companies have come to realize that the only reason some brands managed to weather the storm of Covid was because of the support and undeterred loyalty of customers. And they were able to achieve this by offering memorable and effective customer experiences.

So, here I am again, sharing some of the most insightful and exciting new CX posts from months past. I have provided the link for each post so that you can explore it further if interested. Happy Reading!

The Age of Personalization for CX Leaders

Every customer wants to feel valued and noticed. They are always interested in learning about your business and all the drama that occurs behind the curtains. This is why all brands are on this unstoppable personalization spree.

Jill Goodwin perfectly encapsulates the significance of a personalized customer experience in her riveting post. Personalized marketing makes customers feel more connected to the company they are in business with. And this encourages them to invest more in the respective brand.

Jill begins the post by discussing the many benefits of personalized marketing. She mentions how modern marketers use this effective tool to engage with customers and launch profitable campaigns. Marketers acquire all relevant data via emails and surveys and identify what customers like. This data helps marketers build different customer bases and then offer personalized experiences that appeal to each demographic.

Personalized marketing goes beyond just recording the email and name of the customers. This type of marketing is an entire strategy designed towards communicating with customers effectively and interacting with them.

She also provides the following compelling reasons as to why brands should implement the personalized customer experience strategy:

  • This way brands can connect with and address the queries of specific demographics. This allows brands to cater to the target audience and widen their reach to them by particularly learning their interests.
  • This approach helps in creating more creative and compelling content. This offers a competitive advantage to brands as they can create memorable content that persuades the target audience.
  • Personalization adds value to brands and creates a healthy brand identity. Customers get emotionally involved and connected with the brands.
  • Personalized experiences translate into more sales and higher revenue. The financial aspect associated with this strategy is remarkable.

Three Keys to Unlocking Personalized Customer Experience

The entire customer experience, in today’s technologically advanced world, gravitates around customer engagement. As everybody is hyperconnected in these times, customer loyalty is mainly driven the customer experiences. Therefore, brands are investing generously towards devising an effective approach that offers a customizable and personalized experience to customers.

In his engrossing post, Brent Brown talks about how brands can maneuver technology to their advantage. He condenses his knowledge of offering meaningful customer experiences into three main pillars:

  • It’s imperative to understand the needs and wants of customers so that brands can influence them before they make a purchase decision. Businesses must be able to harness data they obtain from across the enterprise and not just one area. They should incorporate their understanding of market dynamics and collected data to identify what customers like and what they do not.
  • Brands should tailor their offers and promotional campaigns based on categories of customers. Brands do segregate the population based on the target audience, but even among them, customers can be classified based on who they are and what they have purchased. This allows retailers to streamline their approach and better cater to the needs and wants of every customer. Individualized customer analysis can greatly contribute to this strategy and help in building compelling customer experiences.
  • As online shopping becomes the new purchasing approach, it’s become vital for businesses to make in-store purchases just as smooth as online. Many businesses are failing to offer just as good of a customer experience in person. To avoid this, brands must install sensors to identify choke points and traffic patterns. This way brands could improve their customer experience, both online and in-store. 

Everything You Need to Know About Customer Success

Annette Franz is a well-versed writer who always shares new and exciting insights on improving customer experience and building value for customers. We’ve mentioned her in several posts already – Top 5 Customer Service Blog Posts of June 2021 where she talks about Customer Confidence & Top 5 Customer Experience Blog Posts of September 2020 – where she discusses how customers need to be the focal point of a business.

Her posts have always captivated me, and she did not fail to impress me in one of her recent points either. In this post, Annette discusses how brands can build value for their loyal customers faster.

Her post is a summarized version of a conversation between her and Rav Dhaliwal, an expert on customer success. They define customer success as a functional role that’s concentrated towards building value for customers faster than they can on their own. But the crucial point isn’t just building value faster, but also building value for the business. And this is focused on creating the right environment for customers through which value can be achieved.

Annette also introduces the Customer Success Managers who are the real heroes. She explains how they combine their experience, knowledge, and expertise to carefully engineer the best customer experience.

The key metric used to measure customer success is net revenue retention. This loosely translates into business value and the growth of customers. Annette also listed the following roles of CSM:

  • Rav categorized sales into three types: inbound, outbound, and continuous. The latter is concerned with recognizing the value of customers’ investments.
  • After recognizing values, upsell and cross-sell opportunities are discussed with customers.
  • In continuous selling, the initial roles and skills are practiced that led to the first sale with the customer.
  • CSM needs to have detailed product knowledge, product and commercial skills, and consultative potential so that customers can easily engage with CSM.

The post further capitalizes on achieving customer success.

Learning the Attributes of the Best CX Leaders

This enthralling post by Stephen Van Belleghem is based on the best-selling book by Stephen R. Covey, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book revolves around the traits of winning leaders who weren’t only inspiring but brought great change into the world.

This book applies to CX leaders too as the habits explicitly discussed in this book are the fundamental behaviors of a successful leader. These habits are:

  • Being Proactive

Successful CX leaders are proactive. Such leaders do not let uncontrollable variables obstruct their path. Rather they arise and make the path themselves.

  • Begin With the End

Covey believes that such leaders develop this map in their mind and then follow it. This map leads them to their goals in life. They figure out the destination and then figure out the route. Do First Things First

This point is concerned with prioritizing tasks and activities. If CX leaders are organized and have a regimented plan in place, there is nothing they cannot achieve.

  • Focus on Win-Win

A great CX leader will always look for a win-win situation rather than getting entangled in a toxic situation that results in a winner and a loser.

  • First Understand, Then Be Understood

It is important for effective leaders to first listen, without the intent of replying or offering a counter-argument.

  • Synergize

Successful CX leaders know that a seamless customer experience requires the efforts of a network, this is why it is important to involve everybody and acknowledge the opinions of all.

  • Sharpen the Saw

This metaphor refers to improving the tool, even if it means investing time. Good leaders always investigate ways via which something could be done faster.

Technology is the Light in the Dark

Every great customer experience is built on desirable customer interaction. Forrester’s research shows that not many companies do well at offering seamless customer experiences. And they can see the impact of this in declining financial rewards.

In his post, James McCormick lays great emphasis on incorporating technology in CX practices to maximize the gains. He mentions that many brands fail to obtain the right data that must be analyzed to understand customers and perfect their experiences. Such brands:

  • Lack of proper coordination between obtaining data and employing the right technology. Most CX teams rely greatly on advanced tools and instruments like Excel and Survey tools. But what they fail to understand is that they need to integrate their results with experience and speech analytics to better understand and manage customer experiences.
  • Fail to use all relevant data assets provided by the organization. Many CX leaders have access to all the modern technology, but they are unable to obtain data from other parts of the business. This results in inadequate analysis.
  • Prioritize customer opinion on data signals. Many CX leaders ignore the results of data analysis that offers close insights into the behavioral and engagement attitude of customers. Rather they trust the opinion of a handful of customers, which is not even an accurate representation of the entire demographic.

James also mentions some suggestions for CX leaders to follow:

  • Use a wide range of tech. Try to gather customer feedback and opinion and use tools to observe the behavior and response of customers.
  • Use experience analytics tools and include partners from other departments to diversify the tech portfolio. Make sure that all CX leaders agree on a single plan.

Conclusion

I hope you all enjoyed my favorite picks and to be perfectly candid, it was challenging for me to narrow my list down to just 5. CX leaders all around the globe have some educational and productive insights about improving customer experience.

Please share your views and opinions in the comments below. If you want to be featured on this interactive platform with our audience, please feel free to share the link to your content below. I’d love to check it out and continue advancing my knowledge and skills! Adios till next month!

Customer Experience

Recent CX Blog Posts Worth Reading

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We are witnessing history being made. In this age where a pandemic has taken over almost all functional units of the world, it is truly remarkable to see how well companies are managing their affairs. I have browsed through a healthy portion of CX blogs to shortlist the top 5 CX blog posts from April 2021, and I can confidently claim that almost all of them were packed with savvy information.

But, to keep you interested in the CX arena without boring you, I have picked out my five favorite posts. I have discussed the gist of each post. I have also attached a link so you can further explore each post in depth. So, let us get started!

1.    Learning from the Customer Experience Gurus Themselves

Over the course of years, I have come across many CX blog posts that are structured on the mere understanding of the overarching concept of delivering seamless customer service. But what caught my eye while I was reading this riveting post, written remarkably by the expert herself, Jeanne Bliss, was that it was a compilation of the most insightful advice of well-reputed customer experience leaders.

Firstly, she shares the lesson taught by Chip R. Bell. He emphasized how crucial the element of truthfulness is in building trust between the organization and the customers. He talked about how cultivating a transparent environment in the organization exudes safety and fairness. It develops a culture where customers can easily depend on the organization.

Next, she mentioned how Joseph Michelli harnesses change. She quoted Joseph on how change is an irrevocable and inevitable constant that will happen. The appetite of customers will change, and they will crave something new, and more delicious. And that is where the CX leaders need to learn, how to harness the power of technology and use it to their benefit.

Then she discusses the insights of Jay Baer. Jay explores a very rare but crucial perspective that precludes prospective customers from delving into a long-term commitment with firms. He outlines how companies only reward their loyal customers by giving rewards and engaging them in clubs. But people who are not their customers yet, are blatantly ignored.

Finally, she discusses Adrian Swinscoe’s views. He compares customer service to a sports team and referred to customers as players. He said that a good and considerate coach keeps a check on all players and makes sure that everyone is interested in playing the game.

2.    Are Emotional Metrics the Best Measure of Actual Customer Loyalty?

Many brands have laid great focus on the conventional behavioral metric, they have spent ages trying to perfect these metrics to comprehend, track, and analyze the behavior of customers to deliver precisely what they seek.

But in this post, Mary Pilecki proposes a thought-provoking question; can emotional loyalty metrics be used to measure customers’ actual loyalty? She also discusses the convincing reasons to answer this question.

She raises an important point that both the metrics: behavioral and emotional, must be dealt with together to measure true customer loyalty more accurately. Loyalty is more vastly concerned with how the consumer feels about a particular brand. But marketers find those metrics more useful that offer information regarding purchase behavior, the effectiveness of sales strategies, and retention. And this is elaborated on by behavioral metrics.

But these metrics do not help us in understanding why customers are drawn to a certain brand and why they continue to shop there. So, when the combination of both metrics is studied, the growth of CX is accelerated and this helps customer experience leaders to perfect their customer services. It is pertinent to delivering an impeccable customer service experience that one has a complete understanding of why a consumer is loyal and how their loyalty can be retained.

Emotional metrics are more profound and diverse than a single NPS score. The mere results of a customer satisfaction survey cannot determine how satisfied and happy the customers are with the brand’s services.

Brands should often conduct sentiment analysis, obtain feedback via call centers, and widen the breadth of data used to make important customer experience decisions.

3.    Why Customers Behave like Chameleons?

This interesting post is entirely based on the interview with the customer experience legend, Michael Solomon. It is conducted by Adrian Swinscoe and the complete post is a condensed version of the chat.

Michael is not in the favor of the broad idea that is market segmentation. He believes that it is a traditional strategy that is obsolete in modern market dynamics. He has introduced this metaphor where he related customers to chameleons. He capitalizes on the fact that customers change their behavior as they are exposed to new environments.

Customers have this wide variety of brands in front of them, and from that tray, they pick and choose the brands that speak to them, the brands that offer personalized and empathetic experiences. These inherent attributes of the brands resonate with the personalities of the people and based on those mutual interests and qualities; customers stick to certain brands.

He quotes a wonderful saying, “each customer is actually many customers.” This quotation perfectly encapsulates the analogy that is discussed in this post. Customer experience is a tricky game; you have to reach an inflection point; here you are giving customers sufficient options to choose from, but the number is not crazy large that you are unable to accommodate the desires of consumers.

He also added another dimension to his conversation. Adrian talked about perfecting the online experience for customers. He elaborated on how we are heading in a modern, and technologically structured age and digitalizing all departments is no longer a luxury, but a necessity.

4.    CX Leaders Are Invincible

Forrester is one of my favorite sites. I always love to explore what new they have cooked up on customer experiences; this site always manages to deliver insightful and compelling CX strategies that can help every organization grow. Similar to their agenda, this succinct and brilliant post by Su Doyle is another great example of how Forrester is leading all CX professionals to the right path.

In her post, Su Doyle discusses how CX leaders have the opportunity and the responsibility to instigate the company’s growth. She highlights a major and awfully common issue: the vision of the CX leaders and CEO does not often align. This can have a grave impact on budgets, staffing, and the overall culture of the organization.

But we have to realize that CX leaders are the greatest asset, they bring in the customers. CX leaders can even leverage their impeccable empathy and communication skills to interact with the C-suites. This way a more wholesome and seamless customer experience can be crafted, as the entire team will be on board.

The C-suites benefit greatly from the deep customer research conducted by the CX leaders. This way, they can connect with the audience better. Together these two teams can map prospect journeys and can integrate the customers’ feedback in the designing process. This well-lubricated process ensures that customers get along with both, CX leaders and the C-suites. This is vital to the growth of the business.

This is an exciting time to prioritize CX. Many brands are using CX as a weapon to accelerate their growth. Kroger made effective use of the consumer data they obtained and used it to achieve 15% growth in sales in their third quarter.

5.    A Guide to Building a Customer-Centric Culture

This excellent post by Ganesh Mukundan explicitly talks about how all brand around the globe is gravitating towards an ideology; customer-centricity. This popular concept has made its eminent place in the vision and mission of all brands.

Ganesh defines customer-centricity as not just a closely bounded idea that is concerned with delighting customers. It is a more profound and wider concept. It means that the customer is in the center of all the operations and matters of the business. It is long-term and it hints towards a strong relationship between customers and the organization.

Customer centricity is a way of life, it is a culture; not a technique that could be integrated at convenience. Ganesh mentions some strategies via which the brand can become more customer-centric.

  • Begin from the top – This means that the top management should be educated about how to deal and communicate with the customers. They should be aware of which decisions are to be made and which strategies are to be implemented that make the organization’s culture customer-centric.
  • Channel Empathy Across the Company – Empathy is the key to customer-centricity. If all employers, irrespective of their department, exercise empathy, the customer experience will itself transform into the best one. If everyone is motivated to be kind to customers and understand their issues with patience, customer centricity can be established.

This whole post talks about different strategies and which in which customer centricity can be cultivated.

Conclusion

The top 5 CX blog posts from April 2021 contribute to our understanding of the quickly changing scenario. The way all brands, all companies, and all CX experts are managing to drive the businesses in these tough times is truly awe-inspiring. These people are tenacious and resilient, they did not let a global pandemic, that initially wreaked havoc on the markets, does much damage to the customer experiences arena. Customers are more satisfied than ever as they see CX leaders connect with them emotionally.

In these crises, people are standing right beside each other and are supporting one another endlessly. These were my favorite picks from April, but it was challenging to narrow my recommendations to just five as I came across many riveting posts.

If you have any of your post to share, or any views and comments, please share with the audience. If you want to be featured, just drop a link below and I would love to read your views on the CX strategies. Till next month, I hope these exemplary posts will keep you busy!

Customer Experience

How an investment in CX can help your bottom line

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If you ask me, I’d say that currently, COVID-19 is ruling the entire business world. Every move and every strategy played by organizations is heavily influenced and structured by the pandemic. Though the graph of different departments and sectors in a business has declined, the customer service graph continues to soar high on improvement and effectiveness and I’m not surprised. Many businesses have realized that an investment in CX is one that pays major dividends in the long run.

I’ve shortlisted here some websites that you can use as great references to improve your CX. With this new year, I’ve seen considerable changes in the CX industry and I can say without a shred of doubt that the future of customer service seems to be very successful.

1.   What returns should you expect on your investment in CX?

Forrester has been one of our loyal partners throughout this series of reviewing top CX blog posts. And it didn’t fail to educate us again about the significance of transforming CX and investing our resources in it.

Principal Analyst Maxie Schmidt discusses the benefits of CX transformation in her post and capitalizes on the fact that they contribute towards a positive ROI.

The following numbers were reckoned via the analysis of data (benefits of investing in customer experience) obtained through the Customer Experience Index (CX Index) consumer survey:

  • Customers are 10 times more likely to recommend your company and be your ambassadors if customer service employees present in physical location vigilantly answer all customer queries.
  • Customers are 2.4 times more inclined towards staying in business with companies when their problems are resolved quickly.
  • Customers are 2.7 times more likely to invest and spend more in companies that communicate well with them.

All the data obtained was highly reliable and was an accurate representation of what customers felt as the survey was conducted on a large-scale. Such researches help companies in improving their CX and compel them to invest more in perfecting the customer experience.

Maxie also comes up with a few real-life examples that companies can incorporate into their own customer service sector. She stated that investing in training employees, upgrading technology, and improving professional services can prove to be a game-changer. We should learn from the behavior of Lloyds Banking Group, Target, Ping An, and Scottish Power.

2.   How to use data to create an impeccable customer experience?

Throughout this entire journey, I have seldom recommended a podcast to you or an interview; our favorite picks for blog posts have always been different reads. But this incredible piece written by Gabe Larsen summarizes his podcast where he talks to Steven Maskell and entertains his views on perfecting the customer experience.

In this riveting post, the main theme of discussion is how a personalized customer experience can be created and how it guarantees a customer service win for the company. The gist of the entire post is boiled down into three major points:

  • Using data to your advantage – Steven Maskell has been leading customer service teams for 30 years and he condensed his wisdom into a key pointer; creating a data-driven customer experience. In this post, Steven’s insights about how data must be integrated and analyzed allow us to better understand what customer wants. Steven’s emphasis on collecting data and fusing it with our knowledge allows us to shape the ideal customer experience that caters to every need of a customer.
  • Ripples together create a wave – After the data has been obtained, it is essential to determine the best way of storing and organizing it. Steven empathized with different companies and suggested that they should start somewhere small. One should learn about different relational databases and other tools so that the data is structured, right into the systems.
  • Bring in the big guns – I am referring to Artificial Intelligence (AI) here. It is like a godsend for every CX expert. AI has been normalized to a great extent and almost all organizations’ customer service departments benefit from it. But even with this miracle of technology, one must set up realistic expectations.

3.   Predicting CX Trends for 2021

Steve Davies captures our attention through this post about what the future of 2021 holds for Customer Experience. After a lot of meticulous research and comparisons with 2020 trends, Steve was able to come up with a compelling piece of writing.

In this post, five major trends in messaging are listed and explicitly discussed. These trends are expected to be seen in the CX world for the year 2021.

  • Widening Messaging Channels – It goes without saying that one of the most effective CX strategies is to improve the communication channels between customers and customer service employees. And the best way to do so is to offer a convenient solution, like messaging. It was deduced through research that more than 68% of customers preferred communicating to brands via private messages.
  • Customer Experience will outweigh price and quality – Through a study, it was found that customers valued Customer experience at 25%, which was nearly as important as the quality of product and service, which was valued at 29%. The price was below both factors, valued at 22%.  
  • Automate the Interactions – A study proved that around 67% of customers were more satisfied with the AI and automated interactions as compared to engaging with human customer service representatives.
  • Digitalize Interaction – Steve has talked about how the customer experiences can retain the personalized touch even if all interactions are shifted to digital forums. Though he covered all perspectives by stating that not everyone approves of digital customer relationships as personalized, but after months of the pandemic, it is the most effective and convenient option.
  • Only a few CX interactions are Proactive – Steve encouraged the brand to reach out more as only a handful of customer experiences are proactive and lead to something fruitful.

4.   What should you steer clear of when it comes to good customer service?

By now, we must have read a hundred articles, all talking about different strategies that a company must incorporate in order to perfect their customer experiences. However, this engrossing blog post by ASTUTE helps us identify the five practices that businesses should instantly give up as they are harming their customer service.

This post begins by highlighting the determining factor of an excellent customer experience: time. No one likes to wait, certainly not customers. And they measure the effectiveness of customer service and regard it as a great one based on the length of time taken to resolve the customer’s issue.

Next, this post outlines the benefits of providing efficient customer support. These were as follows:

  • Highly cost-effective as it reduces cost-per-contact
  • Contributes greatly towards a higher profit and revenue
  • Ensures customer utility and satisfaction
  • It builds customer loyalty

Then the main crux of the post revolves around the 5 major things that hinder the execution of efficient customer service. These five pointers were:

  • Avoid using key metrics and failing to measure customer service efficiency
  • Having human representatives handling every stage of customer service and not maximizing efficiency by automating customer service.
  • Having disconnected tools which waste a lot of time in keeping all platforms updated separately.
  • Having customer service agents work hard to find answers and not giving them complete knowledge about the arising of all possible issues.
  • Using tools that are in no way useful or related to the contact center.

5.   Co-Creating Customer Experiences with Customers

How could have we forgotten Annette Franz? Her posts have always been my favorite; they are so informative and refreshing that they always offer a new, bright perspective on improving the customer experience.  

The main focus of Annette throughout this post is to introduce a modern and more effective relationship between customers and organizations; she defines it as participative. She formed a connection between her previous posts and her recent ones to make the concept clearer. However, if you aren’t as big of a fan of her as I am, and you haven’t followed her posts, that is completely okay too. You will catch on to her perspective very easily.

Annette focuses largely on including customers in building a customer experience. She mentions that customers too are looking for a participative role in the relationship. Like all other relationships, this one too is two-way. Though companies are in the business of nurturing customers, but they are fulfilling the needs of customers through their services and products. And customers too want to include their input; so, the control should be shifted to co-creating.

Annette also mentioned a few co-creation tools that will lubricate the process of establishing a participative customer relationship:

  • Collecting customer feedback and data to understand them
  • Involve the customer in journey mapping
  • Ideation: gathering ideas from customers and prioritizing them based on customer votes
  • Form online communities to keep customers engaged
  • Build prototypes and test ideas with customers
  • Try crowdsource ideas

Conclusion

These were the top 5 CX blog posts from recent months, though I have to be completely honest, it was quite challenging to choose just the top 5 because, with the new year, the trends in CX transformation have also changed rapidly.

But it is truly commendable to see how smartly our CX experts are battling all issues put forward by the pandemic. I’ve come across hundreds of stories where customers are praising the customer service for empathizing with them and creating personalized experiences via digital platforms.

Comment below if you would like to share your insights. We can also feature a post written by you; just share the link below. I will meet you all next month with some new, exciting posts!

Customer Experience

These are the Top 5 CX Posts of December 2020

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I have to apologize for the lateness of this post. Suffice it to say that the challenges of a new job impacted my free time for January. However, let us pick from where we left off last; reviewing the top customer experience posts of November 2020. I have picked up the top CX posts of December 2020 for you, but it was quite challenging as I came across a compelling and interesting pool of CX posts. After studying all those posts, I realized that the CX experts out there continue to amaze us even as this unpredictable year wraps up.

Like all the previous posts, I will offer a detailed analysis of the gist of the top five posts and share with you the CX journey of companies worldwide. I will not be following a particular theme, so you can expect to be bedazzled by different stories. But one focal point will be the deliverance of impeccable and unprecedented customer experiences online. I will be attaching the link to each post so you can individually check them out. Let us get started!

Can you measure CX in dollars?

Forrester has been our top consistent partner in these blog posts. I don’t remember a single month where we didn’t quote a remarkable post from this site. This month too, Maxie Schmidt, a Principal Analyst, shared her insights on Forrester’s platform. In this post, she defines the dollar value of improving customer experience.

She reckoned the relationship between business growth and improvement in CX. A numeric value was assigned to this association so the significance of improving CX could be known. 14 industries were studied under the Customer Experience Index Survey.

The condensed version of the results is:

  • The benefits associated with improving CX are massive. It was deduced for mass-market auto manufacturers, that by improving CX by 1 point, more than $1B can be generated in revenue.
  • The advantages of improving CX rise exponentially when happy customers are made happier. So, the focus must be shifted here rather than from making unhappy customers less unhappy.
  • The impact of recommendations on the business upside of CX is small and nearly negligible. Gaining new customers through recommendations makes up for less than 7% of the total business benefit gained from the improved customer experience.

Here is how you can calculate and measure the impact of improving CX and relate it to your company:

  • Assess the business impact of every individual customer’s loyalty. Study the intentions of customers who stay, who buy more, and those who eventually recommend you.
  • Build models that display how CX is stimulating growth. Make sure these models are specific to the market and industry.

Use the model to calculate the benefit of improving CX by 1 point and its consequent impact on business growth.

Is great customer experience your intention?

What’s the secret to a great customer experience? Isn’t that a million-dollar question that we have been looking for the answer to? Anette Franz has made it easier for us to understand how we can nearly perfect the customer experience.

In this post, she talks about the famous quote of Bob Farell, the founder of Farell’s ice cream parlors, “Give em’ a pickle!”. Bob said this after he received a disappointing letter from a customer who complained about his services. Bob makes this golden rule that serving others should be the top priority of businesses.

One must not be opportunistic, rather one should look for delivering a personal and good experience to customers. Business is not all about earning an extra dollar or a few dimes, but it is connecting with customers and fulfilling their needs and wants.

Even in her book, she dedicated a large portion of it to why brands fail to retain customers or keep customers satisfied and happy. One of the major reasons is that shareholders are more focused on filling their pockets rather than nurturing customers and creating customer value. So the magical rule that one shall abide by is: Do what’s right for and by the customer. This is how Anette describes the secret to delivering a memorable customer experience. This is a short and brief post, but it teaches us so much about delivering customer value.

Trends to follow to reshape CX in 2021

We now know that there is no going back to the normal, brands must reshape their vision of how they imagine and execute a strong customer experience. John Aves shares his wisdom in this post and introduces the 6 major trends that will shape the CX redesign in 2021. Let us review them:

  • You must not look back – Companies that believe that everything will return to the old normal will not survive in the coming times. They will collapse and will be unable to thrive. Leaders would have to be bold and daring so they can impose changes required to revitalize the customer experience.
  • You would have to take a stand – Customers will look to side with businesses that care about prevailing issues and take a stand. They will offer their loyalty to businesses who assess their brand purpose and align it with customer values.
  • No more consumerism – Consumers are no longer looking for meaningless connections. After a month of being quarantined, they’ll covet social connection. And businesses should offer meaningful customer experiences.
  • Customers want to be in the driving seat – For far too long, customers have been anxious because they are no longer in control. To make sure that they feel secure, CX leaders should make customers feel in control of their experience.
  • Digital Balance – This is a tough time for all and as we move on next year, CX leaders have to be more empathetic and kinder towards customers. They must take their hand and together travel on key digital journeys.
  • Consistency is the Key – CX consistency is the holy grail. No matter where employees or customers are if the vaccination is introduced or not, a consistent customer experience must be delivered.

How can you improve your companies CX strategies?

The expert panel of Forbes drafted this post and they educate businesses about how they can improve their CX strategies. The top CX leaders at Forbes each shared a piece of advice that will help businesses grow and develop a remarkable customer experience.

  1. Focus more on customer journey mapping: the most crucial source of data is search, as it can help marketers to map their customers’ decision journey. This results in more touchpoints and hence, increased sales.
  2. A well-planned execution process: Incorporate feedback and suggestions from your customer and draft a well written CX plan.
  3. Extend the customer experience and adapt to the changes to reach a wider range of customers.
  4. Build a client-centric culture: be more focused on what your clients want and what their needs are.
  5. Make your customer experience informative and delightful.
  6. Make effective use of key metrics and keep on checking them to assess the growth.
  7. Leverage the surveys conducted and record the reviews and study them meticulously.
  8. Make sure that you respond efficiently and take minimum time.
  9. Make sure you deliver the perfect blend of human expertise and complex technology.
  10. You cannot and must not define customer success on your terms
  11. You must deliver a personal experience by being relatable and human.
  12. Incorporate conversational AI as customers tend to leave the brand after one or two bad customer experiences.
  13. Focus greatly on digital experience and try to perfect it.
  14. A personalized experience is the best one.
  15. Have an effective and strong customer retention program where you can receive customer feedback and reviews.

The year of CX Data

If you enjoy a little bit of wit with tons of resourceful and informative posts, then you are going to love this piece eloquently written by Jim Tincher. In this post, he talks about digital hygiene and how crucial it is for us to clean the bad data.

We can view 2020 as the year of digital transformation. And though for many years, CX leaders were thriving to make customer experiences digital, this year transformed this desire into a need of the time. And we had to amplify our works to make sure that seamless customer experiences are delivered online.

The one limitation that held us back and continues to limit our growth is bad data. It limits the organizations’ abilities to meet customers’ needs and satiate them. The dirty, disconnected, and unmatched data makes it almost impossible for organizations to implement digital transformation and get the operating systems running. Lack of clean and good data results in the wrong and incorrect information being delivered to customers and that can put your whole organization and business in jeopardy.

It is safe to assume that bad data is the underlying cause that triggers bad customer experience. There is no time for organizations to waste. We must make sure that we clean the data often and regularly. So, our predictions for 2020 are, that this year will be the year of empathy, technology, and executive engagement.

Conclusion

This is a wrap for us. As we’ve bid adieu to the year 2020, we hope and pray for positive news in the upcoming year and though the previous year brought a lot of pain, it also showed how resilient and adaptive our companies are.

Let’s hope this global crisis soon ends and we all adjust to the new normal. Comment below and share with us your views and thoughts. If you want to get featured on our blog, share the link of your post in the comment section and we’ll share it with our audience. Will meet you next time with some more new and exciting CX posts!

Customer Experience

Top CX Posts November 2020

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Let’s pick up from where we left off last month in our list of Top CX posts for October.

Over the course of this month, I’ve spent a lot of time reading and compiling a post of top cx blog posts for November 2020 that I wanted to share with you.

I read some very interesting blog posts that showed me how so many companies are thriving even though the COVID-19 has limited them physically.

I am sharing my favorite picks and attaching a link along so that you can explore them further. They do not follow a specific theme, but I believe they merit applaud and acknowledgment. So, let’s get started.

1. Customer Empowerment Amid a Global Pandemic

This post by Blake Morgan was an unusual one and riveted my interest right at the beginning. If you ask yourself which aspect influenced the market dynamics the most. Without hesitation, you will answer the highly feared and prevalent, COVID-19.

NICE inContact CEO Paul Jarman shares his insights in this post and changes our perspective about the outbreak of the global pandemic and its ramifications. He mentioned how the pandemic paved a way for customers where they can share their voices and opinions.

He emphasized the key takeaways that we should learn from to shape our customer experiences in 2021. Because of the democratization of opinion, customers have more power than ever. They are sharing their experiences overtly and are utilizing the online platforms excessively.

The following four major takeaways are discussed explicitly in this post:

  • Shifting to the Cloud – A survey revealed that around 66% of contact decision-makers were moving their data and activities to the cloud. There will be more agility and room for innovation in the cloud. This will ensure seamless and uniform customer service all across.
  • Increased Use of Digital Channels – Since the COVID-19 outbreak, more than 62% of contact centers have gone digital and used online platforms to communicate. Considering the situation doesn’t diffuse, customers will seek a digital customer experience. So, improvements and amendments shall be made accordingly.
  • More Mobile Applications – Companies using mobile apps grew from 8% to 56% since the pandemic. People are relying heavily on apps and so effective mobile apps must be developed to keep up with the demand.
  • Improving Chatbots – Many marketers believe that the future of customer experience relies greatly on the use of chatbots. In a study, it was deduced that around 90% of CX practitioners have claimed that the chatbots need to be more user-friendly and digitally smart. The incorporation of modern features will help enhance its use.

2. Trust is everything

The Senior Analyst at Forrester, Anjali Lai, eloquently describes the unmatched significance of building trust in the relationship with consumers in her post.

She defined consumer trust as “Trust is confidence in the high probability that a person or organization will spark a certain outcome in a relationship.”.

She described how humans are inherently trusting and how we can track the logical and chemical stimulants that trigger trust and similar feelings. She also explains a few key points that are:

  • Trust is Confidence – The trust you pour in your kids that they will clean up after you is solely based on hope and optimism. Just like that, you have to instill this level of trust in consumers so that they become your loyal customers.
  • Trust is About a Particular Outcome – Marketers are always scratching their heads because they are in the race of earning the “most-trusted brand” title. The ranking is not a defining determinant for the consumers. They constantly assess the outcomes in relation to their expectation.
  • A Relationship is Structured on Trust – Like every other relationship in this world, a relationship between an employee and consumer is also based on trust. If consumers fail to trust these services, products, and the company, you will not be able to achieve customer value or deliver an exceptional customer experience.

3. How to Make Fans for Your Business?

If you think that tons of customers will get out of their way to engage in a business with you just because you are delivering exceptional customer service, then you are mistaken. The price of earning true customer loyalty goes beyond fashioning just an experience.

Jim Tincher makes a point in his post that just creating an effortless experience for the customers wouldn’t suffice to make them your loyal and most valued customers. He is also aware that his stance is wildly unpopular, but he supports his reasoning with compelling arguments.

He perfectly encapsulates his theory that loyalty can’t be built by resolving issues, rather it just prevents disloyalty. Loyalty is when customers are swimming in a pool of options, but they willingly choose you. And the culminating point is when the customers have a cheaper and more convenient alternative, yet they continue to choose you; that is the real determinant of loyalty.

So, this proves that it’s not the ease of engaging in business but the emotional connection that compels customers to stay connected with you. That is what customer experience is all about; building emotional and meaningful relationships with the customers.

Though this is a short piece of writing, it caught my eye because it was eccentric and was centered around an unpopular opinion. This post overtly talks about the fallacy that customers need to be wowed. However, they just want to be done.

4. Efficiency and Empathy in Harmony

The aftermath of the pandemic is still unknown and inexplicable. The prevailing uncertainty has put the analysts and company leaders in a conundrum as they cannot assess which strategy, they must opt for to survive in the post-pandemic world. We all are suffering through the adverse effects of COVID-19 and these times have not just been challenging for the companies but also for customers.

Blair Pleasant talks openly in this post about how we have to cope up with the long-term changes of the pandemic and make our place in the virtual world. She capitalized on how the increasing dependence on online working or work from home has led people to come up with creative and innovative solutions to deliver exceptional customer service. She also mentions the new strategies that companies have come up with to meet the growing customer demands and expectations.

The best thing to come out of the lockdown is the newfound respect for the concept of empathy. People locked up at home and having the crippling fear of the pandemic has made everyone empathetic and consequently humanized customer experiences. People are more invested in offering a personal experience to the customers.

Agents are trained to listen to the issues of customers and address them willingly, with utmost concern. It is now a challenge for companies to find the right balance between efficiency and empathy because, in these tough times, businesses should prioritize solving customer complaints rather than generating profits.

She also laid great emphasis on how video interactions and visual connections can add a personalized touch and help in creating a stronger employee-customer relationship.

5. Timeless Customer Experience Trends

The fast-changing environment of the world always keeps us in uncertainty. There are many obvious challenges and very few opportunities that await us. But after decades of learning the trends and patterns, analysts have deduced a set of standard rules that significantly affect the customer experience.

Though COVID-19 has greatly changed the market dynamics, there is a set of trends that remains timeless and is even applicable in these unprecedented times. Michael Hinshaw discusses these trends in this post and guides companies about the direction they shall pursue to deliver impeccable customer service.

  • Advancement in Digital Transformation – With the outbreak of a global pandemic, the shift to digital platforms and media has been at its peak. And from here the curve will rise as dependence on digital channels is increasing substantially.
  • Determining the ROI of CX – More accurate and precise metric modes, analytical tools, and decision frameworks are employed so that customers’ experiences could be understood better. These tools are constantly improving as they help in delivering a memorable customer experience.
  • Customer Understanding – It is always important to know how customers truly feel and what do they genuinely desire. Without understanding the underlying needs of customers, it becomes nearly impossible to deliver a great customer experience.
  • An Adaptive and Agile Approach – Linear approaches become redundant quickly and do not match the changing market flow. However, a more agile approach helps the companies to resonate with the changing trends. With better data and customer understanding attained via an adaptive approach, customer value is achieved.
  • Prioritizing Employee Experience – A great customer experience cannot be delivered without creating a good employee experience. The workplace environment and relationship between the company and employees are improving greatly. Leaders are bridging the professional gap, refining systems, and are encouraging collaboration. Companies are redefining the employee experience as the organization’s success depends greatly on it.

Conclusion

It was quite difficult to find my picks for this month. All articles I came across were so fascinating and riveting. Isn’t it amazing to see how businesses are not just surviving but flourishing in these times?

Though the initial months of the pandemic outbreak were challenging but just as the companies have adapted to the new conditions, they are coming up with innovative ways to avail opportunities and perform optimally.

Comment below and share your thoughts and reviews. If you want to share your posts with us, you can share the link in the comments, and we will feature your post in the next session. This was all for November 2020!

Customer Experience

Top 5 Customer Experience Blog Posts from October 2020

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I solemnly welcome you all back again to our quarantine edition of the best Customer Experience (CX) blog posts. Though it is deeply saddening to see how rampant the pandemic is around the world, you will certainly be amazed at the strategic planning of organizations that continue to focus on offering exceptional customer service.

If you remember the amazing CX posts batch from September that I shared previously, you would know that you are in for a treat this month too. I have gathered the top five CX posts for October 2020. As the world is impacted by the ramifications of the COVID-19 outbreak, a shift in the pattern of customer support service was discovered. So, let’s see how major businesses surmounted these obstacles and what pearls of wisdom they have shared.

As I’ll be discussing the gist and the condensed version of each blog post, if you want to read the post in its entirety, just follow the link.

1) Now Customer Support Entails Being a Mind-Reader

Adrian Swinscoe interviewed the well-reputed Paul Adams, the SVP of Product at Intercom. In his blog post, he discussed the crux of the interview and jotted it in pointers. This unconventional blog post highlighted an integral aspect of customer support: proactive service.  He mentioned how this term may be perceived as ambiguous, but it captures the essence of impeccable customer support service.

Paul outlined the proactive approach as anticipating the questions of customers before they even ask them. This predictive behavior is the holy grail of customer support. Paul also stated the statistics of a study that claimed that 78% of support managers wanted to incorporate the proactive approach and remove reactive service. But, only 26% of such leaders carried the knowledge, skills, and equipment to do so.

Paul categorized proactive support into the following three major types:

  • Planned: this refers to supporting customers based on their usage history, behavioral patterns, and other data. In this approach, predictive analysis is conducted.
  • Situational: the support team opts for this approach when they are aware of a fault or an issue in either the product or service, but they appraise the customers beforehand. This way they avoid an influx of complaints and calls.
  • V.I.P Proactive Support: this approach is slightly complex and not so common. In this approach, the clients’ needs are under constant spotlight and undisturbed attention is granted. Their behavior is seen and even minor changes in their usage or behavioral patterns are noted and then meticulously analyzed.

2) Don’t Let the Pandemic Stop You

Francine Johnson shared her insights in this educative blog post that guides the audience about how they can fashion a congenial customer experience. She termed CX as an essential part of the customer’s end-to-end journey with the product.

She used the F5, a B2B cyber-security company, as a reference and explained how businesses can continue to deliver exemplary customer service despite the hindrances posited by COVID-19.

Francine discussed how crucial it is to support leaders to identify the friction points and then address them by making improvements and amends accordingly. A fruitful CX program is structured on customer engagements, smooth communication, effective advocacy, and prudent insights. She explicitly talked about three essential ways in which an organization could build a successful customer experience. These ways are:

  • Finding the Right Balance – Striking the balance refers to communicating a particular kind of information to customers. For the F5 company, Francine talks about creating a balance between notifying customers of threats and creating cherished memories. Such a balance can only be achieved through effective communication.
  • Profits are Secondary – Francine recommended that as employees we should empathize with the customers as their lives to are gravely affected by the pandemic. So, instead of focusing on the money-making strategies, the support team should genuinely be concerned for the customers. It is important to lead with a human-first mindset.
  • The Internal Strength – It is imperative to build a customer-first mindset that not only prevails in the support team but is backed up by the executive leadership. Francine claimed that a team of professionals and experts is not enough to execute productive customer support. It would require executive support and assistance too.

3) Does Losing a Customer Sting? Now no more!

This post is written by Jim Tincher and it truly encapsulates the raw emotions felts by a B2B company when they lose a sale, they worked hard for. But it also shows them a light at the end of the tunnel so that they can improve their customer service and avoid any such loss in the future. He introduces us to the Voice of the Last Lost Customer. Then he signifies how businesses can manage the VoLLC. The guidelines were:

  • Frequently talk to salespeople – As a CX leader make sure that you take the feedback of salespeople under review. If the salespeople don’t feel safe sharing their opinion, you may expect trouble. It will become difficult for you to manage and improve your customer service.
  • Go on account calls – You can obtain a holistic view of what your customers need as salespeople talk directly to customer executives and VoC channels are majorly concerned with the users.
  • It can be a blessing in disguise – Though sometimes the sales’ VoLLC is not on the mark. They may not target your major customers but the sales they bring in can be considered significant.

As a CX leader, most people would target customer loyalty. But it is beneficial to focus on VoLLC too.

4) Can You Measure Value for Customers?

In her post, Maxie Schmidt talks about her latest report, “How to measure value for customers?”. She starts by stating that most organizations fail to determine whether customers gain value from engaging in business with them or not.

She explains that customers acquire value from a business when they get more than what they are giving up. Value for customers does not stay constant, rather it changes frequently like needs. Maxie however, encircled the value for customers in the following four major dimensions:

  • Functional: defines the purpose
  • Experiential: takes into account the interactions
  • Symbolic: refers to the meaning
  • Economic: discusses the financial aspect
(Image Source)

She capitalizes on the major incompetence of businesses and how they fail to measure value for customers. This usually happens because they are either making use of unreliable and inaccurate metrics, or they have limited knowledge about how customers gain value and which value drivers are most important.

Then she suggests effective ways in which businesses can overcome the factors that inhibit the measuring of value for customers. These tips are:

  • Integrate quantitative research and locate the key drivers of value: She explains how the feedback and data alone cannot determine customer value. We need to make use of research tools and understanding the four dimensions.
  • Define a practical measurement per value driver: In this approach, the CX professional either needs to come up with new data sources and metrics or they can make use of existing data sources. Their aim should be to not pose a burden on customers.
  • Reckoning a competitive value gap: By acquiring competitive data CX analysts can focus on the key drivers and draw a comparison of their performance and their competitor’s performance.

5) Customers are Humans, not Consumers

Jim Tincher shares his unique and compelling perspective regarding the prevailing customer experience strategies opted by businesses. He begins his blog post with a riveting quote that read: “A consumer is a statistic. A customer is a person.” This quotation inspires his entire post as he staunchly believes that businesses should offer a more personalized experience rather than focusing on the profits.

In his blog post, he shares some insightful tips on how businesses can please their customers. These are as follows:

  • Being specific is not always the smartest option
    Sometimes choosing a highly specific term or label can get you in great trouble. So, maybe sometimes sits prudent to generalize.
  • Treat customers as normal people
    Customers are not some consumers who prey on your product. Treat them with empathy and be genuinely concerned for them.
  • Perspective is important
    It is very important to change the perspective of the audience based on the strategies we incorporate and the labels we choose.
  • Look out for unintentional bias
    Under this heading, Jim mentioned an example of how the term producer was replaced with a financial professional based on the connotation associated with the two.
  • Choose your words wisely
    Jim laid great emphasis on how we label, and term things, and people can change the entire narrative of the situation.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my favorite picks of Top CX Blog Posts for October 2020. For me, all of these posts were very fascinating and riveting. To see businesses, stay headstrong, and continuously improve to offer impeccable customer service and experience is truly amazing. Mostly all companies are being customer-centric and are trying to stay tenacious in these difficult times.

If you have a story or an experience to share with our audience, please feel free to contact us. Comment below or just the link of your blog post and we will feature you in our upcoming sessions.

Will meet you all next month with another enthralling batch of top CX posts. Till then stay healthy and safe!

Customer Experience

Top CX Blog Posts August 2020

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The whole COVOD-19 situation has really impacted people’s businesses and their personal lives. It has been months now that we have been talking about the paradigm shift that was experienced by the customer services in terms of conforming to the protocols of surviving in a global pandemic. But it is awe-inspiring to witness how amazingly organizations have dealt with the implications COVID-19 imposed on business activities and kept making their customer experiences a focus.

So, let’s pick up from where we left off last; in this post, we will review the best cx blog posts of August 2020. There won’t be one focal theme so we will assess articles structured on diverse themes and we will see how they best relate to current circumstances.

1. How to Please Your Customers?

If you would have researched the nature of customers years ago, you would be shocked by the disparity that stands between customer interests and knowledge of products then and now. Customers now are more engaging and interactive with the firm. They have a depth of knowledge today that was simply unavailable in years gone by. With access to the internet and social media, they ask cogent and relevant questions and companies need to ensure that the information they make public is useful and informative. They want to know more about a product and provide helpful feedback that widens the prospect of the company. They want more than a mere transaction; they are looking for personalized solutions and guidance. An obliging attitude will make customers our brand advocates but if we play our cards wrong, they will shift to our competitors.

Beth Worthy, in her blog post, explicitly discusses the importance of providing remarkable customer experiences. She also proposes the following six strategies that can make the customers experience seamless:

Survey Customers and Acquire Feedback

Garnering the comments of customers can do wonders for your business. Their input and feedback can help you locate where you are doing wrong. And if you rectify your mistakes on the suggestion of customers, they will feel respected, which should be your sole aim.

Build Brand Trust

Global Consumer Insights Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers stated that 35% of customers purchase the products from a certain brand because they trust the name. Work hard to build an honest relationship with them.

Create Personalized Videos

Nothing sells better than a captivating advertisement or a compelling video. Create videos that concern particular selling points or issues faced by the customers. And make it seem like it is directed towards a particular group and a handful of customers; don’t generalize the videos.

Live Chat and Online Support

In this time of a global pandemic, contact customers through live chat and converse with them amicably and resolve their problems over a video chat. This way they will feel connected and cherished. Chat is a fast and effective way of connecting with customers and can often mitigate the filing of cases and tickets. In addition, chat can also be used for sales activities helping drive new revenue into a business.

Localize Brand Messaging

If you want to pave your way in the international market, do so by resonating with the local community. Learn about their culture and community and then incorporate it into your product and marketing techniques.

Customized Offers and Personalized Content

As customers, you won’t appreciate receiving a standard email that by the looks of it is a send-to-all email with the names changed. A Salesforce study concluded that 59% of customers believe that brands that engage with customers via personalized offers are more likely to win their loyalty. You want to feel valued and this can only happen if brands propose customized offers special for each customer.

2. Evolution or Revolution of Customer Experience

We may never know if COVID-19 reached its culmination or when the next peak will arrive. However, the whole outbreak led to a considerable change in the dynamics of customer relations. Maybe this will be the new normal for us now.

Tom Mouhsian and Riccardo Pasto, correctly pointed out in their blog post that in this dire time of need, customers are expecting the trust and support of companies they are in business with. This pandemic is steering the business activities and is manifesting a new way of conducting business. But Forrester has meticulously analyzed the patterns and prudently predicted the prospects and has identified 5 key shifts that concern the impact of:

  • Hybrid experiences created because of digitalization
  • Future of work and governmental policies
  • Coping with technological disturbances
  • The tenacity of businesses in competitive markets
  • Expectations of customers concerning safety

It is no secret that many firms are struggling to conform to the new normal; the challenges of a second COVID-19 outbreak have really put many businesses in jeopardy. Many failed CX experiences are coming into the limelight but companies should stay hopeful and resilient. To rectify this, the authors laid great emphasis on how to incorporate the expert advice of CX professionals and marketers. It is vital to infuse their insights so we can establish a healthy relationship with customers.

3. The CX Power Team

This blog post includes the interview of Anastasia Zdoroviak, a senior manager of the customer experience team at Door Dash, conducted by Angelina Gennis. In this interview, Anastasia Zdoroviak shares her experience with customer services and the issues she confronted. She talks about how the root causes are communication, merchant behavior, and the attitude of delivery professionals. But she can’t go against the Dahser’s as they engage directly with customers and getting into a conflict with them could compromise the whole customer experience.

She also revealed her strategy of using the qualitative data and incorporating it with the works of the analytical team and then devising an apt solution with the engineering and product team. She also shared the example of Dasher onboard experience and elicited how she and her team tackled that issue; she reviewed customer feedback, analyzed the issue, identified the root cause, and corrected it. She also encapsulated her insights into 5 major recommendations:

  • Efficiently analyze the data; review customers’ feedback on all platforms
  • Assess the quality and sources of data
  • Make use of an omnichannel analytical tool
  • Study qualitative feedback with quantitative data collected
  • Engage with customers personally

4. Need for Customer Experience More Than Ever

We have seen more innovation and creativity circulating in the field of customer experience in the past few months than we have witnessed in decades. Mohanbir Sawhney talks about how the customer experience model has completely changed, and it will probably remain the same for the next generation at the least. He explains how companies have adapted to the new normal and how they are making amends to make sure that the customer’s experience remains seamless and memorable.

The author takes into account the work ethics of Jio, India’s largest digital services company, and the second-largest mobile services operator in the world. Right after the retailer sector shut down. Jio began perfecting their customer experiences to make sure the consumers didn’t feel left out or too affected due to the adverse effects of the pandemic.

The workers worked diligently from home, the employees at call centers were on their toes to serve customers and shifted their customer care operations on mobile so the employees could easily resolve customer issues from anywhere. Jio’s zero-touch customer experience was inspired by the precautions taken for the global pandemic and was highly appreciated globally. The goal set by this company and achieved in this lockdown without compromising performance and reliability is really inspiring. At this time customers need the support of brands to accommodate their needs optimally and Jio has really given us all something to think about.

5. A Statement Defining Your Promised Customer Experience

In his blog post, Annette Franz talks about devising a customer experience intent statement. Don’t confuse this with the vision statement of your organization as that only pertains to the corporate vision. But the customer experience intent statement talks about designing personalized and engaging customer interactions and relationships.

This statement helps firms fashion a decision and then perfect its execution. These actions and decisions are strictly related to making customer experience amicable and significant. This statement is worth a lot as it will show customers what your intentions and promises are. This may seem like a mundane task and another statement in your brochure or marketing platforms, but the magnitude of impact this statement will impose is measurable. Customers do not need elaborate stories or fancy ads to convince them to engage in business with you. They need an abridged version of what you intend to deliver them. And a succinct statement will do that. So, review the guidelines mentioned by Annette Franz to come up with a catchy and compelling customer experience intent statement.

If you are struggling to deliver a consistent customer experience, formulate this reference and take into consideration the limitations of your organization, cooperation of the employees, and dedication of the customer services team. Don’t lead on the customers based on hollow promises and inaccurate statements.

Conclusion

So, we have wrapped up the top CX blog posts for August 2020. Hope you enjoyed reading about how companies are coping with the global pandemic and adjusting their strategies to make sure that the customer experience remains undisturbed. I would like to praise the companies who are going beyond their ways and our imaginations to make sure that customers remain satisfied. Comment below and let us know about an interesting customer experience that you were a part of. If you want to share something with our audience, please feel free to reach out to us. We’ll get back to you guys with a fresh batch of amazing CX blog posts next month.

 

Customer Experience

Top 5 CX Blog Posts in June 2020

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Let’s continue where we left off from the last time; appraising the best customer service posts available on the web. In this series, I will share with you my Top 5 CX Blog Posts which include all the best customer service, customer success, and customer experiences stories I can find. I will not be following a particular theme so the focal topic of discussion will be reviews of the revamping of customer experiences online.

Like the previous session of the blog post series, I will provide an abridged edition and analysis of the articles that I uncovered in the previous month, June 2020. The following articles are those which I deemed the best for further exploration. If you want to assess these articles in detail, I will be adding their link and you can go check them out. So, let’s begin!

Which Customer Advocacy Type Suits You the Best?

Forrester conducted research that proved that 92% of the marketers claimed that when they interacted with customers after the sale, this improved marketing’s cachet and displayed marketer’s integrity to the customer. 79% of the customers, who were transformed into the marketer’s exponent showed a boost in upselling, cross-sell and it enhanced the value of the product. 

We must develop a credible relationship with the customers to make them feel valued. Laura emphasized on how beneficial it is for us to engage with customers and reciprocate well. It was fascinating how she also identified the perspective of customers and how they perceive the value granted to them. They may become advocates for the marketers but in their specific way.

In her blog post, Laura Ramos classifies the four different types of customer advocates and attributes them based on what they value:

  • Educators: These are the type of customers that tell about their personal experiences and share the best practices that they believe markets should adopt. Marketers usually tend to exploit this trait as they can extract some useful tips from and then turn them into an audience-appealing educational content.
  • Validators:  These customers are engaging, and they provide helpful input in terms of suggestions and feedbacks. They enjoy being included in your customer advisory group and would even publish reviews applauding your work.
  • Status Seekers: This group tends to be aspiring and determined to brand the companies. They thrive under the limelight provide by marketers.
  • Collaborators: This is a popular type. This type looks at those rare opportunities around them and takes joy in experimenting and unraveling new ideas. They might be inclined to invest their resources, but it is not recommended to attain their feedback on your future ventures.

You must define the customer’s advocacy that will optimize your marketing strategy and then you shall determine which type is best suited for you. The more interesting advice from Forrester’s study was “deliver value first and trust that customer references, referrals and other benefits will follow”. Make this your motto and you will succeed undoubtedly.

Is your Business Practice Ideal in the Time of Coronavirus?

Shervin Talieh’s blog post was so emotionally appealing and it highlighted the lack of empathy prevailing in these difficult times. He made compelling points through his post on this amazing site, Help Scout, and convinced people how we need to alter our motives from monetary gains to benefitting humanity. He even added these cogent examples that were desensitized acts of companies that made a solid case for his topic.

As customers, we may often feel that the ‘helpful’ customer service is condescending and offensive and this would be infuriating. For those incorporated in CX, the customer service usually appears to be an obvious aspect. So, as a customer, I can profoundly relate to all of the parts of the post.

For example, Ticketmaster’s response to Covid-19 was so disturbing and inhuman. How they refused to refund the tickets people spent hefty amounts on and revert this decision only after massive scrutiny. He emphasized frequently the significance of prioritizing small acts of humanity in this time of global pandemic and even illustrated many ways that people could easily follow.

I liked how Shervin connected with the human side of individuals through his post and educated us about how we can salvage our business by being honest with customers and sharing the state of business with them. Also, we should make our customers feel valued, appreciated, heard, and respected. Along with these, he shared some of his wonderful insights that will help you to maintain a healthy relationship with the customer.

I completely agree with Shervin and his understanding of acquired business practices in these tough times. He advised all of us to re-examine our KPIs and the metrics we value along with much other rightful guidance to be followed.

Tough Times for Tough Measures!

 spoke the heart out of customers when he said, “Nothing else will matter to your customers if their basic need to feel safe is not fulfilled by the experience you are delivering”. He is correct! In this global crisis, we can only gain the trust of customers if we make them feel safe and protected. So, in this post on People Metrics, Sean condensed his knowledge into five effective recommendations will you to re-establish your VoC program.

You have to make sure that you prioritize customer’s safety and you show them that you have taken all the essential precautions. Before everything, YOU MUST mention the safety question. Ask the customer if they felt safe during this visit and this will show your utmost concern. It was a brilliant suggestion to add an open-ended question after it. I mean the customer would fall in love with how much concerned you are for their safety and well-being. If someone replies that they did not feel safe, you must confide in them and ask how you could have improved. Investigate the root cause; this will be gold. Customers will see how devoted you are to make everything safe.

For any customer experience expert or VoC professional out there, make it your utmost priority to respond to the feedback and act on it. Credit the customers’ remarks as a holy mantra that you shall abide by as these tough times call for tough measures too!

Employees are the new priority!

I agree with Anette that no one was prepared for the imposed adversities of Covid-19 and it has been challenging for the employees to adjust with the temporarily altered work laws. As a worker, imagine no 100% motivation or encouragement for you as you won’t be physically present in the workplace.

This set of ways that Anette drafted and publicized through her blog post on CX Journey helps us to engage the workforce from home and create a virtual work environment that is closely related to the actual setting.

  • Maintain the organization’s culture and operate with correspondence to core values
  • Effective communication to share updates and keep the employees’ morale high
  • Providing feedback to improve the productivity of workers
  • Correct allocation of tools and resources
  • Rightful autonomy and empowerment as you have to trust the employees; you cannot monitor all their actions

Do not be discouraged by the setbacks as it is a difficult time for everyone so not all things will go according to your plan. I know up until now we have focused greatly on how important it is to establish a healthy relationship with the customer but think how can you create an effective relationship if your own company is broken? So, make sure your employees are satisfied and you have a good connection with them. Anette’s long-term customer experiences make her words credible and influential.

The Digital Takeover in Covid-19

Covid-19 crisis has taken a massive hit on the retail market and companies have suffered significant losses due to it. Jonathan Wharrad, through his blog post on Essential Retail, shared his insights about the incorporation of digital facilities in the businesses. He explained how companies all over are recovering by revamping their business models and adapting to modern techniques.

As you know in these challenging times, customers require assurance that all health and safety regulations are being followed. So, the companies are utilizing devices like cameras to monitor crowds and robots to kill the germs on food packaging and other surfaces. I mean how cool is that!

The popularity that contactless has garnered is amazing and its use is so beneficial for people. The most important constant through all of this hassle has been a connection with customers. Customers are prudent that the brands will engage with them and maintain their utility by developing a digital relationship with them and keeping track of their needs and suggestions.

Interestingly, this will redefine personalized marketing on a greater scale. But Jonathan has rightfully predicted that our reliance on technology will grow and he has warned the retailers to boost digital marketing so that brands can keep up will the shopping patterns of the customers and not lose them!

Conclusion

So, this is a wrap for my favorite Customer Experience and Customer Services blog posts for June 2020. To be honest, these articles were quite fascinating, and it is amazing how all companies are dealing with this massive global crisis for the first time and still managing to win customers’ hearts and validations. Comment below and share your thoughts and reviews. Also, if want to share your post with our audience then feel free to share the link in the comments and we will feature it in the next session! We will be back with the next batch of articles soon!