For CX success, re-evaluate your purpose
May I offer a modest suggestion about CX? Here it is:
The purpose of Customer Experience as an endeavor (a department, a practice, a field of study, etc.) is to improve the alignment between what your company says it’s all about (call it mission/vision, corporate values/principles, or simply Brand Promise) and the experience your Customers have when they interact with your brand. […]
Better than NPS? Brand Alignment Score
I’ve written previously about how silly things like Net Promotor Score’s ‘Likelihood to Recommend’ question can seem. I think, generally, that comes more from a place of complacency than downright lunacy. It’s more likely people are asking questions like that less because they’re off their rocker than simply because, well, that’s what everybody is asking.
So the solution to such groupthink, I think, is to start…thinking.
The Book is Here! The Book is Here!
I can’t believe I’m finally here… You can order the book on Amazon at this link.
Let’s ask better questions
With text analytics and artificial intelligence and sentiment analysis, technology has really moved us into a new world of possibilities when it comes to understanding our Customers’ feedback in a variety of formats. I’ve seen some pretty amazing uses of this new world of business analytics and high-level number-crunching. The way some software out there is able to analyze and synthesize even unstructured data is pretty mind-blowing.
So why are we still doing VoC the same way? […]
Rethinking the ROI of CX
Articulating the return on investment (ROI) of Customer Experience efforts is a recurring theme among CX professionals. As I moderate panels on webinars and sit as a guest on podcasts, listen to my peers talk, and read articles, I hear the questions all the time: How do you define the ROI? How do you sell CX to leadership? I’ve even written about it myself on several occasions.
I know some of my fellow CX consultants go so far as to use the ROI of CX as their calling cards…not only engaging in the discussion but also leveraging it as the heart of their pitches to clients. Some make bold promises and predictions, and some are simply advocates of the idea that you’ll boost your business results in some undefined (and sometimes not so undefined), yet unambiguously wonderful way with a dose of CX. Now, of course, some are more circumspect than others, but there certainly seems to be a trend toward using things like revenues, sales, and market share as the driving reason for engaging in CX endeavors. […]
Set your CCO up with authority
Recently I wrote about a friend of mine, a Chief Customer Officer who was struggling with breaking through to her leadership colleagues the importance of taking action to improve the organization’s CX. Her frustration, I surmised, was rooted mostly in a lack of support from her CEO, who, although her heart was in the right place, hadn’t strategically lined out the proper role of the CCO and set those expectations in the first place. While that was a pretty specific instance, I’ve actually heard from a couple others who share a similar experience, so I figured I’d make a more general post about the proper care-and-feeding of your CX executives.
The advent and popularization of the role of the Chief Customer Officer is a great thing. I’ve certainly entertained initiations to be one myself, in fact, and do some work as a Fractional CCO. I’m grateful to see the excitement many business leaders are showing in the importance of CX in their organizations, and dedicating a role (and a staff and office) to Customer Experience goes a long way toward putting your money where your mouth is. But it can also be a hollow gesture if not properly executed and expectations not sufficiently set. So here’s a quick rundown of not why or that you need a CCO, but rather, how to install one: […]
