It’s the experience, not the channel
Surely I’m late to the game on this but I had always found it curious and interesting to read accounts of peoples’ CX and more specifically support experiences through Twitter. The concept of pinging a business via their public handle and then getting a resolution seemed pretty cool to me. It’s mostly anecdotal but I feel the vast majority of those instances were travel-related. It may be because that’s all I think about these days, what with the world shut down. But if I remember correctly it usually had to do with people otherwise having issues checking into a hotel or in-the-moment flight cancellations and such. The scenario usually went somewhat like this: I had an issue with this airline or hotel chain right there at the gate or in the lobby checking in. So I pulled out my phone and tweeted them and within a few minutes, I was all squared away thanks to their crack team of tweeters who jumped on my case and resolved it for me right away. The vision I conjured in my mind was a cadre of little elves flipping switches behind the scenes, unleashed by this great new immediate technology. Needless to say, I was skeptical but intrigued nonetheless.
Recently, I gave it a shot myself. I performed an experiment wherein I engaged with a couple of big companies through their Twitter. I’ll reserve the names because none of them really came through the way I’d anticipated. […]
Throwback: A little bit of Seoul
Here’s a throw-back article I wrote back in 2017, as United Airlines was retiring their 747 airframe. It’s tangentially CX-related, and although I’m no PointsGuy, I think it does a pretty good job as a travelogue. And if nothing else, it’s a reminder that we used to be able to get out there and travel. Enjoy.
Earlier this year my partner and I took a trip. Okay well we take trips all the time. But this time we took on an experience.
With United Airlines retiring their fleet of 747s, I wanted the opportunity before it was gone to take a trip on the Queen of the Skies. So we booked a flight to Seoul, South Korea.
Now, normally an annual vacation overseas would center on an exotic port-of-call or historically significant or colorful locale. Seoul truly was all that and more, but this time around the journey, as they say, was even more important than the destination. […]
CYA is not CX
The other day I spent about 45 minutes round-trip (short by standards…read on) and about $45 mailing Christmas cards. Happy Holidays to our family and friends who receive one from us!
I use the word “mailing” deliberately because that’s all I was doing. I wasn’t shopping for them, digging through my computer to find the file where I keep my list, writing them, addressing them, or stamping them. This was just to mail them. Some of them are a bit bulky, and the box of cards we bought this year (a very clever, diverse, and creative collection of truly lovely cards with lots of adornments and festoonery) even came with the caveat that they “may require additional postage.” So, just to be safe, I bundled up and headed out to the post office. At this time of year, doing that at 5pm wasn’t the best idea, but I got lucky and headed right to the front of the line. That’s where my luck ended. […]
CX professionals are the best (and worst) Customers
The Wall Street Journal has a daily column called “Best of the Web Today.” Its originator, James Taranto, created it as a bit of a light-hearted end-of-the-day quick-hit piece with a bit of political commentary thrown in as well. A recurring gag is to make little jokes about headlines published around the Web that, regardless of the actual story attached, sound funny or irreverent when read on their own. A meme he used a lot was to append a clever label to such headlines as, say, “Florida man critical after bout with runaway gator” pithily with: “Everyone’s a Critic”. When it comes to Customer experience, all of us CXers are, well…critics, no?
And if we’re doing it right, if we’re truly curious and hungry to learn about CX broadly, we’re actually looking for the good and the bad in our experiences with brands. Just like a food critic doesn’t want it known that the restaurant he or she is visiting is being evaluated, lest they go all out to deliver a spectacular meal just for the review, and just like a theater critic wants to (to the extent possible) see the performance through the eyes of his or her readers, we as CX professionals won’t learn much if we all treat each other better than the average Customer.
That has an upside and a downside. We as CX professionals can be the best Customers but also sometimes the worst. […]
Some non-CX thoughts on Tony Hsieh
The turn in the narrative regarding Tony Hsieh’s death has been striking over the past few days as stories (like these in the Journal and Forbes) began to come to light based on accounts from those who knew him better than the rest of us who had merely admired him from afar. While the universal impression remains that it’s a shame to lose such a great mind and spirit who had so much left to offer, those who have revered Tony as an inspiration (not only to CX and business in general, but also his philanthropy, sense of community, and overall joie de vivre) having never known him personally may be left wondering: What was that all about? […]
Communication is key
One of my Five Principles of Good CX is Communication. You can screw a lot of things up with your Customers and they’ll still forgive you, but if you’re keeping information from them or leaving them in the dark, there’s really little excuse. Sometimes you don’t know things, but letting them know you don’t know is at least better than leaving them to wonder if you’re even paying attention. […]
