The Customer Experience Factory

CrowdSourcing for Customer Care

2013-06-26T11:41:00.005-07:00

CUSTOMER Magazine

Crowdsourcing for Customer Service

By TMCnet Special Guest Wes O'Brien | June 24, 2013

The growth of crowdsourcing is fueling the participation of consumers and professionals in everything from product testing to logo creation, collaborative ideation, even crowdfunding, as an alternative to angel or venture capital investments.

As someone who’s worked in the call center/customer care industry for more than 25 years, I’ve been increasingly interested in the opportunity that crowdsourcing now provides to extend and enhance customer service, while lowering costs. I call this crowd for care.

Crowdsourcing customers to provide customer service is validated by one simple reality: More often than not, no one knows a company’s products and services better than that company’s own end user customers, partners and employees.

If you’re responsible for making your company customer centric, here are five reasons to look into crowd for care.

Call Centers Just Aren’t Enough

While phone support is still a principal customer service solution, operating internal or outsourced call centers is expensive. Beyond call center costs, even though Americans make an estimated 43 billion calls to customer service each year

(two to three times per week), the title of Emily Yellin’s 2009 book

“Your call is (not that) important to us” succinctly articulates consumers’ negative experiences with phone support.

Take Away: Diverting a portion of inbound support queries that would have gone to CSRs to expert customers reduces reliance on call centers and improves customer satisfaction.

The Rise of the Connected Customer

While most Boomers continue to call an 800 number for help, Millennials want alternatives. A Forbes article suggested, “My way, right away, why pay?” as a motto for 80 million members of the Gen Y generation – a slogan backed up by data:

When they have a problem with a product, 71 percent of 16- to 24-year-old customers and 65 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds search for a solution online first, according to a 2012 SITEL study.

Forty-two percent of 18- to 34-year-olds expect customer support on social media within 12 hours of issuing a complaint or comment, according to Nielsen’s 2012 Social Media Report.

CRM is Evolving into Social CRM

With the growth of social media, CRM has evolved into social CRM, elegantly described by Paul Greenberg as business and technology “designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment.”

While social CRM is used for marketing and sales to monitor customer sentiment, conduct market research, and other ways to listen and learn from customers, peer-to-peer customer support is a core pillar of SCRM.

In a January 2012 blog post, Forrester’s (News - Alert) Kate Leggett presented results from a survey of contact center professionals, observing: “Social technologies are growing in importance for customer service professionals,” based on these results:

* 47 percent of those surveyed use customer communities;

* 39 percent use social listening technologies; and

* 42 percent offer customer service via social sites like Facebook (News - Alert) and Twitter.

Take Away: Beyond evidence that social media brings customers and companies closer, investing in social CRM can expand the customer conversation to new possibilities for self-service by tapping into customers’ motivations, demand, insights and expertise.

Trust in Peers

Quality customer experiences have a direct correlation to satisfaction and loyalty.

As Office of Consumer Affairs research has shown, word of mouth is important: Happy customers who have their problems resolved will tell four to six people about their positive experience, while unhappy customers will tell nine to 15 people about it. Even worse, 13 percent of your dissatisfied customers will tell more than 20 people about their problem.

Since 2000, the Edelman Trust Barometer has documented how public faith in government and business has plummeted, and its 2013 survey indicates that 61 percent of survey respondents would put their trust in “a person like me” (rated just below technical experts, academics and other experts) as the most reliable and objective source of information and assistance.

Take Away: Crowdsourcing customers to provide support efficiently connects your clients with their peers (fellow end users), builds trust for your brand, and drives loyalty.

The Bottom Line

Last but not least, crowdsourcing favorably impacts your bottom line.

Customers have told us that crowd for care can reduce the cost of customer support up to 60 percent (in best practices) through diversion of requests from call centers to engaged crowd communities; reduce cost per call from $7 to $15 through a call center down to $3 to $10 per call. It also can divert daily requests to call centers up to

40 percent – 25 percent through cultivating and connecting with online support communities, and 15 percent using by monitoring/listening to inbound queries, intelligently filtering support requests, leveraging knowledge bases and smart routing of queries to expert customers who can best handle each request.

While the customer may not always know best, crowdsourcing your customers to help deliver customer service is something you’ll want to explore.

Wes O’Brien is CEO of CrowdEngineering (www.crowdengineering.com).

Owning The Problem

2012-02-29T08:02:00.003-08:00

A few weeks ago, I was on the Kodak Gallery site ordering copies of pictures of my children for the 5 sets of grandparents. I wanted to simply pickup these items at my local CVS store based on the service promise of one hour pickup. I thought this was a pretty straight forward / no frills transaction. WRONG

It took me 2 drop ins to the CVS store, 5 calls, 3 different front line employees and some aggravation to get this simple order completed. On my first attempt, the young woman could not find the order in the system or in the store so I went home and realized I had to click on a button at the bottom of the shopping cart page. So, my bad but the site experience did not make sense.

Once I completed this, I waited and called CVS to make sure they had the order in the system. The young man on the phone saw the order but then proceeded to tell me that it would take 3-5 days because the order was being completed at a Kodak site and I would then have to come back in and pick it up. When I told him that the online transaction promised 1 hour in store pickup, he told me to call Kodak.

This is where the entire experience went downhill. Why should I call Kodak? This is a partner of CVS so my expectations would be that the front line team at CVS be empowered to own my problem and contact Kodak to resolve this issue.

Of course I called and a nice, but fumbling and not all that smooth of a call center professional assumed the responsibility and was able to get my order ready to be picked up. So Kodak absolutely recovered the situation but shame on CVS for not owning the problem.

Owning the Problem means finding a solution. Not every solution will be met with joy but it is a solution so ensure that you do not leave your customers hanging. Give your customers the rope and pull them back up.

Lessons Learned

Teach your front line, no matter what their age, experience or pay level that they must own every customer problem. This is their job and if they do not exhibit these behaviors, it will be only a matter of time that their lack of support will be seen by management. This means that the the job profile, interview and training process must include and encourage this behavior.
Use examples of solving the problem as stories for great service experiences. Highlight these in staff meetings, focus groups with the front line and in all forms of communications.
Surprise reward when possible. When seeing or hearing of a great experience, give a small reward and make a big deal about.
Use customer complaints as a learning tool rather than a form of punishment.
Teach empathy and patience to get through any problem.

Of course, not every good or bad experience will be known to the leadership team but the more aware the organization is of the impact of just one "owning the problem" experience, the chances are the staff will see this as part of their job function.

So I obviously will not be going back to the CVS in Springfield, NJ for my photo needs if I can help it. Kodak Gallery should spend some time training their partners on how to treat situations like these.

I did not have time to do a CX Factor Score but I will and I am curious about what I will find with regard to this particular CVS store and the overall experience of Kodak Gallery users with the in store pickup experiences they have.

Take note Kodak!!

Michelle

The Customer Experience Factory

The CX Factor Score: Walmart vs. Target

2012-02-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I published the first CX Factor score for Target which came out to be a D. The report was based on 1 month of customer commentary found on various websites and 1 week's worth of commentary found on Facebook. While this score would seem rather harsh and probably not completely indicative of the average experience at Target, the information that one can read about a company can create a significant image of a consumer experience and can open the eyes of the average, non complaining shopper.

To compare their results to their largest competitor, Walmart, the CX Factor score turned out to be the same grade, D for the same period of data. However, there were some interesting findings made.

Target customers often complained of bad phone service experiences and poor results from return/exchange policies. Specifically, many comments were related to the offshore operations and considerable hold times and dial transfers.
Walmart customers complained often of bad service due to rude and not knowledgeable associates.
Target shopping experiences in the store were mentioned as clean, organized while Walmart locations were inconsistent with their appearances.
Walmart shoppers used the words fraud and criminals while Target shoppers did not voice as much concern about these words.
Target customers complained significantly about the online experience 1 out of 4 comments while Walmart shoppers only mentioned the online experience 1 out of 7 comments. For Walmart, the biggest concerns were around the site to store experiences.
Coupon redemption and price-matching were a consistent theme for both companies
Of all the non Facebook comments read, Walmart shoppers often went online to complain (95% rate) while Target shoppers gave praise 24% of the time.
Target's Facebook Page is not organized to provide online service commentary and Walmart leverages Get Satisfaction as their tool, enabling customers to easily voice their opinions and see action taking place.
When customers mentioned that they were not coming back and that they were going to a competitor or down the street, Target customers mentioned Walmart but Walmart customers never mentioned Target.

CX Factor Voice: Walmart

CX Factor Voice: Target

Creating Jobs in the Service Industry

2012-02-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, I went to Starbucks and picked up a brochure about how Starbucks is helping to create jobs. This was timely given the President's speech and clearly it is a hot topic due to the elections and the state of our economy. Over the past few months, I have given thought to this topic and I believe our government can not only create jobs, but they can develop careers and help corporate

America

boost their profitability which in turn can be further invested back into our economy. I call this plan, " A Career in Service".

A Career in Service

Education

When one thinks of a job in a contact center or retail environment, a college degree does not come to mind as a requirement. Unfortunately, our country which prides itself on the concept that the customer is always right does not encourage the art of service as being a skill requirement for these customer contact jobs. Other countries, specifically the Philippines, have created an education program for the contact center industry which prepares their students for a contact center job upon graduation and therefore gives their country a global competitive advantage.

Suggestion: Local community colleges should offer a 2 year Service Professional program which teaches students everything about the service industry, the art of service, basic business skills, training/coaching skills, contact center technology, retail industry basics and customer experience. A four year program in this field would yield a Customer Experience business degree which is an emerging field that both marketing and operations students would be interested in. As part of the curriculum, these students would intern at local contact centers and malls by working a minimum of 8 hours weekly towards their credits. Companies involved in the program would pay a student hourly wage and offer financial incentives for performance. During their internship, they would have a performance scorecard consistent with everyone in the program. Upon graduation, they would highlight not only their GPA but also their stats such as their average Net Promoter score on their resume.

Incentives

In the contact center industry, countries that can provide wage arbitrage have attracted outsourcers and American companies in large numbers for the past decade. Many companies chose to keep their centers in the US because of tax advantages, premium service experience or regulatory needs.

Suggestion: While offshoring is not going to go away, the government can do more to keep these contact centers here not by just providing a tax advantage, but by contributing to the salary of these employees and by investing in training and education programs. Employees who have strong performance scores can earn special federally funded financial incentives and all employees who are interested in a career in the service industry, can earn their degrees by being trained on site by local colleges.

The Cool Factor

Reality TV has certainly helped bring attention to those tattoo artists, hair salons, pawn shops and those crazy housewives. Someone needs to highlight the world of contact centers in the US and not only in India. There are so many interesting stories that can be told and if the media world could pay attention to this industry, it may attract a different talent set and innovate the hiring process. Companies that value the customer, value the people they hire for contact center roles and ensure that these people are the best and brightest in their field. For many companies, they view these roles as entry level positions and a must to establish their careers within their organizations.

Suggestion: The government can partner with the entertainment industry to bring the “cool factor” to this field to attract college educated job seekers and recent college graduates. How about a documentary on contact centers in America or a reality show where the viewers travel across the country visiting various contact centers and retail stores to profile the people working there. OK so maybe it isn't totally exciting but someone with a more creative lens can figure it out.

Happy Employees = Happy Customers = Higher Profits

For anyone who has worked in a contact center or in a retail environment, most people there are only working for the hourly wage as opposed to investing in their career. The impact of this can be attributed to poor customer experiences. If companies are able to hire from a higher skilled workforce across all levels of their frontline organization, their ability to improve the customer experience will be strengthened and this will resonate with retaining customers, higher spend rates and reduced costs of marketing initiatives to acquire back their customers. Companies will not be eager to offshore these call centers simply to reduce costs because the revenue generating results will be difficult to match.

What Happens to those not so happy employees?

Clearly, when raising the bar on service, the employees who fall to the bottom of the performance scale will have to work harder to improve their results or be left without a job. If the industry collectively raises the bar and hires properly skilled workers, the choice of these customer not so friendly workers will be to get the proper skills or take on roles where they do not interact with the customer. This will would make us all happier customers!

So the question is, how can we get started?

Happy Wednesday!

Michelle

The Customer Experience Factory

Introducing the CX Factor Score

2012-01-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

The CX Factor Score represents a company's service performance based on customer feedback found online over a period of time. The methodology is a work in process but the blog will begin to highlight a different company each week and discuss lessons learned and opportunities for improvement. I want to encourage visitors to the blog to provide feedback about these companies and plug in comments on the blog. In addition, visitors can visit Facebook or Twitter and grade their experience.

What does the grade mean?

To keep it simple, the grade is similar to a school grade so that A = excellent, B = good, C = neutral/average, D= at risk and F = failed

What to expect?

Each week, at least one company will be graded and reactions to their grade will be assessed. Based on the power of feedback provided by our readers, the grade will be adjusted to represent their perspective. We will send this information to the company and any updates/discussions/meetings will be shared on this blog.

Additionally, plans are in place to develop a digital product to measure the customer views of brands and their experiences. Your feedback will be used to help us design something amazing.

Clients that are interested in learning more about how to apply this score to their operations and customer experience strategy, should visit the Work With Us tab for more information.

CX Factor: Target Retail and Online

A few weeks ago, I visited Target to return an item and arbitrarily graded them an A. Based on the CX Factor grading system, it was more like a C because it was an average experience and it met my expectations. When I began to read about how others viewed their Target experience, I found that many were not as neutral or positive. The challenge to reading customer commentary is that it is more often than not that one will take to the airwaves and complain vs. say thank you or good job. That said, there is so much more than can be done to improve the experiences of the customers who took to their computers and voiced their opinions.

The Customer Voice

Based on the above assessment, there are 4 key themes spoken by the unsatisfied customer. For each, we propose an in depth assessment of processes that are in place to evaluate what may not be working as expected. Below are key questions that arise from the commentary by topic.

A Few Ideas

§ Tell the story with data: Detailed assessment of barriers across all customer touchpoints based on existing data, interviews and current internal assessments.

§ Design a goodwill program and customer loyalty program: Test program at several stores across the country before launching nationwide.

§ Review and assess changes to performance management program for all frontline staff. Develop detailed solutions, process change plans, cost benefit analysis and support integration where needed.

§ Assess store and call center performance. Develop a performance matrix, cost of performance assessment and proposed changes based on in depth data assessment and customer feedback.

Tis The Season for Returns

2012-01-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

By now, many folks have taken back to the malls to return those holiday gifts that were just not right. While the country celebrated a great shopping season, overall returns were higher than average for this time of year. Obviously, the more shopping one does, the more likely there will be a return. I wonder though if stores have also made it easier to do returns and especially when the customer does not have a receipt. I admit, I am not good at keeping my receipts so this has always been interesting to me. Typically, the experience I will get is that I can return the item for the amount it is currently selling in the stores. Usually this is not a problem but after the holiday season, prices are immediately marked down so I bear a bit of risk if I want to return an item without the receipt.

So last Friday, I tested out this policy at different well known retailers; Target, Pier 1 Imports, and Lord and Taylor.

Target
visited East Hanover, NJ location

I am a huge Target shopper and a fan of their store for many reasons. One of the key reasons happens to be their customer friendly return policy. I have never had an issue returning anything, whether it was a product I purchased online, 3 months prior, no receipt, not carrying the original form of payment on me, open packages ... you name it. The representative behind the counter could be a little friendlier, but, I am never waiting for more than 5 minutes and the entire process takes less than 2 minutes. Friday was no exception to this rule. I did return a gift without the receipt and recieved the current store price in the form of a Target Gift Card. They met my expectations and off I went to the next stop on my adventure.

Rating: A

Lessons Learned: Keep it easy and customer friendly. Give customers a reason to want to come back. Target does need to work on their service manners however. Service with smile!

Pier 1 Imports
visited East Hanover, NJ location

I received a very lovely gift from my brother and his wife from this store. Unfortunately, I didn't find a good use for it and couldn't see it matching the style in our house so I thought I might attempt to see what else they had. I seldom visit this store and did not know about their return policy. I also did not have a receipt for the gift so I was about to test out my theory on store credit for the current price of the product. The ladies behind the counter did not recognize the item but fortunately there was a tag on the bowl and when they scanned it, they offered the price in the system (I am sure the price was cheaper than was paid but to be expected). I was able to find some nice picture frames, exchanged the item and off I went.

Rating: A+

Lessons Learned: Keep it easy and customer friendly. Service was pleasant and very comfortable shopping environment.

Lord and Taylor
visited Livingston Mall, Livingston, NJ

After a day of running errands and being met with very easy to do business retailers, I could have used a drink after this last experience. My mother-in-law is a very loyal customer of theirs and frankly, I am not a department store shopper so I usually pay little attention to these stores. That said, I am all over it now and very displeased with their service. I received a pair of PJ's that were too big so I thought I would just return them and find something else on another day. The woman behind the counter was unfriendly, full of attitude and clearly had no desire to be there. She told me the price of the refund to be $9.60 which I assumed was the current price. Again, no receipt in hand. When I was done, I stumbled upon the table with the same PJ's and they were actually $28.00 (discounted from their current price). So I went to another counter and asked the woman (again, full of that same L&T attitude) that I think a mistake was made. She repeated the store policy which is no receipt returns = lowest price in the system. I said that doesn't make sense and it should be the current selling price which is currently discounted. We went back and forth and I asked for the supervisor. Yet, another indifferent woman, who just read the policy to me again. At this point, I am super disgusted and wanted my PJ's back.

Honestly, Lord and Taylor, you are offending your customers. Not all customers are bad and have bad intentions. When you have customer policies that assume customers are stealing, then your customers will be annoyed and stop coming back. You do not offer anything special and I know I can find the same great products and prices at Macy's or Bloomingdale's. And another thing, spend some money on basic customer service training skills. It appears that your entire staff could use it.

Rating: D

Lessons Learned: Customer policies should be clear and tangible. Assume the best in your customers and not the worst. Get rid of rude customer facing staff. There is no room for that attitude at great companies.

In speaking with some friends, I hear that Home Depot is amazing and Babies R Us / Toys R Us could use some work. If you want to share your stories, please add comments below or visit the Facebook page, the customer experience factory and post your stories there.

Happy Returning and Happy New Year
Michelle
the customer experience factory

Potty Training and Praise

2011-12-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

Last week, I had an interesting conversation with my just turned 3 year old son. At this age, our conversations tend to be focused on potty training and I am happy to say, we are making significant progress!

When we started this journey, my husband and I had no idea what we were doing. We asked friends and family for advice and used so many different methods which did not seem to work. One method was having him run around the house without any pants on so he could see what happens. This particular case study involved lots of messy wet spots and dirty corners and after three days, not much progress had occurred. The second method was titled "pay for performance" which involved 1 M&M for situation #1 and 5 M&Ms for situation #2. In the beginning he understood how to get his reward for #1 but he had no desire to reach for the stars and achieve the 5 M&M status.

This process took place in early September and then by mid-September, he was in a new classroom at his daycare. The third method came from his teacher, Ms Marilyn, who is a genius when it comes to the 2 & 3 year old! Her trick is to keep a consistent time every day when the children know they must situation themselves coupled with a sticker (reward) and tons of praise. Once they get to a certain comfort level, no more pull ups and the constant praise and recognition of their success is used to make them confident that they can achieve this monumental step in their lives.

At home, the success continues with praise and excitement. We have mastered situation #1 but situation #2 is a work in progress. The interesting thing about situation #2 is that it occurs at the same time every night, in a certain corner in his bedroom and when he is wearing his safety net, pull-ups. We are afraid to see what would happen if he went to bed without those pull-ups. Recently, he has begun to tell us that he has a #2 situation and we run with excitement and laughter to the bathroom. After he has been successful, he immediately asks for his 5 M&Ms and 1 marshmallow (he is quite the negotiator). As we give him his reward, the most important part of the process happens when my husband and I tell him with joy how proud we are of him.

The 5 M&Ms are nice, but these comments seem to make him happy and more confident that yield more of these moments. My conversation with him last week was about how proud I was of him and he asked me many times that morning, "Mommy, are you proud of me?". Children need to feel the excitement, the pride and joy in their accomplishments in order to continue their successful path in life. The M&Ms are nice but are not critical for their success.

The point of this story which is not to talk about potty training but it is about how at the core of every employee, exists a child. We were all children at one point and we all wanted our parents or guardians to be delighted in our successes (big or small). In the workplace, this behavior has extended to our bosses. In many ways, whether we like our boss or not, we still need to know that they are proud of our accomplishments or will make us feel confident that we can overcome the challenges in front of us. Great leaders can take difficult situations, state the case and use confidence and warmth to help their teams along. They remind us when we need it, that we are doing well and how to be even better. They challenge us by giving us goals that are not comfortable and then praise us along the way with every small step we take towards achieving those goals.

Employees are not motivated by reward alone. It is always nice and interesting but throwing money at a problem does not bring the solution that one wants. There are many HR professionals and employee satisfaction strategies out there so this isn't anything new. The correlation between happy employees and happy customers is becoming a hot topic and companies are taking note of this. Customers see and hear what the representative of a brand is saying between the lines. They can feel the brand in that one moment. Educating the service professional about that one moment is critical and encouraging them along the way, regardless of how seasoned they may be is the secret to creating a happy customer.

Therefore, companies take note! Remember the child in everyone and why the holiday season is special. It is simply a time to love and appreciate one another. Take the time out to do so before your employees go home to their families. When you come back to work, find ways to continue the praise and do not wait for the formal review process.

Your employees are always thinking, "Are you proud of me?".

Happy Holidays!

Michelle

the customer experience factory

Press 1 for blah, Press 2 for blah, Press 3 for are you annoyed yet?

2011-12-09T11:01:00.001-08:00

I am pretty sure that almost anyone who has ever called customer service for any company/organization has dealt with some form of a voice response system. Yesterday, I called a government office and spent about 5 minutes pressing buttons, listening to very long messages to tell me to go to the website and then pressing more buttons. The first time I dialed the number, I went through this maze only to get lost and then having to hang up and do it all over again. errhhhhh@@@!!!

Thankfully, my hold time was not very long and when I did speak with the service representative, she was polite and helpful. I asked her about the "maze" effect and she laughed and told me that everyone complains about it and there aren't any shortcuts to get to a service representative.

After this experience, I began to recall some other annoying habits call centers use. Here are my list of the things that irk me the most about these systems:

I can not stand speaking to a robot. 9 out of 10 times she gets it wrong anyway so can't I just dial the account number or press the button to get to the right person?
After option 3, you have lost me. I will probably press 1.
Don't try to sell me something ... I am not interested
Don't try to tell me to go online ... duh .... I called you so why do I want to go online?
Don't not tell me how long the hold time is. If I were standing in line at the store or bank, I could make a decision to stay in line based on how the long line is.

Given this, why has today's call center world relied on IVRs and what is the actual benefit?

Based on my professional experience, there are three key reasons:

not every service representative has all the information or is specialized in a topic
marketing pressures to drive revenue in the call center lead to selling messages
cost pressures to move volume to the web lead to messages about online capabilities

While I can understand the first reason, I think this can be solved by arming the frontline with as many tools as possible and if they can not address the question, then a warm dial transfer is acceptable.

The other two reasons are over played and I believe we need to return to the simplicity of service. Just service the customer and stop messaging! When I stand in a physical line , I do not have to see or listen to those messages. I just wait my turn. I believe that is all most customers want to do and therefore my advice to any company looking to invest on one of these super, duper IVRs is, don't do it! Save your money, invest it in something more interesting and let customers get to your frontline as fast as possible.

If you have any interesting stories or additional insights on this topic, I encourage you to comment or email me at michelle@thecustomerexperiencefactory.com

press 1 to Have a great weekend!
Michelle

Service with a Smile

2011-11-28T08:35:00.001-08:00

Raise your hand if you have ever experienced any of these situations:

called customer service and felt like you were bothering them
at the checkout line and the cashier acted as if you did not exist
asked for help at your local superstore and were met with ambivalence by the employee
sent an email to a company and it was finally answered 2 days later without an apology for exceeding their typical response time

These are just a few examples of how service with a smile does not exist today. I often think about the old fashioned way of doing business. In my mind, I picture a 1950's department store. Although I was not around then, I believe the frontline role was a career, not a job and customers were loyal to their store and frontline professional. The sales assoicate in a department store was charming, pleasent and had a twinkle in their eye. Furthermore, they smiled and knew their customers.

This picture does not exist in today's America. The basic concept of service with a smile is a lost art. As consumers we have become tolerant of this indifference that has defined the modern day frontline's attitude towards service.

I have recently begun to take notice of how common it is not to smile when dealing with customers. Last week, I went to BabiesRUs where one would expect a happy, cuddly and family friendly atmosphere. As I combed through the aisles stocking up on my monthly supply of baby products, I was met with several, smiling and eager to help employees. What a treat! That warm, fuzzy feeling was short lived. As I approached the cashier, I can describe the experience as:

Ughhh ... she was not in the mood to deal with me
No eye contact
Not even an attempt to smile and say, "how are you today?"
Not an attempt to recogonize that I had a full shopping cart and to ensure that I found everything ok. (It was pretty obvious I am a loyal customer)

In addition, some of the coupons that I presented to her had expired but I did not expect that she would accept them. In fact, she did not. She did not voice any empathy to my situation. On the brighter side, I was surprised that she volunteered to give me some additional discounts without too much hoopla. A slight recovery for her. Perhaps, my bar was set so low that any slight positive behavior was a major thumbs up.

This is how I realized, that we have, as consumers, allowed companies and the frontline to ruin the art of service. Such that, we are willing to pay more for a product of the same quality but met with better basic service experiences. That is crazy. Are we actually paying more for a smile?

What if every frontline professional smiled?

Customers would return to those stores or websites
Companies could invest in improving the actual product instead of investing in acquisition to make up for lost customers
Companies could afford to keep jobs in the country and outsource only to companies in the US. Customers would not tolerate anything less than an exceptional service experience and only Americans know how best to service their customer base.
Our economy would improve and consumer confidence would be on the rise as products improved, innovation was on the rise and customers found US products, produced and serviced in the US to be the best quality at the best price.

This is not far fetched at all. Companies, take note:

Hire service professionals for any role that touches a customer. This means just because the person is breathing and perhaps has showered, it does not make them a good enough candidate for your frontline.
Test the candidate on their attitude towards different customers and how they might react under the circumstance. If they are a cashier, ask your loyal customers to come in and role play scenarios. If the role is in a call center, have their future collegues role play with them.
Advocate for your service professionals and make them the center of your service based culture. Employee of the month is always nice but highlighting great service moments every day is even better. Extend these stories outside of the frontline organization to marketing, finance and technology.
Invite non frontline teams to meet with your frontline and chat about service in your company (i.e. finance, marketing, technology). These teams can use their specific skillset to help solve customer problems
Use customer feedback aimed at every frontline interaction to coach. This includes surveys, complaints and use of social media to determine what your employee impact is.
Instead of paying more on hourly wages to attract good talent, invest in a good pay for performance system. This should be tied to customer feedback as much as possible. When this is done correctly, you will encourage your good service professionals to improve. This will also attract others who know they can make more money and enjoy their job for being service oriented.

Of course, if consumers are not telling companies that they are not good at servicing, then there is not an incentive to take action. Perhaps with smartphones and new apps aimed at gathering customer feedback in the very moment it occurs, one can hope customer voices around this topic will be harder to not to listen to. (Check out Gripe and Tello)

Mr. President, I have an idea for your next bill regarding the economy; a simple smile might solve our economic crisis. Just saying!

Happy Cyber Monday (for all of you who want to avoid dealing with a human)

Michelle
the customer experience factory

The Mom and Pop Store's Social Strategy

2011-11-21T13:13:00.001-08:00

I recently put together a deck describing in basic words why this small family owned jewelry store should consider a social strategy. The grand-daughter of the store owner has started the trip down this path but wanted some additional ideas.

Below are the highlights of the presentation and I invite more tips if you have them.

Why Create a Social Strategy

•

Customers who know you like to see what you are doing. This gives them a reason to visit the store and get excited about their next purchase.
New customers who do not know you, will do their research and will want to understand how you do business.
Create excitement and buzz (i.e. coupons, customer polls) •
Create a forum for loyal customers to visit and comment about the service, product and recent purchase
Gives businesses insight on their quality of service and product
Showcase the brands that you carry
Low cost marketing and advertising
It is not just for the young and the older demographic is using social strategy to connect to friends and family.

Some Useful Tips about Social

Ensure messages are consistent and updated at least weekly
Highlight your customer base and ask them to find you online.
Consider promotions to attract walk-ins and returning customers.
Post pictures of the store, products and customers frequently
Highlight staff and make suggestions about products
Link to brand pages and relevant articles
Provide customer tips
Reply to customer inquiries as soon as possible
Track your site metrics

Proposed Social Roadmap

Make sure your website has interesting information and is not just a site for basic hours of operations.
Make Facebook customer central
Use Twitter to highlight upcoming events and activities
Use YouTube to make customers famous
Create a LinkedIn company page
Blog about your store and industry using Blogger or Tumblr

Facebook Tips

Update the logo with the picture of the store
Ask walk in customers in the store to go home and “like” your page and offer an incentive to do so.
Ask to take a picture of the walk in customers and post to FB. Tag the Customer so their friends can see that they were in the store.
Email customers your Facebook site and ask them to “like” the page.
Make this an exclusive site for offering contests and coupons.

Sponsor monthly favorite fan contest where they can get $100 coupon (good up to one year)
Give coupons for trunk shows ($25 - $100 off)
Give away an item every month to a lucky FB fan (i.e. charms)

Launch customer polls for topics such as favorite brands, favorite piece per brand (i.e. showcase three sets if earrings and ask which is most fabulous), or other hot topics.
Ask customers what products they want
Talk about hot topics in town and collaborate with other retailers on Facebook Events
Highlight staff and their recommendations. This is especially great for holiday gifts

Twitter Tips

Add the storefront logo
Anytime FB, Blogs or Linked In is updated, tweet an update.
Tweet when there are significant happenings in the store (coupons, contests and community events)
Tweet about customers coming in (ask permission)
Tweet about brands
Highlight staff and their recommendations. This is especially great for engagement rings and holiday gifts

Youtube Basics

Ask customers what they love about their purchase and experience
Make this a place where customers can check out each other and then send these links to their friends
Make the customer famous!

•

LinkedIn Basics

Create a company page
Ask each employee to sign up and connect with their business associates
Connect with local merchants
Connect with friends

Sample Schedule for the Week

•

Mondays: Schedule tweets and start a hot topic of the week
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: Join one hot trend conversation on Twitter, if appropriate, and add new content to Facebook (new items you are selling, photos, discounts and other promotions).
Tuesdays and Thursdays: Respond to blog comments.
Fridays: Check traffic at your blog or website.
Saturday: Post a new blog

Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

To a short, holiday week!

Michelle

the customer experience factory

The Power of the Thumb

2011-11-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

As a customer of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, I appreciate and enjoy the opportunity to see how my friends and family are doing but I am beginning to really love the education I am getting by following a bunch of people I have never met. I never thought that this would be my cup of tea, but I am totally loving it. I have started to read up on the latest business trends around social marketing and the emerging field of Customer Experience. Through this casual reading, I have come to realize the power of being a customer in this emerging social world.

I know what you are thinking ... yeah, that's old news. Probably for you but while I have been updating my FB page and adding connections in LinkedIn, I never valued the voice that these platforms had until now. I participated because it is a social norm to do so.

In my experience, this describes who is on Facebook or LinkedIn:

− Every Age Group

− Every level of tech sophistication

− Pretty much, everyone is doing it

− Parents and Grandparents sharing the latest pictures of family life

− Professionals of every kind seeking contacts (current, past colleagues and classmates)

− Every business, small and large has a page

− Your friends present, past and future

− Your neighbors

− Your family (all over the world)

− The people that you see at the local grocery store, the dry cleaners, the cleaning person and the landscapers

− Bargain Hunters galore

− Brand Loyalists

− Extra-Curricular activity groups including those crazy Fantasy Team owners

If this is right, then it just shows how powerful we as consumers really are. However, I am not so sure that the people in this group understand their "social" power. The average consumer does not think about how their one comment or thumbs up can reflect on a brand. The power of the thumb is insane and rapidly gaining strength. I propose that as a consumer, we redefine how we want our customer experience to be and start a new movement, Occupy the Thumb. Ok, far fetched, but is it really?

I also realized that that we are consumers of, well, consumers. We "buy" into each other's opinions. As a basic testament to this theory, think about the Like button or the symbol of the Thumb. This simple thumbs up is a sign that whatever is on that link is customer approved and therefore “my” friends will like it too. It was cool for family photos and personal quotes but now I can “Like” an entire company, product or customer experience.

However, what if I don't like it?

While this industry is still emerging and taking shape, I truly believe there are some unbelievable opportunities to design great customer experience solutions using the social space for input and experimentation. Every person reading this blog should invest in tweeting, writing and discussing your personal service moments. Make sure you go to the company pages and share your comments to your network as well. You will be surprised by the influence you have. So the next time you want to complain or thank someone for a great experience, skip the part where you ask for the store manager or supervisor if it is on the phone. Just take it over to their Facebook page and Twitter handle and see what happens.

As a new business owner, I have been spending time developing concepts for products specifically to address how the service experience can be improved by using customers as champions for change. It is my belief that businesses that invest in defining a great Customer Experience program and that can execute with a balanced team of marketing, operations, sales and technology will be able to reap the financial rewards of attracting more customers and developing a stronger base of loyal brand advocates. Businesses want long term relationships with their customers so just consider the old saying, “Happy Wife, Happy Life”.

My head is spinning with a plethora of ideas and I hope I can get them out to market in 2012. In the meantime, I will continue to share my service experiences as well as anyone who wants to share theirs via this blog. I hope this blog can be a place where customers and businesses check in, share and rate service moments.

If you have recently shared a service experience via your network, please post it in the comments as well or send to @thecxfactory on Twitter or post on Facebook (link above).

It is almost Friday!

Michelle,

the customer experience factory!

Moments of Truth

2011-11-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

Please send me your stories and experiences as consumers about any moment of truth you had which defined the entire experience. You can email me at michelle@thecustomerexperiencefactory.com

To a Terrific Tuesday!

the customer experience factory

Toys R Us vs. The Grocery Store

2011-11-14T11:38:00.000-08:00

Saturday Afternoon in NYC

For anyone who has ever visited Times Square and in particular, Toys R Us Times Square on a Saturday afternoon, I am sure you can fully appreciate the experience I had this past Saturday. We had friends in town and their kids wanted to hit the tourist spots of NYC. Even though I have lived in NYC and the surrounding area for 13 years, I absolutely love to see this amazing city through the eyes of a child. You just can't beat it! So with 4 children, 2 strollers and 2 very hungry men, we set out to visit mid-town Manhattan on a Saturday afternoon with all the other NYC visitors. When you live or work in NYC, you do your absolute best to avoid these places because it is just pure mayhem with the crowds, street performers and of course, traffic. However, as a tourist, this is the center of it all and you must mentally prepare for the experience.

Our excursion included an up front view of the Empire State Building, a walk through Times Square, a 2 hour luncheon at Smith's Bar and Grill Times Square on 44th and 8th Avenue and then one final stop at Toys R Us for the kids. After stopping into this amazing store, the adults were wiped out and had little desire to add Rockefeller Center to the day.

So what does this have to do with customer experience?

Although it is free to walk around New York City, I absolutely see this as an experience designed by storefronts, architects and government officials. This was in my mind, welcome chaos and exciting. NYC knows how to entertain their guests and design a plethora of new ideas such that every time you come, you discover something new.

Overall, NYC ... I rate you an A+.

I mentioned we stopped for lunch at Smith's Bar and Grill which was not overwhelming for a large group of customers including 4 children and 2 strollers. It was nothing spectacular and felt less like a tourist spot and more of a local hangout which is always nice for a Saturday afternoon. The food itself was pretty standard, nothing to complain about and nothing to write home about. The waitress was pleasant but the service was slow and the food came out in 4 different stages. By the time I had my food, I was completely over it.

So overall .... I rate Smith’s Bar and Grill a C+.

Lessons Learned

Fulfill on the promise. Being nice isn't good service. Good service is as simple as making sure everyone gets what they ordered when they want it.
When no one is complaining, that doesn't mean you should not make a goodwill gesture to overcome a service disruption. (i.e. The waitress could have offered a free drink or simply took the charge off of the bill for one food item.)

We ended our visit at Toys R Us in Time Square and all I can say is WOW! Walking into this place, we were greeted by photographers, a giant Ferris wheel and 100% pure chaos. The fact was that it was pretty organized chaos and our group had to rethink their strategy about how to procure a few simple toys. At this point, we split up and my husband and I and our 2 strollers attempted to take the elevator upstairs. We were met by a bevy of what seemed like the Hells Angels with strollers. A simple task of getting upstairs took a little strategy on our part but when the door opened; I soon realized it was totally worth it.

Walking through the tight aisles, are toy magicians, showcasing a flying or spinning out of control object which they do this as if they were in the circus. Looking around at the toys, I soon realized that this store was full of products made exclusively for this store which made the experience a bit more entertaining vs. shopping at my local Toys R Us.

Toys R Us NYC: Jurassic Park Dino

Our three year old son was on a mission for either Buzz Light Year or Spiderman. While my husband was focused on the task, I focused my eyes on the amazement of the ceiling and the giant toys up in the air. I was so impressed and not at all concerned with getting tackled by exhausted and stressed out parents eager to get over to the check out line.

When my son finally settled on Spiderman, my husband took the risk of getting into this line with the stroller but the cashier pointed to him and told him to cut the line. She explained that she wanted to make it easier since the physical space was tight. I thought this simple gesture was an extraordinary service moment and for any parent driving a stroller in a crowded store, you can attest to the significance of this moment.

Waiting in Line

So overall .. I rate Toys R Us NYC an A.

Lessons Learned

Service Recovery is great but preventing a stressful or an unpleasant moment is even better. To do this, your service professionals need to open their eyes at every chance and be on it. They must be taught to look out for specific signs but also to think about moments of truth, where customers will define their entire experience in just one moment. Our visit to this store was described as chaos but the cashier did something to make the experience less chaotic.

My Average Grocery Store Visit at Shop Rite

Growing up in upstate NY, I was exposed to great grocery store experiences and most famous of these is Wegmans. Anyone who has ever stepped into one of their stores can tell you what is great about the shopping experience. Typically, when you walk into their stores you are greeted by their produce section which resembles a scene from a Broadway show depicting the farm life. The physical produce looks like it just finished a photo shoot for Bon Appetite. Hugging this section is an eclectic mix of specialty shops and of course an enticing bakery.

I could go on and on but what is worth noting is the fact the aisles are very large, the space is clean, the people that work there are very happy and will do whatever it takes to help you. In addition, they have what seems like 100 different check-out aisles and, did I mention the nice, smiling people behind them? It isn’t a mystery then, that Wegmans has been noticed for being a great place to work and for providing excellent customer experiences.

Living in NJ, I find that it is impossible to find anything close to this at my local grocery stores. I currently shop at Shop Rite and I have been to at least 3 different stores and they are all pretty bad. The only store I find close to the Wegman’s experience is Whole Foods, which of course has limited inventory.

So what is the issue with Shop Rite:

þ Carts are either too big or too small and are always filthy

þ Aisles are tight and products always seem to be scattered in random places.

þ Stores seem dirty and overall the style is out-dated

þ They need to open up more check-out aisles and introduce self-service

þ The people can barely toss a smile your way

þ You have to bag your own groceries otherwise you will be there forever

What I find even worse than this is that the customers, themselves, create a horrible experience. What we are talking about are grumpy people eager to run you over at every opportunity they get. This is very much unlike the Toys R Us experience, where the customers, albeit chaotic, were happy to be there and made the experience fun. This grocery store and many others in the area, must recognize that making their stores inviting will create happy customers who will be enjoyable to shop alongside of. The nicer the customers are, the more I am willing to shop there.

So overall ... I rate NJ Grocery Stores a D.

Lessons Learned

Good energy can invite more business so invest in the aesthetics of your shops. Raise the bar on an average service experience by making it a destination where customers look forward to returning. Customers have choices, including shopping online, therefore to be ahead of the competition, you need to stand out. Price alone is not good enough.
Happy employees make a routine shopping trip pleasant and inviting. To make employees happy, you have to reward happy behaviors and compensate employees to do so. This means investing in the employee infrastructure which means meaningful salary, benefits and awesome perks.

The Post Office

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

When you think of great service, it is rare to think of the US Post Office. In fact, I normally try to avoid going there at all costs. My usual experience can be characterized as long wait lines, slow service, unhappy service people and cold/sterile storefronts. When I stepped into the Milburn, NJ post office yesterday, I expected this very same experience. What I expected was:

check! a long line --- there were 2 people ahead of me and 2 people behind
check! slow service --- there was only one person attending the front desk and he seemed to go to the mysterious back room a lot (what is in the back of these places, btw?)
check! sterile / cold storefront --- this post office was built a long time ago, with it's light blue wall color and colored linoleum floors
wait! unhappy service people --- not here!

The man behind the counter was nice, friendly and warm. He clearly had many years of working for the post office and did not seem angry for having to work there. The customers in the line all knew him and were actually smiling and patient with the fact that the line was long while he was not braking a sweat to take care of them. Interesting.

So this made me think...can a nice, friendly service experience overcome all the other negatives? Are we as consumers that sensitive to a kind smile that we will forgive all other shortcomings? The answer is yes!

In addition, repeat customers have more patience and will overlook your shortcomings as a business. So the trick is not to wow on all factors of a great experience but perhaps to wow on the one that is the most important to the customer. The trick is, what is this one factor? I would think it is different for all of us?

My grade for this experience at the Milburn, NJ Post Office is a B.

I value my time and my issue was pretty simple. I needed to buy stamps. This location did not have any machines so as a customer, you need to wait on line. In addition, if the Post Office is to survive, they may want to consider borrowing a page from Starbucks and make their environment a place where people want to come and do business. I am not suggesting that they serve coffee but, hey, maybe some tables and chairs with decent working pens would be great. Offer free Wi-Fi and perhaps people servicing you at your table to see how they can help you with your postal issues? Far-fetched but I bet if you took out the bureaucrats and brought in some savvy, creative entrepreneurs, they could save the Post Office. Just a thought.

Share your thoughts on the Post Office and by fixing service alone, how might they survive.

To a great Thursday!

the customer experience factory

Apple vs. Verizon

2011-11-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

I just came back from the Short Hills Mall where I needed to stop by the Apple store to fix my iPhone and go to Verizon so they could move my contacts from my blackberry to my new iPhone phone. In addition I needed to return a charger that my husband no longer needed.

So here is the experience:

Apple Store:

Greeter, holding an iPad, asked how she could help me and I explained my issue. She took my phone, showed me that all of the apps were open by holding the button and then she proceeded to clear these apps. This 30 second activity cleaned up the giga..whatever you call it so that the video could operate.

A++ for quick, simple and nice service.

Lessons Learned:

use common sense to avoid creating processes to solve basic problems. I did not have to wait to speak to anyone to get help. help was there
friendly service is always the way to go

Verizon Store:

Greeter, holding an iPad, asked how he could help me and I explained my issue. He asked my name, typed it into my iPad and then told me to stand over there. So I patiently waited while the desk was packed with what seemed to be customers who had all day. It appeared that all the service team members were pretty busy so I waited and waited. I was standing there all alone. Finally, customers were finishing up and I would be next. So I thought. Immediately, the service employees ran away to the back room or to another customer without asking me if I was waiting for someone. I felt ignored.

I noticed the computer was showing names on a wait list and my name did not appear. What was the purpose of the iPad and the greeter? When I asked a woman to help, not one smile or acknowledgement of my waiting. She took my phones went to the mysterious backroom (what happens back there?) and came back in 5 minutes with my phones and still no smile. As if I was bothering her.

It gets better! I ask to return this charger that my husband purchased at another Verizon location. She took it, without saying a word, looked at the receipt and said she could not accept it and I had to go to the other store. At this point, I am confused and say why? She says that the store in the mall is corporate and the other store is a retailer. Very confused. So what??

By the way, the first Verizon store where I went initially to ask about my iPhone could not do a simple troubleshoot which would have avoided the entire trip to the mall.

D for poor service

Lessons Learned:

retailers take note! just because you have a greeter with an iPad in their hands does not make you Apple. Pretending you are efficient just makes customers more frustrated.
notice and acknowledge your customers when they are not dealing with your frontline
break the rules on policies if it is basic stuff
smile ... smile .... smile. Service professionals are there to serve and should never look or act like they are being bothered. Customers should not feel uncomfortable asking for help.

Send me your comments on Apple and Verizon. Hopefully they will listen!

the customer experience factory is launched

2011-11-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

It is official and I have now launched the customer experience factory. the customer experience factory is all about designing servicing strategies for companies interested in innovation and trying to exceed their customers' expectations. My past 8 years working for American Express has taught me what extraordinary service should be and how customer feedback should be the core for changing any process, program or strategy.

It is too often that the servicing organizations of most companies are over-looked and seen as large cost centers. It is not a surprise then that many voices have emerged noting how the call center is a profit center where fee based servicing is a large mechanism for creating additional revenue streams. However, how many are saying that call centers and servicing professionals in general are an investment? This is probably one of the largest lessons I learned in working with some pretty amazing people at American Express.

I have traveled to call centers all around the world and I have seen how companies value service. I am eager to raise the voice on the service experience for all consumers and I want to blog about your stories. If you have a story and you want to share it with me, please email me at thecxfactory@gmail.com. I will re-tell your experience and add some thoughts on what the company should have done as an alternative. In addition, I will share ideas on how they could have created a WOW experience. Please share the good, the bad, the ugly and the WOW.

Hopefully customer service professionals across all companies will begin to read this and start sharing their stories, experiences and ideas about how to improve service.

To get things started, I am headed over to the Apple Store at the Short Hills Mall later this afternoon because the camera on my iPhone is not working and the sales associate at the Verizon store told me that he is not able to troubleshoot with iPhones based on Apple policy. He also mentioned that they will probably replace the phone. So I wonder:

Has Verizon passed the buck to Apple? Have they set my expectations high and will I be getting my new phone fixed or will they replace it with little hassle?
Why is Apple not giving their retailers full access to troubleshoot on their products? Shouldn't they try to help and have the customer avoid a physical service transfer?

I am sure there are many good business reasons for why Verizon could not help me. Let's see if Apple will fix my problem.

enjoy the day!

Michelle

CEO, the customer experience factory