CX Journey™

New CX Journey Inc. Website Launching!

2019-06-26T18:58:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

CX Journey Inc.'s site is growing up!

I'm so excited to have a new site going live this week! I'm sharing this note as a blog post as it will be my last post on what is currently www.cx-journey.com.

A couple of things to note:

This site will will revert to my previous Blogger URL, cxjourney.blogspot.com.
The new site will take over the cx-journey.com URL.
I'm moving the site over to WordPress, but this Blogger site will remain live for some transition period.
Most of the content will remain here during that transition period.
If you've subscribed to receive my blogs in your inbox, your subscription is safe. We've moved your subscription over to the new site, as well.
Of course, if you haven't yet subscribed, please do so on the new site.

If you have any questions, experience issues with the new site, or aren't seeing new blog posts in your inbox next week, please let me know.

Thank you!

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. -W. Edwards Deming

Agile Working in Practice: More Tips to Help Analytics Teams Transition

2019-06-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Today I'm pleased to share another guest post by Paul Laughlin. This post originally appeared on Paul's site on March 9, 2019.

This is the second in two-part series from Paul about agile working. Find the first post in the series here.

In my first post on how to achieve agile working in practice, I focused on four principles that were needed - principles of attitude and culture in order to have the right mindset and approach to working this way.

Continuing with this series has been driven by the feedback I have heard from a variety of data and analytics leaders. Those working in business today are telling me that this challenge is still very much a work in progress. Senior leaders want a more agile business, but it’s not a quick fix to achieve.

To help, in this post I focus on two more aspects. Firstly, common practices, that I’ve observed in analytics teams implementing this approach. Then four drivers of success that I and other writers have observed. Those behaviours and attitudes that differentiate those who achieve successful Agile Working.

Agile working in practice: common practices
At the start of my first post on agile working, I referenced the five most popular agile methodologies. But, whether you are implementing Scrum, Kanban, or one of the others, certain practices appear to be needed by most methods.

So, whatever nomenclature you prefer, watch out to ensure you are implementing:

(1) A visible "backlog" of prioritised work
Every member of the team can see new work and any significant changes needed. One key here is having real clarity as to commercial priorities and drivers, so that requests for work can be compared and prioritised.

(2) Tickets for the units of work needed
Work is broken down both to suit time periods for sprints and to divide the different skills needed. One key here is the ability to diagnose early on the work units needed from different data, analytics, and other skills – worth planning out common work units in advance (based on experience). Plus, the use of tools like competency frameworks to raise awareness of skills really help with allocation.

(3) Public boards to track progress
Internal customers, sponsors, and the wider team have a common view of priorities and progress. Such transparency is key to the culture needed for this collaboration. One key is to consistently use this to support stakeholder management and sponsor conversations. Driving expectation of them using the board too.

(4) Planning short sprints together, with bidding for units of work
A regular rhythm, e.g., two weeks, is established as the duration for delivery and cycle for new priorities. One key here is the cultural attitudes I praised as needed in my first post; another is to focus more on collaborating in order to achieve delivery rather than more rigid planning.

(5) Stand-up meetings for the whole team to share progress and challenges
Regular opportunity, e.g., daily, to spot issues early and collaborate to fix. Once again, the attitudes and culture I shared previously are crucial to this working well. Managers also need to ensure that they encourage openness about issues or mistakes. Good news: reporting is the very antithesis of agile working.

(6) Post-sprint reviews to learn from what worked and what did not
Time is taken post-delivery to identify any lessons to be learnt for future sprints. One key here is to focus on systemic issues. Depersonalise criticism and work on improving how everyone works together to improve the system for future work. Any under-performance by individuals should be handled separately. Use one-to-one chats with managers, where possible giving close-to-the-moment feedback.

I have documented such a simple list to help reveal that a significant amount of agile working is not "rocket science." You may well have more success by simplifying to ensure everyone gets it, rather than an over-complex purist approach.

Agile working in practice: drivers of success
Through a combination of reading other blogs on this topic and reflecting on what I have seen in practice, I have four drivers to propose.

Driver 1: achieving personal "flow"
Despite all the focus on collaboration and flexible team working, Agile working also relies on high-performing individuals. At its best, team members know their strengths and have honed ways of working very productively.

Entering a state of "flow" - that state where you no longer notice time passing and are not easily distracted - is important for leaders and analysts. You are absorbed in the task and make surprisingly fast progress. I may well blog more on this important topic, but for now I recommend those interested to read Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book, Flow.

Driver 2: a culture of Collaboration
"We are all in this together." Rather than being political spin, it should be the ethos of working this way. Successful delivery relies upon a flexibility and mutual support that is often not present in larger teams working within more rigid projects.

Team members should be encouraged to stay aware (keep eyes and ears open) of both their own progress and how the wider team is doing. Joint success often relies upon a willingness of every team member to both ask for and offer help. Once you are winning with your work unit, look up and see where you could help with other top priorities.

Driver 3: learning continually
Agile working has close affinity with the principles of continuous improvement from Systems Thinking. A commitment to spotting and closing gaps in knowledge and skills, plus a thirst for personal growth are key attitudes from effective team members.

A visible organisational commitment to Personal Development Plans can really help. In too many businesses, large and small, these can be token efforts – too easily reduced to documenting a book that was read or a training course attended. Embedding a culture of L&D takes time, but supporting individuals with time and money to prioritise their development pays huge dividends in improving team effectiveness - what Stephen Covey called taking time to "sharpen the saw."

Driver 4: reliability and clarity
Every team member in an agile working team needs to both understand what is asked of them and keep their promises. The lifeblood of working this way is effective communication, and it requires a higher level of personal responsibility, not less.

The old adage of "my word is my bond" is the attitude to encourage here, and leaders should challenge individuals if commitments are not delivered. Accountability is needed to avoid drift and any degree of hiding behind collaborative processes. In addition, I recommend investing time in developing leaner and more-effective communication. I recommend reading Brief by Joe McCormack.

Agile working in practice: what is helping your team?
I hope those thoughts and recommended resources are useful. It would be great to hear your thoughts.

If you are new to working this way or have it working well, please do share your experience in comments box below. What tips do you have for others who want to make the transition to agile working in practice (not just using the buzzword)?

Paul Laughlin, Chief Blogger at CustomerInsightLeader.com, has over 20 years experience of leading teams to generate profit from analysing data. Over the last 12 years he’s created, lead and improved customer insight teams across Lloyds, TSB, Halifax and Scottish Widows. He’s delivered incremental profit of over £10m pa and improved customers’ experiences.

Agile Working for Analytics Teams Needs a Culture Change

2019-06-20T12:00:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Today I'm pleased to share a guest post by Paul Laughlin. This post originally appeared on Paul's site on February 21, 2019.

The term Agile working is being used within more and more businesses. Although loosely defined, it generally refers to a more flexible and pacey way of working. In this series, I share what this means for data, analytics & insight teams who need to work this way.

Those businesses who have invested in formal training will likely be following one of the five most-popular methodologies. Although sounding very professional, in reality the application of Agile to non-IT teams is still in its infancy.

The top-five Agile development methodologies are generally agreed to be:

Scrum
Kanban
Extreme Programming (XP)
Lean Development
Crystal

For more details on the technical pros and cons of each method, a useful overview has been published by Xpandit.

Agile working methodologies were originally developed for use when delivering IT projects. They were a response to slow, bureaucratic projects that all too often failed to deliver using the traditional "waterfall" methodology. With 8 out of 10 IT projects failing to deliver, one can see the need for change.

Agile working in practice
As with most innovations, they have a mixed track record. Agile software development has certainly delivered some significant improvements. The pace of delivery and visibility to business users have improved as a result. However, some large complex projects still benefit from greater consideration and planning when following traditional PRINCE-type methods.

My interest in this topic is the impact Agile working is having on customer insight, analytics, and data science teams. I’m finding many of my clients are working hard to adapt their way of working to these new methods.

Part of their challenge is that adaptation of these IT development methods to business processes is still a "work in progress." Despite the confidence and eloquence of a growing number of Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters, best practice for business teams is still not proven.

Data and Analytics leaders can feel under pressure to learn a whole raft of new terms and practices. To name only a few these include:

Visible backlog of prioritised work
Tickets for units of work needed
Public boards to track progress
Sprint meetings with bidding to deliver units of work
Standup meetings to discuss progress
Post-Sprint reviews to learn from what worked & what didn’t

Beyond those shifting sands, the other problem I have recognized is that succeeding with Agile working requires a culture change, not just process change. Those teams who succeed have mastered how to collaborate better. In this two-part series, I will share some themes I have seen amongst those teams who achieve this.

Agile working in hearts and minds
The first theme I noticed is a culture that embeds four principles. Each is a new way of working compared to the traditional behaviour seen by data or analytics teams seeking to "cover their bums" when working with business. Together they represent a winning over of hearts and minds to the benefits of a more-collaborative way of working as a business.

Principle 1: Individuals and Interactions
The first principle is a valuing of individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Rather than hiding behind formal steps or documents, Agile working means human interaction. That is the person who is delivering a particular unit of work talking directly to the internal customer who needs it. Together this encourages personal accountability and early transparency.

Such conversations are aligned with the dialogue encouraged in our post on Socratic Questioning. Talking early and often can avoid misconceptions or wasted work. Compared to many traditional projects, it can be a revelation just knowing who to talk to. However, analysts may need to be encouraged to be this visible and supported if things go wrong before you will see sustained progress.

Principle 2: Working (but imperfect) output
The second principle is to prioritise delivering working (but imperfect) output sooner rather than later. This is counter to the traditional approach of using QA check and documentation to ensure output is "up to scratch" before others can see it.

I’ve posted previously on the numerous benefits when analysts embrace imperfection. This is one of those examples. As long as both the business user and the analyst recognise that the output is expected to be imperfect, it helps to see it sooner. Early feedback can help address misunderstandings and bring to life priorities. It can be surprising how much more effective this is than relying on documentation to clarify requirements.

One word of warning: this is not a panacea. Quality and diligence still matter. I have seen cases of analysts delivering slap-dash work under the guise of this principle. If this happens, leaders need to recognise their responsibility to give "in-the-moment feedback."

Principle 3: Collaborate with your customers
Here I mean both real (end) customers as well as internal stakeholders. Principle 3 is all about collaborating to co-create what is needed. All too often in the past, project leaders have resorted to formal contracts to protect them from unreasonable or ever-changing customer expectations.

This principle turns that conflict on its head. What if both your customers and your insight team felt equally invested in your project? I’ve shared a series on how to run an insight generation workshop. It can be a powerful exercise to invite your customers into your business to innovate with you.

Principle 4: Respond to change when (not if) it happens
The last principle relates to the reality that things change. As William Buist wrote when responding to the challenge of GDPR, external change is a reality for businesses. One they should expect.

In a similar vein, it would be hilarious (if it were not so tragic) how surprised project managers are when things change. Name me the last project you worked on when nothing changed from the original plan? You see my point.

In response to that reality, this principle encourages breaking away from a rigid plan. Expecting change and having an agreed (more flexible) way of embracing change. Utilising the more-regular communication with stakeholders, about smaller units of work, to empower better responses. The ethos should be to agree on changes quickly, so as to be able to see the impact and minimise cost or time wasted.

This isn’t a panacea either, and this time business users can exploit this flexibility if left unchallenged. That is one reason why Agile working also requires strong leadership and empowerment of all team members. Any business that still expects analysts to be "order takers" from leaders wanting evidence is not ready for Agile working.

Are you Agile working this way?
I hope those thoughts help any data, analytics, or insight leader who is transitioning to Agile working. Have you seen these principles apply in your business? Do you have any other insights into how to get the best out of Agile working? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Next in this series, I will turn to drivers of success. Beyond those culture principles, what drivers distinguish teams who succeed with Agile working from others?

Paul Laughlin, Chief Blogger at CustomerInsightLeader.com, has over 20 years experience of leading teams to generate profit from analysing data. Over the last 12 years he’s created, lead and improved customer insight teams across Lloyds, TSB, Halifax and Scottish Widows. He’s delivered incremental profit of over £10m pa and improved customers’ experiences.

Is Your Own Management Stalling Your Customer Experience Transformation?

2019-06-17T10:43:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I originally wrote today's post for Forbes. It appeared on the Forbes site on November 14, 2018. I've made some slight modifications since then, as it turned into a two-part series. This is the second in that series; the first part can be found here.

In this follow-up to my recent article titled “Has Your Customer Experience Transformation Stalled?” I continue to outline why customer experience transformation efforts stall or slow. In the previous article, I focused on those reasons attributed to company leadership; in this article, I'll outline reasons associated with employees and operations. (Ultimately, it’s all on leadership.)

1. Expecting Miracles from Someone with No Customer Experience Background
Some employees have been “volun-told” into customer experience positions because an executive heard that customer experience is important to the business. These employees haven’t previously held customer experience roles but were told they needed to take on such a role and head up the company’s customer experience transformation – without being properly educated on what that means or how they’ll go about developing and rolling out a CX vision and strategy.

These well-meaning employees put forth their best efforts to educate themselves and then begin to roll out a strategy that is flawed at best.

2. There’s a New Hire Fail
Employees are critical to customer experience transformation success. First and foremost, you have to hire the right people (both management and individual contributors), i.e., those who fit your values and culture, a culture that should already be described as customer-centric. Beyond that, once you've got those folks on board, it's incumbent on you to teach and train them about the customer-centric culture they've joined. Share with them where you are in the journey, how their roles impact the customer and the customer experience, and what their involvement will be as the transformation continues. Don't let new employees be the reason your efforts stall.

3. You’re Not Activating Your Base
On that note, get employees involved in the transformation. Changing the company's DNA is not a journey for one person to undertake; this is an organization-wide effort. There needs to be leadership from the top, but a grassroots groundswell is also required for the transformation effort not to stall.

As such, a governance structure is critical to the foundation of any customer experience transformation. It outlines who will ensure that there is alignment and accountability across the organization, and it defines roles and responsibilities key to the transformation, including a core program team, an executive sponsor, an executive/steering committee, cross-functional champions, and a culture committee. What that spells is a lot of opportunities for employees to take part in this journey!

4. Trying to Imitate not Innovate
Your culture and your customer experience are your own unique fingerprints. You cannot attempt to copy another company's culture to serve your needs and your customers' needs. This just doesn't work. If you started down that path and things have stalled, now you know why. Develop your own unique culture and your own unique customer experience.

5. Change Fatigue Has Set In
Author Dawn-Marie Turner describes change fatigue as a general sense of apathy or passive resignation toward organizational change and notes that “change fatigue means that you have neither the energy to defend the current state nor the energy to move through a change process.” According to Ken Perlman of Kotter International, “Change efforts are all too often unfocused, uninspired and unsuccessful. As our research shows, 70 percent of transformation efforts fail.”

Why does change fatigue happen? There are a variety of reasons, but it often starts with a non-stop flow of change initiatives, many of which are "flavors of the month" or reactionary, with no thought given to long-term strategy, execution, goals, and outcomes. Each initiative requires employees to do more work - work they believe is superfluous - on top of their already overwhelming workloads. Oftentimes, the initiatives don't have clearly-defined objectives, outcomes or owners. And if these exist, their importance and purpose are not clearly communicated to employees. Finally, employees never see tangible, relatable outcomes or actual changes as a result of these initiatives, further perpetuating the “flavor of the month” label.

6. Employees Are an Afterthought
I have said this many times: quite simply, without employees you have no customer experience. The adage, "Happy employees means happy customers," could not be truer. But far too many companies aren’t putting employees - and the culture in which those employees work - at the top of the priority list. Employees have to come first. If you are not doing what it takes to improve the employee experience, customer experience transformation efforts will stall - or fail.

7. Technology is Not the Answer
Know that technology is only a facilitator of a great customer experience. It can help you get the right data to the right people at the right time. It can help you deliver the experience. But it is not the customer experience silver bullet. It is not the answer to fixing the customer experience. Don't use it as a crutch. You still have to understand customer needs and jobs to be done - and figure out how technology can facilitate that within the grand scheme of things. But don't slap the latest and greatest tech on a problem and assume it's fixed.

8. You’re No Longer Understanding Customers
And, finally, customer understanding, which I've defined as listening/asking (e.g., surveys or online reviews), characterizing (i.e., personas), and empathizing (i.e., journey mapping), never stops. It is the cornerstone of customer-centricity.

Customers change. Their needs and expectations evolve. The business changes. New products are introduced. New competitors enter the marketplace. Don't rest on your laurels. You've got to continue to learn about customer needs and expectations. Don't rely on what you learned a few years ago; it's no longer relevant today.

**

There are likely more reasons your customer experience transformation is stalling or even failing. Take a good hard look at what you're doing and where your efforts are today. Do any of these reasons resonate with you? If so, revisit and refocus. Up your game and get back on track. Your customers are depending on you.

Once you stop stalling and start working, it takes a whole lot less time to do things! -Crystal Paine

The Secret Sauce to Achieve Outcomes with Journey Mapping

2019-06-12T13:49:00.001-07:00

In today's post, I reveal the secret sauce for journey mapping success. Are you ready?

There's a lot of bad press out there about journey mapping. And there's a lot of bad journey mapping (or what people think is journey mapping).

A few months ago, I shared my six-step journey mapping process. Remember, journey mapping isn't just a tool, it's also a process. Know the tool, and create it correctly. Embrace the process because the process is what's going to ensure you achieve your desired outcomes.

I would call journey mapping the most critical and pivotal component in any customer experience transformation. An in-depth understanding of the experience today - what's going well and what isn't - is the only way to really drive change going forward. (You can't transform something you don't understand, right?) This is why journey maps and the journey mapping process are often called the backbone of customer experience management.

So, back to the six steps of the process. The first two steps, Plan and Empathize, are all about getting the map done and getting it done right. The third step, Identify, revolves around bringing data into the maps, identifying and prioritizing moments of truth, conducting root cause analysis, and creating a plan to make improvements to the current experience.

The fourth step, Introspect, is a critical one and ties in neatly with the third step, especially with regard to root cause analysis. This is where the secret sauce comes in: it's time to look inward and create a service blueprint, which outlines the people, policies, tools, and systems that support and facilitate the customer experience, and a process map, which outlines the workflows that do the same, to correspond with the customer journey you’ve mapped. (You can include the processes in the service blueprint, as well, which is what I've done in the image below.) By linking the service blueprint to the customer's journey, you've got that end-to-end picture of the journey plus the surface to core view, giving you the complete picture of what's working and what's not.

Here's an example of what that service blueprint will look like.

If you've been mapping and making tactical improvements as a result of your map findings without service blueprinting to really understand what's happening behind the scenes, the resultant improvements are likely cosmetic or short-term. You cannot fix what's happening on the outside (for the customer) without identifying and then fixing what's happening on the inside to facilitate what the customer is experiencing.

Service blueprints help us understand how we are delivering the experience to customers today. They are necessary to reveal, uncover, and then redesign the root cause of a painful customer experience. I guarantee you that most companies did/do not think about the customer as they develop or implement the tools, systems, policies, and processes that result in an experience for the customer. The blueprints can and will certainly showcase where silos occur and the impact of those silos. But with that information, when the blueprints are done right, you will align stakeholders on the common goal: to design and deliver a better experience, from the inside out - while thinking outside in! Once you've completed the blueprint, you will have identified improvement opportunities, cost savings, process inefficiencies, and skill gaps for your people.

Last week, I was invited to be part of a fireside chat with Vinod Muthukrishnan, CEO of CloudCherry. During that chat, we discussed my journey mapping process, starting with the third step and barely finishing with the fifth step! We spent a chunk of time talking about service blueprinting and answering audience questions about journey mapping, in general. It was a great conversation, and there will be future chats to talk about service blueprinting and more. Be sure to check out this fireside chat and future chats in which Vinod will explore more details about the mapping process.

Everybody that's successful lays a blueprint out. -Kevin Hart

Exposure is What You Die from in the Desert

2019-06-10T11:04:00.002-07:00

If you're a speaker, thinking about becoming a speaker, an event organizer, or considering hosting an event in the near future, you'll definitely want to read this.

And even if you're none of the above, please continue reading. And feel free to share this whitepaper with anyone you believe will benefit.

I recently asked for feedback from speakers about their experience with event organizers and about their speaking experience, in general.

The catalyst for compiling this research was a string of bad speaker experiences. I'm grateful for every opportunity I get to speak. But every event I’ve spoken at – over the last couple years especially – did not “go off without a hitch” for me. The issues were varied, yet there were some that were pervasive.

Respondents sent me notes telling me that they appreciated this bit of research. They’ve never been asked for feedback about their experience as a speaker by an event organizer. And, no surprise, they've experienced a lot of the same mishaps that I have. My hope is that you – as the event organizer – will take this feedback to heart as you start planning your next event and incorporate these ideas into designing a better experience for your speakers. Without a doubt, it will benefit the speaker, the audience, you, and your event.

As an event organizer, you have a lot of audiences and constituents that you’ve got to know, work with, and keep happy as you plan the ideal event. It seems that the audience, the sponsors, the host location, and the vendors engaged with regards to event operations make it to the top of the list of constituents to prioritize. Sadly, your speakers are an after-thought – or so it seems more often than not.

While it’s important that every event goes off smoothly, if it wasn’t for the content, the event would just be, well, a gathering of people at a hotel. So, with that content and, especially, the people who deliver it, in mind, I set out to find out about the good, the bad, and the ideal speaker experience. The insights in this whitepaper come from 70 seasoned, global speakers who shared their feedback with me in April/May 2019 by answering the following questions:

For how long have you been a speaker? (50% of respondents have been speaking for 10 years or more.)
Approximately how many times do you speak in a year? (average respondent = 12 times per year)
What are some of your pet peeves when working with event organizers? Where do they miss the mark?
What do event organizers get right? What are some things that they do well?
What would the ideal speaker experience look like for you?
Anything else you want to share about your speaker experience? What else should event organizers know?

The findings and recommendations from this research can be found in a whitepaper you can access via this link. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Again, feel free to share with others that you think could benefit from this research.

And if you'd like me to speak at your event, please feel free to contact me via the Contact Me box to the right or send an email to the email address in the whitepaper.

The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public. -George Jessel

Has Your #CX Transformation Stalled?

2019-06-05T12:03:00.001-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I originally wrote today's post for Forbes. It appeared on the Forbes site on October 18, 2018. I've made some slight modifications since then, as it turned into a two-part series.

The good news is that you've embarked on a customer experience transformation journey. The bad news is that you don't think your organization has evolved as much as you'd hoped it would by now. Perhaps you started to see progress, but it suddenly seems like forward movement has stalled.

You're not alone. A lot of companies are, or claim to be, working to improve the customer experience, with little or no visible evidence. Companies are still treating customers poorly. And customers are still complaining.

What's going on?

In this two-part series, I will provide my thoughts on why customer experience transformation efforts stall or slow. In part one, I'll focus on those reasons attributed to company leadership; in the second part, I'll outline reasons associated with employees and operations. (Ultimately, it's all on leadership, but I'll drill down a bit in part two.)

1. Misplaced or Mistaken Focus
You know the old "acquisition vs. retention" debate. Acquiring customers is so much easier than retaining; retention is hard work, and it's a huge part of what the customer experience transformation work is all about. Focusing on acquisition yields a much faster ROI, especially when companies are driven by growth metrics.

Because retention — and hence customer experience transformation — work is slow and difficult, people get bored and tend to fall back into their old habits rather than relentlessly driving toward the ultimate goal. It’s important to recognize that a customer experience transformation is all about baby steps. In order to keep people energized and focused, share quick wins, and celebrate successes as you progress.

2. The Revenue Conundrum
Related to the misplaced focus on acquisition is that message you receive from the CEO that starts with, "Revenue is down this quarter. We need all hands on deck, focusing on drumming up new business." Suddenly, all of your customer experience transformation resources are shifted to business development and sales efforts.

Interestingly enough, the first question the CEO should ask is: "Why are sales down?" Is it a quality or performance issue? Is it that you're getting Blockbuster'd? Do you really understand what your customers' needs are and what jobs they are trying to do?

I’ve seen this scenario play out a few times, and each time, if they would’ve fixed what was ailing them, then sales numbers wouldn’t be down. Don’t take your eyes off the ball. Stay focused on the customer and the customer experience. Stay focused on the work that you’re doing to improve the experience. After all, a poor experience is likely why customers aren’t buying.

3. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
It's a fact: in order to successfully transform your culture to be one that is customer-focused, customer-centric, and customer-obsessed, you must start with executive commitment. Without that commitment, you will not get the resources - human, financial, capital, or other - that you'll need to implement real change.

But... And there's always a "but," isn't there? But, if you get a verbal commitment that's not supported by the actions (e.g., actually assigning the resources, modeling the behavior, walking the walk, etc.) or if you got a commitment that had initial support (actions) that has since waned, you've got a problem. You're now in a holding pattern until actions once again shore up the words.

4. It Hasn't Been an Enterprise-Wide Effort
When you have executive support and commitment across the entire organization, the change efforts will have a much greater chance of taking hold and being successful. If you don't have organization-wide support, or (especially) if the CEO isn't on board, sure, you can start making changes within pockets of the organization, but you won't get far. A true transformation must involve all departments; there can be no silo'd efforts. Customers actually know when the focus is silo'd!

5. Communications Aren't Open and Continuous
I heard this great quote from leadership development experience Susan Scott the other day: "What gets talked about in an organization and how it gets talked about determines what's going to happen or isn't going to happen." So true! Communicating the vision, the how, the why, the what's in it for me, etc. is so important when you're going through this type of transformation. And the communication must be open and ongoing. Provide progress updates. Answer questions. Talk about and celebrate quick wins. Keep the conversation going. Things that leaders talk about are deemed important by employees; things that are not, well, are not considered to be important.

6. Sense of Urgency Wasn't Established/Maintained
According to John Kotter, the first step of any change initiative is to create a sense of urgency. What's the burning platform in your business? Pick one: Customers are leaving. Employees are leaving. Costs are rising. Processes are out of whack. The culture is a mess. Bankruptcy. Impending hostile takeover. They're all bad. If you haven't clearly communicated, including ongoing reminders, to your employees what the burning platform is and created that sense of urgency, they forget the why. Thoughts shift to, "Things aren't so bad; why should we change?" or “It’s just business as usual; what’s the big deal?” And then you lose them.

No one ever said that a customer experience transformation was easy. It’s a lot of work and requires a dedicated and relentless focus on making things better. If you’ve seen your progress slow, evaluate your efforts against the six items I’ve written about here. And stay tuned for several more reasons coming in the second part of this two-part series.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. -Warren Buffett

On Becoming People-Centric

2019-05-29T11:10:00.001-07:00

This is a modified version of a post I originally wrote for CallidusCloud. It appeared on their blog on June 14, 2018.

If you want to move beyond cosmetic changes and lip service to real changes in both the employee experience and the customer experience, the first thing you have to look at is your company’s culture.

What is culture? My favorite definition is Herb Kelleher’s: "Culture is what people do when no one is looking.” To add a little more detail to that, culture = values + behavior.

While customer experience strategies must include a priority focus on the employee experience, they often don’t. Many companies believe they can improve the customer experience without improving the employee experience. I’ve heard it many times over the last 25+ years.

At the root of what both employees and customers experience is a company culture that focuses on both of their needs – and puts them before profits or shareholder value. Does your company have a people-centric culture, or is it profit-centric and profit-driven? Companies must make money, but there’s a better way of doing it that benefits all constituencies involved.

How do you design a people-centric culture? It’s definitely a culture shift (obviously), a mindset shift, and a behavior shift for most companies!

Unfortunately, in most organizations, the culture looks like the pyramid in this image below, where mission, vision, and values might frame the foundation for the culture, but revenue and profits take priority over employees and customers – and drive everything that’s being done in the organization. These companies live by the old management philosophy that they’re in business to maximize shareholder value.

Contrast that with a people-centric culture (image below), where, without a shadow of a doubt, the company foundation is its mission, vision, values, and purpose. These companies have a strong culture and use these foundational elements day in and day out to operate the business. Once the company is grounded in well-defined and clearly-communicated mission, vision, values, and purpose, they’ve got a solid basis for a people-focused and people-centric culture.

Next, you’ll see that I’ve reordered the layers of the typical organization culture pyramid and have added a new layer that is all about the executives and executive alignment. If your executive team is not aligned with the business goals and outcomes, both internal and external, then neither is the rest of the organization. In the same vein, if executives don’t embrace both servant leadership and truly human leadership, then it will be difficult to foster that people-centric culture.

The next layer in the pyramid is your employees, who will benefit from a company built on solid mission, vision, values, and purpose – all of which become not only the basis for hiring, firing, and promoting but also the basis for executive behavior and decision making. And they benefit from an executive team that is aligned and working together.

As you know, employees must come more first. The employee experience drives the customer experience. When you’ve got happy, engaged, satisfied, and empowered employees, customers benefit in their experience. And so, the customer experience is the next layer of the pyramid.

And when you focus on the people – employees and customers – first, then the numbers – revenue/profits – will come.

Putting employees and customers before revenue and profits means that your executives are making decisions with their employees and customers in mind at all times. They are doing what’s best for employees, and ultimately, for customers, so that, in the end, the business benefits.

If there's any doubt that that is possible, check out this TED2019 Talk from Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of Chobani. It contains a lot of powerful messages!

You watched the whole thing, right? Can I just say this? (I can. It's my blog.) A-fucking-men!

I could just stop there, but I'll wrap up with a few thoughts.

While creating and maximizing shareholder value is important to any public company, it is an outcome, not a means. There are means to achieving that outcome, and they include putting employees and customers first, ahead of profits. Companies succeed if and when…

employees want to work for them
customers want – and actually do – buy their products
vendors and suppliers want to partner with them
people want them to locate in - and be a part of - their communities, and
shareholders buy their stocks.

Companies have more constituents than shareholders and more responsibilities than delivering value to just shareholders. The rest of their constituents must receive value, as well. So, put employees first, then customers, and watch the business thrive.

To hear more about my thoughts on this topic and how to create this people-focused culture, be sure to watch my webinar with CallidusCloud titled, Be a CX Winner by Focusing on Culture and Employee Experience.

Always put people first, for without them, there is no organization. -David Sikhosana, Time Value of Money: Timing Income

CX Journey™ Musings: On Means and Outcomes...

2019-05-22T12:38:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Do you know the difference between means and outcomes? Between the journey and the destination?

I know. I know. Those are silly questions to ask.

Of course everyone knows the difference between means and outcomes. Of course everyone knows the difference between the means to an end and the end.

Or do they?

As I was driving to an appointment the other day, I saw a sticker on the back of a construction truck that read, in big red letters: Safety is the goal.

So, let me throw out some definitions here.

According to Merriam-Webster, a goal is: the end toward which effort is directed; aim. An outcome is: something that follows as a result or consequence. Basically, the goal or the outcome is the desired end result.

Means, on the other hand, as defined by YourDictionary is: that by which something is done or obtained.

So, back to safety. Is safety really the goal? Or is safety a means to achieve the goal. You want your employees to be safe. You want to provide them with a safe environment in which to do their jobs. You want them to think about safety, to adhere to safety rules and guidelines, and to act safely.

But is that the goal? Is that really the desired outcome?

Actually, it's a means to the end, to the goal. I think the goals or the outcomes of making safety (or being safe) a priority, a core value, or a way of working are to not break a leg, to not lose a finger, to not die, or to go home to your family at the end of the day. Safety/doing your job safely is the means by which you will achieve the desired outcome, i.e., to not die.

It is important to know the difference between the outcome and the means to achieve the outcome. I know a bumper sticker that says "The goal is to see my family tonight" or "The goal is to not die on the job today" is not as sexy or pithy or catchy as "Safety is the goal," but they are certainly more accurate and paint a clearer picture for everyone about why safety is so important.

When you define and clearly communicate the true desired outcomes, you can then set in motion a variety of paths to achieve those outcomes. When people are clear on the outcomes (e.g., to see their families tonight), then they are more easily able to understand the why and the importance of the means (e.g., safety, being safe) and, in turn, are more than happy to get on board to do what's necessary to achieve the outcomes.

Every choice you make has an end result. -Zig Ziglar

Leaders Need to Show, Not Just Say

2019-05-15T11:25:00.003-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

How do leaders drive (lasting) change?

Last week, I enjoyed spending a few days in Vegas, speaking and networking at Fiserv's annual client Forum. The keynote on the second day of the event was Troy Aikman, who was interviewed by Fiserv's CEO Jeff Yabuki about sports, of course, as well as about leadership and business.

One of the stories that Troy shared resonated with me because it's exactly the kind of thing that I talk about when it comes to driving lasting change: leaders can't just talk the talk; they must walk the walk.

The story goes something like this.

Troy is a sharp-dressed man; when it comes to work/business, he is always dressed in a suit. After he bought his first car dealership, he walked in and noticed that all of the sales guys were dressed casual, in polo shirts and slacks. He wanted them to dress nicer, but he didn't want to come into his new business and be a hard nose right away. So, he didn't say anything. Instead, he just showed up at the dealership every day in a suit. By the end of the first week, a couple of the guys had upgraded their attire, and by the end of the second week, all of them were dressed in suits. And he never said a word!

It's a great reminder that you can drive change - lasting change - when you do a few simple, yet often forgotten, things. Troy didn't talk about any conversations he had with the staff after the two weeks, but I can only imagine he applauded their actions.

To drive lasting change...

Communicate the change, using a variety of vehicles and media. Share the change vision. Tell the change story. Let employees know what is changing, why it's changing, how it will impact them and what they do (differently) on a daily basis, and how they will be involved. If no one knows what the change is or why it's taking place, then they'll ignore it; they certainly don't want to be a part of it.
Involve employees in the change process rather than forcing change on them. If they're involved, the solutions may be richer because they have other perspectives and experiences that the decision-making leader may not have. Better yet, present them (spoke or unspoken, as was the case with Troy) with a problem or a situation, and let them come to the conclusion themselves. If they believe it was their own idea, it'll stick; they'll own it.
It's important that executives lead by example and model the change that they wish to see from their employees; if they don't live the change, why should employees?! If your CEO doesn't demonstrate commitment to the transformation by being the role model for how to deliver a great experience, it won't happen. If she doesn't live the core values, why should you? Actions always speak louder than words.
Recognize the right behaviors and reinforce with incentives, promotions, metrics, and more. Reinforcing the behaviors, actions, and changes that you want to see is more powerful than talking about them, especially when combined with modeling them.

Yes, change is hard. But it's not impossible. These four things are important and work together. Just remember this: leaders can't expect to see change happen if all they do is talk about the changes but don't do things differently themselves. Case in point: if you're talking about transforming your culture to one that is customer-centric, yet you continue to push staff to make their quarterly numbers and reinforce behaviors that speak to a focus on growth at all cost - sans focusing on the customer experience - then you're not walking the walk.

Talk is cheap.

If you cannot prove it by your action(s), you do not mean it. -Murad S. Shah

Focus on the People and the Numbers Will Come

2019-05-08T13:39:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I originally wrote today's post for CallidusCloud. It appeared on their blog on July 12, 2018.

When companies focus on people, their people - employees first, then customers - the numbers will come.

This is a tough concept for a lot of executives to grasp. They know the old management adage, companies are in business to maximize shareholder value, all too well. And that knowledge typically equates to focusing on marketing and sales first, i.e., do whatever it takes to acquire customers, drive sales, grow the business, etc.

But if they change the focus, shift the mindset, to adopt Drucker's definition of the purpose of a business, to create and to nurture a customer, then things start to change. Nothing changes if nothing changes, right? But when they put the focus on employees first, ensuring employees have a great experience, employees will then, in turn, deliver a great experience for their customers.

Not convinced of this? Or trying to convince your executives that this is real? Here's something to turn the tide. Take a look at the service-profit chain. I've written about it before, but let me go into a bit more detail here. It is a concept well documented in the 1997 book by the same name, written by James Heskett; Earl Sasser, Jr.; and Leonard Schlesinger.

From the book...

Simply stated, service profit chain thinking maintains that there are direct and strong relationships between profit; growth; customer loyalty; customer satisfaction; the value of goods and services delivered to customers; and employee capability, satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity.

and...

The strongest relationships suggested by the data collected in early tests of the service profit chain were those between: (1) profit and customer loyalty, (2) employee loyalty and customer loyalty, and (3) employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

Here's what the Service-Profit Chain looks like.

Image courtesy of The Service Profit Chain (book)

The chain begins with internal service quality, which is really about the work environment, the attitudes employees have toward one another, and how they serve their "internal customers." i.e., fellow employees. From the book: Internal quality is measured by the feelings that employees have toward their jobs, colleagues, and companies. Sounds like measuring the employee experience to me!

They provide examples of Southwest Airlines and American Express and how these two companies have linked internal service quality to profitability.

The next link in the chain is employee satisfaction, which is driven by the employee experience (aka internal service quality). It is linked to - or drives - employee retention. Southwest Airlines was again cited as an example for this linkage, as was a property and casualty insurance company (no name provided), for which they discovered that 30% of dissatisfied employees were likely to leave the company, a percentage three times higher than for satisfied employees.

Not surprisingly, the next linkage is between retention and productivity. When employee retention is an issue, companies spend time and money on recruiting, hiring, and training new employees. In addition to the financial impact, productivity is inhibited because companies basically start over with each new employee, teaching them the ropes, building new relationships with customers, and more.

Employee retention and productivity then drive external service quality. Southwest Airlines and American Express Travel Services were cited as prime examples of companies reaping the benefits of this connection. At Southwest, where we already know employee retention is high, their positions are designed so that employees can do several different jobs, if needed. That flexibility allows them to board more passengers faster than other airlines. At American Express Travel Services, productivity equates to the speed and accuracy in which tickets are prepared, showing that quality and productivity can go hand in hand.

This service quality then drives customer satisfaction. Customers are value-driven, and the book notes that value is a combination of results produced for customers and how they are delivered, i.e., not just fast and accurate but also in a professional and courteous way. As the diagram shows, customer expectations are met. The challenge is understanding what those expectations are.

Customer satisfaction links to customer loyalty, in the form of retention, repeat purchases, and advocacy. While this could be the least reliable linkage in the entire chain (for questions on that, take a look at my post on the Apostle Model), Southwest Airlines and American Express Travel Services would debate that, given their results.

When attained, customer loyalty is linked to profit and revenue growth. In their research for the book, Sasser et al took a closer look at market share and its impact on profitability. Once again looking at Southwest Airlines, at the time the seventh largest airline, they were able to conclude that the quality of market share, measured by customer loyalty, is as important as the quantity of market share. Their research at this time brought about the famous statistic we've all quoted time and time again: a 5 percentage point increase in customer loyalty could produce profit increases of 25-85% in the service industries they studied.

Here's how I interpret this chain, and it falls in line with what I preach: Put employees first. When they have a great experience, your customers will have a great experience. And so will the business. There are a lot of examples in The Service Profit Chain book of the linkages.

Still need convincing? Take a look at the book and use the examples to determine how you can do the same for your business. While the examples may not apply to every industry, I think you'll get a pretty good sense of what is required and what is possible.

Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers. -Simon Sinek

You Aren't Journey Mapping

2019-05-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

I hate to tell you this, but you're just not.*

I've been doing a bit of speaking lately, either about journey mapping or with journey mapping as a piece of the talk, and I've learned a lot - or, rather, confirmed a lot. Namely, you might think you're journey mapping; you call it journey mapping; but it's not really journey mapping.

Here's what happens.

I start by asking the audience if they're mapping customer journeys, and a bunch of hands in the room go up. A lot of hands, as a matter of fact.

Then I proceed to explain what journey mapping is, why you must map, how maps are used in a variety of ways, and what the journey mapping process is.

I then ask the question again. "How many of you have mapped customer journeys?" No - or very few - hands go up this second time around. What gives?

One of the things I talk about after I ask the question the first time is that, if your map has Need, Awareness, Consideration, Selection, etc. as the column headings, and within each column you've specified relevant or corresponding touchpoints or channels, then you're not journey mapping; you're mapping lifecycle stages, and you're touchpoint mapping. (This is typically where the difference in hands up is rooted.)

You see, journey maps are defined as "walking in your customer's shoes to understand her experience." That means you go step by step by step to depict the journey, to capture the customer's story of the experience, to depict the timeline of steps she took to go from Point A to Point B.

If you've got lifecycle stages and touchpoints mapped, you are not...

viewing things from the customer's perspective
capturing any kind of detail about the experience
able to tell where things go right or wrong
able to develop the corresponding service blueprint to fix what's happening inside to support the experience
understanding what the customer is doing, thinking, and feeling throughout the experience

As a matter of fact, the customer isn't even in those maps.

The second likely culprit of the gap in hands between the first time I ask and the second time is that folks are creating assumptive maps, which are maps visualized by well-meaning stakeholders who believe they understand the experience; they assume they know. And when people create assumptive maps (which aren't wrong but typically aren't done right), a couple of things happen:

there's a lot of inside-out thinking; in other words, the map is not created from the customer's perspective
it's likely that they've actually created a process map
the map doesn't get validated with customers
the map gets rolled up, stashed under a desk, and goes nowhere from there

The first scenario (lifecycle/touchpoint mapping) is the one I hear most often. Neither scenario is good.

Take a look at what you're doing today or what you've done. Revisit the six steps from maps to outcomes. And then tell me if you've actually created journey maps - or something else.

... what you think is right isn't the same as knowing what is right. -E.A. Bucchianeri

*OK, some of you actually are. But just some of you.

Prioritizing Your #CX Improvement Initiatives

2019-04-24T14:28:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I originally wrote today's post for CallidusCloud. It appeared on their blog on April 13, 2018.

How do you prioritize your CX improvement initiatives?

You've listened to customers. You've mapped their journeys. And you've identified a lot of improvement areas that would make the experience light years better for your customers.

You've got a governance structure in place that includes a team of folks who are keeping a running list of all of those improvement initiatives.

But there's a problem. There are a lot of things to fix. And there are a lot of competing priorities in your company. Now what?

You need to help your executives see how all of the improvements go hand in hand with many of the company's other initiatives/priorities - after all, everything you do is for/about the customer, right?! - but you also need to, within your own customer experience (CX) improvement initiative list, help the executives see some order of priorities.

Yes, they are all important. Customers told you so, right?! And we as CX professionals believe it's important to fix everything that breaks the experience. But you know you're not immediately going to get budget to solve all of the world's problems. So, as I like to say, let's take some baby steps.

When you go in for the big ask, paint the big picture, i.e., how is it all connected? But also paint the little picture, i.e., help them identify, within your list of immediate needs, which are more immediate than others.

There are a lot of different ways to prioritize your CX improvement initiatives. You'll need to determine the ways that speak most loudly to your executives. They include looking at:

cost to fix
time to fix
effort to fix
resources required to fix
impact on the business
impact on the customer

Know that they are not linear; the prioritization typically requires a combination of two or more of these metrics. I recommend that that combination always includes "impact on the customer," i.e., what is most important to the customer? what matters most to the customer? if we do this and not that, will the customer stay or leave?

If you always frame the prioritization that way, it should also speak volumes to your executives, especially when you tell them that if certain actions aren't taken, you will lose X% of customers. I've written previously that, in order to get executive commitment, you need to build the business case. This holds true for prioritizing the improvement initiatives. Build the business case, tie it to business outcomes, and speak their language.

Something else to take into account when you think of impact on the business and impact on the customer are two models that come out of Harvard Business Review. One is the Apostle Model, and the other is the Loyalty-Profitability Model. The Apostle Model segments customers by combining their loyalty with their satisfaction levels, allowing you to identify and then to place greater priority on those things that will help you keep your most loyal and most satisfied customers. On the other hand, the Loyalty-Profitability Model segments customers by combining their loyalty with their profitability, allowing you to identify and to place greater priority on what it takes to keep your most valuable customers.

Both of them provide roundabout ways to prioritize initiatives by prioritizing customers. These models also help you understand why taking a two-dimensional (or more) approach to prioritization paints a better picture.

One other option is to conduct a So What exercise, which allows you to identify the importance and the impact of implementing an improvement solution. This methodology was developed by the U.S. Army to move beyond simply uncovering root causes to prioritizing - and then actually implementing - ideal, impactful improvements. It allows you to identify the impact of various improvement initiatives and weight them against each other, getting at the list of top initiatives that best support desired company and customer outcomes.

Having said all that, ultimately this prioritization has to be based on criteria that were established by the CX governance team, namely, the executive steering committee. They will take a look at all of the company's initiatives and prioritize one relative to another; when they do this, I would simply ask that they remember: you are in business for and because of the customer. Choose wisely!

Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

10 More All-Too-Common VoC Program Mistakes - Part 2

2019-04-17T11:11:00.004-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

This is the second of a two-part series on common VoC program mistakes.

In case you missed the first post in this series, you can find it here.

Note that I haven't prioritized or categorized these mistakes, but take a close look at each one to ensure you're not committing any of them. If you recognize one, you've got to take corrective action immediately. If your listening program is failing, there are a tone of ideas here to consider to get it back on track.

OK, so let's dive in on the next installment of VoC program mistakes.

11. Not sharing feedback with the organization
This one makes no sense. As part of the core program team, you don't want to hold onto this data. What are you going to do with it? You've got to get out out to the people who can use it! You must share it out to the organization so that the respective departments can learn from it then act on it, do something with it. That action involves not only fixing what's wrong but also coaching employees based on feedback about their (or their department's) performance.

12. Not doing anything with it, failing to act
Don't just survey for the sake of surveying, to check that box. What a waste of everyone's time. As a follow-on to #11, once the feedback is analyzed, insights are gleaned, and those insights and recommended actions are shared with the organization, each department has a responsibility to take action. If you're not sure about who needs to do what with the feedback, check out this post on 5 Fails to Avoid with Your CX Program. You'll see that one of the biggest problems addressed in this post is closing the loop - with employees and with customers.

13. Failing to view it as a continuous process
Your VoC program is all about continuous improvement. Just because you've gotten feedback from customers doesn't mean you're done listening. Your listening program must be always-on. It must evolve to listen and ask in ways that customer want to provide feedback. And it must be updated to ensure you get feedback on improvements you've made as a result of previous feedback. Never stop listening.

One of my new favorite quotes at the moment is this one from Susan Scott: The conversation is the relationship. If the conversation stops, so does the relationship.

Keep the conversation going!

14. Not revisiting VoC programs over time
I've written about this a couple of times, so I'll let those posts speak for themselves, but just know that you need to do a refresh every so often.

20 Signs That It's Time for a VoC Redesign
How Do You Know When It's Time to Redesign Your VoC Program?

15. Not sending surveys at the right time
On that note, a critical thing to do is to send the surveys in a timely manner. The main issue here is not sending the surveys while the experience is still fresh in the minds of your customers. Don't wait a week or a month to send a survey about an experience. Do it within 24 hours.

16. Not using an enterprise-wide feedback management platform
You thought you could go on the cheap with this whole customer listening thing and just use a free survey platform to listen to customers. Well, that's likely going to set you up for failure in a lot of different ways, including:

You won't have alert, action management, and service recovery capabilities, which are all key tactical next steps in your VoC program
You get to do all of the analysis by hand in Excel, which will not be efficient or effective, because those free platforms give you
Others in the organization won't get to see the feedback and use it within their organizations, e.g., think departments, business units, geographic regions, etc.

17. Not including VoCe
Your VoC program must be broader than just surveying customers. There are other ways to capture feedback about and from your customers, e.g., social media, online reviews, interviews, CABs, etc. One piece of feedback that is often overlooked is Voice of the Customer through the Employee (VoCe). Customers share feedback with your employees regularly. There must be a simple way for employees to log that feedback and share it with the folks who need to see it and use it.

18. Not appending customer data to survey responses
You already know a lot of things about your customers. When you upload your customer contact/upload list into your EFM/VoC platform (not the free one because they probably limit the number of fields in your file, and you can't really do any great analysis in that platform, anyway), be sure to include things that you already know about the customer. It shortens the survey because then you don't have to ask about things you already know, and then it makes your analysis much more robust.

19. Not personalizing the survey
When you include customer data in your customer contact/upload list, it not only affords shorter surveys but it also allows you to personalize the survey emails and the survey, with names, dates, products, etc. If this information is in your customer data, you can also deliver the survey to the individual in their language of choice. By the way, not offering the survey in multiple languages, when applicable, is also a fail.

20. Creating surveys that are not about the customer
It seems a no-brainer to create surveys about the customer, but I've seen plenty of self-serving surveys that left me scratching my head, wondering how the questions would help improve the experience for me. Don't be that company.

And here's a bonus mistake!
21. Forgetting that the survey is a touchpoint
This is definitely a major pain point with surveys. You must know by now that surveys are another touchpoint in the customer experience. The experience with the survey must be considered and improved as much as the experience with any other touchpoint. For some tips on that, check out these two posts:

Improving the Respondent Experience
How's the Customer Experience of Your VoC Program?

There are a lot of other mistakes that companies make with their VoC programs. Use this post and the first part of this series to ensure that you're at least not making these 21 mistakes! And if I can help in any way, just let me know!

The customer's perception is your reality. What they think about your products matters. If you don't put your customer's perception first, THE GAME IS OVER. -Sarfaraz Ahme

10 All-Too-Common VoC Program Mistakes - Part 1

2019-04-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I originally wrote today's post for CallidusCloud; it appeared on their blog on October 1, 2018.

As I sat down to write this month's post, I reflected on several conversations I had this week that were tied together with a common thread: common VoC program mistakes. I started to reflect on what was said and then began jotting down a list that grew much longer than I thought it would!

In this first part of a two-part series, I've outlined the first 10 common VoC program mistakes I came up with; part two will have at least 10 more.

It's important to note that these are mistakes that are made either knowingly or unknowingly - either way, they need to be rectified.

But before I outline those 10, there's an even bigger issue that needs to be addressed: thinking that you don't need to listen to customers or ask for feedback at all! If that mindset is prevalent in your organization, you need to squash it as quickly as possible and shift the thinking to one of customer listening - always!

OK, on to the list of common VoC program mistakes.

1. Not defining your objectives
With any program, initiative, or journey you undertake, you must always start from the beginning: outline your goals, objectives, outcomes, and success metrics. If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?

2. Not getting executive commitment
Yes, you need executive commitment for your VoC programs. If you don't have it, how will you get the resources you'll need to improve what customers tell you is broken? You

3. Failing to outline the program plan
"Fail to plan, plan to fail" definitely applies here. Your program plan needs to outline, among other things, the audience, a sampling plan, business rules to avoid survey fatigue, language options, customer data to append to the survey, alerts, closed-loop process, and more.

4. Poor survey design
I've seen more poorly-designed surveys than I care to admit. Some of the design issues include: survey is too long; there are navigation and UI issues; the survey is littered with poor grammar; it's not designed for mobile; questions are not relevant to the experience being evaluated; questions are not actionable; didn't ask open-ended questions; didn't survey via customers' preferred channels or methods; and the list goes on.

5. Not listening where customers are
VoC is not all about asking; you need to listen, as well. Know the difference between "ask" and "listen" when it comes to VoC. Be sure to listen on social media, in online reviews, via customer advisory boards, etc.

6. Trying to sell with surveys
Years ago, I read an article that stated: "The easiest way to grow sales and double customer loyalty is to send a survey and then do nothing with the feedback." I'll just simplify my response: "Just don't." I don't even know how that makes sense. I've seen some surveys with poor intentions, and it really doesn't help the rest of the folks who are trying to do the right thing.

7. Similarly, failing to keep the survey focused on the experience
Sometimes well-intentioned people design surveys about the experience a customer had with the brand but also include questions that could best be described as purely for marketing purposes. Keep it simple. Ask about the experience - and only the experience. Marketing questions should be saved for marketing surveys.

8. No owners for survey questions
Quite simply, if the question doesn't have an owner, there's no reason to ask it. If there isn't a stakeholder who can claim the question and say that he/she will make improvements or do something with the feedback to that question, then don't ask it.

9. Asking about things you can't change
If you ask customers for feedback about some aspect of the experience, you set the expectation that you will do something about that aspect. But if there are things that you cannot or will not be able to change, then don't ask about them. Looking to shorten your survey? Start here.

10. Focusing on the metrics, not the outcomes
Too many companies survey just for the metrics. Instead, survey to find out what's going well and what's not for the customer - and then use that to improve the experience. When you focus on the metrics and what it takes to move the needle, you end up driving the wrong behaviors. When you focus on improving the experience, the numbers will come.

Take some time to ponder these mistakes. How many of them are you guilty of? Not sure? Audit your program - or get someone to do an audit for you. Never a bad idea to do that on a regular basis, anyways. It's not too late to make improvements. After all, you want to make sure you do this right so that you can get the right feedback in order to design and deliver a better customer experience.

A customer talking about their experience with you is worth ten times that which you write or say about yourself. -David J. Greer, Wind In Your Sails

Customer Understanding: The Cornerstone of Customer-Centricity

2019-04-03T11:20:00.001-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

If you don't know by now, customer understanding is the cornerstone of customer-centricity.

Customer-centricity means putting the customer at the center; customer understanding is how you'll achieve that.

What is customer-centricity?
A lot of people talk about being customer-centric, but it’s one thing to say that and another to be it! Customer-centricity is about putting the customer at the center of all you do.

Customer-centric companies ensure that they make no decisions, design no products and services, and implement no processes without first thinking of the customer and the impact that the decision or the design has on the customer. They ask, “How will this impact the customer? How will it make her feel? Does it add value, or does it create pain?”

In customer-centric companies, decisions are always made with the customer’s best interests in mind. The customer’s voice is brought into meetings and into conversations; the customer is always represented. Jeff Bezos’ empty chair concept is a great example of this and has been widely adopted by other brands.

It’s important to note that a customer experience transformation can only happen when there is a commitment to change the culture to one that is customer-centric, even customer-obsessed.

Being customer-centric happens by design. Customer-centric companies do the following to ensure the organization knows its reason for being, i.e., the customer, and to embed the customer into the DNA of the organization. They…

Have visible (and visibly) customer-centric leadership, demonstrating a customer commitment from the top down
Develop and socialize customer personas
Speak and think in the customer’s language
Use customer feedback and data to better understand their customers
Are engaged in continuous improvement as a result of the customer understanding efforts
Focus on products and services that deliver value for their customers, i.e., solving their problems and helping them with jobs to be done
Have a commitment to customer success
Engage with customers from the beginning
Walk in the customer’s shoes to understand today’s experience in order to design a better experience for tomorrow
Foster a customer-centric culture
Empower the frontline to do what’s right for the customer
Ensure all employees (front line and back office) understand how they impact the customer and her experience
Recognize the customer across all channels
Design processes and policies from the customer’s point of view
Measure what matters to customers
Encourage customer innovation
Include customer-driven values in their core values
Recruit and hire employees passionate about customers and about helping customers
Incorporate the customer and the customer experience into their onboarding processes
Train employees on how to deliver the experience that customers expect
Establish a customer room that is open to employees 24/7 so that they can learn more about their customers and the customer experience
Rewards and recognition reinforce employee behaviors that align with customer-centricity
Have a C-suite executive who champions the customer across the entire organization
Customers before metrics, i.e., every meeting begins with and includes customer stories
Invest in the latest technology to support and deliver the experience customers expect

As you can see, becoming a customer-centric organization is a commitment that requires a mindset shift and a behavior shift. And, especially, some investments – financial, human, time, resources, technology, and more.

What is customer understanding?
Customer understandings is all about learning everything you need to know about your customers, i.e., their needs, their painpoints, the jobs they are trying to do, etc., and their current experiences in order to deliver the experience they expect going forward.

There are really three ways to achieve that understanding. The problem with these approaches is that, if not done correctly, you'll be no further ahead in terms of understanding than if you hadn't done them.

The three approaches are:

Listen. Don't just ask customers about the experience, listen, as well. There are a lot of different channels and ways for customers to tell you about their needs and desired outcomes and how well you are performing against their expectations. Understanding these expectations and identifying key drivers of a great customer experience are important outcomes of this exercise.
Characterize. Research your customers. Identify the jobs they are trying to do. Compile key personas that represent the various types of prospects and customers that (might) buy from you or that use your products or services.
Empathize. Walk in your customers' shoes to get a clear understanding of the steps they take to do whatever job it is they are trying to do with your organization. Map their journeys to understand the current state of the experience.

These are all learning exercises. We walk away from them with a lot of knowledge about customers, but we need to make sure we truly understand what we've heard about customers, their needs, and their expectations. Without that understanding, the exercises have failed. Make sure they're done right.

And then make sure you do something with what you learn! This is where customer understand manifests into customer-centricity and becomes the cornerstone for it. Make sure to put the customer front and center.

Here are just a few things you can do to infuse the customer into everything the organization does. Key to this is to start at the beginning, i.e., start with the first day an employee starts working for your company. (Even better: start with the first day you start your company.)

Onboarding: Showcase your customer-centric culture during the onboarding process so that new employees know what that means. This is a great time for them to learn what it means to be a part of your organization, i.e., knowing your brand promise, values and commitment, what it means to live the brand, where the priorities lie, and how to deliver a great customer experience. This is a great time to set the tone for employees.
Ongoing training: You can't expect that, as both the business and customer expectations evolve, employees will automatically know what to do and adapt/evolve, too. You need to train employees regularly to ensure they are kept abreast of new customer insights and new approaches to delivering a great experience. Be sure to provide updates on anything you've learned about customers, the jobs they are trying to do, and their expectations.
Communication: What gets shared and communicated regularly is viewed as important to your employees. Not only does communication lend clarity, it is critical to a clear line of sight to the goal. Communication needs to be open and ongoing. Share customer feedback with employees; don't keep it from them. Tell customer stories and stories of great experiences to teach and to inspire employees to deliver the experience they need to deliver.
Rewards and recognition: When you recognize and reward those who consistently delight customers, you are reinforcing the behavior you expect from your employees, further confirming and solidifying the importance of putting the customer at the center of all you do.

Other ways to ensure the customer is always front and center, include:

Personas on every wall: these help to remind employees who the customer is, what she's trying to do, her pain points, what delights her, etc. - again, keeping her front and center in all you do
Customer cut-outs: place these around the office - and especially in meeting rooms - to keep the attention on who really matters; they should include details of who the customer is and what she thinks and feels about the current experience
CCO/CX professionals: in key decision-making meetings, especially, there needs to be a representative from the CX team present to represent the customer voice and perspective
A real customer: imagine that! ask a customer (or multiple customers) to attend a meeting in which you'll be making decisions critical to the customer experience
Customer feedback: have you gotten feedback about the product or the touchpoint you'll be discussing; share it with meeting attendees so they understand how customers feel about the current experience
Journey maps: this might seem like a stretch, but if you can show executives/employees how the changes they plan to make impact the experience through truly walking in customers' shoes, then that's a powerful tool to have at your disposal, too

As you can see, all of the tools to facilitate and drive customer-centricity are rooted in customer understanding. In case there was any doubt, customer understanding really is the cornerstone of customer-centricity!

Your website isn’t the center of your universe. Your Facebook page isn’t the center of your universe. Your mobile app isn’t the center of your universe. The customer is the center of your universe. -Bruce Ernst

Do You Believe in Your Company's Core Values?

2019-03-27T17:52:00.002-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Do employees believe in the core values? Do they even know their company's core values?

Core values are the fundamental beliefs of an organization; they guide executives and employees in identifying which behaviors and actions are right and which are wrong.

Everything you do must be aligned with your core values, and core values should be integrated into everything you do. When in doubt, ask: "Is this the right thing to do? Does it fit with our core values?"

I've written about core values a number of times; a few of those posts, for reference, are:

CX Journey™ Musings: A Lesson in Living Your Core Values
What Employees Do When No One is Looking
7 Pillars of a Strong Culture
CX Journey™ Musings: Culture - The Soul of the Organization

The good news is that most companies (89% globally) have written values statements.Read on for the not-so-good news.

I'm a fan of including employees in the selection of the core values. The following quote from Benjamin Franklin is so fitting here: Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn. It's even more fitting when you see the statistics about how many employees don't know their company's core values.

Research from late 2016 shows that only 53% of employees know their employer's core values. In a more-recent webinar poll, only 11% of HR professionals reported that 80% or more of their employees know the core values. With a little convoluted math, you can figure out that it's not an impressive response. Those numbers should be 100%. But they aren't.

What's a brand to do? If you are one of the 11% of companies that doesn't have core values, make it a priority to establish them this year. Let's just say you've got core values, but employees don't know them or live them. Now what?

Well, let's think about this for a minute. And let's not put all the onus on employees. Did the core values just show up on a wall one day without any communication or explanation to employees? Yes, this happens more times than I care to count. Just in the last month alone, I heard two examples of this!

And do the values actually resonate with your employees? According to Gallup, only 23% of U.S. employees believe that they can apply the core values to their work, while only 27% believe in the values.

When employees believe in the values, align with them, and live them, they are more likely to stay with the company. So let's get on the right track here.

Involve employees in selecting/defining your core values and the associated behaviors.
Once you've established what those core values are, you've got to communicate them. It's not too late to do this. If you can't remember the last time there was any communication about the core values or if they just showed up on posters one day without explanation, it's time to outline your communication plan. And then stick to it.
It's so important for executives and leaders to model the behaviors that they wish to see, the behaviors that align with the core values. Actions speak louder than words. Words on the wall are a start, but behavior is where the rubber hits the road. Executives, how are decisions made? How are resources allocated? What are your priorities? Do they jive with the core values?
Recognize behaviors that align with the core values, and reinforce with incentives, promotions, metrics, and more. Reinforcing the values and the corresponding behaviors makes them real.

In a Booz Allen Hamilton/Aspen Institute survey, 85% of respondents stated that their companies rely on explicit CEO support to reinforce values, while 77% say CEO support is one of the most-effective practices for reinforcing values. It starts at the top. Maybe it's time for a chat with your CEO.

Values are like fingerprints. Nobody's are the same, but you leave 'em all over everything you do. -Elvis Presley

The Culture Perception Gaps

2019-03-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Are you aware that there's also a Culture Perception Gap?

I've written and spoken many times about the CX Perception Gap (aka Bain's Delivery Gap), but there's not much said about the Culture Gap. Until now.

PwC recently released findings from their 2018 research among 2,000 respondents in 50 countries on workplace culture.The first shocking statistic is that 80% of employees feel that their workplace culture must improve significantly or a fair bit in order to succeed, grow, and retain the best people. That statistic compares to 51% only five years earlier (2013).

That's not the Culture Perception Gap, though.

The first Culture Perception Gap statistic PwC uncovered states that 71% of C-suite and board respondents believe that culture is a priority on the leadership agenda of their organizations, while only 48% of non-management employees agree.

Another Culture Perception Gap: 63% of C-Suite and board respondents believe their culture is strong ("what we say about culture is consistent with how they act"), while only 41% of employees agree.

So, employees believe that culture needs to improve but they don't necessarily agree that it's a priority for their leadership teams or that it's as strong as their leadership believes.This isn't surprising. There's often a disconnect between what leaders think they're doing or prioritizing and what employees are observing or feeling. Sadly.

Perception is reality.

Rather than lamenting the obvious, it's time to put together a plan on how to close that gap. Here are five things that PwC proposes you do.

1. Identify and address where culture and strategy clash
We know that culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As a matter of fact, PwC found that 65% of leaders agreed that culture is more important to performance than strategy or operating model. But, in reality, if they (culture, strategy, and operations) are misaligned, there's a lot of confusion, and any type of culture transformation you hope to achieve will be doomed from the start. An example they provide is if you aspire to be a culture of curiosity and innovation but compensate based on following processes and procedures.

2. Establish or change listening tours
If you're not already talking to employees, get to it. If you are, but you're not asking the right questions, then it's time to change it up. PwC advises to: challenge and foster healthy debate and real feedback from people across departments and across levels. Establish a Culture Committee, a group of employees who have a ground-level view of "how things work around here." They are a group of cross-functional employees who meet to identify, discuss, and plan ways to promote and to drive the desired culture throughout the organization. They already live the core values and model the behaviors you want to see throughout the organization. Listen and engage them to design and establish the culture you desire.

3. Identify the critical few behaviors that will shift your culture
As you know, a culture transformation is a slow and massive effort. It's not for the faint of heart, but it is for everybody - unless you're Zappos, Southwest, or one of only a handful of other brands who've got it down. So first identify the culture you desire, and then pick 3-5 behaviors (low-hanging fruit) that you can focus on to start the shift at every level of the organization. One exercise that I would strongly recommend, if you haven't yet done it, is to look at your core values (you've got them defined and communicated, right?) and define examples of behaviors that are "appropriate" for each one. And then, for each, specify desired outcomes. Then share with all employees and include in your orientation/onboarding.

4. Step into the show-me age
Quite simply: leaders must model the behaviors they wish to see. They are not exempt. As a matter of fact, what they allow, they accept; what they allow will continue. This quote from Larry Bossidy, former CEO of Honeywell, says it all: The culture of the company is the behavior of its leaders. Leaders get the behavior they exhibit and tolerate. You change the culture of a company by changing the behavior of its leaders. Amen. So, to follow on to the concept in #3 about defining the behaviors for each core value, the next step is for leaders to demonstrate these behaviors. Employees won't believe it until they see it. Then when you start seeing employees exhibit the "right" behaviors, recognize and reinforce. Employees should do the same for each other. Keep it going.

5. Commit to culture as a continual, collaborative effort
Just like any transformation effort, a culture transformation is ongoing and evolving, but it must also be collaborative. As you can see from #4, it's not one person making this shift; there's leadership modeling the behaviors that will eventually drive a grassroots groundswell to drive the change.

One final Culture Perception Gap from this study. Employees want a workplace they can be proud of. PwC found that 72% of C-suite and board members believe that culture is a strong reason people join their organization. They didn't provide the employee counterpoint. But, they did note this gap: 87% of C-suite and board respondents are proud of their workplaces, but only 57% of employees agree.

There you have it: three Culture Perception Gaps that scream disconnect between executives and employees. Businesses have their work cut out for them. You've got five ideas to start moving in the right direction. Get to work! And if I can help in any way, just let me know.

Culture is like a baby. You have to watch it 24/7. Needs to be fed at least three times a day. And when it makes a mess, you have to clean it up and change it. -Dan Guerrero, UCLA Athletic Director

Why Customer Experience is a Marathon Full of Sprints

2019-03-13T13:54:00.003-07:00

Image courtesy of CX Network

Today I'm pleased to share a guest post by Chanice Henry of CX Network.

According to CX Network’s latest Annual Global State of CX Report, showing return on investment (ROI) from CX projects is one of the top challenges troubling CX practitioners.

The report saw nearly 270 responses from the CX community, with each participant providing insight on the trends, challenges, and investments shaping customer experience. Just over 70% of those participants were part of the decision-making team in their organisations.

Evidencing ROI was highlighted by almost half of the respondents as the biggest block to gaining approval for future CX investments.

Some CX initiatives are relatively simple to justify financially because they have obvious cost or operational advantages which benefit both business and customer. The real challenge comes in when rationalising outlay to improve the brand’s customer experience based solely on predictions of increased future revenue.

As mentioned at the 14th Annual Global Summit for Customer Experience Management in Telecoms, to tangibly improve business results companies need to approach customer experience projects with the awareness that CX sprints are a part of a much larger journey.

Sprint towards the points of most value
When asked for the solution to this ROI problem, one common craving from research respondents was for better visibility on the initiatives that would have the biggest impact. This visibility is critical to prioritise the projects with the highest forecasted return.

CX projects with the most return will be rooted in the elements that customers value most. To detect where this value lies, you must build your awareness on what matters to your customers in their experiences with you.

Be warned – this may not be what you are expecting. For instance, radical feedback from a mother of five to a room of C-level executives led to phenomenal product innovation at Verizon. In reaction to the product the mother had suggested, Justin Reilly, Former Head of Customer Experience Innovation at Verizon said, "…no one in the room, some of the smartest people in the world, had come up with a switching product. So we built a switching product that went as far as the lawyers would let us go, and it’s been phenomenal. If you actually analyse the metrics of building it, it’s cheaper than building a product with discounts and all these things that we think customers want when they [in fact don’t.] Deep, personal research into what your customers want is often very time consuming, but if you get that right once a year [that can make a major difference]."

Internal cross-functional innovation teams are also crucial for breaking down silos of information and communicating the customer journey as it stands and where it needs to be. They can pinpoint the touches that are most crucial to the journey and in most need of improvement.

A group of CX practitioners based in Australia and New Zealand said the three critical make or break moments in their customer journeys are:

Finding answers to basic questions quickly
Resolving customer service
Receiving relevant and personalised offers and recommendations

And the areas in most need of improvement? You guessed it; it’s almost a direct match:

Resolving support issues
Resolving customer service (non-technical) issues
Selecting a product that best suits buyer needs

This self –awareness is key to knowing which factors are likely to move the needle the most on your customer index.

In the Annual Global State of CX Report, Mark Gubbins, Business Performance & Insight Manager at British Airways, pointed to the driver model the airline developed from customer feedback. The model "...uses regression techniques to predict the impact on recommendation of any particular CX initiative based on the number of customers affected and the importance of the affected journey touchpoints to our recommendation metric (NPS). In this way, together with understanding the value of the customer segments affected, we can compare very different CX initiatives and prioritise those which deliver most for the customer.”

This sort of research helps CX teams build a business case that clearly articulates what they expect to achieve. References to historical improvements in NPS can be useful to rationalise investments.

This business case will lay the foundation for a formalised road-map for the CX sprint. This clear view of the CX sprint allows participants to track trajectory and make necessary adjustments.

Businesses often fall down by having CX processes and strategies that are too flimsy. In these instances, the firms enjoy financial returns but struggle to link it to the hard work put into customer experience projects.

Take a pit-stop
After or during the CX sprint, it is important to make sure movements in your customer index or metric actually correspond to the reality. This is needed in businesses that have relatively healthy satisfaction and NPS levels but still suffer from concerning customer churn rates.

When providing direct feedback, customers can say one thing but inevitably do another.

In order to untangle this strange dynamic, teams should measure customer sentiment using tools such as text analytics to discover signals that indicate what is actually making customers leave your business. Once you uncover these pain-points, instead of focusing on NPS, use these stumbling blocks as your main employee metrics. This method will ensure your brand is improving the factors that are of real value to customers and influential to their retention.

The race isn’t over yet, remember CX is a marathon
Firms that run inconsistent CX programs that are measured independently of each other will greatly struggle to see improvements in business results. This lack of strategic vision can negatively affect the company and its financial return.

Businesses can suffer from the temptation to use driver models to calculate the economic benefit of every customer initiative, however small. Mark Gubbins warns, "It is very easy to get too granular and to think of the customer journey as a series of business processes rather than view it holistically through the customers' eyes." He adds, "Don’t expect to find a simple mathematical relationship between NPS and revenue. At BA, we have explored such relationships and have concluded that the critical thing to understand is the relative importance that customers put on the various elements of the customer journey."

Instead of seeing CX initiatives as self-contained entities, businesses need to think holistically about how these projects connect in the story. This holistic view will reveal new tangential opportunities for CX wins.

It’s all about endurance, so always keep watch
Be sure to frequently assess your CX initiatives to spot opportunities for improvement and inform the next CX investments.

It can be tricky to isolate the impact of a CX initiative amidst the many variables influencing a business. CX expectations are fast moving, so initiatives may begin by providing marginal benefits but then evolve to provide revenue protection if the competitive set changes.

Mark Gubbins concludes, "CX programs to meet new expectations are not nice-to-haves, they are vital to stay in the game."

The businesses that enjoy the most CX traction and see ROI from projects hold onto that holistic, long-term view while they operationalise individual best practice improvements.

Chanice Henry graduated with a BA in Journalism, before diving into the world of B2B editorial focused on property finance. Shortly after this, for three years as editor of Pharma IQ and Pharma Logistics IQ, Chanice led the editorial direction of the portals to educate and inspire pharmaceutical professionals working to treat the world’s patients with targeted and effective medical care. Now as Editor CX Network, she continues to produce a range of premium-level content, but now for senior customer experience, service, insight, digital and marketing leaders.

5 Ways to Make Customer Experience Your Competitive Advantage

2019-03-07T11:45:00.001-08:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Today I'm pleased to share a guest post by Neetha Edwin with Freshworks.

Customer experience has become pivotal to growth and profitability strategies of businesses worldwide. There is now a deeper understanding of customer experience as an incredibly important piece in the success (or failure) of any brand. Research states: By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Is your business prepared for this?

The present-day customer has a myriad of choices on products or services they are looking for. While easily switching brands due to a bad experience, customers are socially influential in making or breaking brand reputation. We are witnesses to the impact social media can have and an individual’s reach in getting noticed. That said, what do businesses need to do to not only make their customers happy but also ensure customers stick with them? Here are some pointers:

#1 Find out what customers want
To successfully meet customer expectations, first research what customers actually want from your services. Convenient, fast, personalised, and proactive are some service elements customers expect. While all of these are good, it is more important to know at what point in the customer journey these factors come into play. Timely and relevant engagement helps reap valuable benefits.

For example, personalization and proactivity when a lost credit card is reported, i.e., in addition to a quick replacement, alert them of bills likely to be affected. Customers like and remember these little experiences with your brand, and this makes all the difference.

#2 Pick the right channels
Very few companies actually put time and effort into tracking customer channel preferences. The proliferation of communication channels prompted many businesses to ensure their presence on popular mediums like email, phone, chat, social, and more. However, to deliver exceptional customer experiences, availability alone doesn’t cut it. Channel convenience is pointless if customer needs are not met or are delayed or if the experience is bad.

To stay ahead of the curve, identify appropriate channels for customer engagement at various steps/stages of the customer journey. For example, things like checking a statement balance or order status can be achieved via a self-service system, while other tasks, like disputing a charge on a bill, definitely need direct interaction (e.g., by phone) with a person.

#3 Offer a unified experience
The omnipresent customer needs an omnichannel experience. Customers reach out any time, from anywhere, and through various sources and still expect fast answers. They often start on one channel, such as email, and then report the same issue on social media or chat, hoping to get the attention of a service agent sooner. These are routed to multiple agents who then need to tie up context, troubleshoot the issue, and respond on the appropriate channel.

When a customer calls for support, can your support agents see the email or live chat conversations between the customer and your fellow agents that occurred prior to the call?

Omnichannel support allows for a connected customer experience, regardless of entry point. Therefore, not only be available on relevant channels, but equip agents with the right context and expertise so they can effectively engage. Only then can your support teams strategize to deliver consistency and continuity in experiences across channels. Service teams empowered with a single view of the customer and the right training are confidently set up for success.

#4 Technology for faster service
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots in customer service have been a hot trend for a while now. Successful businesses effectively leverage this technology to complement service efforts and lessen agent load. AI-powered chatbots prove to be effective delivering frontline service and agent assistance, reducing their load of trivial and mundane tasks.

For example, chatbots can help direct customers to the right solution on the website/knowledge base or collect necessary information before connecting them with a live agent. At a deeper level, AI-powered chatbots assist agents with context, history, and insights to help them make informed decisions and deliver proactive, personalised solutions - fast!

AI-powered chatbots are a solution to enhance - not replace - agent-led customer support. Agents can focus on and tackle complex decisions, as chatbots take care of repeat or first-level questions. The predictive analytics capability enables agents to deliver high-quality problem solving from first contact. Businesses have been able to cut down on escalations and overall ticket volumes.

#5 Upraise self-service for a seamless experience
When customers want a problem solved, they look for the fastest way to resolution. Most of them prefer to solve problems on their own first. Here’s where an effective self-service portal needs to be an integrated part of your customer experience strategy.

For example, processing refunds is a better experience when customers don’t have to spend hours on the phone or emailing multiple people. Offering a range of service types, from self-service to full-service, gives customers flexibility and saves time and money by routing them to the best channel for the quickest, best-suited support.

It is doubly important that data gathered from self-serve channels are not siloed. They need to be integrated with email, calls, and social media for greater insights and a truly seamless experience for your customers.

Correlation between customer experience and your company’s bottom line
Building happy and loyal customers is the best way to improve your bottom line. Service is transitioning away from a cost center to one of an additional growth engine. By generating new sales opportunities and improved brand experiences, businesses are competing through customer experience.

70% of service teams say their strategic vision over the last 12–18 months has become more focused on creating deeper customer relationships. -Walker Report

To get deeper insights into customer experience influencing increased customer engagement and revenue, join this webinar featuring Forrester Research. Guest speaker Kate Leggett, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, shares trade secrets and data insights on Customer Experience driving business value.

Raving Fans? Meh. How About Immortal Fans?

2019-03-05T12:31:00.002-08:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

The ultimate fan is an immortal fan!

This past weekend, I attended the Good is the New Cool event in Los Angeles, an event that is based on the book by the same name. It was such an inspirational event with a lot of great speakers sharing stories of how they're making an impact and fighting for change in a variety of social arenas, including child slavery, mental health, gun violence, bullying, the water shortage, plastic in the oceans, recidivism, and more. The stories were all emotional and amazing, but one that stood out for me, given the work I do, showcased the power of supporting your brand and being the ultimate fan.

I've written about raving fans before, starting with this post about the customer experience lifecycle, in which the ultimate experience yields raving fans. Other posts include:

Is Yours a Cult Brand?
Employees Can Be Raving Fans, Too!
Customer Experience: Marketing without Marketing
Why Bother Giving Great Service?
Do You Have a 12th Man Advantage?
Raving Fans vs. Fairweather Fans
What is the CX End Game?

Raving fans...

want to see the brand succeed and grow
are happy to provide feedback, good or bad, to ensure that happens
are less price sensitive and can withstand price increases
choose your brand over the competition
can't live without the brand, accept no substitutes
are advocates; no, stronger: they are evangelists, happy to spread the word about your brand
wear your brand, and want to show that they are part of something bigger than themselves. Tattoos, anyone?
openly recruit new members to the community
care about each other, want to help each other
feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves (think "tribe")
require less support because they are more familiar with your products
are more likely to be using several of your products/services, not just one
wait in line - long lines, early morning lines - to buy your products
elevate your brand, earning favorable placement in stores and more

The tattoos and the wearing of the brand were on my mind as I sat through a talk by Paco and Beto of social change agency Activista. They are the brains behind a movement called Immortal Fans, a campaign they created in 2013 for Sport Club Recife in Brazil. We all know that soccer fans are passionate, fanatical, and rabid. But they've gone beyond raving fans to becoming immortal fans. They are the ultimate fans. They are committed to being fans in life and in death. Forever fans.

Sport Club Recife wanted to use its power to do more, to do good. They asked fans to become what was coined "immortal fans," to sign up to be organ donors and donate organs after they die so that their love of the club could live on in someone else's body. What was at stake was a transplant wait list that saw only five or six patients getting much-needed organs per year. With this campaign, they increased organ donors by 54%; 66,000 fans had signed up to donate by the end of the second year of the campaign. As a result, the wait list dropped to almost zero; the following year, 28 patients received transplants.

I can't do this justice. The video explains it best.

Link to Video

What an incredible movement!

Think your employees, customers, or fans would die to live for your brand?

Inspiration x Innovation = Impact. -Good is the New Cool

On Metrics and Complacency

2019-02-27T12:19:00.003-08:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

I originally wrote today's post for CallidusCloud. It was published on their blog April 19, 2018.

The customer experience is a journey; your transformation work is, too!

I was recently asked for suggestions on how to prevent different business units and divisions within a larger organization from becoming complacent when they are performing well based on their customer experience metrics. In other words, their scores, e.g., NPS, are high, so they act like their goal is met, and there's nothing more that needs to be done about the customer experience.

One piece of advice I have is: never rest on your laurels! Don't ever believe that the experience is "good enough." This is a journey! And there are a lot of reasons that you should keep going and never think that your work is done.

If you do rest on your laurels, you will, without a doubt, be overrun by your competitors. Never mind that your customers will no longer want to do business with you. Remember: it's a journey, not a destination. Here's what happens and why the work is never done:

Expectations change. What delights customers today may not delight tomorrow. It's important to always keep your pulse on changing customer needs.
Customers change. Old ones go, new ones come along. New ones may have different problems they are trying to solve or jobs to be done.
Customer needs, desires, and expectations change. As long as that's happening - and I don't see that every changing - there's no resting on laurels.
The business changes. New products are launched. Acquisitions are made.
New competitors enter the marketplace, and industry trends emerge.
Weak signals become strong signals.

Oh, and one more thing. Not that we're going to blame the survey for your consistently great scores, but how long has it been since you've revisited your surveys? You'll want to make sure you're capturing feedback about: the latest experience (assuming you've improved the experience but haven't updated your surveys), new products and services you've introduced, and emerging customer needs and trends in the industry. Have you looked at verbatims for emerging trends/pain points/weak signals? That's a great place to start.

And those scores, are they for a specific transaction or for the overall relationship? If they’re transactional scores, it’s probably time to look at the big picture and measure how the customer feels about the entire relationship – and not just with that division or business unit but with the entire company. That’s where the rubber meets the road. You are one company/one brand, after all.

Also, is your company metrics-focused or experience-focused? If you're doing what it takes to improve the metric, not the experience, you are advocating a different type of behavior than if you're focusing on improving the experience. Your scores will likely change if you focus on the experience, instead. As the department head or business unit head what he/she has done to improve the experience since the last measurement.

You may also want to re-assess your personas and who you think your customers are today versus who they were when you started listening to them. As mentioned earlier, customers change. Their needs change. The jobs they are trying to do change.

Take a look at benchmarks. How are the scores relative to different business units? How do they stack up against competitors? Look at emerging industry trends relative to your scores. You may think your scores are great in a vacuum, but when benchmarked, you may not look so good. This is an important consideration.

Bring in non-survey customer and industry data and insights - things that will keep you from resting on your laurels. There may be other industry trends and customer needs that could be disruptors, things you haven't even thought about. A phrase I heard the other day... Don't get Blockbuster'd. Ouch.

"Neither RedBox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition,” said Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes, speaking to the Motley Fool in 2008. “It’s more Wal-Mart and Apple."

Also, how do your customer retention numbers look? NPS might not be telling the whole story. What do the business metrics tell you?

Similarly, another thing to consider is: what does that metric really mean for the business? To what outcome (financial metric) is it linked? If the score is high, but you haven't taken the time to figure out if it's meaningful to the business in a financial way, it's time to do that analysis.

There are a lot of different aspects to consider before any company can even think about becoming complacent about the customer experience. As I said before, it's a journey, not a destination.

You will never be entirely comfortable. This is the truth behind the champion - he is always fighting something. To do otherwise is to settle. -Julien Smith, The Flinch

How to Improve Your Conversion Funnel with a CX Design Update

2019-02-21T11:11:00.001-08:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Today I'm pleased to share another guest post by Lexie Lu of Design Roast.

How do you turn site visitors into raving fans? You spend a lot of time and money driving traffic to your website and reaching out to new potential customers. Once they land on your site, it needs to finish the work you started and convert a high number of visitors into customers. However, your conversion funnel may be lacking, creating a problematic customer experience (CX) rather than a positive one.

Only 22 percent of business owners like their conversion rates - the other 78 percent seek improvement but aren't always sure where to start.

Fortunately, there are some clear CX design updates that improve your overall conversion rates and funnel site visitors through the areas you want them to go.

1. Know Your Audience
"Know your audience" is advice you'll hear over and over again. It is one of the first things you should do before working on your customer experience. How can you improve your website and make it user-centered if you don't know who your customers are?

Start by digging into your website analytics through tools such as Google Webmaster Tools. Look at various complaints your customers filed with you that are related to their experience on your website. Poll your customers and do split testing to see at what point in your sales funnel customers leave your site.

Armed with this knowledge, move forward and improve the rest of your conversion funnel on your site with a customer-based approach that turns visitors into fans of your brand.

2. Improve Your Headline
When a visitor lands on your page, is it obvious what your purpose is? Your landing page headline turns up in search engines, appears on social media posts, and sums up the main topic. Your headline should entice readers to visit your page, explain its unique purpose, and sum everything up in a handful of words.

Researchers found some phrases work better than others for headlines. For example, the phrase "will make you" had more than twice the engagements on Facebook as other phrases.

3. Declutter Your Page
Do you want visitors to take action once they land on your page? Streamline your design and remove any clutter. Over time, designers add various elements and features, but this creates a cluttered look and confuses readers as to the purpose of the page.

Sum up the singular purpose of your landing page - perhaps collecting user emails or sending the visitor to a shopping page. Remove anything that doesn't point the user toward the goal.

4. Gain User Trust
Consumers are less trusting than ever before. A recent survey shows that people's trust in business, government, NGOs, and media is in a sharp decline. Gaining the confidence of site visitors is more difficult than ever before.

One of the best ways to show consumers you're trustworthy is transparency. Explain your return policies clearly, for example. Consumers also look at how professional your design is and how easy your site is to use. Broken links or nonworking forms harm trust levels. Include any prominent organization memberships or BBB ratings, as well.

5. Voice Search
The use of voice-based search exploded in recent years, thanks to devices such as Alexa and Google Home. Around 20 percent of American adults own a voice-enabled speaker.

Improve the experience of those tapping into this new technology by enabling voice search on your website. Voice search also makes your site more accessible to those with vision impairments.

6. Find Pain Points
Identify the main problems your typical buyer faces and address the issue on your landing page. Convert visitors by offering a simple solution to their problem.

The needs of your customers are what drives them to your site in the first place. Address the need and offer a solution, and they're more likely to convert into customers. Address needs on your landing page before the user reaches your call-to-action (CTA) button.

7. Keep Old Customers Engaged
Although new customers drive growth in your company, your old customers are far more valuable. Improving customer retention by a mere 5 percent ups your profits as much as 25 percent. Current customers often spend more than new ones per transaction, too.

A smart conversion strategy considers both old and new customers and treats them equally in importance. You may require more than one landing page to address the needs of both current and potential customers fully.

Add a community area for current customers and provide a login as a perk of remaining loyal. Offer specials and deals no one else gets, such as discount codes and first looks at new products.

8. Personalize Calls to Action (CTAs)
Your CTAs should speak directly to individual site visitors. Personalized CTAs have approximately 202 percent better conversion rates than basic CTAs. Adapt the CTA based on the visitor's geographic location, the language they speak, or if they've visited your site in the past.

Even the language of your CTA has an impact on your conversion rates. Use first-person language for a more-personal feel.

9. Confirm Orders
One of the essential elements in your conversion process is a follow-up. Once a customer places an order with your site, they want to know their order went through and what the next step is. If engagement is one of your goals as a brand, order confirmation emails have a 70 percent open rate.

Include a message that lets the user know the order went through, and follow up with an automated email. Keeping new customers informed about where they are in the ordering and shipping process builds trust and increases the chances they'll do business with you in the future.

Improving the Conversion Funnel
Every little change to your landing page that enhances the customer experience gives you a better chance of converting visitors into customers. Customer acquisition is about far more than merely getting an order from a new person. A strong CX strategy includes changes to your site's design and a focus both on gaining new customers and keeping them as lifelong fans of your brand.

Lexie is a web designer and typography enthusiast. She spends most of her days surrounded by some HTML and a goldendoodle at her feet. Check out her design blog, Design Roast, and follow Lexie on Twitter.

You Can Lead a Horse to Insights...

2019-02-19T11:52:00.004-08:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Is your customer experience transformation work stuck at good intentions?

One of the biggest showstoppers in customer experience transformations today is execution - actually, it's the lack thereof. You've got a ton of data, insights, and intentions, but action is the key - and it's not happening. Customers can feel it.

No brainer, you say? Not so fast. If it was a no brainer, would I call it one of the biggest showstoppers today? I think not. You know it's a problem!

Execution is critical. I talk about the proverbial "lead a horse to water and make him/her drink" conundrum regularly with clients.

For starters, at the root of - and the catalyst for - this needed and necessary action and execution is customer understanding. Customer understanding is the cornerstone of customer-centricity and the foundation for the transformation work that lies ahead. But if you don't do anything with what you've learned, it's all quite pointless. You're wasting everyone's time. So I question how companies even get this far, and I fear the answer is a focus on the metrics. Or siloed good intentions.

Awareness and understanding are only 50% of the solution. The other 50% is using what you know to make improvements, aka execution.

So, what's holding you back? Why can't you act on the findings?

Think about this quote from General Eric Shinseki: If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.

Yikes! We already see this happening with plenty of brands and industries. Don't get Blockbuster'd. You've got the data and the insights in front of you. Don't become irrelevant! Use them! Innovate. Disrupt. Fight to stay relevant.

OK, let's get practical for a few minutes. What's it going to take to go from insights to action - and better yet, insights to advantage?

Here's the solution: it's going to take a mindset shift. From one of inaction to one of action. You've got to think differently! Again, what's got you/your company stuck? Why? How can this change?

Do you want to be an agent of change or an agent of complaint? Do you want to be a change leader and executor or do you want to just sit on your hands and hope for change, hope for the best?

So, that's the answer?

Well, let's think about this for a minute. I can give you all of the steps that you'll need to execute (and I will do that in just a moment), but I suspect you already know some or many of these things. So, I can just keep writing and preaching, and you can just keep reading. And doing nothing.

Or, you can shift your mindset (and the organization's mindset) to one that's action oriented - and go and do it. You have to want to do it. (Maybe it's not "you" per se, but the one in your company that makes the decision and assigns the resources to move from intentions to execution.) What do they say about happiness? It comes from within. Well, so does the desire to do anything. You've got to decide and commit. And just do it.

What's that going to take? Some folks need more convincing than just a rah-rah "change your thinking." Typically the following help to shift the mindset to one of "let's do this" - and actually making the changes. Know that you may get pushed outside your comfort zone. Which of these will help you?

I've got to see and hear the evidence. Why should I do this? What's the pain point for me? for the business? What's the burning platform? What happens if I don't change or don't fix the pain point? I need to know the business case for the change. Tell me a compelling change story. Convince me.
Any information about the needed change has to speak my language and motivate me. What do I need to see in the data that moves me?
What's the CX vision? It will guide my thinking, and it will guide the change process. But I need to know it and understand it. Supplement that with the change vision.
You've got to earn my trust. Is this just another flavor of the month change initiative? Or are we in this for the long haul? Show me. Prove it to me.
You've got to involve me. You pulled together the data and the insights; don't just force this work on me. I need to feel like I'm part of the decision and part of the solution. This will help me own it and want to do it. When I know why I'm involved, I'll be more likely to step up, commit, and help ensure we execute properly. Force it on me, and I'll push back.
Talk to me. Listen to me. Let me ask questions. Help me understand. Keep the lines of communication open.
Give me something to measure myself by. I want to do the best work possible; if I have metrics that I can track, I'll be able to own it.
Empower me. You want me to do the work. Give me the information I need to do it, and just set me free. Assure me that I'll get to work with the teams that need to make things happen, and don't micromanage. You gave me metrics; I'm tracking toward those.
Nudge me, but give me freedom of choice. I'm fine if you hold out some carrots to point me in the right direction and get me to drink, but allow me to still choose the best course of action. Again, metrics.

A mindset shift isn't a bad thing; don't let anyone tell you that it is. Sometimes, it's a necessity. But as you can see, mindset shifts are all about information and understanding: You can't be kept in the dark. Tell me, and I'll understand. I can get on board if I'm in the know.

Now, that begs the question about those who are in the know: why don't they execute? First, they have to be the right people to execute. Then, I suppose that if they are and haven't, that would require a behavior shift, from inaction to action. Even that shift must happen in the mind. It comes from within.

Now what? If you're in the know and on board with making the change, it's time to get to work. Here are some things to get you going - and keep you moving forward.

Don't get stuck in analysis paralysis. Identify a problem and move on to the next step.
Don't feel like you need to boil the ocean. Pick one thing. Focus on one thing and see that through, for starters.
Know what needs to be fixed. Conduct a root cause analysis to ensure you change the right thing, that you fix the root of the problem.
Design the new experience. Design the new processes to support the new experience.
Develop a project plan for each change initiative. What are the steps and the milestones to achieve the goal?
Conduct a pre-mortem. Identify risks and obstacles. Sometimes these are the things that deter people from executing. Find out what these things are. And then devise a plan for how to get ahead of these things.
Identify your objectives and your success metrics.
Make sure they are linked to the desired outcomes - for the business and for the customer.
Develop your lead measures. What will you be doing in the coming week? How will you ensure that you do these things?
Assign ownership. Who owns each step of the plan?
Accountability. Who and how will you hold the owners accountable to achieve these things every week? And what are the repercussions for not achieving them?
Pilot and test the changes. Test and fail fast.
Implement the fix or the change. Roll it out to employees and to customers.
Recognize and reward milestones and successes.
Measure and monitor.

Strategy, meet execution.

Holistically, you've got to ensure the following big picture items are in place as part of your customer experience strategy. Organizational change doesn't happen by one person; it takes a village.

A governance structure that includes an executive committee that provides approval and oversight, as well as drives accountability;
Activation of your base, also part of your governance structure, because the work must be dispersed across the organization; and
A change management process that outlines the basics that must be in place to go from current state to future state.

Be a change leader. Create the CX vision (and then the strategy to implement it). Communicate the vision. And get folks on board to deliver it. Not everyone will be a change leader, but there are roles for others, such as subject matter experts, storytellers, customer champions, etc. Showcase those who are on board. Talk about the pockets of change success that are happening around your organization. Get people excited and motivated to be a part of the future of your business.

Of course, there's one more shift that has to happen, and it's a big one: execution is a culture shift. If it's not part of your culture today, it needs to be. If you work for a company where ideas remain ideas, data remains data, etc., then your culture is not one of execution. Do any of your core values scream - or at least hint at - "get shit done!?" If not, perhaps it's time to re-evaluate.

The first step after you lead the horse to water is to answer this question: why won't the horse drink? So answer this: What's got you stuck? Why can't you execute? Is it fear? Is it complacency? What is it? There is no remedy or solution to move you to act until you can identify the reason you're not acting or executing. After that, I think the things I've outlined here will help the majority of you get onto the right path.

Update 2/20/19: I just saw this Stephen Covey quote in an article I was reading: Everything starts with the individual because all meaningful change comes from the inside-out. Systemic organizational change can’t happen without changes in individual behavior.

Amen.

Genius is in the idea. Impact, however, comes from action. -Simon Sinek

Have You Digitized Your Journey Map?

2019-02-13T11:16:00.003-08:00

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Do you know why it's important to digitize your journey maps?

In the past, I've written about some of the myths of journey mapping. One of those myths was:

Without a digital mapping platform, I can't even begin to map.

You probably know by now that I'm an advocate of digitizing your maps, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it checks the box for the basic tenets of mapping, including maps must be:

created collaboratively, with customers and with other stakeholders
shared with the employees who impact the journey that was mapped
updated to always reflect the current state of the experience
communicated by using them as onboarding and training tools for your organization
brought to life with data and artifacts
validated by customers, if you started with assumptive maps
actionable, meaning they must include enough detail and data to not only truly understand what's going well and what's not but to also be able to identify the moments of truth

Let me go back to the myth for a moment: Without a digital mapping platform, I can't even begin to map.

You absolutely can map without a digital platform; as a matter of fact, I often like to start my journey mapping sessions with butcher paper and sticky notes because it gets people: out of their seats and involved; up and thinking; and collaborating, questioning, and learning. It's more of a design-thinking, creative approach.

But you can't stop there. I think this is often why maps fail. Digitizing your maps makes all of those basic tenets possible. Some digital platforms offer features that allow you to assign ownership and to develop actions plans to ensure accountability for making improvements and driving change. No more maps rolled up under your desk or stored in a closet! Of course, you must take that step to transfer from analog to digital, but that's fairly straightforward.

I'm often asked about journey mapping platforms: which one to use, capabilities to consider, etc. Think about what you want your platform to be able to do. Here are just some of the questions your should be asking:

Is it flexible, allowing you to adjust the columns and the swim lanes?
Can you map actual customer steps, not just stages and touchpoints?
Does it allow you to capture not only what the customer is doing but also what the customer is thinking and feeling?
Can you display the persona for which you are mapping right there with the map?
Are you able to bring data into the map? Is it connected to or integrated with a VoC platform or a CRM system?
Are you able to analyze the maps and prioritize moments of truth within the platform?
Does it help you take the map from tool to process?
Can you assign tasks and owners?
Does it allow you to create action plans?
Is it collaborative? Can others view/edit the maps?
Does it have validation capabilities, often in the form of an integrated online community platform or survey platform?
Can customers add comments, video, or pictures to help bring the journey to life?

Regarding which one to use, here are a couple of informative sources to help you get started.

An important thing to note is this: Just because you've mapped doesn't mean your done. The map is really just the beginning. It should be detailed enough to help you understand the current state experience and to identify what's working and what's not. From there, you must do the work. You have to conduct root cause analysis, prioritize moments of truth, design the future state experience, test the new experience, and fail fast. Do it again.

Nothing changes if nothing changes. Get mapping!

Man is always inclined to be intolerant toward the thing, or person, he hasn't taken the time adequately to understand. -Robert R. Brown

CX Journey™

New CX Journey Inc. Website Launching!

Agile Working in Practice: More Tips to Help Analytics Teams Transition

Agile Working for Analytics Teams Needs a Cu​lture Change

Is Your Own Management Stalling Your Customer Experience Transformation?

The Secret Sauce to Achieve Outcomes with Journey Mapping

Exposure is What You Die from in the Desert

Has Your #CX Transformation Stalled?

On Becoming People-Centric

CX Journey™ Musings: On Means and Outcomes...

Leaders Need to Show, Not Just Say

Focus on the People and the Numbers Will Come

You Aren't Journey Mapping

Prioritizing Your #CX Improvement Initiatives

10 More All-Too-Common VoC Program Mistakes - Part 2

10 All-Too-Common VoC Program Mistakes - Part 1

Customer Understanding: The Cornerstone of Customer-Centricity

Do You Believe in Your Company's Core Values?

The Culture Perception Gaps

Why Customer Experience is a Marathon Full of Sprints

5 Ways to Make Customer Experience Your Competitive Advantage

Raving Fans? Meh. How About Immortal Fans?

On Metrics and Complacency

How to Improve Your Conversion Funnel with a CX Design Update

You Can Lead a Horse to Insights...

Have You Digitized Your Journey Map?

Agile Working for Analytics Teams Needs a Culture Change