Contact Shep (314) 692-2200

Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for the Week of November 14, 2022

Each week, I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too. Partnering in Complex Times: Turning to the Experts for Best-In-Class Customer Experience by Harvard Business […]

Each week, I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Partnering in Complex Times: Turning to the Experts for Best-In-Class Customer Experience by Harvard Business Review

(Harvard Business Review) Years ago, in the legacy, on-premises world of siloed call centers, in-house CX management was much simpler. It was fairly one-dimensional, easily addressed with physical phone banks and basic staff management processes. The same was even true with the introduction of email as a channel. The introduction of digital channels, however, exposed the inflexibility of these premises-based systems. Their lack of flexibility paved the way for new, more dynamic cloud-based.

My Comment: This really isn’t an article. It’s a robust white paper published by Harvard Business Review, focusing on partnering with the best experts (vendors) in the customer experience (CX) world. If you find the right vendor, one who is focused on you and your organization’s success, you’ll quickly realize that it’s more of a partnership. Spend some time diving into this white paper, and you’ll appreciate the extra effort you might make to find the perfect partner to help you succeed

Top 14 Tips for Connecting with Customers from CMOs by Sarah Franklin

(Salesforce) CMOs are saying “so long” to long-standing marketing playbooks. See how they’re shaking things up in this digital-first world. Join Salesforce President and CMO Sarah Franklin as she chats with digital leaders about how to create more powerful connections with your customers.

My Comment: Our first entry into this week’s Top Five wasn’t really an article but a white paper. Our second entry isn’t an article, either. It’s a video. 14 CMOs, business executives, and owners share their best tips for connecting with customers on Salesforce Plus, a show hosted by Sarah Franklin. There are plenty of good ideas, from sophisticated to simple and even emotional. Something for everyone.

Small Businesses Face Economic Strain Even With Loyal Patrons by Elizabeth Renter

(NerdWallet) The relationship between a small business and its customers is unique — rarely is it purely transactional. In fact, 37% of Americans say they purchase from small businesses to receive a more personal experience. Also, 30% of them are willing to pay more and 30% are willing to wait longer at small businesses versus major retailers or chain stores, according to a new NerdWallet survey of over 3,000 U.S. adults conducted online by The Harris Poll from Oct. 3-5, 2022.

My Comment: If you’re running a small business, then this article is for you. (Even if you’re in a big company, I bet there is something you’ll learn from these ideas and strategies.) Loyalty and repeat customers are up for grabs. Companies are struggling, and if they don’t manage the problems well, customers notice. While loyal customers may be slower to leave, with enough issues, they will move on. This article explains the pain some businesses are experiencing and how to overcome it.

Why Reducing Customer Effort Leads To Loyalty by Dan Gingiss

(Dan Gingiss) You can’t expect your customers to know everything. Yes, today’s customers are more connected and have access to more information than any other generation of customers in history, but they still can’t read minds (at least not yet). So why do many companies create situations where customers need to figure things out for themselves?

My Comment: I’m a big fan of reducing customer effort and eliminating friction. So much so that I wrote a book, The Convenience Revolution. In this article, fellow customer experience expert Dan Gingiss gives us his take on this powerful strategy. Don’t make customers do extra work. Reach out to customers about problems before they reach out to you. If you have “known errors,” problems you know happen routinely, fix them or find ways to mitigate them. Dan sprinkles some great stories in with these topics.

Why There’s Much More to Loyalty Schemes Than Just Bribing Customers by Hannah Bowler

(The Drum) Loyalty schemes can’t just be transactional to win customers over – the best programs need to “integrate the entire customer experience,” say some of the marketers behind the most successful schemes. Brand loyalty is having a resurgence, with legacy brands such as McDonald’s opening its very first rewards club, established schemes from Costa Coffee Club and Waitrose being overhauled, and even community-based programs from Sweaty Betty and Gymshark starting up.

My Comment: Most loyalty programs are really marketing programs. They are created to get customers back, but they don’t necessarily create loyalty. However, they do create repeat business. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I applaud the successful programs that get customers to come back again and again. But true loyalty programs go beyond being transactional. This article perfectly describes what a company or brand needs to do if they want true loyalty, which is to “integrate the entire customer experience” into the program.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

Want to receive Shep’s latest customer service and CX research?

Sign up for instant access to Shep’s research report on customer service and customer experience.

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

© 2024 Shepard Presentations, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.

Legal Information | Sitemap Legap

Site by: digitalONDA