Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: A Balancing Act

It's time for our final Idea Gathering wrap up before we head off to Boston for the Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit to enjoy the real thing next week!


The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year. This year we're continuing the tradition with extended Q&A Idea Gathering sessions. We have built in extra time for questions, feedback and open conversation during each break. Moderated by Jeff McKenna from Chadwick Martin Bailey, these sessions will provide a forum for more in-depth discussions.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

This week, we chucked at this piece on new finance website The Billfold detailing "How to Score a Refund From Your Terrible Internet Service Provider in 12 Emotionally Complicated Steps."

For that one customer, it turned out that twitter was the fastest way to receive a response. Likely because the company in question has put an effort into improving that channel. However, this recent study found that "Only 44% Of Customer Questions On Twitter Are Answered Within 24 Hours" so obviously not everyone is receiving that kind of results. (Zappos.com, ever the customer experience champion, answered 82 percent of tweets within one hour of receiving them, but they were obviously not the norm in the study.)

Similarly, when it comes to mobile, CMS Wire confirms that many businesses are struggling saying, "Not everyone it seems is having an easy time arranging their customer experience management (CXM) strategies around mobile first."

So how do you achieve that balance between channels? Businesses today need to be available to respond at all touch points, and also be providing the kind of customer experiences that don't drive customers away. As this article on Bizcommunity.com states: "Lip-service isn't enough since anyone can follow a conversation between a company and a customer and make up their own mind."

So how do you handle the juggle? Any tips for finding the balance? Share with us in the comments!


Don't forget, You can follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook for industry news all week long and live updates from the event next week!

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Speaker Spotlight: Kim Noltemy, Boston Symphony Orchestra

In the weeks leading up to the 2012 Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit we're going to be featuring some of our fantastic speakers here on the blog.

Kim Noltemy, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Boston Symphony Orchestra will be presenting "Integrating Management Decisions into the Customer Experience" at 3:45pm on Friday, June 8th at the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit.

In her session, you'll cover:
How to best integrate and leverage our customer touch points.
What measurements to use, and what is an acceptable return on investment.
How to effectively use technology, design, branding, and training to ensure a successful and meaningful interaction with customers.

Plus, find out how the Boston Symphony Orchestra uses unique and cost effective ideas to engage the customer throughout the entire process.

For a taste of Noltemy's presentation, download this eBook "The Art of Participation: Shared Lessons in Audience Engagement" from the Mass Cultural Council. In it, Noltemy is quoted as saying:

“You don’t get the results unless you pull it all together to create a real presence in the digital world.”

 It is this sort of holistic thinking that we're looking forward to at the 2012 Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit.

Time is running out, but you can still join us in Boston. Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: Happily Ever After

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

The infographic pictured here, recently published by Bolt Insurance, is a great illustration of some of our recent points here on the blog. If you click through and scroll to the suggestions at the end you'll see that improving your company culture, offering loyalty rewards and listening to your customers online and through surveys are the main keys to keeping customers happy. We couldn't agree more.

Via: Bolt Insurance

This post on The Huffington Post speaks to the company culture aspect of loyalty building, saying "In many cases, empowering employees to resolve customer issues will save you time and effort down the road. Employees should also feel confident that they have the backing of management, so that they can enforce company policies quickly and efficiently without the issue escalating."

Elsewhere in customer loyalty news: Beth Hirschhorn, EVP of global brand, marketing and communication, and a member of MetLife’s executive group spoke with Forbes about Metlife's customer-centric initiative. She is quoted as saying "for us the objective is to focus as much on existing customers as it is about obtaining new customers."

The Harvard Business Review blog hosted a piece on "Three Myths about What Customers Want" that delves into the myths companies may believe about building loyalty and customer relationships. Key takeaways? Don't underestimate the power of discounts and focus on your brand's core values.

For an interesting look at how *not* to do customer service, click through to this piece from The Guardian. Yes, it is important to be listening online, but call centers or store associate availability by phone are still an important piece of the picture.

So what are you doing to remain "happily ever after" with your customers? Like any relationship, it takes work.

We're looking forward to delving into the topic more at the Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit which is now less than two weeks away. There's still time to join us: register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

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Speaker Spotlight: Chuck Feltz, Author, Never by Chance

In the weeks leading up to the 2012 Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit we're going to be featuring some of the speakers.

One of our keynotes, "Never By Chance: How Leaders Align Intentional Customer Experience to Accelerate Strategy" with Chuck Feltz, CEO, Managing Partner, FELT Z & ASSOCIATES, LLC and Author, Never by Chance: Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership will focus on what is clearly a recurring subject here on the blog: how leaders can develop an internal culture that encourages great customer experiences.

Far too many organizations leave too much to chance by failing to intentionally align people and strategy from the top down. This session will show you how to increase your organization’s relevance by creating an intentional customer experience that aligns your organization from the top down and leaves nothing to chance.

For a great sneak peek of this session, check out this interview with  Chuck Feltz on the Peter McClellan Radio Show discussing strategy.

One key takeaway  "The thing is to make sure employees understand what the endgame is." How are you aligning your culture to your vision statement? One place to start: by joining us at The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit this June in Boston.

Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: Let's Get Social

image source Microsoft Dynamics Community via Business2Community

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

When discussing holistic customer experience, you can't ignore the power of social media in today's world. A recent American Express study found that "The 2012 American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer also found that consumers who have used social media for service wield the greatest amount of influence. They tell significantly more people about their service experiences, and say they’d spend 21% more with companies who deliver great service – compared to 13% on average."

But it's not just because you fear a consumer badmouthing your company that you need to get social. As marketing consultant and trainer J-P De Clerck recently wrote on conversionation.net "Customer experiences are about touchpoints and touchpoints are by definition social. Guess what is a key focus in 2012? Indeed, social."

Business2Community illustrated the importance of Social CRM Apps this week with the above image and by saying: "If conversation between a sales rep and his or her client has moved to the world of social media, the sales rep must be equipped with the proper technology to best interact with and understand the customer."

Former Total Customer Experience Leader's speaker Becky Carrol wrote about the topic on her blog earlier this year, citing Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker as an inspiration and saying "Social media, by contrast, provides not only the opportunity for an instant response but also for a personal response."

So what can we take away? Don't go social because you fear the customer response, go social because it is a way to make a personal connection with today's connected customer. For social CRM, it may be a way to close the sale or keep a customer loyal. For a contact center it may be the way to turn an unhappy customer into an evangelist or a VOC text analytics program could use social to measure sentiment. Are you social? How? Share with us in the comments!

Total Customer Experience Leaders is social: You can follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook for industry news all week long.

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Hear from BMO Financial, Dunkin' Donuts, Prophet & More at Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit

There are certain people who, when they speak, people listen. The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit brings you these voices - to share their customer experiences insights with you. Get the rare opportunity to hear from cross-industry leaders under one roof, at one time.

• Kelly Harper, Director, Brand & Customer Experience, BMO Financial Group shares how delivering great customer experiences begins with embedding customer experiences within your organization and fostering a customer-focused culture.

• Chuck Felts, CEO, Managing Partner, Feltz & Associates explores how you can increase your company's relevance by creating an intentional customer experiences that aligns your organization from the top down.

• Peter Dixon, Senior Partner, Creative Director, Prophet defines the need to create and manage a clear customer experience in your organization.

• Scott Hudler, Vice President - Global Consumer Engagement, Dunkin' Donuts discusses how the 60+ year-old brand has transformed the way it meets the needs of today's consumer by remaining true to its brand promise.

• Plus 5 additional keynotes from: Burke Inc., Experience Engineering & Maritz Research, Porter Airlines, Starwood Hotels & GfK Custom Research and USAA.

Download the conference brochure for the full agenda and session descriptions.

Your colleagues and competitors have already signed up - will you?

See who's already registered to attend:
1to1 Magazine, AAA, AAA Arizona, AARP, American Family Insurance, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Brandtrust, Bridgewater Bank, Chadwick Martin Bailey, Citizens Bank, Crystal Flash Energy, CUNA Mutual Group, CVS Caremark, Desjardins General Insurance, eBay, Expedia, Forrester Research, Hunter Douglas, Indiana University, Inflexxion, Janet LeBlanc & Associates, JoAnna Brandi & Co, KS&R, Leadership Learning Systems, Lenze Americans Corp. , Liberty Mutual Insurance, Loyalty Research Center, Medical Packaging Inc. , Morpace Inc. , Nationwide Insurance, OptumHealth, OtterBox, REI , Rockwell Automation, SAS Institute, The Chamberlain Group, The Hartford, Time Warner Cable, TNS, Travelers Insurance, TXU Energy, Verint, Vistaprint, Wright Express Corp., Yandex

Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: "Holistic"

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

One of the biggest terms that we keep seeing as we perform research for the event in June is "holistic." Organizations are increasingly interested in customer experience, but without a holistic solution that covers all aspects of customer experience, it will be difficult to increase long-term customer loyalty.

This recent post on "The Customer Experience Disconnect" highlights some of this data:

The Temkin Group found an "abundance of CX ambition and activity," with most companies employing a customer experience executive (six out of 10 companies), launching significant customer experience activities, and having a staff of six to eight full-time employees focused on customer experience and 28 percent employ more than 20 people in this area. However, the survey found that despite having these customer experience components in place, only 7 percent are "very strong" at customer experience today and 35 percent of companies are in the lowest stage of customer experience maturity. And 59 percent of the respondents state that their company's goal is to become the industry leader in customer experience within three years.

This week, let's look at some expert views on building a holistic customer experience program:

In this Fast Company 30 second MBA video, Motorola Solutions CTO Paul Steinberg explains how to solve problems before users know they have them. As he says "it's not about delivering quick fixes. It's really about delivering a holistic solution to a problem."


1to1media also wrote on "Taking a Holistic Approach to Building Customer Loyalty" this week, saying [customer experience] "initiatives tend to be owned by different departments, often siloed and disconnected from one another.

To realize the full potential of their loyalty endeavors, companies should link them to create one holistic program." One tip that they recommend: Using data to centralize loyalty efforts.

In this post on "Why Brands Need to Go Post-Mobile" Jonathan Gardner, Director of Communications, Vibrant recommends "thinking broadly about consumer perceptions of your product, and communicating about them in a holistic way." The impact of new technology can't be ignored, and it may even be a way to make messaging more holistic. As this piece says, "technology forces businesses to deal with the experiences of their customers."

Forbes also recommends that product marketers "make testing a key phase in their product life cycle." This could apply to anyone interested in the holistic experience: do a small roll-out, test and learn and listen. And ideally, be nimble enough to change.

Of course, as we covered before: creating a customer centric culture from the inside out is also part of the transformation. What would you recommend to those looking to unify their customer experience management for a more holistic view?

Share with us at Total Customer Experience Leader's summit this June in Boston, or Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook to share with the TCEL family.

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Creating Your Own Customer Experience Measurement Program

Customer experience design is one of the most powerful accelerants of business strategy a leader has. It provides one of the most compelling answers to the question: do we matter to our customers? And yet, far too many organizations leave too much on the table by failing to intentionally align people and strategy from the top down to ensure this happens.

At the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit you will learn how to increase your organization's relevance by creating an intentional customer experience that aligns your organization from the top down.


Featured Session: Summiting the Customer Experience Measurement - Anne-Marie Davidson, Senior Marketing Research Analyst, REI
Like many retailers, REI faces the challenge of becoming a more customer-centric organization, one that connects all aspects of the customer's experience. For the last two years, REI has been developing a comprehensive customer measurement program, building from a blueprint, and including management interviews, qualitative and quantitative research, action planning, linkage and goal-setting. This presentation will describe that journey and provide attendees with a process for developing their own customer experience measurement program.


Download the brochure to see the full program.

Joining Anne-Marie at the event is an impressive line-up of customer experience professionals sharing their own real-life stories.
Hear from:
AAA NCNU, AARP, American Family Insurance, BMO Financial Group, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Burke, Inc., Citizens Financial Group, Dunkin' Donuts, Experience Engineering, Feltz & Associates, LLC, Forrester, GfK Custom Research, GfK Customer Research, Hunter Douglas, Indiana University, Janet LeBlanc & Associates, JoAnna Brandi & Company, Inc., Maritz Research, Porter Airlines, Prophet, Rockwell Automation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, The Hartford, Time Warner Cable and USAA.

Register as a reader of our blog with code TCEL12BLOG to save 15% off the standard registration rates. Visit the webpage to register today.

We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!
The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team


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Customer Experience in Action: JetBlue, Doing It Right.

In this era of the more empowered customer, it seems we hear a lot of negative stories about customer experiences, but there are some companies out there that are taking customer feedback and truly rising to the challenge, providing a customer experience that delivers on brand promises on all levels, from digital to in-person.

Personally, working for one of the largest providers of trade conferences, expositions, and  networking experiences in America, I spend a lot of time traveling to different conferences. On my most recent trip I was sitting in the airport with a little time to kill and working on the upcoming Total Customer Experience Leader's event, and I couldn't help but think that my airline on that day, JetBlue, really has customer experience down to a science.

First, booking your trip and getting to the airport: JetBlue has a newly relaunched iPhone app (pictured above, right) and mobile website that provides both an easy way to book your flight and pertinent information for the day of your travel. The app provides local weather information, baggage policy, options for sending a friend directions for airport pickup or even help with looking up a local car service. You can even browse the DIRECTV® offerings for your flight within the app. Now, there is one thing that's missing here, mobile check-in ability, but overall it is a brilliant application that left me feeling delighted with the small touches.


Regarding the new mobile developments, Michael Stromer, vice president of customer connections at JetBlue, Forrest Hills, NY was quoted in this article as saying “The initial mission behind JetBlue is to bring humanity back to air travel, and we are trying to do that with these initiatives.”

Indeed, the brand has done a good job at maintaining this "human" touch off-line as well. When I sat in the airport lounge at JFK's Terminal 5 to grab a snack, I was pleasantly surprised by a personal-feeling note (pictured left) from management OTG on the menu about their dedication to customer experience.

The trend continues at the gate as well, with clear signage showing flight status and destination weather. Ample seating and plenty of places to plug in complete the experience.

But perhaps it's not how they are at their best that is telling of a company's approach to customer experience, but instead how they react when faced with a challenge. Luckily or unluckily, I had the chance to experience that as well on this particular trip. As we were waiting at the gate, an announcement was made that the plane we had been assigned for the flight did not have functioning DIRECTV® service. This was a disappointment to some travelers for sure, but by the next morning I had an email in my inbox from JetBlue apologizing for the incident and rewarding me with a loyalty credit. The email read:

"We‘re sorry that DIRECTV® service didn’t work during your flight—we know this is one of the many reasons our customers choose to fly with JetBlue. Please accept our sincere apologies and this flight credit for the inconvenience you recently experienced with us."

I couldn't help but think that this is how the "empowered customer" is expecting to be treated. Acknowledgement and an apology like that actually left me feeling better about the trip then if I had taken a neutral, expected flight.

Have you had lived through any customer experience success stories lately? E-mail me at mleblanc@iirusa.com if you'd like to publish one here as a guest blog.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a specialization in marketing. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com.

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience Starts with You

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity.

This week, we chatted with TCEL speaker Janet LeBlanc, President, JANET LEBLANC + ASSOCIATES about creating a customer-centric culture. On that note, let's look at some of the ways to develop that culture and the effects that doing so can have.

This post on the Experience Required™ blog suggested that the The CEO’s role in changing culture starts with taking three steps: #1. Be visible.
#2. Give feedback regularly.
#3. Demonstrate quick wins.

This piece on "The Rateocracy" (which calls back to last week's focus on the more empowered customer) advises: "The CEO of the future will need to work harder to align the corporation, its employees, and stakeholders around a shared vision."

Forbes recently posted "Why the Megalomaniac in the Corner Office Isn't Doing Your Company Any Favors" discussing this topic as well. The article cites "(Lack of) Open Culture" as a major downfall for organizations and posits "a way to run a better business is by enabling a wealth of executives to make business critical decisions and empowering them to act and react around the globe."

CMS wire agrees, writing "Almost every company across America says the same hackneyed cliche: Our people are our strongest asset. Almost every company in America is not doing what's necessary to make their employees believe that their employers actually believe this."

Based on all of these sources it's clear: customer experience starts at home. Look at your employee's experiences and the culture they are working in and think "How does this align with our customer experience strategy?"

Have you ever made an effort to change corporate culture from within? Share your successes and challenges in our comments section.

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Podcast: Janet LeBlanc on Creating a Customer-Centric Culture

Janet LeBlanc, President, JANET LEBLANC + ASSOCIATES will be speaking on Creating a Customer-Centric Culture at our upcoming Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit.

I caught up with her last week to record a quick podcast where we discussed the growing priority of creating a customer centric culture and some steps an organization can take to identify and change their culture.

 On trying to create a customer-centric culture Janet says "it's one of the most challenging transformational change initiatives for any senior executive to undertake." However, there are some concrete steps you can take to get there. The first being, define what culture your organization currently operates within.

For more on the process and the types of culture you may currently be operating under, listen to the podcast here. 

If you'd like to hear more from Janet LeBlanc, join us at the Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit this June in Boston. As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Visit the webpage to register today. 

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a specialization in marketing. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com.

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: Smart Customers & Successful Companies

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity. Share with us in the comments to add your thoughts!

The 2012 North American Brand Performance Study by Forrester has given brands some very compelling, perhaps even scary, information. Customers are smart, more empowered then ever, and they seek innovation, trustworthiness, and convenience from brands more vocally as a result.

Inspired by the study, Sheridan Orr traces the customer journey way, way back in Retail Customer Experience with "Infographic: The evolution of customer experience." This interesting history starts with the rise of vending machines and traces the customer up to the modern day, where increasingly in each step the customer can customize and practice self-service, but in return expects smart and innovative responses.

While comparing the struggles of Kodak with the recent success of Instagram, Michael Hinshaw, Customer experience innovation strategist and co-author, ‘Smart Customers, Stupid Companies’ wrote in the Huffington Post "Your customers' changing expectations have forever shifted the ways they expect to be treated."

 Forbes called out "Trust, Consistency, and Loyalty" as the "Three Attributes Of Enormously Successful Companies" saying "Self-awareness can be good for the soul; it is excellent for the company’s bottom line." When was the last time you asked yourself if your company was walking the walk?

So: Customer Experience Is Now a Strategic Priority. What does this mean? If you know your company is not providing a consistent customer experience, what can you do? These 5 Traits of Great Customer Service by Total Customer Experience Leaders Guest Blogger Flavio Martins are a good place to start. (We, of course, also recommend attending the conference.)

One thing's for sure, when you do gain a customer's loyalty it is a powerful thing. A recent study amazingly showed that "73% of travelers would choose loyalty-program benefits over a spouse if they could take just one on the road.”

Like these updates? Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook for industry news all week long.

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Engage Employees & Embed Customer Experience in Your Business

Delivering great customer experiences begins with embedding customer experience within your organization and fostering a customer focused culture. Hear more on establishing a customer experience culture in your organization when Kelly Harper, Director, Brand & Customer Experience at BMO Financial Group delivers her keynote presentation:

How to Embed a Culture of Customer Experience in Your Organization

This case study presentation provides an overview of the BMO Customer Experience Journey; how BMO defines customer experience; and shares how BMO organizes itself around Customer-Experience, highlights key programs developed to engage employees and embed customer experience in day-to-day business activities and processes.

No matter where the accountability of "customer value" lives in your organization, customer centricity is a real leadership issue and one that takes priority especially today. The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit tackles this issue head on. Our customer experience leaders will redefine customer centricity and explain what this means for you, your brand and your business.

Joining Kelly at the event is an impressive line-up of customer experience professionals sharing their own real-life stories.
Hear from: 
AAA NCNU, AARP, American Family Insurance, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Burke, Inc., Citizens Financial Group, Dunkin' Donuts, Experience Engineering, Feltz & Associates, LLC, Forrester, GfK Custom Research, GfK Customer Research, Hunter Douglas, Inc., Indiana University, Janet LeBlanc & Associates, JoAnna Brandi & Company, Inc., Maritz Research, Porter Airlines, Prophet, REI, Rockwell Automation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, The Hartford, Time Warner Cable and USAA.

Download the brochure to see the full program.

As a reader of our blog, we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Visit the webpage to register today.

We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!
The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TotalCustomer
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Total Customer Experience Leaders Spotlight: David Blair of Rockwell Automation

In 2011, we interviewed David Blair, Director, Customer Experience,Rockwell Automation in advance of the 2011 Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit. David will be returning to the event in 2012 as our conference chair. Let's take a look back at some of his thoughts from last year:

TCEL: Tell us about a project you are working on or recently completed that you are proud of?


DB: We’ve just completed a new event-based survey that allows us to get feedback on our PROJECT business. The survey is very different from our annual customer survey in that it focuses on the individual project – from proposal through design through start-up. The goal is to both ensure a successful project, and get actionable feedback on our performance.

TCEL: What do you think is the key to a successful Customer Experience program?

DB: Senior Management support. Improving customer experience can’t be done from the bottom up. Moving the needle takes hard work and real commitment. And that comes by senior management talking about customer experience, defining performance goals, linking performance to compensation, prioritizing customer experience expenditures, and taking a personal interest in improvement projects.

TCEL: What inspired you to get in the field? What keeps you motivated?

DB: Motivation is easy. In our company, the Customer Experience Office is not just the messenger for conveying customer feedback - we’re also responsible for driving improvements. So knowing the next customer survey is right around the corner, and I’ll be the one walking through results with the CEO, I’m constantly motivated to drive feedback into actions that will improve our Customer Experience scores. I got into the field primarily because it allowed me to leverage my diverse background (sales, marketing, quality, product development) and interpersonal skills to make some real differences.

TCEL: What is one thing you’re excited about for this year’s Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit?

DB: Meeting peers. In our field, we rarely get a chance to share our approaches, successes and failures with peers. Books and consultants are helpful, but there’s really no substitute for an in-depth understanding of how other companies approach customer experience. There’s no one right way, and the approaches vary widely. My goal is to gather ideas that will form the basis for a strategy that elevates our own program to the next level, and likewise I hope I can offer ideas to help others advance.

TCEL: What is one question you are looking to get answered at this year’s Summit?

DB: My question: How do you keep the vitality in your customer experience program? It strikes me that no matter how good the research is, and how well it’s presented, the enthusiasm naturally diminishes over time.

About Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation, Inc., the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information, makes its customers more productive and the world more sustainable. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., Rockwell Automation employs about 21,000 people serving customers in more than 80 countries.

To hear more from our Customer Experience Experts, visit our resource page for a full catalog of interviews, or join us June 6th-8th in Boston.   As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Register for the event here.

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What is your customer experience THEME?

As part of ongoing customer experience training and personal development, I'm always on the lookout for a great training conference that I can attend to help develop my skills as a customer service and customer experience leader.

Being on a budget, I'm looking to get the best bang for my buck. The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit is the conference you can't miss!

At last year's conference, a stellar group of customer experience leaders trained on the importance of establishing customer experience as a key value of your organization to compete in today's customer experience focused economy. Joe Pine led off the conference giving the state of what customers want today.

The recession isn’t slowing down this progress; instead, it is accelerating the shift to customer experience being what consumers truly want. With limited spending money, people...don’t value “stuff.” They value shared experiences...Soon, experiences will become the predominant economic offering. 

-Joe Pine, Cofounder, Strategic Horizons LLP

How do we create customer experience in a digital marketplace?

Experiences aren’t always done in real time and in a physical place. The key is to be consistent in the delivery of your service theme that your customers receive. Joe outlines how to create a THEME that will guide you as you design an exceptional customer experience.

(T)heme the Customer Experience

• What thoughts/feelings to you want to evoke from customers? Is your entire team on board? Is your delivery consistent?

(H)armonize Customer Experience

• Do you connect your company ideals with the needs of customers?

(E)liminate Negative Customer Experience Points

• What words/actions/behaviors/triggers break down the positive experience your customers receive? What are you doing to mitigate these customer experience combustion points?

(M)ix Memorabilia in the Customer Experience

• Do you offer digital swag only your customers can enjoy? It doesn't have to be for everyone, but when you get feedback (good and bad), or an exceptional review or experience with an individual, what can you send to solidify that experience?

(E)voke the Senses in the Customer Experience

• Think of all of the touch points customers have with you. What does it look like from the customer's point-of-view? Do they feel special? Do they feel like you care? Do they feel special?

Hopefully you get the idea. Thoughts should be coming to mind about your situation and what you can do to make the digital experience better for your customers.

This along with more great customer service training content is waiting for you at The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit this year!

The technology is there to help us create exceptional experiences with our customers in today's digital economy. Our only limitation is our creativity and willingness to focus on the customer. 

It doesn't all need to be done in person. It doesn't require a physical handshake, or a human phone call. 

What do you think? How do you show your customers you care? I'd love to hear what principles guide you to as you work to deliver a quality customer experience.

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: ROI Roundup

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity. Share with us in the comments to add your thoughts!

Curious about The ROI of Customer Experience? Some recent Temkin Group research in both B2C and B2B environments as well as research by Forrester shows that "Yes, there is a revenue impact tied to customer experience."

According to that blog post on the SmartPlanet blog, the ROI is especially clear for hotels and wireless service providers, but relevant for all industries. Breaking it out:

"Forrester found that the impact of customer experience on hotels and wireless service carriers was more than $1 billion for each industry. For hotels, the potential impact is $1.36 billion, while for carriers it is $1.3 billion."

Meanwhile in a report by J.D. Power and Associates, we learned that a fully satisfying customer experience (from beginning to end) can trump low prices. According to this post:

 ""While value is important, consumers want more than simply the lowest price," said J.D. Powers' Gina Pingitore, chief research officer, in a press release. "They expect a superior product that is delivered in a compelling presentation, through fast and easy-to-understand processes that are supported by responsive and concerned people. In addition, the price must be perceived as fair and competitive."

One company that could walk away from this feeling positive? Best Buy. In this article by Retail Traffic Mag, the author recommends

"Closing 50 underperforming stores is a move in the right direction for operational efficiency, but Best Buy shouldn’t be competing with Amazon.com on price, they say—it should be competing on superior customer experience."

Overall, we're taking away one lesson from all this research: Good customer experiences have a proven ROI, and can be real differentiators for a company. Do you agree?

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AARP Shares How to Effectively Analyze and Leverage Multi-Channel VoC Data

Drive change and optimize your sales force by measuring customer feedback through the entire customer experience at the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit, an event that not only redefines customer centricity, but explains what this means for you, your brand and your business.

With the evolving landscape of communications channels available to customers, it's clear that organizations must adapt to meet the needs and preferences of their customers, or risk losing those customers to competitors. However, without a plan to strategically leverage the valuable information that is captured during contacts, organizations may never realize the full potential of customer interactions.

Join Robert J. Fox, Director, Business Process & Quality, Messaging and Analytics, AARP at the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit, taking place June 6-8, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts as he delivers his presentation: How to Effectively Analyze and Leverage Multi-Channel VoC Data

In this presentation, Robert will focus on the value of contact data, both quantitative and qualitative, and offer suggestions on how to analyze and deliver on the strategic value of multi-channel data.

In addition to AARP, see who else will be sharing insights on Measurement & Feedback:
• Customer Care-Opoly
Joseph Arsenault, Senior Manager, Analysis, Metrics and Reporting, Time Warner Cable (TWC)
• Lessons Learned from Voice of the Customer Leaders
Adele Sage, Analyst, Forrester
• The Seven Deadly Sins of Voice of the Customer Research
Howard L. Lax, Ph.D., Vice President, Consulting, GFK Custom Research
• Measuring Customer Loyalty
Renee Pezzi, Senior Vice President, Director of Customer Experience Product and Online, Citizens Financial Group
• KEYNOTE - Meeting the Expectations of Your Consumer
Scott Hudler, Vice President - Global Consumer Engagement, Dunkin' Donuts
• KEYNOTE - How to Embed a Culture of Customer Experience in Your Organization
Kelly Harper, Director, Brand & Customer Experience, BMO Financial Group

Download the brochure to see the full program

As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team


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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: What's "Good Enough" For You?

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity. Share with us in the comments to add your thoughts!

This week on the blog, we wrote about the impact of a customer-centric company culture and talked with Peter Dixon, Senior Partner, Creative Director, Prophet, about the power of creating small moments of delight for your customers.

Meanwhile, Kate Leggett was asking on the Forrester blog, Is "Good Enough" Customer Service Good Enough? arguing that the real focus needs to be a consistent, reproducible experience across all touch points. But is this a false dichotomy? In an ideal world wouldn't you have both moments of delight for customers as well as the removal of experience pain points?

Another big question this week: Are customer loyalty programs broken? This week Mashable's Webtrends series posted 2 Ways to Fix Customer Loyalty Programs, pointing out that many consumers see these programs as irrelevant, but that increased targeting and better use of mobile technology could remove some of the issues.

So how do you target your customers better? In this piece on MyCustomer.com, Professor Hugh Wilson from the Cranfield School of Management "claims that when it comes to experience design, marketers need to overhaul their thinking" and segment customers based on channel preferences, not demographics.

In an upcoming webinar, IIR will be hosting Joe Stanhope, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research and Annie Weinberger, VP of Marketing, Autonomy an HP Company on "The Future of Online Testing" and testing and targeting for more successful customer interactions online. Perhaps we'll gain some more insight then. Please mention priority code: MWJ0020-BLOG when registering.

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How to Design an Integrated Customer Experience with Measurable Impact

An organization's culture can be a potent, powerful force contributing to its success or failure. Some organizations define their culture as "a culture to win", a "sales culture" or a "culture of excellence".

But what about the customer?

Organizations that have successfully created a customer-centric culture have a hard-to-replicate source of competitive advantage - one that is far more important than any technological innovation.
The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit, an event that not only redefines customer centricity, but explains what this means for you, your brand and your business. It will unite diverse industry leaders to share genuine insights and best practices for "Designing an Integrated Experience with a Measurable Impact."

Featured Sessions Include:
Understanding and Delivering Customer Experience that Count - Peter Dixon, Senior Partner, Creative Director, Prophet (Listen to our podcast with Peter Dixon here.)
Never by Chance: How Leaders Align Intentional Customer Experience to Accelerate Strategy - Chuck Feltz, CEO & Managing Partner, Feltz & Associates, Author, Never by Chance: Aligning People and Strategy through Intentional Leadership
The Value of Happiness in Creating Positive Customer Experience - JoAnna Brandi, Chief Inspiration Officer, JoAnna Brandi & Company
Creating a Customer-Centric Culture - Janet LeBlanc, President, Janet LeBlanc + Associates

Download the brochure to view the comprehensive agenda covering customer experience design, measurement & feedback, strategy and alignment.

Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit 2012 covers everything your organization needs to know to create a customer-centric culture. As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Visit the webpage to register today. We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team


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Podcast: Peter Dixon on Customer Experience

Peter Dixon, Senior Partner, Creative Director, Prophet, will be speaking on Understanding and Delivering Customer Experiences at our upcoming Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit. I caught up with him last week to record a quick podcast where we discussed his work with Prophet and the keys to building a great customer experience program.

Peter focuses a lot of the "moments of truth" for a company, creating an emotional connection and the small moments of delight that can pay off big if a company is willing to invest in them. As he put it "big brands doing small things."

Listen to our podcast here for more customer experience insights.


If you'd like to hear more from Peter Dixon, join us at the Total Customer Experience Leader's Summit this June. As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Visit the webpage to register today.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA with a specialization in marketing. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com.

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News: Are You Listening?

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity. Share with us in the comments to add your thoughts!

This week, we're looking at listening. Do you know when to listen to customers? Fast Company presented the short video below with CEO of RedStamp Erin Newkirk focusing on the issue.
Many brands are now using Social Media for listening to customers and on that note 1to1media presented "3 Ways That Social Engagement Breeds Customer Loyalty." One example they used is of creating an online community for listening to customer ideas:

"To keep the pressing competition at bay, TurboTax decided in 2004 to launch Inner Circle, an online community and idea exchange, as a way of listening to the company's most loyal customers and to implement their ideas. Through careful monitoring and continuous engagement, the crowdsourcing community has grown to 20,000 members dedicated to finding ways to improve TurboTax's products, and is now the feedback destination where customers come to share ideas and to ask questions."

In an article in Training magazine, Nick Lane, Director, Strategy and Planning, Everything Everywhere wrote of listening to customer feedback on an agent to agent level to improve customer experiences and "Inspire Brilliance".

Lastly, we came across this great interview with Dunkin Brands' CMO John Costello in Forbes where he states on making Dunkin beloved:

"It goes back to basic understanding of the consumer, to listening very hard to their needs and wants."

How are you listening? Like these updates? Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook for industry news all week long.

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Is Your Company Meeting Consumer Expectations?

Consumer expectations are changing more rapidly than ever before. Meeting the needs of today's consumers while remaining true to your brand promise is a challenge your organization will soon have to face.

Join Scott Hudler, Vice President - Global Consumer Engagement, Dunkin' Donuts at the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit, taking place June 6-8, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts as he delivers his keynote presentation: Meeting the Expectations of Your Consumers

In this presentation, Scott will share how Dunkin' Donuts focuses on delivering a consistent and integrated message to the consumer across advertising, marketing, menu, in-store environment and guest service to keep the brand as one of the most beloved brands in America.

Join Scott at Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit, an event that not only redefines customer centricity, but explains what this means for you, your brand and your business. It will unite diverse industry leaders to share genuine insights and best practices for "Designing an Integrated Experience with Measurable Impact."

In addition to Dunkin' Donuts, hear from the following companies who will be sharing their own real-life stories in customer experience:
AAA NCNU, AARP, American Family Insurance, BMO Financial Group, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Burke, Inc., Citizens Financial Group, Experience Engineering, Feltz & Associates, LLC, Forrester, GfK Custom Research, GfK Customer Research, Hunter Douglas, Inc., Indiana University, Janet LeBlanc & Associates, JoAnna Brandi & Company, Inc., Maritz Research, Porter Airlines, Prophet, REI, Rockwell Automation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, The Hartford, Time Warner Cable and USAA.

Download the brochure to see the full program.

As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Visit the webpage to register today

We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!
The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team

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Total Customer Experience Takeaways

As we begin looking forward to the 2012 Total Customer Experience Leader's summit, we'll be presenting some of the key takeaways from our 2011 event. Pictured here is a Wordle of our executive summary notes. I've stripped out the two most obvious words"Customer" and "Experience" to drill down a bit more into the heart of our takeaways.

One thing that immediately strikes me: how action-oriented these words are. "Make, create, integrate," and "change" all jump out. That's what we hope for from this event: that our attendees will leave with actionable insights that they can immediately integrate into their existing strategies when they return to the office.

Another big theme: Culture, Ecosystem & Employees. Kerry Bodine's session at last years event focused on this particularly, with the theme summed up in the following sentence "The Customer Experience Ecosystem is a complex set of relationships among your company’s employees, partners, and customers that determines the quality of the experience."

To create a strong Customer Experience Ecosystem, Kerry recommended following these steps:
1. Map it
2. Co-create it
3. Socialize it

Don’t just target segments, go out and talk to people and create personas based on behavioral attitudes.

Did you attend Total Customer Experience Leaders in 2011? What were your key takeaways?

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Idea Gathering: Customer Experience News

The Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit provides both B2B and B2C case studies and translating these innovations and insights is a huge part of the value of the conference. Our unique idea gathering wrap-ups between sessions facilitate this translation and were one of our most highly rated features last year.

Here on the blog we're doing a regular series of idea gathering wrap ups, pulling together some of our favorite stories on customer experience, customer experience design, and overall customer-centricity. Share with us in the comments to add your thoughts!

Our absolute favorite story this week came by way of The Chadwick Martin Bailey blog. The author discusses 3 things a company did to leave her feeling even better after a bad situation:

- They responded

- They used manners (thanked me for my business, apologized for the problem, etc.)

- They offered a resolution

Our guest blogger Flavio Martins also had some great insight this week, offering up5 Traits of Great Customer Service. Additionally I came across this white paper by Oracle which showcased Seven Power Lessons for Customer Experience Leaders. Lastly, we kept counting up to customer experience as Entrepreneur offered up "How The 10 Most Trusted Corporate Brands Connect With Their Customers." We'll leave you with the following quote from that piece:

"Though they may not have the biggest sales or market share in their categories, today's most trustworthy brands have created relationships with consumers through experiences that trigger a visceral response."

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AAA, Starwood Hotels, Indiana University & more to Share Insight into Customer Experience Design

More and more organizations are viewing customer experience as a strategic priority. As firms strive to establish a competitive advantage through customer experience management, it becomes clear that they must develop a deep understanding of experience management to evolve a solid strategy and approach.

The 2012 Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit is an event that not only redefines customer centricity, but explains what this means for you, your brand and your business. It will unite diverse industry leaders to share genuine insights and best practices for "Designing an Integrated Experience with a Measurable Impact."

In addition to AAA, see who else will be sharing insights on Customer Experience Design:

• The Academic Research Evidence
Neil Morgan, PetSmart Distinguished Professor of Marketing Chair, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
• Managing the Customer Experience - What it Means and What it Takes to Do it Well
D. Randall Brandt, Vice President, Customer Experience & Loyalty, Maritz Research
Lou Carbone, Founder & CEO, Experience Engineering, Author, Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again
• Redesigning a Guest Experience Feedback Program for Improved Change Management & Enhanced Outcomes
Mathew Valenti, Ph.D., Director, Global Market Research, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Erik Andersen, Vice President, North America, GfK Custom Research

Download the brochure to see the full program here.

As a reader of our blog we’d like to offer you a 15% off the standard registration rates, use code TCEL12BLOG to save. Register today. Visit the webpage to register today.

We look forward to seeing you this June in Boston!
The Total Customer Experience Leaders Event Team

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