The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #5

I like to start these with a big thank you to everyone who has been reading, linking to, writing about, and passing along my blog…

This is my 366th post and it’s been over 100 posts since my last “Best Of” entry. Here’s a look back at some of the major themes in those posts:

• The maturing of customer experience. Forrester’s second annual Customer Experience Index that rated 113 organizations across 12 industries showed that there’s a lot of opportunity to improve. This also showed up when consumers rated Web, phone, and in-person interactions in Experiences That Satisfy Consumers, 2009, The good news is that customer experience management is definitely maturing which I highlighted in the following posts: Customer Experience Grows Up, Six Trends Reshape Voice Of The Customer Programs, and The State Of Customer Experience.
• Customer experience correlates to loyalty. In Customer Experience Correlates To Loyalty, I found that customer experience correlates to three key elements of loyalty: willingness to repurchase, reluctance to switch, and likelihood to recommend. And the correlations got even stronger since 2007. I dug a bit deeper into the data in More Info On Customer Experience And Loyalty.
• Building a customer-centric culture. Culture is a key ingredient for good customer experience — so I introduced the 6 C’s Of Customer-Centric DNA. And it’s also why I told execs that they need to Invest In Culture As A Corporate Asset. Other posts that looked at culture included: The Cultures Of Best Buy, Google, GE, And Semco, WL Gore Succeeds Without Employees, At Four Seasons, Customer Experience Is Everyone’s Business, and Execs Need To Focus More On Culture.
• It’s time to rebuild brands. In Brands Are Dying; Deal With It, I discuss the decline of good branding. So here’s some advice for CMOs: Ford Lacks An American Idol Storyline, Walgreens’ New CMO Seems On Track, Marketing Lessons From An Ex-Marine, Eight Steps For CMOs In A Recession, Time Is More Valuable Than Money, Satisfy Your Customers Subconsciously, and CMOs: Start Building (Real) Loyalty.
• The reinvention of management. The economic meltdown highlighted the need for an overhaul of management techniques. Look at what Jack Welch says about the need for change in Don’t Get Distracted By Shareholders. So I packaged a number of posts into a free eBook called The 6 New Management Imperatives: Leadership Skills For A Radically Changed Business Environment.
• Managing through the recession. I’ve been writing a lot about how to manage in a recession. Here are some of the key posts in this period: Recession Strategies From IDEO And Potatoes, Jeff Immelt On Managing In A Downturn, Turn Hard Times Into Goat Stew, Recession Leadership: Be Real, Communicate, And Look Ahead, Retail Execs Discuss Leading In A Recession, Learn From Home Depot And Macy’s, But Not Office Depot, and Lessons From Condoms And Canned Goods.
• Innovating through design. There’s a lot of opportunity to improve business and our society if more organization apply user-centric design approaches. Here are some examples: Good Design Saves Lives In The UK, Wells Fargo Improves Communications With Ethnography, Design Solutions Can Improve Society, IDEO’S CEO Discusses Innovation, Great Lessons From Aravind Eye Care, 10 Innovation Steps For CEOs, Off Topic: Ushadidi May Improve The World, and Recession And Innovation From Wool To Hulu.
• Customer service is a critical experience. In Don’t Confuse Customer Service With Customer Experience, I made the point that customer service represents a critical set of customer experiences. That became crystal clear from consumer responses in Customer Service Trumps Price. Who’s doing well? Look at Customer Service Champs From BusinessWeek.
• The Apple/Windows customer experience battle. As part of my Customer Experience Index research, I publish snapshots on the results in 12 industries. It turned out that my PC industry snapshotcaused quite a stir. It was picked up by major news outlets, a ton of bloggers, and drove many comments on my blog. I felt the need to clarify my view in another post about the results. Apple even created a Mac ad that referenced the results.
• Getting the most from Net Promoter. I spoke at the Net Promoter conference in San Francisco which motivated a set of posts about this important, but often misused, metric: Intuit’s Brad Smith Shares Customer Experience Insights, Fred Reichheld Gives A Net Promoter Update, and My Closing Thoughts On Net Promoter.
• Lesson from and for politics. Given the presidential race and Obama’s victory, I was compelled to write a number of posts about my thoughts: 6 Steps For The President To Revive “Brand USA”, Off Topic: Obama’s Victory Speech, Obama Needs A Citizen Experience Officer, Learning From Bush’s Leadership Mistakes, and Leadership Insights From Obama’s Inauguration Speech.
• Other notable posts: My Top 15 Posts In 2008, What’s On My 2009 Research Agenda?, Ten Customer Experience Resolutions For 2009, LEGO’s Building Block For Good Experiences, and Google Squeezes The Soul Out Of Design.

The bottom line: If you enjoyed the first 366 posts, keep reading and tell your friends about this blog.