The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #3 April 21, 2008
Posted by Bruce Temkin in Best of CxP Matters, Customer experience.1 comment so far
I can’t believe it, but this is my 150th post. So let me start with a big thank you to everyone who has been reading, linking to, writing about, and passing along my blog…
As I’ve been doing for every 50th post, I’ll mark this milestone with a retrospective of my last 50 entries. So here’s a look back at the major themes in those posts:
- Customer experience links to business results. In what (I think) is one of my most impactful pieces of research, I showed the direct connection between customer experience and business results in nine industries that I studied. It turns out that customer experience is highly correlated with customers’ intentions to switch and their willingness to purchase additional products. In an upcoming post, I’ll talk about why correlation levels differ across industries and companies.
- Customer service opportunities abound. First of all, I rebutted an article in Time Magazine saying that self-service will replace customer service. It turns out that consumers still want to interact with other people. As a matter of fact, customer service is so important that I introduced a new model called ”CARES” for evaluating it. To understand customer service breakdowns, I showed the six gaps between interntions and reality. I also had posts that talked about specific companies: A note to Comcast’s investors about the firm’s poor service; a call to Circuit City’s board of directors to improve the retailer’s experience; a shout out for USAA taking Business Week’s top spot; and an evaluation of American Airlines’ response to grounding passengers.
- Branding takes more than ad campaigns. Several posts referred back to the second principle of Experience-Based Differentiation (EBD): Reinforce the brand with every interaction, not just communications. Too many companies think they can just advertise their way to a new competitive positioning. Given that key element of EBD, I gave advice to Sears about shedding its customers; Victoria’s Secret about being too sexy; and Miller beer to be more genuine. One of the clearest posts on this topic came a little bit earlier when I told Chase that it can’t advertise its way to friendliness.
- Online practices: The good and not so good. Several posts looked at different angles of online strategies. I pointed to GapMinder as a great rich Internet experience. I also discussed how Hulu.com demonstrates good Gen Y design. I even took a look at announcements from Jay-Z, MySpace, and iTunes. But the Web doesn’t operate in isolation, so I passed along some of my research on Web-to-store experiences. Of course, not all Web efforts make sense; which is why I couldn’t blindly endorse Starbucks’ Web 2.0 activities. My favorite post about online efforts incorporates a MUST SEE video with a great rap song on Web usability.
- Innovation is a critical non-strategy. First of all, I think innovation is absolutely critical. That’s why I discussed how to use the five disruptive customer experience strategies as a source of innovation. But it is not a strategy on it’s own; which is why I agreed with an article in Advertising Age that said innovation is a tactic, not a strategy. I also highlighted interesting elements of Honda’s innovation process and Apple’s design process. You might also want to take a look at this older post as well: Trend Watch #4: Business Week “Innovation Predictions 2008.”
- Some firms are better than others (a.k.a. rankings). I examined consumers feedback on 112 firms to showcase ratings in a number of areas. The posts highlighed that Credit Unions and Bordrs are the easiest to work with; Costco and Sam’s Club are the most useful; Borders and Old Navy are the most enjoyable; credit unions have the most loyal customers; USAA and Schwab have the highest Web satisfaction; Citizens and Barnes & Nobles have the highest store/branch satisfaction; and USAA and The Hartford have the highest phone satisfaction. RBC was on the top of 22 frims in the Canadian Customer Experience Index.
- Management “wisdom” comes in different shapes and sizes. I continue to examine one of my favorite topics, the role of leadership. Kenneth Chanault (Amex CEO) used a quote from Napoleon that I really liked: “The role of the leader is to define reality and give hope.” In response to a Chrystler ad that said it cared about customers, I recommended that their executive team focus on Experience-Based Differentiation. The post called Starbucks Searches For Its Soul remindes exec that they need to retain a sense of purpose. And, in the face of an economic downturn, I commented on an article in Fortune Magazine about leading your company out of a downturn. Last, but not least, I shared a quote from one of my favorite characters, Morpheus.
- We’re a long way from customer experience excellence. To begin with, I defined the perfect customer experience as “a set of interactions that consistently exceed the needs and expectations of a customer.” In a number of posts, I looked at how companies are approaching this customer experience nirvana. In Obstacles To Customer Experience Success, I described that more companies have senior customer experience execs, but most still lack discipline. In Customer Experience Maturity — Not!, I showcased results from 287 execs that took the Experience-Based Differentiation self-test (most firms failed all areas of EBD).
- A number of miscellaneous tidbits. I made recommendations to a number of companies and industries: health plans need better member experiences, American Airlines should rebuild confidence with customers and employees, Citigroup has a the chance to improve its credit card business, banks need a Gen Y overhaul. I also had a couple of off-topic posts on sporting events: my superbowl observations and opening day at Fenway Park.
If you want to get completely caught up on my blog, also take a look at these previous “Best Of CxP Matters” posts:
- The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #1 (provides highlights of my first 50 posts).
- The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #2 (provides highlights of my second 50 posts).
The bottom line: If you enjoyed the first 150 posts, keep reading and tell your friends about this blog.
The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #2 January 17, 2008
Posted by Bruce Temkin in Best of CxP Matters, Customer experience.4 comments
It’s hard to believe, but this is my 100th post. So let me start with a big thank you to everyone who has been reading, linking to, writing about, and passing along my blog…
As I did on my 50th post (The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #1), I decided to mark this milestone with a retrospective of my last 50 entries. So here’s a look back at the major themes in those posts:
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Trends for 2008. In my Trend Watch series, I examined 52 trends and predictions published in The Economist, The McKinsey Quarterly, Advertising Age, Business Week, and Trendwatch.com. In Trend Watch 2008 Wrap-Up, I organized my 14 favorites into four areas: 1) Consumer Needs, 2) Online Opportunities, 3) Required Skills, and 4) Strategy & Culture. A couple of those: ”Emergence Of The “Renaissance Marketer” and ”The responsible company: Performing with purpose is the new challenge.” To mark the new year I also came up with Ten Customer Experience Resolutions For 2008.
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My 2008 research agenda. Since my research findings make their way into this blog, I thought that you might be interested in my research plans. So I wrote a post called What’s On My 2008 Research Agenda which highlights my areas of focus and also looks back at my 2007 research. It turns out that I was the top-read analyst at Forrester last year and my top-read report (which is also Forrester’s top-read report) was Experience-Based Differentiation (EBD). So my blog will continue to be heavily influenced by EBD. You may want to Rate Your Customer Experience Skills With The EBD Self-Test.
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Customer experience rankings. Based on a survey of nearly 5,000 US consumers, we created Forrester’s 2007 Customer Experience Index which ranked the customer experiences of 112 firms across 9 industries: Banks, Credit Card Providers, Health Plans, Insurance Firms, Internet Service Providers, Investment Firms, Retailers, TV Service Providers, Wireless Phone Carriers. In what was our first year for these ranking, Costco and Borders came out on top and Charter Communications and Medicaid came out on the bottom. Look out for this ranking again next year.
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Advice for reaching Gen Y. In what has turned out to be a very hot research area, Ross Popoff-Walker and I published a report called “The Gen Y Design Guide” The post Designing Experiences For Gen Y provides some tidbits from the research about how Gen Yers (ages 18 to 27) are different from older consumers and advice on how to design experiences for them. I even got to incorporate lyrics from Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” in the post (how Gen Y of me!).
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Customer experience advice for banks. The last 50 posts are loaded with specific advice for banks. As a group, large banks did poorly our customer experience rankings and could really benefit from focusing on customer experience in 2008. Here are some posts that were specifically aimed at banks: Banks Have A Gen Y Blind Spot, Customer Experience Execs Help Banks, Two Words For Vikram Pandit (Citigroup CEO): “Customer Experience”, and Chase Can’t Advertise Its Way To Customer Friendliness.
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Words of wisdom. I like to incorporate insights from different sources. Here are some words of wisdom included in the past 50 posts: Colin Powell On Customer-Centric DNA, Babe Ruth On Customer-Centric DNA, and The Customer Is Not Always Right. My favorite advice came from Walt Disney On EBD, who said: “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”
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Intermittent silliness. In Firms Gone Wild (a.k.a. Dumb Moments In Business), I discussed Fortune Magazine’s 101 Dumbest Moments In Business. It included Nepal Airlines sacrificing two goats to appease the Hindu god of sky protection. In Customer Experience For Dummies, I daydreamed about writing a book. Hooters Energy Drink: Branding Gone Bad looked at comical brand extensions like “Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello” (it turns out that “Hooters” in the title really attracts readers). Also in the silly department: Bathroom + Maslow + Experience = An Interesting Post, Better Customer Experience Excuses, and Four Management Styles: Are You Psychotic?
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Red Sox mania. I would not feel right without including some references to my posts about the World Champions. Here’s what I wrote about the Red Sox: Happy Birthday: Red Sox Are American League Champs!, Red Sox Nation Takes Over The World (Series), and Mashup: Halloween + Red Sox + CxP. That last post includes a nice experience that my family had with Jason Varitek.
The bottom line: I hope that you’ve enjoyed the first 100!
P.S. Don’t forget to read The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #1
The Best Of Customer Experience Matters — To Go! October 18, 2007
Posted by Bruce Temkin in Best of CxP Matters, Customer experience.add a comment
For those of you that like to read things offline (on the train, plane, or wherever), I’ve created a .pdf version of the post “The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume 1.”
How can you get it? Just click on the link below and download a 30-page .pdf file that contains the main post along with the other posts that are referenced…
The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume 1 (.pdf)
The bottom line: Enjoy the reading!
The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume #1 October 16, 2007
Posted by Bruce Temkin in Best of CxP Matters, Customer experience, Disruptive customer experience strategies, Executive leadership, Experience-Based Differentiation.add a comment
Well, this is a big moment — my 50th blog post. I just started a few months ago, but the uptick in readership has been fantastic. So let me start with by saying thank you to everyone who has been reading, linking to, writing about, and passing along my blog!
Rather than introducing something totally new to mark this milestone, I decided to go with a retrospective. TV series do this to get new audiences caught up with the plot line – why not do it with my blog?! So, here goes, a look back at some of my favorite posts from the first 49:
- My Manifesto: Great Customer Experience Is Free. This post lays out my argument that the need to improve customer experience today is as strong as the need to improve quality was in the 1980s. It highlights the following areas where the “great customer experience is free” movement is just like the ”quality is free” movement: nobody owns it, it requires cultural change, it requires process change, it requires discipline, upstream issues cause downstream problems, employees are a key asset in the battle, and executive involvement is essential. But in the end, the payback will be off the charts. In a follow-up post called Great Customer Experience Is Free, Part II, I offer my observations that customer experience is critical for firms… but they aren’t enjoyable to work with… and they deliver poor experiences… because they lack customer experience discipline. Please join the Great Customer Experience Is Free movement!
- Experience-Based Differentiation. This is the name of a “Forrester Big Idea” report that I published in the beginning of this year. It’s been phenomenally successful in terms of its readership by Forrester clients and its impact on companies that read and internalize it. It is still the number one thing that I am asked to speak about. The concept, called “EBD” for short, is based on three principles: 1) Obsess about customer needs, not product features; 2) Reinforce brands with every interaction, not just communications; and 3) Treat customer experience as a competence, not a function. You can see an excerpt of a keynote speech about EBD that I gave at Forrester’s Finance Forum in this post: My Takes On YouTube.
- Five Disruptive Customer Experience Strategies. This post represents another highly-read Forrester research report. My research uncovered five different ways in which companies had successfully disrupted the status quo: 1) Ultrasimplicity; 2) Online infusion; 3) Service infusion; 4) Service amplification; and 5) Value repositioning. I’ve also written a couple of posts that provide examples of these strategies: WaMu Heads For Simplicity: Follow! and NetFlix Ends Email Support; Tries Another Disruptive Strategy. I’ve found this to be a very effective tool for companies to use at off-sites. How? Breakout teams look at each one of these strategies as either an opportunity and a threat.
- Lessons Learned From Chief Customer Officers. Yes, this was my previous post. It makes the ”best of” list because I believe that any customer experience transformation effort needs dedicated leadership. This came out loud and clear when I interviewed executives with responsibility for customer experience (we generically call these execs Chief Customer/Experience Officers or CC/EOs). I wrote a post about one of those interviews: The Colorado Rockies Embraces Its Guests. The need for leadership can also be seen in the post Words Of Wisdom: Picasso On Organizational Change. But organizations should not just blindly appoint this type of an executive. I tried to frame the decision in a post called Chief Customer Officer: To Do, Or Not To Do? As one CC/EO said: “It takes massive support from senior management. This role can destruct careers.”
- Don’t Let Profits Replace Purpose. I wrote this post after reading about the role that founders have played in some successful companies. It’s clear to me that a founder often has a different set of characteristics than “professional managers.” In what ways? He/she often has both a clear picture of where he/she wants the firm to go PLUS the passion to constantly evangelize that vision. This clear and constant communication can align everyone across the company about what’s important. The bottom line of that post stated: Founders help companies focus on something that is much more aligning than profits - a raison d’être. In related posts, I noted that organizations that have lost their souls in Firms Need Some Soul Searching (there’s a self-help video in that one) and quoted from Mahatma Gandhi in Words Of Wisdom: Gandhi On Sustainability.
- Lessons Learned From 1,001 Web Site Reviews. The final spot goes to my inaugural blog post on June 15, 2007 in which I looked back at more than 1,000 Web Site Reviews that Forrester had completed. The methodology we follow is called an “expert review” which is where a trained analyst attempts to complete a specific goal as-if he/she was a target customer. We then evaluate the experience against 25 Web Site experience criteria (we also have criteria for other channels like email, phone, kiosks, and blogs as well as for experiences that cross over channels). This post makes the list because it was the first to mention Scenario Design. For almost a decade, the most powerful, yet seemingly simple piece of advice that we’ve been giving clients is to always ask — and answer — 3 questions (the foundation of Scenario Design): Who are your users? What are their goals? How can you help them achieve those goals? I revisited the importance of Scenario Design in a recent post called Web 2.0 (a.k.a. Web And Weberer).
The bottom line: I hope that you’ve enjoyed the first 50!
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You can download this post (along with all of the posts referenced above) with this link: The Best Of Customer Experience Matters, Volume 1 (.pdf). So you can print it out and read it anywhere.
