Crack The Customer Code

We all love metrics, and that’s what this episode of Crack the Customer Code is all about. In particular, it’s about one metric - the Customer Effort Score - and whether or not it’s the best customer experience metric to track. Do you know what the Customer Effort Score is?The Customer Effort Score, measures how much perceived effort your customers experience trying to get an issue resolved. The more effort they have to put in, the less satisfied they are. The less effort, the more satisfied.Listen in as Jeannie and Adam discuss the CES and whether or not it’s a reliable metric to use in evaluating customer experience - on this episode of Crack the Customer Code.Why no ONE metric is enough… not even this one!Even though Adam and Jeannie are devoting this entire episode to the discussion of one metric,  the Customer Effort Score, it’s not the only metric you should be considering because no single metric can tell you everything you need to know to manage your customer experiences. Why? Well… that’s why they re

Lee Caraher tells us how intergenerational workplaces can succeed despite the perceived great divide between Millennials and earlier generations like Boomers. Are Millennials really that different from earlier generations? People talk about intergenerational conflict today like it's something new, but it's not. Humans have always been informed by their generation (in addition to many other factors), so it's no surprise that Millennials have a different perspective of the world than the GenXers before them, and the Boomers before them, and so on. A company today could have as many as three or four different generations working together. And within the Millennial group, there are three subgroups to consider: Ages 28–35, who entered the workforce after 9/11. Ages 22–28, who entered the workforce after the economy crashed in 2008. Ages 15–21, who will enter the workforce having grown up with technology from the start, including in school.   How do these subgroups perceive themselves and the world around

Businesses hack customer behavior all the time; the real question is, are they using their powers for good or evil? Join Adam and Jeannie as they discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of hacking customer experience. It is ever okay? Is Customer Hacking Okay? Adam says the intention behind customer hacking is everything; after all, companies have been practicing hacking in one form or another for ages—narrowing options so you know which product to buy, optimizing prices, etc. Our biological make-up drives us towards the conservation of energy, or, as Adam puts it, our natural state is that of a couch potato. In a world where customer convenience has become the most valuable commodity, how do we overcome this? How do we hack ourselves? How can businesses help customers make the best choices—the healthiest choices—for both the organization and the customer's benefit? Listen in and find out! Related Content Hooked, by Nir Eyal The Intervator The Balance Lamp Sponsor Message Customer Experience is hot

John Murphy discusses how emotional intelligence can be a driver of success across metrics as you learn how to engage with your team, your clients, and your customers. How can business leaders engage their team in the company vision? "Emotional intelligence is absolutely fundamental to the growth and development of an organiztion," says John Murphy, the founder of John Murphy International, "and strong leadership is the [vehicle] for this sort of engagement." By creating an emotional connection, leaders are able to fully engage with their clients and employees and help them to invest in the business and the product, thereby creating a dedicated and empowered team. 4 Universal traits of successful leaders Successful leaders are very emotionally aware—both of their own internal environment and of those around them. They are continuous learners and have an attitude that allows them to be very open to learning new skills and to be honest about it. All successful leaders have daily rituals that feed them

Adding "Surprise & Delight" to your customer service strategy, while an incredible opportunity to build a dedicated consumer base, is harder to execute than you may expect. Adam and Jeannie discuss the trend of “Surprise & Delight” (or S&D, as some have started to dub it). Quite a few business leaders have been using a Surprise & Delight strategy to create joy and lasting memories among customers. But is it an effective strategy? The most effective? Loyalty programs often disappoint; customer dependency may cause dissatisfaction. How can a company implement this strategy to ensure customer satisfaction and cost benefit? While it is difficult to come up with a pertinent system to measure it, Surprise & Delight is a great reinforcer for both long-term and new customers. Why? Because it builds brand loyalty and trust. What are you really asking your people to do when you ask them to surprise and delight your customers? Listen in and find out! Related Content AirBnB Hotel Indigo Zappos Sponsor Message Custome

An Interview with Robert Rose   Robert introduces some of the principles taught in his latest book, Experiences: the 7th Era of Marketing, which he co-authored with Carla Johnson.     After briefly summarizing the previous six marketing eras, Robert explains how the next one signifies a profound paradigm shift where customer experience intersects with marketing through the content we produce.     According to Robert, we have moved beyond the age of just describing the value of products and services in marketing and entered an age when we must actually deliver value as a vital part of that marketing before a purchase is considered.     As businesses shift into this new era, Robert has observed that the content marketing strategies of many businesses are still not well-adapted. Content production has, in many cases, been tacked onto the normal duties of professionals in many departments and areas of expertise.     Fear not! As Robert explains, this change is not as hard to adapt to as you may thi

SPONSOR MESSAGE Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Experience Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. You’ll learn how to create customer success while generating profitable revenue for your services business. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which bring together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more.   Employee Empowerment: Is it a Fad or a Winning Strategy?   Employee empowerment is a term we hear a lot these days, but how do you define it? The answer can make a huge difference for your business.    Adam and Jeannie discuss how true employee empowerment means more than just giving employees a budget and a set of rules. How easy is it for employees to actually use that power? Culture plays a huge role!    Adam shares

Bob Burg, Author of The Go-Giver   SPONSOR MESSAGE     Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Experience Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. You’ll learn how to create customer success while generating profitable revenue for your services business. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which bring together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more.       Bob Burg: Go-Giver, Bestselling Author and Global Speaker     We are honored to kick off our new format with a guest of Bob’s acclaim!     Bob Burg shares the principles of his seemingly counterintuitive yet surprisingly powerful new strategy for selling in today’s economy. He explains how a shift in focus from acquisition to providing as much value as possible

A few fun changes for Crack the Customer Code! SPONSOR MESSAGE Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Experience Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. You’ll learn how to create customer success while generating profitable revenue for your services business. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which bring together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more. What's Happening at Crack the Customer Code? One of the best parts of podcasting is the flexibility of the medium. We're making some changes here on the podcast to improve the listening experience. Tune in for a short, bonus episode on what's happening.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Product vs Experience: Selling and maintaining emotional connections Ben Blakesley, Sr. Manager, Global Social Media, Reebok Customer Zero: How scam artists are ruining the experience for the rest of us SPONSOR MESSAGE Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Experience Workshop in San Diego on October 27th. You’ll learn how to create customer success while generating profitable revenue for your services business. The workshop is part of the Service Industry Summit event, which bring together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. Visit servicestrategies.com to learn more. Product vs. Experience: How Sweet Emotional Connections turn Sour A hot topic touched upon by Fast Company and investigated further by author Gretchen Rubin, Adam and Jeannie discuss the idea that it’s not really pro

Goodsnitch, the “Anti-Yelp”: Snitches don’t end up in ditches! Jennifer Maldonado, Sr. Business Analyst & Voice of the Gamer program owner at Activision Customer Hero: Middle School Entrepreneur fills a Huge Customer Experience Gap     SPONSOR MESSAGE     Did you know that by 2016 eighty-nine percent of companies will compete mainly by the customer experience they provide? How are you preparing for this? Your survey data and customer journey map only tell part of the story.     Get your whole organization started on the right foot with a CXI® Touchpoint Inventory Workshop. 360Connext uses a trademarked method that’s designed to transcend silos and tell the whole story from the customer’s perspective. These workshops are proven to help companies across many industries align their priorities, strengthen a customer-centric culture, and make improvements where they are needed the most.     2016 is right around the corner! Visit 360connext.com to get started today!     Is this new “Anti-Yelp” comp

Keurig brews social backlash, recent innovation goes back in the grinder Ramon DeLeon, Global Business and Social Media Keynote Speaker Customer Hero: Disney Cruise Line’s unbelievable dedication to details     SPONSOR MESSAGE   Confident, in control, successful... Is this how you feel when you work with customers? If you answered "no" you're not alone. Customer service can be incredibly difficult. Adam’s new book, Be Your Customer's Hero: Real World Tips and Techniques for the Service Front Lines is here to help. Be Your Customer's Hero is designed to help you and your teams gain the mindset and skills needed to create hero class customer experiences. Go to beyourcustomershero.com to get your copy today.     Keurig’s attempt to box in customers backfires     Jeannie and Adam discuss how Keurig’s customers react to a recent innovation designed to force the use of proprietary supplies.     Customers have spoken up, and Keurig has listened! But is it too late? How will they address customers who

The pros and cons of obsessing about data Raj Sivasubramanian, Senior Manager, Global Customer Insights, eBay Marketplaces Virgin’s new hotel is a Customer Hero!       SPONSOR MESSAGE   Please support our fantastic sponsor, Touchpoint Dashboard!     Are you mapping your customer journeys but struggling with how to derive value from your maps? Touchpoint Dashboardis a powerful web-based journey mapping platform that makes visualizing, collaborating, and sharing maps so easy to do. Touchpoint Dashboard was purpose built to ensure that your journey maps meet your goals and become the catalyst for change that they were meant to be. Sign up for a free 15-day trial to see how Touchpoint Dashboard can help you understand - and transform - your customer experience.     Does measurement really lead to action?     Jeannie and Adam discuss how the desire to measure things sometimes leads to action. But what if it doesn’t?     Are we obsessed with big data, dashboards and quarterly reports? It’s impor

Target Canada’s “supply chain disaster” Erin Wallace, Global Manager, Customer Experience, John Deere Poor customer satisfaction is a slippery slope for Wal-Mart!     SPONSOR MESSAGE   Please support our fantastic sponsor, Touchpoint Dashboard!     Are you mapping your customer journeys but struggling with how to derive value from your maps? Touchpoint Dashboard is a powerful web-based journey mapping platform that makes visualizing, collaborating, and sharing maps so easy to do. Touchpoint Dashboard was purpose built to ensure that your journey maps meet your goals and become the catalyst for change that they were meant to be. Sign up for a free 15-day trial to see how Touchpoint Dashboard can help you understand - and transform - your customer experience.     Going global? Tread lightly.     Jeannie and Adam discuss the challenges of going global! Target Canada is a recent example of an unexpected failure. What went wrong?     Jeannie and Adam discuss some of the issues with going big and

Thanks to our sponsor, Touchpoint Dashboard!       Does customer experience trump brand in acquisition? Luis Serpa UL (Underwriter Laboratories) Principal, Digital Experience at Underwriters Laboratories Customer Zero: The Cable Industry!     Does customer experience trump brand in acquisition?     Is customer experience more important than brands for long-term success?     A study about what’s more important, customer relationships or brands, reveals customer relationships became more important in the last decade.     Jeannie & Adam discuss how customers have new tools to evaluate the customer relationship, so it’s not just about buying the brand they know.     This conversation brings in all sorts of questions. What do you think? Are brands as important as they used to be? Or do customer relationships trump all?     Discussion begins at 1:30.     Luis Serpa, Principal, Digital Experience, IT Customer Solutions, at UL (Underwriters Laboratories)     Jeannie & Adam talk to L

Do you need a customer experience manager? Best-selling author Jeanne Bliss How Netflix became a Customer Hero SPONSOR MESSAGE Are you mapping your customer journeys but struggling with how to derive value from your maps? Touchpoint Dashboard is a powerful web-based journey mapping platform that makes visualizing, collaborating, and sharing maps so easy to do. Touchpoint Dashboard was purpose built to ensure that your journey maps meet your goals and become the catalyst for change that they were meant to be. Sign up for a free 15-day trial to see how Touchpoint Dashboard can help you understand - and transform - your customer experience. Do you really need a Customer Experience Manager? Jeannie and Adam discuss the pros and cons of adding a specific role around customer experience. Is it really necessary to make change? Or is it just adding to the bureaucracy?  What’s happening in the C-Suite?  Discussion begins at 1:19. Jeanne Bliss, Author, Chief Customer Officer 2.0 Jeanne discusses the 5 Competencies fo

Is everyone driven by convenience? Diane Magers, from AT&T, discusses making change in a huge organization Why department stores need to catch up     How important is convenience for customers?   Determining how to make things easier and more convenient is all about understanding your customer’s real goals. And what about the impact on society if everything becomes TOO convenient?     Convenience is about offering choices. But what about business decisions that may have a negative impact on a small group of customers?     Discussion begins at 1:20.       Diane Magers, Office of the Customer, AT&T     Diane Magers has more than 20 years of building and growing CX focus.  Diane’s demonstrated leadership abilities helps organizations design and execute strategies to drive customer obsession with targeted business results.  Currently with   AT&T’s Office of the Customer, she is building and executing programs to drive change in their culture, systematically embed CX, and strategically drive CX i

  Thanks to our sponsor, the Customer Experience Professionals Association! Please find more details about the CXPA for individual or corporate members.       What’s the Future of Customer Experience?     Before sharing the insights gathered from the customer experience leaders at the CXPA Insight Exchange, Jeannie challenged Adam with the same questions.     What is the future of customer experience? And why, after so many years of discussing customer experience as a priority, are so many organizations still getting it so wrong?     Will we have a better understanding of omnichannel? Will we figure out the right way to incentivize the right behavior? These are some of the questions Adam and Jeannie discuss.     Discussion begins at 1:25.     Insights from Customer Experience Leaders     While at the Customer Experience Professionals Association Insight Exchange, Jeannie asked several business leaders about their thoughts for the future of customer experience and the ways we’re still

Thanks to our sponsor, the Customer Experience Professionals Association! Please find more details about the CXPA for individual or corporate members. Zappos innovates again with holacracy Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall invigorates the baseball fan experience Why we hate fine print! Will Zappos win with non-traditional management? Zappos is in the news once again for implementing a management concept called holacracy. This concept throws out the idea of managers as decision-makers. Decision making is distributed through self-organizing teams instead of a traditional pyramid hierarchy. Adam wonders about how this will be handled from a human resources perspective. Jeannie raises lots and lots of questions about this idea, including how different generations might respond to this. And finally…how will this affect the customer experience? Discussion begins at 1:12. Derrick Hall, President and CEO, Arizona Diamondbacks Jeannie has a special interview with Derrick Hall, one of the most innovative and resp

  Will customer experience become as fragmented as marketing An interview with Ann Handley, author of Everybody Writes And our Customer Hero is #1 Cochran Automotive     Will Customer Experience Become as Fragmented as Marketing     Jeannie and Adam discuss whether or not customer experience will become as fragmented and specialized as marketing and other developed industries like accounting and law.     Adam argues that increased specialization is the natural progression in any developing industry.   Jeannie warns against having too broad a job description and describes how specialization has benefited her.     Discussion begins at 1:40.   Interview with Ann Handley, Author of Everybody Writes     Jeannie and Ann discuss how they first met at South by Southwest, in pedi-cabs.     Ann tells us that she wrote Everybody Writes to empower people who feel they are not good writers and to provide a call to arms to create better content.     Ann discusses how she focuses on the substa