No matter the industry or target demographic this week's CX Buzz picks are intent on finding and solving the biggest conundrums when it comes to customer service and customer experience in this multi-channel digital age. Make sure you catch our featured pieces from Customerthink.com, The Financial Brand [thefinancialbrand.com]; Mycustomer.com who are our Tweet pick of the Week and also have a great piece by Steven Walden; Oracle's Rick O'Herron for Forbes.com; and finally Beth-Ann Eason for Which-50.com, Enjoy!
Advanced Customer Journey Mapping– Embracing the Multi-Tasking Customer [Customerthink.com]
This excellent article, by leading UK customer experience designer Rick Harris, explores the behaviour of customers seeking to juggle many tasks simultaneously. It will argue that, far from seeking to bind a customer into starting and finishing a customer journey, companies should be designing a flexible presence into their brand experience – neither elusive nor pushy, but simply within reach.
Banking Needs a Customer Experience Wake-Up Call [Thefinancialbrand.com]
The "Improving Customer Experience in Banking" report shares the results of a global survey done to determine the CX maturity of banks and credit unions. The findings show that most organizations are not prepared for the future of increased consumer expectations.
This in-depth summary by Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Owner/Publisher of the Digital Banking Report talks about the findings of this report and the impact on the industry by the increasing use of technology from smartphones to wearables.
The Four Customer Experience Conundrums That Service Leaders Must Crack [Mycustomer.Com]
In an increasingly digital world, a growing number of customer interactions take place through the digital lens. In this piece, Steven Walden looks at recent research by IDC which indicates that despite the rise of digital service, and the emergence of AI in the form of chatbots, four out of five (79%) still prefer that human customer service interactions remain a part of customer service. He proposes four customer experience conundrums that service leaders must crack to succeed in this new digital age. This makes a fascinating and helpful read.
Where Do Human Emotions Fit in the Customer Experience? [customerthink.com]
Brands are like people – there are many of them, and Vitaliy Verbenko is taking a stab at trying to ascertain where human emotions for all those different people can fit into the customer experience.
He says of brands that, "Just like people, few are liked or trusted. And among those, even fewer are able to transcend emotional barriers. So just like successful people – successful brands are able to capitalize on different customer motivators and cater directly to them."
Take for just one example Millennials and Generation Z consumers. Verbenko says they place their feelings at the forefront during purchase decisions, more so than consumers of previous generations. Highly recommend reading this if you are in customer journey planning or marketing, it is a fascinating profiling of the different types of customers and where/how human emotions fit into your planning.
Strategic Customer Experience Measurement Matters More Than Ever [Forbes.com]
By Rick O'Herron
Rick O'Herron for Oracle asks, "How much did you enjoy your last conversation with your credit card company or your internet provider? Did your issue get resolved and leave you feeling good about the experience? Or did it leave you irritated and stressed?" We know the answer to that, probably irritated and stressed. O'Herron talks in this piece about how creating an ongoing, positive relationship with customers is of paramount importance to most companies, but yet they find that sustaining a level of excellence in customer service is hard to maintain—and just as hard to measure. It is that CX measurement that he says matters more now than ever and this piece sets out to help you know what and when to measure for success.
3 Ways to Connect Video Advertising to the Customer Journey [which-50.com]
Beth-Ann Eason is talking about video advertising and working with data-driven marketers, she says that based on their experience, they've observed strong trends towards video personalisation and increasing demand to integrate video marketing into the customer journey. As a result, marketers now have the ability to show a personalised video to the right person at the right time—at scale. Connecting video advertising to a marketing stack will ensure that all channels are driving maximum impact and creating a synchronised, personalised journey for each customer. To fully maximise your video strategy, here are three ways they suggest that you can connect video advertising to the customer journey and make it work harder for you—ultimately gaining higher ROI.
The Customer Experience and Contact Center Challenge [i-scoop.eu]
According to this insightful piece in i-Scoop, the customer experience is not just about customer service; and customer service isn't just about a department. In fact they rightly say that servicing customers and striving towards better end-to-end customer experiences is everyone's task. Still, customer service departments and contact centers are key in the customer experience equation, more than many departments or functions that start increasingly claiming the ownership of the customer experience as well. There is no ownership when it boils down to the customer. We live in a far too connected consumer and business context to even contemplate the idea of ownership. Responsibility is another thing – even if it's distributed as well. This article goes on to discuss this "ownership" and how your contact center can take better control for guaranteed success.
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