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Happy Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and so on!
Author: Bill Cusick
December 22, 2005
Many of the folks here at Vox are heading out for the holidays. We want to wish everybody a happy holiday and a wonderful New Year. Take some time off, spend it with family and friends, eat some good food, drink some good drink, and we’ll see you in January, 2006!
Mom, Apple Pie and the Customer Experience
Author: Anne McLain
December 20, 2005
Actually, I don’t remember Mom ever making apple pie. She made cookies, brownies, and delicious coffee cakes. And she showed me how to do the same. Baking is just one of the great things she has taught me. Now that I’m much older and been on my own for quite a while, I have found that she still continues to teach – even if it’s in a less demonstrative way.
My mom is a very chatty person. I have rolled my eyes, in very daughterly fashion, as she has struck up conversations with her seatmates on planes, people who hold the door for her, and store clerks. In our shopping excursions lately, I’ve observed that she, in her own way, is creating a great customer experience by engaging with the salesperson. It’s often in a very conversational way. She might excuse her slowness as her 80-year-old fingers don’t work as quickly with her change purse as they used to. Sometimes she remarks on the busy-ness of the store. But whatever she says, she always gets a smile from the clerk, a laugh or two, even a meaningful conversation. I think it brightens their day and makes their work more worthwhile too.
So I tried a bit of this myself. I’m a friendly person but don’t always engage with the salesperson as I’m thinking of other things, want to get out and onto the next errand, etc. When I did put myself out there, it made a better experience for all. Well, sometimes it didn’t work. Those are employees who need more training on their frontline interactions! But most often, it did create a rapport that made the transaction a little more enjoyable.
I love my local Ace store! They are a bit more expensive than the big box home stores. But I always find what I need. The staff is great at the customer experience. I always hear a “hello” when I walk through the door. A friendly person always greets me as I walk down the aisle asking if they can help me find something. It’s so different than the cavernous big box stores where I have to hunt and traverse many aisles to find someone to help me. My Ace knows how to retain me as a customer – make my shopping experience easy, pleasant and with bag in hand.
Companies that prioritized the customer experience generate 60% higher profits than their competitors.* Ace claims they have reached their highest level of net income yet. With all the competition from the big guys, I think they are able to hold their own because of prioritizing the customer experience. No matter, it has created a loyal customer out of me. It’s these core values you learn from mom – and your local hardware store – that we all should use in creating gratifying experiences for our own customers.
*Source: Gartner Group
Have a holly jolly online shopping experience
Author: Bill Cusick
December 8, 2005
Tis the season to be shopping, and more people than ever are doing it online. I know for me, the prospect of entering a big shopping mall in December causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up, so I’m a true believer in the power of putting an "e" in front of my shopping experience.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t get frustrated when I’m trying to hunt down, order, and pay for the latest fondue-slash-smore-maker. And apparently I’m not alone. A recent study showed that nine out of ten online shoppers are typically frustrated with the experience somewhere along the way. The reasons for the bitterness are many, but most come back to the website designers not really thinking through the full expererience, in all of its many possible permutations.
The sites that rank high are pretty obvious, with Amazon often topping the list. The reason, I believe, is that you can see their commitment to design and usability (experience) every time you interact with the site. There may still be frustration, but overall there is a consistency and a relevance to the transaction and the information for each user.
So, I think I’ll pop onto Amazon right now and see what they recommend for me in the way of combination electric razor/MP3 players…
With customer experience, “you don’t know what you don’t know”
Author: Bill Cusick
December 1, 2005
One thing that became very clear at our last tradeshow was that there are many, many companies offering specific solutions to address some particular element of the customer relationship. Bankers from around the country strolled the maze of vendor booths, stopping occasionally to discuss CRM, ATM technologies, database products or shopper services.
But as we talked to different banks and credit unions, I noticed there was often confusion about where the focus should be when trying to improve revenue through improved customer experience. Should they enhance their web site? Create a more integrated core processing system? In short, what the heck should we spend time and money on?
These people were seeking out the missing link. That is: before deciding which vendor to use for a solution, they needed to first understand where within the customer experience they were most in need of help. That’s why we preach that you must look at everything — all interactions, all points of contact with the customer, all communication channels, and all the numbers — before investing in a solution with a real return.
Otherwise, you’re just rolling the dice.
