Author Archives: Shep Hyken

About Shep Hyken

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times, bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

Harnessing the Secrets of Successful Customer Engagement

Leave a reply

Harnessing the Secrets of Successful Customer Engagement

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

What is customer engagement? A Google search will provide plenty of definitions to consider. Here are a few to give you a clear understanding:

  • Qualtrics defines it as “the emotional connection between a customer and a brand.”
  • A recent Forbes article defines it as “building relationships with customers at every touch point.”
  • Wikipedia offers numerous definitions from multiple sources, including this one from Forrester from 2008: “creating deep connections with customers that drive purchase decisions, interaction, and participation over time.”

All of these (and more) are correct. They work. As a modern marketer, the new question is about how to deliver on the foundational definition of customer engagement using current tools and technology.

I had a chance to do an Amazing Business Radio interview with Spencer Burke, SVP of Growth at Braze, a customer engagement platform that offers messaging solutions to multiple communication channels. We discussed the innovative ways marketers and customer experience (CX) leaders are taking customer engagement to new levels.

Burke simplified the marketing and customer engagement definition to four words: connecting brands to consumers. That’s really the job of a marketer. The result is that customers want to buy, come back and buy more.

It may sound simple, but there are obstacles to the optimal customer engagement experience. According to Burke, “Marketers have a lot on their plate. It’s not easy to be creative when there’s an emphasis on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and time-draining routine tasks.”

To support this statement, Burke shared findings from the 2024 Global Customer Engagement Review, in which Braze interviewed 1,900 marketing decision makers to learn about challenges and opportunities in the marketing and CX industries.

Marketing used to be about finding creative ways to engage with customers, but today’s marketers are burdened in four areas:

    1. Too much emphasis on KPIs: Forty-two percent of marketers surveyed felt KPIs inhibit a focus on creativity. Numbers/KPIs are important. After all, you can’t manage what you don’t or can’t measure (Peter Drucker). But if they get in the way of creativity, then consider pushing the numbers aside for a moment—or maybe just focus on one or two KPIs.
    2. Too many routine tasks: Forty-two percent feel too much time is spent on “business as usual execution and tasks,” leaving less time for creative work. If there’s something that can be automated, then automate it. Don’t waste any employee’s time—especially when they are trying to be creative—with tasks and processes that drain energy and take up too much time.
    3. Lack of technology: Forty-one percent feel that a lack of technology hinders the execution of creative ideas. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) can support the process. How can AI make a creative marketer’s life easier? There are many, many ways!
    4. Return on Investment (ROI) is hard to track: Forty percent said it’s hard to demonstrate the ROI impact of creativity. Leadership wants ROI. Often, they demand to know the ROI before a project starts. You can’t fight this. Start with the end in mind. Understanding the benefits of the work that is to be performed is important to getting leadership to buy in and support the marketing and customer engagement efforts.

AI should be used as a tool to free up time and let creatives be creative, according to Burke. For example, he says, “When you know what you want to say but haven’t been able to articulate it just right, it’s a huge confidence booster to know you can drop the message into an AI interface to get feedback and suggestions for improvement.” The time savings are substantial, but more importantly, the marketer’s focus gets to be on creating, not finishing.

Burke also mentioned how important personalization is in today’s customer engagement strategy. There’s a tremendous amount of data on customers, and brands must be thoughtful in how they manage that data. AI can help interpret the data and deliver insights about customers that can be useful. For instance, Netflix learns its customers’ viewing habits and suggests TV shows and movies. Amazon remembers what its customers have bought in the past and can accurately predict when the customer should order more. The best brands use the data AI provides to create a better experience. But, it’s a balancing act. Too much personalization creates “the creepiness factor,” where being too detailed or specific has the opposite effect of what marketers want to achieve.

Astha Malik, Chief Business Officer of Braze, says, “Today’s marketers face growing expectations from increasingly connected consumers, who want value in exchange for their attention. In response, we see a growing number of marketers tapping into first-party data and utilizing AI to ignite creativity and craft personalized experiences that both resonate with consumers and foster brand loyalty.”

In addition, brands need to be consistent with their personalization. You can’t recognize a customer one time and not know them the next time. That defeats the entire personalization campaign.

All of this takes us back to Burke’s original definition of customer engagement, which is connecting brands to consumers. That connection must be consistent and accurate. There are more and better tools than ever to help create an optimal customer engagement experience, one interaction at a time. The closer you can get to meeting customers where they are, when they need you and provide value in those interactions, the more likely they will see you as a trusted brand and say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credits: Pexels, Shep Hyken

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

It’s Easy to Say No to Customers

1 Reply

It's Easy to Say No to Customers

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

If a customer asks you to do something you haven’t done before, “No” is an easy answer. Why? Because …

“We don’t do that.”

“We’ve never done that.”

“We don’t carry that product.”

“That’s not our policy.”

And more reasons – or excuses – like these.

Recently, I was the keynote speaker at a conference, and the CEO, who spoke just before me, teed up my presentation perfectly when he talked about going the extra mile. His approach to this concept was realistic. He said, “No one will be able to go the extra mile every time.” He emphasized that unless the customer has some kind of emergency, the extra mile is often something small—something we typically don’t do.

Customers can be our best source of innovation and opportunity. If we survey our customers and ask for feedback, we may find ways to improve our products and services. Or sometimes, they will come right out and ask for something out of the ordinary. It’s easy to ignore feedback or say “No, “when someone suggests something we’ve never done before. But what if we looked beyond the words and thought, “What if,” instead of, “That is something we don’t do.”?

Years ago, I wrote an article about the Anti-No Zone. The premise was employees at a restaurant were trained to find ways to say “Yes.” If you want to dig deeper into this idea, check out my article about Cameron Mitchell, a very successful restaurateur who authored a book titled Yes Is the Answer! What’s the Question? And I wrote another article featuring Christine Trippi on How to Say YES – Every Time.

All of these articles are about avoiding the word no. At the same time, it’s unrealistic to say yes to every request; however, maybe we can say “No” without really saying “No.” Instead, you can offer alternative solutions that, while not what the customer is asking for, will still make them happy.

So, going the extra mile is more than a customer service strategy. And it’s more than avoiding the word no. It is a mindset that customers will appreciate. At the same time, it’s recognizing that anything that you might say no to at first is a possibility to innovate and grow.

So, the next time you are about to say “No” to a customer or an employee, catch yourself and before you answer, and think, “If I could say yes, what would that look like?” Practice the mindset of not just going the extra mile but being proactive about finding ways to do so.

Image Credits: Pexels, Shep Hyken

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

AI Can Help Attract, Retain and Grow Customer Relationships

Leave a reply

AI Can Help Attract, Retain and Grow Customer Relationships

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

How do you know what your customers want if they don’t tell you? It’s more than sending surveys and interpreting data. Joe Tyrrell is the CEO of Medallia, a company that helps its customers tailor experiences through “intelligent personalization” and automation. I had a chance to interview him on Amazing Business Radio and he shared how smart companies are using AI to build and retain customer relationships. Below are some of his comments followed by my commentary:

  • The generative AI momentum is so widespread that 85% of executives say the technology will be interacting directly with customers in the next two years. AI has been around for longer than most people realize. When a customer is on a website that makes suggestions, when they interact with a chatbot or get the best answers to frequently asked questions, they are interacting with AI-infused technology, whether they know it or not.
  • While most executives want to use AI, they don’t know how they want to use it, the value it will bring and the problems it will solve. In other words, they know they want to use it, but don’t know how (yet). Tyrrell says, “Most organizations don’t know how they are going to use AI responsibly and ethically, and how they will use it in a way that doesn’t introduce unintended consequences, and even worse, unintended bias.” There needs to be quality control and oversight to ensure that AI is meeting the goals and intentions of the company or brand.
  • Generative AI is different than traditional AI. According to Tyrrell, the nature of generative AI is to, “Give me something in real time while I’m interacting with it.” In other words, it’s not just finding answers. It’s communicating with me, almost like human-to-human. When you ask it to clarify a point, it knows exactly how to respond. This is quite different from a traditional search bar on a website—or even a Google search.
  • AI’s capability to personalize the customer experience will be the focus of the next two years. Based on the comment about how AI technology currently interacts with customers, I asked Tyrrell to be more specific about how AI will be used. His answer was focused on personalization. The data we extract from multiple sources will allow for personalization like never before. According to Tyrrell, 82% of consumers say a personalized experience will influence which brand they end up purchasing from in at least half of all shopping situations. The question isn’t whether a company should personalize the customer experience. It is what happens if they don’t.
  • Personalization isn’t about being seen as a consumer, but as a person. That’s the goal of personalization. Medallia’s North Star, which guides all its decisions and investments, is its mission to personalize every customer experience. What makes this a challenge is the word every. If customers experience this one time but the next time the brand acts as if they don’t recognize them, all the work from the previous visit along with the credibility built with the customer is eroded.
  • The next frontier of AI is interpreting social feedback. Tyrrell is excited about Medallia’s future focus. “Surveys may validate information,” says Tyrrell, “but it is often what’s not said that can be just as important, if not even more so.” Tyrrell talked about Medallia’s capability to look everywhere, outside of surveys and social media comments, reviews and ratings, where customers traditionally express themselves. There is behavioral feedback, which Tyrrell refers to as social feedback, not to be confused with social media feedback. Technology can track customer behavior on a website. What pages do they spend the most time on? How do they use the mouse to navigate the page? Tyrell says, “Wherever people are expressing themselves, we capture the information, aggregate it, translate it, interpret it, correlate it and then deliver insights back to our customers.” This isn’t about communicating with customers about customer support issues. It’s mining data to understand customers and make products and experiences better.

Tyrrell’s insights emphasize the opportunities for AI to support the relationship a company or brand has with its customers. The future of customer engagement will be about an experience that creates customer connection. Even though technology is driving the experience, customers appreciate being known and recognized when they return. Tyrrell and I joked about the theme song from the TV sitcom Cheers, which debuted in 1982 and lasted 11 seasons. But it really isn’t a joke at all. It’s what customers want, and it’s so simple. As the song title suggests, customers want to go to a place Where Everybody Knows Your Name.

Image Credits: Unsplash

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

It Takes Hard Work to Make It Look Easy

Leave a reply

A Customer Experience That Will Be Appreciated

It Takes Hard Work to Make It Look Easy

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

My friend Norman Beck recently shared a quote that inspired him: We work hard to make it look easy. Isn’t that what the best people do? Whether it’s sports, entertainment, or business, some people are so good that what they do looks easy.

I Googled the quote to find out who to attribute it to and found numerous variations:

In sports, Ken Griffey Jr., a professional baseball player, said, “Just because I made it look easy doesn’t mean that it was, and you don’t work hard and become a Hall of Famer without working day in and day out.”

In entertainment, Ben Mitchell, a fictional character from the BBC television series EastEnders, said, “It takes a lot of effort to make something look effortless.”

And in business, Steve Jobs of Apple said, “It takes a lot of hard work to make something look simple.”

There is some very practical wisdom in these motivational and inspiring quotes that we can apply to the customer service and customer experience (CX) world.

Think of the best customer experiences you have had.

Perhaps it was a person who was helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly, which, by the way, are the three experiences customers say are most likely to get them to come back, according to our 2024 CX research (sponsored by RingCentral). They made your experience enjoyable and easy. What you probably don’t know is that other than a pleasant demeanor – hopefully a natural part of the employee’s personality – there was a lot of training to get this person educated about the company’s products so they could deliver a knowledgeable and helpful experience.

Or consider the simplicity of ordering a product from Amazon. How complicated is the behind-the-scenes process that takes you from a few clicks on their website to what you ordered showing up on your front porch? It is incredibly complicated, but the Amazon experience is so easy!

When I’m invited to speak to a group of business leaders as the keynote speaker, I often share my Six Simple Steps to Building a Customer-Focused Culture. Yes, the steps are simple, but that doesn’t mean they are easy. There’s a difference!

The point is that simple is usually not easy. There’s lots of work, thinking, planning, practice, experimenting, training, and more that goes into creating an easy experience. And one thing customers really want, whether they express it or not, is an easy experience. So, consider this simple – but not so easy-to-answer – question: What do you do to give your customers an easy experience?

Image Credits: Pixabay

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

How To Create the IKEA Effect

Leave a reply

A Customer Experience That Will Be Appreciated

How To Create The IKEA Effect

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

When reaching out for customer service and support, most customers still prefer to communicate with a company or brand via the traditional phone call. That said, more and more customers are attracted to and embracing a do-it-yourself customer service experience, known as self-service.

I had a chance to sit down with Venk Korla, the president and CEO of HGS Digital, which recently released its HGS Buyers Insight Report. We talked about investments CX (customer experience) leaders are making into AI and digital self-support and the importance of creating a similar experience for employees, which will get to in a moment. But first, I want to share some comments Korla made about comparing customer service to an IKEA experience.

The IKEA Effect

The IKEA effect was identified and named by Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School, Daniel Mochon of Yale and Dan Ariely of Duke, who published the results of three studies in 2011. A short description of the IKEA effect is that some customers not only enjoy putting furniture together themselves but also find more value in the experience than if a company delivered pre-assembled furniture.

“It’s the same in the customer service/support world,” Korla said. “Customers who easily resolve their issues or have their questions answered on a brand’s self-service portal, either through traditional FAQ pages on a website or something more advanced, such as AI-powered solutions, will not only be happy with the experience but will also be grateful to the company for providing such an easy, fulfilling experience.”

To support this notion, our customer service research (sponsored by RingCentral) found that even with the phone being the No. 1 way customers like to interact with brands, 26% of customers stopped doing business with a company or brand because self-service options were not provided. (Note: Younger generations prefer self-service solutions more than older generations.) As the self-service experience improves, more will adopt it as their go-to method of getting questions answered and problems resolved.

The Big Bet On AI

In the next 18 months, CX decision-makers are betting big on artificial intelligence. The research behind the HGS Buyers Insight Report found that 37% of the leaders surveyed will deploy customer-facing chatbots, 30% will use generative AI or text-speech solutions to support employees taking care of customers, and 28% will invest in and deploy robotic process automation. All of these investments are meant to improve both the customer and employee experience.

While Spending On CX Is A Top Priority, Spending On Employee Experience (EX) Is Lagging

Korla recognizes the need to support not only customers with AI, but also employees. Companies betting on AI must also consider employees as they invest in technology to support customers. Just as a customer uses an AI-powered chatbot to communicate using natural language, the employee interacting directly with the customer should be able to use similar tools.

Imagine the customer support agent receives a call from a customer with a difficult question. As the customer describes the issue, the agent inputs notes into the computer. Within seconds, the agent has the answer to the question appear on their screen. In addition, the AI tool shares insights about the customer, such as their buying patterns, how long they have been a customer, what they’ve called about in the past and more. At this point, a good agent can interpret the information and communicate it in the style that best suits the customer.

Korla explains that the IKEA effect is just as powerful for employees as it is for customers. When employees are armed with the right tools to do their jobs effectively, allowing them to easily support customers and solve their most difficult problems, they are more fulfilled. In the HGS report, 54% of CX leaders surveyed cited talent attraction and retention as a top investment priority. So, for the company that invests in EX tools—specifically AI and automation—the result translates into lower turnover and more engaged employees.

Korla’s insights highlight the essence of the IKEA effect in creating empowering customer experiences and employee experiences. He reminds us that an amazing CX is supported by an amazing EX. As your company prepares to invest in AI and other self-service tools for your customers, consider an investment in similar tools for your employees.

Download the HGS Buyers Insight Report to find out what CX decision-makers will invest in and focus on for 2024 and beyond.

Image Credits: Pixabay
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

A $3.7 Trillion Customer Experience Problem

Leave a reply

A $3.7 Trillion Customer Experience Problem

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Bad customer experiences could cost organizations throughout the world $3.7 trillion annually. That’s according to new research by the experience management company Qualtrics. This figure is up 19% from the company’s projections last year ($3.1 trillion). This is a mind-blowing statistic considering the importance companies and brands are putting on customer service and experience.

During the third quarter of 2023, Qualtrics surveyed about 28,400 consumers in 26 countries about their bad experiences with organizations across 20 different industries. The good news is that the survey found consumers had 2% fewer bad experiences compared to the year before. Still, because of increased spending and other factors, the result is a potential loss that, to put it in perspective, is more than double the U.S. deficit in 2023.

Our just released 2024 customer service and CX research (sponsored by RingCentral) also has some important findings that support the need to provide a better experience. While the Qualtrics survey is international, we focused on the U.S. consumer, matching the census for age, gender, ethnicity and geography. So, what do these findings mean for a company or brand? They have two choices: accept the loss due to a bad experience or create a competitive advantage with a service experience that drives higher sales, higher profits and customer retention. Consider the following:

  • In 2024, 88% of customers think customer service is more important than ever. That’s up from 83% in 2022 and 2023. In 2010, major consulting firms (Walker, Forrester, Bain and others) started predicting that within 10 years, the customer experience would be as important—if not more so—than the product. Of course, the product has to work, but comparable products can usually be purchased from numerous retailers or vendors.

  • In 2024, 64% of customers said no matter how much they enjoy the product, if the company doesn’t provide good customer service, they will find another company to do business with. And that’s the point those major consulting firms were making more than 10 years ago! While product quality will always be important, the majority of today’s customers (more than six out of 10) insist on an experience that meets their expectations.

  • In 2024, 85% of customers are willing to go out of their way to do business with a company that has better service. That’s up from 76% last year. Customers are willing to put forth more effort, spend more time, drive farther and put up with other inconveniences if they know the company or brand will provide a better experience than a CX laggard that may be more convenient. So, the question is: Are you the company that customers go out of their way to do business with?

  • In 2024, 94% of customers feel convenience is important. Convenience is the highest rated experience customers want. But as you saw in the prior finding, convenience with bad customer service still puts you at a high risk of losing customers.

  • In 2024, the top three reasons customers come back to a company are helpful, knowledgeable and friendly employees. Customer service doesn’t have to be complicated. How hard is it for people to be helpful and friendly? And being knowledgeable is a function of training and education. These three together create a powerful experience that gets customers to come back and evangelize a company or brand.

These findings are meant to make you think about the advantages and disadvantages of delivering an excellent experience. I’ve always preached that customer service is common sense—that’s not always so common. Customer experience includes service, but there’s more to it as you look beyond the traditional human-to-human contact, and instead, analyze every interaction the customer has with your organization. To eliminate some of the complications and confusion, start with the end in mind, which is to understand your customers’ “journey” and what you must do to meet their needs and expectations. Build out the experience from there—an experience that doesn’t push them to the competition, but instead gets them to say, “I’ll be back.”

Image Credits: Pixabay
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

Balancing Artificial Intelligence with the Human Touch

Leave a reply

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

As AI and ChatGPT-type technologies grow in capability and ease of use and become more cost-effective, more and more companies are making their way to the digital experience. Still, the best companies know better than to switch to 100% digital.

I had a chance to interview Nicole Kyle, managing director and co-founder of CMP Research (Customer Management Practice), for Amazing Business Radio. Kyle’s team provides research and advisory services for the contact center industry and conducts some of the most critical research on the topic of self-service and digital customer service. I first met Kyle at CCW, the largest contact center conference in the industry. I’ve summarized seven of her key observations below, followed by my commentary:

  1. The Amazon Effect has trained customers to expect a level of service that’s not always in line with what companies and brands can provide. This is exactly what’s happening with customer expectations. They no longer compare you just to your direct competitors but to the best experience they’ve had from any company. Amazon and other rockstar brands focused on CX (customer experience) have set the bar higher for all companies in all industries.

  2. People’s acceptance and eventual normalization of digital experiences accelerated during the pandemic, and they have become a way of life for many customers. The pandemic forced customers to accept self-service. For example, many customers never went online to buy groceries, vehicles or other items that were traditionally shopped for in person. Once customers got used to it, as the pandemic became history, many never returned to the “old way” of doing business. At a minimum, many customers expect a choice between the two.

  3. Customers have new priorities and are placing a premium on their time. Seventy-two percent of customers say they want to spend less time interacting with customer service. They want to be self-sufficient in managing typical customer service issues. In other words, they want self-service options that will get them answers to their questions efficiently and in a timely manner. Our CX research differs and is less than half of that 72% number. When I asked Kyle about the discrepancy, she responded, “Customers who have a poor self-service experience are less likely to return to self-service. While there is an increase in preference, you’re not seeing the adoption because some companies aren’t offering the type of self-service experience the customer wants.”

  4. The digital dexterity of society is improving! That phrase is a great way to describe self-service adoption, specifically how customers view chatbots or other ChatGPT-type technologies. Kyle explained, “Digital experiences became normalized during the pandemic, and digital tools, such as generative AI, are now starting to help people in their daily lives, making them more digitally capable.” That translates into customers’ higher acceptance and desire for digital support and CX.

  5. Many customers can tell the difference between talking to an AI chatbot and a live chat with a human agent due to their ability to access technology and the quality of the chatbot. However, customers are still willing to use the tools if the results are good. When it comes to AI interacting with customers via text or voice, don’t get hung up on how lifelike (or not) the experience is as long as it gets your customers what they want quickly and efficiently.

  6. The No. 1 driver of satisfaction (according to 78% of customers surveyed) in a self-service experience is personalization. Personalization is more important than ever in customer service and CX. So, how do you personalize digital support? The “machine” must not only be capable of delivering the correct answers and solutions, but it must also recognize the existing customer, remember issues the customer had in the past, make suggestions that are specific to the customer and provide other customized, personalized approaches to the experience.

  7. With increased investments in self-service and generative AI, 60% of executives say they will reduce the number of frontline customer-facing jobs. But, the good news is that jobs will be created for employees to monitor performance, track data and more. I’m holding firm in my predictions over the past two years that while there may be some job disruption, the frontline customer support agent job will not be eliminated. To Kyle’s point, there will be job opportunities related to the contact center, even if they are not on the front line.

Self-service and automation are a balancing act. The companies that have gone “all in” and eliminated human-to-human customer support have had pushback from customers. Companies that have not adopted newer technologies are frustrating many customers who want and expect self-service solutions. While it may differ from one company to the next, the balance is critical, but smart leaders will find the balance and continue to adapt to the ever-changing expectations of their customers.

Image Credits: Unsplash
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

Happy Employees Make Happy Customers

Leave a reply

Happy Employees Make Happy Customers

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Often, the best companies to do business with are the best companies to work for. When you look at the Google ratings for Round Room Holdings’ TCC and Wireless Zone, two Verizon Wireless retailers with approximately 1,200 retail stores throughout the U.S., you’ll find they are “hitting it out of the park” in both customer reviews and employee satisfaction. I had a chance to interview Chad Jensen, president of TCC and Wireless Zone since 2019, and he shed light on their incredible success, how they do it, and how any company can have similar results.

We can break down the company’s success into three areas: employees, customers, and community.

1. Employees: It all starts with the employees. Jensen’s company has a 90% employee satisfaction rating and 70% employee retention in a retail industry with annual employee turnover rates that are well over 100%. Why? Because Jensen made it abundantly clear that the company puts employees first. The best example of this came not even a year after he took over as president when he and the rest of the world faced the pandemic. His leadership style was immediately put to the test. He was adamant about taking care of the employees. First and foremost was safety, as well as a concern for mental health. And he was determined to keep people employed, saying, “Even if it meant we took a hit on our financials, we were okay with that.” He understood early on that the decisions they made would define how they came out of the pandemic. Employees knew the company had their backs. In exchange, they were confident, fulfilled, and engaged with their customers, ensuring they had an experience that would bring them back. Employee satisfaction is at 90%. As I’ve mentioned many times in my past articles, what’s happening inside an organization is felt by customers on the outside. Jensen’s strategy shows this concept can be tremendously successful.

2. Customers: A focus on the employee experience turns into a positive customer experience. The goal is to provide “the best customer service.” Being the best is a lofty goal. While it’s not a contest, the comment speaks to the commitment the retailer has to its customers. The numbers tell the story. The company’s Google score ranges from 4.7 to 4.9 out of five. Jensen beams with pride over the customer satisfaction numbers, as companies he admires, such as Disney and Chick-fil-A, don’t have numbers quite as high. Jensen said, “We checked, and Disneyland’s Google rating was a 4.5. We’re literally (making customers) happier than the ‘Happiest Place on Earth.’” While a high Google rating is validating, Jensen emphasizes it’s really about the experience that gets customers to come back.

3. Community: Jensen’s efforts to give back to the community create positive results on several levels. He explained, “The more we give back to our communities, the more presence we get, and the better employees we get.” Many companies have a purpose beyond profit. It’s typically a recognizable cause, such as sustainability, poverty, medical research, or other popular causes. Companies like Ace Hardware have raised more than $140 million for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Patagonia gives 1% of its sales to the preservation and restoration of the environment. TCC and Wireless Zone take a more grassroots approach and give back to the communities their stores serve. They sponsor community events, local pet shelters, food banks, school events, and more. They have given more than 1.3 million backpacks filled with school supplies to kids in their communities. While the corporate HQ is behind this “give back” program, it’s the employees who get the most joy out of being a part of it, once again creating a great employee experience.

By prioritizing the TCC and Wireless Zone employee experience, combined with efforts to create an amazing customer experience as well as support for the communities they serve, the result is a company with some of the lowest turnover in the retail industry, higher Google ratings than “The Happiest Place on Earth” and loyal customers who keep coming back. That’s what happens when you create a company that has what Jensen refers to as “a culture of good.”

Image Credits: Pixabay
This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

Six Steps to Creating a Brand Experience Personality

1 Reply

Six Steps to Creating a Brand Experience Personality

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Two weeks ago, I contributed an article that compared the different concert experiences I had with two rock legends, Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr. The title of the article summed up the point I was trying to make: Transactions versus Experiences

I want to take it a step further this week. Last week’s content was meant to get you thinking. Now, I want you to take action on the content. So, here are six ways to create an experience personality that will transform your company or brand from merely providing products and services to doing so with personality:

  1. Your Company’s Personality: I don’t care what you sell. It could be military equipment or comic books. Every company has a personality, and these personalities run the gamut from serious to whimsical. What are the adjectives that customers use to describe you? How would you like them to describe you? These are two great questions to ask as you start to explore your company’s personality.
  2. Communicate Your Company’s Personality: Once you know it, don’t keep it a secret. When you know the perception you want customers to have of your organization, empower your employees to deliver on the personality.
  3. Top-Down Personality: If you want employees on the front line to deliver on the company’s personality, it must be modeled from the top down. In other words, leaders must practice the behaviors they want their employees to practice. The personality comes from the top and makes its way through the entire organization, eventually being felt by the customers.

Shep Hyken Brand Experience Personality Cartoon

  1. Manage Every Moment: I have always been a huge fan of Jan Carlson’s Moments of Truth concept, in which every interaction a customer has with a company is an opportunity for them to form an impression. These interactions include advertising, websites, people-to-people, and more. Find ways to instill the personality into all of these interactions.
  2. Get Feedback: There is only one way to know for sure that you’re delivering on your company’s personality experience. Ask your customers.
  3. Be Consistent: The only way for your experience personality to become a reality is for the experience to be consistent and predictable. It can’t be an engaging experience this time and something other than engaging next time. When customers like the experience personality, they will want to experience more of it! Consistency counts!

As you adopt these strategies, your customers will become familiar and comfortable with the experience personality you portray. Take the time to work through these steps, get everyone on board and in alignment with the personality you want to be known for, and create the experience that gets customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credits: Pixabay, Shep Hyken

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.

How to Create a Good Loyalty Program

Leave a reply

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

What is a loyalty program? It’s a program designed to get customers to come back. That’s different than true customer loyalty, but it’s a pretty darn good start. In our 2024 State of Customer Service and CX research (sponsored by RingCentral), we included a section of questions that focused on customer loyalty and rewards programs. Before we get into the findings, let’s look at three examples of some of the best.

1. Amazon Prime: When I Googled the question, “Is Amazon Prime a membership program or a loyalty program?” the first answer came from an NBC News article that included this description: “Amazon Prime is Amazon’s paid loyalty program. …” First, Amazon offers tremendous value for its program, including free shipping, Prime TV and more, which by itself is worth paying for. However, there is also the psychology that if you pay for something, you want to get value from it, so use it. Therefore, many Amazon customers choose Amazon over competitors because they pay for the loyalty program and want to get the most value from it. Of course, Amazon is known for its stellar customer experience, so that combined with the Prime program gives it a competitive advantage over other online retailers.

2. Restoration Hardware: When you pay $200/year for its RH Members Program, you get 25% off all full-priced merchandise and 20% additional savings on sales items. In addition, you get complimentary access to its designers. The RH program is more of a discount program than a true loyalty program, but it does what it’s supposed to do, which is to get customers to come back. Like Amazon, I Googled the RH Members Program to see what others said, and many referred to it as a “Premium Loyalty Program.” And with that premium price, an RH customer expects a premium customer experience, and Restoration Hardware delivers.

3. American Airlines: American Airlines consistently ranks high among frequent flier programs, and The Points Guy rates AA as the best for earning status without ever flying. Using the AA credit card (most airlines have affiliations with credit card companies), you can rack up miles for free trips and status. An Omnisend.com article on loyalty programs included AA as the only airline in its list of 10 Businesses with the Best Loyalty Programs. I’ve been in the AA program since the 1980s and have amassed miles, perks and status. Reaching any level of status on the airline gives you more than perks. Employees recognize when passengers are members of their program and, quite simply put, “They treat you right.”

These are examples of paid and/or free loyalty programs and membership programs. There could be a book written to describe the many versions of loyalty programs. Most are marketing programs, focused on repeat business. There are points, discounts, perks, and now, experiences. Zsuzsa Kecsmar, co-founder of Antavo, a customizable loyalty platform and publisher of the Global Customer Loyalty Report, adds, “Loyalty programs used to be earn-and-burn. You spend a dollar and earn a point. But today’s loyalty programs can do much more with experiential rewards, early access and rewarding other activities outside of purchasing.”

As mentioned, are many versions of loyalty programs. A restaurant may offer a punch card where every fifth sandwich is free. Customers may be willing to pay to be part of a “loyalty program” to get perks and discounts. With all that in mind, here are some interesting findings from our research to help you decide if the effort to create a loyalty program is worth it:

  • 61% of customers said rewards programs were important to giving a company or brand repeat business.
  • 46% are willing to pay more for a company or brand that has a good loyalty or rewards program.
  • 76% are more likely to return to a company that has a good customer rewards program.
  • 57% would choose to switch to a brand that has a loyalty program if another brand did not.
  • 55% have recommended a brand or company to others because of its loyalty program.
  • 39% have made an unplanned purchase just to earn more points or rewards.

If a loyalty program is part of your business model (or if you’re considering it), these findings make the point. The numbers make a compelling argument for developing a loyalty program. The last finding is especially intriguing. Almost four in 10 customers made a purchase just to earn more points or rewards.

Realize that a loyalty program is more often a marketing program. Some consumers become loyal to the program more than to the company or brand. True loyalty is about a customer being emotionally connected to a company, not just to the perks and points in a loyalty program. If you combine an amazing customer experience with a loyalty program, you have a winning combination.

Image Credits: Unsplash

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to join 17,000+ leaders getting Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to their inbox every week.