Category Archives: Customer Experience

Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of April 2024

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of April 2024Drum roll please…

At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?

But enough delay, here are April’s ten most popular innovation posts:

  1. Ignite Innovation with These 3 Key Ingredients — by Howard Tiersky
  2. What Have We Learned About Digital Transformation? — by Geoffrey A. Moore
  3. The Collective Growth Mindset — by Stefan Lindegaard
  4. Companies Are Not Families — by David Burkus
  5. 24 Customer Experience Mistakes to Stop in 2024 — by Shep Hyken
  6. Transformation is Human Not Digital — by Greg Satell
  7. Embrace the Art of Getting Started — by Mike Shipulski
  8. Trust as a Competitive Advantage — by Greg Satell
  9. 3 Innovation Lessons from The Departed — by Robyn Bolton
  10. Humans Are Not as Different from AI as We Think — by Geoffrey A. Moore

BONUS – Here are five more strong articles published in March that continue to resonate with people:

If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!

Have something to contribute?

Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.

P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Are Your Customer Surveys Costing You Business?

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Are Your Customer Surveys Costing You Business?

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Why does a company send out a customer satisfaction survey? Generally, it is to find out if they did a good job or what they can do to make the experience better.

In the weekly Super Amazing Show I do with Brittany Hodak, we talked about surveys. The general consensus was that shorter was better. After the show, we heard from John Hughes, who is connected with me on LinkedIn. Here is a shortened version of his comment:

“Saying, ‘Short surveys are better,’ is a bit like saying tall people are better at basketball. Yes, it helps, but you still have to be talented and have that extra ‘something’ to be a professional basketball player. … Rather than focusing on short surveys, I would say companies should truly investigate the principles by which customers choose them and then try to match the survey to the customers’ willingness to help. Ironically, customers at top service companies (think Ritz-Carlton, USAA, Chewy, Amazon, and Navy Federal Credit Union) are actually more willing to take longer surveys because they appreciate the relationship. An unwillingness to take a survey can be the most direct measure they do not value the relationship.”

First, I love John’s comment, especially the analogy to professional basketball. I won’t argue that some brands have customers who are more willing to take the longer surveys; however, Brittany and I were talking in general terms. And in general, short surveys get higher response rates. I shared with John that depending on how many surveys are sent out – as in a large number – the company can keep the surveys short and ask different questions, which should give them similar feedback as if they sent out fewer longer surveys.

Shep Hyken Customer Survey Cartoon

Here are some findings from our 2024 Customer Service and CX research (sponsored by RingCentral) that back up my comments:

  1. In 2024, 67% of customers said they don’t complete surveys if they are too long.
  2. Furthermore, almost one in five (19%) of customers stopped doing business with a company or brand because its satisfaction surveys were too long.
  3. And 23% of customers stopped doing business with a company because it kept sending too many surveys.

It’s not all gloom and doom for surveys. There are plenty of people who are happy to complete surveys, and we’ll share some of those findings later this year.

Back to John’s comment about customers at top service companies who will take the time to answer longer surveys. There are some rock star brands that are so good that customers are compelled to share their experience in a survey, be it long or short. But for most of us mere mortals, we should pay attention to what most customers are telling us about customer satisfaction surveys.

Image Credits: Unsplash

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Is Customer Obsession a Two-Way Street At Your Company?

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Is Customer Obsession a Two-Way Street At Your Company?

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

One of my favorite ways to measure a customer’s satisfaction level with a company or brand is by using the Net Promoter Score (NPS) question, which is, “On a scale of zero to 10, how likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or colleague?” If the customer answers with a nine or a 10, they are known as a “promoter.” The insight is obvious. The customer experience was good enough for them to recommend the company. That would be sufficient if all you were interested in was customer satisfaction, but taking this to the next level is to wonder if the customer will actually recommend the company to another person.

That’s what led Marbue Brown, founder of Customer Obsession Advantage (COA), to create a study. His goal was to find out what type of customer would go from saying they would recommend a company to actually doing so. The COA interviewed more than 1,200 consumers who rated 22 recognized brands to compare customers classified as NPS promoters and customers who were obsessed with a brand.

Consider the following findings from the COA study:

  1. 82% of obsessed customers say they will recommend you to others.
  2. 42% report they have already recommended you more than five times in the past year.
  3. 44% say they always/usually share their feelings about the company with others when given the opportunity.
  4. 26% say they have placed online reviews.
  5. 88% say they will “absolutely” repurchase in the next 12 months.

These are more than just findings. These are behaviors. Consider that 42% of customers have already recommended the company or brand five or more times in the past year. That’s huge! Or, that 26% placed online reviews. How would you like one in four customers to leave positive reviews about you? (Rhetorical question). These are significant actions that create positive word-of-mouth marketing moments.

Whatever metric you have chosen to measure customer satisfaction— NPS, CSAT (Customer Satisfaction), CES (Customer Effort Score), Time Well Spent, etc.—they are all good tools that serve a purpose and provide important information, but they must be used for more than vanity. A high NPS is just a number, and it should offer more than bragging rights. While it’s nice to know you’re making your customers happy enough to recommend you, leave reviews, etc., it’s more important to recognize that these high scores are opportunities to take action. In other words, actions speak louder than words. A high NPS does not guarantee a customer will promote your business. You must determine if they are obsessed with your brand. While the customer with a high COA score may promote without prompting, why take a chance that they won’t?

For example, a high NPS is especially powerful in the B2B world, where salespeople often call on their customers. When a customer gives a high score, follow up with a phone call or personalized email to thank them for the high score and ask them, “In our survey, you mentioned you would recommend us. Would you be willing to share the names or make introductions to those people?” You may be pleasantly surprised at the positive responses you get from customers who are obsessed with your company.

The insights from Brown’s COA study highlight the behaviors of obsessed customers. The challenge is for us to take traditional metrics like NPS, CSAT and others to another level. A willingness to recommend (a Net Promoter) is just another way to measure customer satisfaction unless you do something with the data. The magic happens when this willingness turns into a tangible action that includes repeated recommendations, online reviews and a customer who says, “I’ll be back” and means it! That’s the difference between a willingness to promote and customer obsession.

Image Credits: Pexels

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

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Never Stop Looking for Improvement

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Never Stop Looking for Improvement

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

If it’s working fine, why mess with it?

Well, whatever “it” is may work just fine, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be better.

This idea came to me as I read an article about United Airlines changing the way passengers board the plane. Most airlines put passengers in groups and call them in order. United will continue doing this but make changes to some of the groups. First-class passengers and higher-level frequent fliers won’t notice, but there will be a change once Group 4 is called. Passengers with window seats will board first, followed by passengers in middle seats, and eventually, passengers with aisle seats. This new process will save two minutes.

Now, you might be thinking, “Two minutes. Big deal!” But, in the airline business, two minutes is a big deal. A mismanaged boarding process could delay the departure and cause disruptions throughout the day. So, while two minutes may not seem like much, the goal is to always look for ways to streamline an often chaotic process.

Improvement Cartoon of Shep Hyken

This story has at least two lessons. First, every company should tinker with what’s working by experimenting and looking for better ways to do “what they’ve always done,” even if it’s working. And second, small changes can add up to make a bigger difference when combined.

So, you have two choices:

  1. Do it the way you’ve always done it. Don’t question it. If it works, don’t try to change it. Unfortunately, many companies operate this way and miss opportunities to improve.
  2. Always look to improve everything, even when it’s working well. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing something that works, come back on a regular basis – maybe annually – and take a closer look. This is an excellent way to use a Journey Map. Look at every interaction point a customer has with your organization and ask, “Is there a way to make it better?” While there may not be a better way today, keep asking the question; you might find one over time.

Zig Ziglar, the famous motivational speaker, used to tell a story of a little girl who asked her mom, “Why do we cut the end off the roast before we put it in the oven?” Mom answered, “Because that’s how your grandmother taught me to cook it.” So, the little girl went to her grandmother and asked the same question. Grandma answered, “Because that’s how your great-grandmother taught me.” So, the little girl went to her great-grandmother and asked the same question. Great Grandma responded, “Because back then, the ovens were smaller than they are today, so we had to cut off the end to get it to fit.”

The moral of the story is if something worked yesterday, that doesn’t mean it’s the best thing to do today. Always look for improvement.

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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24 Customer Experience Mistakes to Stop in 2024

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24 Customer Experience Mistakes to Stop in 2024

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

My friend and fellow Customer Experience (CX) expert Brittany Hodak and I recently began a 52-week series for 2024 titled Shep and Brittany’s Super Amazing Show. In the second episode, rather than talk about what to do in 2024, we shared several tips on what not to do. More specifically, it’s about what we should stop doing. That inspired me and I thought it would be fun to put together a list of twenty-four (24) CX things to stop doing in 2024.

Now, this is important: Not everyone or every company is doing any or all of these. You and your organization may not be guilty of even one of these, but discussing the list can get you thinking about other things to stop doing or give you an idea of something to start doing. So, here are 24 things companies do that annoy their customers and that need to stop:

1. Stop wasting your customers’ time. If you can’t do something for them, tell them. Help them find alternatives. Don’t string your customer along.

2. Stop with long hold times. This is a major way of wasting a customer’s time. Along with this are those recorded messages that say “we are sorry and respect your time” … but we’re still too busy to answer your call. If you can’t stop long hold times, tell the customer how long it will be with an option to call back.

3. Stop using outdated technology. Your competitors will start using newer technologies, and guess what? Your customers might notice.

4. Stop using company jargon and technical language your customers might not understand. They become very frustrated.

5. Stop with the irritating “pop-ups” on websites. People hate when they land on a website and a window pops up before they can start reading the content. Then another, and sometimes another! There’s a right time and right way to do it. Keep the customer in mind when you allow “pop-up windows” on your website.

6. Stop saying, “No problem,” when your customer says, “Thank you.” Was it a problem? Of course not. For some reason, this has become a standard response, and even if it really wasn’t a problem, it is just the wrong response. Just say, “Your welcome,” or, “My pleasure.”

7. Stop with unnecessary apologies. Some people say, “I’m sorry,” again and again. I’m not suggesting you don’t apologize to customers when there is a problem or complaint. You should, but don’t over-apologize. It’s not necessary. An apology at the beginning of taking care of the conversation is appropriate. And a “thank you” and final apology at the end is always appreciated. But repeatedly saying “I’m sorry” could come across as defensive and insincere.

8. Stop focusing only on your customers when working on your CX and service initiatives. Employees must also be considered. A great customer experience starts with a great employee experience.

9. Stop spamming customers with too many unwanted messages.

10. Stop sending your customers generic messages (promotions, notes, emails, etc.). If you’re going to send a message, find a way to personalize it. And even if it is personalized, go back and re-read number nine.

11. Get out of the “one-size-fits-all” mindset. This falls under the topic of personalization, but this is not about a marketing message. We must recognize and embrace people’s differences in today’s diverse culture.

12. Stop causing friction. What part of your process could go away? Do you force your customers to take extra steps to do business with you? Find ways to eliminate anything that causes friction.

13. Stop ignoring your customers’ feedback. If the customer takes the time to share a comment, thank them, and if it is appropriate, do something with it.

14. Stop arguing with customers, even when they are wrong. I’ve written this many times before: The customer is NOT always right, but they are always the customer. So let them be wrong with dignity and respect.

15. Stop making your customers wait for you to respond. Get back to people within an appropriate time. Don’t make them wait.

16. Stop being inflexible. If you have standards and processes that customers don’t like, they will find someone else to do business with. NOTE: Some standards could fall under compliance of legal standards. It’s okay to not be flexible on those!

17. Don’t hide add-on fees from your customers. Some hotels are upsetting their guests with resort fees that can only be found in the small print.

18. Stop nickel-and-diming your customers. This is different than hidden fees. It’s about the customer accruing an extra charge every time they turn around.

19. Stop being afraid to tell your customers bad news. They may not like the news, but they will appreciate hearing about it from you directly.

20. Stop making customers come to you when you can go to them. When it comes to convenience, always put the customer first.

21. Stop ignoring your employees’ suggestions. People on the front line are more in sync with customers than anyone. Make it easy for them to let management and leadership know about opportunities to improve.

22. Stop relying solely on digital interactions. Some companies have eliminated customers’ ability to connect with a live customer support agent. Don’t become so enamored with technology that you forget that the most powerful relationship builder is the human-to-human experience.

23. Stop with the bad survey strategy. Surveys can be sent too quickly, too frequently and are often too long. A bad survey taints the customer experience.

24. Never stop trying. Never be complacent. Customer service and CX are continuing journeys that must continually be refreshed and renewed to keep up with the competition and your customers’ needs.

Hopefully you didn’t recognize yourself in any of these scenarios that frustrate customers, but if there’s something you need to work on, now is the time. Most importantly, number twenty-four applies to everyone—never stop trying! There’s always something new on the horizon to advance your customer service and customer experience (CX).

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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Ten Customer Experience and Service Tips for 2024

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Ten Customer Experience and Service Tips for 2024

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I want this year to be your best year ever for creating amazing customer service and experiences. And for everything else, too! But as it applies to the customer experience, I thought it would be fun to share some ideas we need to do more of. With that, here are ten (10) ideas. Many, if not all, will apply to you and your business. Do more in 2024!

  1. Be more responsive – We start with one of my favorites. How fast do you respond to customers? Trust me, the faster you respond, the better. Customers appreciate a quick response. I often joke about a company that took four days to get back to me with an answer. If I wanted the answer in four days, I would have waited four days to ask the question! A speedy response creates confidence.
  2. Be more accountable – Don’t make excuses or blame others. Don’t deflect blame if a customer complains about something, even if it’s not your fault. It may not be your fault, but it’s now your opportunity to solve a problem.
  3. Be more flexible – Don’t be so rigid with rules unless they are legal rules. In most instances, the word guidelines are better than rules. You know where you want to go. Be flexible in your thinking when it comes to taking care of customers.
  4. Be more engaged – Your customers want to feel that you’re focusing on them. Actively listen and respond with questions that show you’re paying attention and want more information. Get customers to feel connected to you because they know you care.
  5. Be more consistent – I’m surprised when employees of the same company have different answers to the same question. Or when a company or brand delivers a great experience, but then the next time, it’s just okay. Consistency creates confidence, and confidence can lead to customer loyalty.

  1. Be more accessible – Make it easy for your customers to reach you in multiple ways: phone, email, text, app, and more. Today’s customers will reach out to you in the most convenient way. Today, they may call you. Tomorrow, they may email you. Regardless of the channel, you need to be there and meet their communication expectations.
  2. Be more convenient – Convenience is about being easy to do business with. It used to be a significant competitive differentiator. Today, it’s table stakes. It’s expected that your customer’s experience will be easy with little or no friction. Find ways to be easier to do business with, and customers will spend more money, won’t be as concerned about price, and most importantly, will come back!
  3. Be more proactive – When there’s a problem that you know about, reach out to your customers before they reach out to you. They might not even know there is a problem at all, and the fact that you were proactive builds confidence and trust.
  4. Be more transparent – Don’t hide important information in “fine print.” Be open about policies and anything you know the customer might question or simply not like. Have you ever been hit with a surprise fee? Of course, you have, and I’ll bet you didn’t like that surprise. You don’t want your customers to say, “I’m disappointed. I wish that you told me about that in the beginning.”
  5. Be more memorable – Let’s close with a powerful one. When I’m hired to do a customer service keynote speech, my walk-on music is Bonnie Raitt’s hit song, Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About. That’s what I want you to do with your customers. Give them something (good) to talk about. Why? Because when you give them a memorable experience, it will make them say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of March 2024

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of March 2024Drum roll please…

At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?

But enough delay, here are March’s ten most popular innovation posts:

  1. Agile Innovation Management — by Diana Porumboiu
  2. How to Re-engineer the Incubation Zone — by Geoffrey A. Moore
  3. It’s Not Clear What Innovation Success Is — by Robyn Bolton
  4. How Do You Know If Your Idea is Novel? — by Mike Shipulski
  5. How to Tell if You Are Trusted — by Mike Shipulski
  6. Innovation is Rubbish! — by John Bessant
  7. Celebrating the Trailblazing Women Pioneers of Innovation — by Art Inteligencia
  8. Thinking Differently About Leadership and Innovation — by Janet Sernack
  9. The Remarkable Power of Negative Feedback — by Dennis Stauffer
  10. 10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 1) — by Shep Hyken

BONUS – Here are five more strong articles published in February that continue to resonate with people:

If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!

Have something to contribute?

Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.

P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Customer Experience Lessons From My World Travels

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Customer Experience Lessons From My World Travels

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I experienced something worth sharing recently, and we can take at least three lessons from it.

I’m always looking for good customer service stories that teach or remind us about creating an amazing customer experience. I experienced something worth sharing recently, and we can take at least three lessons from it.

I booked an international trip for a speaking engagement. On the day of departure, I was dropped off at the airport and went directly to the ticket counter. It would take two flights on two airlines to get to where I was going, so I expected two boarding passes. The agent only gave me one and told me to get the next boarding pass when I landed.

I’ve done this many times before and never had trouble getting both boarding passes at the outset. Rather than argue with her, I thanked her, went to the other end of the ticket counter, and talked to a different agent who was happy to get me the second boarding pass.

I had to ask the second agent, “Why didn’t the other ticket counter agent give me the second boarding pass?” She quietly answered, “She is just lazy. She’s been here a long time and doesn’t seem to care anymore. Because it’s a different airline, it takes an extra couple of steps, and she didn’t want to do it.”

Yes, the second agent took great care of me. However, she also made a mistake. What was it? Let’s find out! There are at least three lessons we can learn from this story:

1. Laziness: That should never be an excuse for providing poor customer service. If the agent really was lazy, shame on her for taking a job where she supports customers. And is it her fault or the manager who oversees the ticket counter agents? Put the right people on the front line. At a minimum, they shouldn’t be lazy.

2. Inconsistency: One agent said, “No,” and the other said, “Yes.” Who do you believe? There must be consistency in the level of service and answers you get from different employees. Any inconsistency creates a lack of confidence and can erode trust.

3. Disparagement: The second agent was friendly, apologetic, and took great care of me, but she made one mistake. She made a disparaging remark about a colleague. Instead of saying, “She’s lazy,” she could have told me, “I’m not sure why she didn’t give you the second boarding pass. I’ll talk to her and make sure she knows how for next time.” Don’t make negative comments about fellow employees or the company.

We may learn other lessons from this story, but these are three that jumped out at me. To summarize, laziness should never enter the customer experience. An inconsistent experience always makes customers wonder, “What will next time be like?” And a disparaging remark about others – even the competition – is unprofessional.

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pixabay

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Surprising Secrets and Customer Research Revelations

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Surprising Secrets and Customer Research Revelations

GUEST POST from Robyn Bolton

Most customer research efforts waste time and money because they don’t produce insights that fuel innovation.  Well-meaning business people say they want to “learn what customers want,” yet they ask questions better suited to confirming their own ideas or settling internal debates.  Meanwhile, eager consumers dutifully provide answers despite the nagging belief that they’re being asked the wrong questions.  

It doesn’t have to be this way.  In fact, you can get profound revelations into consumers’ psyche, motivations, and behaviors if you do one thing – channel your inner Elmo.

First, a confession

I find Elmo deeply annoying.  I grew up watching Sesame Street, and I still get an astounding amount of joy watching Big Bird, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, Grover, and Oscar the Grouch (especially when Oscar channels his inner Taylor Swift).

Elmo moved to Sesame Street in 1985, and it hasn’t been the same since.  He’s designed to reflect the mental, emotional, and intellectual capabilities of a 3.5-year-old, and, in that aspect, his creators were wildly successful.   I fully acknowledge that Elmo plays a vital role in the mission of Sesame Street and that people of all ages love Elmo. But Elmo makes my ears bleed, and I will never be ok with the fact that Elmo refers to himself in the third person.

This is why my recommendation to channel your inner Elmo is shocking and extremely serious.

Next, an explanation

On Monday, Elmo posted on X (yes, the minimum age limit is 13, but his mom and dad help him run the account, so it’s apparently okay), “Elmo is just checking in!  How is everybody doing?”

180 million views, 120,000 likes, and 13,000 comments later, it was clear that no one was okay.

And lest you think this was Gen Z trauma dumping on their ol’ pal Elmo, Dionne Warwick, T-Pain, and Today Show anchor Craig Melvin responded with their struggles.  Comments ranged from, “Mondays are hard” to “Elmo I’m gonna be real I am at my f—ing limit,’ to “Elmo each day the abyss we stare into grows a unique horror. one that was previously unfathomable in nature. our inevitable doom which once accelerated in years, or months, now accelerates in hours, even minutes. however I did have a good grapefruit earlier, thank you for asking.”

Wow.  Thank goodness for that grapefruit.

There are a lot of theories about why Elmo’s post touched a nerve – it’s January and we’re tired, it’s easier to share our struggles online than in person, or we still enjoy “that wholesome and sincere bond from childhood that makes us want to share.”

I’m sure all those are true, and I think it’s something more, something we can all learn and do.

Now, the secret

Elmo may be a red, hairy, 3.5-year-old muppet. Still, he nailed the behaviors required to get people to open up and share their inner worlds – the very thoughts, beliefs, and motivations that enable others to create and offer impactful and innovative solutions.

Here’s what Elmo did (and you should, too):

  1. Show that you’re genuinely curious:  Elmo didn’t open with the standard “How are you?” that if answered with anything other than the socially acceptable “Fine,” results in awkward silence and inner panic. Elmo opened by declaring his intent – checking in – and then asked a question. Because of that, we understood his motivation was genuine, and he wanted an honest answer.
  2. Ask open-ended questions: Elmo didn’t ask a closed question that can be answered with yes or no.  He asked a question that allowed people to share as much or as little as they wanted and that could act as a springboard to a deeper conversation.
  3. Listen silently and without judgment: Elmo didn’t follow up his original tweet with options like “Are you doing ok, or not ok, or are you happy, or sad, or mad, or…”  Elmo asked a question and then listened (read the responses) without jumping back into the conversation or firing off follow-up questions.
  4. Acknowledge and thank the person sharing: On Tuesday, Elmo responded but not by skipping off to the next scheduled post.  He acknowledged the response by opening with, “Wow!  Elmo is glad he asked!”  He didn’t share his opinion or immediately ask another question.  Instead, he thanked people for sharing, acknowledged that he heard their responses, and was grateful.
  5. Do something with what was shared: Even if you do #4, it’s tempting to move on to the next question.  Don’t.  Elmo didn’t.  Instead, he wrote that he “learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing.” He also wrote that he “will check in again soon, friends!  Elmo loves you.”  You don’t have to profess your love but do respond with what you learned and what it makes you wonder.

People can’t tell you what to create because they don’t know what you know.  But they can tell you the problems they have.  If you’re willing to listen (just don’t talk about yourself in the third person, you’re not a muppet).

Image credit: Dall-E via Bing

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10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 2)

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10 CX and Customer Service Predictions for 2024 (Part 2)

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

As promised, I’m back with the second part of my top predictions and trends for 2024 in the world of customer service and customer experience (CX). You can read the first five here. So, let’s get started with number six.

6. Social Cause Increases Customer Satisfaction — Earlier this year, my customer experience research found that 43% of consumers believe it’s important that a company supports a social cause that’s important to them. Only 24% said it wasn’t important. Furthermore, those who claim it’s important are the younger customers: Gen-Z and Millennials. Companies are recognizing this, and you’re seeing more advertisements about how brands are focused on important causes like climate change, diversity, poverty and more. Sustainability is one of the top social causes. The Human8 annual Global What Matters Report found that 78% of U.S. respondents believe brands bear a significant responsibility for the planet’s future. Consumers are factoring in a company’s cause and impact on the community—and the world—as they choose where to do business. Forty-one percent will even pay more if the company has a cause that’s important to them. In short, a social cause is now part of the customer experience!

7. Fewer Chances To Get It Right — In our customer service and CX research, we asked, “How many chances would you give a company you were loyal to before switching?” In 2021, the typical American consumer gave a company 3.4 chances if it made mistakes. In 2022, that number decreased to 3.3, and in 2023, it dropped to 3.1. I predict customers will only be loyal to the companies and brands that are loyal to them, which means delivering a service experience they can count on. And I have to emphasize the word loyal in this prediction. That number is even lower for customers without loyalty or love for the company. When it comes to customer service, the bar is higher than ever. Looking back at the first prediction (from last week’s article), our customers are smarter and compare their experiences to the best they’ve had from any brand, not just your competitors. So, get it right the first time. You won’t have many chances, if any, to win back a customer if you don’t meet their expectations.

8. Customers Want It Now — Customers will appear to be less patient than in the past because of what some refer to as the Amazonation of the consumer. Amazon has set the bar high for fast delivery, and now customers get frustrated when another company can’t meet their delivery expectations. But it is more than just delivery. It’s about time. My friend and customer experience expert Jay Baer did a consumer patience study and wrote a book about it, The Time to Win. He discovered that 64% of people say speed is as important as price. Speed, as in delivery and response times, is an essential part of customer experience, and it will only increase as the companies and brands that get it right put pressure on all the others.

9. Convenience Rules — Before the pandemic, convenience was a “nice-to-have” offering. During the pandemic, customers needed convenience, primarily in the form of delivery. And it’s no surprise that it was so well received that delivery became the norm. Convenience in all forms, not just delivery, is appreciated by the customer, and the demand has increased in all areas of business (B2C and B2B). Just as many people will pay more for speed (see No. 8), they will also pay more for convenience—even more than for a good customer experience. (Imagine if you combined service, speed and convenience!) More companies are recognizing what their customers want and adopting a convenience strategy, making it easier to do business with them. This trend will accelerate as convenience—just like a good customer experience—is demanded by the customer and becomes the expectation.

10. AI Will Not Eliminate Jobs — Yes, some jobs may be eliminated and changed, but for the near future, as in 2024, there will be minor disruption. I spend much time studying the contact center/customer support department. This is one place that AI could be used to eliminate jobs, as ChatGPT and other technologies create human-like experiences. Just six months ago, I wrote a Forbes article about my collaboration with Capterra on their 2023 CX Investments Survey to learn how customer service and CX leaders were investing in technology. We specifically asked about AI’s impact on increasing or decreasing CX staff. It was good to learn that only 9% are reducing staff because of AI, while 63% are increasing staff. Fears of layoffs will continue, thanks to hyperbole and overreactions to new AI capabilities, but for the most part, those fears are unfounded. There will be some layoffs, but there will also be opportunities for employees to learn new skills and find new places to work as a result of AI.

So, there you have it, my top predictions and trends for 2024. I’m always optimistic as I look to the future. That doesn’t mean I’ll put my “head in the sand” and ignore negative trends. When appropriate, I’ll share those as well. For now, let’s embrace the opportunities that are in front of us. May 2024 be your best year yet — and each year thereafter be even better than the last!

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

Image Credits: Shep Hyken

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