Thinking Ahead.

Choosing Where to Invest In Customer Experience Innovation: The Art of Tradeoffs

When asked if customers would like to have more exciting products, faster delivery, lower prices, OR friendlier service, the answer is always YES. The challenge of customer experience excellence isn’t whether to improve products, people, process, or…

{Infographic} Out with the old, in with the new and not so new

Out With The Old, In With The New And Not So New: 3 Trends to Consider In Customer Experience Delivery

Are you ready for conversational commerce, digital gifting, and secondhand markets? Great customer experience brands are constantly tracking macro-changes in consumer behavior and trying to determine if an emerging trend is simply a fad (hot for the…

{Infographic} What Are Your UICs?

What are Your UICs? Lessons from American & United Airlines Customer Experience Debacles

I call them UICs (unique industry challenges) and I see them as foundational issues that must be overcome to deliver outstanding customer experiences. Recently, high profile incidents at American Airlines (a confrontation between a flight attendant…

{Infographic} A Contrarian View on the United Airlines Customer Nightmare

A Contrarian View on the United Airlines Customer Nightmare (We all have a role to play)

I was going to write a blog about all the missteps involved in the United Airlines customer experience disaster. Then I started seeing an “abundance of critics” rushing out of the woodworks - some of whom clearly have never tried to help a company…

{Guest Post} Emotional Analysis Of Customer Feedback: The Missing Link

According to Bruce Temkin’s 2016 study , after a positive emotional experience, customers are 15 times more likely to recommend a company. 15 times more likely ! That’s a huge difference. Not surprisingly, emotion analysis is receiving a lot of buzz…

{Infographic} Getting More Referrals

Getting More Referrals = Letting People Your Customers Care About Know About Brands That Care About Them

In last week’s blog , I made a distinction between “likely to recommend” and “actually recommend.” I also suggested that from my vantage point the Net Promoter Score® (which is calculated using a single question about likelihood to recommend) has…

{Infographic} Likely to Recommend vs. Actually Recommending: Loyalty vs. Advocacy

Likely to Recommend vs. Actually Recommending: Loyalty vs. Advocacy

I am a huge proponent of the concept behind the Net Promoter Score® (NPS)®. As you likely know the NPS® is calculated by asking customers: How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague? Respondents…

{Infographic} Back with an Apology: Rare Rewards of Service Professionalism

Back with an Apology: Rare Rewards of Service Professionalism

I’ve often made a distinction between service and servitude . Sadly, and all too often, customers treat service providers like they are lesser beings. At the same time, I am disheartened when service providers take little pride in developing the…

{Infographic} McMobile - Will McDonald's Mobile Strategy Kill the Drive-thru?

McMobile - Will McDonald's Mobile Strategy Kill the Drive-thru?

Having consulted with and written two books about Starbucks ( The Starbucks Experience and Leading the Starbucks Way ), I seldom compare Starbucks with McDonald's. Typically, I see these two iconic brands in two very different categories. From my…

{Infographic} Revisiting Convenience - Lessons from H2O

Revisiting Convenience - Lessons from H20

I’ll admit it I am fascinated by water. Not just any water…A very special water – the kind you find in a bottle. In fact, I think many great business lessons can be found in the world of bottled water. My water fascination dates back to at least…

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{Infographic} When The Customer Is Wrong - Should The Business Be Right?