Thinking Ahead.

Thanksgiving & Your Business Year-Round {Infographic}

Thanksgiving & Your Business Year-Round

Author Melody Beattie once noted that: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home,…

From Online Search to Conversation and Then From Conversation to Sale {Infographic}

From Online Search to Conversation and Then From Conversation to Sale: The Importance of Channel Relevance

Writing in Automotive News , Vince Bond, Jr. asks a question that is mission critical for many businesses today, “How do you quickly turn an Internet search into a conversation and turn that conversation into a sale?” In general, I believe all…

Voting for Over-Delivery: The Inspirational Power of Promises Fulfilled {Infographic}

Voting for Over-Delivery: The Inspirational Power of Promises Fulfilled

not Brand advertising, marketing, and sales efforts are all “promises”. The product and service experiences that follow those promises either fall short, deliver on, or exceed the promises made as customers choose to engage your brand. In a world…

Connecting With The Need To Connect: Watching People Eat Online {Infographic}

Connecting With The Need To Connect: Watching People Eat Online

In his 1943 paper, “A Theory of Human Motivation”, Abraham Maslow foreshadowed a key ingredient to modern customer experience design. In essence, once you are able to meet a customer's basic or functional need…there are higher needs you can address…

Not Top Of Mind But Top Of Heart - When Branding Gets Real {Infographic}

Not Top Of Mind But Top Of Heart – When Branding Gets REAL

Here are some important terms of art when it comes to understanding the strength of your brand: Brand Awareness – the visibility of your brand and it’s products/services in the eyes of consumers. Branding Campaigns – tactical strategies for driving…

The Kindness Gap: Differentiation by Practicing Civility in Uncivil Times {Infographic}

The Kindness GAP: Differentiation by Practicing Civility in Uncivil Times

In addition to highly conflictual political discourse (which may have sunk to an all-time low in the US), I’ve recently observed a number of people making obscene gestures at one another, swearing, and ranting in stores as well as during…

Will it Fly? How to Leverage Quantitative and Qualitative Customer Listening

I’ve been doing customer experience design for a long, long time. In the old days, I would have read about some intriguing customer innovation and assumed that the attempted breakthrough was crafted on a firm foundation of customer listening and…

Will It Fly? How To Leverage Quantitative and Qualitative Customer Listening {Infographic}

Stepping To The Curb - Go Faster...Make It Easier {Infographic}

Stepping To The Curb - Go Faster...Make It Easier

It will come as no surprise that consumers today demand effortless and expedited service! Online retailers like Amazon have made shopping easier (24-hours a day, purchasing from the comfort of our home, with no lines at checkout) but they make…

We Are All In The Perception Business!

Recently, I’ve been suggesting that “perceptions” are a key economic driver. In the course of my work as an experience designer and consultant, I have been defining customer experience strategy as a disciplined approach to brand differentiation…

We Are All In The Perception Business {Infographic}

The Art of Resolving Human Need

Our friends at Hippo Roller have asked me to mention a campaign to raise funds to purchase 200 Hippo Rollers for Haiti. In case you missed my original blog about the Hippo Roller…you can find it below. By the way, thanks in advance for considering…

Make a Mouse: The Power of a Culture of Customer Experience Excellence

I’ve often said anyone can create a mouse. All you have to do is put a copious quantity of food and cloth scraps on your floor and, over time, a mouse will appear. The same can be said for great service cultures. Leaders are responsible for…