Channel 2.0: “Collaborative Ecosystem Management”

We are in the midst of a dramatic shift in the way business is done.  In most industries, a much more open and collaborative network model is replacing the traditional closed and controlled firm-centric view of the world.   This shift has been well documented by my colleague Don Tapscott in his bestselling book Wikinomics.  Don [...]

The Anatomy of Wow!

Over the past year, I’ve had the chance to post a wide range of thoughts on the ways that organization’s can leverage a deep understanding of their customers in order to design and engage customers in experiences that drive the growth of their business.  I recently took the opportunity to step back and reflect on [...]

Roadmap to the Customer Innovations Blog

I’ve received several requests to put together a “roadmap” to the Customer Innovations blog posts I’ve done.   Here is an organized path through the material I’ve posted so far.  I haven’t tried to be all inclusive but have just the most substantial posts.   Grab a venti dark roast and enjoy!
Customer Experience Strategy:

Customer Innovations: Creating Experiences [...]

How Employee Experiences Drive Organizational Behavior

As I’ve discussed in previous posts, the key to a consistent and differentiated customer experience is a set of deliberately designed employee experiences.  The experience that customers have with most businesses is the product of very complex organizational behavior.  The experience that employees have within the organization is the driver of that behavior.  In addition, [...]

Novelty Seeking and the Design of Differentiated Experiences

Over millions of years of human development, our ability to predict has translated into our ability to survive.  We live in an inherently unpredictable world.  As a result, we have evolved a strong motivation to learn in a way that improves our predictions.  Not only does this motivation lead to a clear survival advantage, but, [...]

Human Sigma: Strong on Description; Weak on Prescription

I just finished reading the new book Human Sigma; Managing the Employee-Customer Encounter by John Fleming and Jim Asplund.  I’m excited that an integrated perspective on employees and customers is getting the attention it deserves.  The book is well written and makes a strong case for the importance of both employee engagement and customer engagement.  [...]

A Break in the Service Profit Chain: Why Increases in Employee Engagement Don’t Improve the Customer Experience

Over the past 25 years of working with companies to design and implement outstanding customer experiences, it has become resoundingly apparent that the key to a great customer experience is a deliberately designed set of employee experiences.
About 10 years ago, James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, and Leonard A. Schlesinger created positive awareness about “The [...]

Experience Management Maturity: Moving From “Experience by Default” to “Experience on Demand”

Over the course of our customer experience research and consulting work, we’ve found it helpful to evaluate organizations based on their level of maturity in delivering an intentional customer experience.  At each of these maturity levels, a different set of actions is required in order to improve the customers’ experience in a way that drives [...]

Using Predictive Modeling to Optimize Customer Relationships

Predictive modeling uses a variety of analytical techniques to make predictions about the future based on current and historical data.  These predictions are expressed as numbers that correspond to the likelihood a particular event, opportunity, or behavior will take place in the future. Predictive modeling can be used in making increasingly effective and individualized decisions [...]

Miswanting and the Pursuit of Unhappiness

So, if you get that Porsche, will you be happy?  How about the larger house on the other side of town?  What about the Plasma TV, new outfit, pair of shoes, etc…?  If you take a minute to reflect on all the things or situations you’ve really wanted… and eventually got.  How many of these [...]

Most Efforts to Improve Customer Relationships are Misdirected!!!

Virtually every conversation about Customer Relationship Management is focused on improving the relationship between a company and it’s customers.  While this is might be a valuable thing to think about, I believe it’s largely inconsistent with the kind of thinking required to actually improve the customers’ experience.
While customers are extremely interested in relationships… I think it [...]

Observation and Elicitation: We Like to Watch!

How do you get to the bottom of customers’ needs, desires, priorities, experiences… ?  Traditional means involve doing things like:  market research (interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc…),  getting feedback from your sales or service people, listening to what customers ask for or complain about on-line, etc…
In general, we’ve found that these approaches are sufficient for [...]

How Customers’ React to Violations of Justice

A couple of months ago, the Harvard Business Review carried a great article “Companies and the Customers Who Hate Them” by Gail McGovern and Youngme Moon.  In this article, the authors describe several situations where companies generate a significant portion of their profit by penalizing customers for bad behavior.  Examples cited by the authors include:

Video rental [...]

Automatic Behavioral Scripts: Don’t Overestimate Your Customers’ Interest in Having an “Experience” with You

Too many companies want their customers to “have an experience” with them.  Unfortunately, customers don’t have time for this; they’ve got way too many things to do.
Alfred North Whitehead once said that  “Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.”  If you consider how busy your [...]

Customer Experience Specification: I Got a Song it Ain’t Got No Melody… I’m Gonna Sing it to My Friends

I’m probably dating myself slightly… but, this (not so) old Billy Preston song could easily describe the way the customer experience is managed by most companies.  The experience customers have with most businesses is like a “song that ain’t got no melody” or, as the next verse goes, “a dance that ain’t got no steps.”  [...]

Your Company Doesn’t Have a Customer Experience; Only Your Customers Do!

Probably the best place to open up a dialog on the uncommon wisdom about customer experience is an observation that… the minute you start talking about “our company’s customer experience” you’ve taken a giant step in the wrong direction.
The fact is… your company doesn’t have a customer experience… only your customers do. 
These customers are trying [...]