Annette Franz
Annette Franz
Annette Franz is founder and Chief Experience Officer of CX Journey Inc. She is an internationally recognized customer experience thought leader, coach, consultant, and speaker. She has 25+ years of experience in helping companies understand their employees and customers in order to identify what makes for a great experience and what drives retention, satisfaction, and engagement. She's sharing this knowledge and experience in her first book, Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the "Customer" in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business).
Breaking Up is Hard to Do
Did you know... when customers cancel their subscriptions or their memberships, it's not the end of your relationship with them? Clearly, it's not a...
Are Gratuities an Expectation for Service Delivered?
Last week, Sarah Simon tweeted the story shown in the image to the left. The story is about a waitress who received both...
Employee Engagement is Not a Mandate
I read an article last week about forcing the issue of employee engagement, as if someone could force that upon an employee. I'm not...
Design the Experience from the Customer Viewpoint
I'm going to ask you a really tough question about customer experience design. It's a challenging one, and some of you might get it...
Employee Passion Drives Results
I've been recording episodes of Undercover Boss, and over the weekend I was able to catch up on a few of them. I won't...
It’s Time to Focus on Employee Experience
If we're going to make a dent in this thing called "customer experience," we really need to start with, and focus on, the employees...
Proactive vs. No-Active
A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog asking if proactive service was still a moment of truth. Today, I'll answer that question with...
Customer Experience is More Than Just Customer Service
I was recently engaged in a job search in the VOC and CX space. Among other tools, I used Google Alerts and Simply Hired...
Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions
"Feedback is the breakfast of champions" is a quote often credited to Ken Blanchard, who is an author, speaker, management expert, and business consultant....
Tips to Help You Close the Loop with Your Customers
Your VOC initiative is about to get underway. You'll be collecting feedback from your customers, partners, employees, vendors, etc. (I'll collectively refer to them as "customers"...
A New Friendly Neighborhood Grocery Store?
It's so easy to write about customer experiences gone wrong. I've done that several times now, and I feel bad that I never have...
7 Steps to Brand Insistence
Many years ago, I worked for a market research firm that did a lot of brand research. In our brand studies, we asked respondents...
Is Proactive Customer Service Still a Moment of Truth?
I met with a client last week who mentioned that he's figuring out the best way to implement a proactive service solution for his...
The Lost Art of Thank You Notes
Is writing thank you cards or notes a lost art? Does anyone still do that? Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern My...
The Experience Speaks Louder Than Words
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to experience the "new United." I realize United has put forth great efforts to communicate to customers...
Things That Make You Go, “Hmmm…”
I received the following story in an email a couple weeks ago, and it had me asking several questions, not the least of which...
Change You Can Believe In?
It occurred to me the other day, as I was watching the GOP primary results come in, that there is a connection between politics...
Do You Have an Undercover Boss?
This past Friday evening, I watched Undercover Boss for the first time. I'd read about the show and about some of the "cases," but...
Strike 3 – You’re Out!
I was shopping at a Ralph's (a grocery store in the Kroger family) last Saturday. As I was waiting in the checkout line, the...
Using NPS to Segment Customers
I would be remiss to not include Net Promoter Score (NPS) in my series on ways to segment your customers in order to deliver...