Howard Lax
Howard Lax, Ph.D.
Supporting better informed decision making with technology, research and strategy, Howard is Director, Experience Management Strategy at VistaXM. With a focus on CX/VoC/NPS, Employee Engagement and emotion analytics, Howard's domain is the application of marketing information and SaaS platforms to solve business problems and activating CX programs to drive business objectives.
The Indirect Channel: It’s All About the Partner Experience
Across industries ranging from technology, insurance, manufacturing, and healthcare to CPG, financial services, pharmaceuticals, and automotive, indirect channels account for the majority of goods...
Proving the Profit in Improving the Hotel Guest Experience
Data is more compelling than opinions. The guest experience we can hypothesize might be somewhat more important in the upscale/deluxe tiers in which our clients…
Stop Thinking About Customer Experience
Stop thinking about customer experience. Instead, focus on what your company is trying to accomplish this year, next year, and the year after. I don’t...
Declining CX Scores Aren’t a Crisis — They’re a Wake-Up Call
Some have concluded that CX is failing and that companies are placing too much emphasis on the customer experience. This is like saying if your…
Bridging the Hidden Fault Lines that Undermine B2B Customer Experience Success
In the world of B2B services, the conventional wisdom is that value propositions are won with hard numbers. But beneath all the rational arguments, B2B…
8 Ways Data-Driven Decisions are Better than “Gut Feel” — Because You Are Not Steve Jobs
While the entrepreneurial spirit often celebrates the mystique of the "gut feeling," the reality is that data-driven decision making consistently outperforms intuition-based approaches across...
Customer Experience: A Core Business Strategy But Not the Only Path to Success
In an age where customers have seemingly infinite choice and near-instant access to alternatives, how a business delivers is often just as important as...
CX Research and Strategy: The Scientific Process in Six Steps
No one says, "Hey, let's haphazardly collect some data from some customers, glance at the numbers, guess at what it might mean, and then...
The Business of Influencing Customer Behaviors to Create Value for the Company
It doesn't matter what you sell (products or services, widgets or what's-its), how you sell (direct or through a third party, online or in-person),...
Linking EX to CX: The How and Why
Platitudes and gross simplifications regarding the impact of the Employee Experience on the Customer Experience abound. EX = CX. Happy employees = happy customers....
Playing the Odds: CX is About Value Optimization and Risk Mitigation
It's increasingly rare to find a mid-sized or larger company that doesn't have a CX/VoC program of some sort. But for many (perhaps even...
The Customer Experience is a Means, not an Ends
The objective or "ends" for a company is maximizing the firm's value. This means maximizing the current and future cash flows from customers. Delivering...
Get Off the Functional Performance Hamster Wheel. Take the Plunge into Emotional CX
Transactions and relationships are intrinsically interrelated but are inherently different. Measuring and managing both makes sense. What's more important and companies typically fail to...
Stop Moaning about the State of CX… and Start Measuring Performance vs. Customer Expectations
"CX Quality among brands in the US declined for an unprecedented second year in a row." (Forrester, 2023) "From late 2018 to mid-2022, U.S.…
The Myth of the Self-Service Voice of Customer Platform
Sounds great, just plug-and-play. The promise is bold: you can do everything yourself without the need of expensive support and get away from reliance...
Can the B2B CX Measurement Conundrum Be Solved?
CX and brand work (and writings) almost always focus on B2C. The reason is quite simple: it's easier. B2C companies typically have far more customers,...
Data is the Foundation for Managing Experiences. How Solid is Yours?
Great experiences -- from the brand, product, and digital experience to the customer, employee, and user experience -- are not a simple byproduct of...
For “Rational” CX, Focus on How Your Customers FEEL
My first brush with what was then called customer satisfaction was with a mega B2B firm in financial services. Both the CEO and...
Customer Experience Maturity: Part II
The CX maturation process needs to start with a clear articulation of business objectives. Regardless of how narrow or broad the scope of those...
Customer Experience Maturity: Part I
Customer Experience (CX) is not a “switch” that companies simply flip to the “on” position. This is not a binary condition, where a firm...