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 Human Experience Trumps CX and EX in Times of Crisis
Companies are scrambling like mad trying to figure out what to do with their two most important assets – customers and employees – in...
The HippocratiCX Oath
The Hippocratic medical oath of ethics and the most fundamental principle of CX are essentially the same: first do no harm. This defensive posture doesn’t...
The CX Yo-Yo
It may not be a classic scenario of “one step forward, two steps back,” but it seems that for every advance and forward trend...
The Best CX Metric Deja Vu
Having seen a number of articles/heard a resurgence of opinions recently arguing for/against different CX metrics yet again, it’s time to clear my throat...
Emotional Bonds: The Secret Elixir in CX
Over the years I have measured what customers say and feel about iPhones/iOS and Samsung mobile devices/Android OS. Without fail, the Samsung/Droid combo wins...
The CX Quid Pro Quo
Something for something. Customer relationships very much are premised on a quid pro quo between a company and its customers. That is, the customer/company relationship...
Forget-Me-Not Moments & Customer Yawns
The large majority of experiences we have with the large majority of companies across the large majority of touchpoints are, simply put, eminently forgettable...
Capturing the Loyalty & Business of Financial (or any) Intermediaries
Helping consumers and businesses manage and plan their financial affairs, Financial Advisors (FAs) are the key intermediaries or channel for the promotion and distribution...
The Purpose of Your Company is Nurturing Customer Relationships
Huh? What happened to maximizing shareholder value? “Nurturing” sounds pretty soft for the hard-tacks of the business world. The logic, however, is straight forward....
What’s the Best CX Metric?
Some marketers display a near-religious devotion to Net Promoter Score (NPS) as THE measure of customer experience and loyalty, while others display an equally...
CX is NOT a Panacea . . . but it’s D@#n Important
POOF! That’s the sound of leading customer experience companies going belly-up or being acquired by companies with less-stellar CX credentials. We heard a massive sucking...
Is Your Company Emotionally Intelligent?
Emotional connections are at the heart of enduring or loyal customer relationships, as well as employee engagement. The difference between fleeting transactional customer interactions...
You Have a Customer (& Employee) Bonding Problem: Fixing the Intangibles
Fix the product. Improve the process. Speed this up; slow this down; shorten that. We instinctively look to remedies in the performance of the products...
Measuring Emotions for CX and EE (and anything else)
Emotions, how people feel, are key to determining how we behave and respond to stimuli. Many, if not most, companies still are asleep at...
Employee Engagement is all about the Emotional Connection. Period.
Every company wants an engaged workforce – but what does that mean? It certainly means more than simply having employees who give solid scores...
Connecting the Dots: Marrying X(perience) and O(perational) Data
X + OMost companies have boatloads of “O” or Operational data on their customers. Depending on the nature of the firm, this data will...
R U Feelin’ It? Customers, Employees and Emotional Connections
Feelings about an experience, an emotional attachment to a brand/company/product are more important than rational assessments of performance in explaining customer experiences, customer loyalty...
Motivating Employees To Drive CX: Linkage to VoC Measures
Should you link employee goals, performance reviews and variable compensation to Customer Loyalty/CX measures? A simple question that lends itself to a complex “yes,...
The Ends Justify (Investing in) the Means: The Return on CX (RoCX)
At the end of the day (or fiscal year), investments in enhancing the customer experience and strengthening customer relationships must be justified by business...
Customers = Company Value
The value of a company – your company – is best measured in terms of the current and future value of cash flows from...