Noreen Seebacher
I’m Angry and Frustrated … Do You Really Want My Feedback?
Three times in the past two weeks companies have asked me for feedback after mind-blowingly bad customer experiences. Will my rage-fueled expletive-laden responses really pave the way for friendlier, more efficient, more relevant customer interactions? No matter how I slice or dice that question, the...
Are You Making Your Customers Repeat Themselves?
What song lyric best captures the state of today’s overall customer experience? You could argue for Lily Allen’s Everything’s Just Wonderful … as long as you recognize the song is actually saying everything is quite the opposite. We boast about the potential of omnichannel experiences...
Hey Marketers: The Year-End Holidays Are Fast Approaching
Christmas in July can be a fun excuse for a summer party. But marketers are more likely to view it as a reminder of the coming year-end holiday sales — and a trigger to start planning for critical seasonal sales. Remember, your customers today have...
How to Make the Most of Marketing in a Post-GDPR World
Be brave and push the bar to deliver value back to your customers. That’s the advice the new Chair of DMA Scotland gave marketers just before the European Union’s (EU) sweeping new legal framework for data protection went into effect last month. Firas Khnaisser said the General...
Personalization Gives Retail Banks a Competitive Edge
Digital strategies are paying off in higher profits for traditional retail banks. However, digital technologies providing greater automation, easier customer access, and more self-service are no longer competitive differentiators. “Once big advantages, these capabilities now represent mere table stakes,” notes a report released this week by The...
Stop Trying to ‘Delight’ Customers, Says CX Expert Paul Greenberg
Stop trying to delight your customers. It’s a risky strategy that’s bound to fail, according to CX thought leader Paul Greenberg. Known in customer relationship management (CRM) circles as the “Godfather of CRM,” Greenberg suggests businesses are better off consistently meeting their customer’s expectations. Why Delight…
Grocers Are Connecting Omnichannel Excellence to Better CX
Keeping up with technology is a priority for grocers, with omnichannel initiatives leading the way. According to Progressive Grocer’s 85th annual industry survey, nearly three-fourths of respondents plan to increase their tech spending in 2018. Technology has jumped to the third most pressing concern...
Why It’s Hard to Give Customers the Experience They Want
How do you give customers the experience they want when customers don’t really know what they want? That’s the crucial but confusing question for retailers struggling to enhance their brand experience. A flurry of recent surveys paint a puzzling picture of customers who are both dissatisfied...
That Dog at the Airport Symbolizes Bad Customer Experience
Experience is now the mother of invention. In the digital era, your customers not only drive your marketing strategy; they define the evolution of your business. Customers want what they want. They're also savvy enough to get it — at any cost — even when...
Can Retailers Fix Their In-Store Experience Problem?
I thought about driving to a store to shop today. But I wasn't in the mood to be insulted. That's what happened recently when the serendipity of taking my dog to the grooming salon created an opportunity for a brick-and-mortar shopping experience. Spring Shopping Ritual…
The Most Amazing Customer Experience Starts With Your Ears
Every day is a new opportunity to learn how disconnected businesses are with their customers. But it's also a chance to discover the secret to better experience is really quite simple. All you need to do is listen. Consider this. I recently spent 63 minutes...
Why Can’t We Get Customer Experience Right?
For all the time, money, and effort invested in customer experience (CX), businesses are still doing a lot to annoy their customers. Think about. Frustrating phone menus, excruciating hold times, and requests to repeat information when you call customer service. Dynamic products ads for items...
6 Easy Ways to Improve Your Life (and Create Happier Customers, Too)
Maybe the best way to create happy, satisfied, loyal customers is to take a step back — and start by making your own life simpler, easier, and more fulfilling. Think of it as a corollary to the oft-repeated airline safety rule of puttng your own...
10 Ways to Improve Your Customer Contact Center Experience
Speech has always been the most natural way for humans to communicate with each other. It's faster, easier, and arguably more effective than typing messages back and forth. And you don't need to take my word for it. "Humanity was never designed to communicate by…
Why Better Employee Experience Creates Better Brands
Remember when the gold watch was a metaphor for retirement from companies that valued their employees for their experience and seniority? Today employee experience is far more complex ... and most employees couldn't care less about working long enough to earn a watch. The dream...
Plea from a Customer: Stop Trying to ‘Delight’ Me
I’ve never succumbed to the notion a business is obligated to “delight” its customers. Having a business resolve my need by delivering the right product or service —in a way that makes me feel heard and validated — is quite enough, thank you. Falling Short…
How to Make Sense of Digital Experience
Digital experience (DX) is like happiness: Everyone talks about it but few people can define it. But there's little argument DX is now a business imperative. As Gartner explains, digital technologies support innovation, growth, revenue and competitive disruption. DX is the foundation for exceptional brand…
Few Marketers Capitalize on Data Analytics to Optimize CX
For all the talk of data analytics, organizations are still struggling to use it effectively. That's the picture painted by two recent studies, which confirm data alone doesn't create a data-driven organization. Organizations today remain data rich and insight poor. More Data Than Insights The…
Let’s Just Give Up on Customer Experience
Tech veteran Chris Spears is the co-founder and chief marketing technology officer at Atlanta-based ARKE, a brand experience consultancy. So when he suggests it's time to give up on customer experience (CX), it makes sense to listen. In a recent article on CMO.com, Spears concludes…
5 Ways All Companies Can Build Better Brands
You know how people say, "it's the thought that counts?" I tend to disagree, especially if you're trying to build better brands. While a tiny kindness may count for something, it isn't enough to cement your brand reputation. In day-to-day experience, the people who interact…