Shep Hyken's Blog, page 91

Amazing Business Radio: Eric Williamson

The Reality of Offensive Customer BehaviorHow to Protect Employees While Preserving the Customer Experience

Shep Hyken interviews Eric Williamson, Chief Marketing Officer of CallMiner. They discuss offensive customer behavior and how companies can help support their agents.

 

Top Takeaways:Certain insights from AI and data can be brought down to the call center to help agents improve the customer experience in real time.Abusive behaviors from customers do exist and companies need to be more aware of these harmful interactions.Of the 82 million customer interactions CallMiner examined, just under 50% of those interactions had some form or mention of profanity. Of those that had some form of profanity, almost 87% had profanity throughout the entire duration of the call.Customer experience tends to lead people to be concerned only with the customer and less about the contact center agents providing that experience.Agents are often expected to jump from one call, where a customer uses profanity and exhibits heightened aggression, to another, where the agents are expected to have an upbeat and positive attitude.Research has found that agents typically require about 30-40 minutes to mentally recover from offensive calls with angry customers.When customer service agents experience racist and sexist remarks, it can have an impact on those individuals as well as, at an aggregate scale, impact on the company.Organizations can leverage offensive instances to learn, operationalize a response, change business processes for the better, and create fairer experiences for everyone.Providing support and loyalty to your employees is just as important as providing support and loyalty to your customers.Quotes:

“When we think about customer experience, we’re always thinking about the customer and not about the agent’s experience working in the contact center.”

“Call center abuse caused by customers is happening and is something that companies should be more aware of.”

“Companies need to realize just how valuable customer service employees are because they represent the front-line of the brand.”

“An agent that has just experienced customer abuse usually takes 30-40 minutes to mentally recover, yet is expected to move on to the next call with an upbeat and positive attitude.”

About:

Eric Williamson is CallMiner’s Chief Marketing Officer, with more than 20 years of experience in both the technology and consumer product marketing. Eric oversees all global marketing functions from brand and events, to demand generation as CMO of CallMiner.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

How to handle bias and discrimination from customers?How to act when customers are angry and upset?What to say when dealing with angry customers?How to help employees who experience customer abuse?How to monitor customer interactions in the call or support center?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of January 25, 2021

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

“I Wish the CEO Would Try and Open This F@#!* Package” by Chip Bell

(Real Leaders) The title of this story is a line we use at my house when a product or service is unusually challenging. It might be that bottle or package that requires a hack saw and a blow torch to open, or it might be that service that offers way too many steps to reach your desired outcome.

My Comment: This is a great article. Customer service expert Chip Bell sets the stage with a story. His wife is trying to open a package with great difficulty. The title says it all. Has the CEO ever tried opening the package? How many of your employees haven’t experienced what it’s like to be a customer of yours? The article is short and to the point.

Boost Results With Rule 105 by Josh Linkner

(Josh Linkner) With the stakes high and competition fierce, how do we optimize performance? Enter Rule 105, a remarkably simple approach to enjoying sustainable and meaningful results.

My Comment: I just recently wrote an article about making tiny improvements – as small as 1%. Little improvements can add up to big wins. My friend and innovation guru Josh Linkner has his version of the same principle, which he calls Rule 105. Read the article, meet with your team, and start to see improvement – in some cases, immediately!

Mission-Driven Customer Experiences (CX): A Guide by Nate Brown

(Officium) There is another disruptive evolution on the horizon. Something that customers consider more important than even their time. Their core beliefs.

My Comment: In this article, Nate Brown introduces us to his take on something he refers to as “mission-driven CX,” which is about companies who win over their customers’ business and hearts by embodying the core values of what’s most important to them. He also gives us a four-step process to do so.

It’s prime time for retailers to grow an Amazon-level loyalty program by Tom Caporaso

(Retail Customer Experience) Clarus Commerce CEO Tom Caporaso believes it’s time for retailers to take advantage of the new membership economy.

My Comment: Here’s a great article about customer loyalty. Some loyalty programs are actually marketing programs. Some loyalty programs create emotional connections. Either one is good if it drives repeat business. That’s a basic goal of a good program. The author focuses on retail, but I see this way of thinking working for just about every type of business.

5 Step Plan to Create the Perfect Guest Experience by Patrick Landman

(Hospitality Net) In this article, we reflect on where such issues may arise, how to measure, and how to take fast, effective action allowing you to manage your hotel in the best way possible.

My Comment: I believe that every company – in any industry – could do well to have a “hospitality mentality.” That’s why I’m drawn to articles with lessons from the hotel and restaurant industries. This is an excellent article that showcases five ways to create the perfect guest experience. Substitute the word guest for customer, client, member, patient, etc., and you will see how works, regardless of the business.

BONUS

How will CX evolve in 2021? Hear what these Customer Experience leaders have to say by Ganesh Mukundan

(Hiver) We spoke to various customer experience thought leaders to get their insights into this topic. We asked them about how customer behavior is likely to evolve this year and how brands should adapt their CX strategy accordingly.

My Comment: What happens when ten customer service and CX experts are asked about how customer behavior is likely to evolve this year and how to adapt accordingly? You get ten great answers. I’m honored to be part of this group of experts.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Guest Post: Best Practices to Monitor Your Remote Call Center Agents

This week we feature an article from Tanya Bansal, Marketing Executive at Ameyo. She shares best practices supervisors can use for monitoring call center agents in a work-from-home scenario.

COVID-19 has led us to believe that we need to rethink, amend, and strengthen our contact centers with robust technology to stay ahead of the pandemic. The landscape of contact centers has shifted to the WFH (work-from-home) model overnight, bringing in many challenges and opportunities. However, it becomes much easier for the organization to stay in sync, aiming for clarity, transparency, and better management of the remote contact center agents.

We know that as much as optimizing customer experience is essential, it is also important to provide an exceptional experience to the remote agents. Equipping the agents with the tools and ability to maximize their productivity, the agents will make sure to get the show running.

Now, the real question is, how do we monitor remote agents to ensure maximum efficiency with minimum supervision required. If you are looking for best practices to monitor remote agents’ performance, this blog is for you.

1. Create a High Trust Environment

Remote work has made us appreciate the way the agents could communicate with peers and supervisors without any hesitation in the physical work environment. Now that the agents are working remotely, it is important to create a transparent environment where agents can find all the relevant information in one place. When the agents are given proper guidance, they tend to be more productive.

2. Network & Device Management

In a work-from-home scenario, it has become difficult for managers to keep track of agents’ activities and identify the reasons for low productivity. Sometimes, the agent can report poor connectivity, low internet bandwidth, etc. With 15+ parameters of network & device management reports, the managers can get an in-depth insight into the issues causing low productivity. For instance, if the agents’ device is unsupportive, the manager can fetch a report to track that. This helps the manager to establish trust within the team and support their agents when they need it.

3. Real-time Remote Monitoring

Now, the supervisors can gain full control of the contact center operations even while working remotely. Here’s how!

Supervisors can get a wholesome and unified view of remote agents irrespective of their work location or device. The supervisors can listen to the live calls, monitor the agents’ performance, provide on-call assistance to help the agents have qualified interactions. They can also snoop, barge, and whisper on a live call if required. The supervisors can download the calls to analyze the call quality standards and score each call according to metrics like language proficiency. This kind of regular feedback helps the agents better their performance and deliver unremitting services.

4. Comprehensive Call Center Metrics Report

Before the world was pushed into lockdown, it was easy for supervisors to assess the agents working on the floor. Now, while working remotely, they can’t keep a watchful eye on each agent to check if they are working. But, the supervisors can fetch reports, schedule periodic reports, and share it with the right stakeholders to assess and keep a track of campaign performance along with the business-specific metrics such as CSAT rate, conversion rate, inbound call flow, lead management, etc. The supervisors can also closely monitor and analyze agents’ availability, average handling time, the number of calls handled, break durations, etc. This data helps the supervisors draw meaningful insights and allocate or shift their agents to different queues on the basis of current trends and call traffic. Additionally, supervisors get notified of SLA breaches on both mobile and desktop, keeping an eye on each campaign and queue. With such notifications, the supervisors can make data-driven decisions, ensuring that the customer experience is not compromised.

Monitoring of Agents in real-time can also be done with Virtual Call Center Solution also the solution can allow agents to work from anywhere with any device.

Tanya Bansal is an enthusiastic individual, Marketing Executive at Ameyo, keen to learn customer problems, helping businesses find the right solutions effortlessly. Along with that, always being poised by the words, she finds her solace in reading and imparting her knowledge with students through multiple teaching programs.

 

F or more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: Gallup Executive Shares Six Ways to Drive Customer and Employee Engagement

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Small Improvements in Customer Service Create Big Wins

Little successes added together make for large success down the road.

Small successes add up. To put it in baseball terms, you don’t need to hit a home run every time it’s your turn at bat. So, here’s the question to consider: What small change will enhance the experience for the customer, even if it is just by 1%?

My friend and client, Jason Bradshaw of Volkswagen in Australia, was tasked with improving the customer experience for the VW dealerships. Within two years he had made big strides. It didn’t happen with big sweeping changes. It happened with little ones. Even “tiny” ones that he referred to as 1% differences.

Back to my original question – what small changes can you make? The way to make small changes isn’t complicated. Here are four steps to help you get there.

Identify: If you haven’t already done a journey map of what your customers experience as they do business with you, it’s time to do it. The good news is that if you haven’t done it yet, you don’t need to get to the level of detail you normally would for this exercise. What you need is a bullet point list of all the places customers interact with you. This, by the way, can include people, processes, and even products. Make a list of these touchpoints. For example, it can be something as simple as the way a phone is answered.Brainstorm: Once you’ve identified the touchpoints, discuss and brainstorm ideas to improve each one. Back to the way a phone is answered. You might consider asking some questions. What happens when a customer calls? Is the call answered by a human or by a recording that prompts the caller to press numbers on a keypad to get to who they want to talk to? I’m not suggesting one is better than the other. What I am suggesting is that you sit down and decide if this is the experience you want your customer to have. And keep in mind that even the smallest improvements – even 1% better – should be included on this list.Execute: If you take the time to do this right, you’ll have identified a number of interactions. You’ll be surprised at how many there are. You should have listed them and have a number of opportunities for improvement. Now prioritize. What are the quickest wins you can get, small or big? Start there.Repeat: On the side of the shampoo bottle the instructions say to lather, rinse and repeat. This is the type of exercise that is not a “one and done.” Consider repeating it annually. Things change. Software improves. What’s important to a customer today may not be tomorrow. The change you made last year may be ready for another change today.

These steps may seem like common sense. They are, but don’t let that diminish the importance. Sometimes business doesn’t have to be hard. Follow these simple steps and start to improve your customer service, even if it’s just by 1%!

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. For information, contact 314-692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright © MMXXI, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Mahesh Ram

5-Star CX of the Future Concierge-Like Experiences Using Smarter Technology

Shep Hyken interviews Mahesh Ram, founding CEO of Solvvy. They discuss how next-generation chatbots and automation technology allow brands to deliver concierge-like experiences for consumers.

 

Top Takeaways:Companies and brands are connecting in new and different ways.The companies that will win are one’s that can deliver consistent, on-brand experiences in every channel, 24-7, because that’s what consumers demand.Next-generation chatbots and automation technology allow brands to deliver concierge-like experiences for consumers across every channel empowering the consumer 24/7/365 at a global scale.It’s a myth that automation (via chatbots and workflows) and great customer experience (highly personalized, intelligent, on-brand, human agents) are mutually exclusive. They used to be, but that’s not the case anymore.Technology is now at the point where you can deliver what customers want, immediately when they want it.There are 3 key elements of a ‘concierge-like experience’: Personalization, Human + AI, Omnichannel.Brands can build a truly concierge-like personalized conversational experience very fast with platforms like Solvvy.Traditional chatbots, the ones you’d see a few years ago, didn’t deliver the type of CX top brands have been needing to incorporate.The future of CX involves the potential for combined human and AI experiences in customer support. Together is better.Quotes:

“The future of CX involves a digitally guided journey to the best possible solution.”

“For brands to be relevant in the next decade, they’ll have to provide the same, consistent, effortless self-service experience across every channel.”

“Companies can now bend the profitability curve in the right direction while increasing customer satisfaction by using technology.”

About:

Mahesh Ram is the founding CEO of Solvvy, the next-gen chatbot and intelligence CS automation platform. He’s been CEO, founder or early employee of three cloud-based software companies.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

How can I create an automated experience for my customer?What is an omnichannel experience?What is the future of customer service?How can I create an effortless experience?Why is artificial intelligence becoming so popular?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of January 18, 2021

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

21 Tips for 2021 Customer Experience Excellence by Lynn Hunsaker

(ClearAction) Here are 21 tips for achieving 2021 customer experience excellence in these areas and beyond.

My Comment: We begin this list of the Top Five roundup with a list that includes 21 tips for 2021. I love lists and with this many ideas and tips, and this list has something for everyone. A few of them I could debate, but I also see the author’s point. For example, I believe you should obsess about customer journey maps, but they have to be done right. The author points out the mistake many companies make.

5 Key Customer Loyalty and Engagement Trends for 2021 by Michelle Wildenauer

(destinationCRM) It’s time to strategize and anticipate post-pandemic changes in outlook and behaviors. What challenges and opportunities should customer loyalty and engagement specialists consider as they move further into 2021?

My Comment: Add five more ideas to the list of trends. This article has some different ideas that are worth discussing with your team. Number three is about values and conscious capitalism. This is a hot topic, especially with younger generations who want the places they do business with to align with what’s important to them.

Enrich the customer experience by starting with your employees by Michelle MacCarthy

(Diginomica) How do you enrich the customer experience amidst the current turbulence? Unit4’s Michelle MacCarthy has three recommendations for managing customer success through culture, engagement, and technology.

My Comment: I enjoy articles that focus on the culture, and that is exactly what this article is about. Two big topics in the article that I’ve been preaching for years. First, a great customer experience starts with the employee experience. Second, to use the author’s words, “Customer service is an ethos, not a department.” These are fundamental concepts for every type of business.

Chatbots vs Knowledge Bases: Which One Is Better? by Tracey Ruff

(Userlane) A brief comparison between two customer self-service solutions for B2B businesses in terms of the functional and emotional experience they provide and their cost-saving potential.

My Comment: Chatbots versus knowledge base support. Both are self-service options, but what’s more effective? I enjoyed the author’s perspective on the benefits and drawbacks of both.

Celebrating Tony Hsieh’s Contribution to CX by Jeremy Watkin and Community

(CX Accelerator) Tony Hsieh, whether we knew him or not, was an influencer and mentor to so many of us in the world of CX. In this article, I’ll share some of the words from members of our community as a way of celebrating his life.

My Comment: I was shocked and saddened at the loss of one of the great customer service and experience icons. Tony Hseih of Zappos.com left us way too soon. Ten customer service experts and influencers shared some thoughts in a celebration of Tony’s contribution to the CX world.

BONUS

Expert Insights – B2B Marketing Trends In Post COVID-19 Era by Shane Barker

(UnboundB2B) In this blog post, we bring to you industry experts who will explore the trends in B2B marketing that businesses need to adapt to succeed post-pandemic.

My Comment: Here’s a compilation of customer service and experience experts sharing their insights on B2B trends post-COVID-19. It’s nice to see the emphasis on B2B, versus retail and other B2C industries.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Guest Post: How to Effectively Monitor Customer Experience

This week we feature an article from Thomas Fordham, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at TAP London. He shares different strategies to help your business monitor and measure customer satisfaction.
Customer experience is crucial for businesses looking to retain existing customers and attract new ones. But monitoring it is sometimes easier said than done. In order to really improve where customer experience is concerned, businesses need to fully understand the experience that they currently offer, and know what needs to be done to make it better. And effective monitoring is integral to this.

Many important customer experience metrics can be measured in a quantitative way, and this will give a company a great overview of how its customer experience strategies are developing. Take a look at our brief guide on how to monitor customer experience to learn how to make changes that’ll benefit your customers, and your business.

Measure Customer Satisfaction Using Quantitative Metrics

Customer satisfaction is a great indicator of the impression consumers have about a brand, and it’s an important one to track for experience purposes. Satisfaction can be measured in a number of ways, so it’s often worth trying out a range of different methods to get the full picture.

Send out surveys for customers to fill in and offer plenty of opportunities for them to provide feedback – both good and bad. Monitor online review scores and comments, and send in mystery shoppers to get the inside scoop on how the customer journey really works.

Keep Track of Customer Retention Figures

Customer retention can give a very clear indication of satisfaction, and this one is relatively simple to keep track of using the most commonly used analytics tools. Regularly review metrics relating to retention, from the numbers of repeat customers purchasing products to engagement metrics from loyal followers on social media.

Don’t forget to include statistics on returned products in your retention-focused calculations, as these too can give a clear idea of how happy customers are with their products, and the overall service received.

Think About Whether Customers Are Spreading the Word

Word of mouth is a massively important marketing tool, so you’ll want to make sure your customers are helping to spread the word about your company. Review mentions on social channels regularly and keep an eye on commonly used hashtags relating to your products.

Make sure you’re in the know about online conversations concerning the experience offered by your brand, and grab every opportunity to join these conversations and improve the experience further. Check to ensure that loyal customers are advocating for your brand. If they’re not, there could well be an experience-related reason for this.

Focus on Engagement Within Your Company as Well as Outside

Engagement with consumers is of course a key consideration in any customer experience improvement strategy, but far too many companies forget another important group of people: their own staff.

If your teams are fully engaged, motivated and ready to vouch for the brand they work for, then the chances are this positivity will translate into a better experience for customers, and similar advocacy from them. If in-house teams aren’t quite engaged enough to do this, then it’s worth stepping back and rethinking communication strategies as a whole.

Consider how you can improve the experience your own staff receive, then use these learnings to help guide improvements outside of your HQ. You may be surprised by the ideas simple strategies like this can inspire.

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Make monitoring customer experience a priority in your business, and you’ll quickly gain a far greater understanding of how customers feel about your brand, and what you can do to improve their opinions. There are many different metrics that can give you a complete overview of customers’ experiences; monitor these regularly and your business will be best placed to offer the sort of standout experiences customers crave.

Thomas Fordham is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at TAP London. Experts in the Adobe Experience Cloud, TAP London helps brands organise data to provide meaningful insight and memorable customer experiences. 

 

F or more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: Three Strategies Successful Service Organizations Must Do in 2021

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An Empowerment Lesson From the Ritz-Carlton

If you’ve been following my work, you know I’m a huge fan of the Ritz-Carlton.

I was recently on a Zoom presentation with Horst Schulze, first president and co-founder of the Ritz-Carlton chain. When Horst speaks, I listen and take lots of notes. One of the questions he was asked had to do with empowerment, specifically about the $2,000 the Ladies and Gentlemen – what Ritz-Carlton calls its employees – are allowed to spend to ensure a guest has a great experience.

That reminded me of an experience I once had at a Ritz-Carlton. The housekeeping staff had left dirty towels in the room from the previous guest. I let the housekeeper know. She was so apologetic and promised me it would be taken care of. I thought to myself, “Is this worthy of using any of the $2,000 budget on me?” When I returned to the room after dinner there was a short note from the housekeeper and a piece of chocolate candy, which probably cost less than a dollar. No, it wasn’t anything close to $2,000, but it was absolutely appropriate. The note would have been enough, but the chocolate sweetened the experience.

Horst shared a better story. He talked about teaching people what they are empowered to do. A guest at the hotel had accidentally left his laptop in the room when he checked out. He flew to Hawaii and called the hotel, panicking because he had lost his computer that he needed for his meeting. The housekeeper who found it did what she believed was necessary to take care of this guest. She took the very next flight to Hawaii, returned the laptop to the guest and returned on the next flight back to the states.

Horst admits that that was, to use his exact word, “Crazy,” but he also said it was what she was taught to do. Did she get in trouble? Of course not. Was she told what to do next time? You bet. No, it wasn’t necessary to get on the plane to return the computer, but Horst loved this story and wanted every member of the Ritz-Carlton team throughout the world to hear it. This is how you teach people what they can do.

My take on empowerment is simple. Hire good people, with a good sense of judgment, and train them to do their job. You want people to take some risks. You want them to understand there is a line they shouldn’t cross, but you want them to get close to that line if necessary to take care of the customer. You want them to know you trust them. When they do something different, that’s great, congratulate them and share it with the team. If they cross that line, congratulate them for using their initiative and teach them what to do next time. Share that with the team as well. Done the right way, you’ll be creating an empowered team of people who are comfortable with making good decisions and taking care of their customers!

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. For information, contact 314-692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright © MMXXI, Shep Hyken)

 

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Amazing Business Radio: Dennis Wakabayashi

The New, Better Customer ExperienceHow to Drive a Customer-Centric Culture

Shep Hyken interviews Dennis Wakabayashi, the VP of CX Solutions Delivery for RR Donnelley. They discuss strategies for creating customer-centricity by improving the employee and customer experiences.

 

Top Takeaways:There are two halves to customer centricity. One is the great leaders of CX, who are inspirational catalysts for creating customer-centric culture. The other half is the people in the trenches, who connect those leaders and companies with solutions.Any customer experience tactic or strategy you try to implement should be supported by your customer record, which is all the information you can (legally) gather about your customer.If you want senior leadership to invest in customer experience, you must show them the ROI (return on investment).The best way to position customer experience to leadership is to highlight the increase in productivity, efficiency and agility.Touchless and contactless payments have existed since 1997, but have been accelerated and more widely adopted over the past year.The employee experience has a huge impact on the customer experience. If employees are happy and well-supported, they are able to better support customers and deliver a better experience.Employee needs will continue to change moving forward. Make the voice of the employee a central part of the decision-making process.Become a partner to your customers and clients, rather than another vendor. If you’re not a partner, you’re in a potential churn zone where someone else could come along and build a better relationship with your customers.The inspiration and innovation that comes from teamwork is what drives a customer-centric culture. And that is available to executives free of charge!Quotes:

“What is at the center of the productivity conversation is this notion of employee experience. Employee experiences are central to customer experiences.”

“The one thing that drives a successful culture is the inspiration and innovation that comes from teamwork to create a new ‘better.’”

“Empathy creates collaboration – and these two things are what enable growth.”

About:

Dennis Wakabayashi is the VP of CX Solutions Delivery for RR Donnelley, a global business communications firm. He is among the top 50 CX influencers globally and provides relevant customer experience content on many social channels.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

How does the employee experience affect the customer experience?How can I improve the employee experience?How can I create a better customer experience?How has COVID-19 changed customer service?How can I position customer experience to executives and leadership?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of January 11, 2021

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

How to Measure Your Customer Experience Maturity by Sharon Florentine

(CMSWire) A customer experience (CX) maturity assessment is a great way for an organization to understand where it is on its path to customer-centricity and identify where further interventions might be necessary.

My Comment: This is an introduction to the concept of customer experience (CX) maturity. Annette Franz and Bruce Temkin, two of the leading experts in CX and measuring the success of the customer’s journey, weigh in with their opinions and ideas on this interesting and valuable metric.

How to Foster Customer Loyalty in a Digital Age by Bryan Osorio

(Business2Community) Here we will discuss 6 such points that your business or brand can adopt to gain the trust of your customers and increase your client base online.

My Comment: The pandemic accelerated the digital experience. The risk of companies moving in this direction is the loss of the human-to-human connection, which often leads to customers defecting and going to a competitor. Some companies have figured it out. For some, it’s about balance. For others, it’s about their process. Here are six ideas on how to garner loyalty in the accelerated digital era.

Building customer loyalty in a contactless future by Nittin Rakesh

(Fortune India) There is high pressure among firms to not lose their customers as competition thickens. But in a contactless world, this problem of customer loyalty has only grown in size. What can be done?

My Comment: Following up on the digital era article (Top Five 2), there has been much discussion about a contactless era. There is a lot of crossover in these concepts, but also some differences The author emphasizes the idea that doing contactless right can build trust, which is essential to repeat business, and ideally, customer loyalty.

10 Important Components of a Social Media Customer Service Strategy by VHT MARKETING

(VHT Marketing) At VHT, we build customer service solutions for multiple channels, including social media. We’ve helped design and implement solutions for social media customer service. Below, we’ve outlined the most important components of a winning social media strategy.

My Comment: It’s been a while since I’ve included a social media customer service article in the Top Five. Here’s a short article with ten ideas on how to create a better social media customer service strategy. The case is made in the first paragraph. Almost half of people who use social media have used a platform like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to get customer service and support.

6 Words for Customer Experience Leaders to Keep in Mind by Alan J. Porter

(CMSWire) As we move forward into 2021 and beyond, these six words can provide a guideline for those of us in customer experience leadership positions, especially when thinking of ways to innovate and deliver the optimal experience for our customers.

My Comment: Here are six great words for CX leaders to keep in mind. Four of these six words tie into the concept of convenience, making it easy for the customer.

BONUS

10 Quotes To Inspire Better Customer Service As We Round the Corner into 2021 by Veronica Krieg

(Sharpen) Here are 10 quotes to inspire how you spend your time improving customer service in the new year.

My Comment: Want to be inspired by some great quotes from some of the top CX experts in the world? Here are ten of them! (Thank you to Sharpen for including me in this roundup!)

Digital Experience 2021: What do the CX Experts Say? by The CX Insights

(The CX Insights) Truth be told, in the current business environment where work-from-home has become the new normal, digital experience management is crucial for businesses to provide a wholesome digital customer experience in 2021.

My Comment: I write quite a bit on the digital CX. There are even articles in this Top Five roundup that focus on digital. CX Insights asked a half-dozen experts (myself included) to share their insights. And each comment includes a short video.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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