Geo-specific game-plans: North America

When crafting a customer experience game-plan CX practitioners should consider the geographic location of their target audience if they want to fully meet expectations and delight customers.

As mentioned by Martin Ortlieb, User Experience Researcher at Google, humans are more similar than they are different. However, an awareness of what those differences are and how culture contributes to them could be the key to having a competitive edge with customers in a certain location.

Murray Goodwin, Director, CX Advisory, IPSOS MORI Customer Experience notes: “Understanding how your customers interact with your products and services within different cultures can make or break your commercial successes.”

He adds: “We recently helped a global CPG manufacturer interpret the role that laundry fragrance plays around the globe. Our research revealed a whole host of interesting quirks, but in the US in particular, we learned that having clean-smelling clothes plays a far more important role than it does across Europe, as people were more likely to greet one another with a hug in the west and therefore the way you smell has more significant implications for peoples’ perceptions of your social status.”

He urges brands to remember that people give different NPS scores in different countries. “Selling new cars in the US? We’ve shown that your customers will be far more likely to recommend you to others than if you were selling the same cars in Italy.”

Market consensus agrees that the United States is the most advanced region for brand experience and customer segmentation in most industries, with trends emerging first in the US and then spreading to other countries a few weeks later. As these customers have a higher chance of exposure to world-leading experiences, people based in the US are likely to have higher expectations than their global counterparts.

Support for this argument was witnessed in Microsoft’s State of Global Customer Service report which polled 5,000 individuals across Brazil, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Of the US customers surveyed:

 

  • 62% have stopped doing business with a brand due to a poor customer service experience *
  • 43% have done this in the last 12 months *
  • 42% feel the quality of customer service is getting worse *
  • 56% have higher expectations for customer service now than they had a year ago 

 

*This rate exceeded the global average.

Here, CX Network looks at how CX practitioners in North America are reacting to industry trends in their mission to impress US customers and prospects.  This piece will delve into exclusive insights from a research group of US CX professionals from the 2019 Global State of Customer Experience Report to map out key localised customer engagement trends and pain-points.

Top trends for US CX practitioners

Omni-channel: The omni-channel model and the notion of meeting customers in their channel of choice appears to be a much higher priority for US practitioners than their international peers.

If they want to field the omni-channel set-up, brands need to have the correct resourcing in place. In regards to the offline vs digital prioritisation, in one of the recent CX Network Advisory Board calls, Board member Claire Hill, Customer Experience Director of Studio Retail Limited noted: “In previous years there was a laser focus on being digital first – but now we are no longer talking about the online vs offline piece. We are shifting away from just going digital for the sake of it. Internal operational changes are in place so we aren’t pushing the digital agenda forward – we very clearly display phone numbers for customer contact or live chat. We are allowing the customer to interact with us via the channel they choose.”

To inform the operational strategy that would ensure their resourcing was flexible enough to respond to different channels, Claire recalls: “….we turned to historical data to spot trends to inform decisions about having resourcing in the right areas. When a new channel is introduced there may be a spike where take-up is higher than expected – this will even out and help to inform future decisions.”

Human-centred design: Human-centered design centres on providing an experience that solves the needs of a target audience. US practitioners seem to have more interest in this area than the global average, which is encouraging as customer-first cultures need to be nurtured and these exercises contribute to the foundations needed to roll-out more predictive customer service efforts. According to Microsoft’s report, US customers appreciate proactive customer service notifications. Therefore, brands which can pre-empt the needs of their US customers place themselves in a strong position to win loyalty.

At the Omnichannel Exec Forum, Steve Kato-Spyrou – UX Manager, John Lewis highlighted the importance of validating concepts using design thinking approaches. The process of 6 Up-sketching in workshops was discussed – coming up with as many ideas as humanly possible, as hearing ideas from peers can spark creativity. He noted that John Lewis puts ideas generated from workshops in front of its customers to see which ones are popular. In fact, customers visit the John Lewis Customer Hub in person four times a week to inform the validation cycle followed by researchers.

Investment priorities 

Customer acquisition and contact centre solutions seem to have attracted more budget from this section of customer experience practitioners in comparison to their global counterparts.

Customer acquisition:  Healthy lines of new business are critical in the US as customers may be at a high risk of churn. According to Microsoft’s research, the number of US customers that have left a brand because of poor customer service in the last 12 months exceeds the global average.  Businesses should capitalise on this switching economy by making their brand desirable to their competitor’s neglected high-lifetime value customers. Advocates should be empowered to entice new customers and brands should turn themselves into digital listeners offering multiple options for conversion.

Contact centre solutions & Customer insight: It is logical that this batch of CX professionals are investing in bolstering contact centres with more training and equipment with the strong emphasis from the region on knowledgeable customer service representatives.  

A holistic and, if possible, 360° view of the customer will helpful to brands as the majority of US customers surveyed agreed that customer service representatives should know their contact, product and service information/history. This dashboard view provides agents and frontline staff with a more intimate understanding of customers, the services they are subscribed to, their past behaviours and real-time preferences. This rich, relevant insight and real time visualisation of data can be leveraged to proactively engage with customers’ needs in real-time when it really matters.

Key Challenges 

Building a customer-first culture: Similar to practitioners based in countries outside of the US, it appears difficult for businesses to fully tear away from a business-first, product focused end-to-end business mind-set in order to live and breathe a customer-first culture. Customer-centric validation techniques are crucial for educating researchers on improving products and processes. This is especially important in the US as customers in this region seem to be more willing to switch brands after a bad experience.

Linking CX initiatives to ROI:  ROI and board buy-in are significant challenges for all CX practitioners. Both areas are crucial for unlocking future CX investments. CX has a strong influence on business success hence the strong level of investment going into CX, but this of course triggers a desire from senior management for results. The inability to communicate the financial business case can jeopardize the future of a finely crafted CX program.

Final Remark 

In order to win market-share in a certain location, brands should arm themselves with any insights that will give them the edge over their competitors.  A few of these game-changing strategies may be hidden in the regionally influenced preferences of your customers. To capture these preferences, companies should mine their Voice of the Customer data and use it to inform their personalisation methodologies going forward.

For this region in particular, businesses would be well placed to remember that US customers appear to be ready and willing to leave a company because of bad customer experiences. Therefore, when servicing these customers in this area a conscious effort should be made to provide a solid service and recover experiences as quickly and efficiently as possible.

If you want more detail on these findings click here

Top 5 Customer experience trends in Retail

Customer experience has gained respect from various verticals as findings signal that experience will soon be the key decision-maker for consumers, above product and price.

Here we look at five customer experience trends in retail highlighted in our recent research.

 
1. Customer experience is a good revival strategy

Retailers are finding themselves in the position of having to do more with less. Many are reacting by making cuts.  Closing stores, reducing staffing levels or hours according to store size projected sales and ignoring location surrounding facilities and competitors and turning to tech to deliver services at scale.

However, a recent Wharton University study looking at the relationship between staff levels and store performance has shown that it’s a big mistake to react this way to the retail apocalypse. Their study states that well-trained staff are the long-term solution for stable profits. “Understaffing stores and undertraining workers was never a good idea, but it’s especially bad now, because it takes away the biggest advantage traditional stores have over e-tailers: a live person a customer can talk with face-to-face”, said the study’s authors.

In the study after boosting staffing levels at certain outlets over six months, the stores in question made over $8.9m in extra profit even after accounting for additional labour costs. Around 6% more revenue was provided by staff who had received an hour per month in training that empowered them to solve problems for the customer.

Customers are utilising stores now as experiences, Steve Kato-Spyrou – UX Manager, John Lewis notes: “They visit to do fun things and spend the whole day out, not just to simply purchase something. So that’s where we’ve got to head in the next 12 months with in-store: the experience.”

 
2. Utility is key 

Serious investment into CRM, customer insight and analytics represents investment into a robust CX framework for a brand to provide value to clients.

In regards to adding value for customers, Steve Szymczyk, Director Digital Marketing, Adidas (Retail) says: “[A CX trailblazer is] anyone that can capture a consumer’s imagination and use data to combine the two to provide a great consumer experience.”

“What Nordstrom Men’s is doing in the US with the virtual store, that’s a really interesting model. Obviously it’s one store, so we don’t know if it’s working yet.

“There are so many things happening in this space and we’re going to see a lot of ‘trailblazers’ that will have some phenomenal successes and some will have pretty spectacular failures. What is important is to test things, listen to the consumer and they will vote with their wallet, they will tell us what they want.

“As brands, it is our job to provide new levels of comfort, convenience and be thinking about things that the consumer doesn’t know they want yet. In reality, the things that will work are the ones that will be edgy enough for the consumer to have fun with and add value to them in a real way.

“If you’re not adding value and not looking at it from a consumer-centric point of view, then it’s probably not going to work, no matter how much you want to make it happen.

“The one piece of advice is to really put yourself in the shoes (pun intended…) of a consumer to see how they experience your brand, spot where their touchpoints are and work out whether you control them or not. Because let’s face it, a viral video from a 16-year-old on YouTube giving an opinion on your brand counts as a brand interaction, whether you like it or not.”

 
3. Customer-first culture 

Highlighted as the main challenge for CX practitioners in retail, a customer centric or CX centric culture is fundamental to creating an organisation that embeds customer experience into all of its decisions and activities. CX must be a framework for business activity, just as profitability, efficiency and marketability have been embedded previously.

Steve Kato-Spyrou, UX Manager of John Lewis notes that the key retailer battles with breaking down business silos. “We have the knowledge in the building; it’s getting every human into the right place at the right time to disseminate that knowledge and talk to each other to come up with the product or service or experience that works.”

There is no such thing as stand-alone product development, marketing, or digital strategy. Those disciplines are all, essentially, feed into the same purpose; they are the customer’s interaction with the brand or organisation.

 
4. More consistency needed with actioning customer data

Data and analytics dominate as the most important, impactful trend for retailers. Although they recognise actionable insights as a challenge, research from CX Network indicates that many in retail are indeed actioning customer feedback in someway. This has had strategic benefits for the research group involved regarding customising products or packaging and new tactics to improve delivery speed.

However, the research did signal that there is a need for more consistency as many insights fall through the cracks and aren’t fed back to relevant business units.

Retailers should continue to aim to consistently close the loop with the voice of the customer. In a sector increasingly reliant upon social proof it is logical that consumers need to recognise the power of their feedback and contributions. This closure will also encourage the customer to keep the channels of communication open with retail firms, thereby helping the brand to improve their products and processes.

 
5. Omnichannel 

Businesses are struggling to make the omnichannel ecosystem a reality. Minor progression has been made year-on-year according to these stats.

However, businesses must press on in this journey, as omnichannel customers are thought to have more lifetime value than single channel customers. Also, the more your competition progresses with omnichannel the higher expectations will rise from your prospects.

Steve Kato-Spyrou – UX Manager, John Lewis said: “We heard today there are infinite touchpoints. So as far as omnichannel: you should be everywhere your customer is. If you’re saying: ‘we need to look into mobile or we need to look into in-store’, that’s correct, you need to go where the customer is.

“As far as the baseline, I would say look at your strongest competitor – that’s the expectation. It’s a case of: ‘Amazon do X, Y and Z – so, why don’t you do it?’.”

 

Why Your Brand Needs to Embrace a Periodic Benchmark Process

Imagine your brand’s struggling in some capacity. Perhaps sales have plummeted in the last quarter, or employee turnover has skyrocketed over the past year. You’re not sure what you’re doing wrong, but you need to find the root of the problem as soon as possible to avoid catastrophic consequences. As a leader within your industry, you’re aware that one or more of your competitors consistently excel in this particular area, and you’d love to transform their secrets into your success. What should you do now?

Brands that are looking for the “quick fix” might opt for competitive analysis or research, which IMPACT defines as the “field of strategic research that specializes in the collection and review of information about rival firms.” However, despite the notion that it’s crucial to establish what type of financial threat the competition might pose in both the short and long term, analysis and research often comes across as shady and deceptive to others throughout your given industry, putting your company’s reputation on the line. Instead of copying or mirroring brands that are making all the right moves, leaders should use benchmarking to improve obvious weaknesses and identify latent strengths in an effort to adapt and grow according to market demands.

According to the Business Dictionary, “benchmarking” can be defined as the “measurement of the quality of an organization’s policies, products, programs, strategies, etc., and their comparison with standard measurements, or similar measurements of its peers.” Essentially, benchmarking empowers the executives at leading companies to develop a barometer that allows them to gauge how their organization compares with others across the industry. Benchmarking serves as a valuable “reality check” that enables leaders to grasp how their organization stacks up against their direct competitors and adjacent industries in general.

Similarly, its primary objectives are:

  1. To determine what and where improvements are called for throughout the organization.
  2. To analyze how other organizations achieve their high performance levels.
  3. To use this information to improve performance and procedure.

Benchmarking reveals how your company measures up when compared to the industry standard and highlights ways in which your brand can grow over time. Not only can this process uncover issues that have gone overlooked, but it can also provide proof that improvements need to be made immediately, as C-suite executives often fail to allocate the necessary funds and resources until it’s too late.

As iSixSigma indicates, there are three basic classifications of benchmarking: internal, competitive, and strategic.

Internal — Used when a company already has established and proven best practices and they simply need to share them.

Competitive — Used when a company wants to evaluate its position within its industry or needs to identify industry leadership performance targets.

Strategic — Used when identifying and analyzing world-class performance in times when a company needs to go outside of its own industry.

“For innovation professionals who do want to take action, benchmarking best practices can provide ammunition to break internal log jams and convince the C-suite that risk can potentially be mitigated when undertaking new initiatives,” Scott Lenet, co-founder and president at Touchdown Ventures, writes for Forbes. “For those with existing programs who are struggling to communicate value, benchmarking is an opportunity to articulate strengths and address areas for improvement. No one likes to be audited or visit the doctor for an annual physical, but those practices exist for a reason, too.”

He adds, “Innovation programs aligning with industry standards may be more likely to build a positive reputation in the ecosystem, provide ongoing value to parent corporations, and avoid shut down.”

“Benchmarking by specific industry allows you to stack yourself up against other companies and improve your organization,” Berni Hollinger writes for CH Consulting Group. “Who has the best sales per salesperson and how do you stack against them? Which company has the most efficient customer service department and how did it happen?

“In a simplistic sense, it allows you to compare your company against others – not financially, but in best practices,” she adds. “Don’t get me wrong, better processes results in higher profit to the bottom line. How can it not? Each time you improve upon a process or procedure, it saves time, equipment or supplies. Less time spent on the operational end means more time available to increase revenue.”

Periodic benchmarking allows companies to continuously audit their standing within their industry and make changes as necessary in order to preserve their competitive advantage. Because the customer experience remains at the heart of each decision an organization makes, it’s in everyone’s best interest to be up-to-date on industry standards and expectations at all times. Companies that refrain from the benchmarking process until issues arise will find themselves at a disadvantage, as it’s best to be aware of the current and emerging trends throughout the industry.

In the end, your company will reap an array of benefits, including improved quality and performance because, as an organization that’s constantly in-tune with the current industry standard, your brand will continuously strive to bring its products and services up to par with—and inevitably surpass—the norm. Doing so will also remove the tendency to become complacent, as you and your employees will have the insight and incentive necessary to push performance beyond the industry standard to remain competitive in an increasingly saturated market.

Consistent benchmarking will reveal weak spots early, allowing your organization to initiate proactive measures that reinforce your leadership and dedication to the overall customer experience.

 

In Business, Data Analytics Will Always Be Critical to Gain the Competitive Advantage

It’s an adage as old as capitalism: to know the customer, one must become the customer. It’s imperative that companies keep up with customer sentiment in order to remain one step ahead of any complaints or concerns that might arise. Business analytics, however, enable organizations to collect customer feedback in an effort to provide structure amongst the unstructured data that pours in continuously. But when there’s so much chatter to weed through and decipher, it’s not always easy to decide what your brand’s next steps should be.

That’s why customer data plays an important role.

Business Analytics (BA), of course, refers to the data-driven practices, skills, tools, and techniques for continually analyzing business performance and exploring new ways of gaining a competitive advantage. BA provides actionable insight relative to decision makers, recommenders, and influencers according to loyalty and satisfaction scores. BA also makes it possible to combine satisfaction and operational data to gain further insight into purchase behavior by nature of the job or role within a customer organization.

Yet, despite countless years of data talk, many organizations have yet to master the analytics walk.

In an article that preceded his groundbreaking 2007 book, “Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning,” Tom Davenport explored the importance of analytics when describing the future of business. More than a decade has passed since its publication, but Davenport’s wise words still ring true.

“Organizations are competing on analytics not just because they can—business today is awash in data and data crunchers—but also because they should,” the Babson College professor of Information Technology and Management, and independent senior advisor for Deloitte Analytics, wrote for Harvard Business Review. “At a time when firms in many industries offer similar products and use comparable technologies, business processes are among the last remaining points of differentiation. Aand analytics competitors wring every last drop of value from those processes. So, like other companies, they know what products their customers want, but they also know what prices those customers will pay, how many items each will buy in a lifetime, and what triggers will make people buy more.”

Modern companies now recognize, without a doubt, that business analytics can differentiate them from the competition, but many are still behind when it comes to bringing the data to action. They’ve instituted the technology necessary to collect customer information, but they have yet to establish processes for parsing the data and using it to fine-tune operations. Instead of sitting on this data and allowing it to go to waste, they must develop a team that can transform said information into actionable insight.

Davenport also noted that the companywide embrace of analytics requires changes in culture, processes, behaviors, and skills for many employees. Thus, as with any major transition, this requires leadership from executives at the top who “have a passion for the quantitative approach.” Ideally, this advocate will be the CEO, as top-down buy-in provides the entire organization with a solid foundation on which to build its evolving analytics initiatives.

“Culture is a soft concept; analytics is a hard discipline,” Davenport explained, noting how the two aspects might clash upon introduction. “Nonetheless, analytics competitors must instill a companywide respect for measuring, testing, and evaluating quantitative evidence. Employees are urged to base decisions on hard facts. And they know that their performance is gauged the same way. Human resource organizations within analytics competitors are rigorous about applying metrics to compensation and rewards.”

Teams that effectively learn how to bring the mounting data to action will ultimately be able to predict how customers might react to impending updates or upcoming campaigns. Such insight will allow these employees to curb any issues before they arise, resulting in peak performance and peak results. Predictive analytics also serves as an important differentiator in today’s competitive landscape, as employees can detect what consumers want from their customer experience and make these dreams into reality before other companies can target weaknesses within the industry and lure the consumer to their rival brand.

However, as Davenport emphasized, not all decisions should be grounded in analytics. When it comes to building an effective team, it’s often best to let your conscience be your guide.

“Personnel matters, in particular, are often well and appropriately informed by instinct and anecdote,” he added. “More organizations are subjecting recruiting and hiring decisions to statistical analysis. But research shows that human beings can make quick, surprisingly accurate assessments of personality and character based on simple observations. For analytics-minded leaders, then, the challenge boils down to knowing when to run with the numbers and when to run with their guts.”

Successful leaders understand that success requires both instinct and intuition. While it’s essential for all employees to have the technical skills necessary to execute the company’s mission, it’s also important to create a team of people who can make the connection between facts and feelings. Customer relationship soft skills training for your frontline is a key ingredient to enable this balance. These are the people who will advance your business analytics strategy to the next level and develop an indomitable customer experience that excels far beyond anything the competition has to offer.

CRMI Honors 35 Companies for Delivering ‘World-Class’ Customer Service; 3 Cited for Certification in Employee Customer Relationship Training

CRMI Honors 35 Companies for Delivering ‘World-Class’ Customer Service; 3 Cited for Certification in Employee Customer Relationship Training

-Recipients of CRMI’s 2018 NorthFace ScoreBoard Award? and CEMPRO Award? have consistently exceeded customers’ expectations with highly engaged employees-

Chelmsford, MA: April 30, 2019, – Customer Relationship Management Institute LLC (CRMI), specialists in driving companies’ revenues and profits by implementing Customer Experience (CX) strategies that increase customer satisfaction and employee engagement, announced today that 35 companies have qualified to receive its NorthFace ScoreBoard Award 2018 for superior customer service.

Also, CRMI recognized 3 companies for meeting the rigorous employee customer relationship training requirements needed for CEMPRO Award certification. The Certified CEM Professional (CEMPRO) program was established in 2010 to provide best-in-class training curricula for organizations who want to ensure that their customer-facing groups (CFG) have mastered the skills needed to deliver consistently exceptional customer service. The award criteria requires the entire applicable CFG to receive the training and 90% must achieve a minimum test score of 80% within a calendar year.

Now in its 19th year, the NorthFace ScoreBoard (NFSB) award is presented annually to companies who, as rated solely by their own customers, achieved excellence in customer service during the calendar year.

“The NorthFace ScoreBoard Award is widely recognized as the most prestigious award for customer service excellence due to its unique customer only vote criteria. The award recognizes organizations that not only offer exemplary customer service but those who have chosen to make their CX Strategy a key component of their company’s DNA”, said John Alexander Maraganis, President & CEO of CRMI. Each year thousands of companies, both domestic and international, are invited to apply for the NFSB Award. In 2018, more than 1000 companies were invited to participate in NFSB Audit Program – over 300 projects, many international in scope, were audited. CRMI conducts a review/confirmation of CSAT survey results and requires written verification of CSAT survey results by the company’s CX executive management. The majority of NFSB award and CEMPRO award companies are repeat recipients, which confirms that investing in a CX strategy is a reliable, proven way to achieve business success.

CRMI methodology measures customer satisfaction with services on a 5-point scale (or an equivalent rating system) in such categories as technical support, field service, customer service, account management and professional services. The 35 companies achieved a 4.0 or above out of a possible 5.0 or an equivalent rating system.

Due to its unique ‘customer-only vote’ criteria, the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award has been viewed from its inception in 2000 as the only objective benchmark for excellence in customer service,” Maraganis said. “CRMI defines ultra-customer loyalty as customers who continuously purchase from the same vendor – even though other choices may offer significantly better pricing – because the vendor consistently exceeds its customers’ expectations via team of engaged employees.”

CRMI will formally present the NFSB and CEMPRO awards to recipients during ceremonies at its SCORE Conference 2019, scheduled to be held at the Seaport Boston Hotel & World Trade Center during Q4. Now in its 19th year, SCORE remains the only event in the customer service industry focused on CX best practices to acquire, retain, grow and win-back customers. SCORE speakers also explain how CX principles can be applied to customer-facing operations such as contact centers, field service, professional services, help desks and technical support. Thousands of service, support, sales, marketing and human resources executives from the country’s leading firms have attended the past conferences.

 

NFSB Award 2018 Recipients:

Nineteen-time recipients:
Haemonetics Corporation: Braintree, MA
Kronos Incorporated: Lowell, MA

Eighteen-time recipients:
ZOLL Medical Technical Service: Chelmsford, MA

Seventeen-time recipients:
Alfa Wassermann LLC: West Caldwell, NJ

Sixteen-time recipients:
Boston Scientific Corporation: Natick, MA

Fifteen-time recipients:
None

Fourteen-time recipients:
KVH Industries Inc: Middletown, RI

Thirteen-time recipients:
None

Twelve-time recipients:
None

Eleven-time recipients:
None

Ten-time recipients:
ACIST Medical Systems Inc: Eden Prairie, MN

Nine-time recipients:
NETSCOUT: Westford, MA

Eight-time recipients:
Diagnostica Stago Inc: Parsippany, NJ
Pitney Bowes Software, Worldwide Software Support: Troy, NY
Wolters Kluwer Health, Learning, Research & Practice: Norwood, MA
Wolters Kluwer – UpToDate: Waltham, MA
ZOLL Medical Customer Support: Chelmsford, MA

Seven-time recipients:
Broadcom Inc: Washington DC
ERT: Philadelphia, PA
Yaskawa America Inc: Waukegan, IL

Six-time recipients:
Avaya Inc: Coppell, TX
Illumina Service: San Diego, CA
Nutanix Inc Support Services: San Jose, CA

Five-time recipients:
Alfresco Software Inc: San Mateo, CA

Four-time recipients:
Bruker BioSpin Group: Billerica, MA
Citrix Systems Inc: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Deltek Inc: Herndon, VA
Fresenius Kabi USA LLC: Lake Zurich, IL
Wolters Kluwer Health Individual Member: Hagerstown, MD

Three-time recipients:
Rubrik Inc: Palo Alto, CA
Kongsberg Digital Inc: Asker, Norway
Cohesity Inc: Santa Clara, CA

Two-time recipients:
Cengage Learning Inc: Independence, KY
Corning Optical Communications LLC: Hickory, NC
Hologic Domestic Customer Support: Marlborough, MA
Hologic Domestic Service: Marlborough, MA
Hologic Technical Service EMEA: Manchester, UK
InterVision Systems LLC: Chesterfield, MO
Nutanix Inc Consulting Services: San Jose, CA
Veritas Technologies LLC: Santa Clara, CA
Zeus Industrial Products Inc: Orangeburg, NC

First-time recipients:
Braze Inc: New York, NY
Druva Inc: Sunnyvale, CA
Hologic Customer Support EMEA: Manchester, UK
Illumina Technical Support: San Diego, CA
REPLIGEN Corporation: Waltham, MA
Thycotic Software Inc: Washington DC

CEMPRO Award 2018 Recipients:

First-time recipients:
Rapiscan Systems: Torrance, CA

Second- time recipients:
Rubrik Inc: Palo Alto, CA

Third- time recipients:
Fresenisus Kabi USA LLC: Lake Zurich, IL

Note to Editors: City and state denotes either company headquarters or principal location where CX strategy work was conducted.

About CRMI

Since 1999, the Customer Relationship Management Institute LLC (CRMI) has promoted that CX is the most critical component of company’s’ DNA. Further, that consistently exceeding customers’ expectations builds customer loyalty and requires competent-engaged employees. As a membership-based resource, we provide “One-Stop Shop” for “everything CX”. Whether you are new to CX strategies or a veteran practitioner, you will join thousands of like-minded professionals eager to share their CX experiences.

For more information on how to qualify for the NorthFace ScoreBoard AwardCEMPRO Award or to attend SCORE Conference 2019, visit www.CRMIREWARDS.com or call (978) 710-3269 and ask for Diane Rivera, drivera@crmirewards.com.

How to Draft a ‘Customer Bill of Rights’ That Puts Power in the People’s Hands

Without loyal customers, most companies would crumble within years, if not months. Thus, it’s become increasingly important for leaders to constantly prove that said customers are valued and respected at each touchpoint along their journey. In many cases, this means establishing an internal Customer Bill of Rights (CBoR) that dictates precisely what perks and services customers are entitled to and how to maintain these agreements to enhance CX.

Years ago, for instance, in the aftermath of an unavoidable February storm, JetBlue instituted its own Customer Bill of Rights to repair subsequent damage to its reputation. From compensation to cancellations, this document outlines the company’s ongoing promises to its client base in the event that another inevitably uncontrollable situation should arise in the future.

Yet, while many companies embark upon creating a CBoR with the best of intentions, they don’t always have the capacity to uphold the promises they inevitably make. Here are three elements to consider when drafting your CBoR that’ll help your company maintain focus on the customer and establish the foundation for future business success:

  1. Ensure that every article has the customer’s best interest at its core.

When drafting your company’s CBoR, every single article established must have the customer in mind, first and foremost. Customers, after all, are the reason why your brand continues to excel and they are the key to future success. Thus, their best interest must be top of mind at all times. To develop a solid foundation, you must think like the customer and apply the Golden Rule. By adopting this “Do Unto Others” mindset, you’ll be able to approach your CBoR with the correct perspective. What do you expect from other companies? We are all customers in our own right, so treat your base the way you’d like to be treated.

  1. Guarantee that all employees understand your CBoR and are dedicated to advancing CX.

Once you’ve drafted your CBoR, you must obtain buy-in from employees at every level within the organization. Customer service must be an enterprisewide effort to succeed, so everyone—from the C-Suite to the frontline—must adopt the articles of the CBoR and bring them to action in all that they do each day. Frontline employees, in particular, must adhere to the CBoR across all interactions, as they are typically the customer’s first point of contact. These employees are essentially the face of the company and they have the delicate responsibility of making sure all customers walk away satisfied and delighted with their overall brand experience.

  1. Troubleshoot how to handle potential issues that might threaten your CBoR.

No matter how comprehensive your CBoR might seem, there will be rare instances when issues arise that aren’t explicitly addressed within the articles you have already developed. To prepare, you’ll need to sit down with your team and brainstorm various scenarios that might threaten the sanctity of your CBoR. Be sure to include frontline employees during this brainstorm session, as they are the first point of contact for most customers. They’ll have firsthand knowledge of the problems that occur most frequently and the challenges they present. By incorporating these varied perspectives, you’ll be able to institute safeguards that rectify latent issues, while also protecting the promises made within your CBoR.

Here are the 10 articles of CRMI’s NorthFace ScoreBoard Award:

Article I:
Companies agree to provide goods and services that will consistently exceed their customer’s expectations.

Article II:
Companies agree to provide their employees a workplace where employees are motivated, trained and skilled, customers are valued, and relationships are maximized.

Article III:
Companies agree to recognize and reward their employees who consistently exceed their customer’s expectations.

Article IV:
Companies agree to consistently measure the level of customer satisfaction with a company’s product and services.

Article V:
Companies agree to consistently report levels of customer satisfaction for products and services to executive management and the enterprise.

Article VI:
Companies agree to adopt change management strategy to consistently provide corrective action to poor performance in products and services.

Article VII:
Companies agree to consistently measure their performance versus industry standards and/or best in class company performers.

Article VIII:
Companies agree to consistently validate their customer satisfaction results via being recipients of industry awards-certifications and/or independent audit of their customer satisfaction results.

Article IX:
Companies agree to a chief customer advocate position, reporting to the President whose sole responsibility is the ombudsmen for customers, and who consistently reports the level of customer satisfaction on product and services and provides the corrective action plan to the executive management team.

Article X:
Companies agree to annual review of their customer experience management strategy (CX), which must include Article I thru Article IX.

Which elements apply to your business? Use these articles as your guide to establish an outline that demonstrates how much your company cares about its customers.

Not sure where to begin? Reach out to CRMI directly for some quickstart tips and successful hints that will help your brand secure customer loyalty and advocacy for years to come.

Now and Later: How Present Business Intelligence Impacts Future CX Decisions

Companies are constantly inundated with data. Yet, despite regular advancements in analytical strategies, said information often pours in too quickly to comprehend. Business Intelligence (BI), however, offers leaders an effective way to generate actionable information about critical business operations, including company and customer experience management (CEM) specific data, in an effort to bring structure and meaning to the knowledge that would otherwise remain just slightly out of reach.

According to Mary K. Pratt’s definition for CIO, “Business intelligence (BI) leverages software and services to transform data into actionable intelligence that informs an organization’s strategic and tactical business decisions. BI tools access and analyze data sets and present analytical findings in reports, summaries, dashboards, graphs, charts and maps to provide users with detailed intelligence about the state of the business.”

Thus, before companies can understand and implement Business Intelligence reports and results to the fullest extent, leaders must lay the foundation necessary to bring the insights gleaned to action.

When it comes to segmenting business intelligence—an essential step when determining which data points to act upon first—leaders must break said information down into the two key fundamental, actionable components necessary to drive continued customer loyalty. Therefore, they must segment information by account type and contact type:

Account Type—

1.     Tier I: Accounts that provide the highest revenue and are strategic accounts (i.e. 80/20 rule—80 percent of your revenue, representing 20 percent of your customers)
2.      Tier II: Accounts representing the next 10 percent of revenue
3.      Tier III – Tier ‘N’: Your remaining accounts (last 10 percent of your revenue)

Contact Type—

1.      Identify the Decision Makers Title: – Executive Management
2.      Identify the Recommenders Title: – Middle Management
3.      Identify the Influencers Title: – Frontline (Select Key Employees only)

Business Intelligence reports, of course, are typically presented in dashboard format, as they are accessible to everyone across the organization. Dashboards include gauges, charts, and other graphical representations that deliver at-a-glance views of critical metrics. Dashboards also offer drill-downs, which enable leaders to take a more in-depth look at specific information regarding products, organization/function, and country/region/district/branch or individual. BI reports also include multi-dimensional cubes, which allow for correlated analysis by multiple areas, such as customer, product revenue, and timeframe. Other BI report types include:

  • Delta analysis
  • Vulnerability Index
  • Key driver analysis
  • CRMI ScoreBoard Index
  • Balanced ScoreCard
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS)
  • Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

 

Leaders know that smart decisions require reliable data. But, before they can begin to consider the future, they must first analyze the actions of both the present and the past. That’s where BI comes into play.

“In its most basic form, business intelligence encompasses the analysis of a company’s raw data and analytics, to produce actionable takeaways,” Chris Lukasiak, senior vice president of MyHealthDirect, a health-tech company that offers a SaaS platform for online scheduling and digital care coordination, writes for Forbes. “Data analyzed might include current sales figures, customer shopping habits or operations costs. With more data at our hands, business intelligence is critical to making informed business decisions and can be a key component of forming predictive analyses for the future of a company.”

Business Intelligence reports provide companies with historical and present views of business operations, which subsequently inform their predictive views of the organization. Essentially, BI tells leaders what once was and what is in an effort to help them determine what will be down the road. Examining said data helps leaders understand pervasive trends and derive actionable insights that influence better business decisions in both the short and long term.

“Careful analysis of your data will help you understand customer behavior and even give you the power to better detect what your customers would like in the future,” Lukasiak adds. “From predictive analytics to data that reveals service or product gaps, business intelligence findings have the power to help companies stay ahead of the curveball.”

While brands across industries are decidedly enamored by the concept of predictive analytics, many lose sight of the importance of Business Intelligence and data that explores the past and present of their given organizations. Before companies can determine where they are headed, they need to establish where they have been. Countless organizations invest in analytics that forecast future moves or outcomes, yet leaders often neglect to recognize how past initiatives and present programs influence the customer experience. They need to pause and audit what’s worked and what hasn’t in an effort to proceed in the most lucrative way possible.

Business Intelligence ultimately empowers companies to focus on the ‘now’ so they can truly succeed when ‘later’ becomes the new normal. Leaders need to know where the organization has been if they hope to live up to their titles and adequately lead their companies toward the future they’ve predicted for themselves all along.

Master These Omnichannel Management Strategies to Boost Workforce Optimization

CEM and Employee Engagement

With numerous channels at their disposal around the clock, the average customer journey no longer adheres to one predictable path. Thus, as companies evolve to satisfy demand, they have begun to adopt new technologies and strategies that enable them to meet the consumer where they work and play. Whether it’s in-person or online, customer-centric brands constantly work to expand their reach so they can maintain consistency across channels at all times. Yet, while this new normal has set the bar higher, many businesses have yet to grasp these new strategies to their fullest extent.

Leaders understand that their companies must establish a presence along each available avenue on the path to purchase, but many still struggle to achieve workforce optimization in the face of these emerging technologies, as the key to success lies in balancing the needs of both the agents and customers to augment productivity and experience. But, by mastering the four fundamental forms of management—field service, help desk, knowledge, and online community forum—businesses can develop the omnichannel approach they need to bring customer centricity to the next level.

Field Service Management

Despite the popular turn toward digital, many customer service interactions still take place in person. Whether it’s in-stores or in the field, there are some needs that simply can’t be satisfied over the phone or online. Thus, not only do your customer service representatives need to be equipped with the technology necessary to fulfill their duties—access to the customer’s history, for instance, might help them pinpoint any underlying or recurring issues—but they also need to have the proper personnel training. Customer service representatives must have people skills in order to establish and sustain the type of rapport that supports loyalty and retention.

Help Desk Management

Because help desks generally consist of internal operations that assist employees and business partners as they manage their various IT assets, leaders must focus on hiring and training strong employees who are motivated to provide exceptional service every single day. To ensure these employees have the capacity to handle any task, brands must develop an enterprisewide culture that enables representatives to track issues end-to-end so nothing slips through the cracks. It’s increasingly important to provide consistent, personalized support, as customers can easily turn to the competition at any moment. Customer service experiences can make or break these long-term relationships.

Knowledge Management (Self-Service/Remote Support)

Knowledge management acts an umbrella term for the self-service and remote support options modern companies must offer consumers. Because customers are distinctly independent today, they often seek self-service opportunities before they ever engage with representatives. They’d much prefer to solve their issue on their own, if possible. Companies must, therefore, establish the framework and strategies required to develop self-service portals that provide omnichannel access to the information they need to answer their questions and solve their problems. Remote support, of course, remains a byproduct of knowledge management and self-service, as these technologies empower agents to provide seamless service from afar.

Online Community Forum Management

In many cases, consumers turn to one another for assistance when they encounter issues with a particular product or service. Many seek advice from their Twitter followers. Others share their problem on public forums in hope that others will have experienced (and solved) the dilemma. When people pursue this route, it’s often because they couldn’t rectify the issue via the brand’s self-service database.

However, because these inquiries are typically posted on third-party sites, leaders must decide how to intervene. Here, CRMI outlines the questions companies must answer when developing their approach:

  1. Agree on your forum governance model. How involved do you want to be in managing your forum?
  2. Agree on intervention protocols. What kind of comments, questions and issues are going to prompt a facilitator intervention?
  3. Determine intervention procedures. What are your approval processes for releasing intervention content?
  4. Determine intervention responsibilities. Who is your primary facilitator/site manager?
  5. Ensure proper training for facilitator/site manager. Can someone with extensive customer service experience handle the site? Do they need specialist media training?
  6. Ensure community members know rules of engagement. Make sure the moderation rules are appropriate for your forum.

But, before implementing any new technologies and strategies, leaders must take stock of their company’s current state and perform an audit to establish strengths and weaknesses across the enterprise. Leaders must understand where they suffer and where they excel so they can focus on improving specific management techniques. While some companies will require a complete overhaul, many will find they’re already on the road to success. After all, workforce optimization can’t thrive without deliberate, effective strategies to guide service and experience initiatives. When employees are equipped with the tools and training they need to succeed, everyone wins.

CRMI Honors 38 Companies for Delivering ‘World-Class’ Customer Service; 3 Cited for Certification in Employee Customer Relationship Training

CRMI Honors 38 Companies for Delivering ‘World-Class’ Customer Service; 3 Cited for Certification in Employee Customer Relationship Training

Recipients of CRMI’s 2017 NorthFace ScoreBoard Award℠ have consistently exceeded customer expectations.  CEMPRO—certified customer relationship training recipients also recognized.

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass.; March 30, 2018 – Customer Relationship Management Institute LLC (CRMI), specialists in driving companies’ revenues and profits by implementing Customer Experience (CX) strategies that increase customer and employee satisfaction, announced today that 38 companies have qualified to receive its NorthFace ScoreBoard Award for 2017. CRMI also recognized 3 organizations for meeting the rigorous employee customer relationship training requirements needed for CEMPRO℠ certification. The Certified CEM Professional (CEMPRO) program was established in 2010 to provide best-in-class training curricula for organizations who want to ensure that their customer-facing groups have mastered the skills needed to deliver consistently exceptional customer service.

Now in its 18th year, the NorthFace ScoreBoard (NFSB) award is presented annually to companies who, as rated solely by their own customers, achieved excellence in customer service during the calendar year.

“The NorthFace ScoreBoard Award is widely recognized as the most prestigious award for customer service excellence due to its unique customer only vote criteria. The award recognizes organizations that not only offer exemplary customer service but those who have chosen to make their CX Strategy a key component of their company’s DNA”, said John Alexander Maraganis, president & CEO of CRMI. Each year thousands of companies, both domestic and international, are invited to apply for the NFSB Award. The NFSB award audit criteria includes providing CSAT survey results for the calendar year. CRMI conducts a review/confirmation of CSAT survey results and requires written verification of CSAT survey results by the company’s executive management. The majority of NFSB award companies are repeat recipients, which shows that investing in implementing a CX strategy is a reliable, proven way to achieve business success.

CRMI methodology measures customer satisfaction with services on a 5-point scale (or an equivalent rating system) in such categories as technical support, field service, customer service, account management and professional services. The 38 recipients are companies who, based solely on CSAT survey responses from their own customers, achieved a 4.0 or above out of a possible 5.0 or an equivalent rating system.

Due to its unique ‘customer-only vote’ criteria, the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award has been viewed from its inception in 2000 as the only objective benchmark for excellence in customer service,” Maraganis said. “CRMI defines ultra-customer loyalty as customers who continuously purchase from the same company — even though other choices may offer significantly better pricing – because the company consistently exceeds its customers’ expectations.”

CRMI research indicates that companies that consistently achieve a 4.0 rating or above have reached the “Loyalty Zone.” This means they have succeeded in locking in profitable, long-term customer relationships, and this significantly raises the bar on their competitors.

CRMI will formally present the NFSB and CEMPRO awards to recipients during ceremonies at its SCORE Conference 2018, being held at the Seaport Boston Hotel & World Trade Center during Q4. Now in its 16th year, SCORE remains the only event in the customer service industry focused on CX best practices to acquire, retain, grow and win-back customers. SCORE speakers also explain how CX principles can be applied to customer-facing operations such as contact centers, field service, professional services, help desks and technical support. Thousands of service, support, sales, marketing and human resources executives from the country’s leading firms have attended the past conferences.

 

NFSB 2017 Recipients:

Eighteen-time recipients:
Haemonetics Corporation: Braintree, MA
Kronos Incorporated: Lowell, MA

Seventeen-time recipients:
ZOLL Medical: Chelmsford, MA

Sixteen-time recipients:
Alfa Wassermann, LLC: West Caldwell, NJ

Fifteen-time recipients:
Boston Scientific Corporation: Natick, MA
FLIR Surveillance Systems, Inc.: North Billerica, MA

Fourteen-time recipients:
None

Thirteen-time recipients:
KVH Industries, Inc.: Middletown, RI

Twelve-time recipients:
None

Eleven-time recipient:
MicroFocus: Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom

Ten-time recipient:
None

Nine-time recipient:
ACIST Medical Systems Inc.: Eden Prairie, MN

Eight-time recipient:
NETSCOUT: Westford, MA

Seven-time recipients:
Diagnostica Stago, Inc.: Parsippany, NJ
Masimo Corporation: Irvine, CA
Pitney Bowes Software, Worldwide Software Support: Troy, NY
Wolters Kluwer Health, Learning, Research & Practice: Norwood, MA
Wolters Kluwer Health — UpToDate: Waltham, MA

Six-time recipients
CA Technologies: Islandia, NY
ERT: Philadelphia, PA
Mouser Electronics, Inc.: Mansfield, TX
Yaskawa America, Inc.: Waukegan, IL

Five-time recipients:
Avaya Inc: Coppell, TX
Nutanix Inc Support Services: San Jose, CA

Four-time recipients:
Alfresco Software Inc.: San Mateo, CA

Three-time recipients:
Bruker BioSpin Group: Billerica, MA
Citrix Systems, Inc.: Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Deltek: Herndon, VA
Fresenius Kabi USA LLC: Lake Zurich, IL
Onepath (Internet & Telephone): North Andover, MA
Wolters Kluwer Health: Hagerstown, MD

Two-time recipients:
Rubrik: Palo Alto, CA
Kongsberg Digital: Asker, Norway
Cohesity: Santa Clara, CA

First-time recipients:
Cengage: Independence, KY
Corning Optical Communications LLC: Hickory, NC
Hologic Diagnostic: Marlborough, MA
Hologic Technical Service EMEA: Manchester, UK
InterVision Systems LLC: Chesterfield, MO
Nutanix Inc Consulting Services: San Jose, CA
Veritas Technologies LLC: Santa Clara, CA
Zeus Industrial Products Inc: Orangeburg, NC

CEMPRO Award 2017 Recipients:

First-time recipient:
Rubrik, Inc.: Palo Alto, CA

Second-time recipients:
Diagnostica Stago: Parsippany, NJ
Fresenisus-Kabi USA LLC: Lake Zurich, IL

 

Note to Editors: City and state denotes either company headquarters or principal location where CEM strategy work was conducted.

 

About CRMI

Since 1999, the Customer Relationship Management Institute LLC (CRMI) is a membership based resource that is intended to be “One-Stop” Shop for “everything CX”. Whether you are new to CX strategies or a vetran practioner, you will join thousands of like-minded professionals eager to share their experiences.

For more information on how to qualify for the NorthFace ScoreBoard Award or to attend SCORE Conference 2018, visit www.CRMIREWARDS.com or call (800) 711-5196 and ask for Diane Rivera.

 

CRMI Rebrands as a Membership-Driven Organization Dedicated to ‘All Things CX’

Customer Relationship Management Institute LLC (CRMI) provides one-stop shopping for business professionals and tech vendors devoted to customer experience (CX) management strategy

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass.; May 8, 2017 – The Customer Relationship Management Institute LLC (CRMI), announced today that is has completed the transition to a membership-based organization dedicated to providing a single point of contact for “All Things CX,” recognizing the growing influence of customer experience (CX) management as a critical business strategy in virtually all industries and business sectors.

CRMI has established a new website – http://www.crmirewards.com – where prospective members and technology vendors/service providers targeting the multi-billion dollar CX marketplace can become members and sponsors, respectively. Content categories include Trending in CX (market research and industry news); CX Marketplace, (a directory of CX technologies, blogs, articles, white papers, webcasts, speakers, etc.); Member Services (individual and corporate memberships, training & certification); Events & Courses (directory of CX events and courses), Partners (vendor sponsors) and more. Visitors also can register to receive the new monthly newsletter, CX Playbook Strategy Review. Soon the site will offer a CX Technologies Lab, where members can “test drive” software offered by sponsoring vendors who have proof of earning superior customer service ratings.

“This is the Age of CX,” said John Maraganis, president and CEO of CRMI and Omega. “Delivering a consistently superior customer experience has become table stakes. CRMI has championed that concept since its founding in 1999, and now – as CX becomes a strategic imperative for more and more companies – is taking its mission to a new level.”

CRMI is projecting 15,000 individual members in 2017 and 40,000 members by 2018. Individual membership is free, while fees for corporate membership provides access to more detailed and comprehensive CX information resources.

CRMI continues to provide a wide range of employee engagement services, educational workshops, and employee reward programs designed to help organizations create a workplace where employees are motivated and skilled, customers are valued and relationships are maximized. CRMI’s employee loyalty services include employee incentive and training programs, specifically the Certified CEM Professional (CEMPRO℠) curriculum and award.

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