Employee Experience

Create an Engaging Employee Experience

It’s virtually impossible to provide a superior customer experience with dissatisfied employees. Improving the employee experience is about creating an engaging environment where employees know their thoughts and actions are valued so that they are motivated to do their best each day. They are trained and educated on a regular basis to nurture their professional development, and in turn, are committed to the values and goals of the company, and invested in the customer experience they deliver. Content employees are absolutely critical to delighting customers and fulfilling your brand promise. Heart of the Customer can help you learn about your employee experience…and the steps to take to improve it.

CX Loses a Visionary

December 3, 2020/in Driving CX Culture Change, Employee Experience/by Jim Tincher

As I’m sure many of you were, I was shocked to hear of Tony Hsieh’s untimely death this past weekend.

In case the name doesn’t ring a bell, Tony is the recently-retired CEO of Zappos. In that role, he shepherded an online shoe seller with annual sales around $1 million (Zappos started as ShoeSite.com) into a massive e-commerce enterprise that sold to Amazon just 10 years later for $1.2 billion.

It’s a testament to his talent and vision that that accomplishment isn’t the most notable thing about him. (But you should still read his fascinating, candid account of how the sale went down!) Read more

Understand Your Employees’ Current-State Journey

April 2, 2020/in Employee Experience, Surveys & Feedback/by Jim Tincher

Any wishful thinking that this crisis might blow over in a couple of weeks is pretty much shot. It now seems likely that we are facing a prolonged period of home-bound isolation, and, most tragically, the deaths of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Americans. March brought with it cataclysmic changes to the way we live, work, learn, shop, and interact, and most of us are still trying to acclimate to this new normal, which carries varying levels of stress, disorientation, worry, and risk for each of us. Read more

Ideas are Your Fuel for an Improved CX

November 7, 2019/in CX Program Strategy, Employee Experience/by Jim Tincher

Think about the last time you led brainstorming to improve your customer experience (CX). Did you give people Post-It Notes and have them shout out ideas while they put them on the wall?

Doing that is a ton of fun. But it’s also a terrible way to develop ideas. So, stop doing it.

You reply, “But this approach is a staple of design thinking. Everybody’s doing it! Why shouldn’t I?” Read more

Good CX = Great Business Case

October 31, 2019/in CX Program Strategy, Employee Experience/by Jim Tincher

I’m returning home from a day and a half at Comcast’s headquarters, locked in a room with other marketing and CX thought leaders. (Okay, so not exactly locked in…)

They brought us to Philadelphia to share the work they’re doing in customer experience and to get our feedback and advice. But mostly to show us what they’re doing.

I came in pretty ambivalent. I’m not a customer – I wrote this post about firing them, but I’ve seen Graham Tutton speak twice (read about it here), and it appears they’re making a sincere effort to improve. What they shared today reinforces that positive belief – they really are working hard to change the trajectory. Read more

Tell me why!

October 17, 2019/in CX Program Strategy, Employee Experience/by Ben London

This week I listened to a colleague tell me that, three years ago, the company he worked for acquired another company of near equal size within the same industry. Within the last week, one of his peers from the acquiring company, a senior director with a large team, mentioned he was not sure why the acquisition occurred, whether or not there were any benefits, and what the impact was to his team.

Because very little information was shared, this acquisition represented a bigger and more complex product catalog and operating model to many employees, including senior leaders. This individual was angry that he was forced to change processes he was already comfortable with and was quoted saying “we need to go back to what we were doing before”. Read more

Fees = Lazy CX

September 26, 2019/in Customer Experience Vision, CX Program Strategy, Employee Experience, Voice of the Customer/by Jim Tincher

I spoke in Austin last week and while there, I rented a car to visit my youngest in San Antonio. I stopped at Dollar’s counter and the agent told me that, if I wanted, I could skip refilling the gas for $27. I didn’t have to decide right then – I could just bring it back without refilling, and they’d fill it up and charge me the flat fee.

That may not sound like a big deal to you, but it blew me away. Most rental agencies require you to decide up front whether you’ll refill the car. I always say no.

What happens when you forget to refill? Last year I rented with Enterprise and rushed back to the airport, forgetting to refill. As I checked in, I was told it would be $9 a gallon – $36 for four gallons of gas! I told the attendant, “Forget it. I’ll just go refill it,” but the car was already checked in. Finally he gave me a $5 rate, but it certainly frustrated me.

Why do they do this? Clearly to change my behavior. “If you make us do extra work, we punish you.” It’s not that unusual – but it’s unnecessary. Dollar used choice architecture to accomplish the same outcome without the punitive nature.

Make a Splash on CX Day

September 19, 2019/in Customer Experience Vision, CX Program Strategy, Employee Experience/by Jim Tincher

CX Day is coming on October 1 – you can learn more at www.cxday.org. It’s your annual moment to make a splash. You’re always looking for ways to bring your customers to life for your employees – here’s a great opportunity.

CX Day, sponsored by the CXPA, gives you the excuse to get in front of employees to share the latest information on your customers – their needs, their desires, and how to be of help to them. As you get ready for the day, I’d like to suggest a few guidelines:

Why Spirit Airlines’ and Ryan Air’s Customer Experience is Better than Yours

September 9, 2019/in Customer Experience Vision, CX Program Strategy, Employee Experience/by Jim Tincher

I’m partway through a European holiday with my wife, celebrating 25 years of marriage. Okay, actually 26, but that’s a different story.

When a friend heard we were flying Ryan Air, she told me, “Uh oh. Pay attention to the experience you receive.” Interested, I did pay attention. And I realized that Ryan Air probably has one of the better CX programs out there.

Before you get ready with that hate email, first let me explain! Read more

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Reduct: A Great Tool for Sharing Your Customers’ Videos

August 15, 2019/in Employee Experience, Voice of the Customer/by Jim Tincher

I wrote last week about the importance of video in sharing your customers’ experience (Video Interviews=CX Impact).

A major limitation of working with video is the task of managing all of that content. Historically, our process for working with video involved:

What Wells Fargo (and the Rest of Us) Can Learn from Samsung

June 10, 2019/in Customer Experience Vision, CX Program Strategy, Driving CX Culture Change, Employee Experience/by Jim Tincher

“Who knows what happened to us two years ago?” Wells Fargo’s Chief Marketing Officer Jamie Moldafsky (I originally wrote about this here)
“Who’s heard of our product, the Note 7? [pause] Yes, pretty much everybody, in every plane trip, for about a year.” Michael Lawder, SVP, Customer Care, Samsung Electronics America

Both these speakers began their speech with a similar attempt at humor to grab the audience’s attention, referencing an event that happened in late 2016, but a small difference speaks volumes to their contrasting attitudes. This small difference shows why Samsung has fully recovered while Wells Fargo continues to falter.

Problems can happen in even the best-run company. Pixar, Amazon, GE – all have experienced problems. This post isn’t about preventing problems (although many of these – particularly Wells Fargo’s problems – should have been avoidable). Instead, it’s about what to do once it happens. Read more