New year, fresh perspectives

Happy New Year! A new year brings the opportunity for a fresh start and big ideas. Unfortunately, most of us struggle to maintain the momentum past the first fortnight. We take on too much, and when the ‘busy-ness’ of the year takes hold, the opportunity for positive change is lost. For many businesses, improving customer experience is a high priority, but it can seem hard to start once the year cranks up. In 2016, Forrester reported that over 70% of businesses named ‘improving the customer experience’ as their top priority. If improving customer experience is on your list for 2018, [...]

New year, fresh perspectives2018-11-04T00:50:02+00:00

Feedback: Cherish the Gift!

I’ve just completed my third customer feedback survey this week, and it’s only Wednesday.   I’ve been asked to provide feedback on the delivery of a parcel, a change to my private health insurance, and on the purchase of a pair of running shoes.  I also tried to provide feedback on an interaction with a Telco, but that resulted in the consultant ending the call… I guess they weren’t really interested! In each case, the feedback took the form of a Net Promoter System (NPS) question:  “Based on your recent experience, how likely are you to recommend <insert company name here> [...]

Feedback: Cherish the Gift!2018-11-04T00:49:43+00:00

Begin with a Check-in

When you organise an important workshop, with the best minds from around the organisation, or the industry, you can be forgiven for wanting to get straight into it from the 1st minute. After all, as the person who called the workshop, you are pretty clear on why it has been scheduled, and what you need out of it. And often you are paying for the privilege! So why is it not only worthwhile, but strongly advisable, to take some time up front to allow attendees to check-in? If you have engaged 3rdView to facilitate, you have recruited someone who is [...]

Begin with a Check-in2018-11-04T00:51:01+00:00

Apple… is it time to break up?

Apple hit my customer experience sweet spot, then broke it. Was it down to poor customer experience redesign? Is your new offering destroying the very value that won your customers in the first place? The situation… I’ll never forget Father’s Day 2004… Not only was it my first Father’s Day with the arrival of my son Lucas a few months earlier, I also received my first ever father’s day present, an iPod from my wife. It was my first Apple product. As a huge music fan, and a faithful Walkman and Discman user over the years, the iPod was a [...]

Apple… is it time to break up?2018-11-04T00:56:23+00:00

Flip your perspective, not the bird!

"Who cares what I think? Especially when it comes to hearing my side of a road rage story." Well that is what I figured when I was nearly run off a suburban road by a ute full of tradies. They didn’t care for my opinion. They just yelled at me for being in their way. So, rather than yell my opinion at them, I flipped my perspective and found a more powerful result. Let me set the scene … I was riding my bicycle on my usual path to work. It is only a 15 minute ride. I’m not a slipstream MAMIL [...]

Flip your perspective, not the bird!2018-11-04T00:57:30+00:00

From customer-phobic to Customer-focused!

Are you arachnophobic, agoraphobic or acrophobic? If not, you’ll certainly know someone who is. Fearing spiders, crowded places and heights is not always a bad thing as each of these has an inherent aspect of danger. A phobia is an unhelpful anxiety or fear of a situation or thing. If you are scared of something and it can harm you; that is a good thing. If the fear is present, but the danger is not, such as seeing pictures of spiders or approaching the window in a skyscraper, that is unhelpful and hence, is a phobia. What is Customer Phobia? [...]

From customer-phobic to Customer-focused!2016-06-14T02:45:05+00:00

Customer Insights – are your beliefs holding you back?

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses'.” - Henry Ford The notion that ‘customers don’t know what they want’ is an idea derived from this quote. However, unfortunately the statement it is too frequently misquoted and misunderstood. Henry Ford never actually expressed those famous words. However, if he had, the statement is in fact correct- people find it difficult to imagine and articulate something truly innovative. A problem arises when this quote is used as ammunition against gathering customer insights and customer centricity. Equally harmful to the case for customer insights, are organisations [...]

Customer Insights – are your beliefs holding you back?2016-03-03T04:09:47+00:00

Sales or Service?

When you purchase a product the sales person often tries to ‘add on’ or sell another related item in the name of service. Cynically I view this ’service’ as a way to increase the retailer’s profits and have rarely purchased the additional ‘add on‘ item. That is up until now. I don’t camp.  It is beyond me why anyone would willingly leave a perfectly dry house with a comfortable bed with 1000 percale cotton sheets and share an evening with creepy crawlies and unpredictable weather. This aversion stems from my first Girl Guiding ‘under canvas’ experience that ended with me [...]

Sales or Service?2014-04-28T00:21:37+00:00

The Accidental Customer

Many customer experiences involve regular or repeat customers. Once you know the drill, it's ‘all good’. But what about first time or occasional customers - the accidental tourists? Are you rolling out the welcome mat, or are you keeping new customers locked out because you make it too hard for first timers? When it comes to public transport I am 100% a train guy. I know where they start and finish, which one to get, and that it will generally be on time. Lately though I've needed to move between locations in and around the city in a hurry, and [...]

The Accidental Customer2014-04-28T00:21:52+00:00

How well do you keep your customer promises?

The old adage ’always deliver on your promises to customers’ has never been more relevant than in today’s competitive market place.  Being true to your word and delivering on what you have agreed, can reward your business with a lifetime of repeat business and create advocates of your customers, something that all the marketing dollars in the world can’t buy.  A great experience with an online retailer really brought home the difference that delivering on promises can make. My microwave recently had a quick and unceremonious death. One minute it was working, the next it had stopped. For our family, [...]

How well do you keep your customer promises?2014-04-28T00:22:07+00:00
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