Your Operating Model a Factor Influencing Customer Experience
In this brief article, and more based on speculation than any hard research, the role of the operating model of a business as an influencer in creating favourable customer experiences is highlighted. If you have everything and everyone locked down real tight, it's not that likely that a favourable customer experience will be easily crafted. People - and customers - need to be empowered as one of the critical characteristics of a positive customer encounter (or "delight").
Promptness and Sincerity Key To Responding to Bad Customer Reviews
This brief article first emphasizes the importance of tracking unfavourable customer reviews - and social media monitoring, word of mouth, all "voice of the customer" initiatives - need to be harnessed for you to get that complete picture. When something does go amiss, the key points are to not respond when you are still emotional, to reply promptly, courteously, and with sincerity. Simple advice that sadly remains poorly taken. Don't forget - when businesses respond well and properly to complaints, data suggest that the customer will actually become more loyal. Because we all crave fairness, and want someone to trust!
Is Your Customer Loyalty Program Failing?
In this elegant synopsis in the Harvard Business Review, author Michael Schrage points out a critical dilemma that I have mused about for some time - "Organizations need to identify the loyal behaviors that most deserve explicit recognition, reward, and investment." Problem, of course, is that some organizations do more for new customers than they do for existing, long-term customers - and while all struggle with "lead generation" and "new buyers", it is not good business to irritate the converted loyals. I believe Schrage is pointing out that loyalty is a two way street and is not "programmatic" so much as embedded in an organization's DNA. His conclusion resonates: "...(loyalty) is one of those rare virtues that can be both a means and an end for new value creation in healthy relationships between consumers and companies. But that only happens if companies commit to offering loyalty as well as asking for it."