Blog - Page 2 of 14

From Words to Emotions: Use Storytelling to Transform CX

Humans love stories. We love them because they make it easier to learn and understand new ideas. We love them because they can evoke strong emotional responses and a sense of connection with others. We love them for the sheer entertainment.

When taking a critical eye at your customer experience, how are you using storytelling to create more memorable and engaging experiences for your customers? Consider your favorite books or movies. Was there an expected twist? An immersive sensory experience? Humor? What were the common or repeated elements throughout?

Below are 4 different strategies to consider when optimizing your customer journeys using emotion-driven storytelling.

3 Reasons Why CEOs Should Fall in Love with Journey Mapping

“Understand the customer’s journey and you’ll understand how to win.” – Bernadette Jiwa (author)

When researched and implemented correctly, journey maps are an invaluable communication tool for any organization for the simple reason that EVERYONE has a shared understanding of the customer journey, no matter where they work in the organization. Insights are no longer locked away in one or two people’s heads, scattered across PowerPoint decks, or tossed about anecdotally in hallways and Zoom rooms.

That said, journey maps have big-time financial value, too. Journey mapping can make the hearts of CEOs and other executives go pitter-patter for 3 big bottomline reasons…

Predictive Analytics Can Revolutionize Your CX Strategy

Stop guessing what your customers want and start knowing with predictive analytics—the crystal ball to unlocking a next-level customer experience.

Among marketing leaders, the benefit of predictive analytics is super obvious… Organizations have long used it to present product recommendations, cross-sells, and upsells to would-be buyers.

Surprise! Predictive analytics can be transformational for CX leaders, too.

The Emotional Economy: Why Emotional Connections Drive Business Success

While most leaders understand the importance of meeting customer needs and expectations, many still don’t recognize the value of building emotional connections with customers.

What do executives of CX-led organizations know that others don’t? They fully understand and have embraced the most fundamental aspect of customer experience: emotional engagement.

The Elephant in the Room: What’s Stopping Employees from Putting Customers First?

“Customer service shouldn’t just be a department, it should be the entire company.” – Tony Hsieh (former CEO, Zappos)

To be customer-centric, it is not enough to invest in VOC programs, journey mapping, and a brilliant team of UX designers. CX is a team sport that requires all employees—not just executives, department leaders, and CX teams—to be bought in and fully participate.

Here are a few common reasons why employees in your oganization might still be sitting on the sidelines and reluctant to tag in:

Are There Gaps in Your CX Insights Program? Data Collection Beyond Journey Mapping and Surveys

If you want to know what your customers really think, just read the Google Reviews. Just be sure to bring some popcorn (and armor).

Do you have any hidden “gotchas” in your customer experience?

As customer expectations continue to rise, gaining deep and actionable insights into their needs, wants, and pain points becomes increasingly crucial for organizations.

However, journey mapping and surveys alone cannot provide a complete picture. To gain a more holistic understanding of your customers, here are 4 strategies to augment your VOC listening program:

How Different Research Lenses Can Result in Different Outcomes

When examining a business problem or new product idea, what are the advantages or disadvantages of hiring a UX researcher (UXR) vs. market researcher (MR)? How are these disciplines different? How are they the same?

Strategies for Avoiding Uncomfortable Situations During UX Research Sessions

Picture yourself in the following scenarios…

How might you react if a research participant said something racist, was almost naked from the waist down on Zoom, suddenly burst into tears, or was morally offended by the choice of snacks provided by the research facility?

Or… what if one of your observers started flirting with one of your research participants, complained in front of everyone (including your boss!) that the research wasn’t uncovering anything new, or made a bigoted comment about a participant?

My Experience Taking the CCXP Exam

I was mentally prepared to fail the CCXP exam this past weekend, but as it turned out—it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected or feared. I was nervous there would be a lot of trick questions, questions about obscure facts, and/or highly subjective questions.

To my relief, those fears were unfounded.

There isn’t a lot of specific information online about the testing process by other CCXPs, so wanted to share my experience and observations for future exam-takers.

How to Conduct an Open Card Sort Analysis Using Miro

Open card sort analysis is part science, part art. The raw data will tell you generally how people group and organize items, but luckily, UXers have a little creative license when writing the exact right label for each category.

If you’re a visual learner or want to experiment with a different way (other than Excel) to analyze an open card sort… onward!

Cluster analysis showing relationships between items