The hardest thing for competitors to copy is the customer experience you create. And engaged employees are the most dynamic and influential force in creating superior customer experiences. While 80% of executives say they want to use customer experience management (CEM) as a form of differentiation in 2010, only 11% would call their CEM approach “very disciplined”. This mis-match of intentions and capabilities reveals a huge opportunity for sustainable differentiation – if your company is one of the few that is willing to adopt a disciplined approach. Employee engagement correlates with customer engagement. Examples from JetBlue, Applied Materials, EMC. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://clearaction.biz/blog (7:10).

One out of two companies (44%) acknowledge that high-profile negative customer experiences have at some time compromised their brand, yet only 29% have high ability to handle and resolve customer complaints. Many customer satisfaction managers emphasize the positive and de-emphasize the negative responses. A lack of processes and comfort levels for digesting and acting on constructive feedback can leave a company vulnerable to severe consequences. Differentiation opportunities for companies that decide to stand out from the crowd by implementing holistic, highly visible, and readily accessible measures of customer interaction quality in a concerted effort to prevent customer hassles. Examples from Virgin Mobile and Cisco Systems. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://clearaction.biz/blog (5:36).

Humans, as well as all living things, align their behaviors with the rewards in their environment. For example, only 42% of companies agree that they can do what is right for customers despite the pressure to make current-period financial numbers. Interestingly, the same number of companies are actually using customer metrics to evaluate organizational performance. Examples from Applied Materials and Coca Cola Enterprises. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://clearaction.biz/blog (5:38).

Please give us a 'highly satisfied' rating!?! Why do sales and service representatives feel compelled to tell customers how to answer a survey? Does the company want to know what the customers really think, or is the company trying to build positive publicity by claiming superior ratings? The answer to the second question exposes the company’s culture and customer experience management motives — whether they are striving to be customer centric (eager to know and act on what customers really think), or happy to be self centric (eager for positive publicity). The answer to the first question reveals weaknesses in the company’s performance management strategy — either imbalanced scorecards or poor training of employees. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://clearaction.biz/blog (3:51).

A better way to conduct customer satisfaction surveys. If the customers’ jobs-to-be-done” concept is becoming embraced as essential for successful innovation, why is it largely ignored for monitoring of customer experience and satisfaction? Customers’ jobs-to-be-done (desired outcomes) are the customer’s viewpoint of functional and emotional needs to be fulfilled. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://clearaction.biz/blog (3:38).

You never know someone so well as when they live with you! What better way to transform your culture to truly customer-centric ways of thinking and doing, than to invite your customer to attend all your discussions? This has long been a practice at Amazon, since founder Jeff Bezos once started an executive meeting by announcing that an empty chair at the table represented “the customer”. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://clearaction.biz/blog (3:00).

Creativity is essential in our highly competitive business environment. As technology and options expand, customers’ expectations for higher value are always rising. Avoid the temptation to simply charge them for things that used to be free. And avoid the temptation to copy your competitors’ desperate moves. Look around with an open mind at what’s working well for other industries and disciplines. You may very well find lucrative paths to differentiate your customer experience in ways that delight customers. And you may also find some creative ways to add revenue streams that customers will gladly pay for, because of the additional value you’re providing. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://customer.ology.com (2:58).

Upgrading to a new model of any kind of product can be an exciting customer experience … but not if you as a supplier don’t set it up for success. All too often, upgrades cause too many surprises, wasted time and money, and frustration. It just doesn’t make any sense to spoil what could be a perfect opportunity to strengthen your fan base into brand evangelists. After all, buying an upgrade means customers are giving you a new revenue stream and market share. Show your appreciation for that with these keys. From the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://customer.ology.com (3:26).

Companies do a lot to encourage customer behavior that favors their brand. Yet, like most things in life, loyalty is a two-way street. Who are you loyal to? Features the book, Why Loyalty Matters. For the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://customer.ology.com (4:35).

If value is defined as benefits versus costs, what’s your company’s customer experience value ratio? Superior value is the objective of customers and marketers alike. And since customers hold the purse strings, marketers are compelled to view value as customers do. In the customer experience value ratio, the numerator includes product and service value, as well as image and personal value. We may often overlook or be unaware of some of the cost dimensions in the denominator: money … plus time, energy and psychic costs. In managing customer experience, the challenge is not only to maximize the numerator, but also to minimize the denominator. For the blog Customer Experience Optimization: at http://clearaction.biz/blog (3:07).