Do your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts extend to the customer? Forrester Principal Analyst Gina Bhawalkar and UX Researcher Senem Guler Biyikli point out that most organizations lack a formal, rigorous practice for building inclusion into the design process. They offer examples of language that we may not realize is problematic, and dive into tactics to consider all dimensions of diversity when designing.

See the Forrester report for expert guidance on this topic:

Words Matter: Inclusive Experiences Start With Inclusive Language

Co-hosted by Angelina Gennis and Andrew Hogan

Produced by Wesley Patterson

Introducing our new co-host, Principal Analyst Andrew Hogan, who brings design expertise, as well as curiosity for general CX management. Andrew talks about how he applies design thinking to everything he interacts with, and how this always-on perspective helps in solving business problems. He introduces the breadth of his research coverage. Love the preview? Let us know where you'd like Andrew to go in-depth by emailing [email protected] - we love hearing from our listeners!

To learn more from Andrew:

The $162 Billion Design Industry Won't Stop Growing (Public blog)

Designing For Confidence In 2021 (Public blog)

Must Employees Keep Enduring Bad UX? (Public blog)

Forrester VP and Research Director Martin Gill explains how customer preferences in Europe are different than in the US, how European organizations may have different objectives, but CX management best practices remain consistent, globally.

To learn more, check out Martin's blog:

European Organizations Are Underinvesting In Customer Experience (public)

VP, Principal Analyst David Truog returns to offer more basic knowledge on designing chatbots, including conversational design best practices. Most chatbots disappoint, often because organizations focus too heavily on the technology and not enough on the design work. But this miniseries can help you direct efforts to build the right chatbot (or improve an existing one) with appropriate scope.

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Most Chatbots Disappoint - Here's How To Make Them Better (public blog)

Design Better Chatbots (Forrester report)

Design Who Your Chatbot Is (Forrester report)

Design What Your Chatbot Does (Forrester report)

In 2022, brands will look to their customer experience (CX) teams to help them navigate their way through the pandemic by adjusting to a new normal and managing customer expectations and emotions around impending and ongoing product shortages. This doesn’t mean that CX teams’ responsibility will grow across the board. Instead, companies and their CX teams will target their efforts, focusing on specific areas where they can have the most impact: accessibility and privacy.

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Predictions 2022: Customer Experience

Forrester's full Predictions 2022

Improving employee performance is a critical goal for execs, yet many still rely on traditional HR-led practices of performance management that are rarely fit for purpose for today’s workforce. While leaders realize they can’t “command and control” their employees into better performance, they seldom change the process central to the problem: the way they manage and reward performance (including customer-centric behaviors). In this episode we're joined by Principal Analyst Betsy Summers to discuss how leaders must create a practice that reflects their organizational values, culture, and KPIs..

Read Betsy's full report here: A Performance Management Evolution Is Critical For Employee And Employer Success

Customer experience (CX) is a CMO imperative because CMOs who champion CX can ensure that brand is infused throughout the customer lifecycle. But championing CX requires understanding the relationship between CX and brand, as well as an understanding of CX management to play an effective role in improving the customer experience. In this episode, we're joined by co-host and Senior Analyst Angelina Gennis to discuss the opportunity for aligning CX and brand and how CMOs should take a leadership role to ensure that the customer experience is rooted in the brand promise, values, and personality.

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Research Overview: Championing CX

Five Ways To Ensure Deep Collaboration Between Marketing And Customer Experience

Hearing and enacting customer needs can be challenging in a federal IT environment with specific cybersecurity and privacy regulations, and with a customer base spanning 60,000 employees plus external partners.  In this episode, we're joined by NASA Customer Experience Lead Luis Bares to discuss the role of the CIO organization at NASA, his journey to his current role, and what CX transformation looks like at NASA.

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A Three-Step Approach To Jump-Starting CX Transformation In Government

The Five Essential Steps To Plan Your CX Transformation

In this episode, we're joined by Principal Analyst Pete Jacques, Ph.D. to discuss his background, experience on Forrester's Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) team, and his coverage area on the Customer Experience Research team. His research spans from building stronger customer loyalty and trust through higher-quality customer experiences to CX measurement and KPIs.

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The US Health Insurers Customer Experience Index, 2021

Delight The Right Customers To Build A Successful Business

Companies are adopting agile frameworks and adding designers to their delivery teams to improve digital experience development efforts. But these two constituencies don't rely on the same workflow, artifacts, or ceremonies — and often struggle to find common ground as a result. In this episode, we're joined by Senior Analyst Karine Cardona-Smits to discuss how designers can better understand their role in and the value of agile frameworks, allowing the two worlds to join forces to create better products together.

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Agile And Design Teams — Better Together