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Chattin’ people up about customer retention
Author: Bill Cusick
November 23, 2005
Last week, three folks from Vox, including yours truly, manned a booth at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference in Orlando. I know what you’re thinking - "Wow! The BAI Retail Delivery Conference! That must have been awesome!" And, in fact, it was awesome.
It’s one of the largest shows for the banking industry, and we met many great people from all over the country. Our message of addressing customer experience and retention in a more comprehensive, analytical way really resonated with senior management at both banks and credit unions, and we’re looking forward to talking more with the many new contacts we made.
For now, however, everyone at Vox is heading out to enjoy a fun and family-filled Thanksgiving holiday, and we hope you are able to do the same.
Great news on the customer experience front!
Author: Bill Cusick
November 8, 2005
I should probably qualify that headline. What I meant was there’s some good news, but it’s followed by more sobering information.
A recent study by Bain & Company asked over 300 companies about their focus on customer service and experience, and - unbelievably - 80% of those responding felt that they provided "superior experience" to their customers. I say unbelievably because, when they asked actual customers the same question, only 8% agreed. Here’s an interesting look at how companies are taking customers for granted.
This points to the navel-examining a lot of companies partake of when they really should be asking their customers how they are doing.
The good news? There’s plenty of opportunity for companies like us to help them figure it out.
Halloween - A Spooky Customer Experience
Author: Luis Serpa
November 1, 2005
"Thanks!" - said the little boy. - "You have a very scary house, mister."
Given the circumstances, I took that as a compliment. After all, it was Halloween and all kids were going from house to house in search of candy and the best spooky experience.
But the comment got me thinking about how Customer Experience can be relative. If I had received that comment on a typical day, I would be concerned about my house’s lighting, security or just on how to avoid being embarrassed in front of my neighbors’ kids. It is really amazing how the customer experience depends entirely on the Customer Perspectives and Expectations.
It is pretty easy for a large company to forget that and start interpreting their customer’s complains and suggestions from a wrong point of view, without really understanding what the customers meant at first place.
Customer Experience may be about looking for and reacting to customers’ inputs, but it is much more than that. Customer Experience is also about understanding the subtle context that sometimes affects the Customer Perception.
You better be prepared to understand your Customer and not just listen to them. Or else, next time you hear something like "hey, Mr., you have a very scary house!", you could be changing your whole company’s strategy because of a simple compliment.
