Welcome to another monthly roundup of the must-read articles by the best in our field! A lot has happened this month, the first month of the year, and there’s a lot to catch up on. In order to save you precious time going through the trouble of looking for the right articles to read, I have summarized the 5 most important articles of the month. Enjoy!
Social Media Is No Longer A Marketing Channel, It’s A Customer Experience Channel
This Forbes article by Daniel Newman explores the changes in the use companies put to social media. If until recently businesses would use social networks for advertisement and lead-generation efforts, today, a good business knows that in order to succeed, social media needs to be used in order to improve customer experience.
“If you’ve noticed a drop in participation or followers, now is the time to reflect on how you are using social media platforms. Are you bombarding your audience with advertisements and products or services you are hoping to sell? Instead, focus on engaging your audience; asking them for their opinions, comments, and ideas on how you could make things better for them. Although pertinent data can be gathered from social media platforms, the main focus should be on listening to the customer.”
What Is Customer Experience?
How many times in your professional life were you asked this question? Getting tired of giving the long answer? Well, the short answer, according to Forrester Research, is “How customers perceive their interactions with your company.” But according to Don Dodds, this doesn’t come close to defining this vast world. In this article, he elaborates on “perception” and “interaction” as two essential elements of any customer experience definition:
” Forrester did a fine job reducing the complex and multi-faceted integration of physical, emotional, and often, psychological processes that make up the customer encounter. Perception and interaction are the two essential elements of any customer experience definition.”
Customer Experience Non-Trends for 2016
Well, this is an unexpected title, isn’t it? In a sea of “trends you must know about,” this Peter Leppik article sure stands out. He addresses Bruce Temkin’s predictions for “top 2016 trends,” such as Journey Designing, Empathy Training, and Predictive Analytics, and expresses his disagreement. Then, he lists 4 non-trends all CX experts should be aware of, like “Customer Experience Professionals Often Have a Tough Job” and “Great CX Is About Getting a Thousand Things Right.”
4 Critical Stages of Customer Experience Journey Mapping to Maximize ROI
A successful CX journey map demonstrates how the customer views the entire experience from start to finish, giving your SaaS company key information to better understand and improve how the customer interacts with your business. When you begin this mapping process, there are a number of critical stages that your company should go through to realize maximize returns. In this post, we share the 4 critical stages of CX journey mapping to help you maximize ROI.
6 Technologies That Will Transform the Customer Experience
How can you become a disruptor this year? Henry Troung suggests 6 cutting edge innovations that can help customer experience experts differentiate their brand.
“Customer experience leaders such as Amazon have been busy disrupting the market and the customer experience for years. For one, the company provides data-driven recommendations based on a customer’s previous product purchases and expressed interests. Disney is also a disruptor. One of the reasons customers love Disney is how well the entire customer experience is managed, including the logical trip planning capabilities that are offered through its MyDisneyExperience mobile app.
How can you become a disruptor this year?”