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Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for the Week of April 24, 2023

Each week, I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too. Spring Cleaning For Business: How To Embrace It In Customer Experience by Dan Gingiss (Dan […]

Each week, I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Spring Cleaning For Business: How To Embrace It In Customer Experience by Dan Gingiss

(Dan Gingiss) Whether you have a Chief Experience Officer and official customer experience team or not, it’s important to periodically look at the entire customer journey from start to finish – from onboarding to offboarding and everything in between.

My Comment: This is the perfect article to kick off this week’s Top Five. Winter is in our rearview mirror as we head into spring in many parts of the world, many people do their annual “spring cleaning” at home. Fellow customer experience expert, Dan Gingiss, takes this concept to the business world and recommends we start a CX Spring Cleaning Project with plenty of ideas on how to do so.

4 CFO Tips for Demystifying AI Hype by Jim Tyson

(CFO Dive) Innovation in AI has prompted talk of a coming technological leap as profound as the creation of the internet. It has also sparked anxiety. CFOs need to navigate past the hype and fear. Recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have dazzled C-suite executives seeking to personalize marketing, juice sales, anticipate customer needs and identify unseen risks.

My Comment: I’m going to veer off the typical customer service and CX articles for this one. Perhaps the hottest news topic today (other than politics) is AI. There is excitement and concern around the capabilities and ethics of this powerful tool. This interesting article covers both sides and shares a C-Suite perspective on this technology that is quickly changing our world.

The Power of Authentic Branding: Connecting with Customers on a Deeper Level by Syed Balkhi

(CustomerThink) In today’s competitive marketplace, it is more important than ever to establish a connection with customers. This connection is possible through authentic branding i.e. creating an identity that resonates with customers and communicates your company’s core values. Branding allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and show how committed you are to your customers.

My Comment: If we want our customers to keep coming back, we must do more than have a good sale. We must create an experience that connects with them on an emotional level. This author’s take on that experience is to focus on being authentic. Read this article, and you’ll learn five ways a brand can become authentic and influence its customers with an experience based on trust and values.

What’s the Difference Between a Restaurant Service Fee and a Tip? by Dave Roos

(HowStuffWorks) It’s a baffling time to eat out. Tipping used to be reserved for sit-down restaurants with waitstaffs, bussers and other workers whose livelihood was based in large part on tips. But today, not only is tipping an option everywhere — does the kid handing you a coffee at the drive-thru window deserve 10 percent, 15 percent or 20 percent? — but an increasing number of restaurants are also adding a service charge or service fee to the bill.

My Comment: Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about how tipping used to be for good customer service. Today, at least in the US, the concept of tipping is dramatically changing. While it used to be for good service, now it is an expectation, regardless of the quality of service. Some restaurants (and other businesses) are automatically adding it to a bill as a “service charge.” Others are suggesting an amount much larger than what the typical customer is used to.

As Inflation Bites, Loyalty Programs Are More Important Than Ever. Here’s How to Create One That’ll Stand the Test of Time by Colleen Murray

(Entrepreneur Media) Chances are your loyalty program is failing. While north of 80% percent of Americans are enrolled in them, most are used once or twice and then forgotten. Customers are finding that what’s intended as a perk has evolved into work. Points programs have become so freighted with varying rules, conditions and tiers that they’re too complex to navigate and too confusing to see the value.

My Comment: This excellent article recognizes that customer loyalty programs should be more than “discount programs,” offering discounts and perks in exchange for spending money. The author makes the case that for a loyalty program to work, it must appeal to the heart, values, and lifestyle of the customer and uses Apple and Disney as examples. Neither has a traditional loyalty program, yet they still get their customers to come back again and again.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

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