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Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for Week of August 19, 2024

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 comments about each article and would like to hear what you think too. Fueling growth through moments of customer delight by Ankit Bisht and Sangeeth Ram (McKinsey & […]

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 comments about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Fueling growth through moments of customer delight by Ankit Bisht and Sangeeth Ram

(McKinsey & Company) Delight has the power to elevate customer experience as well as amplify loyalty and growth for businesses across sectors.

My Comment: We kick off this week’s Top Five roundup with a McKinsey article focused on customer delight. What makes this article different is the authors separate the meaning of delight from customer satisfaction. Yes, there is a difference! The result of delighting the customer is repeat business and referrals. What business doesn’t want that?!

US Government Tackles “Doom Loops” (But Risks Customer Service Chaos) by Christina McAllister

(Forrester) This week, the Biden administration launched the “Time is Money” initiative that — as the name implies — aims to crack down on “corporate tricks,” referring to processes that are made intentionally cumbersome for the customer, wasting their time and money.

My Comment: Some believe there are companies that purposely make it hard to get customer service. Customers are forced to use IVRs or Chatbots before talking to a live agent. This past week, President Biden’s administration introduced the  “Time is Money” initiative to help eliminate “tricks” that some companies are using that result in wasting customers’ time and money. At face value, this looks like it’s good for consumers. The author of this article recognizes the good and bad that can come from this time of program.

Are Customer Loyalty Programs the Best Method for Retention? by Dennis Limmer

(Retailwire) Customer loyalty programs are proving to be a decisive force in the retail industry, with varying amounts of data fueling the study and implementation of this retention strategy.

My Comment: Do loyalty programs create loyalty? It depends on how you define loyalty. The goal of most loyalty programs is repeat business. While that can lead to loyalty, the idea of getting a customer to come back again and again is a pretty compelling reason to implement a program. This excellent RetailWire article discusses this important topic and shares ten examples from brands that seem to get it right. And be sure to read the comments from the RetailWire Braintrust below the article.

How AI Is Fundamentally Reshaping How We Perceive Customer Experience by Larry Alton

(Inc.) AI is complicating customer experience strategies everywhere. What can we do?

My Comment: The opening line of this article sums up why I like this article: “AI is being heralded as a game-changing technology across almost every conceivable industry.” AI in the CX world is not just for customer support. It’s for virtually all areas of an organization and goes way beyond supporting customers and the front-line agents who service them. The article also covers some of the “pitfalls” that AI can cause.

Streamline Your Guest Checkout Experience Now to Drive Holiday Sales by Paypal

(Harvard Business Journal) To convert new or existing customers, businesses cannot overlook the guest checkout experience—particularly around the holiday season, when guest-shopper traffic is highest.

My Comment: As I read this article about the online checkout process, I thought, “This has happened to me.” I have found myself at the very end of the process, ready to pay, and the online retailer puts friction into the experience by asking for unnecessary information or using a clunky payment system. While the article is sponsored by PayPal (a great company and payment system – and they didn’t pay me to say that), it emphasizes the need to create an easy and convenient payment process for the customer to pay. Anything less could cause a customer to find another company that is easier to do business with.

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. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

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