Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for the Week of July 11, 2022

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.

3 Ways to Create a Better Customer Experience That Increases Conversions by Joel Comm

(Inc. Magazine) As the global marketplace shrinks and communication channels continue to evolve, competition is heating up. Businesses can’t focus on reaching their target audience and call it a day. They also need to win them over — a process that starts and ends with a good customer experience (CX). Here are a few tips to make sure your company is approaching CX in an effective manner that helps you optimize your ability to turn qualified leads into conversions.

My Comment: We start this week’s Top Five Roundup with an article that shares three simple but powerful ideas. A good first impression is a good place to start, and the author shares how to take that first impression to the next level. Then, think about this customer well into the future. Finally, this is an all-the-time consistent effort.

Time to Emphasise Real-Time CX Metrics by Ginger Conlon

(Customer Experience Magazine) Developing new approaches to measurement is a priority for businesses that want to drive agile decision making. Journey measurement, for example, can provide insights that allow companies to optimise the customer journey in real time. This will improve the experience and increasing the likelihood of conversions and purchases.

My Comment: How do you measure CX? Let me count the ways! Seriously, to measure CX is one thing. To take action on those insights is another. In other words, It’s essential to understand the “why” behind the metric. That allows you to interpret the data and use it to create a better experience for all customers.

Implement These 5 Customer Experience Analytics to Upgrade Your Call Center by Emily Gregor

(Aircall) Data used in customer experience analytics can be drawn from any interaction between an organization and its customers. That includes reviews of your company’s products or services, customer interactions on social media, customer conversations with contact centers, and much more.

My Comment: Here’s another excellent article on CX metrics. This time, the focus is on the customer support center. Here’s a question (and an answer): What metrics should we use to gauge success? The ones that focus on the customer’s satisfaction, not so much the productivity metrics that many support centers use, such as AHT (Average Handle Time). The ones you want are about the customer and include CSAT, NPS, CES, CLV, and more.

Eight Ways to Use Content to Boost Customer Experience by Darwin Jayson Mariano

(CX Network) Content marketing is one of the most effective mediums for companies to embrace when they are looking to acquire and retain customers. These savvy firms recognize the importance of developing winning content to create awareness, increase engagement and drive traffic to their business.

My Comment: Content marketing is more than a marketing strategy. It’s part of the customer experience. Are you delivering information that adds value to customers and enhances their experience with your brand? That’s marketing and CX. The beginning of the article references Asian companies. I’m not sure why. Any and every company should consider a content strategy.

The Retention Crisis: Should We Be Treating Employees More Like Customers? by Ivan Harding

(TechNative) Businesses are still very much battling retention issues, as talent continues to move between companies at pace. In the last six months alone, one in ten workers said they had quit their jobs, resulting in the highest UK quit rate since 2009

My Comment: Over the years, I’ve shared many articles about culture and “internal customers” (employees and co-workers). Here’s another one that uses the phrase “retention crisis” to describe the severity of the current employment situation. It’s really simple. You want to treat customers in a way that gets them to come back. Do the same with your employees.