Top 5 Customer Service & CX Articles for the Week of April 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.

Your Loyalty Program Might Be Losing You Money by Raghuram Iyengar, Young-Hoon Park, and Qi Yu

(Harvard Business Review) In February 2020, Panera Bread announced the Unlimited Sip Club and rocked the coffee world. For just $8.99 a month, members could get unlimited refills of their favorite coffee or hot tea at any Panera location. With the average American consumer spending more than $2,000 a year on coffee, this sounded like an incredible deal for coffee drinkers — begging the question, how could Panera possibly justify such generosity?

My Comment: I’ve written that many loyalty programs are actually discount programs. What happens when the discounts are so big that a company loses money? Or, do they? The article starts with a short case study of Panera which offered all their “Unlimited Sip Cup” to their “members” for $8.99/month. That’s all the coffee you can drink. When the average person spends $2,000/year, this is a no-brainer bargain. But how does that bargain impact revenue and profits?

What’s Your Training Schedule? by Josh Linkner

(Josh Linkner) Professional athletes achieve at the highest levels by spending 90% of their time training and 10% of their time performing. In most areas of life, however, we do the exact opposite. In fact, most business leaders, parents, and professionals spend closer to zero percent of their time in thoughtful study of their craft or training for improvement. Instead, we labor through the days in full-exertion mode and then wonder why we fail to reach our full potential.

My Comment: When it comes to customer service, I believe everyone must be properly trained – not just the front-line/customer-facing employees. Furthermore, training isn’t something you did, it’s something you do. This short article isn’t specifically about customer service training but about how often you should do training in any area of business.

Anytimed by Seth Godin

(Seth’s Blog) It’s not a word, but perhaps it should be. If a competitor goes after your customers by offering them faster service, all day and all night, you’ve been anytime.

My Comment: It will take you 30 seconds (or less) to read this article, which is about a made-up word, “anytimed.” Since I don’t want my description to be longer than the article, I’ll stop here. (Yes, it’s the article is that short!)

Employee Engagement vs. Employee Experience: What’s the Difference & Why it Matters by Luke Jamieson

(LinkedIn Pulse) Employee engagement, workplace culture, employee experience… these are popular captions that show up frequently in conversations about the current and future state of work. Especially given how the pandemic has radically shifted our work world, they’re important topics to talk about.

My Comment: This excellent article shares some definitions and differences between employee experience (EX) and employee engagement. It’s the experience that drives engagement. The author shares, “Employee experience happens to you; Engagement is within you. Experience is the journey, and engagement is the destination.

Winning on Purpose: 4 Lessons from Customer Loyalty Guru Fred Reichheld by Liam Burns

(Medallia) In his new book, Winning on Purpose, Reichheld demonstrates that the primary purpose of a business should be to enrich the lives of its customers. Why? Because when customers experience that sentiment, they’re more likely to return and bring new customers with them.

My Comment: Anytime Fred Reichheld, the guru behind NPS (Net Promotor Score) has something to say, I listen. And here are four short customer loyalty lessons you can’t ignore. Pay attention to number four, where Mr. Reichheld claims that NPS is used incorrectly 90% of the time! If you like what you read here, check out my interview with Fred Reichheld on Amazing Business Radio.