Bridging the Customer Experience Chasm

Customer experienCe exChange • november/deCember 2011 1

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ExchangEvolume 1

Customer Experience Transforming The CusTomer experienCe wiTh TeChnology


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Editor’s lEttEr

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Customer Experience Exchange. This bi-monthly e-zine offers insights into and tips about the customer ex-perience. We will be covering customer engagement and loyalty, ana-

lytics, social and customer-facing initiatives, cross-organizational communication and how companies are maintaining a single view of the customer.

In this issue, find out how to get customer-facing groups to buy into customer experience management (CEM) and make it a priority, how employee satisfaction may or may not affect customer loyalty and how CEM fits into a company’s overall strategy.

First, Beth Stackpole walks through the process for establishing a customer expe-rience champion and how this role can help companies look outside of themselves and see how the customers view them. Did you know you have CEM to thank for the recent retraction of those annoying monthly $5 debit card fees?

Then Rose Cafasso explains why it’s also important to consider the employees’ point of view and make sure that they are engaged in CEM strategies. Although it may seem obvious that the front-line employees’ feedback is valuable to ensuring a positive customer experience, many companies tend to ignore this feedback.

Finally, Anna Fiorentino shows how Coca-Cola and ING Direct have incorpo-rated CEM into their corporate strategies using techniques such as a loyalty pro-gram via Facebook and social listening. These CEM approaches help companies meet customer needs in real time, which is becoming more and more a customer expectation.

We look forward to sharing the best CEM ideas and tips in Customer Experience Exchange. If you have a topic you’d like to see us cover, please feel free to send me an email or reach out on Twitter (@JacquelynHoward).

Kind regards,Jacquelyn Howard, Executive Editor

the View from outside:Do Your Customers see You as You Want to Be seen?

mailto:jmhoward%40techtarget.com?subject=

http://twitter.com/#!/JacquelynHoward


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tune into business news these days and it’s hard not to see the effect that the voice of the cus-tomer is having on day-to-day business decisions. Bank of America and other large banks’ recent decision to ditch their much-maligned plans for

a $5 monthly debit fee is a recent example showcasing how powerful cus-tomer influence and how important customer experience management (CEM) have become, thanks in part to social media venues like Twitter and Facebook.

bridging the Customer experienCe Chasmmanagement may be pushing a customer-centric mandate, but without the right culture and processes in place, it’s difficult to get employees get on board. by beth staCkpole



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optimize quarterly results, not cus-tomer satisfaction.

“Most companies tend to be com-pany-centric for obvious reasons … and their commitment is provid-ing value to shareholders,” adds Paul Greenberg, president of The 56 Group LLC, an enterprise applications con-sulting firm focused on CRM strat-egies. “But what shareholders are looking for in terms of return on investment is not necessarily what customers are looking for from a company. Companies have to make ad-justments to understand things about their customers, but it’s really hard.”

It may be hard, but it’s not impossi-ble, according to Greenberg and other CEM experts. To understand the cus-tomer point of view, companies have to invest in technology tools to inject that accurate outside-in view from cus-tomers. At the same time, they need to build out a culture designed to help employees not only understand the mission, but be well equipped to pull it off.

Establishing formal processes and procedures that guide customer-fac-

While it’s hard to find a company that isn’t paying some sort of homage to the concept of improving customer experience, the reality is many are struggling to carry out their objectives, hampered by longstanding cultural customs that favor controlling, not re-sponding to, customer interaction and messaging.

It’s not exactly that companies aren’t listening to customers; it’s more that they’re having a hard time translating what is said. Seeped in longstanding traditions, it’s difficult for companies to move past their conventional in-ward-focused cultures, making it next to impossible to interpret the percep-tions and priorities that rank top-of-mind with their customer bases.

“Companies have a hard time seeing what they look like in the eyes of their customers,” explains Bruce Temkin, a managing partner at Temkin Group, a customer experience research and con-sulting firm, and the co-founder and chairman of the Customer Experience Professionals Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with customer experience profession-als. “Companies are not deciding they don’t want to be good at customer experience—it’s just that over time, they’ve built out the processes, proce-dures and perspectives that get in the way of being customer-centric.”

Larger firms, especially those that are publicly traded, commonly fall into the trap of prioritizing shareholder needs over customer needs—a tactic that leads to decision making tuned to

“Companies have a hard time seeing what they look like in the eyes of their customers.” bruCe temkin, temkin group


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Goals for the Customer Experience Championp Develop a clear plan of what the goals of the program are and communicate

the plan to all customer-facing employees.p Create formal processes for common activities, such as returns and complaints.

Identify in which situations agents should escalate a customer interaction to a supervisor.

p identify customer experience leaders in the customer-facing groups to help evangelize the plan.

p use metrics to analyze customer interactions so executives and employees can easily understand the impact of the customer experience program.

p When the customer experience program is established and running well, consider introducing incentives to further engage employees. n

ing employees through interactions is part of the retooling. So is implement-ing internal metrics so everyone has a clear understanding of the expecta-tions and goals of the customer-facing program.

Temkin Group identifies four core competencies that are critical to ensur-ing success with customer experience. There must be purposeful leadership with a clear and consistent mission; a compelling brand value that deliv-ers on its promises at every customer touch point; active employee engage-ment, meaning stakeholders are com-mitted to the mission; and customer connectiveness, a strategy, Temkin says, rooted in feeding the ongoing flow of insights back into the collective consciousness so employees can take action.

“Unless a firm masters all four com-

petencies, you can redesign the experi-ence to be better for the customer, but it will go sour sooner than you expect.”

Championing thE EffortAdopting a corporate customer expe-rience champion should be a strategic part of the plan. This can be organic, with people in individual business units taking on the customer experi-ence champion role or it can be an official position in a central organiza-tion that spearheads CEM while serv-ing as a change agent for the cultural transformation.

Lynn Hunsaker, president of Clear-Action, a CEM consulting firm, advo-cates the latter. “Making this a C-level job and having a central organization overseeing enterprisewide deployment is better,” she explains. “If you put

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CEM inside of marketing, it becomes a marketing thing, and if you put it inside of service, it becomes a service thing. Then the rest of the company will excuse themselves.”

Educating employees on why cus-tomer experience is important to the firm’s future should be part of the champion’s role. In addition, experts say there should be individuals within various departments that help evange-lize the effort, using tangible results to drive home the potential benefits of getting on board with CEM. “Some-times it’s just a matter of a narrative of a customer who went from being a detractor to an advocate because of some social action that was taken—it doesn’t have to be hard metrics,” The 56 Group’s Greenberg explains.

As active as champions must be, their efforts have to be buttressed with formal processes and training that edu-cate employees on their roles as well as what is expected in terms of customer interactions. For example, it’s impor-tant to create procedures for dealing with returned merchandise, forgiving late charges or escalating a call to a supervisor so that all employees know how to diffuse some common negative customer interactions.

Rather than enforcing rote scripts or rigid policies, however, experts ad-vise giving employees the flexibility to modify their approaches to best meet the situation while ensuring overall consistency. Again, proper training is essential for helping employees strike this balance.

“There’s a difference between a script and a guide,” says Donna Fluss, president of DMG Consulting LLC, a contact center and analytics industry analyst and consulting firm. “You need to have guidelines and you need to train people to follow the guidelines, but they need to be able assimilate and apply them on a consistent basis.”

Best Buy has put a lot of effort into empowering its customer agents to re-solve issues, according to Jeff Radecki, the firm’s customer experience man-ager for the exclusive brands group. As opposed to a series of set procedures that are part of a training guide, agents are trained through coaching and role playing on how to evaluate custom-ers by looking at their histories and on how and when to use tools to mitigate tense situations—for example, issu-ing credits or gift cards or even returns if the situations warrants it, Radecki explains.

“One of the core metrics we look at is resolution rates and if [agents] don’t feel empowered to take steps to resolve issues, it’s not going to work,” he says. “Agents are empowered to take the sit-uation and react accordingly, depend-ing on the customer they are dealing with.”

Nevertheless, Radecki agrees it’s a balancing act. “There’s the customer, the employee and the shareholder, and the ultimate decisions have to be bal-anced between all three,” he says. “If you’re constantly giving money away, you’re not keeping the shareholder in mind.”


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EmployEE EngagEmEnt and CEmA set of specific yet simple metrics around customer experience also keeps Best Buy employees on the right track. Customer service reps are mea-sured on three core metrics: customer satisfaction, likelihood to recommend and resolution. Reps can log into a portal at any time and see their scores, Radecki says.

“We try to simplify for the front-line agent what it means to have a good customer experience,” he ex-plains. “There are so many differ-ent approaches out there, it can be overwhelming.”

Providing reps with visibility into their performance has been an im-portant factor in encouraging inter-nal competition and getting buy-in. “We’re delivering transparency so an agent knows exactly what is coming,” Radecki says. “If they’re doing really bad on CSAT (customer satisfaction) scores, they know a quality rep is going to come and talk to them.”

Incentives are another tool for fos-tering employee engagement, whether they are prizes, bonuses or even rec-ognition. The first step is to come up with key performance indicators (KPIs) that are specific to customer ex-perience and factor those results into employees’ overall performance re-views. To be effective, the KPIs need to reflect what the firm wants to achieve

around customer service as well as be something the individual employee can control.

Esteban Kolsky, founder of ThinkJar, a research and consulting firm spe-cializing in CEM, cautions that in-centive programs work best when the CEM program is already under way and people have a clear sense of what’s expected. “You can’t say this is the di-rection we’re going in and tie bonuses to that,” he says. “It has to be already under way so people can see it’s not a punishment but a reward.”

The old carrot-and-stick approach is also essential for getting employees to embrace a customer-centric culture. After all, if they’re not feeling the love from corporate, it’s impossible to ex-pect them to be goodwill ambassadors of top-notch customer service.

“You can do everything you can for the customer, but if you treat your em-ployees horribly, it doesn’t matter what you tell them to do—they won’t be happy, and it won’t come across to cus-tomers,” notes DMG’s Fluss.

In the end, it could come down to some employees just not being a fit for a customer-centric culture. “Sometimes the people you have aren’t the people you need,” Kolsky says. “You may get to the point where you need to make per-sonnel changes or reassign people to different functions because their atti-tude is just not what you need.” n


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EmployEEs as CustomErs

Most business Managers know there is a link between happy employees and satisfied customers, yet they are often challenged to capitalize on this connection when implementing customer experience management (CEM) strategies.

However CEM projects are at risk if managers don’t focus more on em-ployees. Two issues come into play for CEM initiatives, which are typi-cally cross-company efforts aimed at improving customer experiences throughout the lifecycle. First, managers need to find ways to help em-ployees care more about their jobs. Otherwise, customers immediately recognize an apathetic employee, and that can damage even the best mapped-out CEM plan.

employee foCus transforms Customer experienCe management strategiesCem initiatives suffer when employees can’t provide their perspectives on customer concerns. by rosemary Cafasso


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“It is logical and straightforward, but a lot of managers don’t connect the dots,” said Jim Clemmer, president of The Clemmer Group, a customer ex-perience and management consulting firm in Kitchener, Ontario.

ExpErts say ExECutiVE support is KEyWithout executive support, employees likely will not be a priority in a CEM initiative. Often, executives are so focused on the market and the com-pany’s competitors that internal strat-egies drop down their priority lists. In turn, that thinking trickles down to the managers running the customer-facing projects, analysts said.

“This can’t be lip service,” said Kate Leggett, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. “It has to be in the DNA of the company.”

A second problem stems from the traditional organizational structure that creates silos of expertise. Typi-cally, managers charged with employee relations are tucked away in human resources departments, preventing collaboration between them and the business managers running the CEM initiatives.

But companies having success keep-ing employees engaged are using a combination of survey software and old-fashioned employee encounter programs. One example is Nicor National, which sells home warranty and energy management plans. The

Second, managers need to create opportunities for employee feedback, not just on jobs and tasks, but on com-pany plans. The goal is to factor that feedback into CEM projects. As several analysts note, employees, particularly those on the front lines of customer service, can often provide the best in-sights into customer concerns.

“The best companies have the most engaged employees,” said Jeanne Bliss, co-founder of the Customer Ex-perience Professionals Association (CXPA). “If the employee is at the table, everyone is working towards de-livering something better.”

Bliss recalled her own experiences as leader of customer experience at Lands’ End, a clothing retailer well-known for customer service and now owned by Sears Holding Corp. Once a month, the company president would meet with a few dozen employees to hear comments about all aspects of the business, Bliss said.

But analysts said that while ideas such as the Lands’ End group sessions seem obvious, these efforts often can be stymied by a corporate culture that doesn’t give employee feedback much value.

“the best companies have the most engaged employees.” Jeanne bliss, Cxpa


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ter managers twice a month to discuss various issues.

CrEating Emotional BondsIndustry analysts said managers should look for tactics that help employees feel more emotionally connected to their workplace. Often, this comes from sharing the big picture with workers. CXPA’s Bliss recalled a cli-ent that made children’s cups. When the company began seeking input from employees, not just as workers, but as people and parents who understood what children liked or didn’t like, they found employees were more enthusias-tic about their work overall.

Emotional connections also could be forged from a variety of low-cost incentive programs. Paul Greenberg, president of The 56 Group, spoke of a company that hands employees the authority to give occasional company-sponsored $50 rewards to co-work-ers who they believe have done great work.

Finally, Kathleen Peterson, founder of Powerhouse Consulting in Bedford, N.H. said to simply ask employees di-rect questions and listen to what they say. She suggests starting with this query: “What are the smartest things we do, and what are the dumbest?” n

company, a division of Nicor Inc. and based in Naperville, Ill., relies on automated survey programs, but it doesn’t shy away from the soft tactics, either.

“We begin with the strong belief that the environment for our employees is the one our customer experiences,” said Barbara Porter, vice president of business development and customer service.

Porter said the company uses sur-vey tools from Allegiance Software to gauge employee satisfaction and cus-tomer satisfaction. It has been able to chart direct correlations that show when employees aren’t happy, custom-ers start giving Nicor lower service marks.

That data helped Porter get funding for new contact center software that acts as a front end to several contact center legacy systems that employ-ees had found increasingly difficult to use. This change boosted agent perfor-mance, and customer satisfaction has increased as well.

Porter said her group uses other methods to help employees become more engaged. She points to the com-pany’s contact center ambassadors, who work on employee concerns with managers. Ambassadors are elected each year and meet with contact cen-


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measurement, monitoring essential to Customer experienCe managementlearn how Coca-Cola and ing direct expanded their customer experience management in social media approaches by measuring goals and monitoring customer feedback. by anna fiorentino

aDvertising is no longer the only way to create effective customer impres-sions. Today, customers themselves are helping companies improve cus-tomer experience management (CEM). Most companies today are using social media sites as spaces for interactive dialogue about their products and services. But do they realize there is more to launching a successful social CRM campaign than creating a Facebook page?


CustomEr ExpEriEnCE analytiCs


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creating value for its members as well as internal and external partners.

“Measurement is key,” says Kaitlyn Dennihy, a strategist at Engauge, the social media agency of record for My Coke Rewards. “Translating overall business goals into measurable actions within social has allowed us to track the impact of our communities as well

as manage and exceed expectations for the social space. Every content piece in social must include a call to action for the user that can be measured.”

The social media goals of My Coke Rewards are quantified by the code en-try and points spent on specific items.

“We can best optimize the program by assessing consumer actions, behav-iors and sentiment,” Dennihy says. “Members are having detailed conver-sations surrounding the program with or without our participation. In order to influence this dialogue, we join the conversation to participate, inform and influence.”

It’s important to provide a consis-tent program and a systematic value through targeted content and informa-

“So many companies say, ‘We’re go-ing to build a Twitter campaign,’ with no goal in mind of what kind of return they want,” says analyst Zach Hofer-Shall of Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. “There is often little regard to who a customer is and who that customer is not.”

Hofer-Shall has seen this sce-nario many times before: A company launches a social media campaign without setting specific standards or goals. The truth is, companies can eas-ily set and meet goals by doing things such as using software to track online CEM metrics or establishing customer ambassadors.

Instead of just getting a brand out to the general public, Hofer-Shall says a company should send its messages di-rectly to a loyal customer database on social media platforms. The Coca Cola Co., he says, is one company that is do-ing that well.

my CoKE rEwards and CEmCoke’s My Coke Rewards program, housed on Facebook, is using social media as a living, breathing focus group. The members-only site allows customers who already buy Coke prod-ucts to collect codes from products in return for rewards. Now, instead of carrying around bottle caps, individu-als enter promotion codes through text messages and desktop widgets. By listening and monitoring customer conversations and codes, Coke has managed to deliver real-time results,

“so many companies say, ‘We’re going to build a twitter campaign,’ with no goal in mind.” ZaCh hofer-shall, forrester researCh


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Maybe the most all-encompassing of the bunch, Radian6—which Sales-force.com acquired this year—tells companies such as ING Direct who is saying what and whether customers are communicating through a news site or blog, for example. The software can also judge, based on Web traffic and readership, how influential the in-dividual who made the post is.

“Often we find there is internal or external detective work to service cli-ents, so it’s great to see these tools built into Radian6,” says Gloria Chik, social media lead at ING Direct.

“If we get a client complaint, it’s been fantastic to get a full profile of that person.”

Chik said companies should tread carefully with Radian6 while handling confidential client financial informa-tion, making sure to look at each client complaint or compliment individu-ally—even if that means passing it on to the sales team.

But whether companies use qualita-tive or quantitative methods to track return on investment on customer response management, one thing is certain.

“There has to be a goal around sup-porting customers,” Hofer-Shall says. “That goal may be tangible—like solv-ing a problem for a customer. Or it can be intangible—like looking at the likelihood of a customer returning to a site.” n

tion strategy, according to Dennihy. My Coke Rewards provides quality content and builds one-on-one rela-tionships with the social media com-munity as well as every department within the company, she said.

“With insight into areas such as cus-tomer service, product merchandising and exclusivity, we can deliver real-time results that impact the program and create value for our members as well as internal and external partners,” Dennihy says.

ing dirECt and CEmING Direct, an online-centric bank that is part of Netherlands-based ING, also believes that meeting customer needs is the basis for creating a thriv-ing social media campaign.

ING Direct boosted its bottom line by listening to online consumer con-versations with the help of a program called Radian6, a social media moni-toring platform that allows compa-nies to not only know what’s being said about their brands, industries and competitors online, but to also help them measure, analyze and report on their social CRM efforts. It’s just one of many tools now used for measuring Web activity—others include Alexa for providing statistics on visitors, Google Analytics for summarizing search trends, and Summize for providing tweet searching capabilities.


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author Bios

As a veteran business and tech-nology reporter, Beth Stackpole has spent the last 25+ years writ-ing for a variety of leading publica-tions and Websites, including

TechTarget, Computerworld, CIO, eWeek, Manag-ing Automation, Design News, and others. Over the years, she’s honed expertise in a variety of subject areas, from enterprise applications to cloud computing, to leveraging technology to achieve business advantage.

As Associate News and Site Edi-tor, Rosemary Cafasso writes content for SearchCRM.com and contributes to the overall manage-ment of the site.

Anna Fiorentino is an award-winning writer and journalist based in Portsmouth, New Hamp-shire. She has reported over the

years for newspapers around New England, in-cluding The Boston Globe and The Portland Press Herald. She has also contributed to publications by leading international institutions such as Dartmouth College and Education Develop-ment Center.

Hannah smalltree editorial director

Jacquelyn M. Howard executive editor

rosemary Cafasso associate site and news editor

Lena J. Weiner associate site editor

Jason sparapani Copy Editor

Linda Koury director of online design

Michael bolduc publisher

For sales inquiries, please contact:

Michael nadeau director of sales

[email protected]

techtarget 275 grove street

newton, ma 02466 www.techtarget.com

©2011 teChtarget. all rights reserved.

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