Time flies… I realized the other day that Outside In was published nearly 6 years ago. And while a lot has changed in the world and in the sphere of customer experience during that time, I firmly believe that the analysis and advice in the book are just as relevant in 2018 as they were(Read more…)
The Customer Journey DOES NOT EQUAL The Customer Lifecycle
When I bumped into a former colleague at a recent conference, he was eager to chat about a journey mapping initiative his organization (a major financial services provider) was kicking off. But I got a blank look when I asked what journeys his team planned to focus on. “We were going to do the whole(Read more…)
Our Top 10 Customer Experience Posts of 2017
It’s the beginning of a new year, which is always the perfect opportunity to reflect on the past and make grand plans for the future. (And just in case you’re wondering, that’s exactly what we’re doing here at Kerry Bodine & Co.) As part of that effort, I recently took a look back at our(Read more…)
How To Scale Service Design: Ubiquity
Last week I published the first in a series of four posts on how to scale service design, based on my closing remarks at this year’s Service Design Global Conference in Madrid. The focus of that first post was technology. In today’s post, the second in the series, I’ll talk about ubiquity. “Ubiquity” can mean a lot(Read more…)
Why Journey Maps?
Journey maps have become one of the most popular tools for understanding and improving customer experiences. (Case in point: more than 1,000 people have downloaded our free journey mapping template since the beginning of this year.) But why are journey maps so popular? And why should you invest in developing them? Let’s start with the(Read more…)
2017: The Year Of The Journey
Over the last decade, journey maps have transformed from obscure design artifacts to common customer experience tools. And they’re not just for CX professionals anymore. When I recently met with a group of three dozen cross- industry customer service, operations, and technology professionals, most of their eyes lit up when I mentioned journey maps—and several(Read more…)
The 9 Stages Of The Archetypal Customer Journey
No two customer journeys look the same. No two customers will ever interact with you in exactly the same way at exactly the same time—nor will they share exactly the same perceptions, thoughts, emotions, and memories about those interactions. And yet, to create customer journey maps, we need to assume some degree of similarity amongst(Read more…)
Do You Think About the End of Your Customer Relationships?
Today’s marketers and customer experience professionals put a tremendous amount of focus on the beginning of the customer relationship. They focus on optimizing the steps that lead up to that all-important point of purchase, and then try to create smooth onboarding experiences. This is essential work. Companies need to make it easy for customers to(Read more…)
Onboarding: Start Your Customer Experience Off Right
Companies that want to improve their customer experience often struggle with where to start. The answer, often, is at the beginning. I don’t mean to be flip. I’m talking about the beginning of the customer lifecycle, that critical time when companies work to convert prospects to fully integrated and profitable customers. Onboarding shapes your customers’(Read more…)