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...)
I’m thrilled to announce an exciting project with my partners at Doberman! We’re always looking for new ideas to inspire our work. So we recently reached out to some of our favorite customer experience authors, designers, and industry leaders to find out what they were thinking about at the beginning of 2015. The result is (Read More...)
Have you heard of CrossFit? It’s a style of workouts “comprised of constantly varied functional movements (like pushing, pulling, squatting, lifting, running) executed at high intensity.” People that do CrossFit don’t just go to the gym. They become certifiable CrossFit fanatics. I wanted to find out what all of the fuss was about, so last (Read More...)
In a previous post, I talked about the need for loyalty program interactions to be both useful and easy. In other words, loyalty programs need to provide some utility or help someone accomplish a task (whether that’s saving money, getting a free TV, or getting exclusive access to an event). And the process of doing (Read More...)
Organizers for the annual SXSW interactive, film, and music festivals recently posted their 2015 programming lineup — and I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be presenting with my friend and colleague, Lisa Lindström, CEO of the experience design firm Doberman. Our session, How Kids Changed the Way We Design for Adults, will showcase the lessons that Doberman (Read More...)
The best part of Uber’s customer experience this Halloween isn’t the little candy corns and witches that have replaced the regular vehicle icons on the in-app map. (Though I have to admit, those are pretty damn cute.) It’s the way Uber has set expectations about the surge pricing that will inevitably force Halloween revelers to (Read More...)
I go to a lot of conferences. A lot. And frankly, I’m sick and tired of all the bad nametag design that I see — even, or I should say especially, at DESIGN conferences. Here the major problems: Tiny type. Type sizes that are easy to read on a screen or on a printout that (Read More...)
In recent years, the size and scope of loyalty programs have grown to the point that nearly every customer interaction — from commerce transactions to core product/service usage — is intrinsically tied to either a loyalty program earning scheme or a reward. It’s impossible to shop at a major grocery or drugstore chain without seeing (Read More...)
The good news: companies of all shapes and sizes are implementing Voice of the Customer programs. The bad news: customers are being inundated with feedback surveys. Just this week, I’ve received survey requests from United Airlines, my veterinarian, my gym, and Airbnb. Airbnb’s was the only one I filled out. Here’s what Airbnb’s email invitation (Read More...)
In a recent post, I talked about the increasing complexity of loyalty programs — and how the earning schemes that marketers employ can influence customers’ perceptions of not only the program, but of the brand itself. However, it’s not just loyalty program inputs that have gotten complex. Program outputs — the rewards that customers get (Read More...)