customer

I must admit that 'empathy maps' are something that is new to me.

Reading about them on NN/g I discovered that they are

A collaborative visualization tool used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. It externalizes knowledge about users in order to 1) create a shared understanding of user needs, and 2) aid in decision making.

Are you acting on what your customers are telling you?

Companies listen to customers but fail to make improvements to the customer experience as a result of what they hear.

There are a few reasons behind that, including but not limited to: a lack of actionable data, analysis paralysis, and not knowing what to do next or how to execute.

In the presence of actionable data, though, the next step (after analysis and answers) is to take action.

How do we rally the troops around the insights and get them to take and own the action?

I originally wrote today's post for Clicktools. It appeared on their blog on November 28, 2016.

Do you train your employees to talk to customers in company language or in customer language?

Did you realize that your company has a language? Or that your industry has a jargon? And that those  often (most of the time) differ from your customers' language? When the two collide, this becomes a customer experience nightmare.

I originally wrote today's post for Clicktools. It was published on their blog on October 25, 2016.

In this second part of a two-part series, I continue detailing some important ways to ensure that your company is putting the customer at the center of all it does.

I originally wrote today's post for Clicktools. It was published on their blog on September 28, 2016.

In this first part of a two-part series, I'll outline some important ways to ensure that your company is putting the customer at the center of all it does.

Success today comes from not only knowing who your customers are, but also why they buy.  It’s not enough to know your customers’ demographics (e.g., adults aged18-54) and category behaviors (what they currently buy, what products/brands they use).  Even knowing your customers’  economic value (e.g., customers who spend $500+ in our category, companies that have more than 100 employees, etc.) isn’t as revealing as understanding what drives them to make a purchase.  To understand customers’ motives — to improve your customer intimacy — you need to identi

“Cindy Barnes passion for genuine customer-centricity in business has made her a great business innovator and strategist. She is now leading Futurecurve after a prolific career in engineering and as Practice Leader at CapGemini. We are honoured to publish her guest post in our blog, dedicated to the “total value proposition” as the best way to create real customer-centricity. It's another great perspective we can give to businesses on how to become more customer centric - and more profitable.” – Stefan Kolle, co-founder of FutureLab.

Are you taking action on your customer data?

I like to write about taking action and actionable insights because there's a serious lack of action when it comes to customer feedback. I've witnessed it for far too long.

I've written about this topic a few times in the last several months:

The Definition of #CX Insanity

It took me a long time to realise that much of the work I do is about 'improving the customer experience'. My focus is on older customers, but whatever I recommend to clients cannot be at the expense of younger people. In most instances, if you improve the customer experience for older customers, it benefits all ages.