June 17, 2025 • 18 mins
Customer experience failures often illuminate the path to real transformation. In this episode, we explore how common CX missteps—from disconnected tools and siloed teams to unused customer data—can undermine trust and stall growth.
The pandemic exposed just how fragile customer loyalty can be. Brands like Peloton had to pivot quickly as expectations shifted overnight, revealing the importance of clear communication and leadership.
True CX success begins with executive alignment, a defined mission, and a strategy that ties customer insights to business outcomes. Empower your teams to challenge assumptions and stay attuned to what matters now—not yesterday.
Ready to transform your approach to customer experience? Take our quick assessment at cxicompass.com to discover your organization's strengths and opportunities. Share this episode with colleagues who are passionate about customer-centricity, and join us in turning experience insights into strategic action.
Resources Mentioned:
Take the CXI Compass™ assessment -- http://cxicompass.com
Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com
Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
MC (00:00):
Experience Action.
Let's stop just talking aboutcustomer experience, employee
experience and the experience ofleaders.
Let's turn ideas into action.
Your host, Jeannie Walters, isan award-winning customer
experience expert, internationalkeynote speaker and founder of
Experience Investigators, astrategic consulting firm
(00:20):
helping companies increase salesand customer retention through
elevated customer experiences.
Ready set action.
Jeannie Walters (00:31):
It's the Experience Action Podcast, and
today we're talking aboutsomething that we need to talk
about, but sometimes we don'tlike to admit it.
Let's talk about failures.
Listener Question (00:43):
Hey, Jeannie, it's Staci.
I'd love to know what's one ofthe biggest lessons you've
learned from a CX failure.
Maybe something that didn't goas planned but really changed
how you think about customerexperience going forward.
Jeannie Walters (00:57):
What a fascinating question, and I
really want to think about thisa little bit differently.
But what I would love toexplore today with you is the
idea of customer experiencefailures and what we can learn
and the lessons that we gainfrom those, how to gain that
executive buy-in and why it's soimportant to prevent those
failures or even help you kindof move through them.
(01:19):
And then I want to look at oneperiod of time specifically, and
that's when COVID reallychanged customer behavior.
There were a lot of misstepsduring that time, and there were
some that we simply all learnedfrom, so let's talk about that
too.
So first of all, I want to sharea story about a retail
organization.
(01:39):
They had all the trimmings of agreat CX program on paper, and
what I mean by that is they hadinvested in the technology and
the tools.
They had a feedback platform,they had journey maps, they had
a voice of the customer team.
And yet every month they werestruggling.
(02:00):
They were struggling withreporting back on what they were
doing.
They were struggling withshowing the value that their
team brought to the organization.
They were struggling withreally understanding where did
their role begin and end?
Because they were collectingall this feedback and going back
(02:25):
to the teams and saying, hey,we need your help on this.
Customers are telling us thisisn't working for them and those
teams were able to kind ofshrug it off because there was
no accountability to them.
They had to try to doeverything through influence,
which is where a lot of customerexperience teams are.
So when we started workingtogether, we really realized
right away that, while theythought their problem was fixing
(02:49):
a lot of the things that werebroken, we realized that they
had to take a step back.
They had to have a strategicinitiative.
They had to define what successlooked like.
Now, obviously, if we aresurveying customers, if we are
gathering that feedback, andthen we're never doing anything
about it, that is absolutelybreaking trust.
(03:11):
That is decreasing trust withthe customers that we serve.
If we are approaching this andthinking about it from that
strategic level, then thatimpacts even the questions that
we ask our customers.
What are we committing to?
How are we using their valuabletime and feedback?
(03:31):
All of this goes together, butit's really hard to do this if
you don't have your strategywell defined.
Now, Customer experience cannotthrive in an organization
without leadership backing.
We need that executive buy-in.
We need our leaders tounderstand that this is part of
who we are and how we dobusiness.
(03:52):
It's not something we can justtack on with a poster or a
survey.
We also have to realize thattools do not equal strategy.
I've seen a lot of strategicinitiatives that are actually
tool-driven, meaning that we geta new technology, everybody's
very excited about it andsuddenly the whole strategy is
about using that technology.
(04:13):
Technology is a tool.
We have some amazing toolscapable of unbelievable things
now, thanks to AI and some otherfactors.
That's all wonderful and weshould lean into that, but
before we use a tool, we shouldknow where we're going.
What are we going to do withthat tool?
You don't walk around with ahammer and hammer into a wall
(04:36):
just because it's there.
You use the hammer because youknow exactly where you want to
hang that picture in your home.
So think about what is thestrategic initiative that you
are leading, and not just aboutwe've got to get this survey out
, or I need to report on thesenumbers.
Everything comes back to thewhy.
So we have to drive that withaccountability, real definitions
(05:00):
, understanding our mission.
So if you don't have a customerexperience mission statement
and a customer experiencesuccess blueprint, this is your
sign.
It's time to get it done.
Now let's talk about that periodof time when so many customer
expectations changed, ourbehaviors changed.
We were working from home,living from home, doing
(05:20):
everything, and we had to adaptto a different world.
One of the things that we sawhappen to several brands during
that time period the one thatstood out to me was Peloton.
There were different levels ofdemand.
People didn't go to gyms, theycouldn't get into their health
clubs, so they wanted thosePeloton bikes and treadmills in
(05:42):
their homes.
And the demand went up so muchthat Peloton could not keep up.
So they started losing trustbecause there were all these
delays, there were all thesereasons why they couldn't get
that out there, and then theyhad a terrible safety issue with
their treads and it took them awhile to really show that
empathy and recall, send out theinformation for recalls and
(06:04):
things like that.
Now I will say that since then,Peloton has regained a lot of
that trust.
I'm still a member.
I still love Peloton.
I know many members feel thatway too.
But I think that when we arelooking at what happened, none
of us could have predicted thatglobal pandemic and how fast
things shut down and all ofthose things.
However, what we can do is knowenough about our measures of
success that when things starthappening, we start
(06:34):
communicating.
We start communicatingproactively with our customers.
We start preparing them forthings like expected delays.
We start looking to our supplychain and our suppliers and
vendors and partners and workingtogether and saying we think
this might be happening, let'swork together on this.
So customer experience is somuch more than how people
(06:56):
categorize it sometimes withcustomer service or just
gathering feedback.
We have to think big.
We have to think about theactual customer journey and if
we start seeing those indicators, we have to be the ones to
speak up on behalf of ourcustomers.
And I would say this is when wesay our customers are going to
lose trust in us if.
(07:17):
If we can't deliver on time, ifwe don't communicate about this
error, if we don't step up andrecall our product when we need
to.
So we have to be the ones tolook around and say we've got to
do something about this for andon behalf of our customers.
So what is a lesson from thatwe can learn?
(07:38):
When we have misalignedinformation with customer
expectations, that will degradetrust.
So we want to make sure that weunderstand our customers'
expectations and we areproactively communicating.
Another thing aboutcommunication, though I don't
know if you've noticed this, butpeople don't really read
anymore.
(07:58):
So if you send lots of emailsor lots of letters, don't expect
that to solve everything.
We have to get creative in howwe proactively communicate with
customers.
We talk a lot about texting now.
We talk a lot about differentways that we can show up in the
moment of their journey and sayI know this is your expectation,
(08:19):
this is what's actually goingon, and remind them and share
with them and give them choiceabout communication.
Communication is such a hugepart of every customer journey.
We have to give it the credenceit deserves and the attention
it deserves to really do thiswell for our customers.
Another example that happenedwith one of our clients we were
(08:41):
working for a very large globalorganization and in the
beginning everybody was veryexcited because they had kind of
grown by osmosis when it cameto customer experience.
So one department startedworking on it and somebody else
their customer experience teamwas very good at communicating
about the value of focusing oncustomers and everybody kind of
(09:05):
understood the assignment.
The challenge was everythingwas done in this very ad hoc way
.
So there were hundreds ofinitiatives going on, but they
weren't centralized, theyweren't part of that bigger
strategy, and so the executivesweren't aligned on what this was
.
There was no unified roadmap.
They were really trying tosolve all the problems at once
(09:28):
instead of prioritizing andsolving them within the context
of the customer journey.
Because if we don't take thatstep, what happens is somebody
in marketing might feel like,wow, we solved this issue
because we're going to send asurvey in this moment and find
out and get back to ourcustomers with a personalized
marketing plan.
(09:48):
And then somebody in customersupport keeps hearing about all
these issues that are happeningwith that personalized plan, but
they don't have the rightinformation.
They don't even know what thatis.
So we have to make sure that weare coming together on the
customer journey.
We're taking that holistic viewand we are working together as
(10:08):
a team on that customer journey.
If we do this well the numbersthat people care about, those
customer feedback numbers, thosewill go up.
But we have to remember thatthose numbers are measurements
and not outcomes.
So, as excited as everyone getsabout surveys and metrics,
those are measurements, notoutcomes.
(10:29):
Our job is to create the rightefforts and outcomes to drive
that feedback forward.
So if we are looking at thatexample, what we learned and the
mistakes that we saw was thatthe intention was there,
everybody wanted to do the rightthing, everybody wanted to
participate in really activecustomer experience initiatives,
(10:50):
but the problem was, by allthose good intentions across the
organization, they wereactually creating a confusing
and conflicting experience forthe customer.
So the mistake there was that,frankly, intentions aren't
enough.
We have to make sure we havethat plan and that we have
governance over that.
(11:11):
We have somebody in the middleof that organization a team, an
advisory board, whatever thatcan help us with understanding
what are our priorities, whatare we doing to get there and
who's doing what when.
So when we think about whathappened during that time,
during COVID and during allthese other times when
(11:32):
expectations change or maybeyour organization changes, there
will be mistakes, right.
So we just have to kind ofaccept that.
But one thing I want tohighlight here is that we can't
rely on what I would call legacyexpectations, meaning we can't
say things like well, people inthis age range always want this.
(11:53):
I still hear this sometimes.
People say things like well,older people don't want to mess
with technology, and that'ssimply not true anymore.
We have to be very carefulabout relying on kind of those
old tropes of things that usedto be true, that aren't.
And now, as we move forward, wehave to think about okay, what
(12:15):
if that changes?
Because otherwise we will makemistakes.
We will make mistakes byassuming we know what our
customers.
We're assuming that a certainsegment or a certain demographic
has needs that maybe they don'thave anymore.
So we have to constantly haveour radar up, constantly be
looking at those data andinsights that we get from the
(12:36):
feedback, from the way they'rebehaving, from our operational
metrics.
We are experience investigators.
This is what we do.
We want to dig in, we want tofigure out what is the truth
today, because the truth todaycould be very different than the
truth six months ago.
That's another mistake to watchout for.
And then, really, when we talkto our clients I'm going to give
(13:00):
you a rundown of a few mistakesthat we see a lot.
One those siloed efforts.
So the journey is broken.
Technology is all over theplace.
People don't know what's goingon with the holistic journey.
Instead, they're justmyopically focused on their
piece of it.
The feedback black hole.
This is where we collect a lotof feedback from customers, but
(13:21):
we don't actually use it.
We don't turn it around intoinsights that go to action.
We don't close the loop withcustomers.
That is another big one we see.
Rigid policies.
I'm sure you've all seen thisas customers too where we go to
a store and the return policy isso archaic and cumbersome and
old and you can tell that theemployees don't really like what
(13:44):
they have to tell you either.
If there are policies that areso rigid that employees are not
empowered to really do anythingabout that, then we need to
revisit that.
That could be a big mistake,especially during these
unpredictable crises, theseunpredictable times.
We want to make sure we areempowering our employees in the
right way, and then we areentering the age I shouldn't say
(14:08):
entering we've been here for awhile.
We are talking about automationmore and more and more, aren't
we?
And that's great, becauseautomation is going to give us
so many gifts and tools.
But if we swing the pendulumtoo far and become over-reliant
on automation without humanoversight, that is a huge
mistake I want you to watch outfor, because that is something
(14:30):
that will lead to frustratedcustomers, frustrated employees
and endless loops where we don'tactually know what's happening.
So make sure that all of yourautomation has those human
checks.
We've talked about this inprior episodes where we need to
do audits, we need to check in,we need to make sure that things
are kind of staying fresh andstaying true for today, not
(14:53):
yesterday.
When we really boil this alldown, it comes down to the why,
what and how and the why that'syour customer experience mission
statement.
The more that you are connectedto a North Star about why are
we doing this in the first place?
What do we really do for ourcustomers?
We don't sell them widgets.
We sell them widgets to dosomething.
(15:14):
What is that?
Are we helping them achieve agoal?
Are we helping them run abetter business?
Are we helping them feel acertain way?
That is meaningful.
We need to tap into that.
Then we want to go into the what.
This is where we figure out youknow what we're an organization
that has to be successful byinvesting in the customer
(15:36):
experience.
How will that benefit theorganization and our goals?
That's your strategy.
That's your customer experiencesuccess blueprint.
That's where you want to reallymap out what are we trying to
do, what are our goals, how arewe going to get there and what
are our measures of successalong the way.
That will help you prioritizewhen all this stuff is coming at
(15:59):
you.
And then, finally, the how.
How are we going to do this?
Who's doing what when?
How can we get thecross-functional support we need
?
How can we make sure that weare taking the right efforts in
the right moments?
How can we have that governancethat we need?
All of that is that businessdiscipline piece.
So that's really our CXIapproach.
(16:21):
We are customer experienceinvestigators, and now so are
you.
So make sure that as youapproach any of your work, you
think proactively about avoidingthese mistakes, about making
sure you're getting thatexecutive buy-in, that you're
working cross-functionally, thatyou have a clear vision for
(16:42):
your customer experience missionand a clear definition of
success.
Those pieces will help you somuch.
It is the polar opposite of whatwe see in many organizations,
which is basically just a wholebunch of things thrown at the
customer experience team to fixand it's done in a vacuum.
(17:03):
That serves you short termsometimes.
It does not serve you long term.
We want this to be a long termvision and strategy for you.
What a great question.
You all always bring it and Iappreciate it.
And if you know somebody whowould benefit from this podcast,
please share it with them.
(17:24):
Share your rating and reviewswherever you listen.
That helps us a ton as well.
And, of course, don't forget,you can always leave me a
voicemail at askjeannievip.
And if you're curious, ifyou're hearing all this and
you're curious how you're doing,go ahead and check out
cxicompasscom, where you cananswer 11 questions in and out
(17:45):
in about three minutes andyou'll get your quiz results on
where you might want to focusyour customer experience efforts
.
We can't wait to hear more fromyou.
Find us atexperienceinvestigatorscom and
hey, congratulations, I justdeputized you.
You're an experienceinvestigator now.
Way to go.
I'll see you next time.
To learn more about ourstrategic approach to experience
(18:09):
.
Check out free resources atexperienceinvestigatorscom,
where you can sign up for ournewsletter, our Year of CX
program and more, and pleasefollow me, Jeannie Walters, on
LinkedIn.
Experience Action.
Let's stop just talking aboutcustomer experience, employee
experience and the experience ofleaders.
Let's turn ideas into action.
Your host, Jeannie Walters, isan award-winning customer
experience expert, internationalkeynote speaker and founder of
Experience Investigators, astrategic consulting firm
(00:20):
helping companies increase salesand customer retention through
elevated customer experiences.
Ready set action.
Jeannie Walters (00:31):
It's the Experience Action Podcast, and
today we're talking aboutsomething that we need to talk
about, but sometimes we don'tlike to admit it.
Let's talk about failures.
Listener Question (00:43):
Hey, Jeannie, it's Staci.
I'd love to know what's one ofthe biggest lessons you've
learned from a CX failure.
Maybe something that didn't goas planned but really changed
how you think about customerexperience going forward.
Jeannie Walters (00:57):
What a fascinating question, and I
really want to think about thisa little bit differently.
But what I would love toexplore today with you is the
idea of customer experiencefailures and what we can learn
and the lessons that we gainfrom those, how to gain that
executive buy-in and why it's soimportant to prevent those
failures or even help you kindof move through them.
(01:19):
And then I want to look at oneperiod of time specifically, and
that's when COVID reallychanged customer behavior.
There were a lot of misstepsduring that time, and there were
some that we simply all learnedfrom, so let's talk about that
too.
So first of all, I want to sharea story about a retail
organization.
(01:39):
They had all the trimmings of agreat CX program on paper, and
what I mean by that is they hadinvested in the technology and
the tools.
They had a feedback platform,they had journey maps, they had
a voice of the customer team.
And yet every month they werestruggling.
(02:00):
They were struggling withreporting back on what they were
doing.
They were struggling withshowing the value that their
team brought to the organization.
They were struggling withreally understanding where did
their role begin and end?
Because they were collectingall this feedback and going back
(02:25):
to the teams and saying, hey,we need your help on this.
Customers are telling us thisisn't working for them and those
teams were able to kind ofshrug it off because there was
no accountability to them.
They had to try to doeverything through influence,
which is where a lot of customerexperience teams are.
So when we started workingtogether, we really realized
right away that, while theythought their problem was fixing
(02:49):
a lot of the things that werebroken, we realized that they
had to take a step back.
They had to have a strategicinitiative.
They had to define what successlooked like.
Now, obviously, if we aresurveying customers, if we are
gathering that feedback, andthen we're never doing anything
about it, that is absolutelybreaking trust.
(03:11):
That is decreasing trust withthe customers that we serve.
If we are approaching this andthinking about it from that
strategic level, then thatimpacts even the questions that
we ask our customers.
What are we committing to?
How are we using their valuabletime and feedback?
(03:31):
All of this goes together, butit's really hard to do this if
you don't have your strategywell defined.
Now, Customer experience cannotthrive in an organization
without leadership backing.
We need that executive buy-in.
We need our leaders tounderstand that this is part of
who we are and how we dobusiness.
(03:52):
It's not something we can justtack on with a poster or a
survey.
We also have to realize thattools do not equal strategy.
I've seen a lot of strategicinitiatives that are actually
tool-driven, meaning that we geta new technology, everybody's
very excited about it andsuddenly the whole strategy is
about using that technology.
(04:13):
Technology is a tool.
We have some amazing toolscapable of unbelievable things
now, thanks to AI and some otherfactors.
That's all wonderful and weshould lean into that, but
before we use a tool, we shouldknow where we're going.
What are we going to do withthat tool?
You don't walk around with ahammer and hammer into a wall
(04:36):
just because it's there.
You use the hammer because youknow exactly where you want to
hang that picture in your home.
So think about what is thestrategic initiative that you
are leading, and not just aboutwe've got to get this survey out
, or I need to report on thesenumbers.
Everything comes back to thewhy.
So we have to drive that withaccountability, real definitions
(05:00):
, understanding our mission.
So if you don't have a customerexperience mission statement
and a customer experiencesuccess blueprint, this is your
sign.
It's time to get it done.
Now let's talk about that periodof time when so many customer
expectations changed, ourbehaviors changed.
We were working from home,living from home, doing
(05:20):
everything, and we had to adaptto a different world.
One of the things that we sawhappen to several brands during
that time period the one thatstood out to me was Peloton.
There were different levels ofdemand.
People didn't go to gyms, theycouldn't get into their health
clubs, so they wanted thosePeloton bikes and treadmills in
(05:42):
their homes.
And the demand went up so muchthat Peloton could not keep up.
So they started losing trustbecause there were all these
delays, there were all thesereasons why they couldn't get
that out there, and then theyhad a terrible safety issue with
their treads and it took them awhile to really show that
empathy and recall, send out theinformation for recalls and
(06:04):
things like that.
Now I will say that since then,Peloton has regained a lot of
that trust.
I'm still a member.
I still love Peloton.
I know many members feel thatway too.
But I think that when we arelooking at what happened, none
of us could have predicted thatglobal pandemic and how fast
things shut down and all ofthose things.
However, what we can do is knowenough about our measures of
success that when things starthappening, we start
(06:34):
communicating.
We start communicatingproactively with our customers.
We start preparing them forthings like expected delays.
We start looking to our supplychain and our suppliers and
vendors and partners and workingtogether and saying we think
this might be happening, let'swork together on this.
So customer experience is somuch more than how people
(06:56):
categorize it sometimes withcustomer service or just
gathering feedback.
We have to think big.
We have to think about theactual customer journey and if
we start seeing those indicators, we have to be the ones to
speak up on behalf of ourcustomers.
And I would say this is when wesay our customers are going to
lose trust in us if.
(07:17):
If we can't deliver on time, ifwe don't communicate about this
error, if we don't step up andrecall our product when we need
to.
So we have to be the ones tolook around and say we've got to
do something about this for andon behalf of our customers.
So what is a lesson from thatwe can learn?
(07:38):
When we have misalignedinformation with customer
expectations, that will degradetrust.
So we want to make sure that weunderstand our customers'
expectations and we areproactively communicating.
Another thing aboutcommunication, though I don't
know if you've noticed this, butpeople don't really read
anymore.
(07:58):
So if you send lots of emailsor lots of letters, don't expect
that to solve everything.
We have to get creative in howwe proactively communicate with
customers.
We talk a lot about texting now.
We talk a lot about differentways that we can show up in the
moment of their journey and sayI know this is your expectation,
(08:19):
this is what's actually goingon, and remind them and share
with them and give them choiceabout communication.
Communication is such a hugepart of every customer journey.
We have to give it the credenceit deserves and the attention
it deserves to really do thiswell for our customers.
Another example that happenedwith one of our clients we were
(08:41):
working for a very large globalorganization and in the
beginning everybody was veryexcited because they had kind of
grown by osmosis when it cameto customer experience.
So one department startedworking on it and somebody else
their customer experience teamwas very good at communicating
about the value of focusing oncustomers and everybody kind of
(09:05):
understood the assignment.
The challenge was everythingwas done in this very ad hoc way
.
So there were hundreds ofinitiatives going on, but they
weren't centralized, theyweren't part of that bigger
strategy, and so the executivesweren't aligned on what this was
.
There was no unified roadmap.
They were really trying tosolve all the problems at once
(09:28):
instead of prioritizing andsolving them within the context
of the customer journey.
Because if we don't take thatstep, what happens is somebody
in marketing might feel like,wow, we solved this issue
because we're going to send asurvey in this moment and find
out and get back to ourcustomers with a personalized
marketing plan.
(09:48):
And then somebody in customersupport keeps hearing about all
these issues that are happeningwith that personalized plan, but
they don't have the rightinformation.
They don't even know what thatis.
So we have to make sure that weare coming together on the
customer journey.
We're taking that holistic viewand we are working together as
(10:08):
a team on that customer journey.
If we do this well the numbersthat people care about, those
customer feedback numbers, thosewill go up.
But we have to remember thatthose numbers are measurements
and not outcomes.
So, as excited as everyone getsabout surveys and metrics,
those are measurements, notoutcomes.
(10:29):
Our job is to create the rightefforts and outcomes to drive
that feedback forward.
So if we are looking at thatexample, what we learned and the
mistakes that we saw was thatthe intention was there,
everybody wanted to do the rightthing, everybody wanted to
participate in really activecustomer experience initiatives,
(10:50):
but the problem was, by allthose good intentions across the
organization, they wereactually creating a confusing
and conflicting experience forthe customer.
So the mistake there was that,frankly, intentions aren't
enough.
We have to make sure we havethat plan and that we have
governance over that.
(11:11):
We have somebody in the middleof that organization a team, an
advisory board, whatever thatcan help us with understanding
what are our priorities, whatare we doing to get there and
who's doing what when.
So when we think about whathappened during that time,
during COVID and during allthese other times when
(11:32):
expectations change or maybeyour organization changes, there
will be mistakes, right.
So we just have to kind ofaccept that.
But one thing I want tohighlight here is that we can't
rely on what I would call legacyexpectations, meaning we can't
say things like well, people inthis age range always want this.
(11:53):
I still hear this sometimes.
People say things like well,older people don't want to mess
with technology, and that'ssimply not true anymore.
We have to be very carefulabout relying on kind of those
old tropes of things that usedto be true, that aren't.
And now, as we move forward, wehave to think about okay, what
(12:15):
if that changes?
Because otherwise we will makemistakes.
We will make mistakes byassuming we know what our
customers.
We're assuming that a certainsegment or a certain demographic
has needs that maybe they don'thave anymore.
So we have to constantly haveour radar up, constantly be
looking at those data andinsights that we get from the
(12:36):
feedback, from the way they'rebehaving, from our operational
metrics.
We are experience investigators.
This is what we do.
We want to dig in, we want tofigure out what is the truth
today, because the truth todaycould be very different than the
truth six months ago.
That's another mistake to watchout for.
And then, really, when we talkto our clients I'm going to give
(13:00):
you a rundown of a few mistakesthat we see a lot.
One those siloed efforts.
So the journey is broken.
Technology is all over theplace.
People don't know what's goingon with the holistic journey.
Instead, they're justmyopically focused on their
piece of it.
The feedback black hole.
This is where we collect a lotof feedback from customers, but
(13:21):
we don't actually use it.
We don't turn it around intoinsights that go to action.
We don't close the loop withcustomers.
That is another big one we see.
Rigid policies.
I'm sure you've all seen thisas customers too where we go to
a store and the return policy isso archaic and cumbersome and
old and you can tell that theemployees don't really like what
(13:44):
they have to tell you either.
If there are policies that areso rigid that employees are not
empowered to really do anythingabout that, then we need to
revisit that.
That could be a big mistake,especially during these
unpredictable crises, theseunpredictable times.
We want to make sure we areempowering our employees in the
right way, and then we areentering the age I shouldn't say
(14:08):
entering we've been here for awhile.
We are talking about automationmore and more and more, aren't
we?
And that's great, becauseautomation is going to give us
so many gifts and tools.
But if we swing the pendulumtoo far and become over-reliant
on automation without humanoversight, that is a huge
mistake I want you to watch outfor, because that is something
(14:30):
that will lead to frustratedcustomers, frustrated employees
and endless loops where we don'tactually know what's happening.
So make sure that all of yourautomation has those human
checks.
We've talked about this inprior episodes where we need to
do audits, we need to check in,we need to make sure that things
are kind of staying fresh andstaying true for today, not
(14:53):
yesterday.
When we really boil this alldown, it comes down to the why,
what and how and the why that'syour customer experience mission
statement.
The more that you are connectedto a North Star about why are
we doing this in the first place?
What do we really do for ourcustomers?
We don't sell them widgets.
We sell them widgets to dosomething.
(15:14):
What is that?
Are we helping them achieve agoal?
Are we helping them run abetter business?
Are we helping them feel acertain way?
That is meaningful.
We need to tap into that.
Then we want to go into the what.
This is where we figure out youknow what we're an organization
that has to be successful byinvesting in the customer
(15:36):
experience.
How will that benefit theorganization and our goals?
That's your strategy.
That's your customer experiencesuccess blueprint.
That's where you want to reallymap out what are we trying to
do, what are our goals, how arewe going to get there and what
are our measures of successalong the way.
That will help you prioritizewhen all this stuff is coming at
(15:59):
you.
And then, finally, the how.
How are we going to do this?
Who's doing what when?
How can we get thecross-functional support we need
?
How can we make sure that weare taking the right efforts in
the right moments?
How can we have that governancethat we need?
All of that is that businessdiscipline piece.
So that's really our CXIapproach.
(16:21):
We are customer experienceinvestigators, and now so are
you.
So make sure that as youapproach any of your work, you
think proactively about avoidingthese mistakes, about making
sure you're getting thatexecutive buy-in, that you're
working cross-functionally, thatyou have a clear vision for
(16:42):
your customer experience missionand a clear definition of
success.
Those pieces will help you somuch.
It is the polar opposite of whatwe see in many organizations,
which is basically just a wholebunch of things thrown at the
customer experience team to fixand it's done in a vacuum.
(17:03):
That serves you short termsometimes.
It does not serve you long term.
We want this to be a long termvision and strategy for you.
What a great question.
You all always bring it and Iappreciate it.
And if you know somebody whowould benefit from this podcast,
please share it with them.
(17:24):
Share your rating and reviewswherever you listen.
That helps us a ton as well.
And, of course, don't forget,you can always leave me a
voicemail at askjeannievip.
And if you're curious, ifyou're hearing all this and
you're curious how you're doing,go ahead and check out
cxicompasscom, where you cananswer 11 questions in and out
(17:45):
in about three minutes andyou'll get your quiz results on
where you might want to focusyour customer experience efforts
.
We can't wait to hear more fromyou.
Find us atexperienceinvestigatorscom and
hey, congratulations, I justdeputized you.
You're an experienceinvestigator now.
Way to go.
I'll see you next time.
To learn more about ourstrategic approach to experience
(18:09):
.
Check out free resources atexperienceinvestigatorscom,
where you can sign up for ournewsletter, our Year of CX
program and more, and pleasefollow me, Jeannie Walters, on
LinkedIn.
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