In this episode of Getting to Aha!, Darshan Mehta is joined by Annette Franz, Founder & CEO of CX Journey. They discuss Annette’s aha! journey; how customer experience came to be so vitally important in business; when the customer journey truly begins; and the difference between being customer-focused and customer-centric. They also dive headfirst into the annoying habit that businesses have of ignoring customer feedback, as well as why leadership needs to change.

In addition to being the Founder and CEO of CX Journey, Annette Franz is also a keynote speaker, coach, consultant, and thought leader, and was named one of “The 100 Most Influential Tech Women on Twitter” by Business Insider. With thirty years in the CX profession under her belt, her book, Customer Understanding: Three Ways to Put the “Customer” in Customer Experience (and at the Heart of Your Business), is a testament to how much knowledge and advice she has to offer. 

👉 Customer Experience wasn’t always a widely talked about subject within businesses. Back in the early 2000s, there wasn’t much of an understanding about what customer experience truly was. Over time, however, metrics and data became a more prominent aspect of marketing; they were read and interpreted in different ways, and businesses were finally beginning to understand that customer loyalty and satisfaction were two separate things. It wasn’t until 2010 that CX became more widely talked about.

👉 The customer experience really begins at the moment of need, when the customer has a problem that needs solving. The minute that moment comes into fruition, it’s up to businesses and CX professionals to act fast and come up with ways to solve the problem. It’s all part of the customer life cycle.

👉 Don’t just be customer focused, be customer-centric! But what’s the difference between the two? Well, the former is more tactical and focuses on the short-term approaches of what to do when a customer is in front of you. The latter, however, is far more strategic, meaning it takes into account long-term strategies for retaining customers and making sure they come back.

👉 Annette recalls a client who had a really unhealthy approach to customer relationships before the introduction of CX; they would think that customers were trying to take advantage of them, leading to a lot of resentful feelings towards them, breeding toxicity. It wasn’t until there was an analysis of the business’ core values that the idea of ‘customer trust’ came to be. Through this, they were able to decide what behaviors were acceptable or not.

👉 Whilst customer experience is so important, we need to also remember how the employee’s experience factors in, after all, the two are inherently linked. You can’t have a good relationship with your customers if your employees aren’t happy - it’s about striking that balance.

👉 Businesses have the annoying habit of getting feedback from customers and then not doing anything with it. It’s very important to keep up-to-date on what your customers want, otherwise, they will leave you for a competitor who actually does listen. By taking their feedback into account, you are actively telling your customers that you hear them and that you are working to make their experience better.

👉 It starts at the top: you have to change the mindset of business leaders before being able to make a real difference for your customers. There is the assumption that leaders are completely separated from the customer experience, that there is a wall between them - in order for change, this needs to not be the case.

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Episode Resources

Annette’s LinkedIn