Tag Archive of: customer communication

The red carpet

Let's go back in time. I think it was sometime in 1999. I worked at AMEV as a Life Inspector and I refinanced my mortgage. Because as an employee, I received a nice discount on the mortgage interest rate and I was happy to take that advantage. A few years later I started renovating and I was able to go to AMEV for that too.

Within AMEV there was a special office for employees, where everything was taken care of when taking out the mortgage. There was coffee ready, you could always walk in if you had any questions and also the communication about papers and the notary was well taken care of. There was no red carpet rolled out yet, but it felt that way. As employees, we were well pampered.

As a Life Inspector, I was responsible for a large area, east of Utrecht to the German border and helped intermediaries choose AMEV in the field of mortgages and pensions. I'm sure there are some time zones mixed up now, but I do remember that my clients – the intermediaries – didn't find our mortgage handling too flourishing. Communication was unclear. Their customers didn't understand our letters. It took a long time for official quotes to come. Things went wrong when sending the notary documents.

I didn't understand much of that. After all, we had arranged it so well, hadn't we? I really didn't know any better than that we as AMEV gave the red-carpet feeling to customers. Because that was my own experience. In Customer Experience, we call this the 'n=1 situation'. My own experience, would also be that of our customers and their customers. In addition, I didn't realize at the time that I had an inside-out view and was heavily contaminated with the 'curse of knowledge'. The what?! I had much more knowledge of mortgages, legislation, and processes than the customer who took out a mortgage. This is called the 'curse of knowledge'. As a result, I couldn't put myself in the shoes of the person without that knowledge. I missed the outside-in view.

I went with an intermediary to one of his customers and immediately saw where things went wrong with us. That the red-carpet feeling only applied to employees. But I also immediately saw the potential for improvement. 

That's exactly why I'm calling on everyone to visit customers themselves. Step out of your own processes, systems and ideas and look at the world through the eyes of the customer. Where the customer is. At the company or just at home. See where customers' needs lie, what keeps them awake at night and where the real potential for improvement lies. Who knows, you might also see where your organization can give that red-carpet feeling to customers.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on July 4, 2023

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*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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System

For a customer experience workshop I am conducting, I designed materials and had them printed. When I receive the envelope of printed materials, 75% of the order is missing.

Fortunately, I was in plenty of time to order and didn't need the materials right away. I can't call during opening hours because I'm participating in the annual fox hunt that day. To complete the picture for the visual thinkers: I am dressed as an orange supporter.

So I send a message to this printing giant. I include exactly the information I suspect the service person will need. The order number, that which did get delivered - my document named Handout, exactly as it says in the confirmation email - and that the other three items are missing.

Dressed entirely in orange, I walk around town in the meantime. I check my mail and read:


'Dear,

How annoying that things went wrong with the delivery of your order. So you have the handout, but the loose-leaf article and stickers are missing? When we have this clear then we can look at an appropriate solution.

Sincerely,

Madelon'

Um, yes. This is a case of copy-paste without reading properly. Because I already indicated that only the handout was provided. And apparently it is too much trouble to write to me with my name. Not recognized and certainly not acknowledged. I quickly reply back that this is indeed true. To get the following email back:

'Dear,

Totally right I put it in the system for you.'

Huh! And now? What a sloppy nothing email, even with a typo. She must have put it in the system, but what does that mean for me? For the entrepreneur who needs these materials to teach CX classes?

So this is where it often goes wrong. For Madelon it is probably obvious, but for me - the customer - it is now unclear. Is my order to the printer? Will I get my materials? And when? I send a short message on chat after this, to which a colleague kindly replies that the materials will be printed.

The fox hunt was top-notch. Just stripped of orange face paint, we sit enjoying afterward over Friday afternoon drinks. Then, at 6:41 p.m., I receive the cherry on the cake email.

'Dear Sir/Madam,

Unfortunately, due to excessive traffic, we were unable to ship your order today.

By: System'

What, this system is broken! Like so many systems. As a customer, it's killing me. It reminds me of a video from Little Britain, which I translate for you for free: 'System says NO.'

It's done: customer says NO. I'm going to look for another printer.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on May 2, 2023

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*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Not recognized

We are at my favorite hotel. The receptionist is waiting for us with a big smile. 'Good afternoon and welcome to...' I tell her we have a room reserved in Bloem's name. She dives into her computer screen and digs up our reservation.

"May I see your ID?" she asks. This surprises me, because it's about the tenth time I've been here. Still, why the legitimacy every time? It must be policy. I don't feel like being difficult, so I fish my driver's license out of my wallet.

Also, in the meantime, I grabbed my credit card. Because I was scammed online last year and so I have new credit card information. 'Can I have yours too?' she asks my husband. He looks at my credit card and she adds "I mean your ID. Huh! Does the guest also have to provide identification? A small sigh escapes me.

'Then the room costs X euros. To this we then add 50 euros per person, for if you go for breakfast, use the room service or bar, if you break something and other things. You will get this refunded if you don't use it. Agreed? I roll my eyes at my husband. 'If we break something! I guess it's also policy and I know she's probably an intern. But this really does feel like the first time we've been here AND like we're going to get drunk, smoke stoned and then smash up the room. Just a little warning for us. Anyway, we are in Amsterdam...

Five minutes later, the procedure is complete. We get our room keys and she explains to us how the elevator works. She also tells us that we have a beautiful room (yes I know, because I specifically asked for it). I briefly ask how things are going with the loyalty system because it went wrong last time. 'Yes ma'am, that does go wrong sometimes, but you can fix that yourself afterwards.' Still no sign of recognition that we are regular visitors. She wishes us a nice stay.

How can this be? Especially in this hotel where we come so often! Where, for the umpteenth time, they do not manage to recognize and greet us at the welcome as returning customers. As a loyal customer, this really makes you feel left out in the cold.

When we get to the room, there is a bear with a handwritten card on the bed. Written by the person with whom I booked the room. Now we do feel welcome. But if I were the director of this hotel, I would immediately do something about the check-in procedure.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on February 7, 2023

Don't miss another blog? Sign up for my monthly CX Greetz!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Out of sight

The newspaper was delivered later and later. As a morning person, I was bummed about that. In the meantime, I saw the call for new delivery drivers. With a bonus of no less than 1,000 euros for those who want to get on their bike with my newspaper early in the morning. The newspaper has too few deliverers and in my case that causes an inconsistent delivery time.

Because of that irritation about the delivery time, I also asked myself a few critical questions. I couldn't explain why I was taking away a huge pile of old paper every week. You can read a newspaper like that digitally, right?

I switched to a digital subscription during the week with a paper newspaper on Saturdays. In this way, I killed two birds with one stone: one less delivery address for the newspaper in the morning and my choice also has an impact on the environment: less tree felling and no more contribution to the paper shortage.

But here it comes. Since I got this digital subscription, I hardly read the newspaper during the week. It's crazy to read the news on my screen via a newspaper app. I actually already did that through nu.nl. Of course, that's where the nuanced opinion is missing. But then again, what am I missing about that!?

The ritual of taking the newspaper out of the bus, drinking a cup of coffee and then reading the newspaper. This now only happens on Saturdays. That is, if the newspaper is physically there.

What does this have to do with the beautiful field of customer experience? Everything. Because even in that, you can sometimes take people along in a change. And what's happening here with my newspaper app is exactly what's happening with strategy plans as well. With customer promises. With work instructions. They're on the web somewhere. But where again? Employees have to find out for themselves where the information is and what the content was. It's not top of mind and it never will be this way. And then, as management, we find it strange that people don't know, understand or support the company's strategy.

Therefore, if you are going to change, think very carefully about your message, the timing and the means. Check regularly to see if your message has stuck. Don't refer to that message somewhere on the intranet. Or that one fifteen-minute presentation in the digital kickoff. That's right: communication is a profession. Every change requires a strong introduction, a repetition and a visible message. Otherwise becomes out of sight, perhaps out of mind. Or the heart is not even ever found. Just like I don't care about that newspaper app. And we all know how that ends: that's a newspaper.

 

This blog was written for CustomerFirst and published on November 1, 2020

Don't miss another blog? Sign up for my monthly CX Greetz!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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This is how to handle customer surveys properly - CX lessons learned from TESO

As CX professionals, we often send out customer surveys. Or maybe we don't even send them, but we use the content for customer insights or reporting. Or to learn from it where we can improve our customer journeys.

I know a lot of CX professionals aren't responsible for closing the loop. That's a shame because it's actually a very important part of CX. You can really impact customer experiences and make a difference in your customers' lives. This is exactly where too many companies go wrong. So, if you do it right, you'll stand out from the crowd.

Lessons to be learned and actions to be taken:

A. The Strategic Lens:

  1. Responsibility. Find out who is responsible for closing the loop. If no one is responsible, make sure you discuss this and arrange responsibility.
  2. Leadership engagement. Align leadership on the topic. Does management think it's acceptable for you not to respond to surveys or reviews? Let them put it to the test themselves, so that they can experience for themselves how your company deals with feedback. That's how you create the buy-in you need.
  3. Future experiences. Determine how closing the loop fits in with your company's strategic goals and how you want to act on them. Are there certain customer segments that you do or don't want to respond to? Do you focus on transforming detractors into neutrals, or neutrals into promoters? Use your strategic lens and have those valuable conversations.
  4. Business case: Yes, you have to calculate what it will cost to be able to process all the feedback. Or start a pilot first to see what the impact is, so that you can calculate the ROI later.

B. The Tactical Lens:

  1. Why – Clearly describe why you do what you do. This way, you can explain to the team members how closing the loop fits into the company's strategy. What the benefits are. What went wrong in the past. How this will contribute to the future.
  2. Who – Who is actually going to take action based on the feedback? Is it the webcare team or the customer contact centre? Schedule time and, if necessary, have a conversation with HR about workers to be deployed. The who is often ignored. But also think about the who in customers. Is it the zeros and ones that you come back to? The neutrals? Or just the people who complain? Make it very specific.
  3. What – Describe what you need to do. Maybe a short script is needed. Always apologize, fix the problem, and go the extra mile. What kind of small gift can your colleagues give? Help them by outlining a framework about what you expect from them. Arrange for them to log into the CRM system.
  4. When – Do you call the customer the day after the feedback? Do you do that in the morning? How often do you try? But do you also have to report on progress? Describe everything, so that you organize it well in the long run.

C. The Operational Lens:

This is simply about implementation: concrete action. Calling customers. Troubleshooting. Celebrating successes. Involve others.

I suggest you think big and start small. Choose a pilot project. Experiment. In the long run, this will lead to your great success.

At the ferry service, they gave feedback their primary focus (I checked that afterwards). Employees have been trained to deal with feedback and have turned it into a game. They prided themselves on being able to solve problems and contact customers. They arranged it and acted accordingly. As a customer, I felt the same way. Now it's up to you to do the same!

Want to make sure you don't miss any more CX classes? Then sign up for my monthly CX Greetz, in which I share many CX experiences, inspiration and lessons with you.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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'Closing the loop' in CX at the TESO ferry on Texel

This story is about an 'old' customer experience. It's been over 2 years and I remember it like it was yesterday. Here we go.

Because my mother lives on the island of Texel, we often take the ferry to the island. I am even a shareholder in the ferry. One of the shareholder benefits is a special card with a credit on it to take your car with you for free five times a year. Every year on 1 January, these credits are automatically transferred to your card. Easy peasy, in other words.

It's January 5th and my car and I are at the ferry check-in. I give my shareholder card to the employee and she says, "Sorry, no more credit." I'm a little baffled and start the conversation that something must have gone wrong. It's the 5th of January, so it's almost impossible to have used up all my credits yet. She's not willing to help, no empathy. I have to go to the TESO office, which is only open during the week. And that's exactly when I'm not on Texel. But that was my problem. Not hers. She forces me to buy a ticket and I'm not happy. And that's putting it mildly.

I can't remember exactly how I got in touch with TESO. Maybe I sent an email. But I got a survey from the TESO and I gave them my feedback. Honestly didn't expect anything from it as 99% of companies don't take action on feedback. In CX terminology: no closing the loop.

The next day, the phone rings. I see a Texel's number, since I recognize the area code. A colleague from the TESO Boat Service asks me about my recent experience. She wants to know what happened, how I felt, and what I see as a solution.

She apologized for what had happened. What I really liked is that she didn't slander her colleague. She just said it wasn't the right response. And that she was going to solve the case. Of course, I didn't have to come to the office. She asked me to email a recent photo of myself (there is a photo on the shareholder card). Then she would arrange a new pass. This card was sent to my home address with the credits.

Two days later, my card arrives in the mailbox. With a sincere apology and a small present. I receive four coins for free coffee with apple pie. For me and my family the next time we take the ferry. What a way to create a beautiful moment for me. I can make my family happy with a treat and TESO is put in the spotlight, because they absolutely shine when it comes to 'closing the loop'. The problem has been solved, they have taken away my bad feeling and I have a nice memory of how this company understands how to make customers happy.

From this blog, I distilled some CX lessons. Curious? Read them here!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Group Ticket – CX Lessons Learned

When you book a large number of tickets as a customer, you are probably a B2B customer. But I wasn't in this case. Still, in such a case, you want to feel a little special. I'm booking 13 tickets! That must be a nice deal for the company, right? Better than 1 plane ticket, right?!
I felt nothing about this whole transaction. It was difficult, process-oriented and I even have ambiguity. Because, do I have the tickets or not! There is no portal where I can see if my booking was successful.

When I look at this process with my CX glasses on, I have four ideas on how to improve it:

  1. Step into your customer's shoes.
    Try booking a group ticket yourself. See how long it takes to get a quote. Experience the wait time on the phone. Print out the quote and contract. See how ugly it looks. Find the differences between what is in the contract and in the e-mail.
  2. Shortlist simple improvements and have a dedicated team pick it up.
    Especially the contract and communication. Add the "warm customer feeling. Make me, the customer, feel that you are happy with this 13-ticket deal. And see where you can remove ambiguities and add clarity.
  3. Align with other processes that customers are familiar with.
    Align with the convenience of individual processes, especially when it comes to booking an individual ticket. Also align terms and conditions. Why do I have more flexibility as an individual as a customer who has booked 13 tickets? Align and design the future. Think about digital channels, especially if you have problems with wait times in your customer contact center.
  4. Share in the organization, when it comes to customer-centric change.
    I would share these kinds of examples in the organization. At the Group Tickets team, these contracts and practices are the norm. This is how people have been working for years. They have "The Curse of Knowledge. But if you are a customer, like me, who is completely new to this, you feel trapped in the internal jargon and processes. So sharing the need for change and continuing to question daily routines is necessary for shaping a successful future when it comes to changing culture.

This is really about process improvement, but from the customer's lens. So not just Business Process Redesign, but really stepping into my shoes (that of your ideal customer) and helping me. Customer Journey mapping is the perfect way to do this. Did you know that my colleague Barbara van Duin has a great course to learn this. I took the course myself and recommend it.

I hope that everything will be okay with the tickets and that my friends, daughter and mother will fly to Bologna on May 20th! Time to experience La Dolce Vita. And then the experience with the group ticket booking is probably completely forgotten.

Want to make sure you don't miss any more CX classes? Then sign up for my monthly CX Greetz, in which I share many CX experiences, inspiration and lessons with you.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Group ticket

I'm turning 50 this year. Then comes the question. How do you want to celebrate? This year I will walk 1000 kilometers to Rome and celebrate it on May 17 in St. Peter's Square with my husband. But there was also a little voice in my head that I really want to celebrate this with my friends. Something really crazy. Extravagant. So... I invited all my friends, my daughter and mother for a weekend in Italy. I rented a beautiful villa above Verona and also arranged good food, drinks and a bike ride through the rolling hills.

Now I didn't want to be a travel agent, so I asked all the ladies to pay for (and arrange) the ticket themselves. However, it soon became apparent that the prices differed quite a bit. One friend was shown 221 euros and the other 271. In order not to get crooked faces, I offered to arrange a group ticket.

So I went to the website on Saturday morning and there I went through a number of fields. Where do you want to go, at what time, with how many people, etcetera etcetera. When I pressed 'Enter' after the last field, I was promised that I would get a quote within a day.

You can already feel it. I didn't get anything. And I felt the fear that due to delays on this line, the tickets would only become more expensive. So I went to call, but I couldn't get through. So wait and see.

After four days, the offer came. And what a quote. Four choices, even though I had made it very clear what I wanted. 13 tickets and at very specific times to and from Bologna. Within 10 minutes I responded back with what I wanted and then I got some kind of contract.

One for which you really must have attended the Ticket Academy. I also suspect that this is still from an AS400 system, judging by the font. Anyway. Especially a lot of attention to the cancellation policy, conditions and dates. All in text. Four pages full.

It also tells me when I have to provide a passenger list. Now that's nice, that clarity. But what should be included in a passenger list? Just names, or also dates of birth? Or also identity card numbers? I searched online for what should be in this list, but it can't be found. What a lack of clarity...  Especially since it's so different from how I book an individual ticket. Just, nice and online, very clear and as it turns out. Also for a much better rate.

When agreeing, I run into a contradiction. The contract states that I have to sign and email it. But the accompanying e-mail states that the payment confirms the reservation. So you don't have to send an email. Oh well, just to be sure, I sign, scan and confirm. Better safe than sorry. And then I'm going to make the first payment. I have to mention "Tigre" plus the contract number when paying. But should I or shouldn't I add the 'A' that is in the letter? Or also the '1/1' that is behind it. Oh help. I have paid and hope for the best that this will go well.

So yes, I don't understand the added value of this group booking option. Maybe if you're an event agency and have this kind of software yourself. But I feel really lost as an individual. I'll soon have 13 tickets, but I'm dependent on an e-mail address, which you just have to hope will respond. And a department that I have not yet reached by phone.

Fortunately, it is KLM and I trust that this will all work out. It's the big blue bird after all. Which reminds me of the slogan of that other organization that I associate with blue. We can't make it any more fun, which one is easier. Well, they should take a look at that here too!

From this blog, I distilled some CX lessons. Curious? Read them here!

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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Crash course in human emotions

Emotions you really need to recognize when interacting with customers and employees. For all in customer experience, marketing, sales and operations.

The last couple of days my feelings are deeper than a month ago. I feel sad when I see awful images on ICU's and when I hear stories of loss. I feel disgust of companies that just keep sending their stupid sales newsletters through email, like nothing is going on. I experienced fear while my fiance had corona. I experienced anger seeing people that were just out in the streets, pretending the world was still normal and they could go to the beach or the park, putting lives in danger. But also, I experience joy while watching funny videos, that I receive through WhatsApp. I felt relieved my fiance recovered from corona. I felt surprised when receiving a thoughtful handwritten card with caring words in my mailbox.

Somehow, my emotions are deeper. Are more on the surface and are more intense. Which actually not only happens in my emotional world. It also happens also in yours, your family, community, actually in the world of most humans that are now affected by corona. This requires that we, Customer Experience Professionals, people working in marketing, sales and operations, need to be aware of the intensity of emotions of our employees and customers.

We definitely need to recognize and learn how to deal with emotions to help our customers and employees in the best way.

To help you out to understand emotions and the range of emotions, I share the knowledge by Professor Robert Plutchick and his wheel of emotions. If you understand this, please use it in scripts, customer journeys, emails, campaigns, conversations, and probably many more situations. So, here we go....

The basics:

Plutchik considers there are eight primary emotions; anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipaation, trust and joy. Plutchik argues for the primacy of these emotions by showing each to be the trigger of behaviour with high survival value, such as the way fear inspires the fight or flight response (info wikipedia).

How are the eight emotions related:

As you can see in the emotion wheel, each primary emotion has an opposite; joy is the opposite of sadness, trust is the opposite of distrust, fear the opposite of anger, surprise is the opposite of anticipation

The emotions in between the eight basic emotions, are the combined emotions. So disgust plus anger, gives the emotion contempt. Or fear plus surprise, gives awe. As emotions are complex, this way of looking at emotions helps to understand where these emotions come from.

The intensity of emotions:

The emotions I feel in these times of corona, feel deeper, like they are more intense. That is what Plutchik visualizes by the brightness of the colors in the wheel. The deeper the color, the more intense the motion is felt. When looking in the yellow column, the lightest emotion is serenity, more deeper is joy and the emotion in the most intense way is ecstasy.

Plutchik's wheel of emotions provides a perfect framework for understanding emotions

Now what?

It is important for all of us, to dive deeper in emotions of our customers and employees. To understand what the emotions are they are experiencing. Because these emotions need to be taken seriously. As I learned on a mindfulness course, you can compare not taking your emotions seriously, like pushing a cork underwater deeper and deeper. In the end it will pop out faster than ever before. Remember my example of the company that just keeps sending me sales-oriented newsletters, that are in my view, not appropriate right now. I canceled their newsletter. As I explained the reason for my un-subscription, they reacted; "Thank you so much. We value your opinion" Which I know for certain is a standardized email, so they are not listening at all. Now I am really done with them, since I will remember this for a long time.

Three suggestions how to apply the knowledge of emotions:

1. In customer contact – Acknowledge emotions when you have conversations with customers. Or train your staff to acknowledge emotions. It is proven, that the more you ignore the more red/purple emotions, the more they will intensify. This also means that in these uncertain times, customer contact with regards to health, money and other uncertain topics, will take more time. So take that into account in average handle times.

2. In customer / employee communication – Examine what your customer or employee is feeling and experiencing right know. Describe and acknowledge these situations and emotions, so people will read/watch on. Make sure that when you show videos, that the person in the video, is honest and also shows emotion. A best practice, is the video of Arne Sorenson CEO of Marriott, who explains the impact of covid-19 on Marriott for the associates.

3. In Customer journey mapping sessions – Too often I see that Happy, Neutral and Unhappy are used to map emotions. You just read there are many more emotions and it will help you to diversify the emotions of customers. What are they really feeling right now and also, how do you want them to feel in the To-Be journey. Use the wheel in your design thinking processes. This more detailed wheel with described emotions might come in handy. It shows the diversity of emotions. Praise given to Danny Peters that uses this wheel in his customer journey mapping teaching sessions.

I hope this knowledge helps you to understand your customers and employees emotions better. Maybe even the emotions of yourself and the people close to you. Our emotions have deepened, maybe we even feel different emotions. So it is now even more important to be aware and pay the right attention.

Let's get active; Share your thoughts in the comments.

Was this article useful? Please let me know. And even more important, how could you apply or have your applied this knowledge? Please share in the comments. Let's grow our understanding of emotions and the impact on our CX work even more. Thank you and since it is important for all of us, a little personal note; stay safe.

 

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*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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