Tips to Help Your Brand Focus on the #CustomerExperience

I recently met Nate Brown through a #CustServ TweetChat on Twitter led by Marsha Collier, Roy Atkinson, and Greg Ortbach. As fellow fans of customer service and excellent customer experiences, I invited Nate to appear on my blog in a Q&A. Highlights of our conversation follow below a quick introduction.

Nate Brown is the Co-Founder of CX Accelerator. While customer service is his primary expertise, Nate leverages experience in professional services, marketing, and sales to connect dots and solve the big problems. From authoring and leading a Customer Experience program to journey mapping to managing a complex contact center, Nate is always learning new things and sharing with the CX community. Join the CX community at www.cxaccelerator.com/community and follow Nate on Twitter @CustomerIsFirst.

QUESTION: How do you define customer experience (CX)?
NATE BROWN: My absolute favorite definition is from Forrester: “How customers perceive their interactions with your company.” One of my favorite attributes of Customer Experience is that it’s both scientific and artistic: Scientific in the sense that it’s made up of repeatable steps and behaviors, and artistic in the sense that you are dealing with human emotions as the measure for success. 

TWEET THIS: Customer Experience is both scientific and artistic: Scientific in the sense that it’s made up of repeatable steps and behaviors, and artistic in the sense that you are dealing with human emotions as the measure for success. ~@CustomerIsFirst

QUESTION: How do you define customer experience marketing (CEM)?
NATE BROWN: To me, Customer Experience Marketing is when the whole organization works together to create excellent and CONSISTENT experiences across every touchpoint. There is a major positive impact on loyalty when customers feel as though they are dealing with a strong, uniform brand. This illusion is shattered when finance works one way, customer support speaks one way, sales team does their thing, and all the while, none of it is consistent with the “brand voice.” CEM results when marketing works together with the organization to develop the brand voice, and all employees make it a priority to become fluent.

TWEET THIS: Customer Experience Marketing is when the whole organization works together to create excellent and CONSISTENT experiences across every touchpoint. ~@CustomerIsFirst

QUESTION: What brand stands apart from its competitors by its understanding of providing a quality customer experience, and why?
NATE BROWN: That’s easy: Carvana. You can read complete details at  https://www.cxaccelerator.com/single-post/2017/12/05/Carvana-CX-and-Car-Buying-Finally-Meet. 

Here’s the story: Having recently purchased a car through Carvana, I’m a huge believer in the experience they’ve created. They’ve eliminated all the classic frustrations of buying a vehicle. By combining a remarkable digital experience on the front end to pick your car, a generally effort-free process to do your paperwork, and a magical vending machine to pick the car up, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. They are an incredible example of how intelligent CX design can turn an industry on its head.

QUESTION: What are your three favorite customer experiences?
NATE BROWN: Firehouse Subs, Tennessee Wildlife and Resource Agency, and B&H Photography.

Firehouse Subs: I sent a simple tweet complimenting one of their young workers for his customer service skill. Next thing I know, I have a box of awesome Firehouse swag and a very kind personalized note from the brand’s marketing team.

Tennessee Wildlife and Resource Agency: I was sitting on the side of a river and wanted to do some fishing but realized I didn’t have a license yet. I sent a tweet to TWRA on a Saturday morning. They responded almost immediately with a self-service option for me to purchase my license right on the spot. I had my line in the water within minutes. Social support for the win!

B&H Photography: I took a second to fill out a survey based on my digital purchasing experience. They responded back in a wonderful and personal manner, letting me know how much they appreciated my time and feedback. I was blown away to get a response at all, and shocked to get something so meaningful!

QUESTION: Which social platform is the best tool for creating a quality customer experience, and why? If different, which platform is the most effective for addressing customer complaints or issues in a timely manner, and why?
NATE BROWN: If we are going with just platform in general, I would go with PHONE. Because I’m old school. I just love a good conversation. If I have to choose a social platform, however, I would go with Twitter. It’s visible enough to get immediate attention, and flexible enough to correspond over direct message with a “chat channel” feel. Sadly, my social support experiences have still been very hit-or-miss. In many cases my request for support is entirely ignored.

TWEET THIS: Twitter is the best social platform for creating a quality customer experience because it's visible enough to get immediate attention, and flexible enough to correspond over direct message with a “chat channel” feel. ~@CustomerIsFirst

QUESTION: Your pinned tweet on Twitter says, “At the end of the day, #CustomerExperience is people being intentional about making other people’s life easier and better.” Can you explain this further?
NATE BROWN: It’s going back to the concept that CX is both an art and a science. It’s easy to get lost in the science of it all and focus on Net Promoter Scores and customer satisfaction levels. What really matters, however, is if you have positively impacted someone’s life through a better experience. Seek out the positive stories and celebrate them!
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My gratitude and appreciation to Nate for sharing his insights!

Image Credit: Concept thanks to Nate Brown.