CXPA Member Blog

CXPA Member Blog

This Blog features thought leadership from CXPA members and staff. All contributions are welcome!  Authors and commenters are reminded to adhere to CXPA's community expectations. Solicitation and direct selling are strictly prohibited, and CXPA has the sole discretion to remove any post for any reason.  For assistance with the CXPA blog, contact gabe@cxpa.org.

By posting to the CXPA blog, you contribute to advancing CX knowledge.  CXPA may share your post with the CX community through our online newsletter, social media, and other content channels.

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Don't let your most valuable resource go

By Nicholas Zeisler,CCXP posted 15 hours ago
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I’m blessed to have been recruited to work in the field of Customer Experience.  I came to the practice of CX via Process Engineering (Lean Six Sigma, or LSS).  Using PE to better our CX is an incredibly fulfilling use of a legacy approach to improving what we do.  Years ago, before I was involved in CX, I saw how, sadly, PE was often used to ‘find efficiencies’, which usually meant looking for redundancies and people to fire.  Back in the day, I mortified my then-boss when I posted the following article to my professional network about why that’s a bad idea.  Somehow it didn’t get me in trouble (too much).  I recently re-read it, gave it some buffing, and present ...

CXPA Need to Know for the Week of March 1st

By Joy Wedge posted 4 days ago
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Are you passionate about CX in Higher Ed? The CXPA launched a community initiative to develop a list of all institutions of higher learning that offer Customer Experience programs, courses, certificates, or degrees. The first phase in this project relies on the knowledge of the community, so please take a few minutes to complete a survey entry for each college, university or higher education institution that has a "Customer Experience" offering of which you are aware.  Complete Survey Here Now Open: CX Innovation Awards  The annual CXPA Innovation Award is presented by CXPA ...

Don't tell me you love me

By Nicholas Zeisler,CCXP posted 4 days ago
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A few years back I was at lunch with a mentor and there was something we needed or wanted that we had to ask for.  The waiter replied somewhat along the lines of:  “Well, we’re not supposed to do that, but I’ll go ahead and do that for you.” We thanked him, but after he walked away, my mentor turned to me and surprisingly said, “what poor form for him to say that.”  When I asked what he meant—after all, I was glad he’d singled us out for special attention—he explained, “so what, now we’re in his debt?  Like he’s done us a favor?” Over the years since, I often go back to that exchange and consider how that situation demonstrated a Customer Experience ...

Bem-vindo à CXPA: Growing CX in Brazil with Amigos do CX

By Gabe Smith,CCXP posted 4 days ago
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Building on previously announced partnerships to grow the CX discipline in Asia-Pacific, CXPA is proud to announce a 2021 collaboration with Amigos do CX. Based in Sao Paolo, Brazil and led by Bruno Guimarães , a CXPA member and CX practitioner, Amigos do CX is a non-profit aimed at advancing sound CX practices in Brazil. Guimarães will lead CXPA’s Brazil Network, which will serve as a community for the growing field of CX practitioners in the region. “I'm very proud and excited to lead the CXPA Brazil network . Brazil is a CX hotspot with great growth potential and opportunities,” says Guimarães.  “Having CXPA officially in Brazil will be a game-changer. ...

Is Social Responsibility a Part of Your CX Strategy?

By Bob Azman,CCXP posted 4 days ago
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I teach a global operations strategy graduate course at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.  Each semester I set aside one of our sessions to discuss corporate social responsibility within organizations especially as they pursue globalization of their products and services.  The lively discussion among students usually centers on which comes first, corporate profits or social responsibility?  This semester’s discussion prompted me to question if as professionals, we are advocating for social responsibility and incorporating it into our CX strategic design.  The definition of corporate social responsibility can vary depending on the organization, ...

Inclusive CX: Connect Direct Improves CX for Deaf Customers

By Gabe Smith,CCXP posted 5 days ago
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For the more than two million deaf individuals living in the United States alone, a great customer experience is hard to come by. As VP of Strategy and Development for Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) and its Connect Direct business line, Craig Radford aims to change that, one service interaction at a time. “Our vision is to create a world in which deaf people and hard of hearing people who use sign language have full and equivalent experiences as hearing people,” he says.  In the early 2000s, federal funding led to the creation of Video Relay Services (VRS), which allowed deaf individuals to utilize an interpreter to make phone calls to businesses. ...

Chesterton and his gate

By Nicholas Zeisler,CCXP posted 7 days ago
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One of my favorite Process Engineering tools is the Five Whys.  The basic principle is to consider a problem or imperfection, ask why it’s the way it is, and then ask why that explanation is so.  We keep digging (as the title suggests, five times, but your mileage may vary) until we’ve uncovered the true root cause of an issue.  The idea here is to work toward better understanding what’s behind a problem rather than simply fixing the facial, obvious symptoms.  This aids in efficiency as we’re less prone to waste our time simply swatting at proverbial flies but rather identifying an underlying failure, fixing it, and thereby avoiding further deficiencies. ...

8 Customer Experience Metric Silos Mask Momentum

By Lynn Hunsaker,CCXP posted 9 days ago
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Metrics selection can be the most pivotal decision you make in your customer experience management strategy. That’s because what gets measured gets managed. There’s a science to it. The trick to successful metrics selection is to connect the dots between cause-and-effect. That’s why customer experience metric silos mask momentum as either an understatement or an overstatement of reality. Team Metrics:  Continuity of performance measurement from the organization level to the team level, and to individuals is vital to “moving the needle”. When you think about it, team performance is the summation and synergy of the team members’ achievements. The same is true ...

Member Benefit Spotlight: Content Creation and Distribution

By Gabe Smith,CCXP posted 11 days ago
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Are you a CX professional who is interested in sharing your thought leadership with the global CX community? CXPA offers its members a variety of ways to elevate their insights on CXPA.org, through the CXPA Engine weekly newsletter or to its more than 70,000 social media followers: The CXPA Member Blog: Any member can create a blog post , so long as its content adheres to the Community Participation Guidelines . Blog posts on cxpa.org are distributed through the CXPA Engine weekly newsletter to more than 4,000 members and supporters. Insight Exchange Video Series: These 2-3 minute videos share your key insights related to a competency within the ...

CXPA Need to Know for the Week of February 22nd

By Joy Wedge posted 11 days ago
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CXPA 2021 Update: Goals to Advance CX We are committed to achieving our objectives through engaging the full CXPA community in collaboration, learning, and networking.  To ensure that everyone can participate regardless of any governmental, workplace, personal health, or safety restrictions, CXPA will forgo in-person activities in 2021 and instead focus on online engagement.  Adopting a goal-focused, virtual engagement strategy allows us to involve the entire global CXPA community to achieve CXPA’s 2021 goals.  Hear a special message from 2021 CXPA Chair Barbie Fink, CCXP that shares an update about CXPA's goals for this year. Watch ...

The risk of executive escalations

By Nicholas Zeisler,CCXP posted 11 days ago
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Executive escalations can be a real life-saver for an organization.  Whether it’s a high-profile Customer or just someone whose experience has gone completely off the rails, sometimes escalating dramatically can truly save the day for CX.  I recently had an experience that was saved by an executive escalation.  I happen to know a Senior Director at a service provider that had recently disrupted its service, potentially causing a serious problem for me.  He’s in CX too, and as a benefit of swimming in these waters, I was able to reach out to him directly and ask for help.  As you’d guess, my issue was handled with great effectiveness and speed. But that experience ...

Maybe you are already "​doing" CX

By Nicholas Zeisler,CCXP posted 13 days ago
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“You’re soaking in it.”  Do you remember that commercial  for dishwashing soap that was supposed to be so incredibly good for your skin that the lady who’d gone in (to see Madge, remember?) for a manicure was unknowingly enjoying its benefits, thinking she was dipping her fingers into some wonderful skin tonic?  Or have you heard the concept of fish not realizing they’re wet because they’re surrounded by water? This occurred to me the other day when I was speaking with a potential client about his organization’s CX efforts.  Some folks simply don’t see the forest for the trees and others overcomplicated the idea of Customer Experience so much so ...

What culture do you envision for your organisation? Agility and Collaborative Culture is not enough.

By Jonathan Daniels,CCXP posted 17 days ago
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This post originally appeared on the CX Centric Training Blog . Speaking to many business leaders especially in my part of the world, I am always keen to find out the overall culture that they set out to create. There are two specific themes that seem to be re-occurring today: 1.     Agility 2.     Collaborative Leadership In this article, I discuss both Agility and Collaborative Leadership, and argue that these two disciplines are not enough to ‘win’ in today’s competitive, fast-moving and complicated landscape. In late 2007 there was a study which said that 70 per cent of IT projects were over budget or delayed. Remember that? This ...

Nominations Open for CXPA's 2021 Innovation Award

By Gabe Smith,CCXP posted 18 days ago
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CXPA is now accepting nominations for its 2021 Innovation Award! This annual award celebrates and recognizes the critical role that CX teams play in driving customer-focused innovation within their organizations. Learn more about last year's winning organization--Optus--and  nominate your organization today . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three years ago, Genevieve McLean was hired to provide a diagnostic for Australian telecommunications provider Optus. She was tasked to answer a key question: how could Optus improve its Net Promoter ...

CXPA Need to Know for the Week of February 15th

By Joy Wedge posted 18 days ago
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CXPA 2021 Update: Goals to Advance CX We are committed to achieving our objectives through engaging the full CXPA community in collaboration, learning, and networking.  To ensure that everyone can participate regardless of any governmental, workplace, personal health, or safety restrictions, CXPA will forgo in-person activities in 2021 and instead focus on online engagement.  Adopting a goal-focused, virtual engagement strategy allows us to involve the entire global CXPA community to achieve CXPA’s 2021 goals.  Hear a special message from 2021 CXPA Chair Barbie Fink, CCXP that shares an update about CXPA's goals for this year. Watch ...

The struggle for feedback

By Nicholas Zeisler,CCXP posted 18 days ago
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I came across the following article I wrote in an earlier part of my consulting career (I was much thinner then).  Without knowing it at the time, I foreshadowed a lot of reflection that I use now as an executive CX consultant and Fractional CCO.  At the time my practice was mainly focused on training clients and facilitating workshops in Lean Six Sigma and Agile Project Management among other topics...mostly more transactional than the larger and more strategic work I do with clients these days.  Nonetheless, I think it is a microcosm of the concept of seeking  and acting on  feedback wherever you can.  I use it still as a consultant and encourage my clients ...

Don't ask questions if you already know the answer

By Nicholas Zeisler,CCXP posted 20 days ago
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A good lawyer never asks a question for which he doesn’t already know the answer.  That’s not necessarily just about being smart and being prepared.  Frankly, it’s a manipulation technique used to sway juries and judges:  When they get a witness on the stand, the most important thing for an attorney is to control the situation and allow just the right narrative to come through to the audience.  People can object to the ethics, but the technique is age-old. When we in the CX field speak of a similar rule, not asking questions to which we should know the answer.  Likewise, it’s not about just being prepared; it’s more in speaking to respect for our Customers.  ...

Are your business partners aligned to your newly established CX strategy?

By Bob Azman,CCXP posted 24 days ago
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You’ve worked hard on establishing a new CX strategy for your organization. In developing your strategy, you secured the commitment of executive leadership; received the buy-in from department leaders; established a cross-functional team of frontline employees seeking their perspectives; sought out the voice of your customers; analyzed touchpoints; created journey maps; alleviated pain points; measured your progress and celebrated your successes! There’s no question you’re hitting the ground running and your CX is hitting on all cylinders. Yet, customers continue to complain about shipping, packaging, deliveries, billing, and returns. Why? The source of these ...

CXPA Need to Know for the Week of February 8th

By Joy Wedge posted 25 days ago
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CXPA Webinar Review: Boost Customer Retention and Growth in 2021 What I loved: Ever since starting my career in Customer Experience, I've been fascinated with the practice of experience design. Journey mapping in particular was one of the key practices that ignited my passion for the field. This webinar was a spectacular complement to the core principles of designing customer experiences. Collin Shaw encourages creative thought around the concept of Nudging. Nudging, gently guiding, and influencing customer behavior at a subconscious level, is something we are all doing whether we know it or not.  Key Takeaways:  ...

CXPA Expands Global Partnerships to Advance CX in India and Asia-Pacific

By Gabe Smith,CCXP posted 25 days ago
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As CXPA celebrates its 10 th anniversary in 2021, Board Chair Barbie Fink, CCXP, says that international growth is a key objective for the association as it continues to promote sound CX practices and methodologies around the world. “As we continue to focus on global expansion for the CXPA, we all need to recognize that the best way for us to learn, grow, and lead is from each other." Greg Melia, CAE and CEO of CXPA, says that professionals with deep knowledge of the local business landscape are key to global CX advancement. “Great CX is driven by a deep understanding of current and potential customers.  We value the regional expertise of our partners to ...