Step 4 to CEM Greatness: “Take it to the Board”

Continuing the series 5 Steps to Customer Experience Management (CEM) Greatness, this week I will look at the fourth step, Take it to the Board!

From Fizzback’s experience one of the most important parts of developing and implementing a successful CEM programme is having support across the whole of boardroom. Customer feedback used to be merely the realm of the insight team, but companies must move away from this traditional and outdated idea. Customer feedback is not solely about measuring the satisfaction of your customers but about using rich data and information to drive performance improvement, and this starts with the board.

Is Social Media affecting "Willingness to Recommend"?

With the inception of Google+ currently going through its testing, has social media reached the point where every part of our life is documented, and blasted out into the public space (or at least to all are friends or followers). For some this may already be the case, as on sites such as Facebook you can check in to various locations within a city or country, or loyal Twitter users tweeting out there every move. But what does this mean for customer feedback, and perhaps more importantly how does this affect customers Willingness to Recommend (WTR) products and services? I think there are a couple of key points to be made:

Is the (Right) Customer Always Right?

In the realm of Customer Experience Management, all companies must recognize the importance of listening to their customers to stay competitive. I note that “listening” implies a passive nature, the true value is what companies do with the feedback and insights received. But this all starts with receiving and organizing feedback, both solicited and unsolicited, and deciding if all customer comments should be weighted equally.


In 1909, a London Department Store founder named Harry Gordon Selfridge coined the phrase “The Customer is Always Right!”. I applaud Selfridge and any company leader for having a customer focused service philosophy and boldly proclaiming this to a broad audience. And certainly customers do tend to believe they are right, just ask a call center agent or service professional!

With the advent and widespread adoption of social networks, customers have a much louder voice and can (and will) provide feedback on product and service experiences. Each customer will believe they are “right” and will expect the company to listen to and act upon their feedback. So should you listen to all your customers or hand the “megaphone” to those that deserve your greatest attention, your target market customers?

Fizzback helps clients through engaging with potential and current customers and developing insights from their quantitative and qualitative feedback. We encourage seeking feedback from EVERYONE, vociferous and silent customers and prospects, in order to better understand their needs, identify opportunities, and better engage with your most valuable customers.

Brian Powers

For more info on Fizzback visit www.fizzback.com

Gathering Feedback through the Customer Journey

“I took the [road] less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

How would you feel faced with the discovery that your shiny new phone, painstakingly chosen after an hour of in-depth conversation with the shop assistant, was available online cheaper? Far from happy would be my guess; even if the experience in the shop left nothing to be desired. The disappointment could have been avoided by having a look online in advance and choosing the cheaper sales channel before making the purchase.

Customer experience with the brand is a journey that customers embark upon via different touch points; online, call centre or retail to name just three.