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CX AND EX: HOW ENGAGED EMPLOYEES ENHANCE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

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SUBSCRIPTION MODELS: CX LESSONS FROM TARGET'S CIRCLE 360 PROGRAM

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ONLINE COMMUNITIES FOR CUSTOMER RETENTION AND ENGAGEMENT




ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: OVERCOMING HABITUAL BEHAVIOR CHALLENGES




AI INTEGRATION REDEFINES ECOMMERCE: A SUCCESS STORY




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CX DECODED PODCAST

Customer Experience Decoded is CMSWire's semi-monthly podcast designed to
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RICH HEIN

Rich Hein is an accomplished technology journalist with over two decades of
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readers. Rich has held several high-profile positions in the industry, including
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DOM NICASTRO

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important topics including employee experience, leadership, customer experience,
marketing and more. With an MFA in creative writing and background in inbound
marketing, she offers unique insights on the topics of leadership, customer
experience, marketing and employee experience. Michelle previously contributed
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Season 4Season 3Season 2Season 1
SEASON 4, EPISODE 7March 19, 2024
CX and EX Synergy: Sam Stern, LinkedIn

We explore the delicate balance between enhancing customer experiences and
empowering employees at LinkedIn. Hear from Sam Stern, senior manager of
customer experience, about the innovative ways LinkedIn prioritizes trust,
extracts valuable insights from vast amounts of data and ensures both customers
and employees feel valued and heard.

Read Transcript

SEASON 4, EPISODE 6February 20, 2024
Path to Customer Centricity: Sri Narasimhan, CVS

Establishing a customer-centric culture is a critical aspect of business
success, requiring a multifaceted approach that encompasses igniting a culture
of customer focus, acting on feedback, and applying learnings to improve the
customer experience. This approach involves creating a strategic framework that
integrates customer centricity into every aspect of operations, empowering
frontline employees with the necessary tools and support to deliver exceptional
service, and leveraging data to drive actionable insights. In this episode of CX
Decoded, Sri Narasimhan, vice president of enterprise consumer experience at
CVS, delves into these topics and shares his insights and experiences in driving
customer-centric initiatives within a large organization.

Read Transcript

SEASON 4, EPISODE 5January 30, 2024
A Digital CX Evolution: Jessica Austin Barker, Chief Digital and Client
Experience Officer, TIAA

The digital and client experience landscape at TIAA has been undergoing
significant transformation, focusing on enhancing digital channels, breaking
down traditional silos and streamlining processes to create a more integrated,
client-centric experience. Central topics in this transformative journey include
the orchestration of omnichannel engagements and the innovative use of AI in
customer service, while maintaining a personalized touch in financial advice and
services.

At the heart of these advancements is Jessica Austin Barker, TIAA’s chief
digital and client experience officer. Her career spans over two decades at
Intuit, starting in management consulting before diving into the corporate
world. Jessica's transition from marketing to product management at Intuit,
leading to her current role at TIAA, showcases her deep commitment to enhancing
customer experiences in the financial sector.

Read Transcript

SEASON 4, EPISODE 4December 19, 2023
CX-EX Mastery on the Greens: Gautam Patankar, Chief Experience Officer, Bobby
Jones Links

In the intricate dance of customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX),
finding the right balance is key to creating a thriving business environment.
This delicate interplay forms the backbone of today's hospitality management,
where understanding and valuing the contribution of each employee translates
directly into enhanced customer satisfaction. At the heart of this philosophy is
the idea that a happy, engaged employee naturally fosters a more positive and
memorable customer experience. This approach is not just a theory but a proven
strategy in the world of golf course and resort hospitality management, where
experiences matter most.

Embodying this principle is Gautam Patankar, chief experience officer at Bobby
Jones Links. With a rich background that blends a love for golf with a keen
insight into hospitality management, Gautam stands as a testament to the power
of aligning CX and EX. His journey from a golf enthusiast to a key figure in
transforming the way golf resorts operate offers a unique perspective on the
importance of employee satisfaction in enhancing customer service. Today, he
joins us to share his invaluable experiences and insights, shedding light on how
to cultivate an environment where employees and customers alike can thrive.

Read Transcript

SEASON 4, EPISODE 3November 21, 2023
Strategic Alignment for CX and EX: April Ho-Nishimura, onsemi

In today's fast-paced corporate world, the convergence of customer experience
(CX) and employee experience (EX) is more than a trend; it's a strategic
imperative. Organizations are recognizing the symbiotic relationship between how
they treat their customers and their employees, understanding that a holistic
approach can drive significant improvements in performance and satisfaction.
Bridging these two domains requires a nuanced understanding of both the internal
and external dynamics of a business. Enter April Ho-Nishimura, head of customer
and employee experience at Onsemi, who has been at the forefront of this
integration. Her journey and insights offer a unique perspective on how
companies can effectively blend CX and EX for organizational excellence.

Read Transcript

SEASON 4, EPISODE 2October 17, 2023
AI Empowered CX: Real Conversations, Real Results: Shri Nandan, Comcast

The world of customer experience is continually evolving, and at its forefront
lies the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI). In this extensive
exploration, we embark on a journey into the practical application of AI within
the realm of customer service and experience. We delve into the multifaceted
strategies employed to harness AI's potential, including its role in enhancing
customer interactions, streamlining operations, and boosting employee
experiences. Additionally, we uncover the critical ethical considerations and
transparency requirements that accompany the adoption of AI, ensuring that it
aligns with values and regulations.

As we navigate these topics, we are guided by the expertise of Shri Nandan, the
VP of AI Experiences at Comcast. Shri brings a wealth of knowledge and practical
insights to the forefront, drawing from her extensive experience in the field.
Her expertise sheds light on how AI technologies can not only revolutionize
customer experiences but also empower employees to navigate the evolving
landscape of AI.

Read Transcript

SEASON 4, EPISODE 1September 19, 2023
Connecting Experience Design and Business Outcomes: Jason Ferrell, Capital One

In this episode of CX Decoded, Jason Ferrell, managing vice president of
experience design at Capital One, delves into experience design. Ferrell has
been pivotal in building his organization's design team and has a unique
perspective on merging technology, business strategy, and design to forge
impactful customer interactions. In the fast-evolving landscape of experience
design, four elements stand out: personalization, product design, team dynamics
and business impact. As businesses strive to engage users more deeply, these
components have become critical in driving customer loyalty and propelling brand
growth. Industry professionals are increasingly focusing on how to seamlessly
integrate these facets to offer not just a product, but an experience that
resonates with the consumer. From small startups to major corporations, the
stakes have never been higher in capturing and sustaining user attention.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 20June 13, 2023
Infuse Agility Into Customer Experience

In this conversation, Marietta Silva Allison, a prominent leader in the customer
experience (CX) domain, opens the doors to her world at Intuit. She provides
invaluable insights into balancing agility and experimentation with maintaining
consistency and continuity in the customer experience. Marietta shares practical
examples from her experience, demonstrating the importance of listening to
customer demands and how taking quick, adaptive actions can lead to tremendous
successes. She also sheds light on the role of emotional AI and proactive CX in
shaping a positive customer journey — and reveals much more about her journey
and the lessons she's learned along the way.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 19May 30, 2023
Inside the CX Toolbox

In the dynamic field of customer experience (CX), professionals need to develop
and hone particular skills to navigate its challenges successfully. Cary
Cusumano, an expert in CX management, is one such individual who has mastered
this domain. Emphasizing the importance of traits like curiosity and
persistence, Cusumano understands the need for continual growth and innovation
in this industry. He champions the voice of the customer (VoC) as a major
cornerstone of any CX initiative, recognizing its crucial role in process
improvement projects. Moreover, he promotes a problem-solving approach that
focuses on continuous process improvements and root cause analysis to tackle
recurring issues. In this podcast, Cary explores these pivotal elements, setting
the groundwork for achieving excellence in customer experience management.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 18May 16, 2023
Generative AI Meets CX

In this episode of CX Decoded, Brianna Langley Henderson, a seasoned CX
practitioner, delves deep into the implications of introducing generative AI
into business organizations. She acknowledges the transformative potential of AI
and its capacity to fundamentally alter the landscape of various industries. At
the same time, she highlights the resistance this technology faces from certain
quarters. The discussion extends to exploring the ethical conundrums posed by
AI, emphasizing its potential to disrupt traditional job roles and intensify the
fear of human downsizing, a concern particularly felt for creative roles.
Henderson underscores the urgent need for organizations to establish their own
codes of ethics in this nascent and rapidly evolving field, where concrete legal
and ethical guidelines are yet to be standardized. She advocates for a proactive
approach in embracing this technological advancement, emphasizing that the
strategic integration of AI can secure a business's place in the future of
customer experience and other creative endeavors.

We caught up with Brianna recently on the topic.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 17May 12, 2023
Creating Customer Loyalty Through Brand Consistency and Innovation

In this special edition of CX Decoded, recorded live at the JW Marriott in
Austin, Texas this week during the CMSWire CONNECT Conference, CX Decoded hosted
Karna Crawford, a distinguished marketing and digital strategy leader with a
proven track record of innovation and tangible results.

Throughout this episode, Karna, former head of US marketing at the Ford Motor
Company, shares her invaluable insights on customer experience and its evolving
landscape. She brings a wealth of experience from working with iconic brands and
leveraging data-driven insights to shape customer experiences.

Karna's unique perspective as a trailblazer in the industry sheds light on the
best strategies and practices for CX professionals, whether seasoned veterans or
those just starting their journey. One of the key takeaways from our
conversation with Karna is the importance of strategic alignment between brand
innovation and customer loyalty. She emphasizes the need for organizations to
prioritize their innovation efforts and ensure they align with the overall brand
strategy.

By focusing on innovation that enhances the customer experience and delivers on
the brand promise, companies can foster loyalty and create meaningful
connections with their target audiences.

Another crucial aspect discussed in the podcast is the role of technology in
driving customer experience. Karna highlights the significance of utilizing
technology solutions efficiently and effectively, rather than succumbing to a
multitude of disjointed tools. She emphasizes the need for a strategic approach,
where technology decisions are driven by the specific problems they aim to solve
and the measurement of their impact on customer experience. Moreover, Karna
delves into the importance of fostering a culture of creativity, collaboration
and innovation within organizations.

By encouraging a mindset of courage, choosing priorities wisely and implementing
innovations that deliver tangible benefits in the present, organizations can
maintain brand consistency while driving growth and customer loyalty.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 16May 2, 2023
The Essential Elements That Build Unshakable Customer Loyalty

The quest for customer loyalty is a priority for most businesses, driven by
estimates by some sources that acquiring new customers can cost anywhere from
five to 25 times more than retaining existing ones. A prime example of
successful loyalty-building is Starbucks, which has consistently led the pack by
attentively addressing customer concerns, investing heavily in rewards programs
and making data-driven decisions based on the wealth of information these
programs generate. By continually measuring customer loyalty and tailoring
offerings and rewards to customer preferences, Starbucks has fostered increased
loyalty, resulting in long-term business success.

In this discussion, Michelle Morris, a customer experience and business
transformation leader at Verizon Connect, examines the critical role of
understanding and measuring customer loyalty in today's dynamic business
environment. Morris delves into the challenges, distinctions between customer
satisfaction and loyalty and the value of cross-departmental collaboration in
fostering loyalty.

We caught up with Michelle recently to discuss the topic. 

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 15April 18, 2023
'The State of the CMO' Report: Key Findings

In this podcast episode, Sarah Kimmel, the vice president of research at Simpler
Media Group, casts a discerning eye on "The State of the CMO" survey, offering a
rare glimpse into the shifting landscape of chief marketing officers (CMOs) and
the competencies they must cultivate. The study's revelations place creative
thinking at the top of vital skills, trailed by strategic management, leadership
prowess and executive aptitude. The CMO's role has been undergoing a remarkable
metamorphosis, marked by heightened collaboration with sales divisions, mounting
demands for enhanced customer experiences and active participation in digital
transformation initiatives. Intriguingly, CMOs say only 59% of leadership expect
measurable outcomes from them, indicating not all undertakings lend themselves
to direct ties to the bottom line. Kimmel sheds light on the turbulent journey
of CMOs as they navigate a perpetually shifting sea of expectations and
responsibilities.

We caught up with her recently to discuss the survey. 

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 14April 4, 2023
Customer Experience Metrics That Matter to This CX Leader

The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes famously tackled a pressing problem
for his king: determining the purity of a crown. In a moment of inspiration
while bathing, he applied the concept of measuring volume to assess the crown's
composition. Elated, he leapt from the tub, exclaiming "Eureka!" (I have found
it!).

As with Archimedes' insightful "Eureka!" moment, today's customer experience
(CX) leaders must carefully monitor key performance metrics to uncover valuable
insights about their customers.

Melissa Henley, an experienced CX leader at Luxion, the company behind KeyShot
3D software, explores the vital aspects of both customer and employee
experiences. In this latest podcast with CMSWire's CX Decoded, Melissa, a
CMSWire Contributor, identifies two core metrics that CX leaders should
prioritize: churn and net revenue retention (NRR). Melissa elaborates on the
significance of these metrics in evaluating customer satisfaction and
cultivating a loyal customer base, emphasizing the importance of a keen focus on
these numbers for a company's success.

Additionally, Melissa addresses the crucial role of data in CX leadership. She
asserts that proficiency in working with data is essential for success in the CX
field. And just as Archimedes needed to perfect his measurement techniques to
resolve the king's quandary, in the world of customer experience, mastery of the
right metrics can lead to those elusive, yet sought-after "Eureka!" moments.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 13March 21, 2023
Real-Life Customer Experience Fails — and Lessons Learned

While positive employee experiences can enhance customer experiences, negative
employee experiences can have the opposite effect. A famous SNL sketch parodies
the frustrating experience of trying to cancel cable service, with a customer
being repeatedly put on hold, transferred to different departments and subjected
to aggressive sales tactics from customer retention specialists.

The sketch highlights the all-too-common problem of customer service employees
who are not engaged or motivated to provide good service, resulting in a
negative customer experience. To avoid this scenario, businesses need to
prioritize employee engagement and create a positive workplace culture to ensure
that employees are motivated to deliver exceptional customer service.

CMSWire Contributors Nichole Devolites, principal consultant of LYSI Holding
Company and Justin Racine, director and lead commerce strategist at Perficient,
emphasize this point and provide real-life examples to illustrate the impact of
positive workplace cultures on customer experiences in this CX Decoded podcast.
They also discuss the use of chatbots and artificial intelligence, the power of
invoking nostalgia in branding and creating a sense of community in the customer
experience.

You can take a look at their previous columns here: Justin Racine and Nichole
Devolites

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 12March 7, 2023
A Deep Dive Into the Power of DXPs and the Road Ahead

In recent years, organizations have increasingly turned to digital experience
platforms (DXPs) to improve their online presence and engagement with customers.

In this episode of CX Decoded, we sat down with Sitecore’s Dave O’Flanagan,
Optimizely’s Deane Barker and Contentstack’s Nick Barron to discuss DXPs and a
shift to composable platforms and related concepts such as content management
systems (CMS) and content marketing platforms (CMP). The participants Dave,
Deane and Nick each gave examples of common use cases for DXPs and focused on
the need for omnichannel capabilities that enable consistent messaging across
various channels and touchpoints. They also emphasized the importance of being
open and flexible with architecture to allow customers to plug and play
different products depending on their business objectives. 

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 11February 21, 2023
Diana Brown on Customer Experience Meets Employee Experience

In a story that echoes the classic American dream, media mogul Oprah Winfrey
started out working at a grocery store where she was forbidden to talk to
customers, a move that left her feeling unfulfilled.

However, she soon found a job at a radio station where her talents for
communication and engagement were allowed to flourish, leading her down the path
to becoming a cultural icon with her own talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. This
raises an important question about the role of employee-customer interactions in
creating a successful business.

In this episode of CX Decoded, Diana Brown, senior vice president of sales
operations and customer experience at XPO, discusses the crucial link between
employee experience and customer experience in the service industry. Drawing on
both her experience at XPO and her previous experience as head of customer
success for Amazon Business, Brown emphasizes that important changes often arise
from employee feedback about the customer experience. She goes on to explain
that XPO was able to improve its billing process after finance team members who
worked in collections shared the difficulties customers were experiencing in
paying their invoices. Brown underscores the importance of listening to both
employees and customers in order to make meaningful changes in the service
industry.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 10February 7, 2023
Tom DeWitt on Team-Based CX Learning

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, a Swiss educational reformer, is widely regarded as
the father of modern education. Despite his relative obscurity today, Pestalozzi
made major contributions to the field of education in the 19th century,
pioneering new methods that were a stark departure from traditional European
schools of the time. 

Pestalozzi emphasized real-world learning experiences and a student-centered
approach to education, rejecting rote memorization in favor of group recitation
and personalized instruction that highlighted each student's strengths. He
believed that the role of the instructor was to facilitate and guide learning,
rather than simply imparting information.

One notable student who benefited from Pestalozzi's approach: Albert Einstein.
At the age of 17, Einstein attended a school in Germany based on Pestalozzi's
philosophy, where he was encouraged to use imaginative visualization in his
studies. This approach proved to be a defining moment for Einstein, and would
later play a significant role in his groundbreaking work as a physicist. The
right kind of education can make all the difference. And we now know a lot more
about our universe in part due to Pestalozzi's influence.

Continuing this tradition of innovative education is Tom DeWitt, the director of
the Customer Experience Management program at Michigan State University. DeWitt,
our CX Decoded guest this week, leads a team-based real-world learning approach,
fostering an environment of equality, inclusiveness and encouragement to
explore. He acts as a guide to students from all walks of life, helping them to
fully grasp the complexities of customer experience.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 9January 24, 2023
Jim Tincher on Doing B2B CX Better

In this CX Decoded podcast, Jim Tincher, founder, CEO and journey
mapper-in-chief at Heart of the Customer and author of the book "Do B2B Better,"
discusses the importance of talking to customers after a transaction has taken
place. He uses his experience as a product manager for health savings accounts
to illustrate how a disconnect between the company's understanding of its
customers and the actual customer experience can lead to high churn rates. He
also addresses how to measure customer experience and the role of inventory in
business.

In his book “Do B2B Better,” Jim highlights four actions that separate
successful customer experience programs from those that don't work. These
include showing how customer experience is improving financial outcomes for the
organization and proactively creating a better outcome for the company. Jim also
brings attention to the issue of silos within organizations and how they can
lead to a disconnect between different departments and their understanding of
customer experience. 

Podcast Key Takeaways: 

 * Talking to customers after a transaction has taken place is important for
   understanding their experience and identifying areas for improvement.
 * A disconnect between a company's understanding of their customers and the
   actual customer experience can lead to high churn rates.
 * Successful customer experience programs show how customer experience is
   improving financial outcomes for the organization and proactively creating a
   better outcome for the company.
 * Many organizations struggle with silos, which can lead to a disconnect
   between different departments and their understanding of customer experience

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 8January 10, 2023
Digital Innovation Through the Lens of Beauty

Leonardo Da Vinci revolutionized the way people were painted during the
Renaissance, and his "Mona Lisa" is the most famous painting in the world and is
a cultural icon for beauty, in part due to what is usually described as her
alluring and mysterious smile. What has made the "Mona Lisa" so popular for more
than 500 years? It can be boiled down to one word: innovation. 

Da Vinci was an innovator his entire life. He saw possibilities everywhere. The
painting is a culmination of his curiosity and studies he undertook during his
lifetime. Leonardo was interested in just about everything. One thing he was
interested in was human anatomy, and he made many anatomical studies of the
human body, including the facial muscles used for smiling. He discovered the
complex system of muscle movement needed to produce a smile, and the data he
collected during dissections he performed helped him produce the world's most
revered painting.

He also figured out why the sky was blue, studied how the tongue of a woodpecker
worked, discovered principals of water flow, deducted why he found fossils of
sea life up in the mountains where he obtained his marble and designed many
types of machines, including flying machines such as helicopters. The list of
his innovations is truly staggering. We know from the detailed journals he left
that he spent his entire life mining the data of his day. He was an innovator, a
data collector and a pretty omnichannel type of dude.

This week’s CX Decoded podcast guest knows about innovation, data collection and
omnichannel approaches when it comes to beauty as well. Michelle Pacynski, vice
president of digital innovation at Ulta Beauty, has led Ulta through much of its
digital transformation in the past 10 years, a time in which the company
revolutionized how beauty products were assembled and marketed to enthusiasts.  

We caught up with her to find out what brands can learn from the beauty industry
about a host of topics, including the high level of engagement of beauty
enthusiasts.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 7December 13, 2022
Inside the CMSWire State of Digital Customer Experience Report

Thinking about getting the latest CX and marketing tools for your customer
service agents or possibly investing in some artificial intelligence? Are you
wondering whether the pandemic ended up hurting or helping digital customer
experience? And just how is the recession impacting what CX decision-makers are
focusing on? Or perhaps you're wondering whether interest is growing — or
diminishing or even stalling — for certain CX tools or strategies. Or maybe you
just want to know if others really don't know what headless CMS is or does.

Meet Sarah Kimmel, vice president of research for Simpler Media Group, which
runs CMSWire.com. She tells us what the numbers are saying by diving into the
findings of the 2023 State of Digital Customer Experience Report. Sarah's got
the gift for wrangling meaningful findings that indicate where we're headed.
She's based in Chicago, aka the Windy City. If you really want to chew the fat
with her, try getting on her good side by bringing up volcanoes or tornadoes.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 6November 29, 2022
Customer Experience With a Looming Recession

A recession can be like preparing to go backpacking. You have to decide what you
need, what’s unnecessary and what might potentially weigh you down.

CX leaders have to make similar decisions to successfully trek the current
economic landscape. They too have to pick and choose needs, cull waste and
protect the integrity of their teams — all while serving their customers
flawlessly.

Tina Dobie is the chief customer officer at Calendly. In this episode, she
discusses how to think about doing more with less while still driving marketing
leads, keeping customers close and your customer support agents inspired.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 5November 15, 2022
Exploring the Customer Unhappiness Factor

Avoiding unhappy customers is what everyone wants to do, right? But listening to
our most vociferous critics is not always easy because they're not going to
pussyfoot around with you. According to this episode’s guest, it’s our angry,
enraged customers who are our Golden Tickets to success.

Shaking down happy customers about why they like you won’t help you understand
areas you need to improve, says Tomas Haffenden, head of service design at
Torrens University. You want to cozy up to the grumps, the crazy mad and the
fire-breathing fit-throwers instead — cause boy-howdy — will they ever tell you
what the !!*@%&*! is wrong. 

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 4November 1, 2022
Address Silos and Transform Customer Experience

The concept of transformation has been center stage for businesses around the
world for some time now, but taking a moment to reflect on what transformation
actually means could radically change organizations seeking new life in
turbulent times. 

The specter of a looming recession makes the notion of transformation even more
enticing — and terrifying — to many business leaders now — especially customer
experience leaders. But how do they go about analyzing where silos are blocking
transformation, harming customer experience and leaving organizations in a
perpetually “frozen” state?

Hank Brigman, senior vice president practice lead for Service Journey
Strategies, helps shine some light on the most challenging aspects of customer
experience transformation and discusses the inevitable and painful consequences
of non-action.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 3October 18, 2022
Creating Fan Experience on the PGA Tour

Travis Trembath, vice president of fan engagement for the PGA Tour, is
passionate about golf, customer experience and customer engagement. Having to
the best golfers in the world compete under his company's brand? That's the easy
part. Fan engagement, and digital customer experience, however, remains a moving
target.

In this episode, Trembath shares some of the ways the Tour is engaging fans
through data, such as data lakes and data warehouses. He also discusses using
omnichannel approaches to get in touch with the PGA fan base, how he sees the
future of the metaverse and other customer experience topics, including how a
PGA behind-the-scenes documentary can build the organization’s fan base.

Plus, you get an inside look into life behind the scenes at the PGA Tour, a
prestigious global professional sports brand. We caught up with Trembath for our
latest CX Decoded podcast.

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 2October 4, 2022
5G and Its Impact on Customer Experience

According to a recent Statista report, the economic impact of 5G on the U.S.
gross domestic product will hit $484 billion by the year 2030. 5G is faster,
more reliable, has more capacity and less latency than the previous 4G wireless
technology — and has the capability of completely changing how brands and
consumers will think about the internet in the future. 

But what exactly is 5G, how does it work and what type of impact will it have on
gaming, shopping, business and customer experience? 

Frank Boulben, the chief revenue officer of Verizon Consumer Group, has watched
as each new wireless generation has come into being, and he caught up with CX
Decoded to help us drill down how 5G might be used in consumer and B2B cases. 

Read Transcript

SEASON 3, EPISODE 1September 20, 2022
Jeb Dasteel and Brian O'Neill on Successful CX Leadership

Jeb Dasteel and Brian O'Neill come with a ton of customer experience leadership.
They have been in the trenches of CX with their respective companies in the
past. And they are CMSWire contributing authors.

When a company gets it right and delivers value, customers know it, Dasteel told
us in a column this year. They reward the business with their loyalty and repeat
purchases and will even advocate for that business. But what is different about
the companies that get it right? What differentiates their approach from
competitors? 

“To ensure commitment and accountability across your organization, you need
specific incentives for employees tied to key customer metrics,” O’Neill told
Dasteel in that column, before writing his own columns for CMSWire later in the
year. “It is critical to align incentives to the behavior and outcomes you want
to achieve.”

We caught up with Dasteel and O'Neill to expand upon this important CX
discussion for our latest CX Decoded Podcast. 

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 17July 12, 2022
Marketing and CX in a VUCA World

Content is king. 

That was the saying marketers repeated to themselves for years. And while that
sentiment still rings true, there's something more important brands must pay
attention to, something that content ultimately feeds into: customer experience.

Modern consumers have high expectations, and brands go to great lengths to meet
— and surpass — these expectations. But that task becomes more and more
challenging as we continue to market in a VUCA environment — one that's
volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.

Kathleen Schaub, writer, advisor and CMSWire contributor, has some advice for
leaders looking to navigate these rough waters and deliver exceptional CX. She
caught up with CX Decoded's Dom Nicastro and Michelle Hawley to discuss
navigating customer experience and marketing through constant change.

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SEASON 2, EPISODE 16June 28, 2022
Rhoan Morgan on Marketing-Led Customer Experience

The Economist Intelligence Unit conducted a survey of 500 CMOs and found that
86% of participants believed that they would own customer experience. Six years
later, has it happened? Not quite. It hasn't exactly been a full takeover of
customer experience by marketing leaders.

What has emerged is the concept of marketing-led customer experience. It's
something Rhoan Morgan believes is and should happen in organizations. Morgan is
the co-founder and CEO of DemandLab, an agency she launched in 2009. She's also
a CMSWire contributor, and she caught up with CX Decoded to discuss marketing
and CX leadership.

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SEASON 2, EPISODE 15June 14, 2023
Brian Clifton on Big Changes to Google Analytics

Google Analytics has more than 85% market share, according to numbers reported
by W3Techs.com. However, it has not been without its controversy this year, and
big changes are coming.

As of July 1, 2023, Google's Universal Analytics Platform properties will stop
collecting data, and historic data will be deleted six months later. This
forthcoming change has users all riled up.

CMSWire's CX Decoded caught up with Brian Clifton, co-founder of Verified Data,
author and former head of analytics Europe, Middle East Africa for Google to
provide perspective on the major changes and how to prepare. Clifton was the
first head of Web Analytics for Google in Europe, and he helped launch the
original Google Analytics in November of 2005.

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SEASON 2, EPISODE 14May 31, 2022
Marketing Customer Experience Technology Leadership

According to the Marketing Technology Landscape 2022, marketers have nearly
10,000 solutions from which to choose. OK, so maybe that's not exactly how it
works. Marketers won't be browsing 10 aisles with 1,000 solutions per aisle.

Fact is, though, there is an abundance of choice when it comes to deciding what
powers your marketing and customer experience outcomes. Many marketers and
customer experience professionals arrive at organizations when the stack's fully
operational. Others have to buy pieces to fit their stack, and some even build
from the ground up.

Chris O'Brien is one of those professionals who lives all these realities. He's
the VP of digital marketing technology for M&T Bank. He sits at the intersection
of marketing technology and customer experience within the financial services
industry, which is a highly regulated industry. O'Brien caught up with CX
Decoded to discuss the challenges of managing the marketing technology stack. He
shares his thoughts on how the role of marketing technologists have evolved, how
he keeps up with the pace of new technology and what's coming next.

"I really do work cross-functionally, cross-departmentally, as well as with a
ton of external partners, whether they be, you know, system integrators,
agencies, or some of these platform and data service vendors," O'Brien told CX
Decoded hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro of CMSWire. "So really trying to be
kind of the hub that pulls all of that together into a cohesive roadmap and
strategy for us."

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 13May 17, 2022
Marketing and Customer Experience in the Metaverse

The metaverse is certainly all the rage in 2022. Facebook changed its name to
reflect this future of digital, after all, and all things digital starts with
Facebook. Ok, maybe not so much.

Some are even talking trillions when considering the potential of the metaverse,
where physical and digital worlds combine to support an alternate reality to
life on the actual planet Earth. Instead, in this next iteration of the
internet, life will exist in the world of augmented and virtual reality where
dialogue, games, commerce and business is conducted in this alternate reality.
The market opportunity for the metaverse ranges from $3.75 trillion to $12.46
trillion, depending on the share of the digital economy that shifts to the
metaverse and market expansion, according to Statista reporting.

What does this all mean for the world of marketing and customer experience
professionals? What are the opportunities for customer experience design and
brands who want to stay connected to their customers — whether they live on the
actual Earth or in the metaverse?

CX Decoded caught up with, Dirk Lueth, co-founder of Uplandme, Inc., a Metaverse
provider. Lueth, an entrepreneur and early adopter of metaverse and blockchain
technologies will share his thoughts on the Metaverse and where the potential
opportunities lie. 

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SEASON 2, EPISODE 12May 3, 2022
Marketing in a Web3 World

According to Deloitte, 88% of senior executives think that blockchain technology
will eventually achieve mainstream adoption. Worldwide spending on blockchain
solutions is forecast to top $17.9 billion by 2024 and will grow at a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46.4%, according to data from IDC. With that said,
we’re seeing a lot of hype around the evolution of Web3 and how Web 2.0 will be
a distant memory. 

So how do you sort the truth from the hype? 

In this episode of CX Decoded, Travis Wright, devout follower of blockchain,
NFTs and the intersection of Web3 and marketing and the co-host of the Bad
Crypto podcast join Dom and Rich to spotlight the practical applications of
blockchain and Web3 as well as, what marketers need to understand, as we get
ready to usher in Web3. 

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SEASON 2, EPISODE 11April 19, 2022
Building a Customer-Centric Approach in B2B

In 2021, 44.5% of organizations worldwide revealed that they perceive customer
experience (CX) as a primary competitive differentiator. But are they really
customer-centric? Are they building out experiences with that central focus on
customers?

Dr. Debbie Qaqish watches these company trends in how they treat customer
experience closely. The principal and chief strategy officer with the Pedowitz
Group authored the book From Backroom To Boardroom: Earn Your Seat With
Strategic Marketing Operations. She helps companies reimagine and rearchitect
the role of marketing to drive revenue, growth, customer centricity and digital
transformation.

Dr. Qaqish lays claim to the term “revenue marketing” in 2011 and six years ago,
she shifted her focus to marketing operations as the enabler for how marketing
gains that seat at the table.

CX Decoded Podcast co-hosts Rich Hein, CMSWire editor-in-chief, and Dom
Nicastro, CMSWire managing editor, caught up with Dr. Qaqish to discuss customer
centricity in the latest edition of CX Decoded.  

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 10April 5, 2022
Laser-Focus on CX Metrics for Success

Sean Albertson, head of client experience measurement and analytics with Charles
Schwab, began his CX journey on the front lines in contact centers in the
mid-1990s. He managed service teams, quality and training programs, and created
knowledge management tools early in his career.

Moving into this century, Albertson began to place a focus on surveys, analytics
and market research. He continued to expand his influence through the early
2000s to improve customers’ experiences in roles across marketing, product and
pricing, and even spent some time in IT translating CX concepts into technology
and digital solutions. 

Today, he focuses on developing CX programs that balance quantitative and
qualitative research to identify and execute CX solutions across all facets of
the organizations he supports. He's leveraging advanced language and journey
analytics to reach well beyond survey results to conduct deep analysis of all
experiences at both the physical and emotional level.

Albertson caught up with CMSWire Editor-in-Chief Rich Hein and Managing Editor
Dom Nicastro of CMSWire's CX Decoded to discuss his approach to measuring CX
success.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 9March 22, 2022
Amex CX Teams Take Customer Listening to the Next Level

Customer experience professionals often turn to surveys to measure customer
feedback. But what are your surveys telling you? Multiple-choice answers provide
data, for sure, especially when scaling feedback from hundreds of customers.

But do you know how customers truly feel when they leave an interaction with
your brand, no matter the channel? Luis Angel-Lalanne, vice president, Customer
Voice for the Global Services Group at American Express, told CMSWire in the
latest episode of CMSWire's CX Decoded podcast that his teams are undergoing a
transformation in how they measure customer sentiment.

The gist: They've gone from transactional surveys to driven by modeled sentiment
using Natural Language Processing and machine learning. Angel-Lalanne said this
now serves as the scorecard metric for the financial giant’s front-line care
professionals.

Angel-Lalanne discussed this and other insights on how his teams at American
Express view customer experience and Voice of the Customer (VoC). He joined
CMSWire Editor-in-Chief Rich Hein and Managing Editor Dom Nicastro in this
episode of CX Decoded.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 8March 8, 2022
Connecting Customer Experience With Employee Experience

Customer experience professionals benefit from a strong foundation of digital
employee experience. According to or own annual research, the CMSWire State of
Digital Customer Experience 2021 (registration required), there is also a
growing body of research and anecdotal evidence to suggest the positive impact
good digital employee experience (EX) has on customer experience, particularly
in high-touch sectors.

Around three quarters of respondents view digital employee experience as being
“very important” or “moderately important” for digital customer experience, but
this rises significantly to 91% for respondents with tools “working well,"
according to CMSWire researchers.

Enter Katrina Taylor, who is living this reality day to day in her role as head
of user experience and product design at Armoire, which provides shoppers with
opportunities to rent clothes and personalized their closets from designer
brands. Taylor is not only laser-focused on creating digital customer
experiences for visitors seeking new outfits but also closely watches the
connection between customer experience and employee experience.

CMSWire's Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro, hosts of the CMSWire CX Decoded Podcast,
caught up with Katrina to discuss this vision and how she and her teams apply it
into a practical reality.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 7February 22, 2022
Customer Data Platform Tech Realities With Tony Byrne

Traditional linear customer journeys are being transformed into endless decision
loops. This creates big challenges for marketers, and Customer Data Platforms
(CDPs) are one answer to that complex situation.

According to reports in the CMSWire CDP Market Guide, the CDP industry was
projected to reach $1.55 billion in revenue by the end of 2021. It’s a 20%
increase over 2020 revenue. CDP vendors based in the Americas account for 47% of
companies in the industry, 59% of the industry workforce and receive 74% of
funding.

In this episode of CX Decoded, Tony Byrne, founder of Real Story Group, takes us
into the world of CDPs and shares his thoughts on CDPs and the challenges
getting that customer data machine running smoothly. He also shares some real
practical use cases for organizations.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 6February 8, 2022
Scott Brinker on Rise of Low- and No-Code in Marketing Tech

Scott Brinker has had his eyes on the marketing technology landscape for
decades. As author of the Chief Marketing Technologist blog and creator of the
Martech Supergraphic, Brinker often notes growing trends in martech.

One of his emerging trends is low- and no-code tools. Gartner estimated that
enterprise low-code application platforms will be 65% of all app creations
within the next five years, and the worldwide low-code development technologies
market was projected to total $13.8 billion in 2021, an increase of 22.6% from
2020.

Brinker, VP Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot, joined CX Decoded Podcast co-hosts
Rich Hein, Editor in Chief at CMSWire, and Dom Nicastro, Managing Editor at
CMSWire, to discuss the rise of these no- and low-code tools and address some of
the healthy skepticism in the market.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 5January 25, 2022
Why Customer Journey Mapping Is a Verb, Not a Noun

The need to understand customer behaviors may never be as great as today.
Customers are proliferating digital channels thanks to the digital acceleration
that began in 2020 and extends today.

And companies need help. Only 11% of organizations say they currently understand
customer behavior well, according to the CMSWire State of Digital Customer
Experience. About 56% say they moderately understand customer behavior, and 33%
say they either understand customer behavior poorly or that they haven’t started
to understand customer behavior yet.

Customer journey mapping is one tool to help understand customers better. But
it's more than creating a map. It's defining truly those customer moments that
matter.

Jeannie Walters, chief customer experience investigator and founder at
Experience Investigators, invests in making customer journey mapping work. It's
a verb, and not a noun, she says. Walters shared these and other tips and
strategies around customer journey mapping and CX best practices in our latest
CX Decoded Podcast.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 4January 11, 2022
Are Customers Truly Connected to Your Brand?

Poor and failed brand, marketing and service experiences can naturally make or
break a brand in what many call the experience economy. Customers can be creeped
out as a function of personalized online marketing. Customers can have
perceptions of dark/negative brand personalities.

Brands need to consider being authentic and sincere and engaging in storytelling
as a premium service. Not just for the sake of storytelling, but because that's
backed up by your internal mission where employees buy into that story as well.



Mansur Khamitov, assistant professor of marketing at the Kelley School of
Business in Indiana University, shared those and other brand strategy and
marketing tips based on his in-depth research in the latest CX Decoded Podcast
with co-hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro of CMSWire.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 3December 14, 2021
Award-Winning CX with Amy Shioji of Strategic Education

Amy Shioji knows customer experience. She's lived and breathed it through
various roles, starting with AARP as head of customer experience strategy and
later at Gannett as VP, head of customer experience and data science.

She's now SVP, strategy and customer experience at Strategic Education, the
parent company of Capella and Strayer Universities. She leads divisions,
initiatives and capabilities that integrate marketing, product, operations and
service to accelerate student and business success.

In that role, Shioji was the first experience officer to lead the company’s
enterprise B2C engagement and retention strategy, leveraging both CX strategy
and data science to drive personalized retention pathways to maximize customer
lifetime value and loyalty.

Her teams are so passionate about CX, they have employees sign a digital pledge
to help visually signal their commitment to representing the company's student
values in their daily interactions and decisions. 

Shioji has also served the CX industry as a whole since 2019 on the Board of
Directors of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), a
professional association dedicated to the advancement and standards of the CX
profession.

Shioji won CMSWire's CX Leader of the Year award this fall. We caught up with
Shioji on the CX Decoded Podcast to discuss the foundations of her CX strategy.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 2November 30, 2021
Holly O'Neill of Bank of America on the Great Pillars of CX

Holly O’Neill leads client care for Bank of America’s 66 million consumer and
small business clients. Like all other customer experience practitioners over
the last 20 months, she has faced her share of challenges in her role as Bank of
America's president of retail banking. 

Today she joins the CX Decoded podcast to share the lessons learned while
delivering highly personalized experiences for users both online and in-person
and leading teams focusing on meeting banking customers where they manage their
finances.

Some of her pillars of great CX include:

 * Treat customers as individuals – not numbers. Brands that leverage customer
   feedback and data can better understand individual needs and improve customer
   satisfaction.
 * Invest in digital. CX leaders can't forget the importance of complementing CX
   with in-person offerings which are equally important to customers.
 * Lead with empathy. Ongoing training is critical to help employees retain soft
   skills as they help clients navigate unique challenges. More importantly,
   always lead by example. A company that values the well-being of its employees
   is better able to create a culture that carries over to client interactions.

O'Neill shared these and other strategies with CX Decoded in our latest podcast.

Read Transcript

SEASON 2, EPISODE 1November 16, 2022
Candid Tales With Marketing Leader Tom Wentworth

In the world of digital customer experience software, Tom Wentworth's been
there, done that. Wentworth, now the chief marketing officer for cybersecurity
company Recorded Future, spent years in the CMS and digital CX space as a
marketing and product leader with vendors like Interwoven, Ektron and Acquia.

Wentworth's seen the evolution of the web content management software space —
and marketing technology as a whole — from inside the vendor arena and now as a
practitioner and marketing leader. Known for his unabashed, vocal takes on the
space in social media circles and beyond, Wentworth caught up with the CX
Decoded Podcast to discuss marketing tactics, marketing leadership and his view
on the digital customer experience software space.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 16August 24, 2021
CMO Leadership Challenges and Opportunities

To say the last 18 months has been challenging for marketing departments is a
big understatement. Marketers were challenged with reduced staffs, branding and
tone adjustments, drastically changing consumer habits and digital
transformation like no other that no one saw coming. And all of this fell on the
shoulders of CMOs everywhere.

Chief marketing officers were tasked with leading their brands and marketing
teams in a world that took a 180 in days because of COVID-19. And now, the hard
work starts all over again, as marketing leaders take on new challenges of
leading teams in a hybrid working world that still on many real levels grapples
with the deadly pandemic.

CX Decoded hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro caught up with Stephanie Moritz,
chief marketing and communications officer of the American Dental Association
(ADA) in this latest edition of the CX Decoded Podcast.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 15August 10, 2021
Marketers for an Open Web's Take on Google's Cookieless Future

Google's made some big moves recently in terms of third-party cookie web
tracking. One of the biggest is the delay on the death of third party cookies.
Web tracking on Chrome was slated to end sometime between 2020 and 2022. For
now, Google is delaying that perhaps to the end of 2023, forcing marketers to
shift their plans and their long-term strategies when it comes to Google and the
targeting of prospects and customers.

Google also plans to end trials of its cookies alternative — the open-source
Privacy Sandbox — and incorporate input before advancing to further ecosystem
testing.

Government officials have been keeping Google in check, leading the search giant
to announce earlier this year a set of transparency and privacy
commitments related to the design and implementation of the Privacy Sandbox.

One marketing-rooted group is also keeping track of all things Google
lately: Marketers for an Open Web (MOW), a coalition of marketers and publishers
who support an “Open Web” and who have been outspoken critics of Google’s
post-third-party-cookie plans. James Rosewell, director of Marketers for an Open
Web, caught up with CMSWire's CX Decoded Podcast to discuss his group's concerns
with Google's post-cookie plans and offer alternatives to support what his group
feels is a more open web.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 14July 27, 2021
Analyzing the B2B Marketing Playbook

Marketers recognize there is a clear delineation between their target audience,
they are either marketing to another business or to a consumer. And each of
those comes with extraordinarily different needs and approaches.

And you've certainly have a well-educated buying community in B2B. And it's one
that relies on peers more than brand promises. Referrals were again ranked the
top source for quality leads with nearly two-thirds of B2B companies (65%),
according to a report by 99Firms. Email, SEO, and social media are also in the
mix for surging B2B marketing tactics.

CMSWire's CX Decoded co-hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro caught up with Tim
Greulich, managing director at Deloitte Digital, to discuss the latest trends in
B2B marketing.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 13July 13, 2021
How Valid Customer Experience Data Tells a Great Story

Most organizations strive to have an excellent customer service program. Or we
hope, at least. But it's one thing to talk about strong customer experience, and
it's certainly another to act on it and measure it, especially in terms of how
it adds value to the company proving ROI. Measuring CX and its return on
investment still remains a challenge today.

According to data from CMSWire's State of Digital Customer Experience 2021
report CX leaders are not satisfied with their ability to quantify the impact of
CX on business metrics and outcomes. It's incredibly challenging to provide
bottom-line results and value for CX programs.

CMSWire's CX Decoded podcast co-hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro caught up
with customer experience practitioner Katrina Schiedemeyer, senior engineer of
supplier development engineering at Oshkosh, to discuss proving ROI and the
impact of CX metrics.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 12June 29, 2021
Is There Optimism on the Horizon for Marketers?

Marketing like many other disciplines went through a year of duress in 2020.
COVID-19 had a major impact on businesses everywhere: brand loyalty, marketing
strategies, budgets, brand messaging, striking the right tone. Everything was
up-ended, not to mention the move to remote work and job losses for marketing
teams. And on top of that, simply worrying about the health and well-being of
family, friends and co-workers.

There's hope, though. Global vaccinations are in effect. And marketers are
showing signs of optimism, according to findings in the 26th annual CMO Survey,
run by Christine Moorman, Austin Finch, senior professor of Business
Administration at Duke University and a CMSWire contributor.

Marketers’ overall optimism about the US economy has rebounded beyond
mid-pandemic and even pre-pandemic levels. Specifically, optimism hit 66.3 (out
of 100), up dramatically from the 50.9 value reported in June 2020 in which
optimism plummeted nearly to Great Recession levels (47.7). Current optimism
levels appear to continue the upward pre-pandemic trend from February 2020 at
62.7. This upward trajectory also aligns with widespread vaccination efforts,
the anticipated reopening of education activities and retail sectors and the
certainty that follows presidential elections.

Moorman discussed these findings and others with CMSWire's Rich Hein and Dom
Nicastro for the latest CX Decoded podcast.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 11June 15, 2021
Analyzing Voice-Content Prospects for Marketers

There's no denying the advancement of smart voice assistant technologies into
people's homes. According to a 2021 Statista report, shipments of smart speaker
units were at an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2020. Amazon led the way
with 16.5 million and Google Next was next at 13.2 million. These smart speakers
come with integrated virtual assistants that respond to user voice commands.
They also provide control over smart home functions.

But how do marketers and customer experience professionals leverage these
technologies for voice content experiences that support their brand? How do you
embed voice content into digital experience programs? Is that a road you're even
ready to travel?

CX Decoded invited voice-content expert and author Preston So, a CMSWire
contributing author who writes about voice and digital customer experience. In
this episode, So joins CX Decoded's Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro to cut through
the noise, discuss successful case studies and dig into the challenges facing
the modern marketer.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 10June 1, 2021
Taming the Martech Chaos With Anita Brearton

It's likely most marketers haven't uttered these words in a while: I don't have
enough marketing technology. According to a Progress Software report last fall,
marketers use an average of 120 marketing technology tools.

Scott Brinker's most recent Martech Supergraphic lists around 8,000 marketing
technology tools. That same research began in 2011 with 150 tools. Fun as it is
to crunch the martech numbers, marketers are the ones that need to tame all the
chaos and ensure these tools are supporting business objectives and strong
marketing outcomes. What's the right toolset? Should we have a marketing cloud
at the center of our martech stack? Should we build with a best-of-breed
approach? Should we build our own stack?

Anita Brearton spends her days helping marketers answer those questions. She is
the founder/CEO and Co-CMO of CabinetM, a marketing technology discovery and
management platform that helps marketing teams manage the technology they have,
and find the technology they need. Brearton is also a regular CMSWire
contributor. She joined the CX Decoded podcast crew, Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro
of CMSWire, to discuss the best ways to tame the martech chaos.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 9May 18, 2021
Practical Use Cases of AI in Marketing

The use case for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace is there.
Deloitte’s Tech Trends 2021 found AI and machine learning technologies are
helping financial services firm Morgan Stanley use decades of data to supplement
human insight with accurate models for fraud detection and prevention, sales and
marketing automation, and personalized wealth management, among others.

For marketing and customer experience, in particular, organizations are using AI
and machine learning to improve internal business processes and workflow,
automating repetitive tasks and to improve customer journeys and touchpoints,
among other use cases.

The CMO Survey by Duke University reports a steady increase as far as the extent
to which companies are reporting implementing AI or ML into their marketing
toolkits. But it’s not exactly earth-shattering growth: on a scale of 1-7, one
being not at all to seven being very likely, it’s at 4.1 as of Feb 2021 vs. a
steady 3.5 over the last two years.

However, the majority of marketers know AI is very important or critical to
their success this year, according to Paul Roetzer, founder and CEO of the
Marketing AI Institute and PR 20/20. Roetzer said when asked how important
marketing AI is to their success over the next 12 months, his research found the
majority (52%) said it is very important (37%) or critically important (15%).

Roetzer caught up with co-hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro on the latest CX
Decoded Podcast to discuss the ways marketers are successfully implementing AI
into their marketing campaigns and workflows. 

Have a suggestion, comment or topic for a future episode? Drop us a line at
editors@simplermedia.com.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 8May 4, 2021
Building Customer Trust in Unprecedented Times

All relationships are built on trust whether you're talking about the people you
meet in the course of your life or the brands and the relationships they build
with their customers. In fact, according to data from Edelman in 2019 prior to
the pandemic, 81% of customers buy based on trust.

Having consumers trust your brand has always been an important factor in
customer experience success, but the past 15 months has definitely amplified
things. In fact, Experian’s global research from July 2020 showed that 52% of
customers who felt that businesses treated them fairly during the pandemic plan
to give those companies more of their business.

As consumers continue to increase their digital transactions, companies need to
work hard to enhance customer trust. Improved identity authentication and
recognition, for example, will play a key role.

Further, as the world's economy and social activities begin to ramp up again
with COVID-19 vaccinations in full swing, those that succeed will find their
business on far more steady ground.

In this latest edition of our CX Decoded podcast, co-hosts Rich Hein and Dom
Nicastro of CMSWire discuss building customer trust with customer service and
customer experience expert Shep Hyken, chief amazement officer at Shepard
Presentations.

Have a suggestion, comment or topic for a future episode? Drop us a line at
editors@simplermedia.com.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 7April 20, 2021
Creating a Mobile-First Mindset

We like our phones. Americans spend about five hours a day on their mobile
devices. The number of mobile internet users in the United States has steadily
increased, reaching an all-time high of over 274 million users in 2020. Further,
over 50% of total website traffic in the U.S. originated from mobile devices in
early 2020, right before COVID-19 related shutdowns started to take shape across
the country.

No shock to the experienced marketer and customer experience practitioner, this
means that your customers are out there with their mobile devices. They’re doing
things like researching products, reading reviews, shopping, spending time on
social media and, yes, even making phone calls. The pandemic has accelerated
this trend, forcing many organizations to pivot on a dime and go all in on
digital.

Naturally, building a mobile-first mindset did not start with the pandemic.
However, the past year has accelerated mobile usage and forced brands to be
mobile-ready with things like curbside pickup and online orders. In other words,
usable, scalable and measurable apps equals a good thing for brands.

And, not to mention, Google last month enabled mobile-first indexing for all
sites in Google search. Its algorithms now primarily use the mobile version of a
site's content to rank pages from that site, to understand structured data and
to show snippets from those pages in Google's results.

To help us discuss the strategy around mobile and how COVID-19 has affected
mobile strategies, CMSWire Editor-in-Chief Rich Hein and Senior Reporter Dom
Nicastro caught up for our latest CX Decoded podcast with Francisca Hawkins, VP,
digital and technology, for Philz Coffee.

Have a suggestion, comment or topic for a future episode? Drop us a line at
editors@simplermedia.com.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 6April 6, 2021
Overcoming Marketing Bad Habits
>

Marketing’s under a microscope. Well, it really always has been, but especially
over the past 12 months or so.

The challenges for the marketing department in the past year during the COVID-19
pandemic have been many: striking the right brand tone, dealing with trimmed
budgets and, most of all, staying relevant and keeping their jobs.

Forrester predicted 469,000 marketing jobs would be lost in the US by the end of
2020 in one forecast. AT&T, Sony Pictures and KPMG are just a few brands that
have had marketing layoffs since COVID-19 came into the global picture.

Marketers maybe more than ever need to prove their worth. They need to shed bad
habits, reduce inefficiencies and nail it when it comes to submitting the right
tone in brand messaging.

In this episode of CX Decoded, we caught up with two colleagues from
Constellation Research — Nicole France and Liz Miller. They are analysts and
researchers now but marketers at heart, having served in marketing roles in the
past. France is the vice president and principal analyst focusing on customer
experience as an enterprise-wide team sport. Miller is also a vice president and
principal analyst at Constellation focusing on the chief marketing officer, the
evolution of customer engagement and the connection between security and brand
trust.

They discuss in this podcast common mistakes and bad habits for marketers and
why it’s important to crack them at a critical time for the discipline.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 5March 23, 2021
Refining Your Digital Transformation Journey

What have the past 12 months done for digitally-enabled products? Accelerated
their portfolios by seven years, according to a McKinsey Global Survey of
executives.

Never before has there been this quick of a digital transformation effort to
modernize business processes, supply chains and workflows like we saw over the
past year. And digital business is still evolving.

While the workplace saw large-scale adoption of remote work, brands saw huge
shifts in customer behavior that had all organizations playing
catch-up. According to a Harris Poll report released March 15, The Great
Awakening: A Year in the Life in the Pandemic, eight in 10 American consumers
plan to shop online in some fashion, even when the COVID-19 global pandemic
comes to an end. Further, 64% of shoppers say they plan to continue to use less
cash, and (48%) don't want to touch cash anymore.

All of these findings point to continued digital transformation as a bottom-line
impact on business processes and brand strategy. The good news is we caught up
for this latest edition of the CX Decoded podcast with an executive who already
lived this kind of digital transformation — Adam Brotman, former chief digital
officer at Starbucks. Brotman is now the CEO of startup Brightloom, a customer
growth platform. Brotman is a long-time technology innovator who is passionate
about helping brands build meaningful and long-lasting relationships with their
customers.

Brotman in this latest CX Decoded Podcast with CMSWire's Rich Hein and Dom
Nicastro shares challenges and strategies behind Starbucks' digital
transformation of the 2010s and how his current customers at Brightloom have had
to digitally adapt.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 4March 9, 2022
Helping Marketers Sift Through Data Privacy Law Haze

GDPR, CCPA, CPRA … it’s enough to make a marketer’s head spin. Three US states
have enacted comprehensive consumer data privacy laws, and more are likely on
the way. 

And that’s not to mention the possibility of a US federal privacy law.

What does this mean? Responsible marketing. And what does that mean? Responsible
consumer data collection. Responsible governance. And ensuring the ability to
comply with requests from consumers and prospects who care about their data
privacy.

Are you tech ready? Is your marketing staff trained to handle personal-data
requests from your customers and prospects who trust your brand to be compliant?
How do your customers stand to benefit from your practices around these new
laws?

In this latest CX Decoded Podcast, we’ll help marketers cut through the
data-privacy haze with CMSWire’s Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro, who are joined by
digital policy and data privacy expert Kristina Podnar. 

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 3February 21, 2021
Marketing in a Cookie-Less World

In this episode of CX Decoded, do you really want to live in a cookie-less
world? Digitally, anyway, that’s the reality for marketers.

The impending demise of the third-party cookie will take one big bite out of a
marketer’s tried and true go-to strategy. Marketers have used third-party
cookies for decades to inform digital advertising and user experience by
tracking information about visitors and their behavior when not on their actual
websites.

But it’s a new world when it comes to data privacy. And the tech giants are
taking action. Apple and Google are making moves to support the termination of
this type of data tracking on the web.

How can marketers adjust? Is the demise of third-party cookies actually a good
thing for marketing strategy?

Co-hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro of CMSWire and special guests Ratul Shah,
head of product marketing at SAP, and Tim Hayden, the CEO of BrainTrust, discuss
on this CX Decoded Podcast marketing in a cookie-less world.

Have a suggestion, comment or topic for a future episode? Drop us a line at
editors@simplermedia.com.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 2February 9, 2021
Elevating Your Voice of the Customer Program

Every company in the history of the business world likely would benefit from
listening to their customers. The challenge today? Customers talk. A lot. And in
many different ways and in many different media platforms.

It’s on their brands to listen — and act. If it were only that easy.

Voice of the Customer (VoC) technology has become a billion-dollar business for
vendors. And it seems like a billion-dollar challenge for customer experience
practitioners: how do I manage my VoC data, programs and, most importantly, make
it actionable for better customer experiences? How do I create strong feedback
loops? What impact did COVID-19 have on VoC in 2020 and what will be the
priority for CX professionals in this arena in 2021?



Co-hosts Rich Hein and Dom Nicastro of CMSWire and special guest Stephanie Thum,
CCXP, founding principal of Practical CX, discuss the latest strategies to boost
VoC programs and thrive in a rapidly changing world economy.

Read Transcript

SEASON 1, EPISODE 1February 9, 2021
Breaking Down the State of Digital Customer Experience

2020, right?

We’re well into 2021 now, but customer experience professionals and marketers
still feel the remnants of one of the most challenging years for brands in terms
of delivering digital customer experiences to customers and prospects.

The CMSWire State of the Digital Customer Experience 2021 report covered these
challenges, which included organizational and data silos, rigid bureaucracies,
immature infrastructure, scarce resources, outdated thinking, immature
measurement and difficulties in understanding customers. These were just some of
the common and persistent hurdles, according to the report’s executive summary
by Brice Dunwoodie, CEO and founder of Simpler Media Group, which publishes CX
Decoded and CMSWire.com.

 

The lessons from COVID-19 and 2020 were many. And CX and marketing professionals
are taking those lessons into the early months of 2021 and applying them to
their practice of technology implementations and execution, CX skills
development and with the balance between customer retention and acquisition.

What’s working? What will be the 2021 CX playbook?

Hosts Rich Hein, head of content for Simpler Media Group and CMSWire, and his
colleague, Sarah Kimmel, VP of research at Simpler Media Group, dive into these
findings during this CX Decoded podcast by CMSWire. They are joined here by
special guest Annette Franz, CCXP, founder and CEO of CX Journey, Inc. The
podcast was recorded in December of 2020.

Read Transcript




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For over two decades CMSWire, produced by Simpler Media Group, has been the
world's leading community of customer experience professionals.

Today the CMSWire community consists of over 5 million influential customer
experience, customer service and digital experience leaders, the majority of
whom are based in North America and employed by medium to large organizations.
Our sister community, Reworked, gathers the world's leading employee experience
and digital workplace professionals. And our newest community, VKTR, is home for
professionals focused on deploying artificial intelligence in the workplace.


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