The Law Of Emotion: Emotion matters more than you think, even if you remember the law of emotion.

Yes, inspired by Hofstatder's Law

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The varied career paths that lead to becoming a CX professional. The ways those expeirences help you be better at your job. The ways that focusing on customers can help you in other jobs.

Jeff Louden on LinkedIn

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The only thing that is slower to change than culture is nature.

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Kerry's master-class on Designing For AI in CX & EX

Bodine & Co.

Research Paper On The Difficulty Of Designing For AI

Creating Design Resources To Scafold The Ideation Of AI Concepts

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Waiting in line is a bad experience. Except that's not always true. Learn what makes some waits unbearable, while others are tolerable at worst, and a memorable part of the experience at best.

·       Where is my bus? Impact of mobile real-time information on the perceived and actual wait time of transit riders

·       Timing is right for T riders, businesses

·       Subway Countdown Clocks Are Good For Business

·       Houston airport baggage claim

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Andrew Carothers on LinkedIn

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Stacy's LinkedIn Learning Course On Agent Experience

Stacy Sherman on LinkedIN

Doing CX Right

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The concept of negative space

Frontier Airlines drops customer-service

Why Chick-Fil-A Closes on Sundays

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Nicole Ornelas on LinkedIn.

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CX Scores have reached a new low, according to Forrester's latest CX Index Rankings. I am not suprised, and I'll explain why they will go even lower. But your company doesn't have to get caught up in this disappointing trend. In fact, I'll explain why now is the best time to differentiate your company on the basis of great experience, all thanks to your competitors who are giving up on CX.

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Nicole Ornelas on LinkedIn.

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When someone tells you you're being too emotional, and not rational, send them this episode.

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Friction, for lack of a better term, is good. In this solo episode, I riff on Gordon Gekko's famous "Greed Is Good" speech to explain why there is good friction in customer experiences, what makes it good, and how to distinguish between good and bad friction.

I also wrote about this for CMS Wire: Friction Is Good For CX

The Ikea Effect

Better Crocker Cake Mixes

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Ben Geheb on LinkedIn

VML on LinkedIn

Warren Buffett talking tides and skinny dipping

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It is not easier than ever to create great customer experiences. The debate continues! Megan Burns shares a compelling reason why it's not easier than ever to create great customer experiences.

My LinkedIn Learning Course: How To Create Great Customer Experiences, goes into more detail on how to overcome the long odds against delivering great experiences.

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In the last episode, Megan Burns and I talk about the Hedonic Treadmill . It is a problem that looms ove customer experience improvement efforts. What do you do? Improve the experience, only to have that improvement raise expectations for customers as they adapt to the new normal?

Well, in this episode, I go describe two ways of improving customer experiences that will not activate the Hedonic Treadmill. You first set clearer expectations for the experience to come, and meet the expectations you have set. Rather than customers expecting you to raise the bar, they expect you to fulfill your promises. That's a great experience.

Second, empower and enable employees to deliver surprise and delight moments at scale. Human-powered moments feel more authentic and of-the-moment, and therefore something that they are less likely to adapt to and expect every time.

My LinkedIn Learning Course: How To Create Great Customer Experiences, goes into more detail on how to do this.

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Maybe the drop in customer experience scores is simply down to customers expecting more. In this episode of the CX Patterns podcast, Megan Burns rejoins to discuss why we are seeing a drop in customer experience scores, and she is not ready to chalk it up simply to companies doing the wrong things to improve customer experiences.

During the episode, I talk about some of the non-linear ways to design great experiences that can push back against the Hedonic Treadmill effect that Megan highlights.

My LinkedIn Learning Course: How To Create Great Customer Experiences, goes into more detail on how to do this.

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Memory is a time machine. It brings forward past experiences to the future where those memories guide loyalty behaviors. Today on the CX Patterns Podcast, I riff on the importance of reinforcing positive memories to make the memories

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In this episode, Ryan Hart and I talk about the promise and the peril of using Generative AI to delivery customer experiences. Does it replace CX teams with and customer-facing employees? Or does it empower personalization, and better delivery of human experiences?

Ryan Hart on LinkedIn

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In this episode, Ryan Hart and I talk about the imperative we see for companies to cut costs, and the danger of doing so without starting from the customer and working back.

Ryan Hart on LinkedIn

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Tom Quish from Rightpoint is back for another, shorter episode talking about the importance of having a definition of Customer Experience for your company that is both shared by all employees, and inclusive of all employees.

One company, one CX definition.

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Tom Quish from Rightpoint joins in this episode to talk CX Strategies. Listen to hear Tom explain why executive alignment is a can't-skip step, how to ensure your research refreshes your strategy over time, and the right way to ensure the cusotmer insights get used.

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The second part of my conversation wth Greg Melia this time with a focus on the future, what are Greg and the CXPA doing to ensure the long-term health of customer experience.

The CXPA

Greg on Linkedin

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Not easy, but easier. We're in a moment of pessisim for CX, but I argue that it has never been a better time for someone who wants to create great customer experiences.

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Customer experiences remembered as great are not great in every moment. In fact, just the opposite. Most of the experience is completely forgettable at best, and a bit frustrating or boring at worst. That contrast makes peak moments more memorable. Let go of perfection.

In this episode, you'll learn about the Enterprise Pause, and why L.L Bean and Mercedes-Benz scaled back on legendarily generous services that their brands were famous for.

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A surprising fact about the brain that explains why accurate expectations are so much better than low expectations.

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Nerd alert on this one, as I'm excited to share a new word I've learned, Allostasis, and what it means for customer experience.

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Small world story, and full-circle story. Rick & I met when he was my client at Forrester, and now we were introduced again as people who should be talking. And we have been talking! You'll hear this episode on the Process Renaissance in CX, and then you'll want to find his podcast, CX Passport (links below), and listen to an episode with Rick and I talking about more CX topics.

Rick's Links:

CX Passport YouTube channel youtube.com/@cxpassport

Audio Pod Apple | Spotify or your fave pod site

Sign up for CX Passport newsletter www.cxpassport.com

Accelerate business growth📈 by improving customer experience www.ex4cx.com/services

Rick on LinkedIn 

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Happy New Year From The CX Patterns Podcast. A bit of self-reflection, why is CX stuck? How do we get unstuck? I make my commitment to stay focused on this challenge in 2024.

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Talking to Emily Tolmer, yes, the Emily Tolmer who created the CX Patterns logo, about how to do remote journey mapping right.

Journey Mapping Tips From Nielsen Norman Group

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Samspon Lee's Blog Post about the Pain Of An Actual Disney Experience vs. The Pleasure Of Its Memory

Monadnock - a lone mountain that stands out from a plain

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Doug Kennedy shared so much wisdom with us in this episode - preparing employees to deliver great expeirences, the importance of leaders modeling, and mentoring the behaviors they want to see.

Doug also introduced me to a wonderful Spanish word: Sentipensante - Sensing & Thinking - a fantastic distallation of what it takes to deliver great customer experiences.

Guest Loyalty Is Created By People, Not Points Or Perks

Kennedy Training Network

Doug Kennedy on LinkedIn

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My LinkedIn Learning lesson on Bright Spots Analysis

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Loose Threads / Missing Threads mini episode talking about mutually beneficial accountability partnerships for CX teams, and learning from hard-won wisdom...

Mark Levy resources:

Mark on LinkedIn

Sign up for Mark's DCX Newsletter

DCX Accountability Coaching - 1:1 coaching for customer-obsessed business leaders to unleash their full potential

365 Days of Accountability – Inspiration and motivation on your journey to success

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Mark Levy is back, sharing incredible insights and vulnerability about accountability. An important topic in its own right, but Accountability is critical for Customer Experience.

Mark on LinkedIn

Sign up for Mark's DCX Newsletter

DCX Accountability Coaching - 1:1 coaching for customer-obsessed business leaders to unleash their full potential

365 Days of Accountability – Inspiration and motivation on your journey to success

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Thanks to my talented colleague Emily Tolmer for the cover art. Thanks to my friends at Moon Island for the music.

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Loose Threads, Missing Threads talking about what to do if it's too late for a great first impression.

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Great conversation with Mark Levy this week about best practices for getting a CX team, program or transformation off the ground. Mark shares his 4 priorities at the start of a CX transformation, and how he determines when it's time to move from listening to action.

Mark on LinkedIn

Sign up for Mark's DCX Newsletter

DCX Accountability Coaching - 1:1 coaching for customer-obsessed business leaders to unleash their full potential

365 Days of Accountability – Inspiration and motivation on your journey to success

Find Sam on LinkedIn

Thanks to my talented colleague Emily Tolmer for the cover art. Thanks to my friends at Moon Island for the music.

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Stated preferences or revealed preferences? Which should you honor? It's complicated, but in this mini episode of the podcast, I offer my suggestion on how to strike the right balance.

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Zanna van der Aa is back for Part 2. She talks us through the importance of humanity to great customer experience, how to bring the human touch to digital experiences, how to measure humanity in a customer experience, why that human touch makes employee experience and company culture better, and why NPS is overrated.

It's an action-packed episode!

Zanna's website

Zanna van der Aa on LinkedIn

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Happy CX Day. Let's recommit to creating great customer experiences.

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Zanna walks through her approach to identifying the most important drivers of customer experience outcomes. This conversation is at once scientific and deeply practical. How does Zanna do it? Listen to find out.

Zanna's website

Zanna van der Aa on LinkedIn

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More on how partners can help you deliver great customer experiences, but only if you enable and empower them to do so. Sam Karpinski shares more knowledge.

Sam Karpinksi on LinkedIn

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Sam Karpinski and I talk about how companies can work well with their partners and intermediaries to deliver great customer experiences, including figuring out what you want your partners to do for your customers, whether you're treatingt them more likely employees or customers, and how to enable partners to be successful.

McDonald's Menu Items From Around The World

Hilton Hotels Brand Standards

Sam Karpinksi on LinkedIn

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Greg and I talk about the current state of the CX profession, the balance required by companies to ensure that CX is sustainable over the long-term, and what the CXPA is doing to shepherd the profession through a period of uncertainty.

The CXPA

Greg on Linkedin

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The Map May Not The Territory, but it still helps you plot a path forward.

Thanks to Steve Mannino for the suggestion!

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Part 2 of my conversation Kelly Price. This time we talk about the right way to do research for customer journey mapping, and the importance of knowing the limitations of journey maps, so that you make benefit from their tremendous insight.

It was Alfred Korzybski who cautioned that "The Map Is Not The Territory"

And George Box who coined the beautiful paradox: "All Models are wrong, some are useful."

 From Sylvie and Bruno Concluded by Lewis Carroll, first published in 1893.

 "That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"

"About six inches to the mile."

""Only six inches!"exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"

"Have you used it much?" I enquired.

"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well."

Kelly Price on LinkedIn

Sam Stern on LinkedIn

Peak / End Rule

GE MRI Machine Adventure Series

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Kelly Price

Sam Stern

Thanks to my talented colleague Emily Tolmer for the cover art. Thanks to my friends at Moon Island for the music.

Welcome back to the CX patterns podcast with Sam stern in this loose threads, missing threads mini episode, I'm returning to my conversation with Kelly Price, where we talked about designing experiences for the peak end rule.

Kelly And I talked to a lot about addressing negative experience peaks. And tackling those first. For many of those negative peaks in the experience, the answer as Kelly said is to fix them so that they are smooth and unmemorable, and that's right. And Kelly had some great suggestions for how to do this. But I also wanted to note that some of these peak moments are avoidable. So you don't have to redesign them. You don't have to fix them. You don't have to obsess over them. You can just avoid them altogether. For example. Heavy equipment manufacturers think  caterpillar, John Deere, and similar. They now have sensors on their equipment that collect data and can help predict when key parts will wear out or break. I'm sure there are other examples of this in other industries, too. This is just One I'm familiar with. Anyway, the goal is to use the sensors, to provide forewarning of needed parts, maintenance, or replacement, and to do that proactively. This avoids equipment downtime for the farmer, the construction company, or whomever owns the equipment and completely sidesteps that negative peak of a broken piece of equipment. So imagine that they could have fixed the repair experience. But instead they're avoiding the repair experience. So it's now not only not a negative peak. That you're lessening the severity of, or smoothing out. It's one that you've avoided altogether. And a repair experience like in this example is not only a negative peak for the customer. It's also usually expensive and consuming a lot of resources for the manufacturer. So I wanted to  share this example because sometimes the answer to a negative peak is not to fix the moment or , that discrete journey, but to make the moment or that journey irrelevant to the overall experience. Second, a loose thread, something we touched on, but didn't quite cover the point I wanted to highlight today. What gets remembered about the experience are the peak moments, either good or bad, and how the experience ends either good or bad. We talked about that, you know, this. And Kelly alluded to this additional point in the episode related to peak and moments in memory. And I didn't pick up on her point as well as I could've. It's not just how good or bad those moments are that make them memorable. It's also about how they stand out from the rest of the experience. Peaks are peakier. That's a word. When they come out of nowhere. To stick with the metaphor for a second. Mountain peak appears taller. When it's surrounded by a flat plane. Then when it's nestled in among other peaks in a mountain range. So now I can come back to Kelly's advice to address negative peaks first. And in many instances, maybe even most instances. Making them as unMemorable as you can, is the right approach. And then the remaining positive peaks will look even better by comparison. They stand out more. That's it for now. I'll be back with a full episode next week, Kelly Price and I in a second conversation this time talking about design research, another good one with Kelly. Talk to you soon.

​

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Start by considering if the peak is positive or negative. Most memorable peaks and ends are negative, so lowering those peaks is the first part of designing for Peak / End experiences.

Then, how can we make it more positive, either completely forgetable for an experience that shouldn't be memorable, or positively memorable because it can be a memorably good experience, if you get it right.

Kelly Price on LinkedIn

Peak / End Rule

Thinking Fast And Slow

Daniel Kahneman

GE MRI Machine Adventure Series

Article about the Disney Tram Driver Time stamp trick to help customers find their cars when they leave the park

Why is Sam buying pasta online? Sfoglini has crazy new pasta shapes like Cascatelli, invented by Dan Pashman of the Sporkful podcast

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