Think about it. A spreadsheet full of NPS scores? Not exactly a page-turner. But behind those numbers are people. Real people with real frustrations, real joys, and real needs. It’s our job to find their stories and share them.

A low satisfaction score isn’t just a number; it’s Sarah, struggling with a website that crashes every five minutes. It’s John, waiting on hold for an hour, only to be transferred to the wrong department again. A surge in positive reviews? That’s Maria, finally getting the help she needs and telling all her friends about it. These aren’t just metrics; they’re glimpses into real experiences.

So, how do we turn data into compelling, human stories?

1. Really Listen: Data isn’t just about what customers do; it’s about what they say and feel. Dive into the messy, unstructured data: the reviews, the comments, the support tickets. Look for the emotional undercurrents, the recurring themes – the stuff people aren’t explicitly saying.
2. Give Data a Human Face: Charts and graphs are great, but they’re not very relatable. Instead of saying “X% of customers abandoned their carts,” tell Sarah’s story. “Imagine Sarah, excited to buy a new pair of shoes, only to hit a wall at checkout. Confused and frustrated, she gives up.” Give your data a name, a face, a story. Make it real.
3. Ask “Why?”: Data tells you what happened, but the magic is in the why. Why did Sarah abandon her cart? Why is John so frustrated? Dig deep. Uncover the root causes. That’s where the real insights live.
4. Tell Stories That Matter: Your stories shouldn’t just be interesting; they should inspire action. Use data to show the impact of your work, to justify investments, to rally your team. Show how you’re making a real difference in your customers’ lives.
5. Be Ethical: We’re dealing with people’s information. Treat it with respect. Be transparent about how you’re using data and make sure you’re protecting customer privacy. It’s not just good business; it’s the right thing to do.

Walking the Talk: how Transcom helped a communications company leverage data for debt collection

For years, a leading communications company relied on Transcom for inbound and outbound debt collection. But as digital transformation reshaped the industry, traditional approaches were no longer enough.

To stay ahead, we turned to data. By analyzing over a million historical records, we trained and deployed six high-performing machine learning models – powering a new, automated daily process that doesn’t just collect debt but understands customer behavior.

Every day, our predictive debt classification system profiles customers in real time. Those with a lower risk of default are seamlessly guided to self-payment options, while high-risk accounts receive personalized outreach from our expert agents. By identifying behavioral patterns within the data, we uncovered individual customer stories – allowing us to tailor our approach, whether through flexible payment plans, better communication, or perfectly timed outreach. Machine learning also dynamically adjusts outbound campaigns, ensuring maximum engagement.

The results speak for themselves: a 9% increase in recovered external financial resources, a 17%+ surge in self-service adoption, and 860 fewer operational hours per month.

Data is powerful, but it’s just a tool. The real power comes from combining data with empathy, curiosity, and a genuine desire to understand our customers. That’s when we can turn dry numbers into compelling stories that not only inform but actually move the needle.

Contributed blog post written by Transcom.

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So, how do brands keep up? The answer lies in understanding not just who your customers are but how they experience your brand at every turn. This is where customer journey mapping becomes your secret weapon.

But here’s the thing: journey mapping has an image problem. According to Gartner, 83 percent of CX professionals say their organizations struggle to turn journey maps into meaningful improvements. Why? Because too many companies treat them as pretty visuals, not strategic tools.

In our latest magazine article from January’s issue of CX Insight magazine, we dig into why customer journey mapping isn’t just about identifying pain points — it’s about uncovering growth opportunities. We break down how leading brands are using journey maps to:

• Identify moments of truth that make or break customer loyalty.
• Optimize technology investments (yes, even that sleek new AI chatbot).
• Turn data into actionable insights that drive tangible business outcomes.

Moments of Truth: Where Loyalty is Won (or Lost)

Not every customer interaction carries equal weight. Some moments — like a seamless checkout, an empathetic support call, or an unexpected thank-you email — stick with customers long after the transaction ends. These are your moments of truth.

But here’s the catch: you can’t improve what you don’t see. Without journey mapping, these pivotal moments can slip through the cracks, leaving customers feeling unseen and unvalued.

Beyond the Buzzwords: Making Journey Maps Actionable

Journey mapping isn’t about creating a static chart to hang in the break room. It’s about:

1. Seeing the Full Picture: Connecting every touchpoint, from digital ads to customer support.
2. Breaking Down Silos: Aligning marketing, sales, and service teams around the customer’s experience — not just their KPIs.
3. Driving Real Change: Using insights to design experiences that surprise, delight, and retain customers.

We’ll also share how to:

• Identify your brand’s unique moments of truth
• Leverage AI to enhance (not replace) human insights
• Keep your journey maps alive and actionable across teams

Read the full article and discover how customer journey mapping can transform not just your customer experience but your entire business.

The post Customer Journey Mapping: Identifying Your Moments of Truth appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Alvin founded ThrAIve and serves as an advisor. ThrAIve is a customer experience consultancy firm whose secret is using cutting-edge, data-driven methodologies that use A.I. and enhanced customer understanding techniques to examine your customers’ journey with your brand. Previously, he was the Chief Customer Contact Officer for the teledentistry company SmileDirectClub.

Dive into this captivating conversation as we unravel the threads of Alvin’s personal and professional life, revealing lessons for anyone looking to excel in the CX sphere.

How Childhood Inspirations Shape a Leader

Alvin’s journey into the world of CX leadership began in the most unassuming of places: a childhood story about his father’s unwavering commitment to customer service. This tale, set against the backdrop of a small grocery store in Huntsville, Alabama, taught young Alvin the value of going above and beyond for customers. This lesson would become the foundation of his leadership ethos.

It’s a poignant reminder that the seeds of leadership are often sown early in life, nurtured by the stories and examples set before us.

Leading Through Adversity

Leadership is tested in times of prosperity and, more importantly, through adversity. Alvin speaks candidly about the hardships of navigating economic downturns, emphasizing the delicate balance between making tough business decisions and maintaining a human touch. His approach to leadership during these times illustrates a keen sense of empathy, understanding, and a steadfast commitment to his team, showcasing how true leaders shine brightest when the night is darkest.

Data as the Compass: Navigating the CX Landscape with Information

In the realm of CX, data acts as a compass, guiding strategic decisions and innovative initiatives. Alvin credits his success to the ability to harness both attitudinal and behavioral data, using it to drive customer engagement and loyalty. His reflections on the transformative experiences at dunnhumby demonstrate how data, when interpreted with a nuanced understanding of customer behavior, can lead to remarkable outcomes for both the business and its customers.

Get to Know Alvin Stokes

Alvin underscores the enduring impact of mentorship and the importance of building strong professional networks. He shares how deliberate investment in relationships and openness to learning from others have been instrumental in his career. It’s a powerful testament to the idea that while our professional paths are unique, they are often paved with the wisdom and support of those who have journeyed before us.

In this episode, Alvin Stokes not only shares the story of his own professional career but also lays out a blueprint for others to follow. The episode is a masterclass in CX leadership, offering valuable insights for anyone aspiring to lead with authenticity, resilience, and a data-informed mindset.

Key Takeaways

• Authentic leadership is rooted in personal values and genuine service.
• Resilience and empathy are vital in leading teams, especially during challenges.
• Integrating data into CX strategies is crucial for driving engagement and loyalty.
• Adaptable communication styles can greatly benefit client and team interactions.
• Seeking mentorship and building strong relationships are keys to career advancement.

Listen to the full conversation to draw inspiration from Alvin’s wealth of experience and to deepen your understanding of what it takes to lead in the ever-evolving world of customer experience.

Want to Be a Guest on The CX Leadership Exchange?

The CX Leadership Exchange extends an invitation to CX leaders eager to participate in this groundbreaking series. Your unique insights, forged through triumphs and challenges, possess the potential to ignite inspiration in countless others navigating the complex landscape of leadership.

Become a guest on The CX Leadership Exchange and inspire the next generation of leaders. Your journey matters. Interested in being a guest and sharing your insights on The CX Leadership Exchange? Get in touch with us.

The post The CX Leadership Exchange Episode 6: Featuring Alvin Stokes appeared first on Execs In The Know.

But when it comes to proving the value of your CX team and program, generalized stats and industry reports aren’t going to cut it. As a CX leader, you need to confidently show leadership that your team and CX program are operating on the basis of smart, informed strategy — and that you have the results to prove it. Using a data-driven approach to inform your strategy is how brands today are staying competitive.

In this post, we’ll explain what it means to have a data-driven CX program and how you can use data to drive better outcomes for your customers.

Why Every CX Leader Needs a Data-Driven Mindset

Once upon a time, before 6.5 billion people had smartphones in their pockets, customer service and support were more of an art than a science. Agents had to get by on good old-fashioned communication skills, a dash of intuition, and a fair bit of luck.

But today, with readily available tech powered by AI and big data, companies can deliver faster, easier, and more personalized experiences than ever. Now if you want to drive CX forward in your organization and stay ahead of the competition, a data-driven CX program is essential. In fact, research by McKinsey shows that data-driven organizations are 23 times more likely to acquire customers, six times as likely to retain customers, and 19 times as likely to be profitable as a result.

By tapping into experience data, you can build a better understanding of your customer that allows you to:

• Design, deliver, and continually refine a journey that leaves customers satisfied (personalized, fast, friendly, and low-effort)
• Improve the agent experience by making it easier and more enjoyable for them to do their jobs well
• Identify opportunities to automate and streamline contact center operations, saving the business time and money
• Get the results your senior leaders care about

Without actionable insights based on experience data, CX leaders struggle to make the right decisions. Rather than delivering strategic and proactive CX that minimizes friction in the first place, you can wind up playing defense, spending more time putting out fires than guiding customers to success. When you have the right data, on the other hand, it’s easy to make evidence-based decisions that guide customers’ behaviors and decisions in the right direction.

Obstacles to Being More Data-Driven

Chances are, you already have access to vast amounts of customer data and you know you need to play a more active role in shaping your customers’ journeys. For many organizations, there are a few common issues standing in the way of being more data-driven:

• Siloed data: It’s tough to get a complete picture of your customer because enterprise and experience data are siloed across marketing, sales, customer support, and more.
• Outdated technology: If you’re like 55% of firms surveyed by IBM, tech is a limiting factor when it comes to personalizing the experience. Perhaps you don’t have the data collection, management, analysis, or automation tools to execute on your vision. 
• Translating data to insights: You may be sitting on a treasure trove of valuable customer data. But you have no way to turn that raw information into actionable insights that drive results.

If you’re facing any of these challenges, implementing a more data-driven approach can feel like an uphill battle. The good news? More organizations are realizing the value of investing in great CX. For 60% of CEOs, delivering better customer experiences is one of their highest priorities over the next several years, according to IBM.

If you’re ready to start tackling some of these challenges and enhancing the value of your CX program with data, here are the steps you need to take.

The scale, timeline, and approach you take to implement a data-driven CX program is as unique as your team and customers. For many organizations, it makes sense to start small, identifying key areas where pointed data insights can lead to quick and demonstrable wins.

For the full step-by-step process on developing an effective data-driven CX strategy, read the full post here.

Guest blog post written by ibex.

To learn more about this topic and others, visit the events page to check out all of our upcoming events.

The post The Leader’s Guide to Data-Driven CX appeared first on Execs In The Know.

The following is a guest blog post by Tara Wildt, Manager of Content Marketing at Interactions. To learn more about Interactions, visit their website. 

In today’s customer-obsessed marketplace, customer service interactions are now some of the most critical touch points an organization has with its customers. Which means measurements like Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores are increasingly important — all while high scores are ever harder to come by.

Past research has shown that customers are frustrated with long hold times, confusing phone menu options, and difficulty reaching a live agent when needed. And in order to meet the needs of the always-connected consumer, companies are adding customer service channels.

Unfortunately, research shows that this fragmentation of customer service channels is only leading to decreased CSAT scores.

THIS IS WHY CUSTOMER EFFORT MATTERS

Customer effort is a fairly straightforward concept. It’s the amount of effort your customer has to put in to resolve a customer service issue. Companies take different approaches to how they measure customer effort, including:

– Analyzing post call or chat data

– Measuring emotions throughout the interaction

– Combining common customer service metrics such as CSAT and NPS

But regardless of how it’s measured, companies agree that reducing effort helps to improve the customer experience. Why? Interactions conducted a consumer study to uncover some of the reasons. Here’s a preview of what we found.

1. CUSTOMER FRUSTRATION LEVELS ARE INCREASING

It’s probably not a surprise that many customers reach out to your organization because they have a problem. But did you realize that as many 40% of them say they are frustrated before they even pick up a phone or open a chat window? What’s worse is that nearly half of the customers who were frustrated before the interaction remain that way even after the issue is resolved.

Why is this? Part of the reason may be that customers are increasingly well informed. In our research, 64% of respondents regularly use at least one method to research an issue before contacting a company (and the number rises to 80% for 18-34 year olds).  Which means they’ve already invested time trying to fix their problem — and are expecting you to provide a speedy resolution to what they couldn’t correct on their own.

2. AND THE TIME THEY ARE WILLING TO SPEND IS LESS THAN YOU THINK

Customer frustration with long hold times is nothing new. Their definition of what constitutes a ‘long wait’, however, may surprise you. The majority of consumers in our study were only willing to spend up to 10 minutes resolving an issue — including hold time. This included both simple (resetting a password) and moderate (making a return) issues. For more complex issues, an equal number of participants would also spend up to 20 minutes.

That being said, 10 minutes is not a lot of time if you have long hold queues or channels that don’t function efficiently.

3. BUT THERE ARE REAL BENEFITS TO DECREASING EFFORT

Understandably, consumers who felt they spent too much time or effort resolving a customer service issue were frustrated after the interaction was complete. More importantly, however, is the positive impact on customer satisfaction that occurs when customer effort is low. Nearly 90% of respondents who spent less time or effort than expected while resolving an issue were satisfied after the interaction.

For more on the topic, join us for our joint webinar with Interactions, “5 Things That Drive up Customer Effort (And How to Fix Them)”, on Thursday, June 22 at 1:00 P.M. ET. Learn more and register here. 

The post 3 Reasons to Focus on Customer Effort appeared first on Execs In The Know.

This is a guest blog written by Dan Gordon, SVP Strategy & Development, West Interactive Services.

The answer is: Probably not just yet.

At CRS Phoenix back in February, I spoke about how crucial it is to leverage data to optimize your customer experience. Now, as certain emerging technologies begin to pique our interest, I’m expanding on that point to hopefully help some enterprises avoid putting the cart before the horse.

The smartphone is one of the greatest technological advances in human history – and its impact on what brands have had to consider in their customer experience (CX) strategies over the past five to 10 years is just the beginning.

Data continues to transform how humans interact as the lines blur between virtual and physical… device and appendage… human and machine.

The mix of physical devices, buildings and various technologies at the public’s disposal is poised to evolve and extend rapidly through 2021[i], and Gartner believes that data generated from the networking of these devices will create $14.4 trillion in value for organizations between now and 2022.[ii]

Many believe that advanced smart machine technology will become a staple in this shift. Brands trying to keep up with the demands of today’s mobile customer are at full attention.

A smart machine is a device that is equipped to make decisions and solve problems in a human-like manner (think self-driving cars). Relying on data and metadata, or “the information of everything,” smart machines are expected to drive a higher level of quality and consistency in everyday customer interactions by relying on neural networks that dissect things like text, images and voice — all without human intervention.

Unsurprisingly, their potential impact is creating major buzz among technology providers and enterprises in every industry. Companies are left wondering what the rise of smart machines will mean for their long-term CX strategies, and how to stay ahead of their customers and competition as developments unfold.

I’d recommend that most brands don’t overhaul their existing priorities just yet. Instead, stay focused on their current objectives and keep riding the wave.

In a CX industry where scalable ecosystems for communication are quickly becoming table stakes, differentiation now teeters upon instilling this ecosystem with business analytics to truly understand, and ultimately prescribe and execute the best course of action in any given customer interaction.

As an organization and its customer experience matures, specific hardware and software become far less important than the data that supports and is generated by said technology and the people using it.

This starts with establishing a connected ecosystem and everything that enables it, including organizational structure and streamlined processes, robust data, and consistent metrics. Incorporating the next hot machines should come further down the road.

Once operating with a fully connected ecosystem, what’s in it is relatively irrelevant compared to the customer experience it generates with the help of an ever-growing network of data within and surrounding it. Furthermore, while today’s smart machines have perceptive capabilities, they rely solely on rule-based approaches — absent of decision-making patterns of their own.[iii] Although smart machines’ potential is seemingly limitless, it’s impossible to anticipate the impact they will have on things like users’ attention spans, situational behavior, conventional expectations, workforce engagement, regulatory and security risks, and so on.

Keeping a watchful eye on the evolution of smart machines is a must. But it’s more important for companies to first focus on the factors they can control now, and show judicious patience.

By learning from the data currently at their disposal, and leveraging it to thoughtfully, and gradually, develop a more mature customer experience, brands will be poised to act if and when the time is right. Data, after all, will be the beating heart for any and all smart machine to come.

Want to learn more about the potential impact of smart machines or how to mature in terms of Customer Experience Lifecycle Management? Visit http://west.com/interactive and check out this whitepaper.

We look forward to connecting with many of you at CRS Austin later this month. We’re privileged to sponsor cocktail hour yet again, and invite you to join us for a drink at 6:30 p.m. on Monday. See you there!

[i] Clearly, David W., Brian Blau, Brian Burke and Mike J. Walker. Gartner. “Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016: The Device Mesh. 26 February 2016. 3.

[ii] Walker, Mike J., David W. Clearly and Brian Burke. Gartner. “Top 10 Technology Trends for 2016: Information of Everything.” 26 February 2016. 2

[iii] Austin, Tom. Gartner. “Smart Machines See Major Breakthroughs After Decades of Failure.” 8 September 2015. Overview

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