The Experience Strategy Podcast

Most businesses only collect feedback from 1% of their customers and by the time they've reviewed it, it's too late to effectively respond. It's time to address the problem of biased and irrelevant customer research. Georgina Nelson, Founder of TruRating, joins us to discuss how she's helping her clients collect actionable and contextual customer feedback at point-of-sale. Tune in to hear why it's time to let go of Net Promoter Score (NPS). In This Episode: [02:55] Introducing Georgina and TruRating. [04:02] Examining survey fatigue and the underrepresentation of customer experience. [07:54] The thesis behind TruRating. [11:25] Ensuring actionable feedback by focusing on the "what" instead of the "who". [17:27] What TruRating's customers are saying and how they're getting closer to their customers. [25:04] The problem with NPS. [30:17] The big lessons Georgina is taking from her work and what she's seeing emerge. [33:29] How TruRating is an excellent example of the movement happening amongst consumers towards a focus on context. Key Takeaways: Businesses usually hear from less than 1% of their customers, and the majority of that feedback is from days or weeks after the event. TruRating is a way to give consumers a voice back to businesses in a far easier, quicker, and anonymous manner. TruRating ensures actionable feedback by emphasizing the what and not the who with a super quick and simple point-of-sale rating system. Why it's important to focus on context and driving social proof and organic SEO. NPS alone is no longer the business-driving decision-maker that we once thought it was. Specific situational data gives us a much better read on customers in general. Links Mentioned: https://trurating.com Georgina LinkedIn Bio: Georgina studied Psychology at University, where she became fascinated with how to measure, understand, and predict human behavior. She realized that key to everything was data you could trust, which required sample sizes not usually seen in market research. After graduating George took a turn into law, working first in finance with Clifford Chance LLP before joining Europe's largest consumer association Which? representing consumer privacy and data issues at an EU and UK Government level. It was here she identified a market need for representative consumer feedback. Putting two and two together Georgina created TruRating, a point-of-sale rating system that by making feeding back super simple and super quick, achieves what other survey tools fail to do - mass, genuine customer data samples at speed. TruRating doesn't stop there, all data is shared back to consumers via profile pages, to ensure that the data exchange is a fair one for both parties. With over 250 million ratings collected worldwide, TruRating is now the world's largest platform of validated consumer ratings.

It's time to start treating students like customers. Historically, higher education hasn't leveraged modern customer experience techniques to support students throughout their journeys. In this episode, Cindy Casper, the first insights strategy consultant in higher education, makes the case for taking a fresh look at students' needs. Tune in to discover the powerful insights and experience strategies Cindy and her team employed at Arizona State University to better support students at their institution. In This Episode: [02:28] Cindy's transition from Sam's Club to Arizona State University. [06:50] The downside of thinking that students need to prove themselves to be worthy. [12:06] Examining the shift that happens once a client or student is "won over." [18:10] The importance of making students feel like they matter and KPIs to consider. [23:15] Aspirational vs. social jobs and the impact of having a Success Coach. [29:17] The need to look at student journeys as customer journeys. [32:41] The big opportunity for higher education institutions that want to better understand their customer's needs and motivations. Key Takeaways: There is too much focus on winning the customer or student and not enough focus on their experience throughout the long-term relationship. The shift from marketing to operations can have a significant impact on the customer experience. Like most industries, looking at customer needs and their JTBD reveals huge opportunities to better serve students. By understanding what matters most to these "constituents" we can customize the experience and make it more meaningful. It takes a powerful leader to convince top leadership that they need to think about KPIs and organizational structure to have a better customer experience. Bio: Cindy Casper is founder of Casper Insights, a boutique market research firm that provides insights strategy consulting, project design and analytics to help organizations achieve their goals. Her research and analytics experience spans both supplier and buyer roles across retail, consumer packaged goods and higher education. Cindy is a creative thinker, having devised a patentable process for integrating survey and first-party data to predict consumer attitudes. Cindy is a frequent presenter at insights conferences and webinars. To address the niche needs of colleges and universities, she created Collegiate Insights. Cindy is particularly skilled at working across the aisle with chief marketing officers, closing the gap between goals, insights and execution. Cindy is ABD toward a doctoral degree in marketing from Case Western Reserve University and holds an MBA from Bowling Green State University. Notable Roles & Achievements: Founder, Higher Ed Insights Collaborative, an organization intended to increase cross-industry excellence Managing Director, Knowledge & Insights, Arizona State University Insights and research executive-level positions with American Greetings, Sam's Club, Jo-Ann Stores and OfficeMax

In this episode of The Experience Strategy Podcast, we are joined by Mary Putman, Lead Digital Strategist for The Collaboratives at Stone Mantel. We discuss how The Collaboratives make learning and research an interactive and transformative experience. Unlike conferences which provide ideas, but rarely support integration into your real-life scenarios, or traditional research that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per project, or development programs which can take years to complete, The Collaboratives teach you skills and frameworks to lead digital, hybrid, IRL Experience Strategy in your organization, while solving complex real-life problems at a fraction of the cost of even a single research project. In This Episode: [03:17] Mary's experience as a member of The Collaboratives before joining the team. [04:34] How The Collaboratives came to be and how the program works. [11:09] The biggest benefit to becoming a member of The Collaboratives. [15:40] Participating in The Collaborative in person or virtually. [17:02] The Healthcare and Retail tracks of the current program and their goals. [21:47] The new Experience Strategy Certification. [26:39] The Collaboratives FAQs. [30:29] The ideal participant for The Collaboratives. Key Takeaways: The Collaboratives is a unique year-long immersive program that takes a collaborative approach to solving big hairy problems within organizations and leaves its participants more well-rounded, well-informed, and innovative experience leaders. The ideal participant for The Collaboratives program isn't just for those from big companies. It's for anybody who wants to make a difference for their customers and their experiences. There is an incredible amount of learning and inspiration across the teams participating in The Collaboratives. The new Experience Strategy Certification will help participants in The Collaboratives (and potentially non-participants in the future) become leaders within their organization and deliver a high level of strategic insight and thought leadership. Links Mentioned: The Collaborative at Stone Mantel - https://thecollaboratives.com/ Bio: Mary loves helping companies transform. She has a passion for consumer insights, data and innovation. With extensive expertise in digital, innovation, marketing, finance, and strategy, she brings foresight into the business — championing ways to foster growth. Before becoming a thought leader and facilitator of the Collaboratives with Stone Mantel, Mary led Digital Capability Innovation and Business Development at Hallmark. She led Hallmark's Omnichannel strategy, helped frame the new brand promise and helped launch Hallmark Magazine. Mary drove change at Hallmark as an advocate for open innovation, APIs, social integration, and a mobile-first approach to everything. Mary has extensive speaking experience at large and small conferences. She earned an MBA in Marketing & Finance from Rockhurst College in 1996. Mary lives in Kansas City and enjoys sailing, disc golf, gardening, and biking. She is also a fan of the Chiefs and Kansas City BBQ.

More than ever, people expect their experiences with brands to motivate them to achieve their goals. We've done extensive research to understand what this takes and turned these insights into frameworks that any company can use. Tune in to learn powerful ways to design products and services that motivate and inspire! In This Episode: [00:53] What led Dave's team to start exploring Meaningful Motivation. [05:52] How Meaningful Motivation is different from the ways people have thought about motivation in the past. [08:50] The value of purpose. [11:40] Understanding motivation and repairing trust with customers. [15:08] Breaking down the principles of Meaningful Motivation. [27:50] What we plan to accomplish with the Meaningful Motivation practice at Stone Mantel. Key Takeaways: Personal values are now playing a significant factor in our designation of economic value. As brands, we have to get better at really understanding what lights people up. Anyone embarking on a meaningful motivation body of work will probably have to start with building trust as a center point of their work. People don't always know what they want, so asking them won't necessarily help you help them. It's crucial to get underneath the surface to get to the deeper answer. Going beyond the simple exchange of monetary value to do work that adds true meaning and value to people's lives is work worth doing. Links Mentioned: https://gostonemantel.com/

From Aristotle and Plato to modern brands like Disney and Apple, staging and storytelling have always been central to our experiences. Tune into today's episode of The Experience Strategy Podcast to find out ways to use these timeless techniques to entice, engage and immerse your customer in your brand's offerings. In This Episode: [00:55] What does economic progression have to do with birthday cakes? [05:25] What does staging experiences mean? [06:00] Aristotle and Plato used the same design principles as Apple and Disney. [08:45] The strategic power of unboxing? [15:00] One of the biggest mistakes companies are making is thinking that moving customers through phases is the same thing as having a story. [19:00] Here's how the Kith brand is selling the lifestyle experience to consumers. [24:00] Why associating stories with theming is important. [28:00] What is the Dunder Mifflin phenomenon? [31:00] What does vibe have to do with the whole experience of a brand? Key Takeaways: Staging experiences is thinking about the experience as theater. There is this innate human need to be a part of an experience and to be on the journey of a story. One of the key elements of staging an experience is that there needs to be a story and a journey customers want to be a part of. Disney, like many successful brands, transitioned from "let me show you a story", to "let me make you a part of this story". Links Mentioned: Kith: https://kith.com/ Cariuma: https://cariuma.com/

2020 reminded us that Wellness touches every part of our lives. As a result, companies are quickly discovering that workplace wellness is much more than in-house gyms, mindfulness apps, and healthy food in cafeterias. In this episode, we welcome Mia Kyricos, a globally respected thought-leader in the business of wellness, to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of Wellness and a uniquely integrated approach for helping organizations across all industries create purpose-driven wellness strategies designed to make companies, brands, services and colleagues inherently well. In This Episode: [03:00] Using wellness as a strategic differentiator in business. [05:30] It's not just what we do and from where, but how we work. [05:30] What is an ecosystem of wellbeing, according to Mia? [11:00] The evolution of wellness and wellbeing in the workplace. [14:50] How has COVID influenced wellness in the workplace? [18:00] How will these changes influence experience strategy in companies? [21:10] Can love be a business strategy? Key Takeaways: Our golden rule should be to lead and design with empathy at the center: how we work, how we live. The pandemic has radically shifted employee and customer expectations of wellness. The demand is greater than ever. There's an expectation of holistic integration: People, planet and community, physical and mental wellness and beyond. Links Mentioned: Kyricos & Associates LLC - http://kyricos.com/ Bio: Mia Kyricos is a globally respected thought-leader in the business of wellness and brand strategy with two decades of experience cultivating wellness, hospitality, healthy lifestyle, and travel brands across 100+ countries. As President & Chief Love Officer™ of , a strategic advisory and referral firm, Mia advances the trillion-dollar business of wellness by activating Ecosystems of Wellbeing™ that span both commercial and internal business interests. Previously, she was Senior Vice President & Global Head of Wellbeing for the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Chief Brand Officer for Spafinder Wellness, Inc., and Vice President of the workplace wellness division at EXOS. Recently named the Leading Woman in Wellness, and Cornell University's Alumna of the Year, her work and expertise has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Skift, Smart Money, Hotel Business, Travel Weekly, Market Watch and more. She sits on the advisory boards of Wellness for Cancer, Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, and the Global Wellness Institute™, a 501c3 non- profit educational foundation she helped to found. Her mission is to help people live well, and based on her latest research, to love more.

How do you take a simple moment and turn it into something that is memorable every single day? Many of us have had wonderful experiences at hotels, but residential living has been slow to embrace the lessons of hospitality. In today's episode of The Experience Strategy Podcast, we're talking to Trevor Hightower, the founder of Craftwork, about creating meaningful moments for apartment residents and powerful ways to disrupt the residential real estate industry. In This Episode: [02:00] Building apartments has always been more about the physical space and less about the experience. Here's how Craftwork is changing the entire hospitality experience. [08:00] How Trevor balances the needs of commercial and residential clients 12:55] More and more innovators from outside the real estate industry are coming in to disrupt. [15:55] What does it actually mean to have a customer-focused business in real estate? [19:00] A different approach to residential living creates stories where both residents and those who work in the buildings feel seen and valued. [20:05] To keep things fresh in real estate, you have to make changes that are authentic. [23:15] What's next for Craftwork? Key Takeaways: At the end of the day, it's the experience of the end-user that creates the most value for the asset. More and more owners are seeing the importance of experience for their end-user. Craftwork's missional focus and the benefits of Craftwork to their clients, are directly aligned with each other, creating a customer focused mission. Authenticity is crucial for the real estate industry to stay fresh and competitive. Bio: Trevor Hightower's experience in positions of leadership in the military and in the commercial real estate industry have all helped shape his philosophy and passion for community, entrepreneurship, place and seeing others around him flourish. He is the founder of Workflourish, a coworking space in Houston, which merged with Craftwork in early 2018. Prior to this, he was Managing Director of Houston for CBRE. He now serves as President of Craftwork. Tyler (wife), Chase (son), Grace (daughter), and Elle (daughter) are the top of his list to serve and he loves them dearly. Links Mentioned: Website: https://craftworkgroup.com/

From Starbucks to Netflix, companies today are competing to disrupt the market and deliver the best possible customer experience. But what does it take to differentiate your brand and drive results for your customers and your bottom line? Tune into today's episode as we explain just what Experience Strategy means, and why it matters. IN THIS EPISODE: [02:00] Dave explains what Business Strategy means. According to Michael Porter (a Harvard Business Guru), Business Strategy can be defined as a competitive position. [03:00] Dave defines Marketing Strategy by using Philip Kolter's definition from Northwestern University. [7:00] Why it's important to recognize different types of strategies in order to understand Experience Strategy. [10:00] CX Strategy or Customer Experience Strategy? Are those strategies the same thing as Experience Strategy? Dave explains the differences between them. [14:00] What role does loyalty play in CX Strategies? [17:00] How Starbucks changed the customer experience for their customers. [21:30] Are Netflix and Amazon just Tech Companies or can they be described as Experience Companies? [26:30] Aransas has observed in multiple organizations that experience is situated as an operational effect versus a strategic pillar. What is the risk of relegating it to an operational aspect? KEY TAKEAWAYS: Companies need to understand that their business strategy is about setting their businesses up in comparison to their competitors. Customization is one of the key elements of Customer Experience. It's a first step towards recognizing the audience as individuals. All technology today is customized in some way. Disruptive innovation has completely changed the way the world looks today. One of the best examples is Amazon. At one time, no one was paying attention to them, and now they have completely disrupted the US economy. Strategy is important, but if companies want more customers, they need to think more rigorously at what customers need and deliver on those needs across operations, marketing, innovation and business strategies.

In today's episode, we focus on a foundational strategic principle Experience Strategists call "time well spent." Consumers have a choice about where to spend their time and money and those decisions are usually driven by how much value they get from an experience. Tune in to hear fresh ways for understanding the value of people's time spent with your business, and how to design your service and products to create experiences that customers want to buy. IN THIS EPISODE: [01:30] Why businesses should pay attention to the Experience Strategy principle of "time well spent". [05:30] Companies can work on the value of "time well spent" with them by asking consumers for feedback about what is important or meaningful to them. [08:00] Dave explains ING Bank's efforts in the early 2000's to improve their consumers' experience by using technology to create a more convenient and quicker experience. [14:00] The strategic decision companies like Starbucks, 7Eleven, Panera Bread, and Facebook took to differentiate themselves and create "time well spent" for their consumers. [18:00] Companies, like IKEA, offer the experience, but not "time well spent". This leaves consumers feeling frustrated and limits their opportunity to grow. [26:00] Aransas discusses the three big questions that every business should ask themselves about the experience they're providing their customers. KEY TAKEAWAYS: "Time well spent" is a foundational principle of Experience Strategists, and by evaluating what your customer values, you can create an experience they want to pay for. Making your business or product convenient isn't enough. You have to understand your business's role in providing the best possible experience to your consumers. To ensure your customers value your experience ask them: Does the experience feel like it is time well saved, spent, or invested? If not, understand why and design your experience with those needs in mind.

Covid-19 fundamentally shifted the way most people work. For many companies it's meant newly distributed workforces, and prompted a need to find innovative ways to create meaningful employee experiences. In this episode of The Experience Strategy Podcast, we are joined by Valarie Udeh, from one of the world's largest aerospace and defense companies, BAE Systems, to explore powerful strategies for engaging a remote workforce, managing diverse employees, and cultivating company culture, no matter where your employees do their work. IN THIS EPISODE: [03:00] Valarie discusses her team at BAE Systems and her responsibilities. She explains the big shifts in her department as most employees moved into remote work this last year. [06:00] The challenges presented to Valarie in order to keep employees coming back to the office safe, as well as staying connected with those who continue to work from home. [11:00] Valarie explains her main goals of employee engagement and what she hopes to achieve from creating a workplace environment that feels authentic. [14:30] Dave explains the concept of "modes" and how people have to flip between different modes, ie, parent mode, work mode, crisis mode...etc. and find a balance between them all. [19:00] Valarie talks about how to position the experience for her employees based on their situations. [26:00] Valarie discusses how important the manager role plays when connecting and engaging with their team and recognizing which modes their employees might be functioning in. [33:00] Valarie shares her biggest takeaways and perspectives she has gained over the past year and how she hopes to integrate and embrace new best practices into her multi-generational organization. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Employees need to feel the appreciation and effort put in by their managers and supervisors to connect with their individual preferences. If the effort is put in by employers- the retention rate and loyalty among employees is much higher. Working during Covid-19 has given employers and employees the chance to evaluate workplace culture and create new best practices based on what works now. Employees have more freedom and autonomy to define their work lives in a way that fits their unique needs. Cultivating a positive, secure work environment requires a deeper look at the organization and different ways to connect with employees. Management is key in evaluating best practices and implementing them for their employees. Constantly working in crisis mode or cleanup mode is stressful for everyone. Being proactive can prevent employee stress and burnout, keeping them productive and energized in their work. Links Mentioned: BAE Systems - https://www.baesystems.com/en/home Valarie Udeh - LinkedIn BIO: Valarie Udeh joined BAE Systems, Inc. in April of 2013 as Director of Communications for Enterprise Shared Services. She is responsible for Shared Services Finance and Human Resources as well as ESS-IT communications for the organization. Her team is also responsible for ESS communications, employee engagement, and community service. Prior to joining BAE Systems, Valarie worked for Delhaize America as Director of Internal Communications for the grocery chain Food Lion. She was responsible for employee communications reaching associates from across 11 states. She also worked for Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, as Senior Vice President, Director of Brand Management and Multicultural Marketing. Valarie has extensive advertising and public relations agency experience representing clients in the finance, restaurant, healthcare, and education sectors. Valarie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communications from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Arts degree in strategic communications from Queens University of Charlotte. She is also a certified executive coach.