The Digital CX Podcast: Driving digital customer success and outcomes in the age of A.I.

Enter the contest for a Gold Pass ($1300 value!) to the Customer Success Festival in Austin (Feb 13 & 14, 2024) by following these steps:Review the podcast on your platform of choice and send a quick screenshot to alex@digitalcustomersuccess.comGo to this LinkedIn post and Like it: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7152780848642068480Leave a comment on that same post about what aspect of CS Festival you're most looking forward to or any questions comments you might have about the event.Today's Guest Anika Zubair is a CS household name and award winning customer success leader who is constantly providing insanely valuable content to the community. She has led and scaled many functions throughout her career and is currently Head of Customer Success at Griffin. There are so many valuable nuggets of information to pull away from our conversation in this episode including:Leveraging technology to meet our customers where they are with what they needCovid normalized digital engagementThe resurgence of QR codesTransitioning from full-time gig to consulting and backThe difficulty of the current job marketUsing ‘CS Trailers’ to solve for customer engagement via short form, TikTok style video and how this style aligns with how people are consuming content todayCombining short videos (max 90 seconds) with analytics and strong call to actions can lead to strong customer engagementPractical example of a short onboarding flowThings like 'Spotify Wrapped' are HARD to get to but so effective if you doCelebrating customer wins and demonstrating value digitallyIt’s ok as B2B to communicate like B2C - we are all just humanAnika's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anikazubair/Apps:Cast.app - Virtual Digital CSMBagel - Tie product features to revenue opportunities and customer feedbackContent:This is Growth PodcastRevenue Today PodcastCS Office HoursShoutouts:Dan EnnisJay NathanJeff Breunsbach+++++++++ Support the show+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value  from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.  Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic🎬 This content was edited by Lifetime Value Media.Learn more at: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com 

Enter the contest for a Gold Pass ($1300 value!) to the Customer Success Festival in Austin (Feb 13 & 14, 2024) by following these steps:Review the podcast on your platform of choice and send a quick screenshot to alex@digitalcustomersuccess.comGo to this LinkedIn post and Like it: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7152780848642068480Leave a comment on that same post about what aspect of CS Festival you're most looking forward to or any questions comments you might have about the event.Winner will be announced on Jan 31!+++++++++++++Today's Guest: Anita TothThere is no denying that there are a ton of amazing people in the CS community. Anita Toth is no exception. She is such a great presence in CS and regularly puts her academia background in full display with well thought through concepts and tangible take-aways that help elevate CS within our organizations. This conversation was jam packed with really great take-aways including:Anita's background in academiaHer transition into CS and the lessons that it can teach others about approaching transitionDeep research in CS and looking for patternsStandardizing customer feedback, CS inputs, etc. to drive data cleanliness and see trendsElevating CS within an organization from the kids table to the adult tableHow to feed CS' valuable customer data to the rest of the companyStart with Marketing and share details of your top 20% customers - help marketing build an ICP so that they can go help find more of that type of customerHow our tooling is helping us to produce insights for the businessCS’ main product should be insights on customer healthThe importance of CS leaders to understand other business leaders’ goals so that we know what insights can help themTrust and ethics in adopting GenAI and the inflection point that is coming where we won’t be able to tell the difference between human and algorithmSpeculating on the future use of GenAI within CSAnita's LinkedInATIChurn No More Leadership WorkshopResources:The School of Greatness: Lewis HowesDr. Joe DispenzaDoctor Mike+++++++++++++ Support the show+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value  from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.  Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic🎬 This content was edited by Lifetime Value Media.Learn more at: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com 

Bhavika Kochhar is one of those amazing individuals that does an incredible amount of service to the CS community and seemingly eats, sleeps & breaths customer success. She's been in the trenches as a CSM and is now pursuing her Masters in Engineering Management, where she is focused on pulling technical prowess into CS.I loved this conversation with Bhavika because she provided a lot of tactical advice, not only for leaders but also front-line CSMs on the mindset and general operations of great digital programs. Topics in our conversation include:How her love of tech brought her to the Engineering Management Masters program at DukeEven as a CSM - you can go an automate things to make your job betterDCS isn’t replacing the CSM - it’s in service of the CSM to make them more efficientThe benefit of being technically proficient on your product and your own tech stack/integrationsYour customers shouldn’t know that they are interfacing with different teams and systems. It should feel cohesive.Gender and racial diversity in CS and techEffective cross collaboration with other departments Asking questions is so important in getting to know other functions - being naturally curious is goodSuch great info from such a sweet person. I hope you enjoy...because I sure did!Bhavika's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavikak/Bhavika's Website: https://www.bhavikakochhar.com/CS Ladies initiative: https://www.linkedin.com/company/csladies/Resources:Customer Success Mindset: Building Customer-Centricity into the DNA of your Growth Strategy by Jyo Shukla: https://amzn.to/3vtw6N6The AI Empowered Customer Experience: A CX practitioner's guide to the possibilities and risks of AI by Simon Kriss: https://amzn.to/41Ob7R0+++++++++++++++++ Support the show+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value  from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.  Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic🎬 This content was edited by Lifetime Value Media.Learn more at: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com 

Digital strategist Alyssa Opella discusses incorporating digital motions into the post-sale journey, including data quality, interventions, and celebrating wins. Topics include career journey, org perception, executive communications, personas, and crafting personalized messages. They also highlight automation benefits, leveraging insights, feedback mechanisms, and finding inspiration from various sources.

Marie Lunney, seasoned digital CS leader and founder of DCS Connect Slack community, discusses digital CS before it was called DCS, cross-coordination with other departments, employee satisfaction, data hygiene, digital business reviews, hiring for Digital CS, and the branding implications of a good digital CS program.

Jon Johnson, CS leader, musician, and writer, shares insights on the interplay between human & digital aspects of customer success, the loss of humanity in digital, workplace trauma & mental health, building real relationships in business, and the importance of personalization in digital customer success.

Jeff Kushmerek of Infinite Renewals has to be one of the most dynamic and fun people in our amazing CS community. His contributions are immense via his generosity, amazing content and overall attitude towards CS. You might also see him as one of the most musically active members of the community.While we do start with a fun 'this or that' activity on albums, in this fun convo, we delve into all sorts of great topics related to digital CS including:Jeff's general approach to consultingWhen his clients are NOT ready for a digital programHuman & Digital motions working together instead of replacing each otherHow hiring junior CSMs for digital isn't necessarily the right staffing fitDigital signals beyond basic login metricsSales to CS handoffOperational rigor to make digital motions workCS & Product interactionThis was a fun one which made me smile listening back to it during the edit.Enjoy! I know I sure did...Jeff's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffkushmerek/Infinite Renewals: https://www.infiniterenewals.comResources Mentioned in this Episode:Gain Grow Retain Podcast: https://podcast.gaingrowretain.com/Unchurned Podcast: https://blog.update.ai/blog/category/unchurned-podcast/SaaStr Podcast: https://www.saastr.com/podcasts/The Team House Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-team-house/id1492797340Zero Blog Thirty Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/zero-blog-thirty/id1151856991Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend Podcast: https://teamcoco.com/podcasts/conan-obrien-needs-a-friendShoutouts:Colleen Stein @ Churn ZeroDan Ennis @ Monday.comDavid Epperly @ Blackpoint CyberKara Smith @ Searchspring Support the show+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value  from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.  Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic🎬 This content was edited by Lifetime Value Media.Learn more at: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com 

I absolutely love interviewing guests who are deeply embedded and leading CS teams for companies that primarily serve the Customer Success community. That is why this week's chat with Chris Dishman of Totango was such a joy!It goes without saying that not only does Chris' team run a stellar customer success program, but they also advise clients on best practices and have a birds eye view into how many of their customers are approaching CS.In our chat, we talk a bit about Chris' background and how he went from being a Totango customer to employee/leader. After that, we get deep into topics like:The current and future states of health scoringBest practices when building out your own scoringThe right (and wrong) time to implement a CSPCS Operations Human and digital motions working together.Working cross-functionally to drive customer outcomesDigital/Video Business ReviewsMy favorite quote from the episode: "Scaled CS isn't all-or-nothing - you can have variations and flavors of human and machine working together."For those in the US - Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you get to spend some good family time this week.Chris' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherdishman/Totango: https://www.totango.com/Resources:McKinzey & Company Articles: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insightsThe Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty: https://amzn.to/49qpNJBDecoder Podcast: https://www.theverge.com/decoder-podcast-with-nilay-patelShoutout:Allie Irvin @ Extreme Networks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allie-irvin/ Support the show+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value  from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.  Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic🎬 This content was edited by Lifetime Value Media.Learn more at: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com 

This week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Markus Rentsch, CEO of Remark-able, where he spends his time consulting and building products to help CS orgs navigate Customer Value Led Growth initiatives. Markus and I share some commonalities, the first of which is that we are both native German speakers and are from the Vienna area - though admittedly I haven't lived there in years. The second, and probably most important/relevant is that we share a love for Customer Success and talk about a variety of topics related to the practice in this conversation, including:ChatGPT and trusting (or not trusting) Generative AI.Customer Value Led Growth (CVLG) vs Product Led GrowthHow Apple excels at CVLG by providing value to a broad set of peopleData hygiene and how to solve for common data issuesAligning the entire organization around customer goalsPolling exiting customers5 Whys as a great tool for root cause analysisCS in EMEA vs Americas and how innovation tends to move from west to eastEvolution of Digital CS due to current economic conditionsAsking your customers how they want to be engaged...and much much more!Enjoy! I know I sure did...Markus' LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markus-rentsch-customer-value-led-growth-for-saas/Remark-able: https://remark-able.at Resources:Customer Value Led Growth Framework: https://remark-able.at/customer-value-led-growth-book/UpdateAI: https://update.aiGamma: https://gamma.app Support the show+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value  from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.  Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic🎬 This content was edited by Lifetime Value Media.Learn more at: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com 

In what is probably the most quotable episode of the podcast yet, Greg Daines drops some INCREDIBLE knowledge on the root causes of churn and how digital customer success programs are pivotal in driving long-term retention.  How? By driving consistent Customer Results and addressing the variability inherent in changing customer behaviors.As you will likely know - Greg is an absolute legend in the CS space and speaking with him invigorated and clarified my own thinking about the programs I'm building.In our conversation, we talk about:The hardest thing founders & CEOs have to to nail down is how to make customers successful at scaleThe variable you don’t control is the customer propensity to drive change within their organizationThe tech doesn’t necessarily help your customer - their ability to change behavior around that technology DOES!The best predictor of long term retention is customers getting measurable results - CSAT does not predict this and isn’t even correlated with long term retention. Standardizing what you do around customer outcomes & values. The vast majority of your customers will have a standard set of problems. Build the digital machine around the things that you know will lead to success in every customer and then report to them on how they are doing along that path.Magic Words “Our most successful customers do…” Companies look to you to see how they compare with others in the space. 6% of customers know from the beginning where their customer journey is going, which is all the more justification for being their guide in the journey.Transitioning from tools being a "place to do your work" to tools that tell you what work to do. ...and much much more!Enjoy! I know I sure did...Greg's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregdaines/GregDaines.com: https://www.gregdaines.com/ChurnRX: https://www.churnrx.com/Shoutouts:Geoffrey Moore - Author of Crossing the Chasm and his Adoption Lifecycle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreyamoore/DuolingoHubspot Support the show+++++++++++++++++Like/Subscribe/Review:If you are getting value  from the show, please follow/subscribe so that you don't miss an episode and consider leaving us a review.  Website:For more information about the show or to get in touch, visit DigitalCustomerSuccess.com. Buy Alex a Cup of Coffee:This show runs exclusively on caffeine - and lots of it. If you like what we're, consider supporting our habit by buying us a cup of coffee: https://bmc.link/dcspThank you for all of your support!The Digital Customer Success Podcast is hosted by Alex Turkovic🎬 This content was edited by Lifetime Value Media.Learn more at: https://www.lifetimevaluemedia.com