By Nathalie Schooling
In 2008, Pixar Animation Studios introduced us to the whimsical and thought-provoking universe of Wall-E. Not only did this animated feature earn the applause of audiences worldwide, but it also garnered prestigious accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA, all celebrating its brilliance. More than just a fantastical escapade, Wall-E serves as a crystal-clear, imaginative warning about a future dominated by artificial intelligence and technological dependence—a reality that mirrors our impending 2035 aspirations.
In our current landscape, where every chat, conference, and business strategy seems laser-focused on innovation, Wall-E gently nudges us to pause and value the present.
Genuine Connection: More Than Just Pixels and Code
In today’s market, brimming with AI communication tools, the longing for real, heartfelt connections persists. Wall-E, with his endearing pursuit of companionship and meaningful relationships, reminds us that businesses need to champion authentic interactions. Empathy, emotional intelligence, and personalised engagement are keys to creating connections that AI, no matter how advanced, struggles to replicate. Real relationships foster trust and loyalty, attributes essential for businesses that aim to thrive in a tech-saturated age.
Purpose-Driven Innovation: The ‘Why’ That Drives Us
Wall-E’s journey encourages us to examine the fundamental reasons for our relentless technological pursuits. While innovation is undoubtedly transformative, it must have purpose and direction beyond mere advancement. Let’s steer our technologies towards fostering environmental sustainability, upholding ethical AI practices, and enhancing societal well-being. As depicted in Wall-E’s deserted, waste-laden Earth, the absence of purposeful innovation can lead to dire consequences. Every step in technology should aim to improve the world and not push it towards an abyss of our own creation.
Resilience and Adaptability: The Ultimate Human Edge
Despite facing overwhelming odds, Wall-E never deviates from his mission. In this rapidly evolving technological landscape, human resilience and adaptability are crucial. These traits are the backbone of successful navigation through the unpredictability of business climates. Machines might process data at incredible speeds, but the human ability to innovate, bounce back from setbacks, and tackle challenges with creativity and tenacity is irreplaceable. As technology continues to evolve, these timeless human qualities will be evermore essential.
Keeping the Humanity in Technological Advancement
As we steer towards 2035 and beyond, let’s embrace technology without losing sight of our fundamental human values. In the whimsical, yet prophetic words of Wall-E, let’s not forget the humanity that defines our uniqueness. Ensure that future technological endeavours amplify our collective experience and nurture the essence of who we are. Dickens once said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, so too does Wall-E teach us to cherish our present while creating a hopeful future, bridging the best of human spirit with innovation.
P.S.
If you haven’t yet experienced Wall-E, it’s time to treat yourself. Stream it on Disney+ and see the magic for yourself—a delightful, poignant reminder of balancing progress with the heart and soul of humanity.
By weaving this rich narrative into our business strategies and values, we can create a future that’s not only dominated by technology but enriched by genuine human connection and purpose-driven innovation.
Blog by Nathalie Schooling
Dear Valued Customer.
That’s usually where I stop reading – but on this day, I read on.
I was scanning the marketing copy on a Standard Bank ATM digital screen that was asking if I could take their short Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey.
As someone who works in the CX game, it’s always great to see a company asking their clients for feedback. But there is so much wrong with this communication that I feel like it’s a missed opportunity for Standard Bank.
I have no doubt that this was a well-intentioned effort, I do want to state that upfront. It’s a genuine ask to gather customer feedback so that they can improve upon their offering. But those who work in customer experience will know that it takes concise, considered communication to entice a client to participate in a survey.
The fact that the screen says, ‘Dear Valued Customer’ client is the first turn off. It’s an ATM – once the machine accepts your bank card, it knows exactly who you are. Why not use this opportunity to personalise a message to the client? As much as 71% of customers expect personalised communication and are more likely to engage if they receive a personalised experience.
The second problem with this communication is that it uses the words ‘Net Promoter Score.’ Chances are, not a lot of people even know what NPS is. Industry jargon has no place in customer facing communication. Simple, easy to read, language is imperative.
Speaking of NPS, I have to point out that Standard Bank’s choice of words ‘Tell us what we can improve to score a 9 or 10’ is both leading (the customer), and a little short-sighted. Why even put the idea of a 9 in the client’s mind? Surely the goal is always to be a 10. To strive for the absolute best you can be?
Also, not to harp on about it, but NPS is fast becoming an outdated metric. In fact, a recent poll we ran on our LinkedIn page captured the collective feeling across the CX Industry, with 68% of respondents agreeing that there are more efficient ways to measure client satisfaction. For example, gathering verbatim customer feedback so that you can truly understand WHY the customer thinks and feels the way they do.
With this NPS ask, Standard Bank are only getting half of the story– the WHAT they can improve upon. Okay, so we know we need to improve in this area, but do we know WHY?
And lastly, they end off their communication in a very wishy-washy non-committal way. ‘You may get a call or SMS requesting feedback.’ I had to read that a few times to understand what they meant.
All in all, as a Standard Bank customer being met with this communication, for me, it would just be a big fat no thank you.
So, in closing, here is a quick checklist you can use to help your survey communication land better:
In the competitive B2B environment where commoditisation is the norm, understanding the true voice of the customer is crucial for our success.
By Nathalie Schooling
In the competitive B2B environment where commoditisation is the norm, understanding the true voice of the customer is crucial for our success. In a landscape where products or services can easily be seen as interchangeable, the key to differentiation lies in listening to and acting upon the needs, preferences, and feedback of our clients.
Here are the reasons why the true voice of the customer holds such significance in our sales strategy:
In conclusion, the true voice of the customer is the guiding beacon that steers our sales efforts in the right direction. By actively listening, incorporating feedback, and demonstrating a genuine commitment to meeting our clients’ needs, we not only strengthen our relationships but also position ourselves as a trusted partner of choice in the competitive B2B landscape.
Nordstrom makes it their mission to engrain ‘Nordy’ culture with every new hire – that culture is one that is truly customer-centric and willing to always go the extra mile.
By Nathalie Schooling
Have you ever heard of ‘Nordies’? It’s what the well-known USA luxury retailer, Nordstrom calls their employees. Not unique by any stretch of the imagination, lots of companies have ‘nicknames’ for staff that speak to the company’s brand. For example, Disney theme park employees are called ‘cast members’, Apple Stores refer to their staff as the ‘geniuses’, and Subway calls staff ‘sandwich artists.’
It seems to be a more common practice in American companies, and while it can be fun and enduring, it actually plays a big role in how the internal culture of a company operates.
Let’s go back to ‘Nordies.’ For those in the customer experience game, you may already know about the legendary Nordstrom tire story that dates back almost 40 years. One day, at a store in Fairbanks, Alaska, Craig Trounce, a store associate at the time, noticed a customer rolling a pair of tires into the store.
When he asked how he could help, the customer said that he would like to return the two tires, and insisted that he had bought them at that very location with a guarantee that he could bring them back to the store at any time.
But Nordstrom never sold tires? The retailer did, however, in 1975, purchase three stores from a company –Northern Commercial of Alaska, which sold everything from towels and linens to automotive supplies, which included tires. When Nordstrom took over the locations, it narrowed the merchandise mix to apparel and shoes.
Instead of turning the customer away, Craig wanted to do right by the man who had just driven more than 50 miles to return these tires. He didn’t know much about how tires are priced, so he called a local supplier to get a rough idea of what they would be worth. He then gave the customer the estimated amount, took the tires, and sent him on his way. Wow!
And that’s just one of many Nordy stories that get told. There’s also the one where a ‘Nordy’ ironed a customer’s wrinkled shirt because the customer was running late for a meeting.
Talk about going the extra mile!
For me, that’s really what excellent customer experience comes down to. It goes beyond good service, being ‘nice’ or accommodating. That part of the job is implied. It’s expected.
It’s about going out of your way to make your client or customer’s day better! It’s doing the unexpected, leaving customers with the feeling that they have to come back and do business with you. Better yet, they have to tell their friends, family, and colleagues about their experience. Why do you think these Nordy stories continue to do the rounds, even decades later? Because the staff made an impact.
This tale is not just about being customer-centric. It’s about the power of fostering a truly customer-centric culture within an organisation. Nordstrom makes it their mission to engrain this ‘Nordy’ culture with every new hire.
Your employees are your greatest ambassadors, so always start there. It’s the classic inside-out approach that never fails.
Is Multichoice “enriching our lives” or just wasting our time? It is starting to feel like Multichoice is becoming a cautionary tale in poor CX.
Why does it feel like Multichoice, a once-loved legacy brand, is hell-bent on becoming a cautionary tale in poor CX?
Bad press of late hasn’t done them any favours, like DSTV (owned by Multichoice) billing customers for things they didn’t ask for (Disney+) – not once, but multiple times, or their once-off R19.95 deal during last year’s Rugby World Cup which left customers trapped into a 30-day cancellation policy.
It’s been a bit of a PR nightmare for the company, but they keep making themselves an easy target. The thing is, as a brand, DSTV has some good ideas, but the marketing team is always working against some sort of relentless clock. Everything is rushed and underdeveloped which unfortunately ends up negatively impacting their customer experience, time and time again.
A colleague of mine recently forwarded me an email he got from Multichoice. As a subscriber, he was asked to complete a survey so that they could gather his views and opinions. Sounds fair enough! As players in the CX game, we always delight in hearing of businesses making an effort to gather customer insights (credit to DSTV here).
The problem, however, is that the mailer was riddled with wishy-washy communication, offered a frankly, ‘embarrassing’ incentive to participate (R50 voucher), and even asked the subscriber to sign what can be likened to an NDA (non-disclosure agreement). But the cherry on top has to be the fact that the email was addressed as ‘ Dear Valued Customer’ – an absolute no-no in customer experience! If you are truly a valued customer, you would be greeted by name at the very least.
The well-known Multichoice slogan ‘enriching lives’ is another example of the company’s ability to come up with some truly good stuff, but sadly, with no follow-through. The slogan hits all the marks of a well-positioned brand promise. It inspires, offers value, and paints a clear picture of what we as customers can expect.
In our CX Masterclasses, one of the CX areas that we unpack is the importance of both knowing the value you as a business brings to the table, as well as making sure that you are consistently delivering on this value. And a big part of this is getting the language you use to engage with your customer right.
This is where DSTV fails. They sometimes nail the language, especially when it comes to attractive promotions, but they fall short in offering the value.
In the case of the survey mailer they sent out, they failed in both the language and the value. My colleague couldn’t even get passed the first few survey questions because he didn’t agree to their very vague NDA terms. He spent time reading through the exhausting mailer copy and decided to do the survey, only to be told he couldn’t continue. It ended up being a complete waste of his time.
To summarise my point, here are three CX lessons we can thank the Multichoice mailer for:
Let’s hope Multichoice gets their CX act together, and soon. With younger, more agile streaming services scooping in, they HAVE to do better!
Staff are looking for more than just a paycheck, they want to feel valued and be engaged in their work. This is where leaders need to step up in 2024.
The Great Resignation made numerous headlines in 2021 and 2022, followed by the ‘Silent Quitting’ phenomenon which continued into 2023. But while recent data shows this pandemic-era trend is now tapering off, there’s still a serious concern amongst CEOS about retaining top talent.
This was evident in our research with CEOs and executives last year. When we asked what they feel impacts their customer experience the most, retaining the skills needed to keep customers satisfied was a recurring theme.
But why is it getting harder to retain talent? Well, with things like remote and hybrid work, the rising cost of living, and work-life balance priorities, employee expectations are changing and evolving.
The traditional employee-employer relationship whereby the employer has all the power is no longer the case. Although this shift was already manifesting pre-COVID, the pandemic was the tipping point for workers to re-evaluate what they really wanted out of their jobs and to make drastic changes where necessary.
The driving force behind this shift is the concerning trend in the decrease in employees who feel connected to their company’s values and purpose, In fact, the millennial labour force, who make up the largest generation in the workforce, are said to quit their jobs due to a lack of meaning in their work, rather than leaving for more money.
Meaning and purpose in a job should come from the top down. If we look at the customer experience strategies we develop for companies, a big part of what we do is assess how the employee experience is having a positive or negative impact on how an organisation’s workers interact with customers.
And what we have found, is that more than 50% of the time, the feedback we get is that leadership is responsible for employees feeling demotivated, disengaged, and unsatisfied in their positions.
Staff are looking for more than just a paycheck, they want to feel valued and be engaged in their work. This is where I believe leaders can step up in 2024.
Scams are nothing new. But in this day and age consumers need to be extra careful and vigilant before they click on anything!
Blog by Nathalie Schooling
Scams are nothing new. People have been pulling the wool over each other’s eyes for centuries. But in today’s digital realm, it feels like consumers need to be extra careful and vigilant before they click on anything!
In the business world, scams are a serious threat to a company’s reputation. And the worst part is, most of the time, it’s the fault of a third party with whom a company has absolutely no affiliation. Add to this advancing technology, and scamming customers is only becoming easier and more commonplace.
For me, what it all boils down to is TRUST. How well do your customers or clients know and trust your brand? How safe do they feel doing business with you? When the wheels come off and your business is the victim of a scam or a zealous hacker, is your brand strong enough to survive it, and your customer loyal enough to be wise to it?
Let me give you an example. Over the December holidays, I spotted discounted cooler boxes from Filedbar across various websites. Fieldbar is a premium brand that makes and sells hand-crafted outdoor products. I’ve always been a fan of their offering, so when I saw their products marked down on other retail sites, it immediately raised a red flag in my mind. Turns out, I wasn’t crazy for thinking they were being overly generous with their slashed prices (even during the festive period, it still seemed odd), as a few days later I received a mailer from Fieldbar explaining that it had been a scam.
Although it appeared to take them a while to ‘catch-on,’ or be alerted to the scam, kudos to them for handling the issue so proactively. Blasts of communication went out on all their social platforms, together with direct emailers as well as a notice on their website informing customers about the scam and confirming their list of authorised resellers.
The real praise, however, is in acknowledging the strength and integrity of the brand. As a customer, I knew something wasn’t right as this didn’t look like or sound like the business I know and trust, so I steered clear. Sadly, however, the poor unsuspecting souls who had no previous dealings with Fieldbar would not have been so lucky. This brings me to my next point.
Existing customers are far more likely to know something is up since they have frequent dealings with your company. So how do you get around ‘new’ or prospective clients falling prey to an unwanted scam at the expense of your brand name? The keyword here is touchpoints.
If you can identify each and every current (and potential) touchpoint where a customer comes into contact with your brand, it’s easier to ensure that safety and security measures are in place, especially on the proactive side of things (NB!). This requires a lot of planning or customer journey mapping, but the effort far outweighs the risks.
Just last week a friend of mine forwarded me an email she got from ‘Netflix’ to say that her account was on hold. Apparently, they had noticed that there was an issue with the previous month’s payment on her subscription and that to continue the service she needed to update her payment details within the next 24 hours or her membership will be lost. All sounds a bit dramatic, doesn’t it? Anyway, no surprise that the email was utter nonsense. With an email address ending in freshworksmail.io, c’mon, you have to give us customers a little more credit than that?
My point, however, is that email is an extremely powerful customer touchpoint. This friend of mine is not even a Netflix subscriber, ( i.e. could potentially be a future customer) but it does create some doubt to know that the brand’s name is being used to fool innocent people, even if they aren’t directly involved. It would serve the streaming platform to stay on top of these sorts of scams and issue relevant communication about such cons across their platforms. As a subscriber myself, I have yet to hear from Netflix warning about any fraudulent activity on their behalf.
By Nathalie Schooling, CEO of nlightencx
In South Africa, we don’t do things by halves! While consumers and businesses in many countries are dealing with the dual global crises of Cost of Living and Supply Chain, we’ve added two of our own to really stretch our tenacity and resilience: the Energy Crisis and the Water Crisis, making for year-round stormy seas.
While all these issues feed into each other, our in-house research has revealed that it’s the cost of living crisis that is the most crippling for local businesses right now. This is not surprising because if your client or customer is out of pocket, chances are, so are you. Unfortunately, this year has had a significant impact on the wallets of South Africans, who are actively taking steps to change their spending habits and save where they can.
Looking at the bleak performance of Black Friday this year it’s a clear indication of just how cash-strapped South Africans are. Media reported that the crowds in malls across Johannesburg and Cape Town this past Black Friday were particularly thin, with no queues outside stores – unlike previous years.
With limited cash to go around, how can businesses ensure that they are the ones that customers and clients will part with precious pennies for?
Well, since we can’t fix the economy overnight, one of the best ways for businesses to differentiate and survive, especially now as retailers head into the festive season and B2B companies look to renew annual contracts, is with a good customer experience.
The recent 2023 Ask Afrika Orange Index, published by research company Ask Afrika, found that companies that focus on CX typically exhibit increased revenue, are more profitable, have more engaged employees, and have customers who are willing to pay up to 18% more for products.
This is significant because businesses can invest in understanding what their customers are facing at the moment, empathise with them, and then create solutions to reduce those pain points. If we look at the likes of how Shoprite Checkers, and the Discovery Group are coping, they’re not closing the doors and turning off the lights; they’re fighting back by putting themselves in their customers’ shoes to understand exactly what they need. In doing so, they’re winning client trust.
Companies weathering the storm best are those that don’t focus excessively on cost and being the cheapest. Sometimes easier said than done.
However, if your strategy is simply to be the cheapest offering, then when your competitor matches or beats your price, your only option is to lower your price again. It becomes a race to the bottom until the company runs out of profit margin. And no profit means you’ll soon be out of business.
Rather, the winning companies in the Cost of Living Crisis are those that focus on a good customer experience and customer-service excellence.
As businesses we can’t control the economy, the markets, the supply chain and interest rates. But we do have an element of control when it comes to how we treat our customers, the level of service we offer, and how we empathise with them.
Now is the time to meet the customer where they are at. It’s tempting and seems counterintuitive, but do not obsess over price. Rather focus on how you can give your customer real value for their money.
“Brands need to remember that when customers are upset, especially if there is money involved, their emotions are heightened. A quick resolution will go a long way.”
Rugby World Cup fever has been dominating the lives of South Africans for the past six weeks, and for some brands, it’s been a prime opportunity to capitalise on the local gees with clever marketing tactics and promotions. Unfortunately, though, not all brands who jumped on the Springbok wagon got it right. The recent nightmare experienced by DStv customers is one such example.
MultiChoice gave South Africans the opportunity to watch the 2023 World Cup Final on Saturday, 28 October with a special once-off R 19.95 deal on DStv Access streaming packages. A generous offer and deserving of a pat on the back to the marketing guys who used the R19.95 price point as a play on the year 1995 – the year the Springboks first won the Rugby World Cup.
Marketing brilliance aside, the promotion quickly fell flat when the customers who signed up for the deal realised that they were now locked into a 30-day cancellation policy.
“This happens all too often. Brands take a knee-jerk reaction because they don’t want to miss out on a great opportunity to news jack. But they don’t always think it through. It’s a communication breakdown between departments. The marketing team and operations aren’t aligned, and this can cause a massive problem for the holistic customer experience,” says Nathalie Schooling, customer experience specialist and CEO of nlightencx.
Schooling highlights that although mistakes happen, and Multichoice did apologise for their faux paus, it’s how a company handles the error that can make or break the brand in the eyes of the customer.
“Brands need to remember that when customers are upset, especially if there is money involved, their emotions are heightened. A quick resolution will go a long way. In the case of Multichoice, they did apologise for their mistake and provided an email address for people having problems cancelling their subscription. But is this enough? I think a better course of action would have been to proactively reach out to all who signed up to resolve any issues, rather than just providing a generic email address. This shows genuine customer care and a commitment to fixing the problem as quickly as possible.”
According to Schooling, marketers cannot separate their marketing campaigns from the customer experience. As the saying goes, the customer always comes first. “Today’s customers have very high expectations and an appetite for speed and efficiency. Marketers and brand managers need to become champions of CX if they want campaigns to succeed and stand out from competitors.”
As the leading CX Agency in Africa we feel that it would be worth helping you understand the difference between Customer Service and Customer Experience. While neither operates in a silo and can be seen as different rooms in the same house, there are subtle but fundamental differences in these two business areas.
So, let’s start by looking at what Customer Service is. Customer Service is, by definition, the old-school way of doing things. It is one-dimensional and transactional. A customer comes to you with a need, you find a solution, and the customer goes off with a big smile (hopefully). They might come back when they have another need, or you might never see them again. That’s the nature of the beast.
Customer Experience, on the other hand, goes much deeper than ticking boxes of individual customer needs. CX delves deep into the emotions, taking your interaction from a once-off to an entire journey. While Customer Service might be needs-based, CX is relationship-based. It focuses on the whole gamut of human emotions to positively impact your customers’ behaviours and what drives them to come to you first and then keep coming back.
At the most basic level, Customer Service is a single interaction. In contrast, Customer Experience is the sum of all your interactions with your customers and how they perceive you.
In Customer Service, you are reacting to your customers’ needs as they come to you. With Customer Experience, there is a constant analysis across all customer touchpoints to create an improved experience that has your customers in mind and will keep them satisfied.
While we are on touchpoints, Customer Service is just one point of contact your customer has with your business during their holistic Customer Experience Journey. The joy of CX is that the Customers’ Journey is mapped out, right from becoming aware of you to leaving and returning. This helps you to understand your customers’ needs and emotions at each step of their journey and allows you to create moments of magic that keep them coming back.
It all comes down to ownership. While Customer Service is primarily handled by Customer Service Managers, front-facing staff, and contact centres, Customer Experience belongs to the whole business. From the CEO to the sales team, the distributors, and the guy in the back office who fixes your email issues and always tells you about Lord of the Rings – Customer Experience is the whole team’s responsibility, and everyone needs to take ownership of it. CX understands that no matter your role, what you are doing will impact a customer’s experience of your company.
So what’s the bottom line? A well-executed customer experience will work hand-in-hand with customer service and enable you to create authentic interactions that grow your client relationships and retain your customers.
