Posts Tagged CXDNow
Beyond Social Listening and Influencer Marketing, Leveraging Social Intelligence
Posted by cheuer in CXDNow, SocialMedia on February 1st, 2016
There were so many rich gems from this conversation with Marshall Kirkpatrick of Little Bird on last week’s CXDNow, that I’ve rewritten the headline almost 10x and have struggled with how to best synthesize our one hour show for you. Marshall and his team are rightly excited about “Contextualized Segmentation”, I am personally a fan of “Market Engagement Optimization” which I’ve been thinking about for a few years and “Holistic Business Strategy” which I have been touting for over 15 years. But after listening to this whole conversation a second time and reviewing my notes, I think what best encompasses what Little Bird does, especially as it impacts our ability to design great customer experiences, social intelligence is the clear winner.
Why? While Marshall shares that the first thing most people do with Little Bird is to find who are the influencers a company should talk to about a new product launch, as they start to understand the capabilities more fully, they quickly are able to create value across their entire business strategy. From marketing, to recruiting, to trend watching, to content curation and especially for learning from the market to inform their product strategies, Little Bird is able to best identify the truly influential people and the conversations that really matter to your market.
How do they do this? As you will learn in this episode, their key metric is based on the relationships and connections between those who are regularly engaged in conversations about key aspects of your market. It’s not only about who has the most ‘potential reach’, but about how many other connections a given influencer has within a given network. Going further, Little Bird helps you to see the clusters of the types of influencers engaged in the conversation – are they high volume self promoters or are they true influencers? What potential sub-communities exist? And now with the latest release, what are the phrases and language being used within those sub-communities that may be salient but not obvious.
I think the reason I am biased towards thinking of Little Bird as a Social Intelligence tool is best summarized by this quote from Marshall in the podcast when I asked him what is different about his product. He said his best customers are “Leveraging influencers not just for what they will tell the world about you, but for what they will tell you about the world.”
This post only scratches on the applicable insights we uncover in this conversation. To get the most from it, find yourself an hour on your commute or in the evening and listen to our conversation between Marshall Kirkpatrick, Dave Gray and myself as soon as you can.
Sponsored by XPLANE:
XPLANE is a strategic design consultancy focused on addressing complex challenges on the inside of organizations. We leverage visual thinking, people-centered design, and co-creation to design solutions that accelerate the way our clients envision, explain, and realize their goals.
About CXDNow:
CXDNow is back for season 2 of our series focused on understanding and successfully executing on customer experience design so that your organization may better serve, and ultimately win your market. In season 1, we focused on the fundamentals of CX Design through conversations with CX leaders such as Brian Solis, Risto Lahdesmaki and Tom Illmensee among others. As we move into 2016, we will be bringing you stories from more leaders around who will share their deep insights and practical advice in pursuit of advancing the field for the benefit of all.
If you are interested in being a guest on the show or sponsoring us, please contact us.
Putting CX to Work. See the forest AND the trees with Dave Gray
In this extended episode of CXDNow, host Chris Heuer interviews Dave Gray, founder of world renowned visual communications firm XPlane and author of Gamestorming
During the conversation, we skim across the broad concepts and processes before diving quickly down into the detailed depths of putting CX to work. How do we approach Customer Experience Design? Sure, it’s about empathy as we continue to discuss, but what does being able to draw have to do with it? As Dave Gray says, “whatever strategy you think you should have, if you can’t draw it, you can’t do it”. It’s this approach, going beyond design to use design as a way of thinking that distinguishes the work of Dave Gray and his team at XPlane. In this 20+ minute episode, be prepared for a rapid fire dose of killer insights that will take your CX Design to the next level. From how to see, to how to think, to how to do – Dave walks us through the forest and shows us the trees.
Need help creating design moving customer experiences? IBM Journey Designer enables you and your team to collaboratively visualize journeys, set shared marketing goals, and create and refine tailored experiences for dozens of priority segments. Learn more on this blog post or try it at no cost at ibm.com/journey-designer.
#CXDNow – The Challenges to Overcome with Tom Illmensee
The time for customer experience design is now! In this episode of our web series CXDNow, host Chris Heuer interviews Tom Illmensee, Director of UX for Prezi. Following up on our discussions with author Brian Solis, and IBM Journey Designer Product Manager Doug Foulds, now we are getting to the more practical matters of how to be successful with Customer Experience Design.
In part 1 we hear Tom Illmensee’s origin story of how he came to work in UX and CX. Through his story, he illustrates one of the most fundamental issues in a way that connects you deeply with the need for empathy, and what that really means. Going even more deeply, he explores how to handle uncertainty and thrive. It’s a great foundation on which we build upon in parts 1 and 2.
In part 2 we jump into the biggest challenge of all, how to work well in cross functional teams. Throughout this episode, we learn some of the great things that Prezi is doing to improve collaboration in order to deliver the greatest value for their customers. There is a lot of fantastic advice you can put into use right away, like restructuring from departments for design and user research into communities of practice. How to rework the space to increase high value interactions. How to deal with inter personal conflicts. Ultimately, his best advice? Watch part 2 to find out.
In part 3 we finally do the segment I have been really looking forward to, Working Out Loud. In this segment, we are joined by Angela Long to work together on an empathy map for Nicole, a key persona for the mission of We Are The Solution. Using this empathy map as a straw man, we discuss aspects of how to approach its development, how to improve upon it and how it can be used. When I ask him about how to decide if an insight like the person feels fearful belongs in either the section on what they feel or in the section on pain, Tom says, “if you are having a discussion about where something [about the persona] belongs on the map, then you are doing it right”. Learning by doing, or watching others do it, is by far one of the best ways to learn.
If you would like to be a part of the taping of the show live and join in our post interview conversation, you can join us next Wednesday October 21, 2015 at noon PST as we interview Risto Lähdesmäki, CEO & Co-Founder of Idean about how to make the business case for CX Design. If you are trying to sell your boss on investing in CX, this is the show you have been awaiting.
Need help creating design moving customer experiences? IBM Journey Designer enables you and your team to collaboratively visualize journeys, set shared marketing goals, and create and refine tailored experiences for dozens of priority segments. Learn more on this blog post or try it at no cost at ibm.com/journey-designer.
Tom Illmensee Interview Part 1 of 4 – How did you get into UX?
Tom Illmensee Interview Part 2 of 4 – The Challenges to Overcome
Tom Illmensee Interview Part 3 of 4 – Working Out Loud, #WeAreTheSolution
#CXDNow – Making the Business Case with Risto Lähdesmäki from Idean
In working to advance the field of Customer Experience Design, we have talked with author Brian Solis, IBM Journey Designer Product Manager Doug Foulds, and Tom Illmensee, the Director of UX at Prezi. We’ve talked about what it is, why we need it, what challenges we face and even some practical aspects of how to really get started doing it. So now it is time to turn to that all important question of convincing leadership to invest. In our next live Blab on Wednesday October 21 at noon PST, we will be talking with Risto Lähdesmäki, CEO & Co-Founder of Idean about how to make the business case for CX Design.
Following the advice of Tom Illmensee from our last show, it’s always good to start with small things, to show some simple proof. But how do you really get an organization to realize the true value of CX Design? What is the business case to be made if your organization is run by managers who are more concerned with the bottom line then they are creating value for your customers? What are the best ways to overcome the atypical challenges of unfamiliarity, cost avoidance and the dreaded question of ROI?
If you are striving to make CX part of your career path or simply trying to figure out how to bring CX into your organization’s processes around customer engagement and marketing, you must join us to talk to Risto next Wednesday October 21, 2015 at noon PST. With 6 studios around the world and more then 150 professionals, Risto knows a thing or two about the value of UX and CX which will contribute to your future success.
Risto Lähdesmäki – Bio
CEO & Co-Founder, Idean
Risto is an entrepreneur-spirited-jack-of-all-trades-creative-director. With a special talent for identifying business opportunities for his clients and is somewhat water-resistant to the phrase: “this is not possible”. With over ten years background in User Interface and User Experience design, he has been involved in hundreds of design projects and is shaping the future of branding through UX. Risto has led Idean’s rapid rate of growth across the US. Risto is an entrepreneur and designer at heart and has worked with start-ups as well as big enterprises his entire professional career. Risto was recently named PwC’s Most Valuable Entrepreneur 2015 at the Nordic Business Forum.
Need help creating design moving customer experiences? IBM Journey Designer enables you and your team to collaboratively visualize journeys, set shared marketing goals, and create and refine tailored experiences for dozens of priority segments. Learn more on this blog post or try it at no cost at ibm.com/journey-designer.
SPONSORED BY IBM JOURNEY DESIGNER
#CXDNow – The Need for Customer Experience Design and Journey Maps with Doug Foulds
The time for customer experience design is now! In this episode of our web series CXDNow, host Chris Heuer interviews Doug Foulds, product manager of IBM Journey Designer (and sponsor of this show). Following up on last week’s discussion with author Brian Solis about his new book, “X – The Experience When Business Meets Design“, we dive deeper into why this practice is sorely needed and discuss the specifics of the IBM Journey Designer product, as well as where it is headed in the future as it goes from design tool to functional dashboard.
In part 1 of the interview we review some of the key concepts and specifically dive into the need for better collaboration across channels and across different teams inside and outside of the company. The need is largely driven, it seems, by changing customer expectations, but also by the growing complexity of an omnichannel world. By visualizing all of the different touchpoints we can better coordinate our processes for engaging the customers and ensuring consistency, which is often lacking.
In part 2 of the interview Doug tells us about how the product works to enable marketing teams to collaborate in their planning and execution in real time using IBM Journey Designer to visualize the customer journey. He says that he and his team are seeking early customers to go on the journey with them as they expand the product functionality from beyond the design/layout capabilities it has now, to become a fully functioning dashboard. Starting with SilverPop and extending to the full IBM Marketing Cloud. Eventually, they will even integrate other 3rd party marketing cloud solutions.
In part 3 below, I get Doug’s advice on how to start the process of building a customer journey map, beginning with the empathy maps. We talk about the mindset needed to approach it properly as well as some specifics about the questions we should be answering when we step into the persona of our desired customer. In this case, we are using the real world example of trying to understand and engage Nicole, who may become a volunteer for We Are the Solution. A new community initiative to end activism by opposition and bring people together to form collaborative solutions.
Finally, we wrap up with an open Blab conversation where we are joined by Marc Meyer, Digital Strategist at Accenture Digital where we discuss the long road ahead and the potential value of journey maps for smaller clients.
If you would like to be a part of the taping of the show and join in our post interview conversation, you can join us on Wednesday October 14, 2015 at noon PST on Blab as we interview Tom Illmensee, Director of User Experience and Design at Prezi, as we more deeply discuss The Challenges to Overcome.
Need help creating design moving customer experiences? IBM Journey Designer enables you and your team to collaboratively visualize journeys, set shared marketing goals, and create and refine tailored experiences for dozens of priority segments. Learn more on this blog post or try it at no cost at ibm.com/journey-designer.
Doug Foulds Interview Part 1 of 4 – The Need for
Customer Experience Design and Journey Maps
Doug Foulds Interview Part 2 of 4 – IBM Journey Designer
Doug Foulds Interview Part 3 of 4 – Getting Started with Empathy Maps
Doug Foulds Interview Part 4 of 4 – The Blab
#CXDNow Premiere – Brian Solis, “X – The Experience When Business Meets Design”
The time for customer experience design is now! In this premiere episode of our new web series CXDNow, host Chris Heuer interviews author Brian Solis to discuss his perspective on Customer Experience Design and his new book, “X – The Experience When Business Meets Design“.
In part 1 of the interview we discuss the basics, providing an overview of what Customer Experience Design is and what is driving it. Specifically looking at creating and supporting a truly customer centric view. In fact, going beyond the traditional lip service to embrace “radical customer centricity & empathy”. We also discuss the role of journey mapping and its importance in coordinating marketing and engagement efforts across the company. In part 2 of the interview below, we go deeper into the challenges and opportunities this change creates and how to best approach the practice to find success. Finally, in part 3, we open up our Blab and are joined by Ross Quintana who shares his perspective having been working in this space for many years and helping organizations transform to reap the benefits that such forward thinking provides.
Our goal with the series is to help advance the field of Customer Experience Design, to provide you with the insights and advice you need to bring this important practice into your organization. By embracing radical customer centricity that creates true empathy for the customer along their journey, you can not only survive in the current market, but thrive. Over the course of the next six weeks, we will cover the basics, help you understand how to sell it to your leadership and get into the practicalities of how to do it better and ultimately look to the future.
If you would like to be a part of the taping of the show and join in our post interview conversation, you can join us on Wednesday October 7, 2015 at noon PST on Blab as we interview Doug Foulds, product manager for IBM Journey Designer as we discuss The Need for Customer Experience Design and Journey Maps.
Need help creating design moving customer experiences? IBM Journey Designer enables you and your team to collaboratively visualize journeys, set shared marketing goals, and create and refine tailored experiences for dozens of priority segments. Learn more on this blog post or try it at no cost at ibm.com/journey-designer.
Brian Solis Interview Part 1 of 3 – What is Customer Experience Design
Brian Solis Interview Part 2 of 3 – The Challenges and Opportunities
Brian Solis Interview Part 3 of 3 – The Blab with Ross Quintana
SPONSORED BY IBM JOURNEY DESIGNER
Join us on Blab on Wednesday October 7, 2015 at noon PST for S1E1 where we interview IBM Journey Designer product manager Doug Foulds to discuss The Need for Customer Experience Design and Journey Maps along with another special guest practitioner.
Get Ready for Customer Experience Design Now! #CXDNow
Posted by cheuer in CXDNow, Social Business on September 30th, 2015
[Update – watch the Brian Solis interview from October 3, 2015 now]
I’d like to invite you to join me on a journey to explore the state of Customer Experience Design in a new series I am producing and hosting, #CXDNow. Sponsored in part by IBM’s new Journey Designer product, together we will endeavor to “advance the field” through conversations with subject matter experts and leading practitioners. Further, as a community of practitioners, we will collaboratively work on developing a journey map for my new community project, We Are The Solution, putting the principles into practice in real time, together.
The series kicks off this Friday October 2, 2015 at 4pm PDT with a live Blab interview featuring Brian Solis, whose upcoming book “X – The Experience When Business Meets Design” dives very deeply into this subject. Together we will set the stage for the following six episodes to explore what CXD is, why we need it and how it is done. Then next Wednesday October 7, 2015 at noon PDT, we will discuss “The Need for Customer Experience Design and Journey Maps”. During that show, I will be interviewing Doug Folds, the product manager for IBM’s new Journey Designer product and one of the sponsors of the show to discuss his plans for bringing the practice of Customer Experience Design into the mainstream as a #NewWayToEngage.
If you are a customer experience designer, a journey mapper, an omni-channel marketer, a startup founder, a product manager or just someone who is interested in understanding this important topic further, #CXDNow is where you will expand your knowledge and hone your skills. Over the course of the series we will develop a body of work for the community that examines the business case, the core concepts and the specific practices that will enable you to design great experiences that enable your customers to find success on their journey.
While CXD has been around for quite some time now (often referred to as simply #CX, a cousin to #UX), it is just now finally coming into it’s own, hence the name of the show, #CXDNow. The Intention is to not only address the current state of the field but also to impress upon the business community the urgency for adopting these practices NOW. Given the soon to be released book, “X – The Experience of Business Meets Design” from my friend and colleague Brian Solis, and the other increase in interest and focus on this subject from organizations like IBM and others, the time to better understand this subject is definitely upon us.
I first began exploring the idea of journey mapping while working as the Chief of eBusiness at the United States Mint back in 1999, where I was charged with digital marketing responsibilities for the numismatist community (aka coin collectors). It was there that I developed what I called the “Customer Experience Lifecycle” (below), which later lead to my development of the Engagement Matrix while working with Palm and ultimately the Engagement Wheel while working with the American Heart Association while serving as a Social Business leader at Deloitte Digital.
What I came to realize was that organizations needed to go beyond customer-centricity, especially given how much lip service had been paid to that idea over the years without practical change in attitude or action. Now as a result of our increasingly transparent, connected market, it’s time for radical action, it’s time to embrace greater empathy, not only for customers, but also for employees, contractors and partners. In fact, as I think of #CXDNow, I believe there are three primary pillars that need to be explored:
- The business value of customer empathy
- Design thinking applied to the overall customer experience
- How we work together to create greater success
While each show in the series and posts to this blog will address its own set of issues, I am, as is often the case, looking at this opportunity more holistically. At the end of the series, it is my hope that we will have produced a unique collection of insights and resources that can be utilized to bring Customer Experience Design to more organizations and more opportunities to customer experience designers as a result.
The show will take the form of a weekly conversation with leading experts on Blab.IM. If you are a customer experience designer interested in being a guest on the show, or someone working to advance the field, please complete this simple form so we may consider you as a future guest.
Through the use of the hashtag #CXDNow, we will curate a set of resources for practitioners and collectively discuss a key question each week. The media produced will be gathered into multiple blog posts for posterity and further conversation right here on ChrisHeuer.com. Templates (aka Canvases) will be produced and shared that embody the best advice from practitioners.
While I am not anticipating building another Social Media Club for CXD, the possibilities of what we can do together as a community are endless. That said, I am seeking your support and input to solve a massively important social problem through our work on the journey maps we are developing for We Are the Solution. Together, we will explore how can we build a movement of activism focused on cooperation in the development of reasonable solutions, instead of activism through opposition.
I am grateful to my friends at IBM, PureMatter and from across the Social Media Club community for the opportunity to bring together many of my diverse talents and interest in this series, and look forward to expanding awareness of the importance of Customer Experience Design as well as the skills of its diverse practitioners. So join me this Friday afternoon at 4pm PDT as I interview Brian Solis and again next Wednesday October 7, 2015 at noon PDT as we launch our journey towards #CXDNow.
To get started, the question of the week for you to consider, “Why do we need Customer Experience Design now more than ever?” Tweet your responses back to me using the hashtag #CXDNow and we will discuss them on the show.
Need help creating design moving customer experiences? IBM Journey Designer enables you and your team to collaboratively visualize journeys, set shared marketing goals, and create and refine tailored experiences for dozens of priority segments. Learn more on this blog post or try it at no cost at ibm.com/journey-designer.
SPONSORED BY IBM JOURNEY DESIGNER
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Chris Heuer is the founder of Mentor Bureau, a global collaborative of Startup Mentors focused on #SmoothScaling over #Hypergrowth. He has invested his life in working to create a better society through personal and community efforts that brings people together such as Rysing Tyde and Social Media Club. To learn more about Chris, visit his profile on LinkedIn.