Your CEO has come to embrace customer success! Terrific! And you’ve been tapped to lead a customer experience team. But where should you focus for immediate yet lasting change? Do you need a lengthy class or book on customer experience principles? Nope! Short is sweet, and this brief article gives you a primer on the […]
In 90 seconds, Kaitlyn Bartley explains 5 ways B2B CX is different. McKinsey & Company reports that B2B companies score substantially lower on customer satisfaction than consumer companies. One reason B2B companies underperform on customer satisfaction is they are more complicated — with more moving parts — than retailers. But another reason is that without […]
Customer interaction is the lifeblood of any company. It includes associates answering customers’ questions, staff engaging with prospects at the conference booth, and onboarding new customers. In short, customer interaction extends throughout the entire customer journey. And it includes a company’s surveys! And since the survey is a customer interaction, failing your customer satisfaction […]
Last Updated: January 10, 2025 Clients often ask, “How do we get every customer to take our survey?” But here’s the counterintuitive truth: you don’t need everyone’s feedback to get the real picture, which is why today I am addressing how to calculate sample size. Sampling is the art and science of choosing the […]
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Few things bother me more than unscrupulous business practices. As a Customer Experience Analyst with decades in the CX industry, I thought I’d seen it all. But a recent experience with Fox Rent a Car showed me a new way to game a customer survey — resulting in ONLY the data they want to see […]
Updated 10/17/2024: Artificial Intelligence has infiltrated every market, and the customer experience is no exception. While AI for customer experience is nascent, it already shows tremendous value as way to measure experiences, and as a lever to improve them. AI is a powerful tool. But all too often, “AI” is slapped onto products without it being […]
Clients often ask: do we need to allow for customer anonymity in our surveys? Market researchers generally provide the option for customer anonymity so that respondents who might otherwise feel embarrassed or fear reprisal can answer honestly. In the context of sensitive employee feedback like DEI surveys and engagement surveys, most researchers consider the option […]
CX vs. UX: I’m often asked what’s the difference. CX (short for customer experience) and UX (short for user experience) are sometimes used interchangeably. But they have different agendas and focal areas. The best way to think about CX vs. UX is that customer experience spans the ENTIRE customer journey. UX is a piece of […]
Empathy is trendy. Qualtrics XM Institute[i] has declared 2023 the Year of Empathy, and Forbes Magazine calls empathy the “most important leadership skill”.[ii] Because of this, customer service staff are receiving customer empathy training in droves. But research shows a dark side to customer empathy that can quickly undermine the interactions we’d like to create. […]
How happy were your B2B customers this year? In 2023, what will you do differently? The reason I ask is that most B2B customers are having mediocre experiences: The software development company ClearlyRated finds that B2B sectors like manufacturing, engineering, and banking have NPS scores in the mid-40s. And the market research company B2B International […]
Last Updated: May 9, 2025 Getting customers to respond to your survey is harder than ever. You probably skip most of the surveys you’re sent—I know I do. After a trip, I’m flooded with requests from the airline, hotel, and rental car company. I rarely fill them out. If your customers are doing the same, […]
Last updated: October 21, 2025 Companies depend on enthusiastic customers to grow and thrive. And yet, customer satisfaction remains elusive. As of Q2 2025, the American Customer Satisfaction Index average is 76.9; while typically, the XM Institute reports an average Net Promoter Score of 15. Why are so many companies still earning a C grade […]