Customer Experience University - Winning Loyalty & Engagement One Customer at a Time

From my perspective, when it comes to customer experience excellence, what gets rewarded gets done and what gets talked about also gets done. After 25 years of consulting in what used to be called customer service and now is called customer experience, I have seen the power of well-designed customer experience reward and recognition programs as well as the effectiveness of leaders who tell stories...

Let me give you a sense of how far customers are willing to be tracked in the name of personalization and convenience. Granted, my example comes from Sweden, but I sense it is a harbinger of things to come on a global basis.

I am convinced that most people want to make the lives of those they serve better. When they fall short, those individuals often need help to develop a specific skill or the confidence to believe they will find better options if they persist. Customer experience excellence is a core competency, not an instantly attainable destination. Great leaders help develop that competency in their team member...

Smartsheet (a solution provider that helps organizations streamline information sharing both internally and externally) announced their Achieve as One Alliance  and I'm honored to be a founding member of that alliance along with others like Keith Grossman, President of TIME, and Nick Sinai, former US Deputy CTO and Adjunct Faculty Member at the Harvard Kennedy School. The alliance’s charter is “to...

If you are someone who doesn’t like to wait, writing a book is not for you! This week my book,  The Airbnb Way – 5 Leadership Lessons for Igniting Growth through Loyalty, Community and Belonging will be released! Given that I’ve written nine business books, The Airbnb Way was completed rather swiftly. Several of my prior books took closer to three years from inception to publication! I share all o...

There are some fairly subtle and under-the-radar changes taking place for a brand about which, I have written two books ( The Starbucks Experience and Leading the Starbucks Way ). Let’s quickly look at five of them and what each tells us about the adaptive course Starbucks is taking toward continued customer experience excellence.  

I am convinced that NO leader sets out to create a siloed organization; however, organizational silos are highly present, naturally occurring, and self-perpetuating. I recently wrote an article for Forbes, which outlines key factors that collaborative teams should consider when they seek to innovate and drive customer value. Leveraging Airbnb as an example, I highlight convenience, personalization...

October 1st is Customer Experience (CX) Day ! Quite frankly, I think every day should be CX day – meaning that each day we should strive to deliver the best possible experience for our internal (team members) and our external (paying) customers. I’d love to talk with you about how you can make EVERY DAY CX DAY – simply reach out to me here .

I am on a media tour in the pre-launch phase of my new book The Airbnb Way (you can get a special pre-order offer on that book by using the code THANKS here ). During this process, I’ve collected some of my favorite questions being asked by bloggers, podcasters, and journalists. I’ll share a couple of those queries here since they relate to customer experience enhancement.

Ample studies have shown that business leaders frequently overestimate the quality of experiences they provide their customers when compared to the actual perception of those customers. As for growth mindset, if you become content in the belief you have one, you are likely on the way to losing it. How's your growth mindset?

My momma used to say, “If you can’t say something nice – don’t say anything at all.” That guidance has typically proven to be invaluable. Today, however, I am going to skate on the edge of mom’s wisdom. I will not name the villains in the story I am about to share, but I also will not keep my less than nice comments to myself. I’m justifying my actions in the name of helping you elevate your custo...

Customer segments or customer need states? The answer is … both! It’s an important distinction in which I work with my clients to understand and leverage. It is the difference between creating experiences based on customer segmentation versus customer need states.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses five steps needed for you to craft trust-building service recovery for your customers.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses how legendary brands consistently deliver elevated human experiences to all stakeholders and share compelling brand stories that become part of the company’s mystique or lore.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses customer experience advancements in Singapore and ways to add value by improving service relationships via a blend of people and technology.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses how to use customer journey maps as a way to envision the optimal future customer experience.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses four key elements needed to succeed irrespective of business size.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses truths that emerged from time spent at an informal settlement in South Africa.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses lessons learned while on a photo safari in the South African bush.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses how we can remain passionate about our views while extending compassion to those who share them and those that do not.  

Dr. Michelli discusses how cognitive biases impact our emotions and contribute to actions which aren’t in our rational best interest.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses how driving emotional intelligence leads to improved customer experience and return on experience...

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses three types of possible memorable moments in the service experience.

Dr. Michelli discusses brand reputation and business lessons learned from living in a small town.

In this week's episode, Dr. Michelli discusses how to “make it personal” for our customers through a marriage of technology AND human service delivery.