Hi Mayte, tell us about yourself and your background.
I was born and raised in Mexico and, throughout my personal and professional life, I’ve had the opportunity to take part in international experiences that helped me grow and better understand the differences on human behaviors. Before graduating, I did and internship at Cinépolis’ headquarters, which are located in Morelia, Mexico and right after graduating I was able to stay full time at the company as part of the International Operations team. My experience in this department reinforced my interest in multidisciplinary projects and in enrolling in challenges that involve standardization and adaptation to each market’s needs. Finding that balance was one of the biggest and most important lessons during this stage of my professional career.
How did you first start working in the CX space?
After 4 years in the International Operations team, I had the opportunity to move overseas and become part of our Cinépolis USA team at their headquarters in Dallas, Texas. I started as a Guest Experience Manager under Operations and after 2.5 years I started a new venture in a hybrid position as Guest Experience & Loyalty Manager under Marketing. Here I’m able to connect our guests’ feedback to adjust our Experience Maps and to translate them into curated offers for our loyal members as part of my responsibility managing our Rewards Programs.
What are some of the common misunderstandings related to customer experience?
The belief that the Customer Experience department is only in charge of replying to guests’ complaints, and that Customer Experience should belong to only one department (therefore is managed as a silo).
Have you seen any interesting new trends in eCommerce this year?
Definitely! A lot of these changes influenced businesses before the pandemic, so it’s high priority to keep an eye on them. Some of these changes involve the movie theater industry, such as the use of big data to personalize experiences/offers, contactless transactions, the increase in interest and relevance towards Loyalty programs, and evolving digital changes with a focus on Omnichannel optimization.
eCommerce boomed in 2020, and consumers started leaving more product reviews online. How can we make the most out of this momentum?
Reviews are so important! Feedback is a gold mine, but it can go to waste very easily. Companies should consider investing time, not only to analyze the information, but also to generate timely and actionable items that will adjust their experience maps to adapt to the new needs. Aligning this to providing responses to customers that left online reviews, contacted companies through Contact Us pages and completed surveys is another great way to engage customers with our brand and immerse them on what makes your experience unique.
What are some CX companies/solutions you’re keeping your eyes on right now?
Definitely focusing on Digital Channels solutions to provide an efficient and clear digital experience as well as the evolution in Omnichannel.
So many things changed in 2020. While some things are going to return to “normal,” what are new trends and habits you think will stay with us in the long term?
I think that we will be experiencing development and improvement in contactless transactions, delivery services in the Food industry and an increase on premium tiers in Loyalty programs.
Do you believe focus groups are still relevant in the era of eCommerce? Why?
This will depend on each company’s niche and needs, but I believe that having customers experience, for instance, your digital flow can bring different feedback compared to the one companies get internally from teams members testing out something the kind of already know.
Last but not least, what is your favorite CX metric?
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been once of the most important pillars for Cinépolis. It has been a global strategic metric that has allow the company to ensure service standardization while at the same time allowing each territory to adjust their experience maps according to each market’s needs and trends.
