Hi Carsten, tell us about yourself, your background?
I’m the Founder of Asia PMO (asiapmo.com), a management consulting firm based in East Asia focused on agile business transformation. This includes agile management and goal-setting by OKRs as well utmost customer and employee experience focus.
Based on my as VP Customer Experience to Lazada (Alibaba Group) and as a CX Manager in Home Credit, he and I and my team has led and implemented CX projects for H&MFounder of Asia PMO Online Global, European International School, Milano Coffee Vietnam, and MIT Myanmar, among others. Lately, I was chosen CX Global Influencer 2020 & 2021.
Online commerce was booming in 2020, and so did consumer reviews. – How can brands better utilize this data to improve their customers’ experience?
Consumer reviews should be shared across platforms, e.g., like on Shopify with widgets as a
judge.me, so customers have a broader and more transparent view. Brands should review and rating data points and dig deeper with surveys or other research tools to understand where this feedback is coming from and what the reason is behind it.
What is one element that must always be considered when working on a CXM (customer experience management) strategy?
The most important part of CXM is how to analyze and action the feedback from so many customer channels (product, service, social listening, etc.) Most companies have or outsource a great market research function but then treat customer data siloed in each team rather than along the entire customer journey mapping. A central CXM can help understand the priorities and steps a customer takes and his or her pain points, needs, and wishes. Furthermore, CXM should facilitate a customer-centric bottom-up culture in which CX ideas are coming from the teams rather than C-Level.
Do you think personalization and customer-centricity are going to become increasingly more relevant in the coming year? How so?
Sure, and especially personalization will be the one feature that stands out for the customer. Current generations want individualized solutions and products which can be highly customized but still very fast available. However, it is important to guide the customer in the sometimes overwhelming choices he or she has.
What are some of the ways companies can strive to eliminate the CX Gap?
It always starts by listening and act with the customer on all company levels and no matter if you are back or front-office. CX is about ‘experiencing’ the customer. Everybody in the company should be exposed to customer feedback and real customer stories.
What’s the most insightful book you read in 2020?
The Customer Rules – Lee Cockerel – very practical and insightful on how to create an amazing CX
Carsten’s predictions for the future of CX
What are your predictions for trends in customer experience in the coming year?
Customer Experience will be more and more embedded in a holistic experience management approach, including employee/partner/franchise experience. All interactions with companies must be analyzed and improved, and that employee experience is highly connected to customer experience.
Last but not least, what is your favorite CX metric?
CSAT Rating – because normally, the feedback is directly actionable
