CX Champions

This episode features an interview with Jennifer Peters, the Director of DTC, Martech, and Digital Compliance at OLLY. Jennifer has deep expertise in eCommerce and Martech, with extensive experience across marketing, technology and business development. At OLLY, she champions the fusion of technology and marketing for top-notch digital experiences. In this episode, Jennifer emphasizes the importance of fusing technology and marketing to replicate the in-store experience online. She discusses the unique challenges and strategies involved in selling OLLY products, especially new and complex categories like Adaptogens. The conversation also covers how AI is utilized for efficient product replenishment, the critical role of customer feedback in shaping product development, and trends in CX that are reshaping the industry. Tune in for insights on creating exceptional digital experiences and driving customer satisfaction.Quotes*”The key to optimization is, did we do the best we could do when we built this landing page? Because what we're seeing here is that there could be some tweaks here that could make it better. And for us, that is a little bit beyond the triage of like, ‘Oh man, this is really broken,’ to, ‘How can we just make sure this is the best we can put out here?’”*”Especially when you're looking at design, which is an art form, it's beautiful. You want it to be beautiful. Sometimes beautiful doesn't drive conversions. Sometimes customers just want clear.  And they want clean. And they want to understand exactly what to do when they hit that page. And sometimes that isn't beautiful and that can be really challenging.”*”If we can't make our customer happy, what are we doing? Like, if we're building products around profitability and not around customer use, what are we doing? At the end of the day, everything you have to do is for your customer.”*”Why did we make this decision? Like, what was the motivation for that? Was it because that's what customers want or was it something else? And when it's something else, you have to take the time to unpack that, address it, and figure out how to pivot that closer to, ‘But what would a customer want?’ And also understanding that you are never your customer. That's like the number one rule in marketing. There's always bias around you think that you're the customer. You are never, ever, ever the customer. The way you use your website is never the way a customer uses your website. And don't even think for a second that it is. You can't do that.”*”For us, it starts with efficacy, and it starts with, ‘Does this solve a problem that people have?’ That's the very first thing you can do. And you have to make good products. You have to make products that work. That is the foundation of creating that trust, is we can promise you that our product works and that it's good and it will make you better. So that I think is really, really important. But then building on that, it's the consistency over time that I think builds the trust and not only with the product and the product quality, but with the experience, with the interactions.”Time Stamps[0:01] Meet Jennifer Peters, Director of DTC, Martech, and Digital Compliance at OLLY[1:09] The Fusion of Technology and Marketing[1:21] From Brick and Mortar to Digital: Jennifer's Journey[1:53] Replicating In-Store Experience Online[2:20] Understanding Customer Behavior and Analytics[4:08] Educational Marketing at OLLY[6:10] Trends in Digital Customer Experience[8:20] Balancing AI and Human Interaction in Customer Service[9:53] Optimizing Website Performance[12:27] Measuring Customer Experience and Satisfaction[15:53] AI-Driven Product Replenishment[18:24] Challenges of Integrating Online and Offline Retail[19:30] Understanding Customer Behavior with In-Store Tech[20:23] Subscription Cancellations and Customer Retention[22:06] Creating an Amazing Digital Customer Experience[25:16] Focusing on the End Customer[28:05] Building Trust Through Product Efficacy[32:25] The Future of Customer Experience at OLLY[0:01] Meet Jennifer Peters, Director of DTC, Martech, and Digital Compliance at OLLY[1:09] The Fusion of Technology and Marketing[1:21] From Brick and Mortar to Digital: Jennifer's Journey[1:53] Replicating In-Store Experience Online[2:20] Understanding Customer Behavior and Analytics[4:08] Educational Marketing at OLLY[6:10] Trends in Digital Customer Experience[8:20] Balancing AI and Human Interaction in Customer Service[9:53] Optimizing Website Performance[12:27] Measuring Customer Experience and Satisfaction[15:53] AI-Driven Product Replenishment[18:24] Challenges of Integrating Online and Offline Retail[19:30] Understanding Customer Behavior with In-Store Tech[20:23] Subscription Cancellations and Customer Retention[22:06] Creating an Amazing Digital Customer Experience[25:16] Focusing on the End Customer[28:05] Building Trust Through Product Efficacy[32:25] The Future of Customer Experience at OLLYAbout our guest, Jennifer PetersJennifer Peters, an eCommerce and Martech pro at OLLY, drives their direct-to-consumer business growth. She champions the fusion of technology and marketing for top-notch digital experiences. With extensive experience spanning marketing, tech, and business development in eCommerce, she's a passionate CPG aficionado.Thank you to our friendsThis podcast is brought to you by HGS. HGS is a digital customer experience leader dedicated to delivering winning customer interactions at scale that are prompt, personal, and positive. We continuously transform, optimize, and grow enterprises to exceed ever-rising customer expectations. HGS provides our clients with the right talent and technologies needed to champion every moment. Learn more at hgs.cx.LinksRead the official OLLY case study, "How OLLY increased website revenue by +20% using Contentsquare"Check out the Zenni case study "How Zenni increased conversions by 3.5% and recovered $15M in revenue with homepage optimization." Connect with Jennifer on LinkedInLearn more about OLLYCheck out HGS

This episode features an interview with Dr. Eric Trepanier, Chief Strategy & Customer Officer at ODAIA, a SaaS company that leverages AI to ingest multiple data sources and empower marketers and sales reps to optimize their segmentation, targeting and execution to maximize sales. Eric holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and has over 20 years of experience in the industry. He contributes to the overall strategy and growth of ODAIA, leveraging his extensive experience in healthcare, technology, and business operations. And he plays a key role in promoting ODAIA's AI-powered platform, MAPTUAL, which helps pharmaceutical companies prospect, qualify, and engage healthcare professionals (or HCPs). In this episode, Eric explores how ODAIA uses AI and its advanced platform, MAPTUAL, to revolutionize customer engagement in the pharmaceutical industry. He shares insights from his 20+ years of experience in healthcare and business operations, highlighting the importance of personalized customer experiences, the shift from traditional to digital interactions, and the role of customer science. He also delves into how AI and machine learning contribute to better targeting and execution, ultimately facilitating faster access to life-changing treatments for patients.Quotes*”It's all about being obsessed with the customer. If you're not solving challenges for the customer, your platform and your business just won't work. So it's really about having that obsessive focus on the customer.”*”I think the obsessive focus on delivering value to the customer and doing it in a data-driven way is what's allowed us to be successful and deliver some of the value that we've delivered to our customers. And ultimately, the key benefit that we really focus on is making sure that patients are able to get access to those life-changing drugs faster than they would have otherwise.”*”Our goal is to not be a business intelligence tool, to be a tool that only provides that information they need in order to make those decisions to more effectively engage their customers.”*”Trust is so important. As we got into this space and worked more with our pharma customers, so many of them were skeptical because they didn't want a black box AI or ML machine that they didn't understand. And if they saw results coming out of it that were different from what they expected, that trust was eroded really, really quickly.”*”We're on the lookout for other technologies as well that can continue to add value to our customers. One thing we won't do is use technology for technology's sake. We're still very focused on giving patients access to those life-changing drugs and we'll use technology as appropriate to deliver on those goals.”Time Stamps[0:01] Meet Dr. Eric Trepanier and ODAIA[1:31] Eric's Background in Pharma[2:41] Understanding Customer Experience in Pharma[4:20] Changes in the Pharma Industry[7:16] Trends in Customer Behaviors and Preferences[8:25] Customer Science and ODAIA's Approach[9:46] Disrupting the Pharma Industry[14:43] The Role of AI in Customer Experience[15:54] MAPTUAL: Enhancing Digital Customer Experience[30:19] Balancing Human Interaction and Automation[33:52] Future of Customer Experience in PharmaAbout our guest, Dr. Eric TrepanierDr. Eric Trepanier is a seasoned executive with broad experience in business operations, corporate leadership, investment management, and entrepreneurship. He is currently Chief Strategy & Customer Officer of ODAIA Intelligence, a SaaS company that leverages AI to ingest multiple data sources and empower marketers and sales reps to optimize their segmentation, targeting and execution to maximize sales.Previously from 2018-2022, Eric was EVP and GM of Medicx Health, a data-driven healthcare company that delivers multi-channel media to Micro-Neighborhoods® with specific patients. He was responsible for the business P&L, while leading most teams, including sales, marketing, business operations, performance analytics, strategy and digital media. When he joined, he led a transformation of the culture that provided the foundation to stabilize revenue, and return it to strong double-digit growth as he left.From 2012-2018, Eric took on increasing responsibility at WebMD where he ultimately built and led a multi-functional team doing strategic sales, competitive intelligence, business intelligence, market research, statistical analyses and data-driven marketing. The team was focused on helping the company deliver on its sales objectives by leveraging 1st and 3rd party data and analytics to develop and support the value story.Thank you to our friendsThis podcast is brought to you by HGS. HGS is a digital customer experience leader dedicated to delivering winning customer interactions at scale that are prompt, personal, and positive. We continuously transform, optimize, and grow enterprises to exceed ever-rising customer expectations. HGS provides our clients with the right talent and technologies needed to champion every moment. Learn more at hgs.cx.LinksConnect with Eric on LinkedInLearn more about ODAIACheck out HGS

This episode features an interview with Aleks Bass, Chief Product Officer at Typeform, the web-based platform you can use to create anything from surveys to apps, without needing to write a single line of code. Aleks has over 18 years of experience in product marketing, product management and consumer insights in B2B SaaS and D2C. In her current role as Chief Product Officer, she leads product management, design, research, and product operations. Her priority is creating user-centric digital solutions. Aleks has previously held leadership roles at Momentive, Adobe and Qualtrics, which has since been acquired by SAP. In this episode, Aleks shares her insights on how product and product marketing can enhance customer experience. She discusses the importance of aligning product management with consumer insights, the role of design in digital CX, and trends in customer behavior. Aleks elaborates on Typeform's new product, Typeform for Growth, which aims to boost customer acquisition using AI. The conversation also touches on measuring digital customer experience, the balance between automation and human interaction, and the significance of diversity in tech leadership. Finally, Aleks discusses Typeform's future vision of creating a holistic customer experience and the essential role of AI in achieving this goal.Quotes*”Good design for me in digital CX is intuitive, accessible, and empathetic. But the number one thing it has to absolutely do is be usable. So I prioritize usability over anything that's new, aesthetically pleasing, keeping up with the trends, et cetera. Design's ultimate role is to anticipate user needs and remove friction points from the experience and remove them from having blockages in their ability to do the things that they need to do.”*”There is a difference between asking people for feedback and truly understanding what they're saying to you in the context of what their broader pain points are versus asking for feedback and taking that feedback at face value. Because if I don't understand the pain points that you personally experience, I might interpret the feedback that you're giving me differently, and I might not be solving for the true challenge that you are facing. Whereas if I deeply understand  a marketer's workflow, what tools they're using, how they're using those tools, the gaps in those current tools, what they wish they could do, how certain tools are not playing nicely with other tools, it allows me to create solutions that are actually much more adaptable to their individual use cases. And so that's the piece within customer centricity, customer experience, and strategy that I feel like is really critical to create better experiences for our customers.”*”There's no shortcut in trying to figure out and learn about your customers. You have to do the work and you have to spend the time and you have to engage in the most effective way to get the most insight out of their patterns and pain points and challenges.”There's no shortcut in trying to figure out and learn about your customers. You have to do the work and spend the time and to get the most insight”.*”A gap in the customer experience is when automation serves the company, not the customer. Automation should ultimately keep people at the center. Yes, it can help companies improve efficiency. I think we all can see the benefits of that. But if it is hurting your customer experience, then that's a negative outcome for your business ultimately.”Time Stamps[0:01] Meet Aleks Bass, Chief Product Officer at Typeform[0:56] Connecting Product Marketing to Customer Experience[4:04] Designing for Digital Customer Experience[5:44] Trends in Customer Behavior[7:03] Introducing Typeform for Growth[9:22] Enhancing Lead Generation with AI[11:49] Fostering Exceptional Digital Customer Experience[27:59] Personalizing Customer Experience[33:18] Building Trust and Measuring Success[36:55] Balancing Automation and Human Interaction[39:22] Positive Customer Experience Examples[44:09] The Importance of Diverse Perspectives[46:03] Future of Typeform and TechnologyAbout our guest, Aleks BassAleks Bass is a product leader with an 18+ year career that includes product management, product marketing, and consumer insights for both B2B SaaS and D2C self-serve products. As the Chief Product Officer at Typeform, she leads product management, design, research, and product operations, steering a talented team to create innovative and user-centered digital solutions. Her role encompasses driving strategic product development from concept to market delivery, shaping the future of digital experiences. She is passionate about transforming ideas into impactful products that enhance the way we interact with data and information. By leveraging AI and expanding their communication formats, she aims to elevate Typeform's offerings and push the boundaries of interactivity within their platform.Her prior experience includes product leadership roles with Momentive, where she led a 15-member product organization, with overall responsibility for a product portfolio including SurveyMonkey, Wufoo, SurveyMonkey Apply, and SurveyMonkey Audience, that drove $500M in 2022 revenue. She has also held leadership roles at Adobe, Workfront (acquired by Adobe), Qualtrics (acquired by SAP), and product consulting to three startups – two that were acquired by Google and Walmart, and one that IPO’d. She has had success in building and managing high-performing teams, coordinating cross-functional collaborations, and driving revenue that has included a three-year growth from $10M ARR to >$55M.Thank you to our friendsThis podcast is brought to you by HGS. HGS is a digital customer experience leader dedicated to delivering winning customer interactions at scale that are prompt, personal, and positive. We continuously transform, optimize, and grow enterprises to exceed ever-rising customer expectations. HGS provides our clients with the right talent and technologies needed to champion every moment. Learn more at hgs.cx.LinksConnect with Aleks on LinkedInLearn more about TypeformCheck out HGS

This episode features an interview with Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer at Shepard Presentations, LLC. Shep is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the speaking profession. He has helped companies like American Airlines, AT&T, and American Express build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. And in this episode, Shep shares insights on creating memorable customer experiences in a digital-first world. He discusses the importance of prompt, personal, and positive customer interactions, leveraging AI to enhance the customer experience, and the significance of both digital and human elements in customer service. Shep also explains his five-step process for handling customer issues—acknowledge, apologize, resolve, own, and act with urgency. He highlights the changing dynamics of customer loyalty programs, the impact of business decisions on customer loyalty, and the importance of employee experience in delivering exceptional customer service. The conversation delves into various aspects of CX, including self-service options, the dangers of commoditization, and the future trends in customer experience.Quotes*”I call it the customer hierarchy of needs. This is what companies want customers to experience. At the base of that pyramid, just like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, you have products that do what they're supposed to do. But as you move up to the tip of the pyramid, you eventually get to fulfillment and emotional connection. And when you are emotionally connected to the brand, then you feel like, ‘Why would I want to go anywhere else? Why would I take a chance on anywhere else? I love the way this brand makes me feel.’ That's emotion.”*”For AI to be effective, the customer has to enjoy the experience. In order to get the customer to enjoy the experience, sometimes you have to tell the customer that the experience is even there to begin with.”*”The Ikea effect, which has been around, is basically that somebody that puts together their own furniture feels more pride in it. So when a customer resolves their own issue, thanks to AI, They feel really good when an agent is able to use this type of technology to create a better experience for the customer. They feel great as well.”*”A part of customer experience is also being able to do damage and risk control. Number one, we must acknowledge the problem. Number two, we must apologize. And by the way, you can apologize first and acknowledge second. I don't care. As long as those two things start the conversation. Number three, understand what the problem is. You may have to ask questions, but you get to a point where you discuss the resolution. Either you're fixing it on the spot or you're discussing what's going to happen. Number four, the attitude that you must show that customer is one of you owning the situation, even if you're not in it. If you're not even the person that might take care of it, at least at that moment, you've got to make this customer feel like you're in control. And then finally, you act with urgency. Speed is really important. You need to get to the resolution as quickly as possible,”*”It's a byproduct of what happens when you start to go into a company and try to create a better product: Customer experience. You have to focus on your employee experience at the same time. And oftentimes a byproduct of working on an overall customer experience is employees become more fulfilled and you'll see turnover drop as a result. That's a very powerful thing because number one, you don't have to hire new people. And the cost of hiring and training is so high sometimes that it really makes financial sense to even try to barely impact the experience because the benefit to the internal experience is so strong.”Time Stamps[0:44] Spotlight on Shep Hyken: CX Visionary[1:43] Diving Into Shep's Book: I'll Be Back[3:33] The Power of Customer Loyalty and Experience[6:45] Shep Hyken's Journey into Customer Experience[8:09] Exploring the Evolution of Customer Experience[11:13] The Impact of AI on Customer Experience[13:14] Navigating Customer Experience in the Digital Age[22:03] Shep's Five Steps for Handling Customer Issues[24:59] Mastering Customer Service: A Real-Life Example[32:48] The Power of Customer Loyalty Programs and the Impact of Changes[36:39] Shep Hyken's Influence and Insights on Customer Experience[41:34] Predicting the Future of Customer Experience[44:15] Magic in Customer Experience[46:33] Shep Hyken's Impact on CXAbout our guest, Shep HykenShep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the speaking profession. Shep works with companies and organizations who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His articles have been read in hundreds of publications, and he is the author of "Amaze Every Customer Every Time," "Moments of Magic ," "The Loyal Customer," "The Cult of the Customer" and "The Amazement Revolution." He is also the creator of The Customer Focus program, which helps clients develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset.In 1983 Shep Hyken founded Shepard Presentations and since then has worked with hundreds of clients ranging from Fortune 100 size organizations to companies with less than 50 employees. Some of his clients include American Airlines, AAA Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, AETNA, Abbot Laboratories, American Express - and that's just a few of the A's!Shep Hyken's most requested programs focus on customer service, customer loyalty, internal service, customer relations and a motivational program titled "You Are The Magic!" He is known for his high energy and entertaining content-rich presentations.Thank you to our friendsThis podcast is brought to you by HGS. HGS is a digital customer experience leader dedicated to delivering winning customer interactions at scale that are prompt, personal, and positive. We continuously transform, optimize, and grow enterprises to exceed ever-rising customer expectations. HGS provides our clients with the right talent and technologies needed to champion every moment. Learn more at hgs.cx.LinksConnect with Shep on LinkedInLearn more about Shepard PresentationsConnect with Sohaib on LinkedInCheck out HGS

This episode features an interview with Christian Mitchell, EVP & Chief Customer Officer at Northwestern Mutual. Christian works to elevate the customer experience and deliver bold solutions to set Northwestern Mutual ahead of its competitors. And over his 18-year tenure at Northwestern mutual, he has served in a variety of leadership roles, including as president of their Wealth Management Company when he managed $129 billion in client assets. Host Sohaib Ahmed discusses with Mitchell his journey and various roles at Northwestern Mutual over 18 years, alongside his insights into building memorable customer experiences. They delve into how Northwestern Mutual integrates technology to enhance customer experiences while maintaining a human-centric approach. Mitchell shares his perspective on the evolving customer expectations, the future of customer experience (CX), including the potential impact of generative AI, and the significance of consistency in delivering great CX. Additionally, the importance of data privacy, the challenges of implementing new technologies, and the role of storytelling in reshaping company culture towards more client-centric values are covered.Quotes*”The financial services marketplace is complex. I really think you need to understand that holistic landscape in order to take all of that and fashion it into an incredible client experience. If you don't have that holistic understanding of the system and how we create value and what clients need, it's easy to default to designing experiences indexed on efficiency, or maybe client experiences that index on regulatory adherence, but not actually creating something that's really incredible and delightful for the client.”*”On metrics, it's really evolved. When we started the CX journey, it was really focused on CSAT, NPS, those really big aggregate numbers that are easy to compare across companies. As time has gone on, I've become less and less enamored with those aggregate metrics. We still need to calculate them, we need to track, we need to benchmark, etc. But I think CX telemetry is best done at a more granular basis where you're actually measuring things like individual interactions and satisfaction.”*”I think at times you can find a metric and seek to maximize it, and then kind of lose the storyline a little bit. So I think you always have to kind of come back to this foundation of what are we trying to do strategically? What are we really solving for holistically?”*”In terms of the media stuff that we do, the planning and progress study, a lot of the talks that I give internally, to our advisors, to client groups, it's about this constant drumbeat of storytelling around the client. And I think that constant drumbeat of storytelling is incredibly important for long standing incumbent financial services companies because historically we were very focused on financial performance. We might have been very focused on recruiting of advisors, and those things are very important. But by constantly storytelling around the client, incredible experiences, things that we want to do, it's part of shifting the zeitgeist, the mindset of the organization to be more client centric.”*”One of the interesting areas where we debate a lot is instances where the client may have a preference for self service, but we somehow want to inject a human to make sure that the best client outcome occurs. The poster child example would be, we have a big market correction, the client gets scared, wants to liquidate his or her portfolio, and might prefer to do that in an automated way via the mobile experience. Now, if the client really wants to do that, of course we will help them do it. But that might not actually be the best long-term decision. So in instances like that, we actually want to insert some human friction, for lack of a better word, to at least gut check that client, to really make sure that we're helping that client not only have a good experience today, but really achieve their financial goals long term.”*”A lot of the experiences that we create in financial services or financial planning, it's more at pulling the heartstrings than the math. It's about the emotion, the psychology. How do you harness that in such a way that the client makes the right decisions and is better off long term?”*”Sometimes we think about the peak moments of the client experience. That ‘You can retire moment,’ or ‘Your family's protected’ moment. But I actually think real trust, real client experience comes through consistency of interaction, predictability, and high quality communication that plays out over really, really long periods of time. So I think consistency is really the name of the game and one of the unsung heroes of great client experiences.”Time Stamps[2:38] Christian Mitchell's Journey in Northwestern Mutual[5:16] The Evolution of Customer Expectations at Northwestern Mutual[7:14] Leveraging Technology to Enhance Customer Experience[16:15] The Future of Customer Experience: Innovations and Challenges[21:10] Building Lifelong Customer Relationships and Looking Ahead[30:03] The Importance of Consistency in CXAbout our guest, Christian MitchellChristian W. Mitchell is executive vice president and chief customer officer at Northwestern Mutual. He leads strategic ideation necessary to elevate the client experience and deliver bold solutions to launch Northwestern Mutual ahead of its competitors. Christian oversees initiatives and deliverables to build the most powerful digital engine in financial services, including engineering solutions, data analytics, digital products, and consumer insights. He serves on Northwestern Mutual’s Senior Leadership Team and sits on Northwestern Mutual’s Future Ventures investment committee.Christian joined Northwestern Mutual in 2006 and has served in a variety of leadership positions throughout the company. He started his career at Northwestern Mutual as part of the Managed Investments team, helping manage company assets through its general account to maintain financial strength for policyowners.He formerly served as president of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, where he was responsible for Northwestern Mutual’s investment, advisory and trust solutions, fee-based financial planning, Investment Products and Services (IPS) product development, retail investment, and overall IPS business strategy. During his leadership, he managed $129 billion in client assets and led the company to impressive growth in advisory and private client services.Christian also served as vice president of corporate strategy, and spearheaded Northwestern Mutual’s venture capital efforts – including its investment in automated advice firm Betterment and the acquisition of LearnVest. He also led Northwestern Mutual’s investment in ClientWise, a premier coaching and consulting firm.Thank you to our friendsThis podcast is brought to you by HGS. HGS is a digital customer experience leader dedicated to delivering winning customer interactions at scale that are prompt, personal, and positive. We continuously transform, optimize, and grow enterprises to exceed ever-rising customer expectations. HGS provides our clients with the right talent and technologies needed to champion every moment. Learn more at hgs.cx.LinksConnect with Christian on LinkedInLearn more about Northwestern MutualConnect with Sohaib on LinkedInCheck out HGS