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The Modern Customer Podcast

Go behind the scenes with customer experience leader Blake Morgan to explore the secrets of the world’s most customer-centric companies. Blake is one of the world’s top keynote speakers, authority on customer experience and the bestselling author of “The Customer Of The Future” The Modern Customer reaches thousands of people each week conveying a message of how we make people feel - in business and in life - matters. Her weekly show explores how businesses can make customers’ lives easier and better, featuring experts that provide simple, tangible advice you can immediately apply at your own organization. Today’s customers have the luxury of choice. The answer is simple; choose customer experience and customers will choose you. Learn how to put a stake in the ground on customer experience by tuning into The Modern Customer Podcast each week with Blake Morgan.
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Now displaying: January, 2020
Jan 29, 2020

The mattress industry definitely hasn’t been sleepy in recent years. With the success and growth of online, direct-to-consumer mattress companies, industry stalwarts have had to undergo major transformations to innovate and stay ahead of the competition. Melanie Huet, CMO at Serta Simmons, says the company’s reset has renewed its focus on consumer-led innovation and put customers at the heart of everything the company does.

According to Huet, Serta Simmons’ success comes from its three recent transformations: digital, marketing and product.

Digital Transformation

The digital transformation involved putting more resources and focus on consumer targets and insights. Serta Simmons used data analysis to better understand its customers. Instead of getting most of its insights from retailers as it had in the past, the company shifted to listening to customers to better understand what they want and need in a mattress. Serta Simmons also uses an innovation team to pilot new ideas, especially related to technology, to create a smoother internal and external experience.

Marketing Transformation

Serta Simmons’ marketing transformation involved shifting from the goal of satisfying customers to delighting them. The company built out its marketing team to better understand and connect with customers. One group that it found was missing from any mattress company was Gen Z and younger consumers. This is the group that is starting to or will soon be moving out of their parents’ house or finishing college and moving out on their own. Serta re-launched its 150-year-old Simmons brand for Gen Z. The idea is built around a crash pad—a basic first mattress that serves as a place to sleep and hang out. The mattress is part of a lifestyle, and the company’s effective new marketing approach is all about having fun and connecting with younger consumers.

Product Transformation

Serta Simmons’ research found that most consumers don’t understand the differences between mattresses or think they are really that different. But a renewed focus by consumers on getting quality sleep has led the company to create new products. Serta Simmons’ product transformation completely changed how the company thinks about its products to focus on issues most important to consumers, such as comfort and temperature, to create amazing sleep experiences. Huet says sustainability is a huge issue in the industry and one that mattress companies in general haven’t embraced. Serta recently launched its first sustainable Beauty Rest product to reduce the amount of plastic in oceans.

Like all industries, the mattress business is constantly evolving. In order to stay ahead of the curve and avoid being disrupted, Serta Simmons underwent multiple transformations. Successful companies will follow in its footsteps and continually adapt.

 

Jan 21, 2020

When you think of your interactions with brands, you likely find yourself experiencing some kind of friction. In physics, friction is anything that slows down progress, like a block trying to move across carpet. In customer experience, friction is any unnecessary effort to complete a task, and it can hurt the experience and how a customer views the brand.

Roger Dooley is the author of Friction: The Untapped Force That Can Be Your Most Powerful Advantage and my podcast guest this week. He says that although friction is a relatively simple concept, it’s obvious that not everyone is aware of it because of how much friction we face every day. Friction is anything that slows customers down. Reducing friction often doesn’t involve huge changes. In many cases, it’s the small changes that remove friction and create a compelling customer experience. Roger shares the example of Amazon’s one-click ordering. The simple button simplifies the check-out process and removes friction without completely uprooting the shopping process.

In the podcast, Roger shares more examples of companies that have removed friction and how every brand can find ways to create a friction-less experience. Every aspect of friction lessens the customer experience. Reducing friction through small actions creates a seamless customer experience and offers a powerful advantage over the competition.

This podcast is sponsored by Fujitsu Computer Products of America, leader of the document scanning industry and a subsidiary of the world's third largest IT products provider.

Jan 14, 2020

How do you create a great experience for customers of different generations? That’s the challenge faced by children’s hair salon Pigtails & Crewcuts, which has two very distinct and different types of customers: children and parents. According to CEO Wade Brannon, the key is creating a personalized and comfortable experience for everyone.  

Haircuts can be stressful for both children and their parents, so Pigtails & Crewcuts aims to create a relaxing atmosphere that is inviting for everyone. Children appreciate going somewhere that is designed for them with child-sized furniture and activities. The salons are also designed to be comfortable for parents with a colorful environment that isn’t too over the top. The salon also has plenty of places for parents to sit nearby so they can also have a comfortable experience.

For children, the main goal of the salon is for them to be comfortable and enjoy their haircut. That’s done through employees who are trained to interact with children and create a safe and calm atmosphere. Instead of rushing children through their haircuts, employees are encouraged to take their time to make sure each child is comfortable. According to Wade, parents look for a salon that makes their kid look good and takes out much of the stress of giving a child a haircut. When children are happy, parents are more likely to also be satisfied with the service.

Pigtails & Crewcuts creates a controlled environment where both parents and children know what to expect. Every time a customer walks in the door, they are greeted by an employee, who explains the entire process from check-in to wait times and even takes new customers on a tour of the salon. Being clear with the process helps customers of all ages know what to expect and helps things move more smoothly.

Both children and parents are involved in the haircut process. Employees work to make sure children are comfortable, and they regularly check with parents throughout the haircut to make sure they are creating what the parent had in mind. Afterwards, parents receive an email follow-up to ensure their expectations were met.

Pigtails & Crewcuts aims to take a sometimes painful activity and improve the experience with a controlled and personal environment. Focusing on both children and parents and being clear with expectations and service creates an environment fit for all groups where both children and parents look forward to returning.

Jan 2, 2020

The supply chain isn’t typically a strong consideration when building a customer experience strategy. But at Nordstrom, the supply chain is a critical element of delivering quality customer experiences. The company recently re-imagined its supply chain with customers at the center to create a delivery and logistics process that gets customers exactly what they need, when they need it.

 In order to build a new approach to the supply chain, Nordstrom had to let go of the historical concepts of what a supply chain can do. According to Ngoc Phan, VP Supply Chain Systems and Engineering, Nordstrom set out to create a system that can evolve with changing customer demands and help customers engage with the brand on their terms. One size doesn’t fit all, which means the supply chain needs to be customizable for each customer.

Phan says Nordstrom looked to optimize its supply chain for customers instead of the traditional cost or transportation considerations and looked at three opportunities:

  1.     Flexibility. Modular solutions help Nordstrom adapt as customer needs evolve and change. The supply chain acts as a framework that can adjust with customers.
  2.     Space. Nordstrom has existing physical assets in many markets where customers live, so it looked for solutions to optimize the existing space in its network.
  3.     Operational simplicity. The supply chain doesn’t need to be complicated. Nordstrom wanted to increase productivity and decrease the time it took to train and onboard new employees by using intuitive solutions.

With these opportunities in mind, Nordstrom’s revamped supply chain leverages its existing physical space, as well as new technology like robotics and automation, to quickly deliver products to customers. No matter if a customer wants to pick an item up in store, browse the racks the find the perfect item or have it delivered to their home, Nordstrom’s customizable supply chain helps meet their needs and provide great service.

Nordstrom shows that the supply chain is a crucial aspect of customer experience and a piece that shouldn’t be overlooked by companies that want to provide consistent experiences to their customers from all sides.

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