Retailers leverage footfall and conversion data to inform critical decisions like store location, inventory levels, and personalized marketing initiatives. But what if these metrics only tell half the story of why shoppers leave without purchasing? 

This is where customer experience (CX) emerges as the critical differentiator in retail. Martin Newman, with four decades of experience guiding consumer-facing giants like Harrods, Burberry and Ted Baker, delivers a stark reality: prioritizing cost reduction over the emotional and human aspects of the customer journey is unsustainable. 

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

In this week's episode of the Modern Customer Podcast, Isabella Villani, a renowned customer experience expert and author, illustrates how proactive analytics revolutionizes customer experience (CX).

Isabella begins by explaining how this innovative approach enables businesses to anticipate and effectively meet customer needs, thereby transforming the CX landscape. Using proactive analytics, companies gain insights into the customer's journey, allowing them to foresee specific inquiries or needs.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

For fintechs to keep customers loyal, a deep understanding of their needs and challenges is essential. Trish Wethman, Chief Customer Officer at Best Egg, stands out in this respect. She has redefined customer experience (CX) in the fintech world by centering it around financial confidence.

Wethman’s approach goes beyond just offering financial products. She aims to empower customers, particularly those with limited savings, to confidently navigate their financial journeys. This shift from traditional CX strategies to a focus on long-term financial well-being is a game-changer in the industry.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

How can the concept of "Unreasonable Hospitality" reshape the landscape of customer experience within the contact center?

In this podcast, Will Guidara, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park and author of "Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect," shares impactful business insights. His insights into hospitality, leadership, and customer service provide valuable lessons for businesses seeking to enhance their customer experience and build a customer-focused culture.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

How can businesses genuinely embrace customer-centricity? Do companies like Apple genuinely prioritize their customers, or do they place their products above all else? These pressing questions guide our conversation with Colin Shaw.

With a career spanning decades, Colin Shaw, the founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, brings firsthand experience to the evolving world of customer experience. With seven best-selling books under his belt and recognition as a LinkedIn Top Voice and influencer in customer experience and marketing, he's a trailblazer in his field.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Building trust is a crucial aspect of any successful business, especially when it comes to the client experience. But how exactly can organizations foster trust, and what role does emotional safety play in this process?

One individual who has made significant strides in understanding the dynamics of trust is Charles Green. He has dedicated his career to understanding the dynamics of trust and how it influences various aspects of our lives. His insights, particularly through his work "The Trusted Advisor," have profoundly influenced the professional services landscape.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

What's the future of contact centers in shaping customer experience and brand loyalty? Companies are increasingly recognizing the critical role that contact centers play in shaping customer perceptions and driving brand loyalty.

In this podcast episode, Stephanie Shaffer De Jesus, a seasoned customer experience practitioner, shares invaluable insights into the future of contact centers and the role that Experience Level Agreements play versus the Service Level Agreements that contact centers are generally managed by. By backing into contact center metrics - starting with the customer and the desired customer experience - the contact center can transform. 

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Storytelling is the ultimate tool for persuasion and connection. Rob Biesenbach is a seasoned professional speaking coach and author who understands the transformative power of storytelling.

In this week's podcast, Rob shares that presentations should never be about merely delivering data – they should be about sparking change, getting buy-in, and igniting action.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Customer service is a big part of the customer experience, and the call center is a critical focal point for direct interaction with customers. With all the changes in technology recently, I wanted to ask an industry expert his thoughts on the future of the call center in the customer experience space.

In this episode of the Modern Customer Podcast, I had a conversation with an expert who has probably worked with more call centers over the past three decades than anyone else in the world. Brad Cleveland got his start in call centers decades ago and has watched this space grow and develop as a consultant, speaker, course instructor, and author of ten books, including his latest, Leading the Customer Experience.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

On this episode of the Modern Customer Podcast, I spoke with Kelly McDonald about meeting customer expectations. Kelly is a speaker and author of several books, including her latest title, It’s Time to Talk about Race at Work, a guide for leaders to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Her ideas can be applied everywhere, from call centers to service and customer experience.

According to Kelly, so many businesses are still providing a one-size-fits-all customer experience, but this isn’t what customers want anymore. These days, they seek personalization more than ever when shopping, using services, and receiving customer care. And with growing diversity in all markets, it’s important to understand that different people may wish to be treated in different ways.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Most of us have grown up with the stereotyped idea that a leader should be emotionless and impersonal. But this isn’t the case, as we so often see that introducing personal feelings and emotional intelligence into the mix can make for better leaders with stronger connections to their employees.

In this episode of my podcast, I’m proud to say that I sat down with Jacob Morgan, my husband of nine years and father to our two children. Jacob is a certified futurist and speaker and has just published his fifth book, Leading with Vulnerability: Unlock Your Greatest Superpower to Transform Yourself, Your Team, and Your Organization. Jacob spoke with me about vulnerability in the workplace and how it’s an essential tool and complement for leadership.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

As customer experience professionals, our goal is to listen to what customers want and make changes to improve our service and their experience. But as David Cote suggests, so many companies miss the mark because they think they have to choose between short- and long-term goals for their business rather than aiming for both. Under David Cote's leadership, Honeywell's market cap soared from $20 billion to $120 billion, a testament to his effective management strategies.

I sat down recently to speak with David about his experience as CEO of Honeywell and his recent book Winning Now, Winning Later. I wanted to know how his leadership experiences could be applied to the customer experience space.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Despite trying to do our best every day in customer experience or any other facet of business, we often run up against a wall. We focus all of our energy on performance, and by doing so, our results can actually decrease.

But why would that happen?

Eduardo Briceno, TEDx presenter and author of The Performance Paradox, believes it’s because so many of us are stuck in a fixed mindset. Despite aiming for growth, we don’t properly cultivate a growth mindset in order to help us achieve it. We’re continually putting our best effort into less effective practices, so our results don’t improve.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

The most competitive brands today understand the contact center is an opportunity, and ensuring a customer-centric culture in that contact center is key. The problem for most brands and customer experience leaders is high churn and the reality that burnout is real.

I talked to Brian Dunphy, an experienced contact center and customer experience expert who’s guided customer experience strategy for notable companies such as Disney, Bank of America, WarbyParker, and Postmates.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Over the past few decades, the landscape of the Fortune 500 has changed immensely. Reflecting on this transformation, Alan Murray, the founder of Fortune, offers an intriguing perspective. “If you go back 50 years and you look at the balance sheet of Fortune 500 companies in the 1970s, over 80 percent of the value came from physical entities - from oil in the ground to inventories on the shelves," he says.

But he points out that this is no longer the case. In today's digital age, more than 85 percent of the value of the Fortune 500 is tied up in intangibles such as intellectual property, software, and brand value. At its core, brand value epitomizes the emotional bond a brand shares with its customers. The emphasis has shifted from the tangible to the intangible; from concrete assets to human emotion and ingenuity. As Murray explains, “Ingenuity is the human capacity to craft innovative solutions to enhance life."

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Modern customer experience is data-driven. Management needs data-backed insights to understand what they can improve in their processes or products to yield better customer service. This is why research companies such as Forrester exist.

Forrester is an advisory company offering research, consulting, and other services to help companies make better customer experience decisions.

On the Modern Customer, I talked to Pete Jacques, a principal customer experience analyst at Forrester, about Forrester’s recent report and we discussed that it’s critical for customer experience leaders to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Running a contact center is one of the most challenging processes for a company when offering a unique and positive customer experience. Contact centers are the bridge that connects your customers to your brand and allows them to feel engaged and heard.

So, what makes running one so difficult?

I talked to Naomi Wheeless, the Global Head of Customer Success at Square, about the management and leadership strategy required to modernize and run a customer-centric contact center. 

Square is a publicly traded company providing financial, payment, and marketing services for businesses. Their call center lies at the heart of their customer success strategy. 

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Tanger Outlets has a 42-year history of being an industry leader in branded in-person retail outlets, providing a unique on-brand customer experience for people shopping for unique products from specific brands.

Stephen Yalof, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, says that for the company and its outlets to remain relevant, it had to pivot towards customer experience in retail outlets instead of simply offering brands a space to sell unique on-brand items.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

In customer experience integrating innovation and personalization is key. Inspirato is a luxury vacation membership company that offers its members access to a curated collection of luxury vacation properties and experiences around the world. The company operates on a subscription-based model, where members pay an annual fee for access to these high-end vacation options. I had the pleasure of talking with Inspirato President David Kallery, about how they are redefining the luxury travel and hospitality paradigm.

Inspirato focuses on creating a compelling customer experience, and through that satisfied customer they get new customers. A staggering 50% of their members originate from existing member referrals. But why does this referral system work so well? It boils down to their customer focus which builds trust, empathy, and genuine connection.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

With its many changes and outside forces, the airline industry is challenging for customer experience. But Oscar Munoz, former CEO of United Airlines, believes it also provides an amazing opportunity to focus on individual customers and remember that even in stressful times and busy travel days, customers are humans and central to everything the business does. 

When Oscar first stepped into his role as CEO of United Airlines, he prioritized developing the shared purpose, or the mission, vision, and values. Over a year, he interviewed thousands of employees about what made United different and why they worked there. From their insights, United Airlines created the shared purpose of connecting people and uniting the world. And because employees were involved in creating that shared purpose, they have buy-in and are more engaged.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Marketing is often thought of as everything that happens before a sale; customer service is everything that happens after. But according to Allan Dib, best-selling author of The 1-Page Marketing Plan, customer service is marketing. The two sides are related and can work together to create a smoother experience overall.

Like in customer service, Dib says the first step of marketing is knowing your audience. Who are you talking to? What are they interested in? In his mind, marketing is the strategy used to get your ideal clients to know you, like you, and trust you enough to become customers.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

What is a customer-centric culture? According to Dr. Chris L. Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of MarketCulture, it’s the environment, behaviors, and how work gets done. At customer-centric companies, the culture revolves around providing an excellent customer experience. That strong culture starts with leaders who set the tone for embracing customers and having a customer-centric mindset.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

From Chief Experience and Chief Customer Officers to Customer Experience leaders, more companies are creating customer leadership roles. These positions can greatly impact customer-centricity, but they bring a common question: where do you start?

Jim Weber, Chief Experience Officer of Comerica Inc, stepped into his current role in late 2019 with a goal to build and expand a customer experience team. Weber says one of the most crucial parts of his job was ensuring he tasked the right person with running customer experience on a daily basis. At Comerica, that’s Maria Adams, the director of CX, who Weber says can see everything and process it strategically.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

A company as large as Choice Hotels, with more than 7,000 locations worldwide, is bound to have a huge amount of data. But how do you ensure data is used to improve and bolster the customer experience?

Noha Abdalla, Chief Marketing Officer at Choice Hotels International, Inc, says data is the cornerstone of the brand’s customer experience. Choice Hotels is recognized for knowing its customers incredibly well and providing a consistent guest experience, which comes from having reliable data.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future.

Where does a customer-obsessed culture start? With the CEO.

Jeff Mezger, Chairman, President, and CEO at KB Home, is known for his customer-centricity. That mindset has spread throughout the company to create a culture of customer obsession. Every employee knows their role and the impact of their work, which leads to incredibly high customer satisfaction rates.