Aligning Marketing with Customer Experience

One of the biggest takeaways I spotted from Intuit Mailchimp’s analysis of the 2024 holiday shopping season is that the new year is ripe with new opportunities to drive loyalty. Here’s why → 64% of orders from Mailchimp customers with connected stores came from new customers during Cyber Weekend 2024. That's a huge opportunity to grow your loyal customer base! And research we produced with Canvas8 tells us that the best kept secret to driving loyalty is actually grounded in science. Our Loyalty Wheel reveals 4 key drivers of loyalty: 1. Reward: Our brains love rewards. Create a sense of reciprocity by offering exclusive deals, personalized discounts, or early access to new products. 2. Memory: Make it easy for customers to remember (and repeat!) positive experiences with your brand. Design a frictionless customer journey, offer subscriptions for frequently purchased items, and send well-timed reminders. 3. Emotion: Foster an emotional connection that goes beyond transactional exchanges. Align your brand with causes your customers care about, share authentic stories, and build a sense of community. 4. Social Interaction: Encourage customers to share their love for your brand with friends and family. Create opportunities for user-generated content, run refer-a-friend programs, or host exclusive events. And here's how to put it all into action: 🎉 Surprise and delight: Gift your customers with unexpected rewards. And just not generic discounts. Offer exclusive experiences or partner with like-minded brands to create unique offers. 🛝 Streamline every touchpoint: Remove friction in the customer journey with automation. From browsing to purchasing to post-purchase support, make it easy and enjoyable to do business with your brand. 🎯 Prioritize personalization: Craft your messaging and build authentic connections. Use data and AI analysis to understand your customers' values and preferences and use those insights to create content that resonates. 🤗 Give VIP treatment: Make your customers feel like VIPs. Give them early access to new products, invite them to exclusive events, or feature them on your social media channels. Download Mailchimp and Canvas8’s The Science of Loyalty and The Strategic Loyalty Playbook for a deep dive into the science, complete with actionable strategies and inspiring examples: https://bit.ly/49FJayO Make 2025 the year of the loyal customer. You got this.

Are you generating enough value for users net of the value to your company? Business value can only be created when you create so much value for users, that you can “tax” that value and take some for yourself as a business. If you don’t create any value for your users, then you can’t create value for your business. Ed Biden explains how to solve this in this week's guest post: Whilst there are many ways to understand what your users will value, two techniques in particular are incredibly valuable, especially if you’re working on a tight timeframe: 1. Jobs To Be Done 2. Customer Journey Mapping 𝟭. 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗧𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 (𝗝𝗧𝗕𝗗) “People don’t simply buy products or services, they ‘hire’ them to make progress in specific circumstances.”  – Clayton Christensen The core JTBD concept is that rather than buying a product for its features, customers “hire” a product to get a job done for them … and will ”fire” it for a better solution just as quickly. In practice, JTBD provides a series of lenses for understanding what your customers want, what progress looks like, and what they’ll pay for. This is a powerful way of understanding your users, because their needs are stable and it forces you to think from a user-centric point of view. This allows you to think about more radical solutions, and really focus on where you’re creating value. To use Jobs To Be Done to understand your customers, think through five key steps: 1. Use case – what is the outcome that people want? 2. Alternatives – what solutions are people using now? 3. Progress – where are people blocked? What does a better solution look like? 4. Value Proposition – why would they use your product over the alternatives? 5. Price – what would a customer pay for progress against this problem? 𝟮. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 Customer journey mapping is an effective way to visualize your customer’s experience as they try to reach one of their goals. In basic terms, a customer journey map breaks the user journey down into steps, and then for each step describes what touchpoints the customer has with your product, and how this makes them feel. The touch points are any interaction that the customer has with your company as they go through this flow: • Website and app screens • Notifications and emails • Customer service calls • Account management / sales touch points • Physically interacting with goods (e.g. Amazon), services (e.g. Airbnb) or hardware (e.g. Lime) Users’ feelings can be visualized by noting down: • What they like or feel good about at this step • What they dislike, find frustrating or confusing at this step • How they feel overall By mapping the customer’s subjective experience to the nuts and bolts of what’s going on, and then laying this out in a visual way, you can easily see where you can have the most impact, and align stakeholders on the critical problems to solve.

90% of marketing efforts fail to deliver on their promises. Curious how the other 10% succeed? Let me introduce a powerful approach: The Performance Promise Framework. This model emphasizes the alignment of promises with actual performance, ensuring trust and credibility with your audience. A) Understanding Promises: ➔ Brand Promise: Defines what customers can expect from your product or service, answering “What do we stand for?” ➔ Customer Commitment: Articulates the dedication to delivering value, reflecting the relationship you build with your audience. ➔ Value Proposition: Communicates the unique benefits your offering provides, answering “Why should they choose us?” B) Enhancing Performance: ➔ Operational Excellence: Focuses on optimizing processes and resources to fulfill customer expectations efficiently. ➔ Continuous Improvement: Encourages regular assessment and enhancement of services and products to meet changing market demands. ➔ Customer Feedback Loop: Utilizes insights from customers to refine offerings and improve satisfaction continuously. C) Measuring Success: ➔ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Establishes metrics to track promise fulfillment and overall performance effectiveness. ➔ Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Gathers feedback on experiences to gauge the success of your marketing efforts. ➔ Brand Reputation Metrics: Monitors public perception to assess alignment between promises and delivery. This framework empowers marketers to: 1. Clearly define their brand promises. 2. Align operational performance with customer expectations. 3. Measure success through relevant metrics. Remember, successful marketing thrives on the integrity of promises and performance. Are your marketing promises truly aligned with your performance?

Surveys can serve an important purpose. We should use them to fill holes in our understanding of the customer experience or build better models with the customer data we have. As surveys tell you what customers explicitly choose to share, you should not be using them to measure the experience. Surveys are also inherently reactive, surface level, and increasingly ignored by customers who are overwhelmed by feedback requests. This is fact. There’s a different way. Some CX leaders understand that the most critical insights come from sources customers don’t even realize they’re providing from the “exhaust” of every day life with your brand. Real-time digital behavior, social listening, conversational analytics, and predictive modeling deliver insights that surveys alone never will. Voice and sentiment analytics, for example, go beyond simply reading customer comments. They reveal how customers genuinely feel by analyzing tone, frustration, or intent embedded within interactions. Behavioral analytics, meanwhile, uncover friction points by tracking real customer actions across websites or apps, highlighting issues users might never explicitly complain about. Predictive analytics are also becoming essential for modern CX strategies. They anticipate customer needs, allowing businesses to proactively address potential churn, rather than merely reacting after the fact. The capability can also help you maximize revenue in the experiences you are delivering (a use case not discussed often enough). The most forward-looking CX teams today are blending traditional feedback with these deeper, proactive techniques, creating a comprehensive view of their customers. If you’re just beginning to move beyond a survey-only approach, prioritizing these more advanced methods will help ensure your insights are not only deeper but actionable in real time. Surveys aren’t dead (much to my chagrin), but relying solely on them means leaving crucial insights behind. While many enterprises have moved beyond surveys, the majority are still overly reliant on them. And when you get to mid-market or small businesses? The survey slapping gets exponentially worse. Now is the time to start looking beyond the questionnaire and your Likert scales. The email survey is slowly becoming digital dust. And the capabilities to get you there are readily available. How are you evolving your customer listening strategy beyond traditional surveys? #customerexperience #cxstrategy #customerinsights #surveys

You probably have more customer info than ever.⁣ So why can’t your team answer basic questions or make confident decisions?⁣ It’s because data lives in separate systems. Align your tools, insights & the people serving customers.⁣ ⁣ Here’s what that disconnect looks like every day:⁣ ✓ The agent answering the call can’t see the customer’s last chat.⁣ ✓ The supervisor reviewing performance can’t trace a customer issue from beginning to end.⁣ ✓ And service teams are expected to deliver great experiences without knowing what’s already been said or promised.⁣ ⁣ The path forward isn’t more tools.⁣ It’s fewer, smarter ones that are connected and accessible.⁣ ⁣ ❶ Start by mapping one customer journey with your cross-functional teams at the same table (in person if possible).⁣ ⁣ ❷ Identify where handoffs happen, where data gets lost, and where communication breaks — both internally and with the customer.⁣ ⁣ ❸ Then rebuild your systems so the right people have the right context at the right moment — without logging into five platforms or asking the customer to explain again.⁣ ⁣ That’s how you create Emotional Highs™:⁣ Not surface-level satisfaction, but a meaningful emotional lift that makes people stay, return, promote, and forgive when mistakes happen.⁣ ⁣ Loyalty isn’t driven by your tech stack.⁣ It comes from how people FEEL when every interaction is easy, efficient, and clearly built around their needs.⁣ Yes — feel. As in emotions. The thing that’s always driven buying decisions, even if companies pretend otherwise.⁣ ⁣ This isn’t a tech upgrade.⁣ It’s experience transformation.⁣ And it’s how you compete and win in today’s market.⁣ ⁣ Are YOU #DoingCXRight®?⁣ Need help with ❶ ❷❸ above? Message me. ⁣ 👉 Share + comment if you found this helpful so others can benefit.⁣ ⁣ #CX #TheFormula #Nextiva #CustomerExperience #CustomerService⁣

One of the biggest mistakes in marketing is the expectation of immediate ROI. It’s tempting to seek instant results. But this mindset often misses a crucial aspect of the customer journey: the time it takes for potential customers to transition from awareness to purchase. In reality, the path from initial exposure to a final decision isn’t always swift—it can span weeks or even months. This extended timeline is a key part of consumer behavior that marketers must recognize and plan for in their strategies. This is where nurturing becomes essential. Effective nurturing goes beyond quick wins and involves building meaningful relationships through personalized email campaigns, targeted SMS messages, engaging content, and active audience interactions. However, nurturing doesn’t stop after the first purchase. Continuing to engage with customers post-purchase is crucial for fostering loyalty and trust. Although immediate ROI from nurturing may not be immediately visible, its long-term benefits are substantial. Proper nurturing enhances conversion rates and boosts customer lifetime value. To build a successful nurturing strategy, start by mapping out the customer journey. Develop targeted content that resonates with your audience, leverage marketing automation to streamline your efforts, and personalize your communications to create a more meaningful connection. Continually refine your approach based on feedback and performance data to ensure your nurturing efforts are as effective as possible. By embracing this long-term perspective, you'll turn initial investments into sustained growth and lasting success.

One of the biggest challenges in customer experience (CX) initiatives isn't just getting buy-in—it's making sure communication flows seamlessly across different teams to drive meaningful progress. It's not enough to have passionate people involved; it's about aligning everyone around a shared purpose and ensuring that action follows. I see it all the time—CX councils or teams that meet to discuss customer feedback, but the conversation doesn't always translate into real change. It's critical to go beyond just reviewing the numbers. We need to collaborate, co-create, and drive real impact for our customers. So how do we ensure communication within cross-functional teams leads to action? ▶️Structure your meetings to drive progress. If you have cross-functional buy-in, it's essential to manage those meetings effectively. Make sure that everyone understands their role, the goals, and what success looks like. It's not enough to simply review metrics—what are the actions you'll take based on those insights? ▶️Unify efforts across the organization. In many organizations, different teams—like those working on journey mapping and those focused on customer insights—work in silos. We need to bring those efforts together around your customer experience mission, ensuring that all teams are aligned with a shared definition of success. ▶️Be proactive and resourceful. Don't wait for things to fall through the cracks. Be a resource to your team members, follow up, and offer support where needed. This could mean helping a colleague facilitate a journey mapping session or providing customer feedback to help illustrate a challenge. Communication is key, but proactive support is what drives progress forward. When working cross-functionally, the responsibility doesn't end with the meeting. We need to be deliberate about setting expectations, following up on actions, and ensuring everyone understands how their efforts contribute to the larger customer experience mission. Great communication can turn fragmented efforts into unified progress. Let's make sure we're not just talking about customer experience, but working together to make it happen. How do you ensure effective communication across teams in your organization? Drop your process below! #CustomerExperience #CX #CrossFunctionalTeams #Collaboration #Leadership #Communication #CXStrategy #CustomerJourney

The world preaches loyalty, but how many brands actually live it? Last month, I got an invite to something called Summer Smash, 1st Phorm International's invite-only community event in St. Louis. Think three days of HQ tours, private pre-parties, high-energy workouts, rides, and live music from artists like Ludacris, Lil' Jon, Pitbull, and Steve Aoki. The whole thing sells out in under a minute each year. Pure community building at it's finest. I couldn't make it due to personal obligations, but here's what blew me away: they still sent me a surprise box packed with over 10 of their top products (proteins, apparel, energy drinks, protein sticks), plus a handwritten note that felt genuinely personal, not like a marketing ploy. We've gotten so caught up in digital tactics that we've forgotten about the power of high-touch moments that forge actual emotional connections. This kind of follow-through is almost unheard of in today's brand world. Most companies would've moved on to the next person on their list. But 1st Phorm gets something that a lot of brands miss: real loyalty isn't built through campaigns or offers, it's built through experiences that make people feel like they belong to something bigger. That's where lifetime value really takes off. Summer Smash is far beyond just an event; it's the kind of experience that flips the loyalty script entirely, where customers don't just buy, they simply belong. Here's what I think other brands can learn from this approach: ➟ Send unexpected value for no reason. A surprise product or handwritten note shows customers they matter beyond their purchase history. ➟ Build exclusive communities around shared values, not just products. Whether it's in-person events or virtual experiences, give your best customers something they can't get anywhere else. ➟ Create moments people actually talk about. A few hours with A-list talent or behind-the-scenes access beats another discount code every time. ➟ Lead with gratitude, not growth metrics. When thank-you moments drive your strategy instead of the other way around, authenticity follows naturally. The bottom line: loyalty is earned through emotion, experience, and belonging. If your brand isn't building that, you're just another transaction in someone's day. When did you last surprise your customers with something that wasn't even on your roadmap?

Early morning (my time...) long form musings. 💵 Revenue stalls when teams stay in their lanes. Collaboration is the only way to win. Too many companies treat Product Marketing like a content factory, looking to them to crank out decks, one-pagers, and flashy campaigns - without asking a very important question -> Will this actually help sales convert? We don't want to be talking about features, or just running campaigns randomly to create buzz. Or - leave our Sales team to battle buyer objections without support. We all win when these these groups (and others) collaborate early and often, making sure we align around *outcomes* buyers are interested in. That means creating messaging that isn't about us, it's about our prospects and talks to their pain, their needs, their goals. We can't afford to leave Sales guessing how to translate features into business outcomes. We don't want our partners in Product Management frustrated because their vision gets watered down. We gotta talk, people! If we collaborate, sales enablement becomes a growth engine, not an afterthought and conversion rates increase instead of pipelines stalling. Cross-functional engagement isn’t just “nice to have.” It’s how we help our companies turn messaging into revenue. That means: Building messaging that connects outcomes to buyer pain, not specs to features. Partnering with sales before a launch to arm them with tools, stories, and training that shorten the sales cycle instead of slowing it. Making enablement a culture, not an afterthought. If Product Marketing is doing its job, sellers don’t just get collateral. They get clarity, confidence, and conversations that convert. Alignment isn’t optional. It’s revenue. #productmarketing #outcomefocus #salesenablement

About 20 years ago, I started doing something simple yet incredibly powerful: I picked up the phone and asked my clients’ customers a few honest questions. No fancy research firms. No complicated surveys. Just real conversations. Fast forward to today—I’ve done over 1,000 of these interviews. And I can confidently say this: Talking to your customers is the single most important thing you can do to shape your marketing. But here’s the catch: you have to keep probing. If you ask, “Why did you choose this company?” most people will say things like: ~ They had great service. ~ They were professional. ~ Their pricing was fair. That’s surface-level. It’s not the real reason. So, I always ask, as a follow-up, something like, “Tell me a story about a time when they provided great service.” That’s when the gold comes out. 👉 “I was in total panic because my system went down before a big presentation, and they picked up the phone on the first ring. I didn’t feel like just another customer—I felt like they actually cared.” 👉 “We were struggling to figure this out, and they didn’t just fix the problem—they walked us through it step by step, so we felt in control again.” This is what they are not getting anywhere else in their life. When you listen for emotional words and themes, you uncover what really matters. It’s rarely about product, price, or features—it’s about trust, confidence, relief, and peace of mind. And when you use the exact words your customers use to describe their problems (instead of industry jargon), your messaging becomes clearer. Your website resonates more. Your ads perform better. So here’s my challenge to you: Go talk to your customers. But don’t stop at the first answer. Keep asking. Dig deeper. Make them tell you a story. "Tell me more about that" is your best tool; keep asking it over and over. You might be surprised at what you hear. And it just might change the way you do marketing forever.