Building a CX program from the ground up can be a challenge, especially in a field such as healthcare. Where do you start? What’s most important to customers? How do we develop a customer – or “member” – centric culture? Host Steve Walker welcomes Gratia Carver, vice president and chief experience officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, or “Blue KC”, for why measurement is such a crucial practice to building a customer-centric culture.

The customer experience profession is evolving to recognize the importance of going beyond the customer. If a company’s culture doesn’t include employee experiences then it will be difficult to mature a CX program. Host Steve Walker welcomes Karyn Furstman, vice president and Head of CX Strategy & Solutions at Designit, for a discussion on building a customer-focused culture through employee experience.

Note: this episode is an encore presentation of the Live with CXPA event, “10 Traits of Effective CX Leaders” which premiered on March 8th, 2022. You can also watch a video presentation of this event on CXPA’s Vimeo channel.  What makes an effective leader in customer experience? On this special episode of The CX Leader Podcast and Live with CXPA, host Steve Walker leads a discussion with panelists Lauri Jones (Walker), Sandra Mathis (Microsoft) and Johnathan Ruchman (Brookdale Senior Living) on ten traits of effective CX leaders. You can also download a free resource on this topic at walkerinfo.com/effectivecxleader. 

Just as a car requires regular maintenance, customer experience programs need regular evaluation, leading to small "tune ups" or complete overhauls so they deliver the best possible results for your company. Host Steve Walker welcomes Christine Beishline from Freeman to discuss how they “design for beautiful,” always keeping the end results in mind.

Just like any other business process, customer experience programs need occasional review and scrutiny to ensure it delivers the best possible experience. This is true even if your program seems to be running smoothly. Guest host Pat Gibbons welcomes Luis Angel-Lalanne from American Express to discuss the process in which they transformed how customer sentiment was gathered to help improve their CX.

Live events can also be great way to gather insights into your customers while providing an exceptional experience. More companies are designing events to provide almost over-the-top experiences to help engage with their customers. So how do you design a great event AND gather the insights you need to improve your customer experience? Host Steve Walker welcomes Johnathan Yaffe from AnyRoad to discuss how some companies have become an experiential brand.

CX professionals know that the frontline employees can be a great source of customer insights. And customers often supply feedback in ways they often never realize. Having your employees recognize and communicate that feedback can provide valuable insights, and in some cases, warn you of potentially major problems. Host Steve Walker welcomes Stephanie McFarland from McFarland PR and Public Affairs, to discuss the importance of empowering employees to deliver good experiences.

If your company is not providing a digital experience at some level then you’ve already missed the boat. If you consider the possibilities of personalizing a digital experience, then you have a potentially powerful tool that can differentiate your company from competitors. So, how do you personalize the digital experience? Host Steve Walker welcomes Michael Scharff, CEO at Evolv Technologies, for a discussion on personalizing digital experiences.

Businesses and organizations have had to endure drastic changes in the last two years, and the way business owners manage their office space is no exception. With more employees working from home, business leaders have had to rethink how they use their commercial space, and landlords and property managers are starting to think about their tenants’ experience while they work to adapt to the current environment. Host Steve Walker welcomes Nora Hughes and Lauren Mead from HqO to discuss the tenant experience.

This podcast has always maintained that customer experience is one of the best differentiators you can leverage in driving customer loyalty. And there’s yet another piece of research that is proving this assertion, with customers giving companies a clear warning about 2022: “we won’t tolerate bad experiences.” Host Steve Walker welcomes Bruce Temkin, head of the Qualtrics XM Institute, to discuss the results of their "2022 Global Consumer Trends" report.