Hey there,

We’ve heard it a thousand times: when you invest in your customer experience, you invest in your company’s success. But often, that’s where the advice ends.

Companies are investing more and more in CX programs, but many struggle to show tangible results for their efforts. How can you measure the difference your strategy is making to your customers’ satisfaction – and your company’s bottom line?

CX expert Jim Tincher joined us on the Inside Intercom podcast to explore how leaders can effectively measure the impact and value of their CX programs – for both their customers and their business. He talked about “Change Makers”: customer service leaders that understand how customer experience makes money for the company, and use that knowledge to communicate the value of their team’s work.

Tincher’s top tips

Talk to finance to understand how they’re measuring success and link your work to their metrics.
Business customers have emotions too; work to build an emotional connection with them.
Change Makers don't rely on surveys alone. Talk to your customers in the way that makes most sense in the context.
If you want to break down silos, start with middle management. Link customer experience to the metrics that matter to them.
Look to AI to fill gaps in your customer insights.

There are lots more gems of wisdom where those came from – dive in to learn more from Jim Tincher.

Off to add “Change Maker” to my LinkedIn profile,

What we’ve been doing

liam geraghty

Behavioral economics expert Melina Palmer on unlocking the science of consumer behavior

Behavioral economics uses insights from psychology to shine a light on the inner workings of our decision-making. For behavioral economist Melina Palmer, these insights are the key to understanding consumer behavior and connecting with your audience.

Major takeaways:

Framing things differently to your competitors can make you stand out and give you the edge you need in a saturated market.
Humans are a herding species – we seek safety in numbers. That’s why testimonials, star ratings, and numbers have such influence over our behavior.
It’s important to question habitual decisions within your business. You should constantly be tweaking and testing things to unlock new opportunities for growth.

Response Time: Vol. 5

This week, we caught up with another support leader for our Response Time series, where we chat with customer service leaders to find out what they think about support, book recommendations, and whether or not a burger is a sandwich (yes, really!)

Read on to find out which celebrity Mara Vicente, VP, Customer Solutions at Pipedrive, thinks could ace her job...

What's going on in customer service?

Will AI enhance or undermine the customer experience? An AI expert weighs in: Dr. Lance B. Eliot discusses AI's role in customer service from the perspective of ethics and law in Forbes.
Create winning customer experiences with generative AI: It's time to start thinking about how AI can help you to stay ahead of your competitors, write Nicolaj Siggelkow and Christian Terwiesch in Harvard Business Review.
Customer service is still crucial: It can take up to 12 positive experiences for a customer to get over one mistake a brand makes. In short, invest in customer service, says Forbes. (And we'd have to agree!)

Bots + Brains = Better Customer Service

THE CHATBOTS ARE COMING... and it's not a bad thing! We spoke to some of our customers about the concerns they had about implementing automation in their support strategy – and how they're feeling now that they have. Spoiler: bots and humans are 2023's most iconic duo.