Bruce Temkin’s Seven Golden Rules of Customer Experience

Bruce Temkin is the co-founder and Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association and the Managing Partner of the Temkin Group. Prior to founding the Temkin Group, Bruce was the Vice President & Principal Analyst at Forrester Research focusing on customer experience. So Bruce knows a little bit about customer experience. Here is his Seven Golden Rules of Customer Experience:

#7 – Only ask if you plan to act.  Treat customer feedback as a limited asset; don’t waste customers’ time by asking survey questions that you do not plan to, or have the ability to, act upon.

#6 – Mobile-ize your customer processes.  As mobile devices gain even more momentum, you need to design processes that take advantage of these distributed digital devices, not just build apps and mobile websites.

#5 Tap into the power of “why?” People want to affiliate with brands that have a sense of purpose, so make sure you communicate “why” to customers and employees.

#4 Make every ending count.  The way an experience ends has a disproportional impact on how customers remember the entire experience. So make sure to focus your attention on these key moments.

#3 Build your brand from the inside out. Strong brands aren’t just asserted in advertisements; they represent what employees believe to be true about the company.

#2 – Treat employees as assets, not costs. Engaged employees work harder, stay later, and make more recommendations. You can’t create or sustain great customer experience with disengaged employees.

#1 – Focus on customer journeys, not interactions.  Your company is not the center of your customers’ universe. Examine how your customers go about their lives and find ways to create value in their lives.