Customer Experience Benchmarking

The Paradox of Growth: The Bigger You Get, the Less You Know I came across something that stuck with me: When companies scale, they gain users — but lose understanding. Not because they stop caring, but because their customer feedback starts living everywhere — support tickets, sales calls, forums, surveys, social media, and app store reviews. That thought really made me pause. I’ve seen this firsthand. When a company is small, every piece of feedback feels personal — every bug report or review has a face behind it. But as you grow, those voices scatter across platforms and departments. Support sees the frustration, sales hears the hesitation, leadership sees the numbers — and somehow, everyone’s looking at the same customers, but no one’s hearing them anymore. That, in my opinion, is the quiet cost of growth. This is the problem Enterpret is solving — by helping teams stay in tune with their customers even as they scale. Here’s how it works: → It collects real-time customer feedback from 55+ channels — support tickets, sales calls, social media (X, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook), app store reviews, community forums, surveys, Slack, and more. → It analyzes all that feedback using AI and tells you exactly what to fix or build next. → It maps everything through a customer knowledge graph that connects feedback, complaints, and requests by channel, user, and payment data. → It even provides a chat interface where you can directly ask questions, and AI agents that flag bugs or issues automatically. That’s why teams like Notion, Perplexity, Canva, Chipotle, and The Farmer’s Dog use it — to make sure customer voices never get lost in the noise. In my view, the real lesson here isn’t about using more tools — it’s about staying close to the people you build for. Here’s how I’d approach it: ✅ Centralize every piece of feedback — even if it’s messy. ✅ Look for patterns instead of isolated complaints. ✅ Use AI systems like Enterpret to uncover the “why” behind what customers say. Because in the end, growth shouldn’t make you deaf. It should make you listen better — just faster. How does your team make sure you’re hearing what customers really mean, not just what they say? #CustomerFeedback #AIProducts #ProductStrategy #VoiceOfCustomer #Enterpret #Leadership

The Hardest Truth in Go-To-Market? 💥🔥 Let’s stop pretending the friction between Sales and Customer Success is “healthy tension.” It’s not. It’s expensive. It’s inefficient. And it’s costing us growth. Here’s the truth 👇 Customers aren’t creating the friction. We are. We build silos, not systems. We measure functions, not outcomes. We celebrate individual wins while the customer experience breaks in between them. Sales blames CS for poor adoption and low impact. CS blames Sales for bad-fit deals. Product blames everyone for unclear feedback. And the customer? They just want one thing: a seamless experience that gets them value... fast. 💡 The real enemy isn’t another department. It's misalignment. We keep optimizing inside our swim lanes while the customer is drowning in the gaps between them. Here’s what needs to change 👇 1️⃣ Shared ownership of the customer journey. Sales doesn’t “hand off” to CS. CS doesn’t “inherit” the customer. We co-own the outcome from first conversation to lasting impact. 2️⃣ Shared metrics. No more “my quota” vs. “my renewal target.” One scoreboard: growth, retention, expansion, and time to value. (and yes, I know we need individual clarity and accountability) 3️⃣ Shared accountability. When things go right, celebrate together. When things go wrong, fix them together. At DISQO, we’re learning that cross-functional dependency isn’t a liability; it’s a competitive advantage if you embrace it with clarity, trust, and urgency. Because when Sales and CS stop pointing fingers and start pulling in the same direction, everything changes: 🧭 The customer moves faster. 📈 Revenue grows faster. 💪 Teams get stronger. So here’s my challenge as we wrap the week 👇 🔥 Where are you defending a function instead of driving an outcome? 🔥 What wall can you tear down between Sales, CS, or Product before Monday? 🔥 How can you turn dependency into velocity? Because the future of growth isn’t Sales-led or CS-led. It’s alignment-led. #Leadership #CustomerSuccess #Sales #Alignment #Revenue #CreateTheFuture #DISQO

Despite heavy investments in digital tools, many organizations still struggle to deliver seamless customer journeys. Too often, brands assume that having a chatbot, a responsive website, or a few digital touchpoints means they’ve mastered omnichannel. But customers think otherwise, and they’re not shy about voicing their frustrations. But each one of the complaints highlights a missed opportunity to connect, resolve, and build trust. The good news, however, is that we’ve entered the era of Agentic AI, where intelligent systems go beyond just reacting. They think, plan, and act on their own. Unlike traditional AI, they’re aware of the context, goal-oriented, and capable of handling real-time interactions across different channels. These systems learn from behavior, anticipate needs, and continuously improve experiences, bringing us closer than ever to truly seamless, human-like customer journeys. But technology alone isn’t the answer. Transformation occurs when you combine Agentic AI, customer intent, and data within a unified, intelligent framework. So, how can organizations close the omnichannel gap and elevate customer experience? 1. Start by listening. Most companies overestimate how “connected” their channels are. Use real customer feedback and journey mapping to uncover friction points and blind spots. 2. Use Agentic AI to unify, not just automate. The new generation of AI can understand context, remember customer history, and act across channels, delivering personalized, human-like support without starting from scratch every time. 3. Think experience, not channels. Omnichannel isn’t about being everywhere; it’s about being seamless everywhere. Agentic AI allows you to break silos between sales, service, and support in real-time. 4. Invest in ecosystem intelligence. From product availability to delivery to CX, every part of your system must speak the same language. That’s when AI goes from reactive to proactive. At X-Shift we help organizations across sectors harness Agentic AI and next-gen digital tools to: ■ Deliver real-time, context-aware support that feels human because it’s built to understand. ■ Connect online and offline journeys so your customer never feels like they’re starting over. ■ Design predictive experiences, using AI to solve problems before they’re voiced. ■ Create adaptive strategies, powered by data and feedback loops, to keep evolving with the customer. ■ Build scalable digital frameworks that integrate legacy systems with new-age tech. With Saudi Arabia emerging as a regional leader in AI readiness and digital infrastructure, there’s never been a better time to go beyond surface-level automation and build intelligent, frictionless customer experiences that actually work. #AI #AgenticAI #Omnichannels #CX #Customer

I was chatting to a CX director last week who proudly said their VoC programme had high response rates and monthly reports shared with leadership. But when I asked "What do you know about the customers who never responded?" He couldn't say a word. Most VoC programmes I see require the customer to actively choose to respond. The problem is that for every customer who complains, 26 others stay silent and just leave.. → They skip a renewal and say nothing.  → They abandon the checkout and say nothing.  → They browse your cancellation page three times in a week and say nothing. But all of these behaviours are signals. Silent feedback that your VoC programme was never built to capture. So while companies keep optimising based on the minority willing to talk, they are missing a huge chunk of what is actually happening. AI changes this entirely, by making customer signals readable at scale: ■ Instead of asking why customers left → predict who is about to ■ Instead of waiting for NPS to drop → catch the pattern before it compounds ■ Instead of channel-by-channel reporting → one intelligence layer connecting every signal The real VoC data isn't in your survey responses. It's in everything your customers did before they stopped showing up. ▶︎ Chattermill mapped out the six shifts changing what VoC actually means in the AI era. If your programme is still waiting for customers to raise their hand, start here: https://bit.ly/4rrcQqT The customers who never complained are the most expensive ones you'll ever lose. And right now, your VoC programme has no idea who they are. The real question is what are our customers telling us through everything they do? #ad #VoC #cx #customerexperience 

Almost 10 years ago, I stepped away from my Head of Marketing role. Not because I didn’t love marketing, I did. A lot in fact. But because I wanted to solve the problem that I, and lots of my marketing peers were being tripped up by ↓ The disconnect between campaign and core. Companies often prioritise the performance customers see, but overlook the experience they feel. Brands craft powerful marketing messages promising simplicity, customer-centricity, or innovation, only for customers to experience the exact opposite once they interact with the business. 👎 A “customer-first” company with an impossible-to-reach support team. 👎 A “seamless” experience riddled with friction. 👎 A personalised campaign that leads to a generic, frustrating journey. And it's why I became a service designer; to bridge the gap between the customer experience and how teams show up, interact and deliver it every day. It’s not enough to talk about customer-centricity, because your customers are gonna see right through that. It has to be seen, actioned and felt in how teams work, make decisions, and design experiences - with your customers need at the core. Because this is the production behind your performance. At The Marketing Meetup last night, I shared my journey of building customer-centric cultures, and the three key steps that make it happen (OK, caveat here, this is a massively over-simplified version): ✅ Understand Customer insight isn’t just a marketing function. Every team should be plugged into real customer conversations. Dive into the data then push it further; spend time in their shoes, immerse yourselves in their worlds and bring those experiences into your daily team interactions. ✅ Embed Align your values and ways of working with your brand promises; map the experience gap by comparing brand messaging with real customer experiences. Train teams to think customer-first, ensuring CX is part of daily decision-making, and recognise and reward employees who bridge the gap, turning customer-centricity into action. ✅ Operate Customer-centricity must be a business-wide way of working, we're talking about moving from slogans to systems; Design cross-functional engagement strategies that span the 5Es: entice, enter, engage, exit and extend and develop customer journey ownership models - set up squads that are clear on who is responsible for each stage, and how teams work together to improve the end-to-end experience. Great brands don’t just tell great stories. They live them, from campaign to core. What companies do you think are doing this well? I would love to crowd-source a list of these examples, let me know in the comments below 👇 #CustomerCentricity #BrandExperience #ServiceDesign 

Over the years, I've discovered the truth: Game-changing products won't succeed unless they have a unified vision across sales, marketing, and product teams. When these key functions pull in different directions, it's a death knell for go-to-market execution. Without alignment on positioning and buyer messaging, we fail to communicate value and create disjointed experiences. So, how do I foster collaboration across these functions? 1) Set shared goals and incentivize unity towards that North Star metric, be it revenue, activations, or retention. 2) Encourage team members to work closely together, building empathy rather than skepticism of other groups' intentions and contributions. 3) Regularly conduct cross-functional roadmapping sessions to cascade priorities across departments and highlight dependencies. 4) Create an environment where teams can constructively debate assumptions and strategies without politics or blame. 5) Provide clarity for sales on target personas and value propositions to equip them for deal conversations. 6) Involve all functions early in establishing positioning and messaging frameworks. Co-create when possible. By rallying together around customers’ needs, we block and tackle as one team towards product-market fit. The magic truly happens when teams unite towards a shared mission to delight users!

What does your customer experience when she walks into your branch?   Many banking leaders will say: She is greeted by a knowledgeable advisor in a modern branch. She’s offered a coffee. She receives transparent advice, with the advisor sharing the screen to build trust. She leaves feeling her needs were understood.   And that is often true - up to a point.   But hours later, she gets a push notification promoting a loan she explicitly declined. Two days later, she receives a cold call about another irrelevant product.   What’s happening here? Is she interacting with two different banks? From her perspective - and too often from the backend data - she is.   The reality is, the information she shared in the branch isn’t always integrated with the data the mobile app and contact center rely on. The process often depends on the manual input from branch advisor.   Many of us remember when “omnichannel” was the aspiration: synchronizing data across all touchpoints. In practice, this often proved complex and fragmented.   Today, as most customers primarily engage through their mobile app, we don’t simply need omnichannel - we need integrated channels, with mobile as the single source of truth.   We believe the best customer experience happens when advisor and customer see the same thing - literally. When what the advisor has on their tablet is the same app the customer uses at home - not just for consistency, but for data integrity and trust. In addition, it empowers customers to explore new digital capabilities with confidence, whether on their own or with an advisor's support.   At Raiffeisen banka a.d. Beograd, we recently took a big step in this direction by introducing our mobile banking app on advisors’ tablets in branches.   This has already made a difference: bringing data together, making the advisory process more transparent, and improving satisfaction. Even in the pilot phase, we saw faster sales processes and double-digit growth.   We are building the digital bank with a human touch. Integrated channels help us seamlessly connect digital and human interactions, creating consistent, meaningful experiences.   Thank you to the great team who made this happen. Together, we’re setting a new standard for what banking experience can be! Jelena Aksic, Iryna Arzner, Mathias Fanschek, Piotr Niedziela, Karoly Treso

Omnichannel commerce isn’t a destination, instead it’s a moving goalpost! As customer expectations evolve, so must our ability to integrate data, people, platforms & purpose. A tech project once is now a strategic operating model. Last week, I spoke on a panel titled “Beyond the Cart: Unlocking Holistic Growth with Omnichannel Commerce.” A timely topic, as retail shifts from clicks & carts to connected, customer-first journeys. What does omnichannel mean today? It’s a unified commerce approach- stores, websites, apps, marketplaces & social platforms working in harmony to deliver seamless, personalized experiences. From browsing to buying, returning to re-engaging, the brand voice stays one, the customer memory consistent. Here are 4 shifts from our talk: 1. Journey Orchestration Starts with Unified Data Think- Unified Customer View; Personalization, In-store Tech(Clienteling, endless aisle, mobile POS), Consistent Experiences & Real-time inventory visibility. A few examples: * Zara uses RFID and real-time inventory to sync store + online. * Vedant Fashions' Wedding Closet lets store staff access saved looks; personalization starts before trial. Shift: Data isn’t just for analysing the past, it designs the next moment. 2. Cross-Functional Execution is the Real Moat Think shared customer- & journey-centric KPIs; Agile Cross-Functional Squads for campaigns, drops; Supply Chain as a Growth Lever(Fast replenishment, last-mile delivery, BOPIS/ROPO) & Customer Service with Context. *Amazon unifies service, logistics & marketing around Prime. *Decathlon turns stores into local fulfillment hubs. *Vedant Fashions launched white kurtas on Blinkit via cross-team collab. Lesson: Connected commerce brands are organizationally collaborative. 3. Omni-channel: Driving Loyalty & Lifetime Value Think experience-led commerce, feedback loops & loyalty across touchpoints to build long-term relationships. *Zappos’ service culture became its brand, “Delivering Happiness”. *Sephora ties loyalty to stores, app & events. *Stitch Fix blends AI + stylists for personalized trunks. Learning: Great brands build feedback loops, not funnels. 4. Future-Proofing = Modular, Local, Adaptive Tech Think Composable Commerce for scalability + personalization; AI Demand Forecasting, Visual Search, Chat Assistants; Last-Mile Innovations; AR/VR, try-ons. *JD.com uses drones in rural China. *Bata’s AR Sneaker Studio enables at-home try-ons. *Voice, vernacular & low-bandwidth tech unlocks Tier 2/3 India access. In emerging markets, omnichannel must be context-aware, tech-light & people-smart. As I shared on the panel: "The moment you think you’ve nailed omnichannel, your customers' expectations have already moved." That’s why it’s not a finish line, it’s a moving goalpost. Grateful to Bijoya A Ghosh, ADGULLY & co-panelists Lawrence Suchitha, Swarnendu Mandal for a sharp conversation at CMO Charcha. #Omnichannel #DigitalCommerce #RetailInnovation #Leadership #FutureOfRetail

CX Success Demands a Unified Front: People, Process, Tech Many companies create a "CX department," thinking the job is done. This is a common pitfall. Customer Experience (CX) is not a siloed effort; it is the entire organization's responsibility. It touches every single interaction. I learned this years ago when a siloed approach led to inconsistent customer messages. It hurt the brand. True CX excellence begins with our people. It is a mindset, a cultural shift. We must break down internal barriers. Our teams need to work across functions, not just within them. Incentives must align with customer satisfaction. This means moving past departmental targets. We need to measure how well we serve the customer at every touchpoint. This creates a collective drive. Then there is the crucial link between employee experience (EX) and CX. Happy employees create happy customers. A frustrated internal team cannot deliver exceptional service. It is a simple truth. We invest in our employees. We give them the tools and support they need. Their positive experience directly fuels a better customer journey. The lines blur here because one cannot thrive without the other. Customers today expect a seamless journey. They do not care which department owns the website, the app, or the call center. They just want a consistent, easy experience across all channels. This "omnichannel" approach is no longer optional. It is essential for survival. Our job is to coordinate these experiences. They must feel integrated, not disjointed. Finally, process and technology are our enablers. We must strip out complexity. We must remove friction points. Tools like CRM systems, AI analytics, and unified platforms track interactions. They help us understand the full customer story. They allow us to deliver that seamless experience. CX cannot be an isolated effort. It requires everyone, everything, working together. What is the biggest hurdle your organization faces in achieving a truly integrated CX? Let Digital Transformation Strategist discuss it with you.

It’s been almost a year since we started our experience management journey at Lloyds Banking Group; it’s becoming our design system for CX. We’re about to scale it, so I thought I would reflect on what we’ve learnt over these last 12 months. 1. Your experience hierarchy and journey framework are the backbone of your system. It is the shell that structures experiences at different levels across customer types, products, and channels. You won’t see results until everyone can embrace it. 2. Your hierarchy and framework must work on paper, on a digital whiteboard, and in sophisticated software. There cannot be barriers to entry. 3. This system turns journeys into data products that require structured inputs (like OKRs, analytics, quant and qual research), and structured outputs (like opportunities, propositional bets, and solutions). 4. This, in turn, invites your whole company to align on how you structure and classify metrics, research, opportunities, and solutions cohesively. This is a hard task at enterprise level. 5. This system isn’t a design thing or a CX thing; it’s a real-time outside-in view of how your business is serving customers. It only sticks if product, design, engineering, marketing, operations, etc., all embrace it. This takes a hell of a lot of storytelling and pitching. 6. You can see and feel results such as reduction of siloes and duplication, more efficient delegation of backlog items, and faster design-to-delivery cycles after (approx) 10 end-to-end journeys go live. The language and way of working becomes a domino effect across the organisation, at all levels. 7. This opens the door to conversations about journey-centric operating models— what would that look like, and what would it take? 8. Like a design system, it needs a governance model (and a core team) to create, maintain, and remove components.