‘Could CX Frameworks be Killing Innovation?’, with Maria McCann
Following our second annual Global Gathering Conference, over the next month we’ll be sharing key outputs from the keynotes, WiCX Talks, and discussions that took place, ensuring our vision for a human-centred future spans much further than just our community walls…
CX leader Maria McCann presented to the Women in CX community — drilling down into the dated, clunky frameworks draining our industry of its human-centred potential.
Customer Experience is a $ 15 billion industry, predicted to grow to $50 billion by 2030.
But even with all this investment and activity — customer satisfaction is at its lowest since records began.
We know that the failure rate for CX transformation is stuck at 70%. Putting it into an even starker perspective, that’s the same failure rate we had 10 years ago.
Maria invited us to take an honest look at the rigid thinking and nonsensical processes blocking CX from true innovation. But in equal turn, she gave us an inspiring perspective on how we can rebuild our methods into something so much better. If we have the courage to honestly evaluate our mistakes, and transform them into new, innovative choices.
Maria McCann, Co-Founder of Neos Waves, delivers her thought-provoking WiCX Talk ‘Could CX Frameworks Be Killing Your Ability to Innovate?’, at the Women in CX Global Gathering 2023.
Rigid frameworks kill innovation, and annoy customers
Customers are tired of robotic processes that occasionally disrespect their human experience in profound, trust-breaking ways. A poignant example: a customer service team trained to ask “How’s the weather” on every call. Who weren’t trained to sidestep that question and ask something more humane and relevant, even when dealing with a caller whose husband had just died.
This is just one individual example of an overly rigid framework killing potential innovation. We need greater flexibility and compassion to meet customers where they are, in the variety and unpredictability of the human experience.
“We need greater flexibility and compassion to meet customers where they are, in the variety and unpredictability of the human experience.”
The brands that are coming up are responding to smaller communities
Values are shifting, along with customer behaviour. The brands that are winning hearts with their customer experience are offering something curated, tailored, and personalised. They’re building and leveraging smaller communities — giving their audience the chance to feel heard.
Women in CX is a perfect example of a small brand doing this. Our community is empowered to feed back into the brand, generating a sense of connection and collaboration (which stems from our values, of course).
“The brands that are winning hearts with their customer experience are offering something curated, tailored, and personalised.”
CX is entering an era of safety
CX is maturing as an industry. It’s something to get excited about and take advantage of. Not that long ago, CX was a bootstrapped industry. But now we’re on the production line.
Stakeholders are beginning to see the value of customer experience. We have an opportunity to innovate and experiment so we can really start to deliver exciting, widespread human-centric transformation.
Maria then went on to provide us with a heartening, inspiring way of looking at everything CX has been so far — in our weaknesses, as well as our strengths.
It’s time to embrace our broken pieces
Kintsugi is a Japanese discipline of mending broken pots, using painted gold to accentuate and highlight the places where the pieces were broken.
Maria counselled us to see CX in the same way. We can build something new from our broken pieces – if we’re honest about what they are and give them an opportunity to become something new.
A restriction of innovation is not failing easily or quickly enough
Building something new from broken pieces can be a beautiful form of innovation.
We need to evaluate what our broken pieces are and find new ways to build with them. We can retain our principles but apply them in new ways. We can build iteratively.
Perhaps most importantly — we can be realistic, and cleanly dispose of things that just aren’t working to make way for the new.
Takeaway questions to ask moving forward….
· What could you achieve for your customers with a kintsugi approach?
· What would be your broken pieces?
· What would be your gold?
· What are your ‘what’s the weather like?’ moments your customers are experiencing?
Are you ready to make real change happen for your customers, employees, and business, join the waitlist today. To learn more about membership and sign up now, just click here.
About Maria
An early adopter in online customer experience, Maria has spent the last 20 years working with digital brands building their customer service experience strategies and operations from scratch. Maria co-founded Neos Wave, a global agency providing market-leading customer service solutions for digital brands without the price tag.
Maria is also a partner at the Fellowship of Responsible Business which pursues and curates modern business wisdom, helping organisations move from good intentions to meaningful action.
Maria is regularly asked to share her experiences on building CX for hyper-growth organisations, running a global remote business, and being a gamer in her 40s.
