How do you reward customer experience champions?

It's usually a good idea to recruit CX Champions through the middle management, for two reasons: 1. It's more efficient As a CX program manager, you can't possibly know every member of team in your organization. Middle management can help, and this will save you considerable amounts of time. 2. It allows you to get buy-in for your program It's likely that while middle managers (e.g., at the country / region / business unit level) are key stakeholders from your program, they sometimes feel CX programs are forced on them. Getting their thoughts on who should be the POCs for their teams is one very effective way of empowering them and winning their approval.

You can spot them easily as long you pay attention. The persons with the biggest heart for the customers are often your best champions. Champions are either super visible because their work stands out or very quiet since they work hard to make a difference. Though they are always remarkable and noticed: - Customers might point them out to you. - They are considered a goto person in the department for all things CX - They are the ones interacting most with customers - They always bring in new improvements and ideas.

Depends entirely on what you mean by a "CX Champion". I have been around the houses to find a name that describes this role in our company but veered away from it as I take it to mean a "sponsor" more or less, certainly not a "doer". Perhaps the CX Champ should lead with best practice, but I think it more important that they find ways to communicate the fundamentals of the intended brand experience to colleagues so that can permeate the organisation. This is a meaningless title for the customer, as they shouldn't receive different experiences depending on whom they are served by.

The folks who are continuously recognized on the front lines are key to improving your products/services/brand. Bring them in when you can depending on which part of the process they impact. For example, I created a team of Frontline/Sups to review monthly tool releases and upcoming strategic initiatives. They gave direct feedback for HQ to take back to their teams. The program empowered them to provide feedback for the best EX/CX possible, and become advocates for those changes. This program is still very successful. Overall, your products/services' experience (and profits) will vastly improve by having these key influencers as part of the process as they continue to provide epic levels of service and up-to-date customer interaction data.

To identify our champions first off, pay attention to our superusers—those who are extensively using your product and have integrated it deeply into their workflows. You can often find them by analyzing product usage data and customer interactions. Additionally, monitor your customer feedback channels closely. Customers who are actively providing feedback, whether it’s positive or critical, are often highly engaged and have a vested interest in our product. Another place to look is our online community forums and social media channels. Customers who are participating in discussions, sharing tips, and helping other users are showcasing champion behaviour.

Here are some examples of how to appreciate customer experience champions publicly: 1) Newsletter Spotlight: Dedicate a section in your company newsletter to showcase CX champions' achievements. 2) Team Meetings Recognition: During team meetings, take a moment to publicly recognize your champions. 3) Award Ceremonies: Organize an annual or quarterly award ceremony to honor outstanding CX. p 4) Customer Testimonial Sharing: Encourage satisfied customers to share their positive experiences with your CX champions. 5) Social Media Shout-outs: Regularly post about CX champions on your company's social media platforms. 6) Featured Interviews: Conduct short video interviews with your champions.

Giving CX Champions visibility with senior management can go a long way. In an environment where making your work visible to those at the top of the organization is hard, CX program leads, who usually have access to senior management, often have that possibility -- they can and should use it as a currency!

As I mentioned above, if you have a program where these Champions contribute directly to tool/product strategy, it makes them feel even more invested in the brand's success. In the program I created, we incorporated highlights of specific agent accomplishments and EOY "surprise and delights," employee tool badges, and swag. For the quieter champions, they can be just as impactful and need to be considered as well. Do they WANT to be acknowledged publicly? Would a 1:1 with those individuals be more impactful than a group impact? This can even be beneficial to their future career goals. Overall, sharing their accomplishments in forums or with the right group of higher-ups are both great ways to encourage and appreciate these champions.

Recognising your champions publicly is a win-win; it elevates their profile while showcasing real-world success with your product. By featuring them in case studies, highlighting their achievements on social media, and giving them a spotlight during our webinars, you not only express your gratitude but also significantly raise their own profile, establishing them as thought leaders and experts in their domain

Rewarding and recognizing best customer experience talents creates a double effect of both appreciation to the best CX champion and also showing everyone what great experience means and how can we achieve it

Rewarding CX champions is essential for motivating and recognizing their exceptional efforts. Examples: 1) Monetary incentives. 2) Recognition Events: Organize special gatherings, like dinners or luncheons. 3) Certificates and trophies. 4) Professional development opportunities. 5) Extra time off. 6) Promotion and advancement: Recognize champions' efforts through promotions, raises, or opportunities for career advancement. 7) VIP parking or workspace. 8) Peer recognition rewards. 9) Exclusive events: Invite CX champions to exclusive company events, conferences, or workshops as a special reward. 10) Personalized gifts/swag. 11) Health and wellness benefits. 12) Charitable contributions (to their org of choice).

While rewards can be very effective at showing CX Champions recognition for the hard work they've achieved, they should be handled carefully: - Give them a reward towards the end of their most active period but don't advertise beforehand that there will be a reward, or you might attract the wrong kind of people - For the same reason, it's best to keep rewards small and non-monetary - Also, please keep in mind that in some markets, employees can end up paying taxes on rewards, so be sure to check beforehand that you don't actually punish your CX Champions with your reward

Reward is the best way to keep things going and maintain the momentum. Great experience should always be rewarded for 2 reasons, one … is for everyone to know what a great experience looks like …and two… is to create a personal motive beyond providing good experience which is individual recognition

The CX Champion Team’s objective is to “create a groundswell across the organization to support the mission of customer centricity.” CX Champions must facilitate, influence, and motivate. At times they roll up their sleeves on specific initiatives. Apply their cross-functional or departmental expertise and relationships to get things done.

Often CX Champions are the ones that want to make a difference and make life better for customers. Empowering and enabling them is often a gift that aligns very much with their personal ambitions. Though ensure you are not just giving them more work to do. Increase their responsibility, but manage the organisation around them so they can excel and deliver great impact without having to spend a lot of extra time navigating the organisation.

Through the program I mentioned in earlier comments on this article, recognition through 1:1 chats can be powerful. These give the individual a chance to chat through their thoughts, ideas, and feedback without the pressure of the entire group while also allowing you to see their ambition and potentially provide career guidance. You can bring these individuals back for future projects, job openings, or networking opportunities. Overall, words and small gifts can motivate them, but helping them build their confidence for even greater gains for them (and the company) is an even greater reward.

Brilliant people. That's what we all want in our organisation. But they wont do brilliant things unless they are inspired to do so. That's where leadership and strong values can play their part. For instance, we founded the Customer Experience World Games, which is a volunteer movement (of now over 800 players) who positively compete to solve CX challenges for charities around the world. This year we have 4 games planned and aim to help 12 charities. Whilst helping others it sends a message internally that CX is a force for good and can improve society if we give unconditionally. This ethos permeates within our business, and allows colleagues to make better choice that they believe in. We hopefully inspire them to be their best self.

I believe that customer obsession is a culture rather than a skill. Building set of values and behaviors is an essential thing to create a customer centric mindset hence customer obsession culture

To encourage CX pros to grow, innovate, and experiment, consider these ideas: 1) Learning opportunities. 2) Cross-functional collaboration: Facilitate interactions with other departments for diverse perspectives. 3) Hackathons or ideathons: Have time-bound events for brainstorming and collaboration to address customer needs. 4) Funding for pilot CX projects. 5) Mentorship programs. 6) Feedback loop: Actively seek feedback from customers and team members. 7) Growth metrics: Set growth-oriented KPIs that challenge CX pros to achieve results. 9) Experimentation time: Dedicate work time to experiment with new tools or approaches without the pressure of immediate results. 10) Create a failure-friendly culture. 11) Recognition for innovation.

The only consistent thing about life is change , and for that reason a leader should always equip his team with new ways of doing things, wether through exploring new challenges and ideas, or through looking for bigger goals to achieve

CX champions need a conducive environment to thrive.Acknowlege their contribution in the organisation's success, appreciate them when they go out of their way to delight customers, the leadership should endeavour to drive company-wide customer-centric culture to make the work of the CX champions easier.

One major time saver is to build loyalty among your CX Champions: keeping the same people from one year to the next limits how much time you spend on training them. And if they're really good, then here's the Holy Grail: get your most experienced Champions to train the new ones. If you're the program manager, those people will do an even better job than you will at training their peers because they know the day-to-day very well. Also, promoting a CX Champion from Newbie to Trainer is another very effective way of rewarding them.

Involve them in your product management cycles to bring in their unique customer perspective. It serves both ways where it motivates them and gives them the sense of ownership and pride, while at the same time helps you get the most crucial insights early and plan your products to be more customer centric.