CX - You're doing it all wrong!

After many years working with tech groups, companies on the Great Places to Work List and brands that fancy themselves as experts in customer experience - I've had an epiphany... many of them are doing CX all wrong!

This week, we spent our sixth year working behind the scenes on Telstra Vantage?- Australia's largest enterprise technology show and it's heartening to see the people and companies who are so passionate about successfully integrating technology with the more human-centric needs.

But let's face it, some brands have mastered their shift to digitisation better than others. And I AM going to name some names here - but can I please preface it with the fact that I'm both passionate about these brands and a consumer for each (to the tune of thousands of dollars annually) so for what it's worth - here goes.

As a fan of Apple (our business has been exclusively Apple since 2005) I'm disappointed that there's no public-facing access to a big brand like that. Oh yes, I can (and do) take out Joint Venture membership (essentially a tech help line for SMBs) but that now only runs Mon-Fri in Australia - really? Our business can be working any day of the week and weekends are often when critical tech support is most needed. It's a paid service (currently c.$600pa) and I can't fault the support team member's knowledge, when you do book an appointment and get that call back, but it's always an offshore call - so why operate in AU 'business hours' in the first place? Surely a brand like Apple could do better for it's consumers? Apple's JV Membership is also supposed to short cut the line in-person at an Apple store for Genius Bar bookings, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I'm often waiting 10-20mins (still better than the hour or so I notice 'regular' customers around me sometimes having to put up with). Long gone are the days when faulty Apple devices were instantly replaced and you were sent happily on your way - no doubt sacrificed on the alter to the Gods of Profit. And don't get me started on the cost versus features comparison today for Apple products. We used to pay extra for the innovation that is no longer apparent... so why the continued focus on return to shareholders at the expense of consumers and fans?

Australian airlines are a bugbear for many of us who travel regularly - the customer experience is so varied, but mostly hit and miss. For our little business (with two Directors, both Virgin Australia Velocity Platinum flyers) I honestly have a love-hate relationship with my airline of choice. Like most tech-savvy peeps, I want to be able to feedback to the company in the quickest, easiest way - which is social, right? But each time I message them with some relevant feedback - I'm directed (by a rather lacklustre scripted few lines) to a seperate email address. Previous experience has shown that email will go unanswered or, you'll receive yet another average non-committal scripted response from - with no follow up action whatsoever. And not only that - they remind me each time that they're not in customer experience. Big brands, if you hear nothing else, please hear this: Every public-facing aspect of your brand IS customer experience. If it isn't - you're doing it wrong.

Which brings me to CX surveys... I'm sorry big business, I know your digital wizards have told you how important it is to collect, quantify and analyse your data. But if you expect me to take longer telling you how good/bad/indifferent your service is - than YOU actually spent serving me and resolving my issue... you are dreaming. All too often that CX experience survey seems all about you and very little to do with me - which it is, but can't you at least pretend to care?

We're developing a new keynote on Digitisation - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly and are particularly interested in your CX experiences... what do you hate most? Conversely, who's getting it right? Where do you see CX going in the age of machine learning, AI, chatbots and even less human contact? Tell us...