How Successful Retailers Win in Endless Disruption

Have you ever come across the Abilene Paradox? It's when everyone agrees to do something that no one really wants to do. 

 

Jerry B. Harvey coined "The Abilene Paradox" based on a family incident. They ended up driving 50 miles each way across the scorching Texas desert to Abilene for dinner, even though none of them wanted to go. They all thought everyone else wanted to go, so they reluctantly agreed. Politeness led them to a hot, dusty adventure that none of them enjoyed.

 

This reminded me of a recent experience. I had plans with friends, but as the weekend neared, I wasn't up for it. I decided to bow out and texted the group. Surprisingly, many others in the group thanked me for speaking up because they didn't want to go either. It made me wonder who initiated the plan in the first place.

 

In work settings, I recall something similar. I remember being in meetings where the boss suggested something not so great. Nobody spoke up because, well, the boss is the boss. Challenging the boss could make someone look foolish, so everyone went along. This conformity can lead organizations down a problematic path.

 

So, what can you do to avoid the Road to Abilene? 

 

This episode explores how to avoid such situations in your organization. The good news is there are effective ways to manage it, with strong leadership and a robust communication process being crucial. 

In this episode, you will also learn:

 

• The various reasons we find ourselves in such situations that often involve avoiding conflict, fearing consequences, or having poor communication systems within the team.

• How to encourage open communication and foster an environment where team members feel safe expressing their opinions without fear of backlash. 

• What the benefits are of constructive dissent, where leadership encourages team members to voice differing opinions and ideas, leading to better decisions and avoiding the pitfalls of silent conformity.

• Which essential leadership skills matter most here, and why there is value in listening to diverse perspectives

• The specific strategies organizations can use to avoid falling into the Abilene Paradox trap, ensuring that decisions and plans are based on genuine agreement and understanding.

 

A hidden impact exists regarding your experience management return on investment (ROI). It is often overlooked because it lurks between a specific moment in a customer process and the behavior resulting from it. However, uncovering and understanding this hidden impact is critical for comprehending its implications on the bottom line.

 

Emily Davidson wanted to know how to determine the value of her Customer Experience initiatives, a challenge many in the field face. So, she asked us—and we were glad to tell her. What Emily needs is the insight provided by our Emotional Signature research. 

 

The Emotional Signature was developed years ago in collaboration with the London Business School. It resulted from millions of questions posed to thousands of business professionals across hundreds of countries, leading to the identification of the Emotional Signature®.

 

The Emotional Signature gauges how experiences make individuals feel and how those emotions correlate with the value assigned to the experience. For instance, an experience infused with friction and frustration might yield an Emotional Signature that disappoints customers, resulting in undesirable behavioral outcomes. Conversely, positive emotional connections can enhance outcomes.

 

Emotions drive customer behavior, influencing actions beyond what survey responses might indicate. A case in point is how Disney Theme Parks discerned that guests, when surveyed, requested salads, but their behavior demonstrated a preference for junk food. This discrepancy showcases the nuanced nature of customer desires and the importance of understanding the specific feelings driving behavior.

 

In this episode, we explain to Emily and our other listeners how the Emotional Signature Research provides a data-driven approach to understanding the intricate relationship between emotions, customer behavior, and organizational values. While optional for those already convinced of the emotional impact on customer behavior, it is a powerful tool for skeptics requiring tangible evidence before investing resources in experience improvements.

 

In this episode, you will discover the following:

• The key to measuring emotional impacts on ROI is how organizations often don’t even know when you ask them and how you can figure it out for your organization. 

• The twenty emotions, ranging from joy to frustration, that drive or destroy value for organizations. 

• Why granularity about customer emotions is crucial, and why the ubiquitous oversimplification of emotions as positive or negative won’t work. 

• A  basic explanation of Structural Equation Modeling, a widely accessible statistical technique, and who to assign it to on your team (hint: it’s the one who is best with numbers).

• How sorting through what customers say they want but don’t drive value and what customers don’t say they want but do is crucial for making informed decisions that impact the bottom line positively.

 

Have you ever noticed that spending cash is harder than using a credit card? You are not imagining things. Different payment methods carry varying degrees of discomfort when used. 

 

Cash tends to have the most painful impact, followed by checks. Credit cards offer a lesser discomfort than cash or checks. With advancements in payment technologies like contactless cards or smartphone transactions, the potential exists for these methods to generate even less discomfort than traditional credit cards. 

 

So, how can businesses leverage these insights into payment methods to assist customers in handling their emotional response to spending?

 

To put it simply, the answers lie in Mental Accounting and Reframing.

 

Mental Accounting plays a pivotal role in how customers navigate their emotions regarding spending. It serves to alleviate guilt and elevate happiness in spending scenarios. Thus, it's crucial to consider mental accounting within the broader context of managing customers' emotional experiences.

 

In this episode, we explore where your customers are emotionally relative to the purchases they make and how guiding them to an improved mental accounting from your business perspective is essential. It turns out that messages that acknowledge and address customers' emotional responses to spending can be a powerful strategy in enhancing their overall satisfaction and engagement during transactions.

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

 

• 04:09  Ryan explains how money can be spent on anything, however the biases we create using mental accounting help us manage our emotions regarding our spending. 

• 07:20  Colin associates a podcast with Joe Pine regarding how customers value their time in experiences differently depending on the type of timed transaction it is.   

• 17:43  We discuss the importance of understanding what mental accounting your customers are using and working with that to help them feel more satisfaction with their purchase.

• 21:08  We explore how financing in the mix can change the spending experience for customers.  

• 28:09  We share the key takeaways from Mental Accounting and how you can leverage it to improve your experiences with customers.

About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years. 

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience. 

 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

How can we help?

Click here to learn more about Beyond Philosophy's Suite of Services.

 

Please tell us how we are doing! Complete this short survey. 

 

Exploring ethics is challenging. Given its abstract nature, it is a tough subject for learning and discussion. 

 

That said, we never falter in the face of a challenge.  We developed five principles of professional ethics we believe are vital to revisit periodically.

 

Are they rigid guidelines? Do they offer absolute answers? Are they timeless? 

 

Not quite. 

 

Ethics evolve over time, and what's acceptable today might not be so in the future. Nevertheless, ethics, much like any skill, can be nurtured, honed, and enhanced. 

 

It's intriguing to note the limited emphasis organizations place on ethics training. Perhaps there's an antiquated belief that either you possess ethics inherently, or you don't. It's possible that some organizations subscribe to the notion of, "If your parents didn't instill it, we won't either."

 

In this episode, we unpack the five rules of professional ethics. These five principles serve as a compass, aiding in constructing a framework for achieving the best outcomes and comprehending the path taken, ensuring it can be replicated successfully.

 

Here are some key moments in the discussion:

 

• 05:41  We start with the first rule about setting your own personal boundaries, and whether or not it’s okay to kill your boss.

• 10:05  After introducing the second rule, which gets deeper into the influence of context, we learn where Ryan gets demonstrations for his lessons on ethics (spoiler alert: It’s Netflix).

• 20:51  The third rule talks about regulating the environment, whether that’s changing the culture or walking away from it.

• 25:04  We go against what we usually say about intuition and encourage you to trust your gut…but only this time!

• 28:24  We announce the last rule, which is a warning that nothing is perfect; finding the best solution is the best you can do in some situations and accepting that is essential.

 

Did you know we have a YouTube Channel too? Check it out here.

About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years.

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience. 

 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

How can we help?

Click here to learn more about Beyond Philosophy's Suite of Services.

 

Please tell us how we are doing! Complete this short survey. 

Practicality is essential. Great ideas you can’t do anything with in the real world are a waste of time. 

 

Bob Black, one of our avid podcast listeners, likes our concepts about eliciting particular customer emotions. But he doesn’t know how to do that in practical steps. So, this episode gives them to him. 

 

Bob isn’t alone. Numerous organizations struggle with eliciting specific emotions in their customers. While most acknowledge the significance of customer emotions in shaping experiences, many falter when asked about the particular emotions they aim to evoke. Often, organizations gravitate towards vague terms like "positive" or "favorable." These are not emotions; they are adjectives that describe emotions. 

 

So, the first practical step in evoking a specific emotion is pretty simple: One must have a specific emotion in mind to evoke it. 

 

In this episode, we dive deeper into the step-by-step process of evoking specific customer emotions. We also discuss how training, AI technology, and tried and true low-tech mystery shopping can help, too. 

 

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

 

• 04:24  We hear about Bob Black’s pickle regarding the practicalities of applying the concept of evoking specific emotions, which many organizations share.

• 08:28  Colin discusses his work in emotions at the beginning of his adventures into Customer Experience, including identifying the 20 emotions that drive and destroy value.

• 13:23  We share one of the biggest obstacles to success in evoking customer emotions—and it probably isn’t what you think.  

• 19:37  The discussion turns to context and why it is essential when looking for clues into customer behavior. 

• 25:15  Colin shares his biggest sales tool, which is low tech and accessible to any organization: having the experience as if you were a customer.

• 29:42 We point out the more advanced practical steps of evoking emotions, starting with an assessment of processes.

About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years. 

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience. 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

How can we help?

Click here to learn more about Beyond Philosophy's Suite of Services.

Please tell us how we are doing! Complete this short survey.

Have you ever heard the following?

 

Then, Bob’s your uncle.

It’s the difference between chalk and cheese.

On your bike, then.

 

If you haven’t and you don’t live in the UK, Colin wouldn’t be surprised. They are British idioms and when he employ these expressions with his American pals, they usually don’t know he is talking about. However, his friends and family on the other side of the pond do. 

 

It demonstrates the importance of the words you use to communicate and how easy it is to miscommunicate or not communicate at all. Language holds a pivotal role in shaping your customer experience.

 

Our interest in the significance of language ignited recently when we received a None of Us Are as Clever as All of Us video from Shane Smith (ssmith@everetics.com) at Everetics, a consultancy specializing in customer support and service. Smith emphasized the crucial role of language, highlighting how words carry weight beyond what our conscious mind perceives. Being mindful of employing positive language instead of negative words can remarkably enhance the customer experience without any cost.

 

In my tenure as a global Customer Experience Consultant, we've trained many employees on the impact of language choices. Raising awareness about how we convey messages significantly influences customers' perspectives.

 

Smith pinpointed innocuous phrases used in interactions, such as "No problem" or "I don't disagree." While the phrases convey positivity—indicating there's no issue or that there is agreement with the other person—the inclusion of words like "problem" and "disagree" introduces negativity subconsciously, perhaps making the listener feel defensive. Defensiveness is not a positive interaction with a brand, even at a subconscious level.

 

It's akin to framing; how you package information alters its perception. Similarly, how you phrase prices or present choices can influence customers' decisions. So, why be casual about the language employed in customer communication?

 

In this episode, we explore the topic of language choices and how you can employ them in your experience also. 

 

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

 

• 03:21 Colin quizzes Ryan on a few British idioms, and Ryan does okay considering he’s from Ohio.

• 07:07  We lead into the video submitted by Shane Smith regarding the importance of choosing your words carefully in customer interactions.

• 11:46 We give our first thoughts about Smith’s ideas, and agree that neither of us thinks scripts are a great idea for customer interactions.

• 16:17  Colin shares a story about how Apple uses language brilliantly with their training on “Feel, Felt, Found” when talking to customers. 

• 22:20 Ryan gets philosophical, summarizing an argument about the effects of language that has been going on for a long, long time. 

• 25:19 We share how you can also submit a video to the podcast with our None of Us Are as Clever as All of Us feature.

About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years. 

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience. 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

How can we help?

Click here to learn more about Beyond Philosophy's Suite of Services.

Please tell us how we are doing! Complete this short survey.

This has been created in partnership with YouGov.

Our listeners will enjoy $ 500 off their first survey from YouGov. Click here.

 

Customer research has some big problems. You might think the big problem with customer research is not asking the right questions. But it isn’t. 

 

Then, surely it’s asking the wrong people the wrong way, right? But that’s not it either. 

 

The biggest mistake people make in customer research is not doing it often enough. 

 

Let me explain. Frequently, clients hand me their most recent customer research—and it’s from seven years ago. Seven years constitutes a significant timeframe in the realm of customer markets. 

 

Consider the preceding seven years and the transformative impact they had on the world:

 

• We grappled with a nearly two-year-long pandemic that brought the world to a standstill and dealt a severe blow to businesses. 

 

• This global crisis spurred an unprecedented acceleration in the digital transformation of analog experiences, reshaping how people communicate, work, and shop.

 

• Our return to the new normal revealed double-digit inflation across various consumer goods, significantly disrupting spending habits.

 

 When grocery bills rival what individuals used to allocate for car payments, and car payments align with previous spending on mortgages, the available disposable income diminishes. Consequently, people's responses to survey questions may change a bit.

 

In this episode, we explore the problems of customer research, how to avoid them, and a powerful new tool that can help you unlock customer insights like you have been doing it all your career. 

 

In addition, you will also learn:

 

• Which restaurants survey respondents think Colin and Ryan are more likely to frequent based on their pictures

• A must-have three-step system for developing customer surveys and the new platform that makes it accessible for anyone to get started

• How many murders it takes to be a mass murderer, and how many chainsaws Ryan has in his garage even though he is not a lumberjack (or a murderer or any sort)

• How surveys showed that nearly two-thirds of customers don’t realize the influences that drive their behavior as customers

• What you should do to improve the customer insights you ascertain from your customer research efforts

Hosts:

Colin Shaw, Founder & CEO Beyond Philosophy

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as a ‘Top Voice’ and as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 283,000 followers and 82,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’.

 

Professor Ryan Hamilton, Emory University 

Ryan is an award-winning teacher and researcher in the field of consumer psychology. 

 

Guests: 

Brian Reitz

Contact: brian.reitz@yougov.com

This has been created in partnership with YouGov.

Resources and Links Mentioned:

• Beyond Philosophy Website
• YouGov Website

We want to hear from you. Simply record a video with your thoughts, ideas, reactions, lists, or whatever else you have to offer, and we might discuss it on the podcast.  It’s called None of Us Are As Clever As All Of Us. To learn more, click here. 

 

Justin Stafford (justin@customersmarts.co), founder of a Customer Smarts shared how sports can teach us how to improve your Customer Experience. 

 

Justin's metaphor holds true in various scenarios. In sports, not every player on the field has an equal chance of scoring, but for the team to succeed, they must collaborate seamlessly.

 

Similarly, in many organizations, sales teams often occupy the flashiest roles. They wield significant influence due to their role in closing deals. However, just as in sports, the flashy players, like the quarterback in American Football, rely on their team, especially the offensive line, to execute their tasks effectively. Ignoring their support can hinder their performance—and leave them picking turf the out of their helmets.

 

Justin's sports analogy remains relevant here. While sales teams may clinch deals, departments such as finance, IT, and operations need to align with the sales strategy. Ultimately, all departments should work together to enhance customer value.

 

As a devoted season ticket holder at Luton Town Football Club, I'm thrilled to share that they have earned a promotion to the English Premier League, where they compete against well-known teams like Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and Manchester City. I've noticed parallels between the dynamics in football and Justin's insights from AFL.

 

In football, forwards often command higher salaries compared to other positions, such as the left back. The left back's role mainly involves defensive work and may not be as glamorous. In contrast, center forwards often receive double the pay compared to other players on the team.

 

In this episode, we explore the concept introduced by Justin. Plus, we share our thoughts on the concept, including whether Colin really knows anything about the AFL.  

 

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

 

• 02:03  We explain our new feature, None of Us is as Clever as All of Us and how you can be a part of it. 

• 04:48  Justin shares his thoughts about how sports teams and their game-winning strategy is a good analogy for an organization that wants to pursue customer centricity in their experiences.

• 13:28  We refer to a past podcast about how departments like Finance affect the experience, and why it is essential to have everybody working together for a common goal.

• 21:56  Colin explains some interesting details about Luton Town Football Club’s field, which might surprise you, particularly if you are in the ladies’ room during halftime.

• 24:17 We both share what we liked best about Justin’s metaphor about the AFL and Customer Experiences.

 

Did you know we have a YouTube Channel too? Check it out here.

About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years. 

 

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience. 

 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

How can we help?

Click here to learn more about Beyond Philosophy's Suite of Services.

 

Please tell us how we are doing! Complete this short survey. 

 

Per Statista, the amount of e-commerce losses to online payment fraud in 2022 since 2020 is $41 billion. If you think that is bad, get this: it’s supposed to rise to $48 billion by the end of this year. 

 

But wait, there’s more. Messente, a dedicated business messaging platform, notes the surge in package delivery scams. TransUnion's published a study that unveiled a staggering 1500% spike in shipping fraud between 2019 and 2021, likely spurred by the flourishing ecommerce landscape and the surge in digital solutions post-pandemic. What’s more, a 2023 study highlighted that nearly half of all fraudulent emails and texts revolved around package delivery. 

 

Clearly, fraud is on the rise and that means organizations have to protect themselves. So, two-factor authentication, text confirmations, codes, and retinal scans (not really) should be part of every transaction then, right?

 

Not so fast. Customers don’t like getting hassled during their purchases with extra steps or queries that question whether they are who they say they are. Some might get annoyed enough to create some significant abandonment issues in your e-commerce channel.

 

So, how do you balance the need to prevent fraudulent activity in your interactions with customers and the need to provide and easy and excellent customer experience? In this episode, managing partner and CEO of Messente Uku Tomikas joins us to explain.

 

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

 

• 05:07 Tomikas explains that the next big thing in fraud is using AI for it; marking perhaps the first use of AI in customer experiences that Colin isn’t enthusiastic about.

• 07:07 We begin our discussion about how to be diligent about fraud and security while still providing an easy and excellent customer experience.

• 13:00 Tomikas explains how organizations are handling this balancing act currently and how their efforts can unwittingly make it easier for fraud to occur.  

• 21:03 We talk about the particulars of how AI can get into the mix with these tricks and personalize the fraud attempts. 

• 27:17  We share the practical advice we have for organizations to deal with this threat without driving customers around the bend with security hurdles. 

 

This has been created in partnership with Messente.

 

About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years. 

 

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience. 

 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

How can we help?

Click here to learn more about Beyond Philosophy's Suite of Services.

 

Please tell us how we are doing! Complete this short survey. 

 

Picture this: Your customers, like individuals, operate on habitual inclinations. So, if they habitually favor a competitor’s product or service, how does one instigate change? Here, we present seven potent ways to turn the tide.

 

But before diving into these transformative strategies, let's peer into the psychological underpinnings of habits. They possess distinct characteristics:

 

• A cue within our environment kickstarts the habitual response. 

• This cue triggers an automatic reaction stemming from ingrained memories. 

• The reward at the end reinforces the habit loop, solidifying its existence.

 

The crux lies in our Intuitive System. This part of our brain swiftly recognizes this cycle and transforms it into an automatic routine.

 

Colin’s Intuitive System has influenced his habits enormously as a customer. In the realm of modern convenience, Colin’s shopping mantra revolves around a singular hub: Amazon. Be it the fleeting wish for something or a dire need, Amazon stands as his go-to, an ingrained habit so sturdy that breaking it seems an arduous feat for anyone.

 

However, daunting doesn't equate to impossible. In today's episode, we delve into the art of habit transformation, uncovering seven strategic pathways to overhaul routines and maximize returns on investments.

 

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

 

• 04:10  Ryan explains the habit cycle, and what each point of it has to do with our brain’s way of processing information. 

• 09:24  We discuss the importance of recognizing these cycles in customers behavior and how that translates into your strategy for changing it with our first two rules. 

• 18:31 We explain how to craft a winning strategy for changing customer behavior (spoiler alert: it involves making it easy and rewarding for the customer).  

• 24:17  The discussion turns to how you can help things get easier and feel more rewarding by educating and reinforcing your desired customer behavior with rules 5 and 6. 

• 31:49 Colin reviews and summarizes the seven rules and how they can help. 

 

Did you know we have a YouTube Channel too? Check it out here.

About Colin Shaw

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has over 294,000 followers and 78,000 subscribers to his LinkedIn newsletter ‘Why Customers Buy’. The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for four years. 

 

Colin is a renown keynote speaker and undertakes consultancy work and educational workshops to help organizations improve their Customer Experience. 

 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

How can we help?

Click here to learn more about Beyond Philosophy's Suite of Services.

 

Please tell us how we are doing! Complete this short survey.