Industry Studies & Examples

  • 25 Years of Training Young Innovators

    Your Next Hires? FIRST Inspires Young People to Invent and Innovate in Team Co-Opetition

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    FIRST is a nonprofit that offers a proven approach to team-based innovation. Its innovation framework has been refined over 25 years, with kids from 6 to 18, from 80 countries. Why not try it in your organization?
    Apr. 10, 2014
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  • How to Offer a Little Extra to Delight Customers

    My Most Recent Favorite Customer Experience Practices

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    Go beyond good – surprise and delight people with unexpected customer service. See examples from Amazon.com, Trader Joe’s, CVS, and BoltBus, with extrapolations for B2B organizations.
    Feb. 19, 2014
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  • Interviewing End-Customers

    Tips and Sample Questionnaires

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    Interviewing customers is the best way to understand what they do, what they need, and what they care about. But effective interviewing is an art and a skill to be nurtured. Here are tips and samples to help you get the most out of customer interviews.
    Feb. 6, 2014
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  • How to Use VOC to Create Fitness Fans for Life

    Blair McHaney Uses Daily VOC to Improve Customer Experience and Front-Line Engagement at Gold’s Gyms in Washington

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    Meet visionary customer advocate Blair McHaney. He uses customer metrics and methods in daily operation, leveraging a customer-centric culture and Medallia VOC software.
    Jan. 23, 2014
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  • Why Chaos Is Important for Innovation

    How an Organization, Group, or Individual Can Foster Innovation

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    This book, The Chaos Imperative by Ori Brafman and Judah Pollack, is a must read for anyone who wants to maximize his/her brain power. It will help you, and your team, create the conditions for innovation to occur.
    Jan. 17, 2014
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  • Recovering from the Crisis of Missed Holiday Deliveries

    How Well Are Etailers and Shippers Dealing with Customers’ Anger?

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    With so many packages not delivered in time for the holidays, etailers and delivery companies had a lot of explaining to do and apologies to make. What can be done to avoid this type of customer experience disaster next holiday season?
    Jan. 10, 2014
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  • Why I Am No Longer a Sears Customer

    Sears.com Fails to Deliver on Promises

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    Sears has failed this shopper for the last time! Read the sad, sad story of hours wasted, responses not received, and powerless customer service agents following self-serving customer service practices.
    Dec. 5, 2013
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  • Have We Consented to Government Surveillance?

    Do Citizens, Residents, and People in Other Countries Have a Right to Privacy in the Digital Age?

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    Edward Snowden’s whistle-blowing on the NSA, and Glenn Greenwald’s documentation of the technologies and processes used, are a wake-up call for citizens who believe that their private communications should remain private.
    Aug. 1, 2013
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  • Peer-to-Peer Business Models

    Facilitating “Matchmaking” between Individuals for Fun and Profit

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    Lyft helps individuals who need a ride match up with people who have a car and want to earn a few bucks by giving them rides, a great example of a p2p business. Is there something in this p2p model for your company?
    Jul. 12, 2013
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  • Customizing Greeting Cards Online

    How Well Did American Greetings and Hallmark Meet My Customer Scenario?

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    Going through a card-buying scenario identified some important lessons for all businesses about keeping promises and providing a seamless experience throughout your customer ecosystem.
    Jun. 20, 2013
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  • Customer Co-Design for Elder Independence

    Approach for Elders to Age in Their Homes

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    Dr. Allan Teel's new book  tells the remarkable story of an innovative “virtual assisted-living” program that was co-designed with 40 elders in Maine and is now rolling out across the country. 
    Jun. 13, 2013
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  • Boston Globe Masters Social Media in a Crisis

    How the Boston Globe Covered the Boston Marathon Bombing

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    What does it take to beat all the major news and cable networks in news coverage? An amazing team and a commitment to getting it right! Learn how the Boston Globe became the trusted source of information during the Boston Marathon crisis.
    Apr. 25, 2013
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  • CX Audit: JCP.com

    Is Jcp.com Strong Enough to Help Save JC Penney?

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    JC Penney is in crisis. Can the 15 year-old etailing site, jcp.com, help turn around this failing American brand?
    Apr. 18, 2013
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  • How We Learn and How to Change

    Use Conversations for Collaborative Reflection about Complex Adaptive Systems

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    Lisa Kimball offers invaluable advice and methodologies about the best ways to make change in a complex system, like an organization, or a multi-player system such as healthcare. Change the conversation!
    Mar. 28, 2013
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  • Why Alaska Airlines Considers Mobile Development a Core Competency

    Speed Up Improvements in Customer Experience through Mobile

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    With Curtis Kopf, Managing Director, AlaskaAir.com, and Customer Innovation at Alaska Airlines, we look at how he and his team are mastering agile development and making mobile technology a core competency.
    Feb. 21, 2013
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  • Apple and/or Verizon: How Should Partners Provide Customer Support?

    What Each Did Right and What Needs Improvement When Helping Shared Customers in Need

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    Providers who together satisfy customer scenarios are part of a customer ecosystem. And the customer's experience should be seamless, as shown in this story.
    Feb. 14, 2013
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  • Utility Customer Experiences: Stark Contrasts in Dealing with NStar and National Grid

    What Each Did Right and What Needs Improvement When Helping Customers in Need

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    Read the best (and worst) practices demonstrated by NStar and National Grid as they help customers deal with a repair.
    Jan. 31, 2013
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  • Amazon’s Next Moves

    It’s a Customer Ecosystem Poised to Become an Increasingly Important Part of Our Lives

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    Amazon isn’t “just” an online retailer; it’s a vibrant and layered customer ecosystem designed to help you get things done faster and cheaper. Amazon phones will bring added convenience. Amazon’s ads will be more relevant than Google’s or Facebook’s.
    Jan. 3, 2013
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  • VOC: Using Customers’ Interviews to Inform Decision-Making

    How the Residents of a Small Community Are Shaping the Future of Healthcare

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    We used interviews of residents on the Boothbay peninsula to help keep cherished St. Andrews Hospital, which Maine Health wants to turn into a walk-in clinic. I interviewed 48 patients and published verbatims. The result: a stay of execution.
    Dec. 13, 2012
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  • Shopping Smarter with Mobile Devices Changes the Face of Holiday Shopping

    Mobile Makes Its Mark on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday Sales in 2012

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    2012 holiday shopping kicked off in the U.S. with a bang. Consumers shopped heavily on the Thanksgiving holiday through “Cyber Monday.” Online shopping from tablet computers was big. So was comparison shopping in stores using mobile phones.
    Nov. 29, 2012
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