Have you heard about Customer Experience / CX Day? It is a real day. I did not make it up. As you can see below, there was a lot of activity in 2018. In 2019, CX Day will be celebrated on October 1. I am writing this article because I am passionate about people celebrating everywhere this year. As my friend Stan Phelps explains in Forbes, “happy loyal customers do not happen without happy engaged employees.” Consequently, I have been leading CX Day festivities over the years and highly recommend you do too. It is a terrific way to drive awareness about the importance of CX, increase employee engagement, and thank people for driving customer excellence. It is also a good time to publicize to customers about your commitment to delivering best-in-class experiences.
WHAT IS CX DAY?
An international organization, called CXPA, spearheads CX Day each year. You don’t have to be a member to celebrate the day; however, people get a lot of value from being part of the organization. I can tell you more about my experiences if interested.
WHO CELEBRATES CX DAY?
Companies around the world celebrate annually. There’s a long list of admirable brands including SAP, Microsoft, Dell, Hewlett Packard, and more. I’ve introduced CX Day at my workplace, Schindler Elevator Corporation, and planning to celebrate in a big way across the globe.
HOW TO CELEBRATE CX DAY?
There are a lot of ways to make October 1 a memorable day at your company. If you have a team to focus on it, then I recommend doing a lot of activities from the list below. If not, then keep things small and build up in the future. As long as you celebrate in some way, then you are Doing CX Right!
IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED*:
- Plan team meetups with a celebratory cake
- Recognize internal employees for demonstrating customer excellence, i.e. most improved NPS score year over year
- Send customer thank you notes and token gifts of appreciation
- Conduct fireside chats – customers or CX experts or CX initiatives
- Offer CX Swag – Banners, Balloons, Stickers, Buttons, Shirts
- Provide CX Training – customer listening, closing the loop, driver analysis, “Walking in the Customer Shoes,” values, design-thinking, journey mapping +. Check out CXPA, and Rutgers University Certification program, which I found to be very valuable.
- Post photos of activities on intranet & social media channels for the world to see
- Host a CX Day event for your customers – breakfast, lunch, cocktails
- Create a CX room to inform and share CX progress. For remote teams, create a virtual room
- Highlight amazing employees. If you conduct customer surveys, share them at team meetings, especially ones that customers rave about employees by name.
- Create a CEO video email message thanking employees for creating passionate promoters
- Lead a contest that involves both customers and employees
- Encourage employees to join webinars on CX Day. Examples here and attend local events in their area.
- Hang CX posters throughout company locations. You can find plenty of inspiration to print and distribute here.
*Suggestions above are from CXPA, Medallia, and my own.
ADDITIONAL CX DAY CONSIDERATIONS:
- Leverage CX Day as a way to strengthen internal relationships. I have noticed that traditional silos often change as a result of planning cross-team activities together.
- Use the day for branding opportunities. Partner with your marketing / PR team to design assets highlighting admiration for customers. They may also have trinkets and swag for events.
- Use hashtag #CXDay2019 on social media to help everyone find and amplify your involvement. Post before, during, and after CX Day!
HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE CX DAY 2019?
I would love to hear your stories. Please contact me if you have questions and ideas to share. Also, join me on my Twitter, Instagram, and my personal LinkedIn page to drive conversations and knowledge sharing.
*All opinions expressed are mine & do not reflect views or imply endorsement of employers and other organizations.