You know that friction in a Customer Experience is a problem that needs fixing. However, do you have that same perception of workplace friction?

If you feel the friction at work, you probably do. But if you don't, you likely think little of it, if at all. Doing work for money requires a certain amount of friction, right?

However, if the friction impacts employees and decreases employee morale, it can be a significant problem. One might even say it is a problem worth fixing.

In this episode, we delve into workplace friction and its impact on employee productivity and morale with Christophe Martel, founder and CEO of FOUNT. Martel, an expert in eliminating workplace friction, shares his insights on how reducing friction can transform employee experience, leading to happier and more productive teams.

We define workplace friction as anything that makes it harder for employees to do their jobs. This friction manifests in various ways, such as messy interactions, poor intra-company team collaboration, lack of established rules, and inadequate systems for settling disagreements. While most companies recognize friction in Customer Experience is detrimental, many organizations overlook its impact on employees.

Martel explains that workplace friction is an evolving concept that varies from person to person. Unlike organizational friction, which slows down processes company-wide, work friction is more acute and usually affects frontline employees. It often arises unintentionally from policies or changes designed to meet departmental goals, complicating interactions for customer-facing staff.

FOUNT addresses structural friction by identifying and resolving issues through data collection and analysis. By understanding employees' specific tasks, FOUNT helps organizations implement solutions that improve productivity and morale. Martel emphasizes that solving work friction leads to happier employees and yields operational benefits, making the company more efficient and profitable.

One key takeaway is that productive employees are long-term employees. Contrary to the popular belief that people leave managers, Martel argues that they leave because of work friction. Managers often absorb friction for their teams but lack the authority to make systemic changes. As a result, friction becomes ingrained in company processes, persisting even when everyone acknowledges it doesn't work.

Martel advocates for open communication between frontline employees and senior managers to identify and address work friction. He also highlights the potential role of AI in reducing friction, though its effectiveness depends on user adoption. AI tools can help when properly deployed based on insights from work friction data.

We discuss why addressing work friction requires a clear understanding of its causes and a commitment to making systemic changes. We also hear about how Martel's approach with FOUNT demonstrates that reducing friction can significantly improve employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall company performance.

Listeners will also learn:

• How to identify different types of workplace friction

• The importance of data in understanding and resolving friction

• Examples of structural friction and how to address them

• The role of managers in mitigating or exacerbating friction

• The potential impact of AI tools on workplace productivity

• Practical steps for fostering open communication and gathering actionable insights from employees

• The financial benefits of reducing work friction in large organizations

Customers can tell you why they do something, But they might be wrong.

It's not that customers are stupid. No, it is quite the contrary. Customers' thinking and decision-making are complicated; multiple things happen simultaneously.

Sometimes, the reason customers do things is hidden, even from the customers themselves. In our penultimate masterclass episode, we explore how you can get at these hidden motivations when designing a Customer Experience that surprises and delights customers.

In this episode, we delve into the hidden motivations of customers, particularly focusing on Confirmation Bias. This bias is a psychological tendency in which people seek information confirming their beliefs and discount contradicting them. It plays a crucial role in customer decisions, often without them even realizing it.

For example, one significant influence is the desire to be right, to see oneself as competent and knowledgeable. Confirmation Bias stems from this need, as people seek information that validates their opinions and disregards contrary evidence.

This bias manifests in various ways. One is brand loyalty.

For example, Apple enthusiasts might blame themselves for device issues rather than consider a fault with the product. This self-blame reinforces their loyalty, even if the product doesn't work perfectly. Similarly, loyal users of the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) overlook its problems to maintain their positive view of the service.

Confirmation Bias is also evident in political beliefs. Studies show that exposure to opposing viewpoints makes individuals more extreme in their views rather than moderating them. This reaction occurs because engaging with opposing views requires more cognitive effort and emotional resilience, as it threatens one's sense of being right.

In business, Confirmation Bias occurs when companies resist new findings that contradict their existing strategies. For instance, in our Emotional Signature® research, organizations often find that the real drivers of customer satisfaction differ from the assumptions. While these insights are valuable, accepting them is challenging because it feels like the organization must admit to past mistakes.

Recognizing and addressing hidden motivations is essential for businesses, so tune in to gain insights into the complex world of customer motivations and how to leverage these understandings for better business outcomes. We will explain why it is crucial to go beyond surface-level feedback and analyze customer behavior to uncover these deeper drivers.

In this episode, we also discuss:

• The role of evolutionary psychology in understanding customer motivations.

• Techniques for uncovering hidden customer needs.

• How Confirmation Bias affects brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.

• The impact of cognitive effort and emotional resilience in accepting opposing views.

• Strategies for supporting customers in justifying their purchases.

• The importance of being open to new information and challenging one's own biases.

Sanjay Patel faces a challenge many of us can relate to: how to get senior executives to buy into your program.

Dealing with senior management can be nerve-wracking, as I learned twenty years ago when my heart rate spiked during a presentation to the CEO and C-suite. Today, I've mastered strategies for these situations.

In this episode, we discuss how to deal with them effectively and get what you want.

For example, it starts by being confident in your knowledge. Senior executives are usually clever and ambitious, knowing a lot about various topics but often not much about Customer Experience (CX). When discussing CX or any program you are knowledgeable about, remember they can learn from you. They wouldn’t talk to you otherwise. Respect your expertise and believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in your ideas, why should they?

So, yes, confidence is key, but avoid being overly technical or jargon-heavy. Overcomplicating your message can make you seem like you’re covering for something. Instead, align your message with what the CEO cares about most. For example, if the CEO is focused on cost-cutting, explain how your CX program can save costs. Understanding and addressing their needs will help you get through to them.

You should also keep your questions simple. Surprisingly, the higher you go in the management chain, the simpler the questions should be. Simple questions like "What experience do we want to deliver?" engage the senior team effectively. Avoid complex questions that convolute your message. Being clear and relevant is more important than appearing clever.

Additionally, using examples from within the organization or from customers helps illustrate your points effectively. Personal stories make your message digestible and relatable. For instance, Colin always asks his clients to think about a good or bad experience they had recently. By asking your audience about their own good or bad customer experiences, you can help them understand the importance of emotions in CX.

Finally, senior management values opinions. When asked, state your opinion clearly and respectfully. And be straightforward; senior management can easily detect dishonesty.

Today’s episode explores how to convince senior management to support your program. . Ultimately, persuading senior management is a sales job. So, we talk about how to sell your idea by meeting their needs.

In this episode, you will also discover:

• How to frame your expertise in a way that resonates with senior executives' priorities.

• Techniques for simplifying complex ideas to ensure clarity in communication.

• The importance of aligning your proposals with the company's strategic goals.

• Methods for using storytelling to make your case compelling and memorable.

• Strategies for addressing tough questions with confidence and transparency.

• Ways to gather and present evidence that supports your proposals effectively.

This episode is the sixth in an eight-part series on Unlocking the Psychology of Customer Experience. Here, we explore the psychology we have regarding how human beings deal with predicting unpredictable outcomes. The discussion focuses on biases that influence how people perceive and assess probability and risk, impacting their judgment and decision-making processes.

We begin with a common bias in these situations, the Gambler's Fallacy. In this scenario, individuals predict future random outcomes based on past results. It feels logical but isn’t and often results in poor decision-making.

For example, casinos will often put the results of the past few Roulette rolls to give patrons a history of what has happened with the wheel. Some gamblers might use this history to predict what is likely to happen next.

However, the marble doesn’t have a memory of what just happened or any control over what happens next. The next roll will be as random as the last roll. The history of the Roulette wheel is meaningless; it only serves the casino by exploiting patrons' inability to realize the random nature of the spin and taking their money.

Another bias we discuss is the Hot Hand Fallacy, which influences people to believe that a streak of success in sports or other areas is sustainable despite statistical evidence.

The Gambler’s Fallacy and the Hot Hand Fallacy are not any more logical or rational than one another. The Hot Hand Fallacy differs because, at least, an athlete’s performance or a business outcome isn’t random. However, it isn’t any more likely to be right.

We also examine the Overconfidence Bias, which reveals how individuals tend to be overly confident in predicting outcomes, leading to misguided decisions. The Dunning-Kruger effect, a related phenomenon, highlights how individuals with limited knowledge of a topic may underestimate their competence.

Colin is guilty of this regarding his ability and drive to learn about his SLR camera’s more nuanced settings. He opts for the automatic settings instead.

Moreover, the Endowment Effect is discussed, illustrating how people overvalue items they perceive as their own, influencing their willingness to part with them. The Hindsight Bias is also explored, revealing how people tend to believe that past events were more predictable than they were.

In this episode, you will also learn the following:

• The importance of ongoing learning and adaptation in navigating the complexities of human decision-making.

• The implications of these biases for customer experience design and decision-making in business.

• Strategies for mitigating the impact of cognitive biases on judgment and decision-making.

• Real-world examples of how these biases manifest in various contexts, such as investing, sports, and customer interactions.

• The role of awareness and education in addressing biases and improving decision-making processes.

• Practical steps for incorporating insights from behavioral economics into experience design and business strategy.

Regarding Customer Experiences and the behavioral sciences, there is seldom only one thing happening at a time. There are usually a lot of things happening at once. This masterclass episode, the fifth in a series of eight, explores economic biases and how they create flaws in our decision-making logic.

For example, one key bias discussed is the Sunken Cost Fallacy, where people need help to walk away from investments, leading to subsequent mistakes. Loss Aversion is another bias explored, highlighting how we feel losses more acutely than gains. This bias influences behaviors like resisting salary reductions and preferring to face a potential layoff (where one would lose all their salary) because we can’t imagine losing any part of our present income.

The Endowment Effect, stemming from Loss Aversion, emphasizes how we overvalue items we perceive as our own, leading to decisions like overpricing sentimental possessions. It’s why grad students can’t bear to part with their gift in exchange for a gift of equal value. It’s also why economist Richard Thaler, University of Chicago, can now add “Nobel-prize-winning economist” in his bio.

Ultimately, these economic biases reveal that people aren't always logical, and irrational factors often influence our decision-making processes. In this episode, we discuss why and what you can do about it in your experience design.

In this episode, you will also learn the following:

• Strategies for recognizing and navigating economic biases in customer experience management.

• Examples of how these biases manifest in everyday situations, such as purchasing decisions and salary negotiations.

• The importance of understanding irrational decision-making in designing effective customer experiences.

• Practical steps for leveraging insights from economic biases to enhance customer interactions and outcomes.

Surge pricing, a form of dynamic pricing, involves raising prices during spikes in demand to balance supply and demand. It is a rational economic solution to manage demand effectively, but it can generate negative emotions among consumers who feel they're being unfairly charged. Surge pricing is a specific flavor of dynamic pricing or, depending on your perspective, price discrimination.

Surge Pricing is commonly seen in ride-sharing services or airlines, where prices increase during peak times to encourage more drivers to hit the road. Examples of surge pricing include Uber's increased fares during rainy weather and airlines charging higher prices for last-minute bookings or peak travel times.

In addition to ride-sharing and airline industries, surge pricing can be observed in other sectors, such as bars offering happy hour discounts to attract customers during off-peak hours. However, it doesn’t work in every situation and can damage your customer relationships.

Surge pricing has its good points. It can increase revenue and manage demand effectively. However, to do so, this dynamic pricing strategy must be balanced with customer-centric considerations and strategic communication to avoid negative perceptions.

In this episode, we explore the particulars of surge pricing and explain how effective communication is crucial when implementing dynamic pricing strategies. Customer communication can ensure customers understand the rationale behind the pricing changes and feel they're receiving fair value.

In this episode, you will also learn the following:

• Examples of surge pricing in various industries, including hospitality and energy.

• The role of strategic purpose in dynamic pricing implementation.

• Why effective communication helps stave off disaster when implementing dynamic pricing strategies.

• How framing dynamic pricing changes can influence consumer perceptions.

• Balancing the benefits to the customer with revenue optimization goals.

• There is a need for flexibility and supply management to support dynamic pricing strategies.

Various motivational biases and emotions shape customer experiences, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to designing experiences. For example, the customer’s mood significantly impacts the customer’s decision-making processes.

Today's discussion highlights why understanding the customer’s mood and managing customer emotions helps you achieve your desired experience outcomes. It also identifies twenty emotions driving or undermining value, stressing the necessity of specificity in emotional goals.

We also cover the Affect Heuristic and Mood Management Theory, two prominent theories in psychology that are particularly relevant to our discussion on the role of emotion in decision-making. Here’s why:

• The Affect Heuristic suggests that our intuitive choices are often guided by emotional responses, with a preference for positive experiences. This has practical implications for businesses in terms of designing customer experiences that evoke positive emotions.

• Mood Management Theory posits that our decisions are often driven by the desire to regulate our mood, seeking pleasure or alleviating discomfort. This theory helps us understand the role of mood in decision-making and its potential impact on customer experiences.

Context, culture, and age also influence mood and emotional responses. We discuss how cultural predispositions and life stages shape emotional goals and needs (which also explains why Colin’s Smiley Face Buttons on Etsy won’t sell like hotcakes in England).

In this episode, we underscore the importance of recognizing and understanding the impact of mood on decisions. We also explore the power of positive thinking in shaping perceptions and responses to reality while acknowledging its limitations in influencing external outcomes. Additionally, we advocate for a diagnostic approach to customer emotions and behavior and capitalizing on positive or managing negative moods.

Here are a few key points we make in the podcast:

• Mood significantly influences decision-making processes, so understanding and managing customer emotions, which we covered in another episode recently, are crucial for designing effective experiences.

• Specific emotional goals are essential for achieving desired outcomes, so if you don’t have them, you should make them now.

• Context, culture, and age also influence mood and emotional responses.

• Why Colin and Ryan represent both the best and the worst culture has to offer regarding positive or negative outlooks on life.

• Positive thinking can shape perceptions and responses to reality but can’t change reality; so think positive but work hard—and don’t walk barefoot over a field of hot lava because you “think you can.”

This has been created in partnership with NICE.

AI is a significant development in experience management, but many organizations need help with its implementation. While experimenting with AI, like ChatGPT, offers a glimpse of its potential, it's challenging to understand how AI fits into the broader tech stack and business systems.

In today’s episode, Elizabeth Tobey, Head of Marketing for Digital and AI for NICE ) NICE, an AI platform, shares insights on effectively using AI to enhance experiences.

This video summarizes what I see happening in many organizations regarding implementing AI.

Tobey says that many organizations have told her they don’t know where to start. She emphasizes the importance of beginning with impactful AI use cases and setting clear KPIs to measure success post-deployment. NICE's suite of solutions helps identify pain points within a company, enabling targeted AI implementations, such as Enlighten XO, which stands for experience optimization.

However, implementing AI requires overcoming siloed approaches and investing in third-party solutions due to resource limitations and expertise within organizations. Customizing AI models for specific customer experiences is crucial, as different experiences require different approaches.

In other words, you don’t want the same experience buying a luxury car as returning running shoes. One must feel posh and comprehensive, while the other should be quick and easy. (We’ll let you guess which is which.)

Tobey advises that to sell AI within an organization, one should focus on solving business problems rather than promoting AI. Managing expectations about AI capabilities is essential, as AI alone cannot solve all problems. Instead, AI should complement existing technology, culture, and business objectives.

Tobey suggests clearly understanding success criteria and providing data to potential partners to demonstrate realistic outcomes. Building relationships with partners invested in success ensures alignment with business needs and fosters growth opportunities.

In this episode, we will also discuss:

• The importance of understanding AI nuances and use cases across different organizational roles.

• How AI solutions should align with existing technology and business objectives.

• The role of partnerships in AI implementation and success.

• Managing expectations and avoiding overreliance on AI.

• The evolution of AI technology and its potential impact on businesses.

• Customizing AI solutions to address specific business challenges.

• Leveraging AI to enhance customer experiences and drive business growth.