Why You're Probably Approaching Experience All Wrong [Podcast]

July 29, 2019

Randy Frisch

From becoming more customer centric to creating a new position on the executive team, this week’s guest on the Conex Show, Mathew Sweezey, covers the importance of experience to not only marketing but the entire customer journey. You’ll hear his tips for collecting feedback to create effective engaging experiences, who should own journey mapping within your organization, and how to break down silos so the customer experience is always at the forefront of each department's mind.

Mathew Sweezey, Principal of Marketing Insights at Salesforce, joins the Content Experience Show Podcast to discuss optimizing the experience for your audience.

In This Episode:

Why You Need to Check in on Your Experience

Shifting to an experience-focused mindset can seem like a lofty goal for some marketers but it's really as simple as asking your customers what they thought and how they felt after reading your content.

“Too often, we just look at the download metric and believe that we created success.” –@msweezey

The reality is 71% of consumers that have downloaded content were disappointed with that experience. And 25% of those said they were so disappointed, they would never engage with that brand ever again.

The issue that Sweezey sees is that a small percentage—less than 1%—of marketers actually put in the work and ask those consuming their content about the experience.

Why Surveys Alone Won't Cut It

Surveys can leave a lot to be desired and are limiting in the amount of data recovered, so if we as marketers want to get the full picture, we have to actually talk to people.

A lot of the times, what you'll find through conversation is they're going to take you down paths you would not have gone done. –@msweezey

Research should also be an iterative process, not simply a one-and-done-type-deal. If something isn't performing well three months down the road, ask six more people, have those conversations and then iterate. Don't just survey people and make decisions annually based on the results.

The Case for a Chief Experience Officer

Getting the feedback to create experiences is the first step, then you'll want to map out those customer journeys to ensure the experience is consistent. But that can be problematic when the customer lifecycle is not owned by marketing.

“In our little world of control, we have a really good idea of experience, but sometimes experience gets lost when it gets handed off.” –@msweezey

Ensuring consistency across the entire customer experience has led to calls for a new role within organizations—that of the Chief Experience Officer. This person would sit on top of all the existing experiences and connect them. Without this role, each siloed operation operates for its own goals and sadly, Sweezey says, none of those goals are customer experience.