Virtual event recap: The CX Festival
Updated: Dec 31, 2021
That’s a wrap! Wix Answers’ CX Festival, the first-ever multiday digital event dedicated entirely to customer support has come to a close. The 4-day event included 22 keynotes, sessions and workshops focusing on themes such as unified support, scale, metrics & KPIs, self-service, collaboration, the future of support, and more.
Read on to check out the breakdown and key takeaways of each day.
Day 1: Glossier, Groupon, Refinitiv, Outreach, Wayfair
The common thread across each session was how internal operations result in successful customer experiences.
Glossier discussed how they build community through value alignment, and the benefits of treating internal team members as customers.
Groupon, TELUS International, Refinitiv, and Outreach contextualized how they empower their internal teams to succeed externally.
Wayfair’s CTO discussed how they operate their company of 16,000 employees by cross-functionally focusing on the same vertical.
Day 2: The North Face, Wix, mParticle, LogDNA, Cybereason, monday.com, Yotpo
Featured brands shared the importance of empowering customers to help themselves.
The North Face’s Senior Manager of Customer Experience shared how the brand’s brick and mortar locations serve as the foundation for strong brand advocates. These advocates then form communities where customers empower one another to learn more about exploration and apparel.
monday.com touched on their self-service webinar program, which helped the company explore ways customers can solve certain challenges on their own. For any business, a self-sufficient approach can increase CSAT while decreasing ticket numbers and overall friction.
mParticle, LogDNA, Cybereason discussed moving customer support to the center of your company’s operations. Avoiding siloed strategies enables customer support to reach every part of an organization.
Yotpo touched on bringing customers and products closer together by connecting customer-dedicated teams. The end goal is to align all teams around the user voice.
Wix’s President & COO covered the importance of customers' influence over internal decision making. Customer feedback should be unfiltered, as honest feedback enables meaningful action. By two-way communication, Wix has built out customer support that is intuitive and empowers customers to effortlessly help themselves.
Day 3: The New York Times, Vimeo, Gong, Bizzabo, Gainsight, Adyen, SodaStream, Aruba (HP), Endy
Featured speakers covered an array of topics, each touching on the importance of meeting the customer where they are.
The New York Times’ Executive Director of Customer Care kicked off day 3 by highlighting the need to innovate products for customers of the future and the challenges that come with it. Brands are beginning to ask themselves what customers will want years from now and proactively addressing how they can innovate their product to meet those expectations.
Vimeo underlined the need for empowering teams to meet and exceed customer expectations for better experiences. Vimeo’s Head of Video Creation Customer Support highlighted 3 key themes for achieving this across their organization: Customer-centricity, customer feedback and employee engagement.
Gong, Bizzabo, and Gainsight discussed how they each aim to create the ultimate frictionless customer experience. Each company has a strong community that provides candid feedback, which their brands use to make customer experience seamless.
Adyen talked about their unique, quality-focused approach to customer support. ‘The Adyen formula’ aims to provide customers with what they appreciate most — quality answers over faster response time.
SodaStream, Aruba (HP) & Endy detailed how they capture and respond to the customers’ voice. Agents and customer-facing teams listen and learn about every gap in the customer experience. Customer support/experience teams are tasked with communicating their insights with all departments so that every team understands the voice of the customer.
During the panels and presentations, brands focused on the difference between providing quality support versus reactive assistance. In 2020, companies are seeking candid feedback from all customer communication channels. By learning exactly what their customers want, businesses can better cater to their needs.
Day 4: Twilio, Etsy, WeWork, Amazon
Industry leaders highlighted that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to customer support. Everyone is perpetually learning and optimizing their support strategy.
Twilio’s CCO began by sharing one of their key mottos —‘walking in the customer's shoes’. They trade a pair of Twilio branded shoes with the pair customers wear when they walk into their office. Walking in the customer’s shoes theoretically (and in some cases, literally) allows the brand to steer their efforts to best understand their customers.
Etsy elaborated on why they transitioned from email support to multiple live-channel customer communication options. After realizing the need to meet customers on multiple channels, the brand shifted and built-out its customer support strategy that recognized and remedied its customers’ and vendors’ communication pain points.
WeWork outlined the company’s localization process that caters to every customer’s unique demands. Given customers’ diverse questions and challenges after working in a WeWork, the company builds out diverse teams who provide a consistent experience regardless of geography.
Amazon revealed that when creating or updating a product, they start by telling the customer about the final product and then work backwards to create value. The retail giant’s novel approach to customer experience indicates the path for the future of CX.
Twilio, Etsy, WeWork, and Amazon invite customers to be part of their journey. No company can predict customers’ future needs or industry trends. To future proof their business, they co-create their product’s roadmap together with their consumers.
The CX Festival was a great starting point for igniting industry-wide dialogue, but this event was only the beginning. Thank you for celebrating customer support with us!
