The Heartbeat of Your Business: How CX Fuels All Departments

Alright, we’re back.

Busy week here, as I just kicked off Customer Convos™️ at JRB.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be having Zoom chats with a bunch of our new customers. I aim to better understand their experiences with JRB, identify the problems we're solving for them, and highlight areas where we can improve.

I’m heading to Dubai on Sunday and off to Israel the Sunday after that. June will be a fun and busy one.

I’m using some points to stay at the Waldorf Astoria in Dubai and will hopefully write about the experience (OG’s might remember the one about the Waldorf Amsterdam here).

This newsie is around a topic I get asked about quite often.

“How does CX work well with other departments to create magic?”

I see more and more chatter about CX being the easiest to outsource, and I’m fairly sure most folks have not seen what a fantastic CX team looks like vs. a mediocre one.

Jess said it better than I could ever:

When done well, Customer experience isn’t some lone wolf—it's the vibrant, bustling hub where every function of your business converges.

It's the heart of your operations team, the secret sauce in your marketing, the golden ticket for product development, and the unsung hero of retention.

Let’s walk through the CX universe, and I’ll show you how CX works well with your other departments.

• CX 🤝 Growth: The Dynamic Duo

• CX 🤝 Retention: A Tale of Customer Loyalty

• CX 🤝 Operations: The Secret Efficiency Factory

• CX 🤝 Product Development: The Innovation Launchpad

Let’s dive in.

This week's newsie is brought to you by Yotpo.

Getting a shopper through the door is only half the battle. The harder — and more impactful — part is getting them to stay.

A successful eCommerce brand should drive at least 50% of its sales from returning customers.

And brands agree. Yotpo ran a survey and found that:

• 52% are more focused on retention than last year

• But, 40% haven’t made any changes to improve their retention strategy

• And 70% said their retention rate has remained stagnant or gotten worse over the past year

It’s clear that brands understand the value of retention, but they aren’t sure where to start. And it's time for that to change.

Brands that focus on retention, like Fat & the Moon, have already seen massive impacts on their bottom line — they’ve increased their returning customer rate by almost 2x.

How? Here are a few strategies:

1. Use social proof to ensure a valuable first purchase

2. Integrate your loyalty program on every channel

3. Get more out of subscriptions by optimizing with SMS & Loyalty

4. Leverage a platform that connects customer data across channels

Plus more. You can check them out here, plus get insights into over 60 new features and updates Yotpo just launched.

CX 🤝 Growth: The Dynamic Duo

Once upon a time, growth was the glitzy, extroverted celebrity, while CX was the introverted, misunderstood wizard working behind the scenes.

Well, maybe it still is. 😏

But in our story today, they're not only neighbors, but the ultimate power duo.

Let's talk about data, the heart of both CX and Growth.

In the world of CX, we're inundated with customer data from multiple touchpoints—insights into customer preferences, behaviors, needs, pain points, etc.

This same treasure trove of data is a marketer's dream.

Armed with CX insights, Growth can shift from a product-centric to a customer-centric approach.

It’s not just one-way, though. While CX feeds marketing with insights, marketing lures customers into CX’s loving arms.

It's a beautiful cycle—marketing brings 'em in, and CX makes 'em stay.

Just picture this tag-team action: Growth, armed with CX insight, scores a new customer.

CX steps in, takes a good hard look, turns an experience from meh to memorable, and then circles these learnings back to marketing.

Enough fluff—let’s talk tactical.

Here’s how CX and Growth can work together to create magic:

1. Build Targeted Personas: Every growth hacker loves a well-defined persona. But who knows your customers better than your CX team?

By working together, you can build granular, targeted personas based on actual customer data and interactions, helping you craft campaigns that hit the right notes with the right people.

2. Personalize the Buyer's Journey: With the CX team's understanding of individual customer journeys and behaviors, your growth team can personalize the buyer's experience— from ads to emails to landing pages.

3. Reduce Ad Spend Waste: Ever wonder how much of your ad spend goes down the drain targeting the wrong audience or pushing the wrong message?

Instead, use the data from your CX team to refine your ad targeting and messaging. Less waste, more conversion.

By working together, CX and growth teams can do more than coexist—they can thrive, driving business expansion and fostering lasting customer relationships.

CX 🤝 Retention: A Tale of Customer Loyalty

So, you’ve nailed the art of acquiring customers with a killer growth strategy, and your CX team's insights are a big part of that success.

Nice.

But what's next?

Making sure those customers come back.

Three things are true about your CFO.

1. They use a Lenovo ThinkPad.
2. They avoid skinny jeans.
3. They love some strong LTV.

Let’s avoid discussing #1 and #2 for now and focus squarely on LTV.

Your CX and retention teams are two sides of the same coin, working in harmony to ensure your customers aren’t just satisfied—they're coming back for doubles.

Here’s how this power duo works together to supercharge your customer lifetime value and make CFOs around the country happy:

1. Personalized Service as a Retention Strategy: We've heard it a million times—personalization is king. But it's not just about knowing your customer's name or remembering their last purchase.

With in-depth insights from the CX team about customer preferences, pain points, and buying behaviors, your retention team can offer truly personalized service.

2. Swift Problem Resolution to Boost Customer Loyalty: The CX team is your frontline when things go wrong, and how they handle hiccups can make or break your customer relationships.

Quick and efficient problem resolution not only satisfies your customers, but also strengthens their loyalty.

When your CX team works closely with the retention team, they can develop strategies that minimize customer churn during crises. CX is the glue that holds everything together.

As a small example, CX notices a delay with orders getting shipped out and notifies Retention to add a one-liner in email confirmation notifying customers about a potential delay.

This one line in your order confirmation email sets expectations so customers have a good experience and also saves the CX team from countless follow-up emails from customers.

3. Using CX Data to Enhance Retention Campaigns: Your CX team has the 411 on what your customers love about your product and what they'd like to see improved.

This data is invaluable for your retention team when crafting targeted re-engagement and win-back campaigns and creating educational content post-purchase to ensure folks know how to use the products they ordered.

CX 🤝 Operations: The Secret Efficiency Factory

We've all been there. Ops is the team you only remember when you can't find those darn customer orders or when the new product line is running behind schedule.

It's time we flip the script.

Instead of thinking of Operations as that distant cousin you only talk to when there's a problem, imagine them as your greatest ally.

Here's how CX and Ops work together.

1. CX as Ops' Eye on the Ground: Don't just look at CX as a complaint department. We're on the front lines, talking to customers, understanding their gripes, wishes, and, yes, their praises too.

We can provide valuable insights that can save time and unnecessary detours in your operational processes. It's like having a spy in the customer camp.

We can provide insight on shipping time frames, unboxing issues, packaging qualms, etc.

2. Prevent the Fires Before They Start: We're not about putting out fires in CX but preventing them. By sharing what we're hearing on the ground, we can help the Operations team spot potential landmines before they blow up.

This means less stress, happier customers, and fewer sleepless nights. I can think of countless times a close connection between CX and Ops has saved lots of stress.

3. Quality Control's Best Friend: CX is often the first to know about a product issue. We're talking about trends, patterns, and repeat complaints.

Share this intel with operations, and you're not just solving issues. You're improving your product and brand reputation.

At OLIPOP, we saved thousands of cans of Root Beer from going out in Vintage Cola casing thanks to quick customer feedback and robust CX x Ops connectivity.

I see this weekly at any brands I work at. A close relationship between CX and Ops keeps quality at bay.

CX 🤝 Product Development: The Innovation Launchpad

Your Product Development team isn't just a bunch of folks in a lab churning out new products.

They can be your secret weapon in creating a killer customer experience.

Here's how:

1. Idea Pipeline: Customer chats aren't just a gold mine for hilarious memes. They're an untapped source of ideas for your product development team.

Don't just leave these ideas on the support floor - feed them to your product team and watch the magic happen.

2. Real-Time Feedback Loop: We live in the rapid change age. By the time a product is released, it's already time for an upgrade or tune-up.

Use CX to maintain a real-time feedback loop. This way, your product team doesn't need a crystal ball to stay ahead of the curve - they've got you.

3. Launches that Actually Land: Imagine launching a new product that’s just what your customers needed - because they told you so!

With CX providing insights, you won't just launch new products; you'll be hitting bullseyes.

It's time to knock down the cubicle walls and start making CX a part of the conversation across the board.

From Growth to Retention, Operations to Product Development - every corner of your business can benefit from the insights and skills a CX team brings.

Give it a try. You can thank me later.

That’s it for this week!

Before we go, have you all listened to the most recent Down To Chat Episode with Ben Lerer of Lerer Hippeau?

We chatted about the future of VC in DTC, and it was one of my fav episodes we’ve ever recorded. Check it out here:

Any topics you'd like to see me cover in the future?

Just shoot me a DM or an email!

Cheers,

Eli 💛