Customer Experience Basics with Eli Weiss - Part 1

We talked to one of the best in customer experience – Eli Weiss, Director of CX at Olipop – about what it really means to work in the space, how to create a CX strategy, and the personality traits needed to be a CX marketer.


Let’s dive in: 🤿


What it means to work in Customer Experience (CX)


With CX, you're not just supporting customers, you're thinking about their experience with the brand at every interaction.


"I like customer experience because I like blowing people's minds and making things right. I enjoy somebody going from a frown to a smile," said Eli.


Here’s an example:


If a customer has a problem with their shipping and delivery, CX isn’t just about saying sorry, it’s about thinking creatively about how you can fix the issue with memorable, out of the box solutions.


The approach Eli takes is definitely customer-centric.


When one of Olipop’s customers shared how their mother (who recently passed away) loved Olipop’s sodas, the Olipop team sent flowers with a personal letter:





The difference between CX and customer service (CS)


While often mistaken as the same thing, there is a difference between working in CX and CS.


Support is more about answering common questions and putting out fires. CX is about zooming out and understanding how to manage expectations at every single part of the customer journey.


"I'm constantly the voice of the customer in every conversation. I'm making sure that the customer gets a seat at the table and is heard, so it’s a much more proactive approach," said Eli.


The CX buzzword: building community


When it comes to customer experience marketing, a lot of people will say the answer is to build a community.


But for Eli, community isn’t just about opening a Facebook group and adding 7,000 people to it – an approach that a lot of eCom marketers take.


Rather, building community is cultivating a space for people that want to feel like they're heard by like-minded people. It’s about understanding…

  • What are your customers like?
  • What do they talk about?
  • Where do they like to hang out?
  • How can you support them?


The foundations of a CX Strategy



Eli views a proper CX strategy in phases:


First, it’s key to listen to customer feedback and collect every single data point and take that feedback and incorporate it. Second, actively remove friction from every part of the customer journey.


And truthfully, right now the bar is so low when it comes to giving customers a good shopping experience, so Eli breaks CX down between 1.0 and 2.0.


CX 1.0: The minimum, which is about collecting data, responding to customers quickly, and making sure you're responding in a way that you'd want to be responded to.


CX 2.0: It’s thinking of creative ways to set the pace and asking yourself questions like

  • How can I put our customers first?
  • What are some out-of-the-box ways to give them a memorable experience?
  • How can I be the voice of the customer in every conversation? So in every marketing call, weekly ops call, etc.
  • What products should be launched according to our customers’ needs?
  • Is the website clear enough?
  • Is the box that customers receive what they expected?
  • Is there something more I can do with this customer’s order to surprise them?


CX 2.0 gets responses exactly like this (a screenshot from Eli’s team):



In Wednesday’s edition, we’ll dive into part two of our conversation with Eli and breakdown:

  1. Bringing CX across the customer journey
  2. CX best practices
  3. The qualities of a CX marketer
  4. The future of CX

Don’t miss out!

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