Showing your brand who’s boss: Interview with Ejieme Eromosele
My first meeting with Ejieme Eromosele, Vice President of Customer Success for Snaps, was in September of this year. Imagine my delight when I discovered that our Zoom video allowed me to crash her weekend get-away with several other amazing, powerful, and successful women. It should come as no surprise, however, as Ejieme has spent her career as a “customer advocate.” She’s delivered award-winning customer experiences for multi-billion-dollar businesses and clients spanning a variety of sectors. Today, she works with customers to build innovative experiences that drive business outcomes at Snaps, a conversational automation platform to help enterprise brands connect with their customers.
Ejieme graciously agreed to share her expertise with me and the H.O.W. Highly Organized Woman community, and this is an excerpt of our interview. The entire video can be found on my website.
CC: What does your work at Snaps involve?
EE: I work with top brands such as Nike, Airbnb, and Uber to meet their customers where they are, in particular on emerging messaging channels. The goal is to drive higher conversions and average order values and to help with operational efficiencies. We want customer service teams to spend less time “blocking and tackling” and more time engaged in consultative selling.
CC: I consider myself a pretty loyal customer to my favorite brands, but do not cross me or I will take my business elsewhere. Am I alone in this mentality?
EE: Absolutely not, which is why this work is so important. A recent study by Call Center Week found that almost 70% of customers said that they would be willing to make a switch from a brand with just 1 or 2 bad experiences. Clearly, the stakes are high.
CC: What should brands consider as they begin to think about investing in customer experience?
EE: I have 3 tips that provide a great starting point.
Be proactive. We have seen unprecedented disruption across most facets of business, and brands that are aware of service or other disruptions should proactively communicate such disruptions with their customers. Managing customers’ expectations is crucial today. One company that does a really great job with this is Amazon.
Invest in your people. Retail is still important, but so much of consumer behavior is shifting to buying online. What that means for brands is that the 1:1 touchpoint is also shifting. The people who are now talking with your customers are your call center agents or customer service staff, and it’s important that companies see them and treat them as brand assets. Make sure that they are empowered to answer customers’ questions. Make sure they have the right tools, training, and support so that a positive agent experience translates into a positive customer experience.
Lean into tech. Invest in new tools and technologies. What we’re seeing is that customers are embracing self-service channels; they want to help themselves first. Tools like chat automation, that’s the field that I’m in, will help customers be self-sufficient.
Ejieme then turned the tables and asked me how I track customer (or in my case as a fundraiser, donor and potential donor) experiences and whether I had any tips on keeping that work organized. I also had three tips, all of which are detailed in the full interview.
A huge thanks to Ejieme for her time and outstanding tips for brands to start investing in customer experience.
Next week: Cristyn Girolami, Chief People Officer for Upside, talks about making business travel easier.
