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Customer Experience

World Customer Experience Day

Published September 30, 2020 6 min read Translated from the Arabic original

Introduction

The first Tuesday of October each year marks World Customer Experience Day — this year, October 6. Devoting a specific day of the year to a cause or product is a long-standing tradition; the primary aim is to remind the world of something and raise awareness about it. Earth Day reminds us of the importance of the environment and preserving it; Earth Hour is when we switch off the lights in our homes; and there are many other observances designated by global organizations — you’ll find a list here. So why a World Customer Experience Day? That’s what this article is about, and it’s directed at fellow practitioners: customer experience professionals.

Who Created World Customer Experience Day?

The organization that spread this practice globally is the Customer Experience Professionals Association, known as CXPA — one of the leading associations in our field. Every year, this association celebrates this day across all its chapters and with all its members worldwide, promoting and championing it. To be more precise, the idea came from one of the most influential figures in customer experience, Bruce Temkin, who proposed the idea to the association’s board in 2013. At the time, October 1 of every year was chosen, on the condition that this date not coincide with a Jewish holiday (since Bruce is Jewish). That stipulation later caused a disagreement on the date — you’ll find some who celebrate on October 1 whether or not it coincides with a Jewish holiday, and others who celebrate on the first Tuesday of October every year. If the first Tuesday of October happens to fall on a Jewish holiday in any given year, the association reverts to the older rule and uses October 1.

This year, the Customer Experience Professionals Association will host a major global event to celebrate the occasion. Don’t miss out — register to attend; all sessions are free. You can register here. Given the volume of talks, I’m seriously considering taking the day off to fully attend the live broadcast.

What Can We Do as Practitioners on This Day?

Like other global days, the main purpose is to raise awareness about the field and its importance, and to alert business leaders that we live in the era of the experience economy — where power has shifted to the customer. Just as on Saudi National Day a few days ago, when companies competed and created innovative campaigns to express their love for the country, the same is true among practitioners every year: they compete to do something unconventional that helps spread the word about our great field. The competition has even extended to global companies that officially celebrate this event and broadcast their celebrations across social media platforms.

The ideas below are by way of example, not exhaustive. Every practitioner should plan for this day and define the target audience — whether customers, fellow employees, company leaders, or colleagues working in the same field.

  • On a day like this, companies celebrate their achievements and remind employees of their importance and role in creating success. You can recognize the most outstanding employees in creating great customer experiences (companies don’t have to wait until year-end to do this), as well as recognize CX Ambassadors for their efforts over the past year, or for earning a professional certification in the field, or recognize department leaders who made the biggest contributions to CX improvement initiatives.
  • The CEO can gather employees and give a talk about customer experience and why it matters. Given COVID, this message can be recorded and shared with all employees as a video or broadcast live.
  • Some global companies bring in specialized speakers to address employees about the field as an educational awareness event. Instead of a talk, it could be a training session or an extended workshop aimed at raising awareness among company leaders and helping them understand their direct or indirect impact on customer experience.
  • Some companies make all their leaders spend a full day in the field — at one of the channels that serves customers directly, side by side with the heroes: frontline employees — to interact with customers, or even serve them themselves. The unstated message to everyone: the customer matters; and to the frontline staff: those behind the scenes care about what’s happening on stage.
  • As a practitioner, you can organize a brainstorm with all company leaders, with one single goal: how can we make the customer experience better? This workshop can also include enthusiastic, brand-loyal customers to share their views and expectations of your services or products.
  • You can announce the customer experience strategy for the coming year, or announce a CX excellence competition with the methodology and selection criteria clearly explained.
  • You can prepare an educational message about the importance of the field — including research and statistics — and share it internally with your colleagues.
  • Companies can express gratitude to customers; some send beautiful messages to customers on this day, or invite some to deliver a talk to the company’s leaders. The greatest gift you can give your customers is your constant and tireless commitment to meeting their needs and exceeding their expectations consistently all year long.
  • Companies can engage customers remotely via social media — asking about their experience, their expectations of your brand, and how you can be their first and only choice. Be prepared for some negative comments and harsh criticism, and receive them with an open mind.

Share this hashtag on Twitter: #CXday

Conclusion

I hope you’ll use this event to take action or publish content that raises awareness about this important industry, both inside your companies and outside in the community. For those who missed planning this year, the dates for the next five years will be:

October 5, 2021 | October 4, 2022 | October 3, 2023 | October 1, 2024 | October 7, 2025

The responsibility of raising awareness about our industry (customer experience) lies first and foremost on us as practitioners. Have you done enough voluntary work to spread awareness about our field, or do you believe it’s a collective duty fulfilled when some perform it? Writing here in Arabic, I appeal to my fellow Arab professionals: let’s join hands to enrich Arabic-language content in our field — it’s still very scarce.

Last but not least, please share any creative ideas we can use to celebrate this day in the comments. And more important than this whole article: don’t make celebrating customer experience and raising awareness about it a task done on this one day. It must be a daily responsibility — like Mother’s Day: how shameful it would be to remember her once a year and forget her the rest of the year.

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