Marra CX Hub Top 3 CX Articles for the Week of June 17, 2024
WEEK OF MONDAY JUNE 17 through FRIDAY JUNE 21, 2024
The CX world is constantly evolving with new content being shared daily. Each week, we’ll cut through the noise and deliver our Top 3 Picks to you right here on Marra CX Hub, cheers!
Ageism in the Workplace: Transforming a Challenge into a CX Opportunity
(Stacy Sherman, Doing CX Right) Age diversity within a team enriches the collective perspective, leading to a deeper understanding of a diverse customer base. Older employees bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that can help in designing more inclusive and empathetic customer experiences.
Gary’s Take: Thank you Stacy for addressing this increasingly troublesome issue. Stacy points out the many benefits of age diversity and the downsides to ageism including the impacts to customer experiences and overall employee experience. The institutional knowledge that is lost with either a displacement or not gained by hiring more experienced team members, is grossly undervalued. The wealth of knowledge and experience older employees bring to the table helps build better, more inclusive experiences for customers and employees. Stacy points out several action steps for a more inclusive environment.
McDonald’s Abandons AI for Drive-Thru Orders – What’s Next for Fast-Food CX
(CX Today) McDonald’s has announced that it is discontinuing its AI drive-thru ordering experiment.
Having struck a partnership with IBM in 2021, the fast-food behemoth has since deployed automated voice bots to take orders at more than 100 of its American restaurants in a bid to boost efficiency.
However, in an official statement released this week, McDonald’s confirmed that the automated order-taking (AOT) tech will be removed from all restaurants by July 26, 2024.
Gary’s Take: I can’t pass up one that mentions an inadvertent order of $250 worth of McNuggets 😁 But yes indeed, if you are worried about “AI taking your job” rest assured, it still has a way to go. The best applications of AI remain as a tool to help humans, not replace them!
Decoding Surge Pricing: Will Customers Embrace or Reject it?
(Colin Shaw, The Intuitive Customer Podcast) Surge pricing is a form of dynamic pricing. However, sometimes customers don’t see it this way. Depending on your perspective, surge pricing can feel like price discrimination. Surge Pricing takes advantage of peak demand. When demand spikes, the company raises prices to either quiet it or increase supply. From a rational economic standpoint, this strategy is great. However, from a consumer’s perspective, it is not so great.
https://beyondphilosophy.com/decoding-surge-pricing-will-customers-embrace-or-reject-it/
Gary’s Take: Economics isn’t called the Dismal Science for nothing. From an Economist’s standpoint, it’s a market-based solution. From a customer’s standpoint, it’s a potential nightmare. Admit it. We hate it. Except for Happy Hours. Those are still OK… 🍸 #ItsFiveOClockSomewhere
