Annette Franz

Head of marketing and customer experience initiatives

CX Journey Inc.

Annette Franz, a certified customer experience professional (CCXP), is founder and CEO of CX Journey Inc. She has 25 years of experience in helping companies understand their employees and customers and identifying what drives retention, satisfaction, engagement, and the overall experience—so together we can design a better experience for all constituents. She’s an author (she wrote the book on customer understanding!), a speaker, and a customer experience thought leader and influencer. She serves as vice chairwoman on the board of directors of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), is an official member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and is an advisory board member for CX@Rutgers.

Wed, 07/17/2024 - 12:01
Recognizing Your Customers’ Moments of Truth Identify them and act on your findings
Wed, 09/02/2015 - 12:03
Do you know the moments of truth for various tasks customers attempt to achieve with your organization? Before you can know or identify your moments of truth, you must first know what that means. So, like I usually like to do, I'll start by…
Outside-In vs. Inside-Out Thinking Is it all about you?
Tue, 08/18/2015 - 10:56
In the world of customer experience, what’s the difference between outside-in and inside-out? Inside-out thinking means your focus is on processes, systems, tools, and products that are designed and implemented based on internal thinking and…
Are You Moving at the Speed of Innovation or the Speed of Your Customers? Their inertia matters more than your momentum
Mon, 08/10/2015 - 09:08
Do you think that the speed of innovation is too fast for your customers? Or just right? Do you know how your customers feel about the pace? I was reading about the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer the other day and saw this finding: “More than half…
Journey Maps for the Customer Experience Not an exercise in futility
Tue, 07/21/2015 - 14:30
One of the arguments against journey mapping I often hear is that it’s an exercise in futility. You map. You put it on the wall. Nothing changes. To that I answer, “You’re doing it all wrong.” You map because you need to understand the customer…
Getting Everyone on the Same Customer Experience Page Everything you do must be aligned with your values
Thu, 06/25/2015 - 16:06
How do we ensure that everyone in the organization is on the same page when it comes to customer experience? I’m thinking about a quote I stumbled upon the other day from Edmund Wilson: “No two persons ever read the same book.” Wow! Isn't that the…
Successful Transformations: The Ugly CX Duckling The five stages of customer-service transformation, and 24 actions to get there
Wed, 05/06/2015 - 10:08
You’ve no doubt heard (or can recall) Hans Christian Andersen’s story, “The Ugly Duckling.” If not, here’s a quick refresher: It’s about a baby swan who suffers abuse from his barnyard companions because of how he looks—he’s assumed to be a baby…
What’s the Meaning of All of This Employee Lingo? Five terms that drive business
Mon, 04/13/2015 - 14:24
A couple weeks ago, I participated in a webinar with Kyle Antcliff of Intradiem. We talked about the employee experience, employee journey mapping, and solutions that drive or affect workforce efficiency. During the presentation, a lot of employee…
It’s Not About the Metric Listen because you want to understand the customer
Mon, 03/30/2015 - 13:14
In November 2014, I participated in the Hooked On Customers Summit, a webinar series hosted by Bob Thompson of CustomerThink. I joined Thompson, along with Jeanne Bliss, in the first webinar, “Creating Actionable Insight from a Customer Listening…
The Customer Experience Proof Is in the (Diet) Pudding Customer retention comes before customer acquisition
Mon, 03/16/2015 - 14:12
I have a few questions for you about your company: Are you focusing on acquisition or retention? Are you rebranding your image or are you reinventing the customer experience? What are your priorities? I recently wrote some articles about how…
Why Customers Really Leave Price has something to do with it but not the way you’d think
Wed, 02/25/2015 - 16:21
Have you ever wondered why customers say they buy your products based on price—and then in the end, they also stop buying because of price? What’s that phenomenon all about? In a nutshell, the answer lies in the value received:
• for the…