Full Transcript for Cross-Functional Collaboration & Community Building in Digital CS w/ Karessa Parish | Episode 107

challenges to the table. 00:04:59.449 --> 00:05:05.849 The user types, like it's just a vast variety of user types and venue types as well. 00:05:06.089 --> 00:05:08.329 So just use cases are different. 00:05:08.490 --> 00:05:14.009 So there's a lot of variety, which is exciting, but it can also be a challenge. 00:05:14.409 --> 00:05:27.209 Yeah, because if I I think about events, and it can, I mean, there's all kinds of different events, I would imagine, and there's probably all kinds of customers using it for like edge case scenarios, too, right? 00:05:27.849 --> 00:05:29.370 For sure, yes. 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:31.289 Yeah, that's really cool. 00:05:31.449 --> 00:05:54.729 I've always found that teachers make the best kind of customer success people for sure, but then also, you know, the digital customer success people, especially just because you know, there's a scrappiness involved in being a teacher, I think, because you have those limited resources and you're trying to figure out how to make something work out of nothing. 00:05:54.889 --> 00:05:58.009 And uh, you know, you've got all these various tools. 00:05:58.169 --> 00:06:18.009 And so I think I think that kind of the teacher mentality and the education mentality feeds one side of it from a content and a you know structure and a uh a learning perspective, but then you've got kind of this scrappiness of you know taping two sheets together with duct tape kind of mentality. 00:06:18.329 --> 00:06:18.729 For sure. 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:27.529 And I think teachers too are always like looking for the next the next thing because the old thing isn't keeping our kids engaged anymore. 00:06:27.689 --> 00:06:36.810 So like where can I what's the new tool that's available to me that I can try and see if this is gonna keep them engaged this year compared to last year? 00:06:37.209 --> 00:06:37.769 Totally. 00:06:38.009 --> 00:07:00.969 I gotta give a shout out to my sister while we're talking about this, actually, because she's a high school language arts, she she leads the language arts department at at her school, but she's also like the resident technologist and got a master's in in education technology, and she's like running AI workshops for administration and all this kind of stuff, which is so cool, but it but that's totally reminded me of that. 00:07:01.529 --> 00:07:03.529 Yeah, teachers on the forefront to this stuff. 00:07:03.689 --> 00:07:04.089 Oh, yeah. 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:08.089 And working with kids too who are growing up with it, which is crazy. 00:07:08.329 --> 00:07:08.490 Yeah. 00:07:08.649 --> 00:07:08.969 I know. 00:07:09.129 --> 00:07:16.969 Often, so this is totally off topic, but my last year of teaching, I taught robotics, but I say I facilitated robotics. 00:07:17.049 --> 00:07:20.490 Those kids definitely taught me more than I probably taught them. 00:07:20.889 --> 00:07:24.810 Yeah, well, that's part of teaching too, is you're learning, learning while you're teaching. 00:07:24.969 --> 00:07:25.609 Yeah. 00:07:27.049 --> 00:07:28.729 Well, that's super cool. 00:07:28.889 --> 00:07:40.889 I I definitely want to get into, you know, a lot of the things that you're doing because I think our listeners could, you know, benefit greatly from, you know, just hearing what kind of projects you're working on. 00:07:40.969 --> 00:07:58.409 I know there's a couple specifically that we talked about that would be cool to highlight, but um, you know, I I think one of the things that you and I discussed briefly was just kind of like this this digital mindset shift, if you will, or or like, you know, and it dovetails into what we were just talking about. 00:07:58.569 --> 00:08:09.849 Like, you know, what what does it take for maybe a digital CS practitioner or leader to kind of shift into that mindset, or what does it take an org to shift into that mindset? 00:08:09.930 --> 00:08:16.649 And I wanted to get kind of your take on it, and maybe just in general, your whole definition and ethos of digital CS. 00:08:16.889 --> 00:08:17.129 Yeah. 00:08:17.289 --> 00:08:20.169 I think the best definition, I don't even think I came up with it. 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:25.049 Someone else came up with it, but they describe digital CS as like the connective tissue. 00:08:25.289 --> 00:08:27.129 So I keep going back to that. 00:08:27.209 --> 00:08:35.049 And when I do my little internal roadshow of what is digital customer success, um, because we also have scaled customer success in our org. 00:08:35.129 --> 00:08:37.289 And so many people think that that's the same thing. 00:08:37.610 --> 00:08:39.690 Some places it is, it is not here. 00:08:40.169 --> 00:08:40.810 Right. 00:08:41.210 --> 00:08:45.769 And so digital CS to me is like yes, we're meeting with customers one-on-one. 00:08:46.009 --> 00:08:58.569 And absolutely we want customers to have a person in the company that they can go to and have that personal relationship, but it is not realistic for them to um to meet with that person all the time. 00:08:58.809 --> 00:09:05.689 And it's also not realistic for them to only get support when they meet with that one person. 00:09:06.009 --> 00:09:17.049 And so to me, digital CS is like everything that happens in between those touch points with their person, if they have a person, digital CS is everything else. 00:09:17.610 --> 00:09:28.169 Hopefully, it's covering the 80 to 90 percent of the things that like we really don't want them to have to go to a person for these things. 00:09:28.730 --> 00:09:43.769 And therefore, we're going to guide them in the journey that we think creates the best customer and provide them all the information they need in the right places, all of that, without them needing that one person to help them. 00:09:44.409 --> 00:09:46.970 So that's that's kind of how I define it. 00:09:47.370 --> 00:09:47.929 I love that. 00:09:48.090 --> 00:09:48.970 That's super cool. 00:09:49.129 --> 00:10:06.009 Um, and it,

you know, it's it's interesting because like you gotta figure out how to be proactive with this stuff in instances where you know a question is gonna come up or a topic's gonna come up or the the content would be especially timely, timely. 00:10:06.090 --> 00:10:16.090 But then on the flip side also, you know, you gotta figure out how to make that stuff reactive when a signal appears or something like that, or whatnot. 00:10:16.250 --> 00:10:18.250 So it's it's so it's a weird thing. 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:30.569 Tell me a little bit about you you mentioned Roadshow for a second, because the thing that I've experienced, I'm sure you have too, is when you're working on these programs and building this stuff, you can't do it in a vacuum, right? 00:10:30.730 --> 00:10:42.730 You gotta you gotta really pull other departments, other leaders into the conversation because in essence, the entire company in one way or another is a stakeholder, right? 00:10:42.970 --> 00:10:54.889 So I'm curious to get your take on what you're doing there, how you're approaching those roads, what kind of conversations are you having, maybe what your operational cadence is around that stuff. 00:10:55.049 --> 00:10:56.569 That'd be super interesting. 00:10:56.889 --> 00:11:17.689 Yeah, I and I think the other important thing to that point is that digital CS looks like a lot of other things that might already exist, at least like pieces of it, like overflows into other job titles or departments that have similar projects that they might be working on. 00:11:17.850 --> 00:11:25.449 So, even more important to have this internal roadshow and kind of figure out who's doing similar things or where are gaps that I might fill. 00:11:25.610 --> 00:11:32.649 So, internal roadshow, I try to identify who are the main stakeholders that I'm probably going to be working with. 00:11:32.809 --> 00:11:36.329 So I have been at this company now for I think eight months. 00:11:36.490 --> 00:11:41.449 It still feels brand new to me, but who are the main stakeholders that I'll probably be working with? 00:11:41.610 --> 00:11:44.649 And I certainly want to meet with them first and foremost. 00:11:44.809 --> 00:11:49.210 And then also just department wide, like when are when's your next meeting for your department? 00:11:49.289 --> 00:11:54.090 And can I come and give like a 15 to 20 minute spiel and y'all can ask questions? 00:11:54.250 --> 00:11:57.529 It's really like, okay, here's my definition of digital CS. 00:11:57.610 --> 00:12:00.169 This is how it's different from scaled CS. 00:12:00.329 --> 00:12:03.049 This is how it's different from named CS. 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:04.730 I mean, that's what we call it over here. 00:12:04.970 --> 00:12:05.610 Yeah. 00:12:06.169 --> 00:12:23.769 And here are the different things that I will be working on primarily and how it benefits you and how um these things are going to be helpful to you and your relationship to the customer and how you can utilize me to and the projects I'm working on to help you reach your goals. 00:12:23.929 --> 00:12:28.329 So those are the main things I try to focus on in these internal roadshows. 00:12:28.409 --> 00:12:33.850 And then also, if there's like similar projects, so this happens in product marketing a lot. 00:12:34.009 --> 00:14:14.920 Like, hey, you have a similar project, our metrics are probably different, but it doesn't make sense for us to have two of the same thing. 00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:16.519 That's confusing to the customer. 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:27.159 So we got to figure out how let's work on this together and try to meet both of our goals with the same project rather than two separate projects. 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:44.680 I know that as soon as we started talking about cross-functional stuff, that pretty much everybody who's listening, their mind probably immediately went to marketing and product marketing because the overlap is insane sometimes. 00:14:44.840 --> 00:15:12.200 And I think for a lot of organizations, that area specifically can be super contentious if approached the wrong way, just because you know, product marketing is essentially doing kind of what we do, but like with a different goal in mind, you know, with a different uh kind of different ethos and a and a and a different set of I guess outputs, if you will. 00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:20.920 But the the re you know, from a I love how you mentioned the customer experience element of it because from a customer's perspective, it like looks the same. 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:22.120 Like Yeah, they don't know. 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:25.399 So why am I hearing from Joe and why am I hearing from Sally? 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:27.159 Yeah, exactly. 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:29.080 So how how are you approaching that? 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:33.159 And has that been a difficult thing for you, either in this role or in previous roles? 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:49.159 In this role, it has not, but I think it's because I've I've learned so much in the along my other career journeys that I really wanted to make it a point to um focus on that first and foremost and not become territorial of my space versus their space. 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:52.519 Also, our product marketing team is fantastic. 00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:55.000 Um, they're super easy to get along with. 00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:57.800 Um, and so that helps a lot. 00:15:58.120 --> 00:15:59.480 And we enjoy working together. 00:15:59.560 --> 00:16:00.920 I think I enjoy working with them. 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:02.680 I don't know if they say the same. 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:06.200 So we do we meet regularly. 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:15.639 Not that we have a standing meeting, but it's like anytime I'm like, hey, I'm working on this project and I would love to bounce ideas or see if this is aligned with something that you're doing. 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:21.480 So we have meetings pretty regularly to stay, stay on top of that. 00:16:22.279 -->

00:16:24.120 Yeah, it's so important. 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:26.360 All this stuff is just communication, you know. 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:27.800 We forget that sometimes. 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:33.879 Like we're we we hide behind like SOPs and policies and all this kind of stuff. 00:16:34.120 --> 00:16:41.240 But man, just knock on the door virtually or in person if you can, and say hello. 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:42.840 And like, what are you up to? 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:47.000 It's amazing what you can accomplish, you know, just by communicating. 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:52.840 Yeah, and I think a lot too is like it's not what I'm doing is better than the way you're doing it. 00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:59.639 Like I may have come across that way and previously, and I certainly don't want to come across that way at all. 00:16:59.800 --> 00:17:09.480 It's just we have two separate goals and they're both valid goals, but we need to find a way to work on it together so that we're just providing the best experience possible. 00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:10.519 Yeah, yeah. 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:13.000 Otherwise, our customers are gonna start ignoring us. 00:17:13.159 --> 00:17:13.799 Yeah. 00:17:16.599 --> 00:17:25.720 So I I do want to go back and talk about how you all have structured scaled versus digital. 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:27.960 And I mean, I get it. 00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:32.200 Like to this day, that is still a very confusing thing for a lot of people. 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:36.039 And digital and scaled are used interchangeably. 00:17:37.159 --> 00:17:47.879 But I'm curious how you all have approached, you know, not digital versus scaled, but how you've worked how how you've approached integrating the two so they're both feeding each other. 00:17:48.200 --> 00:17:48.599 Yeah. 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:52.039 I also work very closely with a scaled team. 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:57.879 In our organization, the scaled team has a portfolio of customers. 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:01.720 Now they it's a um, you know, around Robin style. 00:18:01.879 --> 00:18:07.639 Those customers don't know that they have a dedicated CSM, but they know that there's a team of CSMs. 00:18:07.879 --> 00:18:17.720 And so those CSMs do own a portfolio of accounts, whereas me on my side, on the digital CS side, we don't own any accounts. 00:18:17.879 --> 00:18:22.279 I'm not looking at individual account health and uh renewal stuff. 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:28.759 But what we do should be supporting not only those scaled segments, but all customers across the board. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:45.639 Um, I just think that the relationship between scaled and digital is so important because scaled is relying on that digital strategy so heavy because they cannot meet with their customers as often as those named series. 00:18:45.879 --> 00:18:46.039 Right. 00:18:46.680 --> 00:18:53.559 So that's why I think scaled and digital often is interchangeable because they probably just work a lot closer together. 00:18:53.720 --> 00:19:00.119 We you have both in the org, but they're not the same in terms of what they do. 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:05.719 Now, our scaled CS team, they do host our monthly webinar series. 00:19:05.879 --> 00:19:12.599 So they own that, whereas I do more of like the logistical and promotional side of it. 00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:18.359 But they are the content experts in terms of what is it that our customers need to hear about this month? 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:31.240 We're gonna be the subject matter experts, and they want to be the face of it too, because they do want those, their customers to associate them with um customer success, whereas I'm kind of more behind the scenes there. 00:19:31.639 --> 00:19:33.159 Yeah, makes perfect sense. 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:48.199 I um the thing that I often find myself talking with people about is that combination of customer facing and internal programs or automations or resources or tools. 00:19:48.359 --> 00:20:09.399 And it and it sounds like you're kind of operating in that that way too, where a fair amount of what you're building is customer facing, and whether it be you know campaigns or in-app or whatever, but then it sounds like a fair amount of it also is like internal triggering and alerting and signaling and tools and that kind of stuff, right? 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:12.039 Yeah, it's a good balance of both for sure. 00:20:12.439 --> 00:20:14.039 What does that I mean, what is that functional? 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:17.480 So let's say I'm a scaled, I'm gonna dig in here, so because I'm shameless. 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:17.879 Okay. 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:20.679 Let's say let's say I'm a scaled CSM or whatever. 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:26.919 What what are they what are they seeing that they may or may not even know comes from your team? 00:20:29.719 --> 00:20:34.679 So I'll be honest here, we have not started any trigger-based accounts. 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:36.919 That's kind of what we're looking at for Q2. 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:46.599 We do have new like new products that are being being released as like add-ons, and they have been deemed as self-onboarding. 00:20:46.919 --> 00:20:47.399 Oh, cool. 00:20:47.719 --> 00:20:58.839 These new products are self-onboarding, they're not gonna go to professional services, and and everyone's hearing self-onboarding for the first time, and they're looking around and they're like, What is that? 00:20:59.399 --> 00:20:59.959 What is that? 00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:01.719 What are customers getting? 00:21:01.879 --> 00:21:02.759 Who's building this? 00:21:02.919 --> 00:21:04.439 Like, there is no plan whatsoever. 00:21:04.599 --> 00:21:06.199 Just like self-onboarding. 00:21:06.439 --> 00:21:07.079 Yeah. 00:21:07.719 --> 00:21:09.079 Well, who owns that? 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:15.559 And so it came to after some time had passed, and we had heard this enough times, I'm like, okay, I need to dig in here. 00:21:15.719 -->

00:21:23.719 And it turned out that like the product team, like, oh yeah, well, they they click this button and then they get an email that has like a link to a document or something like that. 00:21:23.879 --> 00:21:26.919 I'm like, okay, I think I should own this. 00:21:27.159 --> 00:21:35.719 And so now the process we're going through is outlining what a standard self-onboarding campaign should include. 00:21:35.879 --> 00:21:37.399 What are the triggers? 00:21:37.639 --> 00:21:44.839 Um, and then, you know, depending on the complexity of the product and all of that, is like, okay, what should the sequence be? 00:21:44.919 --> 00:21:47.559 What should be included in that sequence? 00:21:47.719 --> 00:22:00.439 Um, so our customers probably don't know that when these start going out, these emails and the learning experiences that they'll be going through, that's my team that is building that up. 00:22:00.919 --> 00:22:03.159 Yeah, you you were telling me a little bit about that. 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:04.439 And it sounds really cool. 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:09.000 And I think something that, you know, there's a million ways to build this kind of stuff, you know. 00:22:09.159 --> 00:22:17.639 And and, you know, some of the most effective self-onboarding, to be honest with you, hasn't always necessarily been in app. 00:22:17.959 --> 00:22:23.159 Like I've gotten email drip campaigns from some vendors. 00:22:23.319 --> 00:22:26.759 What was one that I was talking about a lot a couple years ago? 00:22:26.919 --> 00:22:27.399 I forget. 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:44.199 But anyway, it's like these drip campaigns that are super effective in just giving you the basics and and distilling content into like bite-sized chunks because we're all adults and we have short attention spans because we're all on TikTok and we need stuff in bite-sized chunks, right? 00:22:44.439 --> 00:22:45.000 Yeah, exactly. 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:47.159 So I'm sure that's the world you're living in right now. 00:22:47.399 --> 00:22:57.480 Yeah, and we build our the digital CS team and my organization also is the customer education team building out the digital learning and the learning center. 00:22:57.719 --> 00:23:06.279 So we'll be able to do both and have ownership of the content and the experience. 00:23:06.679 --> 00:23:08.199 Yeah, that's really cool. 00:23:08.439 --> 00:23:09.319 That's really cool. 00:23:09.639 --> 00:23:17.959 Um and I I love one thing that you said, which is like I think you said I should probably own this. 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:35.559 And it'll have stuff in it. 00:23:35.639 --> 00:23:37.559 And yeah, yeah, it has all the information. 00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:42.359 From our perspective, it's very clearly laid out and all that kind of stuff, right? 00:23:42.679 --> 00:23:45.559 But that doesn't it that ticks the box, sure. 00:23:45.719 --> 00:23:46.039 Yeah. 00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:52.359 But it it doesn't drive any kind of, you know, engagement or advocacy or adoption. 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:54.039 Option or any of that. 00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:55.799 Yeah, exactly. 00:23:56.599 --> 00:23:56.919 Yeah. 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:02.599 I I I I mean I encounter that a lot in this space specifically. 00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:09.399 And I think I think part of it too is like, you know, other orgs don't really know how to execute on something like that. 00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:17.480 So there's like a a lack of expertise necessarily in in how to build those customer-facing motions out. 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:19.719 And so they just kind of don't do it. 00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:21.799 Yeah, that's so interesting to me. 00:24:21.879 --> 00:24:27.639 Like, I don't know, it just starts with one person who thinks like, hmm, maybe, maybe there's a better way. 00:24:27.799 --> 00:24:30.119 And uh maybe we should figure this out. 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.799 Yeah, it's it's a whole different kind of customer advocacy. 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:34.359 Yeah. 00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:42.439 It's not like really listening to the customer and taking their feedback and moving, it's like kind of shepherding the product experience a little bit. 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:43.000 Yeah. 00:24:43.159 --> 00:24:43.959 Yeah, for sure. 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:44.279 Yeah. 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:49.959 Um, I know they do like betas for a lot of the products before they release. 00:24:50.119 --> 00:25:01.480 So my goal is to get set up in those co cohorts early on so that I can be listening and getting feedback to help build these campaigns. 00:25:02.119 --> 00:25:03.000 That's a good idea. 00:25:03.159 --> 00:25:03.719 Yeah. 00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:05.240 Yeah, I dig that. 00:25:05.399 --> 00:25:08.199 So your team also owns community. 00:25:09.959 --> 00:25:10.439 Advocacy. 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:11.079 Yep. 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:11.480 Yeah. 00:25:11.719 --> 00:25:11.959 Yeah. 00:25:12.119 --> 00:25:15.000 So again, sounds a lot like customer marketing. 00:25:15.159 --> 00:25:23.559 We actually we don't have customer marketing in our orgs, so we kind of take on, you know, a lot of what customer marketing might might have in another org. 00:25:23.719 --> 00:25:33.240 So yes, we own the community and we like partially own advocacy, that is a shared, shared ownership across everybody. 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:43.399 But because our like advocacy program is mostly takes place in the community, it's like I own, I own that because I own the community. 00:25:43.719 --> 00:25:44.279 Yep. 00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:46.199 Yeah, that makes sense. 00:25:46.439 --> 00:25:48.039 So I guess tell me a little bit about that. 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:50.279 Did you was that launched? 00:25:50.359 --> 00:25:52.279 Was that already a thing when you came in? 00:25:52.679 --> 00:25:55.480 It was mid mid process. 00:25:55.719 --> 00:25:56.919 Um, they were getting it set up. 00:25:57.079 --> 00:26:04.519 I knew in my interview process that that was like gonna be

the number one thing um that they wanted me to do in the first few months that I was here. 00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:05.959 And so they were mid-process. 00:26:06.199 --> 00:26:08.839 They already selected their the community vendor. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:15.079 Um, and they had done a lot of like the foundational things in terms of like data integration and stuff like that. 00:26:15.159 --> 00:26:19.959 Um, but in terms of community strategy, um, that was a lot of mine. 00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:25.879 And then now I get to be like the moderator, facilitator. 00:26:25.959 --> 00:26:27.879 Um, hopefully it's a group effort. 00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:29.319 More and more people are getting involved. 00:26:29.399 --> 00:26:33.240 And a lot of our spaces in the community is meant to be customer led. 00:26:33.399 --> 00:26:37.079 Like that's the most valuable part for them is to be able to learn from each other. 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:43.240 So majority of our forums, like there's several different forums in our community that people can be a part of. 00:26:43.399 --> 00:26:48.839 Um majority of them are customer-to-customer peer-to-peer forums. 00:26:48.919 --> 00:26:56.919 And we like don't do a whole lot in there except see if there's like opportunities for us to answer questions or redirect as needed. 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:04.199 Other spaces in there are more of like a bulletin board where we want to show this webinar is coming up, or here's a new resource you might find helpful. 00:27:04.519 --> 00:27:06.519 So those are some of the other spaces. 00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:13.399 And then this community platform has like, I don't know if you're familiar with Influitive from back in the day. 00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:17.399 Um, they have like those mission type um engagements too. 00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:20.039 So we can push points out to our members. 00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:23.000 And so there's that gamification um component too. 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:30.439 And so it's fun to kind of think about what kind of content we want to push out in the community and get them engaged through that way as well. 00:27:30.919 --> 00:27:32.279 Like badges and stuff. 00:27:32.519 --> 00:27:33.559 Yes, yes. 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:34.679 So it is fun. 00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:36.679 The teacher and me, like I did. 00:27:36.839 --> 00:27:37.639 Oh yeah. 00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:46.039 Now, some of our customers, like they do not care about gamification at all, but they're there just for the peer-to-peer learning. 00:27:46.199 --> 00:27:49.000 Whereas some of our other customers are like, yeah, give me all the points. 00:27:49.079 --> 00:27:50.519 I want to be number one on the leaderboard. 00:27:50.679 --> 00:27:52.839 So there's something in there for everybody. 00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:55.079 Yeah, that's awesome. 00:27:55.319 --> 00:27:57.719 Um I'm trying to look up. 00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:03.319 We're gonna nerd uh we're gonna totally side channel uh side channel it. 00:28:03.399 --> 00:28:06.119 I'm gonna try to see if I can find this thing real quick. 00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:10.599 My wife and I, we got these pins off of the TikTok shop. 00:28:12.199 --> 00:28:14.759 I'm gonna show you a picture of it because it's hilarious. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:23.719 It's like, you know, when you get a gold star, um, you know, as a teacher, you give out gold stars or whatever. 00:28:23.879 --> 00:28:26.919 We got these pins, and this is the picture of the pin. 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:28.359 Oh my gosh. 00:28:28.919 --> 00:28:32.359 And it says you're did it, and it's like a really haphazard star. 00:28:34.279 --> 00:28:41.159 So we got like a dozen of these things, and once in a while, if somebody does something really cool, give them a your did it pin. 00:28:41.399 --> 00:28:42.119 I love that. 00:28:42.199 --> 00:28:43.559 That's hilarious. 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:47.079 Yeah, it's super funny, but it's that kind of thing. 00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:51.319 Like, you know, I love when you can interject like humor into these kinds of things too. 00:28:51.639 --> 00:29:00.199 That's what I'm still trying to figure out, like the customer base that we have, like how creative and how comedic can I try to be. 00:29:00.279 --> 00:29:01.079 Um, yeah. 00:29:01.399 --> 00:29:10.439 And if it will land correctly or not, especially since we have a global audience, like I don't know what you know how things are taken in other places. 00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:15.559 So I feel like I'm still testing the waters. 00:29:15.879 --> 00:29:17.240 It's it's tricky. 00:29:17.480 --> 00:29:29.159 One of my previous work experiences, we had a lot of customers in Europe, and specifically customers in Germany did not enjoy humor. 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:30.119 Yeah. 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:41.079 No shade to anyone who's listening in Germany, but like it's a very it's a very straightforward, and uh also I'm from Austria, full disclosure, so I speak German and it's all cool. 00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:48.519 But like, you know, it's a very straightforward form of communication where here's the facts, here's the bullets, see you later. 00:29:48.679 --> 00:29:49.000 Yeah. 00:29:49.159 --> 00:29:58.279 Where versus, you know, in North America and Canada, there's a lot of room for just being more casual and injecting humor. 00:29:58.519 --> 00:30:14.599 So what's interesting about that is is we, you know, in that in that gig, we actually started to segment our emails or our drip campaigns out by geography based on kind of formal, you know, how formal it needed to be. 00:30:14.919 --> 00:30:16.519 Yeah, I've considered that as well. 00:30:16.679 --> 00:30:19.079 We're not there yet, but yeah, I've wondered that as well. 00:30:19.319 --> 00:30:26.119 The community platform just recently got um gifies as part of like that, wasn't part of it. 00:30:26.199 --> 00:30:28.439 And so that's like my love language. 00:30:28.599 --> 00:30:32.759 And so I'm like, everything's

getting a gifie, and I think I'm the only one in there. 00:30:32.839 --> 00:30:35.639 I'm like, no, no one else is excited about this. 00:30:35.959 --> 00:30:42.119 You need to find that one other person in there who's sending gifts. 00:30:42.279 --> 00:31:00.519 So you are I would imagine in your day-to-day, as you're having meetings or chatting with customer-facing folks or whatever, probably I don't know, four or five, six times a day, you're encouraging somebody to go into the community and engage and all that kind of stuff. 00:31:00.679 --> 00:31:02.519 Yeah, like, oh, have you been in the community yet? 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:04.679 That would be a great idea for the community. 00:31:04.919 --> 00:31:05.959 Yeah, for sure. 00:31:06.439 --> 00:31:09.000 Yeah, and you're probably doing that with customers too, I'm guessing. 00:31:10.119 --> 00:31:10.679 Yeah. 00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:16.519 Um, it's it it's funny because the community is the community. 00:31:16.759 --> 00:31:39.959 I there's a really good reason why there are dedicated community managers in like large organizations and community teams, because it it takes conscious effort, constant pressure, and just that drive to on one end create the engagement and the interaction, which then creates value. 00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:48.119 But then on the other end, also to come in with massive value so that those who are going there, especially for the first time, are like, oh, this is cool. 00:31:48.199 --> 00:31:49.799 This is okay, you know? 00:31:50.039 --> 00:31:53.399 Yeah, like it's just the first challenge is just getting them in there. 00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:55.559 But yeah, that's the easy part. 00:31:55.879 --> 00:32:00.519 The hard part is getting them to come back over and over and over again. 00:32:00.919 --> 00:32:11.639 So are you seeing community as basically like where you're driving all of your customer engagements, you know, as where the webinars are, where the product updates are. 00:32:25.319 --> 00:32:28.919 Email still seems to be number one for our customers. 00:32:29.159 --> 00:32:39.480 Um and they've recently, the community platform did did recently launch like um like email notifications when new things are added. 00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:43.000 So there's still a little bit of room for improvement there. 00:32:43.159 --> 00:32:47.480 So our members will actually be notified, like, hey, come back in. 00:32:47.559 --> 00:32:52.359 There's something new for you, without me having to manually promote it all the time. 00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:53.399 Yeah. 00:32:53.719 --> 00:32:56.279 So hopefully that will continue to improve. 00:32:56.439 --> 00:32:59.399 I would love for the community to be our primary spot. 00:32:59.480 --> 00:33:01.559 And we're still like finding ways all the time. 00:33:01.719 --> 00:33:10.839 Like I just had a meeting yesterday with one of our CSMs who who owns a good handful of customers that are all from like the same like parent company. 00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:21.480 Um, and she was asking if we could open a private forum for all of those people to come together and like peer crowdsource from each other and stuff. 00:33:21.559 --> 00:33:24.279 I'm like, heck yeah, like how many more people is that in the community? 00:33:24.439 --> 00:33:25.240 Yes, please. 00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:27.000 Yeah, the answer is yes. 00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:27.559 Yeah. 00:33:30.679 --> 00:33:36.839 I was working in K-12 ed tech, and our platform was reliant on teachers. 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:57.719 So, like the principal or the um superintendent might purchase it and and they might even use it, but if it's the teachers that really are the ones that using it is going to make or break the renewal at the end of the year, um, you know, we spend so much time and attention on training these five people one time. 00:33:57.959 --> 00:34:09.960 And then we're like, okay, principal, who has a million other things to do, go train the the rest of your staff on how to use this tool according to best practice and consistently throughout the year. 00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:11.960 So, like, we cannot rely on that. 00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:15.880 We have to rely on other measures and who's going to do that. 00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:18.920 Um, it has to be built into the process. 00:34:19.240 --> 00:34:19.639 It does. 00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:33.320 And and I mean, how many times have you gone to an onboarding and the decision maker, person who signed the contract, team who made the decision to purchase is nowhere to be found, right? 00:34:33.719 --> 00:34:41.800 So it's like that hearts and minds rapport building all over again in the post-sale. 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:50.440 And it's interesting because there are, you know, there are some companies who do really cool, like inexpensive stuff when it comes to that. 00:34:50.599 --> 00:35:03.079 Like I'm I'm thinking teachers, you know, like I mean, it wouldn't cost a whole lot of money to like send a teacher a mug once they finished your course. 00:35:04.519 --> 00:35:06.599 Or once they do XYZ. 00:35:06.679 --> 00:35:16.679 You know, like it does it doesn't cost that much money to like do little those little acts of kindness, I think, are huge and like perfect for digital. 00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:17.240 Yeah. 00:35:17.719 --> 00:35:18.679 Come in and do stuff. 00:35:18.920 --> 00:35:19.719 Yeah, exactly. 00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:22.840 The threshold's pretty low, like the benchmark's pretty low. 00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:24.440 Anything is better than nothing. 00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:25.400 You totally. 00:35:25.559 --> 00:35:26.280 Yeah, exactly. 00:35:26.440 --> 00:35:33.639 So as we kind of close out, um, I always like to like to ask folks what they're paying attention to in terms of content, like what's in your content diet? 00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:34.440 What are you reading? 00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:36.119 What are you listening to? 00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:43.320 I used to be on

LinkedIn all the time, and I would learn from a lot of folks on LinkedIn. 00:35:44.039 --> 00:35:49.480 I have since stepped away from LinkedIn as being as active there and finding some more balance in my life. 00:35:49.559 --> 00:35:58.119 But we do still have a meeting with some of my former colleagues that we've all moved on to to other gigs now, but we're all still in the similar space. 00:35:58.360 --> 00:36:05.079 So we do come back together um weekly or monthly to share what we're working on, new things that we've seen. 00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:12.119 So that's where I find the most value is just hearing hearing from people I know, what other things that they're doing, what has worked and what hasn't worked. 00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:15.639 So that's what's in terms of digital CS and the work. 00:36:15.719 --> 00:36:17.480 That's that's the content. 00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:26.279 I mean, you can't argue with in-person stuff and staying connected to colleagues and you know, sharing best practices and stuff. 00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:28.119 So yeah, for sure. 00:36:28.679 --> 00:36:29.880 Well, this has been super cool. 00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:32.199 Um, where can people find you and engage with you? 00:36:32.279 --> 00:36:35.639 I mean, LinkedIn is a black hole sometimes for a lot of stuff. 00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:39.639 Yeah, even though I'm not on LinkedIn so much anymore. 00:36:39.799 --> 00:36:41.319 I do still have a profile there. 00:36:41.400 --> 00:36:45.880 I do still check it occasionally, so you can certainly still reach out to me on LinkedIn. 00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:48.199 I am, I will see it. 00:36:48.360 --> 00:36:49.639 I will connect with you. 00:36:49.799 --> 00:36:54.119 Um, and then we from there can connect again offline off of LinkedIn if needed. 00:36:54.199 --> 00:36:56.519 So yeah, happy to connect with anyone. 00:36:56.839 --> 00:36:57.799 That's awesome. 00:36:58.039 --> 00:37:01.239 Well, um, thanks for spending this time with me. 00:37:01.480 --> 00:37:04.839 It was cool to hear about the stuff that you're building. 00:37:05.079 --> 00:37:13.480 Um, and it's always fun to hear from folks who are kind of in the throes of building and where you are and what you know what you're doing. 00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:17.079 So that was really fun, and I appreciate you taking the time out of your Friday. 00:37:17.400 --> 00:37:18.920 Yeah, thank you so much. 00:37:19.079 --> 00:37:19.880 Thanks for asking me. 00:37:20.360 --> 00:37:23.559 Thank you for joining me for this episode of the Digital CX Podcast. 00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:28.279 If you like what we're doing, consider leaving us a review on your podcast platform of choice. 00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:29.079 It really helps. 00:37:29.239 --> 00:37:41.880 Don't forget, digitalcustomer success.com is where you can find extra resources, a chat bot trained on this show's content, and the Digital CX masterclass that helps you master digital and AI in CX. 00:37:42.119 --> 00:37:43.319 My name is Alex Turkovich. 00:37:43.480 --> 00:37:46.519 Thanks again for joining, and I will see you next time.