There is no shortage of data on the interwebs but much of it is not worth reading. The trick is to find the information written by the people that add value and challenge your thinking. Then listen to what they say and hone your ideas against them.
These are some of the people I follow and find constructive. It is by no means an exhaustive list and I certainly follow others.
I don’t agree with everything they write, but when the people on this list have something to say I think it’s worthwhile listening.
As I look down the list I notice that while there is a good amount of traditional service based writers here, there is also a lot of systems thinking and process focus.
I think that mixing the two together is a very strong platform on which to build your customer experience success.
Here’s my list in alphabetical order:
1. Annette Franz
Twitter: @annettefranz
Website: CX Journey
Annette’s CX Journey blog is always worth reading. Not focused on one area of Customer Experience, the blog explores many different areas including employee experience and leadership.
2. Arie Goldshlager
Twitter: @ariegoldshalger
Website: Arie Goldshlager
Customer insight, strategy and lifecycle management are Arie’s main focuses, which are very similar to Genroe’s focus areas.
His website is good but his twitter feed is great. Jump on board for a curated stream of great content.
3. Bob Thomson
Twitter: @Bob_Thompson
Website: CustomerThink
This will sound a little self-serving as I’m a contributor to Bob’s CustomerThink site but he sends out a stream of good quality content on a range of subjects.
It’s a bit of a fire-hose of information but worth keeping on top of.
4. Bruce Temkin
Twitter: @btemkin
Website: Experience Matters
An ex-Forrester analyst, Bruce is focused on the customer experience field and produces some good research.
I’ll say I don’t agree with all of his theoretical constructs but there is useful insight to be unearthed from following him and reviewing his research.
5. Cal Newport
Website: Cal Newport
Twitter: None – follow his blog
Cal has nothing overtly to do with customer experience, customer feedback or any of the other related topics on which I write. He’s an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University.
So why is he on this list? Simply because his Study Hacks blog makes you think about how to think and act to generate more insightful work.
Read for a while and you’ll see what I mean.
6. Colin Shaw
Twitter: @ColinShaw_CX
Website: Beyond Philosophy
Colin is another one of the writers with whom I find myself disagreeing from time to time (maybe there’s a theme here) but that just keeps me watching what he has to say.
7. Flavio Martins
Twitter: @flavmartins
Website: Win The Customer
Prolific, up-beat and focused on customer service is how I’d describe Flavio. Follow him on Twitter for a non-stop stream of useful articles and good ideas. You won’t be alone.
8. Pete Abilla
Twitter: @Shmula
Website: Shmula
Shmula.com calls itself a customer experience blog but much of the content is around Lean and 6 Sigma topics. This might surprise some readers but the link between customer experience, process improvement and customer feedback is very tight.
Pete provides lots of good content on how to apply these quality methods to the customer experience question.
And if you’re really keen you can join his Lean Six Sigma program.
9. Ron Shevlin
Twitter: @rshevlin
Website: Snarketing 2.0
There’s no holding back over at Snarketing 2.0, Ron’s blog. Many a sacred cow has been hauled over the proverbial coals and found wanting. (Is that a mixed metaphor?)
I certainly don’t agree with everything that he has to say, as my comments on some of his posts show, but testing your ideas against his arguments will strengthen them.
10. Shep Hyken
Shep’s thing is customer service and he knows a lot about his thing. Follow his stream to get a constant update of great customer service articles and ideas.
He does the hard work of filtering out the good content to save you time, then adds his own take to up the value even more: definitely worth following.
