The HBR gives an interesting look into the changing landscape of pro-customer successeting (my own term coined as marketing, customer service, and product management slowly morph into an amorphous blob of goo before our very eyes). It gives fascinating insight into how successful companies are putting value, and therefore money, into the customer journey.
As a customer success professional, I can’t help but admire the scale and finesse achieved by Sungevity (a solar panel retailer) as described in this article. This is customer onboarding and marketing on steroids. Super steroids with a heavy dose of antibiotics thrown in, then fed methamphetamine … just for kicks. Seriously though, the tech and planning required to pull this type of thing off is impressive.
That said, the human in me says it’s creepy as all get out. A company I’ve never heard of sends me an email that includes a link to a site with images of my home …
I appreciate hubris as much as the next homo sapiens, but there is a line that should not be crossed. When I’m strategizing with my team on a new onboarding and education strategy, complete with behavioural touch points, I’m always sensitive to how much is too much.
Let’s leave the creepy to Google.
