Episode 14: “The DNA of CX and Communications” with Hailey Wilson

Personalization Gets Healthy: “Our mission at Illumina is all about improving human health by unlocking the power of the human genome. I'm sure most of your listeners have heard of 23andMe, Ancestry, and various DNA testing companies. In most part, that testing is being done on machines that Illumina makes. Illumina is all about turning your DNA into code. It's about digitizing biology. Where personalization comes into play is you're able to look at your human genome, digitize your DNA, and then give it to your doctor to better serve you. We're talking about predictive analysis and proactive health management. I think this is the future of our health and our medicine.”

“Customer Experience Communication Specialist” Defined: “Beyond DNA, we’re also pioneers in the marriage between customer communications and customer experience. It's founded in this belief that communication plays such an integral role in the customer's experience. We look at all of the different customer touchpoints and think beyond message, tone, and voice, but also in terms of timing and the other communications that are going to this customer. This focus helps us control communication across the entire customer journey. Where I'm sitting within customer experience really empowers me to be the voice of the customer and say, ‘No, actually I think we should look at this holistically and take a step back. What's the best strategy for the customer?’ The fact that I'm rubbing elbows with different functional areas of the business helps me have deep connections and we can strategize for what's best for the customer.”

The Biggest Communications Illusion: “Journey mapping and design thinking help us deeply understand our customers' needs – the things that make them anxious, the things that frustrate them, and the things that make them happy. Once we have that understanding, it really helps drive the strategy on how to improve or get more buy-in from the customer. Journey mapping is so fun and it is a good way of getting feedback from other departments within the company. It's great for breaking down silos but also building rapport. My favorite communications quote is ‘The biggest illusion in communication is that it happened.’ That's so true. You may think, ‘I'm communicating really well with my logistics partners. We have a meeting every week and we know we're doing’, but when you do journey mapping, you're like, ‘Wait a minute, I had no idea you guys did that.’ So, it's really great for building rapport between teams, and breaking down silos and misconceptions that a team may hold about another team.”

Be Brief, Succinct, and Meaningful: I think that personalization will continue to be King. If personalization is King, then data is Queen. You have to make sure that data is totally clean to target customers with relevant messaging. As for what I'm seeing in terms of where the customer experience journey is going versus customer communication, I think that brevity is going to be increasingly important. As people continue to get busy and work-life balance seems sort of increasingly blurry, people don't have time to sit and revel in the experience with your company. Every single touchpoint will add up to the full customer experience. So, being brief, succinct, and meaningful is going to be increasingly more important over the next 5 to 10 years.” 

To dive into these topics and more, check out our podcast, Reimagining Communications.