Welcome to the first issue of cxploration! I really appreciate your support and hope you’re excited about making ecommerce better for buyers.

Whether you’re a founder, marketer, or CX pro, odds are you’re also a customer. So let’s raise the bar for everyone.

That brings me to the topic of this first issue: what happens when CX meets marketing? What would it look like for brands (and buyers) if the customer experience were considered at every touchpoint?

Let’s dive in…

Link Diving

Was the Golden Era of DTC all that golden?

Do you have fellow marketers or founders who make you feel like you’re not alone? Or like you’re not the only person challenging the status quo? I have a few that I look up to, but Kristen LaFrance is high on the list.

As a guest on the Conversational Commerce podcast, Kristen and host Stephanie Griffith break down the current state of DTC marketing and what brands are doing (or not doing) to earn customer loyalty. It’s worth listening to the whole conversation, but since it clocks in at 80 minutes, let me hype it up for you. Listen on your next walk to discover…

• Why the “Golden Era” of DTC was really only golden for brands (and was actually kind of shitty for customers… oops!)
• Why bespoke experiences are the antidote to blands
• An important question for founders to ask themselves to solve the “mystery” of retention (hint: it involves popping on your customer hat!)
• How to tap into the power shift that’s currently happening in ecommerce, where customers are looking for brands who are doing more than the bare minimum
• Why storytelling and sharing your why are more important than ever

Overall, it has me thinking a lot about long-term brand affinity and how both Marketing and Customer Experiences can shape that.

🎙Listen now: Conversational Commerce​

. . .

The brand marketing reckoning

About 2 weeks ago when I was making excuses for not launching this newsletter, a surprising subject line appeared in my inbox. It wasn’t surprising because I disagreed. It was surprising because I wasn’t the one who wrote it.

“CX Is The New Brand Marketing” isn’t far off from some notes I was jotting down last fall while brainstorming the guiding principles for cxploration. And this newsletter issue is speaking my language.

I’ll leave you with the one quote I keep coming back to:

Before you click over to read Cody’s newsletter, ask yourself this: is that quote about CX or Marketing? (Why not both? 🤷‍♀️)

If you enjoy this one, Cody just sent out a follow-up piece on Tuesday with this gem [edited slightly for length]:

I suspect they could get away with very little focus on CX, too! That quote pairs beautifully with the Conversational Commerce podcast episode (and with a tweet I’ll share below. Themes are emerging, people. Themes are emerging).

📧 Read Cody's article here: CX Is The New Brand Marketing​

Delight Discovery

Let's celebrate brands that are doing things right, raising the ecommerce bar, and delighting their customers. This week’s Delight Discovery is an email from MYSA Natural Wine.

It’s a marketing email, but you really can’t tell except for the Unsubscribe details at the bottom. A plain-text email sent from a founder (with her personal email address as the reply-to!) is enough to win me over. But a few other things here on the copy side really delighted me.

🥰 The tone is so casual: “I had a lot of fun putting this one together” → This makes me think that Holly is super hands-on as a founder and her excitement transfers over to me

🥰 Even when she’s talking about features, she still keeps things conversational: “I was able to squeeze in a couple really excellent wines” → When I read this, I think she’s really fighting for me by working hard to get these wine allocations

🥰 She asks for replies in an authentic way (this is good for customers and her brand. yes, market research can be this easy!)

Buried Treasure

When we listen to customers, we find buried treasure. Here’s this week’s featured product review that’s full of swipe-worthy customer language.

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Seems like “a supplement so good your cat will sip it from the dropper” is a pretty great value prop (especially given that the last medicine I gave a cat made her foam at the mouth and sprint around the house in circles)

CX Twitter

I’ve spent months trying to tap into CX Twitter and I’ve determined it doesn’t exist (to be fair, it seems to consist solely of Eli Weiss 😂). So I’ll do it myself! Here are a few Tweets (new and old) that caught my eye this week.

Kristen ✨ @kristenxjones @wunderkeks @getgraza Hmmm well I am just as excited!!! Language on your site is 48hrs/2 day shipping so maybe it’s a matter of language (regarding pitchforks) HANS, from Wunderkeks @wunderkeks How do I make people get as excited for their wait for cookies as I am for my @getgraza, which is going to clock in at almost a month? Usually the pitchforks come out at about hour 48! pic.twitter.com/ylifmk63mj February 27th 2022 0 Retweets 1 Likes

Kristen makes a solid point here. Setting shipping expectations (honestly!) is a great way to fend off the pitchforks!

Megan Baird @atMeganBaird ecom CX ecom marketing 🤝 caring about your customers?!? February 25th 2022 0 Retweets 2 Likes

Slipping my own tweet in here because... is it this simple? I kind of think it is.

Nik Sharma @mrsharma People who say "DTC is now dead" have never really built a brand before. They were really good at arbitrating an ad platform and knowing how to get customers to convert with mediocre ads and websites. DTC is not "dead" at all. In fact, it's just getting started. February 22nd 2022 45 Retweets 366 Likes

More shots fired (see also the links from KLF and Cody) re: DTC brands that actually just hacked their way to financial success without taking the time to build a brand or care for their customers.

Let me know what kind of CX, marketing, and customer-focused curiosities you've been exploring lately. I'd love to hear what's on your mind.

- Megan