Welcome back to our newest series here at CCW Digital, “Top Headlines In CX News This Week,” where we’ll be handpicking and highlighting the most interesting news stories in customer contact and business just for your learning pleasure.
As we settle into a long weekend news cycle filled with holiday deals, heartwarming stories of gratitude, and end-of-year reflection, now is as good a time as any to catch you up on this week’s need-to-knows.
One of those things is how grateful I am to have worked with, met, learned from and formed friendships with so many of you–online and in-person–over this past year. Whether you’ve been a part of our Seminar Series, shared a happy hour laugh at CCW Las Vegas, sat in on a panel with me during CCW Nashville, participated in my Day In The CX Life series, you’ve made this community about so much more than url links and data trends. You all are what make these events and series so worth it for our team.
Wishing you all a restful weekend of togetherness and gratitude.
Now, onto the news.
Appreciate Your Customers? Write Them A Thank You Card
It’s all about an attitude of gratitude this week, so what better way to celebrate than showing your customers a little love? Snail mail is the key to long-lasting relationship building, and it’s something that Hallmark, essentially the authority on holiday greetings, knows well:
“When you care for your customers, not only do you improve the likelihood of repeat business, you also create your own advocates who are loyal to your brand and determined to spread the good news of your customer service.”
Avoid writer’s block by taking a look at their guide on how to craft a message that works for your organization. And if you’ve got a lot of customers to send a thank you to, I recommend you start sending them off this weekend if you want any hope of getting them into mailboxes by January 1, 2024.
Sam Altman Out As OpenAI CEO, Spelling Woes For ChatGPT
Earlier this year CCW Digital reported on the OpenAI CEO’s relationship with generative AI. At the time, he had his doubts on whether ChatGPT was an improvement to society. As it turns out, the company had its own doubts in regard to him: Altman got the boot on Friday of last week.
By Monday it was announced that he would be heading to Microsoft to pursue a new AI project, reports Fortune.
“Although Microsoft stock is riding near an all-time high on the coup of adding Altman, it’s not a total win for the company, which may still have to pay billions for its existing obligations to OpenAI.
Microsoft is now also on the hook for building up a new AI research organization under Altman and Brockman within its ranks. Even worse, some of Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI could end up a sunk cost as Altman loyalists defect from the startup, which may be unable to fulfill its contractual obligations to Microsoft.”
Read more on the situation here.
Holiday Travel To Hit Record High
Home for the holidays is in full swing, and after years of pandemic travel slowdown wheels are going up at record rates this season. Per the Associated Press, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week will be the busiest days to fly–the Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 2.6 million passengers on Tuesday and 2.7 million passengers on Wednesday.
After last year’s Southwest flight debacle and United’s share of stranded passengers this year, it’ll be interesting to see what airlines and travel companies will make out on the other end with high CSAT scores this year…
Cursive’s Branding History Is Being Rewritten By GenZ
Cursive handwriting has long been regarded as a sophisticated, personal and detail-oriented way to write. When it comes to branding and logos, cursive fonts bring that familiar, personalized touch to organizations. Companies focused on customer centricity want to create relationships with consumers that goes beyond a purchase order. Some of these brands, like Coca-Cola, are considered staples at gatherings that create community.
Despite the fact that those of a certain age still write in cursive and remember being taught the skill in school, today’s generation of students are less familiar with the writing style. Now, the phasing out of cursive is being felt beyond the classroom–some younger consumers can no longer relate to the comforting and familiar swirling font.
"Were corporate suits with no respect for the craft of hand-lettering or decades of brand equity to blame,” asks Fast Company. “Or perhaps it was the nation’s schools who, in their refusal to teach children cursive, had spawned a generation of youth who could no sooner read a script logo than a Greek menu?”
Black Friday, Long Weekend Spending Primed To Hit Highs
After a year of economic uncertainty, customers are trying to stretch their dollar as much as possible. While we may not be fist-fighting for flat screen TVs at 5 am on Friday morning as often, Americans are deeper into the post-Thanksgiving buying craze than ever. In fact, some of those deals are already being taken advantage of across brick-and-mortar and ecommerce retailers as I type this.
All-in-all, Bloomberg anticipates that customers will “spend an average of $567 during Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping events, up 13% from last year.”