Customer What?: The Honest and Practical Guide to Customer Experience
Ian Golding —
Category: Atención al Cliente & Experiencia
Customer What?: The Honest and Practical Guide to Customer Experience is a straightforward manual for transitioning from "doing random CX activities" to managing the experience as a system. Ian Golding, a global authority in the discipline, debunks myths (CX is not about "being nice" or "putting on smiles") and clarifies processes, governance, metrics, and culture to ensure that the brand promise is fulfilled consistently, not just "when it's convenient."
What is it about exactly? The book explains how to create, lead, and sustain a Customer Experience practice that connects purpose, journey design, operations, and measurement. The central thesis: CX is a cross-cutting capability—not a campaign—that must influence product decisions, processes, people, and technology, with voice of the customer (VoC) and experience economy as engines of continuous improvement. The pillars of the book (in short) Purpose and promise Define who you exist for and what change you promise. The promise guides the design of daily decisions (policies, pricing, timing, language). CX strategy and governance A clear plan (objectives, scope, use cases) and a structure that makes it real: responsible parties, follow-up rituals, budget, and authority to change processes. Know your customer Continuous research: people, needs, contexts, frictions, and motivations. Without real understanding, you optimize the wrong things. Journey management (not just “mapping”) Mapping serves to prioritize; managing involves journey owners, standards, SLAs, backlogs, and KPIs by stage. Balanced measurement Mix perception (NPS, CSAT, CES), behavior (retention, repeat, complaints, timing), and finances (LTV, cost of failure, revenue earned through recommendations). VoC and “closed loop” Listen through multiple channels (surveys, complaints, social media, usage data), close the loop with customers, and perform root-cause analysis to fix systemic issues. Improvement and redesign Resolve root causes using simplification and lean techniques; eliminate “sludge” (unnecessary frictions) and dark patterns. People and culture Frontline and back-office capabilities, empowerment to resolve issues, incentives aligned with CX, and leadership that sets an example. Mature your practice From the “Naive” level (intentions) to “Natural” (integrated CX): criteria, consistency, and continuous learning. What you will learn with “Customer What?” How to turn promises into operational standards by journey. How to prioritize using VoC, business, and risk data, not by “noise”. How to measure what matters (perception + behavior + €) and link it to decisions. How to close the loop with customers and teams to learn and improve. How to govern