Customer experience has become more influential as expectations rise and digital platforms expand.
getty
It used to be that customer satisfaction alone was king, but the market has moved.
Today, the companies that stand out don’t just create repeat customers. They create raving fans. How do they do this? Through a clear customer experience strategy, consistent execution, and deliberate follow-through on online reviews and feedback.
Satisfaction is the minimum required to stay credible in a world where customers talk publicly and instantly. Customer experience has become more influential as expectations rise and digital platforms expand. In that reality, a single negative Google review can tarnish a company’s reputation, while consistently positive experiences build trust and customer loyalty.
That dynamic changes the job. Customer experience can’t be a “nice to have” initiative. It must be built into the way the business runs.
Raving Fans
The turning point for many leaders is realizing that being “good enough” doesn’t create advocates. Ken Blanchard’s Raving Fans makes the point plainly, pointing out that just having satisfied customers isn’t good enough anymore.
At Hubbell, the customer experience gets treated like a direct output of operations, not a brand message. The experience is shaped by three pillars that people can feel immediately: quality, accuracy, and speed. When those three are aligned, customers get what they expected, and the business earns the right to exceed expectations.
The definition of “customer” also expands. External customers include buyers, residents, and clients. Internal customers include associates and trade partners who shape day-to-day delivery. Ignore the internal experience long enough, and the external experience inevitably cracks.
Hoogle High Fives
If the goal is creating raving fans externally, internal “fans” can’t be optional. One practical way to make internal commitment visible is to recognize the behavior that drives great experiences. At Hubbell, that recognition became a habit through one of our internal reputation management strategies, called “Hoogle High Five,” a program designed to spotlight teammates who go above and beyond in a quick, easy digital format.
This initiative has been one of our most successful in fostering a positive workplace, with thousands of high fives in the first six months. It aligns well with the idea of rewarding people for being their best, even in the day-to-day. Here is how we started it.
- First, an associate can nominate anyone in the company. That nomination is reviewed, submitted, and sent to that nominated associate AND their manager.
- Then, we announced that anyone who nominated someone for a Hoogle High Five would be entered into a random drawing.
- Eight people would be selected each month, and each would receive a $100 reward.
This aligns with our “Eight to Great” culture, which has completely changed the game. Before the contest, we averaged about 20 high fives per month. After we introduced it, that number jumped to around 250 per month.
The process is simple. Anyone can submit a Hoogle High Five, and I receive and read every nomination. It’s amazing to see the variety of recognition people give each other, from simple acts of kindness to going above and beyond in their roles. The feedback isn’t hidden. Anyone in the company can read these high fives, making it a shared experience.
Overall, the Hoogle High Five has become a core part of our company culture. It’s not just a recognition program; it reinforces the behaviors and attitudes we value most. By encouraging people to show appreciation for one another, we’ve created an environment where passion and positivity thrive.
Review Strategy and Handling Negative Feedback
A customer experience strategy must include measurement and feedback, or it will drift into guesswork.
Feedback can be gathered systematically. For example, platforms like Avid Ratings and Yardi help capture homebuyer or renter satisfaction and highlight patterns that might not show up in individual conversations. In senior living, managers engage residents directly—asking about meals, activities, and overall experience—so issues surface early while they are still easy to fix.
Great service also needs an “ask.” Delivering the experience is crucial, but actively gathering feedback and managing how processes are perceived matters too, especially in the public arena of online reviews.
Of course, not every review is positive. That’s where discipline matters. Low ratings (1–3 stars) should be reviewed, root causes identified, and responses handled transparently and quickly. Customers can tell when a company owns an issue instead of dodging it.
Turning Service into a Marketing Engine
When quality, accuracy, and speed are consistent, service stops being a cost center and starts acting like marketing. Positive experiences build trust and customer loyalty, and they also reduce the power of the occasional dissatisfied voice because the broader reputation is strong.
Creating raving fans is not a seasonal push. It’s an all-year feedback-and-improvement cycle. So start by building a simple year-round plan: define what “great” means in daily execution (quality, accuracy, speed), decide when the organization will request reviews, assign ownership for responding to low ratings, and create a rhythm for sharing insights internally. Then reinforce the behaviors that create great experiences through recognition and visibility.