Membership

Tuesday Buzz: The Cereal Problem

A frustrating customer experience can suck all the joy out of membership, according to an exec who's had some bad luck with his cereal boxes over the years. Also: Maybe a video could help calm the nerves of your first-timers.

Customer experience is everything, even when it comes to a box of cereal.

That’s according to Keith Richard Chamberlain, a longtime executive and leader with experience in both the association and nonprofit spaces. In his latest blog post, he notes the often-frustrating issues he has with opening cereal packaging—which sounds like a situation that often ends in tears.

However, there’s a hidden point to his chatter about stale Frosted Flakes:

An organization’s customer experiences can be like a cereal box in many cases. The member anticipates the pleasure of a using a new service or product, excitement about joining a new committee, or participating for the first time at an event. They have heard many promises along the way: trust and invest in us and you’re life will be transformed, improved or easier. But after accessing your activities or using your services with expectations of being delighted and amazed, they are either frustrated, simply feel ho-hum, and/or walk away disappointed.

Are you doing enough to ensure that your members are feeling amazed rather than frustrated? Perhaps that’s something you should fix.

(Oh, and a piece of advice for Keith: Bagels and cream cheese will never let you down.)

A Clip for the First-Timers

If you’re heading to Detroit for ASAE’s 2015 Annual Meeting and Exposition, this clip may help you prepare for the conference. In it, Megan Denhardt, CAE, offers some useful tips for making your way through the event. Ever do something similar for your own event?

Other Links of Note

Could a pocket notebook be the life-organizing tool you need? The Simple Dollar‘s Trent Hamm makes a good case.

Being successful in a career doesn’t necessarily translate to being successful at chairing a committee. Association Executive Management’s David M. Patt offers some advice on helping them out.

Sometimes, the best emails are the ones left unsent. Now, in case you send one and then wish you hadn’t, Gmail has officially made the Undo Send feature available to everyone.

(moodboard/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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