The 10-Second Customer Journey: The CXO's playbook for growing and retaining customers in a digital world

by Todd Unger

Overview

The customer changed. And marketers, advertisers and business owners are still playing catch-up in a world where buying decisions are made not in months or days, but in seconds.

The enemy in today’s customer environment? FRICTION. And those who can minimize friction, guiding potential buyers rapidly through the ‘tornado funnel’ buying process, will win.

But taming friction is no small feat. It takes the seamless integration of marketing, product, commerce and service into a cohesive, friction-free customer experience. And that’s something today’s siloed companies are still not set up to do, resulting in a bevy of new C-Suite leaders, including the Chief Experience Officer (CXO).

The 10-second Customer Journey provides the playbook for growing and retaining customers in a landscape transformed by digital.

Todd Unger, CXO of the American Medical Association, provides a step-by-step guide based on three decades of consumer marketing, advertising, digital product and digital marketing and commerce experience. He’ll teach you how to become your own Chief Friction-Reduction Officer and reignite customer growth and engagement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781788605038
Publisher:	Practical Inspiration Publishing
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Todd Unger is Chief Experience Officer (CXO) of the American Medical Association, where he has driven record growth and gained international recognition for the AMA CX program.

A transformational marketing and digital executive, Unger’s experience places him at the nexus of e-commerce, content, technology, product development and marketing, the building blocks of today’s customer experience.

Table of Contents

• Cover Page
• Praise for The 10-Second Customer Journey
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• The journey begins
• Chapter 1: The accidental CXO
• Chapter 2: The need for speed
• The playbook
• Chapter 3: Customer experience starts with the customer
• Chapter 4: Get The Nod
• Chapter 5: Creating products that don’t suck
• Chapter 6: Telling your story
• Chapter 7: #FYCOP (Fix your checkout page)
• Chapter 8: Developing a test-and-learn culture
• Chapter 9: CX marks the spot
• The journey ahead
• Chapter 10: The friction-free future
• Chapter 11: Bringing it all together, together
• Recommended reading
• Acknowledgments
• Index
• About the author

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Having led customer experience and overseen this critical business function, I have personally experienced the struggle of making an abstract topic concrete in different organizations. Todd turns decades of experience into practical advice with actionable approaches that anyone can understand. Finally! - Jeffrey J. Jones II, President and Chief Executive Officer of H&R Block, Former President Global Ride Sharing of Uber, Former Chief Marketing Officer of Target

In The 10-Second Customer Journey, Todd distills more than 30 years of marketing and digital experience into an actionable roadmap for driving growth in today’s marketplace. More importantly, this book shows how seemingly unrelated parts of a career accumulate and layer on top of one another, until one day, they come together in a way that’s perfect for the times. This is an excellent guide to modern-day marketing and customer experience and the role of the Chief Experience Officer in driving the future. - James Reed, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Reed and Author of Life’s Work, The 7-Second CV, and Why You?

For brands and companies to grow, they will need to excel in every aspect of customer experience. This book illuminates what experience is in all its complexity. It shows how critical it is to remove friction in every part of the customer’s journey, no matter where that journey begins or where it goes. A must-read for every business and business leader since you can’t build a business without world-class customer experience. This is a primer on optimizing experience that is both actionable and inspiring. - Rishad Tobaccowala, Author of Restoring the Soul of
Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data, Former Chief Strategist of Publicis Groupe

The 10-Second Customer Journey beautifully melds critical concepts that I have learned (often the hard way) over the course of a long career, with a few that are uniquely suited to help modern marketers navigate a complex, cluttered environment to grab all the customers they need. It’s a great example of business writing that will be a mandatory read for my “Customer Empathy & Brand Experience Design” course at Duke, and I’m already putting it to great use counseling established and startup brands. True to its title, The 10-Second Customer Journey is a fast path to marketing excellence. - Brad Brinegar, Chairman Emeritus of McKinney and Executive In Residence at the Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative

As CEO of the American Medical Association, I’ve seen firsthand the power of The 10-Second Customer Journey playbook in action. Todd’s approach has transformed our growth trajectory, audience understanding, and digital platform. Even more, his growth-driven view of customer experience has increased teamwork and helped unify our mission and marketing initiatives. It’s been instrumental in fulfilling our role as Physicians’ Powerful Ally in Patient Care™. - James L. Madara, MD, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President of the American Medical Association

Todd Unger connects the dots between old-school marketing know-how and modern digital-savvy power in this practical guide to reaching today’s consumer. Useful, interesting, helpful... You will keep this book around for reference. - Donn Davis, Founder and Chairman of Professional Fighters League

Do you know how to convert browsers into customers in just ten seconds, and keep them for life? Todd compellingly argues that every 10-second customer interaction is a critical make-or-break experience. These moments define your relationship with customers, so handle them with the utmost care. Todd distills his decades of experience into a crisp playbook for executives and all customer-facing team members. From advice on “creating products that don’t suck” to guidance on “developing a test- and-learn culture,” this book is a treasure trove of hard-earned lessons. You owe it to your customers, and your business, to heed his advice. - Chunka Mui, Co-author of A Brief History of a Perfect Future: Inventing the World We Can Proudly Leave Our Kids by 2050

Over the years, I have observed hundreds, if not thousands, of people enter the realm of customer experience management with limited knowledge of how to adapt to and succeed in wrapping their arms around the discipline. Todd does a phenomenal job helping inform the scope and impact of getting introduced to this critical lifeline for true success. Great job pulling from real-life experience. Way to go, Todd! If you want to succeed, you’d better read! - Lou Carbone, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Experience Engineering, Inc., and Professor at Michigan State UniversityBroad School of Business

Disconnections across leadership, teams, and operations have always been a huge obstacle to great customer experience. As Todd points out in The 10-Second Customer Journey, today’s split- second buying decisions make the stakes even higher. As one of the first Chief Customer Officers in the United States and an early leader in the field of customer experience (CX), I found the book’s customer-first approach spot on. At its heart, Todd’s playbook isn’t just about technology, it’s about integrating customer insight and technology to deliver your brand’s promise. This book is indispensable reading for anyone working in or leading customer experience efforts today. - Jeanne Bliss, Author of Chief Customer Officer 2.0 and Co-founder of the Customer Experience Professionals Association

The realities of today’s digital economy are very challenging to navigate. There are constant changes in platforms, tools, regulations, and the introduction of trending mediums that require speculation and risk taking, such as the Metaverse and AI. Todd has had incredible success as a leader in marketing over decades, and his track record speaks for itself. The 10-Second Customer Journey breaks down how to remove the noise in the term “digital transformation” and focus on the core pillars and playbooks of growth marketing. This is a must-read not only for Chief Marketing Officers, but also for Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers so they can articulate strategies to their board, ask the right questions in leadership and management meetings, and be fluent in growth for the rising digital economy. - Reid Lappin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vokal, a Leading Growth Agency

Todd has drawn on his decades of senior corporate experience and enduring passion for customer excellence and re-writes the rules for customer experience in the split-second digital age. This groundbreaking book covers everything from outlining the critical role of Chief Experience Officers to developing a customer experience vison and detailed playbook for action. Finally, we have the guide we need to win the 10-second customer journey. - Claire O’Neill, Former UK Business Minister and Global Decarbonization Advisor

Marketing has become wildly complicated. This book turns complex tactics into a clear road map for action. Anyone managing a brand or company will benefit from the terrific frameworks and insights in this book. - Tim Calkins, Clinical Professor of Marketing at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

In The 10-Second Customer Journey, Todd nails the importance of delivering frictionless experiences to grow any business. Even better, he delivers practical advice on how to do it well. A great read for marketers and management focused on exceptional customer experience. - Julia Fitzgerald, Chief Marketing Officer of Build-A-Bear and Author of the Best Seller Midsize