Welcome to the first episode of the Custellence Vidcast–CX Minutes
In this episode, we are honoured to feature Gül Heper-Jämterud, from Oculos. Gül is a senior CX leader with over two decades of experience working across diverse industries. She has built a career on helping businesses create innovative and impactful customer experiences, and she brings this wealth of knowledge to our conversation. Get insights of the connection between CX and the employee experience, how to balance automation, useful CX tools and more.
CX Minutes with Gül Heper-Jämteru, Oculos and our host Sabina Persson, Custellence.
Here’s a glimpse into what Gül Heper-Jämterud shares in this episode:
The relationship between employee experience (EX) and CX:
Gül discusses why organizations must prioritize their employees’ well-being and engagement to create genuine and lasting connections with customers.
“Employee experience is the foundation of any truly great customer experience. Without alignment, businesses miss out on the opportunity to build trust, earn loyalty and differentiate themselves in the market.” –Gül Heper-Jämterud, Oculos
Balancing automation with human empathy
While automation can enhance efficiency and consistency, Gül explains why businesses must also invest in creativity and empathy to stand out in competitive markets.
Cross-industry collaboration as a tool for innovation
Gül highlights the value of applying proven methods from one sector to others, especially for addressing unmet needs and driving change.
Conclusion
Gül Heper-Jämterud highlights how fostering team alignment and leveraging customer data are key to enhancing decision-making and driving business value. Her thoughtful approach offers practical strategies for CX professionals at all levels, making this episode relevant whether you’re just starting in CX or are a seasoned leader.
At the heart of her advice is a powerful reminder:
“Be the actual customer to avoid the inside perspective. It’s easy to lose sight of what truly matters when you’re stuck in an internal mindset. Step into your customers’ shoes to deliver real value.” –Gül Heper-Jämterud, Oculos
This episode challenges you to rethink your strategy and approach to customer experience, offering actionable insights to create meaningful change in your organization.
Transcript
Welcome
0:08 Sabina Persson, Custellence: Right so hi I’m Sabina Persson from Custellence and you are so welcome to this very first episode of our new video cast. It’s called CX Minutes and it’s six questions six minutes and it’s all about customer experience.
Now this is the first in the series of episodes where we are trying to bring you actionable insights practical knowhow and personal stories from our top customer experience professionals all in just six minutes. So in less than a coffee break this series is your go-to for quick value packed episodes to inspire and elevate your custom experience work.
And for this pilot episode my first guest is Gül Heper-Jämterud, welcome to CX Minutes Gül!
1:00 Gül Heper-Jämterud, Oculos: Thank you so much it’s a pleasure to be part of this CX Minutes. It’s really one of my favourite topics to talk about, so thank you for the invitation.
1:12 Sabina: Great and so how are you today I mean it’s getting closer to soon to be the end of the day here for both of us but have you had a good day so far?
1:18 Gül: Absolutely I would definitely say so, that’s the time of the year.
1:27 Sabina: So we’re going to jump into the questions real soon in just a minute but before we start. Could you just tell me quickly who you are and what you do?
1:35 Gül: Absolutely so my name is Gül as Sabina mentioned. And I’ve been working with customer experiences, innovation, marketing, a very holistic perspective for about 20 years.
So I’ve been working on the agency side for many years. But also working globally for companies such as Absolute Vodka, locally for Nespresso, Coca-Cola and so on. So it’s really great to have all this wide kind of industry experience to be with me.
2:13 Sabina: You have a lot of experience and of course you have a broad variety of experience from many Industries but also within the CX sort of space right?
2:21 Gül: Exactly especially that.
2:25 Sabina: That’s why we also have you here. But also we’re so happy to jump into the questions I think we’re going to do now. So are you ready for the first one?
What does customer experience mean to you?
2:34 Sabina: Absolutely! Okay, so what does customer experience, this is an easy one I would say, but it’s also a hard one. What does customer experience mean to you?
2:52 Gül: I think it could be a very simple answer. But in a way it’s about creating true relevant value for your customers. But it’s also where businesses really can differentiate. When it comes to aligning company and customer expectations to really foster the trust and loyalty.
But it’s also about another dimension to me and that is the employee experience. Because that is the foundation of creating a really, thought through customer experience. So I think to me those are very tied together.
What is a CX tool or framework that you can’t live without?
3:18 Sabina: Absolutely and I totally agree about what people I think they call it EX (employee experience) right so you’ve got CX which is customer experience. And of course really tied into that is how the employee experience is as well.
Okay thank you for that question or answer. Number two this is the short one. What is a CX tool or framework that you can’t live without?
3:50 Gül: That could also be a very simple answer. But I would say key to success is for me throughout the years working with a lot of CX projects, it’s about creating the internal alignment.
So having integrated meetings so forums where you work cross functional. And then you can add the tools and the frameworks on top of it. So when you have this internal alignment you have the same mindset on the CX (customer experience), the customer, the business value and so on.
And in a wider perspective. I always been using customer or value proposition canvases, business canvases. Because that also includes the the customer needs and also the employee experience. But it in addition it brings the business value. So if you work with these kind of frameworks or tools, you can actually get access and bring the alignment with you to the top management. Because you really need them on board.
And the great thing is also another tool that I’ve been working on for a few years. And that’s why I’m so happy to be part of CX Minutes. Is that I’ve been using Custellence for a few years. In different industries and businesses. And that is also because it helps to bring this kind of internal alignment. You can work with it cross-dimensional and throughout the different teams.
And what I always do is that I always add the systems and the data in order to get the full picture. Not just the kind of the the pre and post and during journeys, but also adding all the different values that is relevant for your teams in the organization.
How do you balance automation and the human touch?
5:26 Sabina: Got it, thank you. Now another short one, how do you balance automation and the human touch? I guess this is a really sort of actual question many professionals kind of ask themselves these days. With AI and and everything. What would you say is your answer to that?
5:45 Gül: I think automation is great when it comes to efficiency and consistency. But I’m often saying that if you look at a different companies in a different or different Industries. If you are using the same technology and you’re using the same insight how you do do you actually differentiate.
And adding the the human touch or bringing empathy and creativity actually adds that differentiation. So I would say it’s key. And of course I mean you can only automate so much, like you said as well so that’s really interesting.
How does your organization approach innovation in CX?
6:30 Sabina: Now I’m getting. This is question number four and this is supposed to be a little bit in depth. How does your organization approach innovation in CX?
6:48 Gül: So I work as strategy lead at an agency called Oculos. And we focus on improving the customer experience through CRM martech solution, loyalty program so on. So what we do is that we listen to our clients customers. We collect structure and really analyze the data especially first part of data. In order to really create this actionable insights. And addition to that we put out the the customer journey. We do the mapping, and therefore also be able to prioritize. Where we should put the focus, to really deliver the best customer value and the business value.
So that’s kind of the foundation of what we do. And I would also say that as we work with several different industries. We can also bring that knowledge, from kind of more advanced Industries and businesses. Into a little bit more the lagging ones. To really support them and become the the source of inspiration, and the igniters of possibilities within the different organizations, the customers that we work with.
And I will say that we can’t do it ourselves. We had to work with the different teams within the organizations, so it’s about a teamwork.
8:10 Sabina: And about creating that kind of fostering environment also right. To kind of nurture that spirit of innovation which can be so hard don’t you think?
8:18 Gül: Definitely it’s about a changing your mindset. Because some companies are stuck in their normal procedures, they’ been working in a similar way for many many years. And it’s about kind of using benchmark from other companies, to really prove the value of doing a new initiative. And make sure that it will prove the value of doing a certain initiative.
What CX initiative would you try if budget weren’t a constraint?
8:46 Sabina: Great thank you, now another sort of in-depth question. So if budget weren’t a constraint, what CX initiative would you approach then? Sorry would you try, sorry you know what I’m gonna say that question again. What CX initiative would you try if budget weren’t a constraint?
9:10 Gül: That’s a really funny one. I’ve been trying to do something similar throughout the years. But for me it’s really interesting to identify lagging industries and in proven high impact solutions. And really create that kind of a cross industry co-creation initiatives.
And the great thing is if you know little bit like I mentioned earlier. That you take something that you know works in one industry and bring it into a lagging one. You might find new ways of addressing customer needs or unmet needs. Or you can actually update behaviours, which is amazing. So I would say there’s a lot of untapped potential in many industries.
What’s one piece of advice that you’d share with anyone in in CX?
9:52 Sabina: I would ask you to, you know dig down deeper but as we we only have six minutes so I’ll stop there. And then finally my final question. If you were to give one piece of advice, what’s one piece of advice that you’d share with anyone in in CX?
10:18 Gül: Sorry I couldn’t just stop with one, but it’s quite simple it sounds simple but maybe it’s not. It’s about being the actual customer. To avoid the insight perspective because it’s always. I’ve seen it so many times and even if you have a CX department, you might not have the right perspective.
The top one, the second one is. Be part of the top management team. Because it’s quite difficult to drive this agenda on improving the customer value. And especially if it’s maybe a little bit immature organization. So you need to bring the business value and the customer value into top management.
10:47 Sabina: Yes it’s easier if you’re part of it.
10:57 Gül: And third one is, don’t stop. If you initiate project the CX project. Continuously work on it improve it, prove the value and really demonstrate to the rest of the organization. The value, the customer satisfaction, the tangible business results. Because that’s the key of succeeding. So it had to be three.
Wrap-up
11:28 Sabina: That is three, I mean the these three super important and super valuable. Thank you so much for sharing all these, you know great insights. I’m sure that they will be super helpful for many of us. I know that they are for me at least.
And with that I’m gonna say thank you so much for watching. And thanks again Gül Heper-Jämterud, for being with me today on this first episode of CX Minutes, and that’s a wrap.
11:59 Gül : Thank you so much for having me and this be great fun!
12:05 Sabina: Thank you, bye!
Check out other episodes of CX Minutes here.
By Tove Lundell
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