Our guest for this episode is Dominique Essig, Chief Experience Office of Bonobos. Dominique is responsible for leading and overseeing the Product Management/UX, Technology (Engineering, IT, and Data Science), Customer Service (their Ninjas), and Ecommerce Operations teams in the company. She brings more than 16 years of online experience for both online and global product management, customer experience operations and software development.

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Key Insights from our Conversation

– From originally becoming a lawyer, Dominique shares at what point in her life she became interested in Customer Experience and how she became fascinated and fell in love with the art and science of the whole customer journey.

– Where she first sank her teeth in e-commerce and what led her to become the Chief Experience Officer at Bonobos instead of anywhere else.

– The things that make her great at what she does: her robust experience in e-commerce, her passion in this business, her desire to constantly learn and be around people who are smarter than her, her tenacity, and her focus.

– Dominique shares the biggest change in this industry that she has experienced: the shift of focus back towards building of customer relationships. She also adds in Bonobos’ strategies which are geared towards reaching their customers’ sweet spot, what inspired them to do these and how they transitioned to these models.

– The process they went through – from analysis of demand, testing the model to validation of the experience—to arrive with their solution to put up guide shops for Bonobos customers.

– The impact of guide shops in their business in terms of customer acquisition, financials and growth in their e-commerce presence.

– Technologies and tools they have used for their guide shops and the positive effects of the usage to the guides and to the business.

– Bonobos’ key metrics, how they utilize different channels to personalize customer experience, how their customer journey looks like, and the things that they do not shy away from in the name of customer satisfaction.

– Pain points that Dominique sees in their organization and the industry in general, the activities she does to identify these points of friction and her approach to close the process—from receiving of feedback to implementing solutions—off.

– The threshold of feedback to compel their team to move towards initiating action.

– How the mobile industry influenced their way of thinking and their company strategies.

Rapid Fire Questions:

Would you put more emphasis on the idea or the execution? How would you weigh each of them and why? 
– 75% in execution and 25% on the idea. I would rather get something out and continue to iterate than having a perfect idea. What is your biggest learning lesson on your journey so far? – Not all customers are the same.

What is your favorite business book? 
– FYI: For Your Improvement, a Guide for Development and Coaching

What is your favorite mobile app resource? 
– The Jason and Scott Podcast

What is your favorite app and why? 
– The Apple Podcast App – The Starbucks App

What is the coolest thing that you are working on right now that you want everyone to know about? 
– Working on a new business intelligence tool geared towards delving into the minds of the customers, and testing a large amount of recommendation algorithms which are resonating with customers so far.