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Gartner Expert
August Francis Ray
VP Analyst
Augie Ray is a Vice President Analyst covering customer experience (CX) for marketing and CX leaders. His coverage topics include the ROI of CX, CX strategy and governance, how CX leaders secure and retain sponsorship, the buy/own/advocate customer journey, voice of the customer (VoC) and survey strategies, customer journey mapping, CX analytics and measurement, the importance of word of mouth (WOM) in CX, persona development and marketing's role in corporate social justice initiatives.
Mr. Ray helps CX and marketing leaders to launch and manage successful CX programs, gather and use VoC data more effectively, align CX metrics to the right leading indicators of success, and improve the use of customer journey maps and personas. He focuses on strategies and processes to improve enterprisewide customer-centric culture.
Previous experience
At American Express, Mr. Ray was responsible for VoC strategy and action and focused on ways to encourage more use of customer feedback (surveys and complaints) to drive CX improvements. He launched a CX Action team and developed a simple WOM program to convert NPS promoters into active advocates on social media. In this role, he evaluated the role of social media listening for VoC purposes and determined that, for his company's unique situation, the benefits did not justify the investment.
At USAA, Mr. Ray led all social media activities at the financial services firm. This included social customer care, social PR, community development and management, and social business. He also led the firm's first-ever social business/sharing economy roadmap, identifying the product lines where peer-to-peer business models were most likely to offer opportunities and challenges. He also coordinated with the marketing department for social media marketing programs. His team launched three communities - for veterans, military spouses, and active service members transitioning to civilian life - and was able to demonstrate positive ROI in the first year.
At Fullhouse, a digital agency based in Milwaukee, he managed the Experiential Marketing team, which grew to almost 50 professionals. His team developed digital experiential programs for marketers that included new and emerging technology, such as websites, email, mobile apps, communities, social networks, apps for tablets and kiosks, augmented reality, games ("advergaming"), and content strategies.
Professional background
American Express,Director - Voice of Customer Action,2 years
USAA,Executive Director of Communities and Collaboration,2 years
Areas of coverage
Marketing and Communications Leadership and Strategy
Customer Experience
Customer Acquisition and Growth
Customer Understanding and Marketing Execution
Education
B.B.A., Management Information Systems (MIS) and Finance
Top Issues That I Help Clients Address
1Launching and enhancing customer experience management (CXM) programs, Understanding the entire customer journey - from buy to own to advocate, Determining the ROI of CX so as to set the right objectives and measurement, Leveraging customer feedback through voice of the customer (VoC) programs, The role of advocacy, social media and WOM in customer experience