Gamify the Journey, Multiply the Loyalty: How Mark Stern is Reinventing Customer Experience

Breaking Through the Barriers Holding Your SMB Back:

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Episode Summary

In Episode 108, Mark Stern from Custom Box Agency joins us today to dive deep into how to create unforgettable customer experiences that transform casual buyers into loyal superfans. With a rich background as a Forbes Next 1000 honoree and a former strategy consultant,Mark shares his insights on gamification and the power of blending physical and digital strategies to engage customers like never before.

He emphasizes the importance of defining clear success pathways for clients, making their journey not only easier but also more enjoyable. By removing obstacles and focusing on memorable experiences, businesses can significantly enhance customer retention and advocacy. Get ready to explore how to elevate your brand and turn your customers into your biggest cheerleaders!

Guest Information

 We’re joined by Mark Stern, a visionary entrepreneur, and a powerhouse behind custom box agency. Mark is a Forbes Next 1000 honoree SX SW startup mentor, and former top strategy consultant at Deloitte. With an MBA from Duke and featured in Joey Coleman’s never Lose an Employee again.

Mark brings an incredible blend of strategic thinking and creative innovation to the world of customer experience. As a founder of multiple Ventures, including Active Deck and 57 Hats, and the creator of the upcoming built by podcast, mark is on a mission to transform how brands engage and retain customers through physical to digital strategies, gamification and unforgettable experience design.

Get ready for a conversation packed with bold ideas, smart systems, and insights that can help turn your customers into lifelong Superfans.

Let’s dive in.

Guest Quote

“If you help someone get a breakthrough, they become a Superfan.”

Guest Offer

Episode Takeaways

  • Mark Stern emphasizes the importance of creating experiences rather than just delivering information to clients.
  • Gamification in business is not just a trend; it’s a powerful strategy to enhance customer engagement and retention.
  • Physical touchpoints in marketing, like direct mail, can significantly outperform digital strategies in terms of customer response rates.
  • Defining success in clear, tangible terms helps guide customers through their journey and ensures they feel accomplished along the way.
  • Creating products that are not only functional but also collectible can enhance customer loyalty and keep your brand top of mind.
  • Effective customer engagement hinges on understanding the customer’s journey and providing clear pathways to success.

The 3A (attract, advocacy, accelerate) Playbook

Here’s this episode’s top insight.

 If you want to accelerate business growth, stop dumping information and start engineering experiences that show people exactly how to win.

So here’s your business growth action step.

 Design a physical or digital success journey map that breaks your customer’s path into clear gamified milestones that they can visibly complete. Then reward progress to keep momentum alive.

Episode Transcript

Freddy D
00:00:00.160 – 00:01:00.230
Hey, superfans superstar Freddie D. Here. In this episode 108, we’re joined by Mark Stern, a visionary entrepreneur and a powerhouse behind Custom Box Agency.

Mark is a Forbes Next 1000 honoree, SXSW startup mentor, and former top strategy consultant at Deloitte.

With an MBA from Duke and featured in Joey Coleman’s Never Lose an Employee Again, Mark brings an incredible blend of strategic thinking and creative innovation to the world of customer experience.

As a founder of multiple ventures including active deck and 57 hats, and the creator of the upcoming Built by podcast, Mark is on a mission to transform how brands engage and retain customers through physical to digital strategies, gamification, and unforgettable experience design. Get ready for a conversation packed with bold ideas, smart systems, and insights that can help turn your customers into lifelong superfans.

Freddy D
00:01:00.230 – 00:01:09.070
Hey, it’s Freddie D. Here with another episode of the Business Superfan podcast. We’re super excited to have Mark Stern from Custom Box Agency.

Mark Stern
00:01:09.070 – 00:01:10.390
I’m thrilled to be here, Freddie D.

Mark Stern
00:01:10.390 – 00:01:11.350
Thank you for having me.

Freddy D
00:01:11.590 – 00:01:17.670
So, Mark, tell us a little bit about what’s the backstory? How did Custom Box Agency come all about?

Mark Stern
00:01:18.180 – 00:01:26.900
It was not meant to be the business. When I left Corporate America, I left Corporate America in 2018 and started building a business in virtual events.

Mark Stern
00:01:27.060 – 00:01:28.540
And virtual summits were like the big.

Mark Stern
00:01:28.540 – 00:01:36.420
Thing that a lot of people were doing in that model. It’s like you’re interviewing 30 to 40 people and it’s leveraged as a lead generation tool.

Mark Stern
00:01:36.660 – 00:01:38.380
But you would dump these 30 to.

Mark Stern
00:01:38.380 – 00:01:51.590
40 interviews on someone and tell them they had 24 hours to listen to a subset of them, otherwise they lose access. And the challenge I was having is I build all this content and. And then it would get gated and when people would purchase it, it was.

Mark Stern
00:01:51.590 – 00:01:53.590
Just overwhelming to kind of dump 40.

Mark Stern
00:01:53.590 – 00:01:57.110
Hours of content on them and not have an easy way to navigate it.

Mark Stern
00:01:57.110 – 00:01:58.070
So where a lot of this started.

Mark Stern
00:01:58.070 – 00:02:03.789
Is when I started doing these virtual events or virtual summits, I had just wished that people would send me the.

Mark Stern
00:02:03.789 – 00:02:05.310
Tools and resources I needed out of.

Mark Stern
00:02:05.310 – 00:02:06.750
The gates to be set up for.

Mark Stern
00:02:06.750 – 00:02:10.630
Success and get an outcome faster. And so we started doing that with.

Mark Stern
00:02:10.630 – 00:02:14.230
The products we launched. And it didn’t matter if it was a virtual event or if it was.

Mark Stern
00:02:14.230 – 00:02:15.870
A course or a coaching program.

Mark Stern
00:02:16.500 – 00:02:18.260
In my mind, how do I literally.

Mark Stern
00:02:18.260 – 00:02:20.700
Send you everything you need to have a result faster?

Mark Stern
00:02:20.700 – 00:02:24.940
And the theory of this is remove the obstacles that are preventing our people.

Mark Stern
00:02:24.940 – 00:02:26.860
From being set up for success out of the gate.

Mark Stern
00:02:26.860 – 00:02:49.160
And what I mean by that is if you require me to print something out. You just put up a hurdle because you’re assuming I have a printer. It has paper, it has ink, it’s hooked up to my computer. I’m organized.

When I print everything out, if you just send me what I need, you take that obstacle out of the table. And as we started to transition into Covid, this idea became more and more relevant because we were all dislocated, we.

Mark Stern
00:02:49.160 – 00:02:52.160
Were all in quarantine. And the power of being able to.

Mark Stern
00:02:52.160 – 00:02:56.320
Send you something was a big differentiator that a lot of people weren’t doing.

Mark Stern
00:02:56.320 – 00:02:58.000
And so this business just started to.

Mark Stern
00:02:58.000 – 00:02:59.640
Grow during the pandemic.

Freddy D
00:02:59.640 – 00:03:13.660
Yeah, it’s kind of like a little bit of old school where everybody does email nowadays. And yet people overlook that one of the best marketing strategies is direct mail. It works.

So you’re really doing the same thing but in a different way.

Mark Stern
00:03:13.820 – 00:03:17.100
It’s funny that you say that because it’s true that what’s old is new again.

Mark Stern
00:03:17.340 – 00:03:19.580
And it’s amazing how much of a differentiator.

Mark Stern
00:03:19.580 – 00:03:24.140
We like to talk about this idea of what is experience because we experience through our senses.

Mark Stern
00:03:24.380 – 00:03:28.300
And when we go more and more digital, and especially this rise of AI.

Mark Stern
00:03:28.540 – 00:03:30.300
The digital channels pretty much tap into.

Mark Stern
00:03:30.300 – 00:03:31.780
What you see and what you hear.

Mark Stern
00:03:31.780 – 00:03:39.180
It doesn’t tap into touch, taste, smell. Activating more senses creates more of an experience. It’s hard to replace walking through Disney.

Mark Stern
00:03:39.180 – 00:03:40.940
World or going to your favorite restaurant.

Mark Stern
00:03:41.510 – 00:03:55.270
But when I mail you something, it’s a huge differentiator, especially if the physical can compliment digital.

And so I’m with you to say, I think direct mail and the physical game, especially as it aligns to digital, is just becoming more and more relevant in this age of AI.

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