Q&A: Observing the customer experience at Bluenotes GLOBAL 2019

Bluenotes GLOBAL 2019 is now about a month behind us, and it was an incredible experience for Explorance staff as well as the Bluenotes community. It gave those from Explorance a chance to make face-to-face contact with our customers who previously we may have only been able to talk to over the phone or by email.

Raphael Gera, Solutions Engineer, works in support of the sales organization at Explorance and is responsible for product demonstrations. He also seeks to determine whether or not there is a good fit between a potential client’s needs and the solutions we provide them. As part of the Explorance team at Bluenotes GLOBAL 2019, Raphael shared a glimpse of some of the interactions he had with customers at the conference. Specifically, he shared how we at Explorance can learn and build on these kinds of opportunities moving forward.

Below is a short Q & A with Raphael about his customer interactions and experience at Bluenotes GLOBAL 2019.

If you need a refresher on what was covered at this year’s conference, we have a handy recap blog available for your reading pleasure.

Q: What was the best moment for you at Bluenotes 2019?

A: I had a great time at Bluenotes because I was busy. I was meeting interesting people, and I had the chance to connect with customers I had worked with over the past year and hear from them first-hand how things are going and what successes and challenges they are having.

For me, the best moments were probably when I got to help customers face-to-face and one-on-one. I had the opportunity to help one individual with some code they were writing to interface with Blue’s API, and I had the opportunity to show some new features to an existing customer looking to do more. Both were pleased and encouraged, and it was a joy to be able to help that way.

Q: Were there any challenging moments?

A: As with all conferences, there were challenges and issues. For example, we had some last-minute technical problems with some of the equipment, and the team had to scramble fast to find solutions. Sessions were about to start, and the schedule was crucial so any delay could have really thrown off the day for attendees. We panicked, we hustled, we found solutions and created friends and memories doing so.

 Q: What kind of feedback did you receive from customers? How important is their feedback?

A: Feedback is crucial! In general, I find that it is actually very hard for people to give feedback and especially good quality feedback, and I won’t delve into the whys of that right now. What was interesting was seeing people talking and sharing and discovering and therefore indirectly giving lots of feedback. What works, what doesn’t, what their impressions or feelings were as well as their frustrations.

I got to hear both good and bad and therefore learned about opportunities for improvement. For example, it was clear that we have Blue users with different levels of product knowledge and experience. If they reach out with questions or for support, then they expect to be engaged at the same level. It is frustrating to an expert Blue user when they are asked what is to them trivial questions. On the flip side, those same questions are deeply appreciated by new users. So we have room to improve there. 

Q: Are you looking forward to next year’s conference?

A: I don’t know if I will get to go next year, but if I do, I would like to join the roundtables and to be at a booth somewhere helping customers. In terms of improvement, I think some of the sessions were not able to promote themselves well enough before the session began. Perhaps we can work a bit on the session titles and descriptions to help those presenters who might need some added flair or marketing to their descriptions. On a whole though, something very right is going on because I’m not the only one enjoying the Bluenotes conferences. A great positive feedback moment was hearing from one of the attendees how she looks forward to this conference each year and that it was a favorite of hers.

Keep an eye out for Bluenotes GLOBAL 2020 registration in the coming months. The 2020 conference will take place again in Chicago, Illinois, and provides an opportunity for Bluenotes community members to connect and share experiences in using learning analytics to inform decisions.