1. Daloopa’s customers are buy-side and sell-side financial institutions. How do you approach the onboarding process with your end users?
EM: Since our customers are investment professionals, they are always very short on time and often unable to get on calls. We still push for onboarding calls as much as possible, as making that initial connection is invaluable. However, we also focus heavily on providing self-service onboarding options. We offer extensive how-to documentation, demo videos, and in-app guidance for users who prefer that approach.
Fortunately, our products are straightforward to use. When we do get on calls, we ensure users feel completely confident using the product so they can operate independently during earnings.
2. As the VP of Customer Experience, you also oversee churn- and that means predicting it before it happens. Having to manage segment-specific adoption patterns, could you walk us through the early signs that an account might need CSM intervention?
EM: Early on in a customer’s journey with us, we keep a really close eye not just on depth of usage with our products, but also on consistency. If a user purchased Daloopa to automate model updates during earnings, we look to see whether they are updating a significant portion of their coverage with Daloopa, and whether they do so consistently each quarter.
Certain usage patterns could indicate a suboptimal product experience or an education gap. We have built out a robust internal alerting strategy for our CSMs, proactively flagging these signals so we can step in quickly and efficiently.
3. In a resource-strained startup environment, you must differentiate between which battles to fight and which to defer- which you must also do while communicating with buyers. How must CX leaders nominate which customer problems should be solved immediately and which can be parked for later- without eroding customer trust?
EM: Prioritizing customer requests and product feedback is critical. I always coach the managers and individual contributors on my teams to ask themselves, “What happens if we do accommodate this? How do we benefit as a business, and what are the tradeoffs?” Just as important is asking the inverse: “What happens if we do not do this?”
It’s important to consider not just the revenue opportunity or churn risk, but also the more subtle factors, such as the impact on the product roadmap and internal capacity constraints. There is also an art to communicating this to customers. Even if we cannot accommodate a request today, there may be other things on the roadmap that the customer would find equally compelling.
4. You spotlight CX as the function that “owns the seams” between departments, i.e., the operational gaps. When sales, product, or even engineering make choices that directly impact customer experience, what would help ensure that CX also holds decision-sharing authority and not merely a seat at the table?
EM: Customer Experience teams should constantly share concrete insights and customer feedback internally. The goal is for CX to be the engine that drives the product roadmap and direction of the company. When that is done effectively, other teams naturally want to spend more time talking with CX team members and consulting them on decisions that impact customers.
The feedback loop is also extremely important. When a new product or feature is rolled out, it is on CX to provide concrete customer feedback, which could influence the decision to continue on the same path or pivot to something completely different.
5. You mention in a LinkedIn post that AI isn’t a “fix everything” magic wand but a system with dependencies and failure points. Is there any aspect of adopting AI into CX that leaders should be cautious of? What’s your suggestion for bringing about this mindset shift?
EM: It is undeniable that those who don’t incorporate AI into their day-to-day work risk falling behind. However, using AI without validating its outputs is equally risky. CX leaders have a responsibility to coach their teams on the importance of this, as it influences both internal and external decisions. I also believe that emphasizing clear prompting is extremely important to ensure the output actually addresses what you need from it.
The way I coach the team on these points is by encouraging them to think about the experience they would personally want to have when communicating with someone about a product or service they use, and to embody that. There are so many instances where the customer experience feels totally automated and impersonal these days, and we want to provide a refreshing change for our users, where each interaction is tailored and personalized to them.
Elise Miller, VP of Customer Experience at Daloopa
Elise is the VP of Customer Experience at Daloopa, a platform powering public equity professionals across the investment research cycle. She oversees customer success and support, focusing on ensuring every user realizes value from the tool. She was a professional ballet dancer prior to getting into tech, which shapes the team-oriented and disciplined approach she takes to her work. She is deeply passionate about implementing scalable operational processes and coaching her team to achieve their fullest potential, which enables her to drive concrete results across adoption, retention, and expansion.
