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Our interview with Taylor Stitch’s Director of Customer Experience, Mina Aiken on the M1 Podcast (Ep. 7)

Our interview with Taylor Stitch’s Director of Customer Experience, Mina Aiken on the M1 Podcast (Ep. 7)

  • Podcast /
  • Product Leadership /

An idea is nothing without that muscle behind it and blind execution is just a waste of time but an idea has to come first.

Mina Aiken is the Director of Customer Experience at Taylor Stitch where she focuses on creating the most humanized online shopping experience possible. She oversees all e-commerce, customer service and logistics. She believes that educating your customer and telling your brand story in an inclusive way makes a happier individual and a lifetime value customer.

How to get this week’s and past podcast episodes:

The Mobile First podcast is available for free on iTunes where you can easily download it straight to your computer or mobile device. We encourage you to subscribe to the Mobile First podcast on iTunes so you won’t miss an episode. If you are an Android user, you can also download the podcast for free through Stitcher. If you don’t have access through iTunes or your phone, you can download the podcast here or listen straight from the player below:

Here are the highlights of our conversation with our guest:

  • Getting to know Mina and how much she loves what she is doing, her favorite hobby during her free time: designing wedding invitations, and how it was like growing up in sunny Florida.
  • How she came to be an ambassador for customer experience and hospitality at a young age initially because of her first job being in the restaurant industry and how her love for talking to adults and working with this crowd grew naturally. She also shared how her passion for provenance and to share the story behind a product or service to gain someone’s trust and how that led her to the field of brand development.
  • What led her to take on the lead role in Taylor Stitch’s Customer Experience department, how she got hired, how the company grew after she joined and the things that she, and her team, focuses on a day to day basis.
  • Attributes which make Mina effective in her role and some scenarios she had encountered wherein the customer was the one who gave them something that she didn’t know they wanted.
  • The biggest changes in the industry that she had experienced so far including going digital and managing the e-commerce experience. She expands that customers nowadays expect to get something they want in a very timely manner, the increasing demand to interact with someone human when they have a question and making an interaction personal to someone who is on the other side of the globe.
  • The omni-channels that Mina thinks are the key to retail and the importance in delivering consistent messages across channels, establishing trust and making the customer feel that they are connected to the brand at all times.
  • Pain points the she sees in the industry, which needs to be addressed from the back end to the customer-facing sides such as Returns and Exchanges.
  • In her perspective, how the major uptake in mobile influences the industry including the amazing things it has done in the field of retail, opening brands up to millions of potential customers, tracking, and the creation of completion which pushes for better customer experience.
  • How social media, such as Instagram, can help humanize your brand and what she thinks about Snap Chat Periscope.
  • Mina shares how she is most excited see how mobile experiences can be improved as better mobile technology can mean better shopping experience. On the business side, she continues how eager she is to see how technology will develop real time analytics for ongoing sales and customer engagement.
  • You start with a great idea but to give that idea real shape, you got to hustle. People will then see how clear your idea is, what you are doing to perpetuate that and they want to be with your team, then some real muscle can push your idea forward.

Rapid Fire Questions

  • Would you put more emphasis on the idea or the execution? How would you weigh each of them and why?

An idea is nothing without that muscle behind it and blind execution is just a waste of time but an idea has to come first. 60% for idea and 40% for execution.

  • What is your biggest learning lesson on your journey so far?

Listen to your customers. They will tell you everything that you need to know about what they want.

  • What is your favorite business book?

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

  • What is your favorite digital resource?

Google Search Engine

  • What is your favorite app and why?

VSCO

  • What is the coolest thing that you are working on right now that you want everyone to know about?

We are currently building a community of Taylor Stitch influencers. It’s in the early stages and will start to take some shape this summer.

Forward. Digital. Thinking.

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