Rajiv Vellodi: 0:00

I'm not trying to eliminate the contact. It's trying to eliminate the why customers have to contact us the need for customers to contact us.

Rick Denton: 0:13

You're listening to CX Passport, the show about creating great customer experiences with a dash of travel talk. Each episode we’ll talk with our guests about great CX, travel...and just like the best journeys, explore new directions we never anticipated. I'm your host Rick Denton. I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport. Let's get going. Almost certainly, you know this brand. As I sat down to write the intro for today's guest, I was listening to this brand. There's a really good chance you're actually listening to this podcast on this brand. My other podcast a personal video podcast I co host with my wife called the loud quiet chose this brand as the native host for our show. Almost a third of all global music streamers have a subscription with this brand over double the share of the second place company. Those impressive brand qualities come to a high level of reality, when it's time to provide customer service for those global streamers. Notice I said global streamers global customers. So not only are you providing customer service for the largest share of customers, you're doing it around the globe. Raising the bar for this global delivery of customer service centers the mission for today's guest Rajiv Vellodi, Vice President of customer service at Spotify. With prior customer service leadership at Hilton and Amazon, Rajiv knows what it takes to deliver Customer Service at scale, big scale. In addition to pure play customer service leadership, Rajiv also spent over eight years at GE, a company renowned for execution a key component to driving customer experience at that large scale. I mentioned Rajiv and I came to know each other when I was consulting for Hilton several years ago, CX passport travelers and already know I'm gonna have to ask him some of his travel inside stories. Maybe his fav property will come to light. Rajiv , welcome to CX passport.

Rajiv Vellodi: 2:17

Thanks, Rick. Good to be here. Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Rick Denton: 2:20

It's gonna be good. Hey, Rajiv, I got to ask you the first question what is on your top Spotify playlist right now what's filling your ears these days? You

Rajiv Vellodi: 2:28

know, it was crazy. I was driving with my daughter the other day we went out for lunch on Sunday, it was a 40 minute drive. We picked the restaurant in reasonably far away and she had done some digging around. And she discovered that Bonnie M's Ma Baker was the top rated song when her mom was born. So and so yeah, so it's 1am on the top of my playlist right now. Hey, that's great, man. I

Rick Denton: 2:58

like that, oh, I had never even thought about doing something like that, where I just

Rajiv Vellodi: 3:02

yeah, you know, that's given me a lot of real good insights on or ideas on the next, next. Now to create my next playlist. onto some some folks here or Spotify. I think that's like the idea. Yeah,

Rick Denton: 3:16

like that. So their listeners, there you go. There's your first little nugget of wisdom, there's use a date, a date that is meaningful to you and see what that playlist spawns. That'll be fun. Remember, back to kind of the the business side of Spotify. I think I'd like to just start tell listeners a little bit about your role at Spotify, you've got responsibility for global customer service. But what does that actually look like? What does your role and your organization look like? Day to

Rajiv Vellodi: 3:40

day? Yeah. So, you know, I'm responsible for the team that supports our customers and users globally, in the countries we operate in this is very important qualifier here, because I think you can argue that Spotify is not present in a few countries in the world. So we are truly global. And, you know, and I think, based on the most recent, you know, results that we reported, you know, we are, you know, we are over 500 million active monthly users, which

Rick Denton: 4:09

is oh my gosh,

Rajiv Vellodi: 4:11

even. So, this is yeah, and, you know, yeah, I mean, of course, over 225 million of them actually pay us monthly. So it's, you know, it's truly global in nature, and it's very exciting. But I think in addition to the to the end users, which are obviously an important customer segment, we also support our creators, artists and podcasters on our platform. And then, of course, our ad studio product users. So yes, you know, we are a team on my team supports the three core customer segments or groups at Spotify, the end users, the creators and the advertisers. It

Rick Denton: 4:50

glad you mentioned the creators because while as a listener, I've never had a customer service engagement with Spotify. I did actually when I was getting our that personal podcast that I was describing up and running I actually had to reach out to customer service as a question that I didn't know it was a new product for me. And I'll tell you this. And actually, it was a really good experience for GE. So things went well there. And I'm not just blowing sunshine up your fan, it actually worked. And it was really good. So I appreciate that. Good. Good, good.

Rajiv Vellodi: 5:15

Good to hear that let the team know. Yeah.

Rick Denton: 5:17

You're gonna go look in the database, Rick Denton, and

Rajiv Vellodi: 5:21

as long as you have meetings, I'm good. Yeah,

Rick Denton: 5:24

well, that's it definitely was. And I talked about some of the brands that you've been a part of, you have had some very signature brands in your background, they each tend to have, at least in my mind, a slightly different flavor of customer focus, right? If you think of Hilton, you tend to think about hospitality. If you think about Amazon, it's very digital experience, focus. And GE certainly is everybody thinks about process and business execution. Talk me through how you take those three brands and those three flavors of customer and bring those into how you approach Spotify? Yeah,

Rajiv Vellodi: 6:03

I think, you know, I, I'd like to characterize it, as you know, slightly differently. You know, I don't think it's three different flavors. But I think, you know, in my mind, I think I've been lucky that the brands that I've been part of, especially, you know, in GE, you can argue that, you know, I was not in a customer, you know, end user, b2c kind of a role. But, you know, especially at Amazon Hilton, and now here at Spotify, I think, I've been really lucky to be part of 50 companies where, you know, customer service is part of the product or the brand offering, right, when you buy a product from Amazon, or when you stay at a Hilton property, or when you subscribe subscribers, to Spotify, or a listener, as the case may be of a forceful Spotify, you are, you know, VR, a brand that stands by what we sell. And that includes, you know, the customer service offering as part of the core product. You know, what I think? And I've tried to look for, you know, instead of the differences, what are the commonalities that make each of those brands successful? And I think, you know, that has definitely shaped my philosophy around customer service. And, you know, and of course, you know, the, the operating rigor has been developed, I guess, you know, through my experiences with, you know, starting with GE, and, you know, maybe city before that, you know, GE and then through Amazon Hilton, and now here at Spotify, and I think, you know, the operational muscle is extremely important, you know, you cannot deliver things at scale, you know, till you are a strong operator, and that, that goes unsaid. But I think, you know, so for me, the product needs to believe that the customer service is part of the offering. And I think that has been that has been a yes, in all my experiences. And then I think you need to have a philosophy that you can stand by, and that you can actually deliver or build your services around. And I think we have that. And then I think you need to be a very, very strong operators, I think, you know, you know, when you combine all of the three, then I think you can, you can offer something that customers will like, or customers will love. So I think at the core of our philosophy, and this is kind of my philosophy as well is, you know, customers would rather be talking to their friends and family, and in our case, experiencing our products, you know, listening to something on Spotify, than talking to customer service. We love, don't get me wrong here, right? We worse, but we would rather not, because we want them to be listening to our products and have an unimpeded experience at that. And I think so from that philosophy, you know, spends our, you know, our strategy and how we set the execution plans around that, right. So we are, we are focused on effective issue resolution, and then making sure that we are learning from those issues and, and our resolution to make sure that we are we're feeding it back to not only improve our processes within CES, but figure out how we can get that back upstream, you know, so that if there are any product changes that are needed, or if there are, you know, any experience changes that might be worth looking at, we can, you know, can we fix all of them? Probably not, not immediately anyway, but Right. You know, but we strive and we, you know, it's kind of do that, and then repeat it again, over over again. And I think it will stick. So you know, fixing the root cause is kind of the industry norm there are the term there, but I think it's it has to be part of your DNA, it has to be part of how you operate, it has to be part of your philosophy. And so I like to call it Yeah, the you know, the, the eliminate, automate, and you call it it's not too late so that it rhymes. But you know, it's kind of the service element. So yeah, you Yes, contact is one that never was. So you try really hard to eliminate the need for customers to contact us. Again, I'm not trying to eliminate the contact. It's trying to eliminate the customers have to contact us the need for customers to contact us if it is still better for a customer to self serve, or we automate the resolution for them than to talk to another human being but If we cannot get them in those two buckets, then we make sure that we get them to an advisor as effortlessly as seamlessly as possible. Yeah, and then deliver a great experience there.

Your CX Passport Captain: 10:10

This is your captain speaking. I want to thank you for listening to CX Passport today. We’ve now reached our cruising altitude so I’ll turn that seatbelt sign off. <ding> While you’re getting comfortable, hit that Follow or Subscribe button in your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode. I’d love it if you’d tell a friend about CX Passport and leave a review so that others can discover the show as well. Now, sit back and enjoy the rest of the episode.

Rick Denton: 10:36

You know what I'm hearing in there. I'm actually here. And I do actually appreciate what you said about how look, I'm looking for the commonalities between all those experiences, right and the customer at the center. And and they're like, but what I heard in there is, first of all, we have to be operationally sound well, okay, GE, then we want to make sure that we have solutions that are available to the customer without needing human interaction. That's the digital experience I've referenced there at Amazon. However, when they do need a human, we want to be available, we want to be hospitable. And we want to be efficient in how we deliver the solution to our hospitality of Hilton. So it is interesting, even in your answer how those three kind of come together, I want to get back to the the the the idea of how do we solve the immediate how do we solve the long term? Because a lot of that is how are you treating a context center? Is it just a cost center? Or is it a customer insight center? I want to come back to that though, because something that continually comes to mind when I talk to brands like Spotify that are so globally visible, an airline is globally visible, hospitality is globally visible. Spotify clearly is just a visible brand. Are you finding that that creates this amplified pressure on driving customer service when the brand is so globally visible? Or? And if so, how are you addressing those pressures? Having to operate for such a globally visible brand?

Rajiv Vellodi: 11:56

Yeah, and I thought, I think like being a visible brand, and being part of a visible brand, that is a privilege, right? I mean, we've worked really hard, you know, to be in the position that we are in. And trust me, you know, when you're, you know, when you are in the market that we are in to be one of the most visible brands, one of the most loved brands in the world. And, you know, so many million customers or users using it on a daily basis or on a monthly basis is a privilege? And you know, I think I'm picking up on some sports analogy here, right, I think I've heard some, you know, some, some, I guess, broadcasters use the same or, you know, or successful athletes, who happen to be broadcasters also say that, you know, pressure is a privilege, right? And not, not everybody is fortunate enough to be in a position, you know, to be under pressure. And so when you are in that position, you know, see how you can enjoy it. And I think, you know, there are many organizations out there who would love to be in our position. And, and so we have the represent, you know, then the responsibility to make sure that we are representing the brand in the best possible manner. And I think, I think what really helps us here at Spotify is, you know, the culture we have, and I'm not using that term lightly. You know, we, you know, collaboration is at the core of, of, you know, it's one of the top most values that we, that we talk about here at Spotify. And, and I think one of the best ways to handle or, you know, dissipate pressure is when you are together as a team. And when you collaborate effectively, it, it makes, you know, handling pressure that much easier, you know, you're not, you're never alone in anything. And, and Spotify has has that culture here where collaboration becomes key. And, you know, I think that really has, you know, has been has been at the core. And I think there is another thing that really helps us, you know, when I say as the customer service team overall, you know, we, we don't have to, you know, teach people to advocate, you know, to think about customers, we are, we have been we've had that in our DNA for a very, very long time. You know, we definitely care a lot about the product that we build, but, you know, we spend so much effort, you know, really testing out and speaking to customers doing user research, understanding what customers really want, you know, within our product and the consumer organization that, you know, it becomes really easy in that way to make sure that, you know, you know, too, because people are talking about the same thing people have the customer at the center of what they do. You know, it doesn't mean that you don't have challenges, but at the same time, right, you know, you talked about pressure specifically but you know, you don't become successful and very visible as a brand like you articulated, you know, without being customer focused.

Rick Denton: 14:53

Yeah, and I do. I feel like I've heard that phrase, although it's not resonating. In my brain right now, but that idea of pressure is a privilege. And I absolutely can see how that would apply to a brand. When I was when I was thinking about the question initially, I was actually thinking about it at a management layer. Yeah, I am responsible for it. And whatever layer the hierarchy, right that exists, I'm responsible for a brand and customer service that has such global visibility. Then I realized, though, it's got two layers. It's the management one and the frontline. And we already know that the frontline has an incredibly challenging role it is, it doesn't matter what your brand is, that's a very hard roll. Along with challenges, there can be some really beautiful moments that happen when that agent co creates a great experience with a customer. I'm curious, in that culture, you talked about collaboration, I want to talk a little bit about celebration, how are you elevating and celebrating what goes right with your teams in order to encourage them? Yep,

Rajiv Vellodi: 15:59

yep. I think the frontline advisors are the key, right? I mean, we can spend millions of dollars on self service products, and all of that we do. I mean, I mean, most, most brands do. And you know, they have to and always do, but I think at the core of it, you know, we, you know, advisors are what you just call, they help create a co create those beautiful moments have some beautiful moments, but I think my message to my team always has been that let's folk that, let's ensure that we are not focused on creating some beautiful moments. And I think that's the some being the qualitative word there. Right, because I think that then delivers, then that means that you're then focused on or optimized around the wrong thing, because you're then creating a suboptimal experience, because you are creating inconsistency by design, I would rather us offer a consistent, yet effective, you know, customer service experience than creating some beautiful co creating some beautiful moments here and there. And I think, you know, so that, you can do that, by making sure that you know, you are creating, you create an organization where problem resolution and customer satisfaction is at the core, and then you're leveraging processes and technology to be able to consistently deliver that, you know, over and over again, across all the geographies that you're doing it. Right, I would rather be in that position than, you know, be known for creating some beautiful moments here and there. And then, you know, because, you know, like, it's a, it's a classic case, where, you know, I think I have been guilty also in the past where, you know, we, we focus excessively on that, and, you know, then you had this month of customer delight programs that you would start and then they end up at least for me, they have not really ended up anywhere positive, right? I mean, they've not allowed you that we've not figured out how to scale those, the cost a lot of money, creates a lot of dissonance within the teams, because not not everybody sure how to do it. You know, it creates other unintended consequences. So I would rather us focus on, you know, you know, how do you leverage technology to create a great automation or a self service experience? You know, then if that doesn't work, then get them to an advisor so that they can solve that problem as quickly as possible. You know, and then make sure that you create a culture where advisors feel that they are empowered to handle that customer as an individual. Right, and I think, you know, and then create the reward mechanisms around that we leave that a lot to the frontline, the team in the teams that actually handle it on the site, we do celebrate and create those celebratory moments. But, you know, I we don't have, you know, the best contract award or like a delightful customer experience award or things like that. I think we are we try to reward consistent performance. And we celebrate that, you know, together with the teams.

Rick Denton: 18:54

Rajiv i, okay, I'm really fascinated by that I kick back and just listened to your answer there, I had so many thoughts that were coming through that this idea of the consistency I'm thinking as a customer, sure, I like to be delighted. And there's the great stories of surprise and delight, couple thoughts come to mind. They're all around execution. And the execution a lot of times is around the when I've seen surprise and delight work really well. It's when there was a program behind it. And it was a defined program that had a lasting legacy associated with it. It wasn't just a quick impulse aspect of it. And then as a customer, sometimes surprise and delight, if I see someone else getting surprised and delight, I get kind of pissed off if I'm not so the consistency. You're right that I would absolutely want to have that received and I'm hearing so much of that operational execution and all of that coming through in what you're saying there. I will tell you an area though that I actually do like to be surprised and delighted in a very consistent way is in the first class lounge. You sir are a very global Travel, I know that I knew that before your time at Spotify and Hilton and everything else, you know, the value of a really, really good lounge and you and I could probably talk about which are our favorite lounges around the world. But I want to invite you into the CX passport first class lounge today to move quickly here, and hopefully have a look. You're welcome. Welcome in, sir. We'll move quickly here and hopefully have a little bit of fun. What is a dream travel location from your past?

Rajiv Vellodi: 20:25

I've I really love the Japan. Oh, yeah. And Egypt. I mean, those were both places where I have had beans in the past. And I say, and, you know, I did take some time. I want to take go there, go back there and spend some more time with the family. But I really I really enjoyed Japan, and, and Egypt. And I think very fortunate, like you said,

Rick Denton: 20:53

Boy, I can tell you that I did not expect you to say those two, although I've been in both of those two and would agree they were absolutely amazing. Egypt for me was unfortunately, just a 72 hour business trip. It was still delightful. Japan was a personal trip with the family. Business Travel has its a challenges, doesn't it? But boy, it can be nice to get exposure to places like Japan and Egypt and the like, I can see why those are great for your paths going forward. What is a dream travel location? You've not been to yet? Yeah, I

Rajiv Vellodi: 21:22

mean, I have to get to Maldives. That's that's someplace that's on my list. Unfortunately, something or the other happens. And you know, never really, you know, but I do want to make sure that I get there. You know, and maybe stay at the flagship contract property. I believe there. I mean, yeah, or the world. That's what I was thinking when you said that restaurant. Yeah. Why

Rick Denton: 21:46

didn't you go when you were at Hilton, because I was exactly thinking about that contract, which I've never been to, but I've seen it was not the whichever word the luxury brand that is there. I think the Conrad that we're thinking of, oh, man, what a great place to have in the future.

Rajiv Vellodi: 22:01

I mean, I think, you know, definitely want to go to go to Bora Bora as well. I think that's that's another in the Pacific. Yes. I think that's

Rick Denton: 22:08

what we're doing. We're doing a promotion for a Conrad here a chance for everybody to find great properties. Absolutely. Hey, you mentioned the underwater restaurant and you're like me, I'm sure that travel and food go hand in hand, but just life and food. So what is a favorite thing of yours to eat? I

Rajiv Vellodi: 22:26

love eating Thai food. I mean, South Asian food in general is is my favorite. You know, of course, I'm Indian. So you know, you cannot keep me away from Indian food. But I didn't want to mention that. But yeah, of anything non Indian. I prefer. Or, you know, I would eat Thai or Vietnamese? Yeah. Kind of. Yeah. I got for a long time because we just got some fantastic vacation places to eat at. So yeah, yeah,

Rick Denton: 22:55

I really do. I've got to stop doing these when I'm hungry. Because that just made me sound good. So I'm going to ask the question I always ask him that is what is something growing up that you were forced to eat as a kid? But you

Rajiv Vellodi: 23:05

hated bitter gourd? Have you heard that before?

Rick Denton: 23:08

No, but I've heard of it. Oh my gosh. Now when I hated it as

Rajiv Vellodi: 23:12

a kid, so it's definitely acquired. It's it's supposed to be very healthy. I'm sure it is. It is very hard, but like with all things healthy, they don't taste good. At least you know, as a kid. Yeah, of course. But sometimes as you as a vegetarian, you know, that's, you know, sometimes that's the only thing that's available. So that's the only thing that's cooked at home for that meal, so I guess you'll learn to eat it and then you'll learn to enjoy it and I know I do. But it's good.

Rick Denton: 23:43

It's good that you've come to that enjoyment. Closing out the lounge with a bit of travel what is one travel item not including your phone not including your passport that you will not leave home without?

Rajiv Vellodi: 23:54

It used to be my Kindle nowadays. I think it's my walking shoes. So yeah, but I think both my Kindle and my walking shoes I think I've probably learned a bit more discipline than when I last met you Rick

Rick Denton: 24:14

regime something that's making me laugh about this question is I've had several guests in the recent past talk about their shoes or their athletic gear or that I think a lot of folks are realizing that one it's a great way to explore a city and to well you know, when you travel that much you got to do something because otherwise good gravy our health just goes to crap if we're traveling Yeah. Yeah.

Rajiv Vellodi: 24:36

Good question earlier, so that doesn't help. Yes, that's

Rick Denton: 24:39

right. You gotta get it all in there. All right. Let's talk about that scale of customer service. Right when you're delivering that customer service at the at that global scale. It is really rare to see it delivered completely in house you like many brands rely on BPO partners. Tell me a little bit about your philosophy around using BPOS Why would you do it and how does that BPO become a unified part of your brand's delivery of customer service.

Rajiv Vellodi: 25:05

Yeah, I think, you know, the tie to our philosophy is to make sure that you are offering a world class customer service experience to our to our customers. And you do that you know, in a model that works for your organization, right, so I'm not here to preach one model versus another, I think every, every organization is different. And, and we are. So the BPOS we work with are specialists in delivering customer service, as you know, as a service offering of theirs, or a product area, if you will. And so, you know, so when you're trying to go after buying a product or service from the market, you go and find the best that is out there that meets your needs. And I think that's kind of the philosophy that, that we've used, of course, it needs to be cost effective, but I think the days of pure cost arbitrage are more or less over, you know, I think, you know, we are a truly global company, like I just told you, right, and so, you know, we are truly in the, in this business, or in engaging BPO partners, because we want to make sure that we have access to the global talent out there, which represents our customer base. And, you know, and, and we are, you know, and of course, you know, if it doesn't align with my cost structure, we won't use them. That's a, that's a given. But, you know, but I think all those things being the same, I think, you know, it makes sense for us to go and, you know, get the best talent out there that is representative of our customer base as well. So, you know, for example, you know, we are in you know, Latin America is a very important market for us. And we have, you know, we have a strong presence in that region of the world, we have a strong presence in Southeast Asia, we have a strong presence in India, we have a strong presence in Europe. So we are truly global in that sense. And, you know, it really helps that, you know, we are able to get we have access to that talent. And I think the BPO service providers that we use, are the conduit for us to be able to do that. I think what was the other part of your question? How do you? How do the brand together, right, yeah,

Rick Denton: 27:15

how do you unify them? Because I want to add, let me stop down and something that you said there that really resonated with me, and then let's go to that second part. I like what you said that you're leveraging the BPOS to help be representative of your customer base? And it's not just about it. Sure, yeah. Cost arbitrage or timezone arbitrage or those kind of things. The it is also, how can we make sure that okay, if Spotify hasn't employed somebody in this particular region, how are we able to then access our partners to have someone who contacts in to get that hospitable service from someone that is from their culture, their language, their style of of living? And so I like that flavor around the BPO? That second question is, then how do you unify both the in house and the BPO? In a consistent delivery? Of great customer experience?

Rajiv Vellodi: 28:07

Yeah, I think, you know, it's important that, you know, you find somebody or, you know, when you evaluate or when you're evaluating partner that you are evaluating partners, I think, you know, you're trying to find somebody who aligns with your customer, individual culture and philosophy, right? So, you know, of course, I'm not, I'm not because individually, these companies have their own, you know, they have to, they have their own identity, right, they have their own culture, but you want to make sure that when they represent Spotify, that, you know, for them aligning with the Spotify brand and values is not difficult. So, you know, so you're trying to find partners, and there are ways to do it, you know, you, of course, you learn over a period of time, but then you also learn you also when you evaluate you look for things, you know, what, how do they? How do they think about their people, you know, how do they look at growth for their talent, how do they reward you, there are many things that you can evaluate people on, and of course, their track record of delivery, etc, etc. But but, you know, I think it's important that you, you are aligned, in terms of, you know, the values that, that they stand for, and, you know, and do that. And once you have that, once you have evaluated, and you've decided to bring them on, then be very clear how you're bringing them on and how you're engaging them. Are you engaging them as a transactional vendor? Or are you engaging them as a partner, you know, as an you know, so when they sit at your operating table, are they on an operating table sounds bad, but when the table discussing operations, that they are an operations partner who know what they're doing, they are an equal, right? They, you know, when they say something, you better be ready to listen. And I think that is important. And, you know, unless you do that, you know, then you know, there is nothing wrong in treating them as a transactional vendor. And for a lot of companies that works is also works well also but doesn't work for us here in the way we do business here at Spotify with our partners. So I think You know, and you know, you're paying them for an excellent in a particular area, like I just articulated you, you went there and evaluated the best customer service players or delivering customer service players out there. Once you've got them on there, then you know, yeah, give them that respect. Right and treat them as equals, you know, and then make sure that you you also had, you know, like, I talked about visiting Philippines, or visiting the site, I love to do that, you know, I think you, you need to show them that you're invested in the relationship. Yeah, right. It's not just about, you know, sitting somewhere in New York and calling them over for, you know, an annual conference, you know, where they where you do a business review, I think it's about showing that you actually care representing Spotify, with the teams on the ground. So not just spending times at the different levels of leadership, that is important, you need to engage at an executive level as well. But making sure that when you are there, you know, you are spending time with the frontline with the with the managers who manage the frontline, or who lead the frontline. And I think you get a lot from those visits, and they I think appreciate it a lot as well. Yeah, right. Because you are out there, you know, they're these are the people who are talking to your customers. And, you know, if you show that you care, you will get that, you know, the reciprocity in how you how they treat you. So

Rick Denton: 31:23

it's it is there's an extension to the statement of, you know, you can't create a better customer experience than what you provide an employee experience. Well, if these are maybe not technically employees, but still an extension of an employee delivery of your brand, how you're treating them helps translate into a great customer experience. Rajiv, my gosh, I looked at the clock, we are actually at or approaching overtime. However, I promised that I wanted to ask you about something. And so I'm going to just close out with this. It's because I love the contact center. It's one of my favorite topics for CX passport, because that's what I think is the treasure trove for companies to know how to deliver better customer experience. Nobody knows the customer better. And you talked about taking those insights and translating it into actual action. So I'm curious, how do you go about doing that? How are you tactically sharing these learnings from the customer service team, that epicenter of customer experience creation, with the rest of Spotify in a way of saying it? How is the contact center becoming the customer insight center for Spotify?

Rajiv Vellodi: 32:25

Yeah, good question, Rick. I think it's an area that I'm very, very passionate about. We've talked about this, when you know, when you would you and I worked together many years ago. And you know, unlike Hilton, you know, I've been I know, Spotify is a 100% digital platform. So the only place, you know where customers are talking to you, you know, as human beings or when you are interacting with you in a you know, human to human interaction is when they're talking to customer service and 95% of the time, it's because they've had a problem, right. And unlike a retail store, or hotel where you know, before the customer walks out, you know, there is still an opportunity to correct something, you know, you don't have that right. So something has already gone wrong. And you have so I think that puts tremendous responsibility on the customer service team and the customer service organization, to be that customer advocate and the voice of the customer with the rest of the company. And I think one of the things that we have done, at least here at Spotify, you know, we've we've made some conscious efforts to, to build a program around it. So when I came here about four years ago, you know, we just we put the plan together as for investment, and we've invested in that team, we hired a senior leader from outside to help us establish that team here, you know, alongside some technology resources as well. So we've made some progress there in terms of, you know, getting at least insights organized in a way that can be shared. I mean, that's the most important thing, because people have important work to do, right? It's not like they are, and especially for a company like ours, you know, we have enough and more data, trust me, right? So, you know, so when you are actually introducing something else, you better be sure that it is going to be useful. So I think that's where the challenge is for us and has been so I think, and in addition, let me before I forget, we have a very vibrant and thriving Spotify, customer service community where there are, you know, I don't want to get into stacks. But there are a lot of users who actually come in and talk to each other. And users Help other users. We facilitate and we moderate, we get a ton of information, ton of insights from there that we can feed back and we do. So we have you have that mechanism as well. But I think I'm not entirely happy with where we are right now. I think there's tons of work, that we are still in front of us, I think we are very happy with some of the progress that we've made in, you know, in some areas that I talked about, where we eliminate the root cause, etc. So I think that has really helped that I think is is another way in which you can use insights, you know, to solve things at the root cause and improve customer experience. So I think that's, that's, that's something that that we've been successful at, but I think there is still some work to be done in truly being, you know, in truly advocating at scale. Like I like to call it

Rick Denton: 34:56

you know, Rajiv, I actually am I would prefer that you answered it. that way, because I have a really healthy skepticism when I hear from folks that well, here's how we've solved it. Oh, really, there is, there's always something new to learn and the fact that you're on that journey and recognize that journey, and the fact that you've established processes from now to absorb that information and share that information in a way that acknowledges that, hey, people are busy. And so there is a, there's a way to communicate that to them. Originally, this was really enjoyable, I had a good time talking with you always enjoyed just catching up with you. In general, however, it was really nice to get a little deeper into to how what your role is there at Spotify, I certainly appreciated kind of the weaving together of your experience, the different flavors of it, and the commonalities and what that experience was, like, your conversation around that visibility of the brand. And that's something that for these highly visible brands, there's an intensity there, that was it was interesting to hear how you approach that. And look, let's be honest, I think perhaps a incredibly enjoyable part of this, for me was just knowing about what's top of your Spotify playlist right now and how you went about figuring out what that top top item is?

Rajiv Vellodi: 36:11

Yeah. Before we close, I think I would be remiss if you have not asked you to go and try out the day list, you know, which we just launched recently. So okay, you know, it's kind of there's one of one of a kind playlist within Spotify that picks up on things that you have listened to, you know, during certain times of the day, or you know, your moods, and then we try to offer you something call in I'm gonna do that. Yeah, try that out. Try that out.

Rick Denton: 36:36

I'll you call it the day list. All right. I know, I've been using DJ quite a bit of enjoying that. Yeah, that's been kind of fun day list. And then I certainly I, I found myself actually getting really tired of music. And so I've really come to appreciate the new Friday stuff. And just give me something new in a genre that I don't even know for some reason. There's a lot of Spanish language music that's being fed my way. And I'm actually really enjoying it. And I don't know why and that. It bothers me that Spotify knows more about my enjoyment than I actually plan on going into, but it was still brilliant. So yes, there's a lot to love about the brand and the customer service that you are responsible for providing for the entire brand. It's been a treat. Rajiv, thank you for being on CX passport. Thank

Rajiv Vellodi: 37:20

you again. Thanks. It was wonderful to be here. Thanks for having me. I didn't really appreciate the conversation. Thank you.

Rick Denton: 37:25

Thanks for joining us this week on CX Passport. If you liked today’s episode I have 3 quick next steps for you Click subscribe on the CX Passport youtube channel or your favorite podcast app Next leave a comment below the video or a review in your favorite podcast app so others can find and and enjoy CX Passport too Then, head over to cxpassport.com website for show notes and resources that can help you create tangible business results by delivering great customer experience. Until next time, I’m Rick Denton and I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport.