Candid customer

The process of capturing customer feedback should be baked into your business.

Andrew Carrier

Apr 13, 2025

Read on to learn why:

① You can’t have enough honest customer feedback.

② There is nothing more valuable than understanding your customers.

③ Wall Street CEOs are brushing up on their diplomacy.

④ AML checks are fundamental yet many fintechs are still too lax about them.

⑤ AI skills are now essential for marketing career growth and acceleration.

⑥ Psychological safety, one of the most critical determinants of success, is at risk.

⑦ It’s hard to lead effectively without understanding history.

📸 But first, flashback to last month when we talked about the AI debacle at Apple and I told you that the line between preview and misrepresentation is razor thin. And just as dangerous. This week, The New York Times has an in-depth look behind the scenes. The Apple PR team aren’t going to be giving this story pride of place in their cuttings though: it’s called What’s Wrong With Apple?

What's new

This week, Stripe’s CEO said company management regularly asks customers for ‘candid feedback’, TechCrunch reports.

Patrick Collison. Source: TechCrunch, 11 April 2025

In short:

“Digital payments platform Stripe invites customers to join its management team meetings on a bi-weekly basis so it can get ‘candid feedback,’ according to co-founder Patrick Collison.
“In an April 8 post on X, the fintech giant’s CEO said the company has a customer join for the first 30 minutes of the meeting, which is attended by about 40 leaders ‘from across Stripe’. ‘Even though we already have a lot of customer feedback mechanisms, it somehow always spurs new thoughts and investigations,’ he wrote.”
“It’s an interesting strategy from Stripe, which was founded in 2010 and is considered to be the highest-valued private fintech in the world (its most recent valuation was $91.5 billion).”

Why it matters

① When I worked at SWIFT many years ago, we used to host a three-day internal sales convention in Sorrento every year. Far and away the most valuable part of those three days was the 30 minutes of keynote by the one client we invited to tell us truthfully and behind closed doors what it was like to deal with us as a company. This story about Stripe matters because it reminds us that you can’t have enough honest customer feedback - and that if you think you already have the mechanisms in place to capture it, there is always room to add more.

Imagine working for a firm that didn’t have customers. That’s suffocating for a marketer. Without customer feedback, you’re flying blind. Or, worse, relying on expensive and time-consuming market research from prospects who can’t really understand the product you’re describing to them because they haven’t actually used it.

What to do about it

Take action

② You should be building customer feedback loops into as many touch-points as possible. Think of the three Ts:

Timeless: Systematically gather customer feedback. Annual NPS surveys still have value but with the proliferation of digital channels, it’s easer than ever to ask customers for ‘one click’ feedback every time they interact with your brand.
Triggers: Did you win some new business? Lose it? Did a customer decrease their spend or upgrade to a new plan? Whenever a significant interaction with a customer occurs, institutionalise the notion of asking them why - what is driving that decision for them? This doesn’t have to be - I’d argue shouldn’t be - a formal survey or process. Simply ensure that their account manager has a conversation with them and logs the feedback. There is nothing in marketing more valuable than understanding your customers’ buying process.
Tentpoles: Take a page out of Stripe’s (and SWIFT’s) book. Be sure to invite customers to engage with your senior team on a regular basis. Yes, there’s always the risk that their voice is outsized compared to your customer base as a whole but that’s a risk worth taking to capture candid, valuable guidance on how you can improve.

Get help

Two ways I can help you: 1) hire me as a full-time member of your team; or 2) use InMarketing, an advisory service for senior leadership teams in finance and tech.

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Top stories

The other articles that are worthy of your time.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Whatever you do, don’t ask Wall Street bosses about Trump’s tariffs

③ Wall Street CEOs are brushing up on their diplomacy.

Jamie Dimon. Source: The New York Times, 11 April 2025

“Wall Street’s biggest firms on Friday attempted the tricky two-step of revealing the toll of President Trump’s whiplash tariff policy without outright criticising a man who has repeatedly tangled with the financial industry for slights both real and imagined.”
“Friday’s careful choreography came at the start of earnings season. The spotlight was particularly focused on JPMorgan, the largest bank in the country, which was among several lenders announcing quarterly results on Friday. Its leader, Mr. Dimon, styles himself as a frank speaker and has publicly said he puts his country above his job. He has offered a little bit for every audience this week. In his annual shareholder letter, released on Monday, he warned that Mr. Trump’s saber rattling could damage America’s standing in the world, while simultaneously acknowledging the challenges of trade imbalances.”
“It’s becoming clear that if financial titans have flashed some anger around Mr. Trump’s tariff policy, they are wary of criticising the president directly.
One reason is that Mr. Trump has shown that he is willing to confront bankers, publicly. Shortly after his inauguration, in a speech given remotely to executives gathered in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Trump complained to Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, that the lender’s conservative customers were having their bank accounts closed. (Bank of America denies that.)”

TECHNOLOGY

Jack Dorsey’s Block, Inc. settles for $40 million with NY regulator over AML failures

④ AML checks are fundamental yet many fintechs are still too lax about them.

“Jack Dorsey's Block, Inc. reached a $40 million settlement with New York's top financial regulator after an investigation found that the company had ‘critical gaps’ in anti-money laundering requirements. Block offered bitcoin through its Cash App, which allows users to send and receive fiat currency. However, the AML program run by the firm ‘failed to adequately consider the substantial risks posed to an entity of its new size and complexity,’ the New York Department of Financial Services said on Thursday in a consent order.”
“NYDFS said Block, Inc. had AML gaps, including failing to have risk-based controls to prevent money laundering and illicit activity, and had done insufficient customer due diligence. ‘Notably, Block’s lax treatment of high-risk Bitcoin transactions allowed largely anonymous transactions to proceed without proper scrutiny,’ the regulator said.”
“Block, Inc. previously paid $80 million to 48 state financial regulators in January over violations of AML laws.”

MEDIA & MARKETING

Why AI proficiency is today’s must-have marketing skill

⑤ AI skills are now essential for marketing career growth and acceleration.

“Three reasons AI proficiency is a key differentiator for marketers:
- AI is driving meaningful operational changes;
- AI is doubling its capabilities every seven months; and
- leading companies want AI-proficient marketers.”
“Real-world AI-powered GTM use cases:
- digital prospecting team;
- AI-powered marketing analysts;
- creative assistants;
- multi-task GTM agents; and
- building prompt library.”
“Fostering AI fluency within teams is essential for CMOs and leaders. Launching training programs, creating cross-functional AI task forces and encouraging experimentation across departments help accelerate its integration into marketing strategies, enabling more efficient growth scaling.”

WILDCARD

Should you record that meeting?

⑥ Psychological safety, one of the most critical determinants of success, is at risk.

Source: Harvard Business Review, 11 April 2025

“Using meeting-recording and transcription features has become standard in many workplaces as we seek to better manage the ever-increasing volume of things we must do and keep track of. Generative AI tools that also create meeting summaries that highlight key themes and assign to-dos are also increasingly common.”
“While these tools can save time and effort, it’s critical for leaders to recognise that they affect the social fabric of meetings—particularly psychological safety and engagement.”
“Over time, these effects can stack up, and leaders who take psychological safety and team dynamics seriously need to give some thought to whether, how, and why to use these tools.”

Off cuts

The stories that almost made this week’s newsletter.

The last word

⑦ Graydon Carter on the one book Donald Trump should be forced to read:

Gradyon Carter. Source: The New York Times, 10 April 2025

“This is a trick question, obviously. And you want me to say ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ or ‘Goodnight Moon’ or something with a lot of images and very few words. But I’m going to rise above that. ‘The Glory and the Dream,’ by William Manchester.”

Don’t settle for marketing.

Aspire to InMarketing.

Wishing you an interactive week,

P.S. At a loose end today? I recommend heading over to the RA to see Brazil! Brazil! The Birth of Modernism. It’s absolutely fantastic.