Customer Journey Series: #1 Starting the relationship right

Welcome to the Customer Journey Series!
This is the first in a series of meetups exploring what makes a great customer experience across the full customer journey.

#1: Attracting the right customers – starting the relationship right
#2: Successful onboarding and delivery – from promise to progress
#3: Retaining and growing – supporting, scaling, and changing with your customers
#4: End-to-end customer experience - how it all connects

Join us to discuss, hear from experts, and dive into the first stage of the customer journey: attracting the right customers.

We have a special panel of experts across sales, marketing, real estate and customer attraction - and this relaxed meetup is also a chance to reconnect with familiar faces, meet new ones, and share stories and learnings from our CX and insights work.
Expect great conversation and plenty of inspiration as we look ahead to what's next for customer experience, research, and design in the South Island.

Expert Panel

• Nicola Valentine – Founder of multiple businesses and Director & Co-Founder of Foster and Funnel. Nicola has led digital marketing and data teams and is an expert in CX and business design. She brings deep expertise in attracting the right customers online and leveraging data to make smart, tech-enabled decisions on where, how and when to engage.
• Paul Swettenham – One of Christchurch’s best-known tech recruiters, Paul is an expert in connecting the right people to the right roles. He understands how to position opportunities and help businesses clearly define the skills and capabilities they need to build high-performing teams and drive growth.
• Michael Down – A commercially astute leader with a strong grounding in finance, law and business, Michael is the National Business Manager for PGG Wrightson Real Estate. With experience spanning global corporates, local government and the agri sector, he combines strategic insight with hands-on leadership. Michael’s strength lies in translating commercial complexity into clear, practical direction that supports performance, customers and sustainable growth.
• Katherine Reardon – A versatile marketing and business professional with 12+ years’ experience across B2B and B2C, spanning FMCG, pharmaceuticals, construction and agriculture. Katherine brings a practical, data-led approach to customer experience, with a strong focus on aligning teams, driving efficiency and keeping the customer front and centre.

Who: CX, research, and insights professionals
A joint meetup: CXŌ and the South Island Insights group converging for shared learning and networking.

Snacks provided by the Research Association New Zealand (RANZ)