EPISODE 50 OF WHAT WOULD THEY DO? THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PODCAST FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
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It’s episode 50! And as What Would They Do? is coming up to its one-year anniversary, I’m taking a closer look at the biggest themes that have emerged from 50 episodes of listener questions, expert interviews, and strategic CX deep-dives.
But don’t expect a “top episodes” recap. This episode gives you a thoughtful analysis of the patterns that show up again and again in businesses that grow sustainably, retain more customers, and create meaningful brand connections.
If you’re craving real-world insight into what works (and why), this bite-sized episode is packed with practical takeaways and prompts to apply to your own customer journey.
Revisit the episodes I mention here:
Episode 35 with Ash McDonald
Episode 31 with Holly Haynes
Episode 24 with Kirsty Fanton & Ami Williamson
Episode 42 with David Wachs
Episode 9 answering Michelle Pontvert’s member question
Episode 40 with Laura Kendrick
Episode 37 with Brenna McGowan
Soundbites:
“Retention isn’t a strategy that you switch on and off. It’s a series of conscious choices you make when no one’s watching, because you know they work, you know they make a difference. And then you bake them into your automations, into the way you welcome people into your world, into the way you encourage people to buy from you again, because they align with your approach to business.”
“All these patterns, all these mindsets that I took you through are choices. They’re conscious decisions, not tactics. And the most effective businesses aren’t doing louder or faster things, they’re making smarter, better decisions in small, often invisible moments. It’s a conscious decision that carries through everything they do in their business.”
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Episode Transcript:
Nadine Nethery (00:00)
Hello, hello and welcome to another episode of What Would They Do? Can you believe it? We are actually in episode 50, which is a bit of a pinch me moment. That means we are almost at one year of this podcast and to mark this mini milestone, I thought I would recap some of the patterns that I’ve picked up via
your submitted listener questions, which quick reminder here, you can submit your question via the link in the show notes at any point by the case studies and also via my amazing guests that I have had on the show over the past 50 episodes. And I obviously can’t share all of them on this episode, but I had three that stood out to me that I wanted to share with you today. So first up, ⁓
very topical in 2026 is that human elements absolutely are critical to your brand’s long-term success, to how your customers are going to engage with your brand and also how you can differentiate yourself, especially in the age of AI, right? So infusing human elements into your brand is absolutely your chance to share what makes you unique and get people to fall in love with you. And some of the
episodes / guests that really leaned into this finding trend or pattern, whatever you want to call it, were my guest, Ash McDonald in episode 35, who shared her therapist’s take on creating safe group environments within group programs. Because as an introvert, I know that it’s not necessarily for everyone. Group programs really
you know, serve the extroverts who love showing up, raising their hands. So Ash is actually sharing some super good strategies that help you make everyone in your audience, in your good programs feel seen. We also had Holly Haynes in episode 31, who has a very different take on
hosting retreats, I’ve been tempted to go on retreats over the years, you know, pricey trips to Bali with three kids at home all make it somewhat, unachievable for me at the moment. So her take on retreats really makes them low budget for the organizer, but also low budget for her clients. And she’s actually come up with a way that hosts her clients in her home as a way to make them affordable, but also
to really deepen those connections with her clients because it’s very personal. It invites them into her life, into her world. And that means a lot of her clients are actually sticking with her and renewing in her programs for years on end. So ⁓ I will link up all the episodes I’m mentioning in the show notes for you to access quickly if you want to revisit any of them.
Another one was episode 24 with Kirsty Fanton and Amy Williamson, where we explored in great depth how you can use custom GPTs in your group programs to really make your expertise accessible 24 seven without again, sacrificing the human element and
turning you into this AI bot. So definitely worth a listen. Kirsty actually is taking you behind the scenes of the bot inside her popular group program. And Amy is the developer behind the custom GPT So if this is something you’re considering, absolutely go check it out.
The second theme I picked up is super encouraging for those of you who have limited capacity due to being parents, health reasons, et cetera. So retention lives in everyday decisions and not big launches. So you don’t always have to live launch to create those lifelong long-term relationships with your customers so they keep coming back for seconds and thirds.
Definitely David Wachs from Handwrytten who I had in episode 42 was an eye opener. He runs a business that automates handwritten notes. So you can build that into your processes for example for membership milestones. You can automate it. You don’t have to lift a finger and it still infuses an
element of surprise and delight without having to launch, having to do big things and potentially costly exercises. Another one is the episode with my retention lab member Michelle. She submitted a listener question slash member question where she really made a conscious decision to become more strategic about nurturing different audiences in her subscriber onboarding experience. So ⁓
As you can see here, you can totally have an impact, be strategic without big launches, everyday decisions in your business. Those little things like a handwritten note, like ⁓ revamping your onboarding subscriber experience can make all the difference. little things build up to big things over time and your customers take note.
And the third pattern I want to go into today is that smart business owners pause before they act. often we can approach things in our business so impulsively that, you know, looking back, we go, I wish I had done X, Y, Z before. So I really want to highlight here, Laura Kendrick’s approach.
in episode 40, who is a copywriter, launch strategist, and she has shared her strategic approach to taking stock before you launch, during your launch, and after your launch. So you can really understand what works, what doesn’t work, what needs to be tweaked. So she is really intentional when it comes to launching and really sees opportunity in those little moments.
that you could tweak as you go along. Also Brenna McGowan in episode 37, I’m a huge fan of Brenna ⁓ and she gets to know her audience intimately via audience research, which as you know, I offer as a service before mapping out her messaging, her offer, her pre-launch strategy. So she is super intentional with getting to know her audience before she does anything in her business. And I’m a huge believer in this approach.
It works a trade. It means you are hitting this sweet spot. You are giving people what they need and you’re also telling them what they need to hear to be able to invest in your offers and stick around. So the important thing I would like you to take away from this bitesized episode is that all these patterns, all these mindsets that I took you through are choices. They’re conscious decisions, not tactics. ⁓ And the most effective businesses
aren’t doing louder or faster things, they’re making smarter, better decisions in small, often invisible moments, but they are consistent, right? It’s a conscious decision that carries through everything they do in their business. focusing on your customer experience and retention isn’t a strategy that you switch on and off. It’s a series of conscious choices you make when no one’s watching.
You’re making them in the background because you know they make a difference. And then important here is you keep them up long-term. So you bake them into your automations, into the way you welcome people into your world, into the way you encourage people to buy from you again, because they align with your approach to business. And people are going to pick up on this, value-driven customer-first approach to business.
Um, and ultimately finding you here, tuning into this podcast week on week, hopefully, signals to me that you are ready to embark on this journey or you’re already well on track to become this customer first business that really puts your customer, your subscriber first, and makes decisions with your customer in mind. So my question for you today to help you.
Reflect on where you are at, where you want to get to, where your opportunities are is this one. So if someone looked closely at how you welcome your audience, how you support them while working with them and how you follow up with customers after they’ve hit that buy now button, what would they say and what would your approach, your take on this say about your brand?
And this is not meant to be judgmental or really put you on the spot. It’s purely to help you reflect on where you are right now and make you aware of those huge opportunities in your business, because there are always opportunities to explore and capture in your business. So your takeaway for this episode, hopefully today is what you do consistently in your business and how you show up teaches your customers far more than
what you promise and those showy tactics that you might buy into because you’ve seen them somewhere on Instagram pulled off by someone else. So I love a good celebration and a milestone as you can see here, 50, hey, hey. So next month in March, my podcast is actually turning one. So I will be hosting an official first birthday party for the podcast with fun celebrations. I’m going to revisit the most downloaded
episodes and feature those. There are going to be freebies, special offers and exclusive one-on-one opportunities up for grabs. So make sure you keep listening, you hit that subscribe and follow button and yeah, excited to share with you what’s to come in the birthday episode in March. ⁓ Thanks so much for tuning in today. I hope you loved the patterns and some of those conscious choices that I’ve identified over the past 50 episodes and hopefully
See you next week. Have a good one.
