CEN Dec 2011 Issue

customer engagement issue six

December 2011

The official magazine of the Customer Engagement Club www.customerengagementclub.com

2012 CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

SUMMIT AND AWARDS N OV E M B E R 2 6 / 2 7 2 0 1 2 , LO N D O N

DIRECTORS FORUMS

AUTUMN 2011 R E P O R T S

Employee Engagement & Customer Engagement

8th December 2011, London How to forge the link between employee and customer engagement, performance and profitability in turbulent times

Speakers include: David MacLeod, Author of the Macleod Report, 'Engaging for Success' Prof Katie Truss, Employee Engagement Expert, Professor of Management at University of Kent Peter Sinden, Director, LV= (case study) Gary Tomlinson HR Director, Kia Motors (case study) Angela Baron - Head of HR Practice Development, CIPD Peter Flade, Senior Managing Partner, Gallup Consulting Francis Goss, Head of Commercial Operations, Reward

Time: 9:30am – 5:00pm Venue: Gallup Consulting, The Adelphi, 1-11 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6HS For more information contact Chris Wood: chris@ictcomms.com and +44 (0) 1932 341828 or visit our website: www.customerengagementclub.com

www.jotform.com/form/12021522935

FREE TO ATTEND FOR SENIOR CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

directors forum EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT & C U S T O M E R E N G AG E M E N T

Host Partner

Sponsor

customer engagement The official magazine of the Customer Engagement Club www.customerengagementclub.com

Customer Engagement magazine is published by the Customer Engagement Club, the organisers of the Customer Engagement Directors Forums.

To join the Club (free membership) and receive weekly Alerts, Digital Magazines and Invitations to the Directors Forums go to www.customerengagementclub.com Editorial Director: Steve Hurst steve@ictcomms.com Sales & Marketing Director: Chris Wood chris@ictcomms.com Tel: +44 (0) 1932 341828 Customer Engagement ©ICT Communications Ltd

4-8 Stephen Hewett looks at what being customer centric really means and why all organisations should be instigating customer focussed strategies from the top – and on how these strategies can add value to the bottom line

21-23 Too many companies assume that all social networkers are the same. They are of course not according to Blaise James and Jim Asplund at Gallup

24-25 Delegates at the latest Customer Engagement Club Directors Forum on the future of customer engagement in the troubled and much-maligned financial services industry saw culture and trust emerge as two crucial and closely related challenges going forward

9-11 Becoming social is an imperative for brands today, and while many are embracing the digital revolution, substantial improvements are yet to be made to build a brand with a distinctive social identity, according to a new global Weber Shandwick study in partnership with Forbes Insights

12-14 There are a lot of ways to communicate with customers that are cheaper than the phone. But according to new research forcing people to use them could cost you more than you think says Mike Havard

26-27 How can organisations improve employee engagement, customer satisfaction and business performance? Jack Wiley says there are seven elements of success built around R.E.S.P.E.C.T

15 To be a trusted brand is the holy grail. Consumer trust creates significant benefits - from repeat purchasers to customer advocacy, from price protection to more effective employee recruitment says Thomas Cowper Johnson

18-20 Consumers are demanding that retailers and manufacturers recognise and reflect the way they want to shop and buy. Retailers that understand and respond to this seismic shift and adapt swiftly are in a great place to capitalise on consumer needs according to a new white paper report from Henley and Bezier

3

28-29 The latest Customer Engagement Club Directors Forum on Customer Engagement Strategy and Measurement took delegates on a journey through the worlds of BIG data, customer insight, company culture and employee and customer engagement in the search for competitive advantage

w 12 Ne 20 r fo

30-31 The joined up customer experience event

FEATURING CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AWARDS

26-27 NOVEMBER 2012 PA R K P L A Z A H OT E L , LO N D O N ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

C O V E R F E AT U R E

Stephen Hewett looks at what being customer centric really means and why all organisations should be instigating customer focussed strategies from the top - and concentrating on how these strategies can add value to the bottom line ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

4

customer engagement

It’s easy for organisations to pay lip-service to the notion that their customers should be at the centre of their attentions. It’s much harder for organisations to put that philosophy into practice.

Understanding and empathising wholeheartedly with your customers’ agenda requires a significant cultural effort, and often an emotional investment, too.

How much easier it is to be inward looking, focussing on your own organisational stuff, your own agenda, your own preoccupations. Research carried out by the consultancy, Charteris, where I’m head of business consulting, suggests that most organisations devote about 70 percent of their time and energy to their own internal stuff and only about 30 percent to adding value for customers.

“If y ou’re not d evoti time ng a and t le e f fort custo to ad ast 70 p mers er ding , impr valu cent of y essin the chan e our c g yo f and ur cu es are y or your ver y o u’re likely stomers not ver y also muc jeop your h ardi mark sing et shar e”

In fact, the ratio should, ideally, be numerically exactly the opposite.

If you’re not devoting at least 70 percent of your time and effort to adding value for your customers, the chances are you’re not impressing your customers very much and very likely also jeopardising your bottom line and market share.

‘Customer centricity’, a term that’s been around since the 1990s, is being spoken of today with more and more respect by an increasingly large number of professionals in all vertical markets both from the private and public sectors. They believe it represents the way ahead for all organisations that: really care about their customers and want to take that feeling of caring and put it into practice.

Engagement for profitability What about defining customer centricity? The definition on Wikipedia - a strategy to fundamentally align a company’s products and services with the wants and needs of its most valuable customers to maximise profits for the long-term - is okayish as a starting-point, at least if you’ll forgive the split infinitive the definition contains.

But customer centricity isn’t only for an organisation’s most valuable customers, nor is it only the organisation’s products and services that need to be aligned to customers’ wants and needs.

M

The whole culture of the organisation must be aligned with customers too. Indeed, it’s only when this cultural alignment has taken place that the organisation has any chance at all of being customer-centric.

Stephen Hewett, Head of Business Consulting, Charteris plc

5

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

C O V E R F E AT U R E

Also, it’s not just the organisation’s long-term profitability that will be enhanced by taking a customer-centric approach; short-term profitability considerations matter too.

Of course, this is another way of saying that if you make your organisation more customer-centric now, the benefits for you kick in right away!

It’s all about the people Above all, the Wikipedia definition is inadequate because it doesn’t emphasise the crucial point that customer centricity is, in the real world of business, dispensed by people in a personal sense rather than by organisations in an abstract, impersonal way If an organisation doesn’t manage to achieve, practice and express at a grassroots level the philosophy of customer centricity, any attempt by an organisation to make itself customer-centric is likely to be a lost cause.

You can’t be customer-centric if you aren’t sincere about caring about your customers’ agenda, and you can’t be customer-centric if you only care about your customers insofar as they are likely to buy some specific product or service you are trying to sell them.

Instead, you need to care about your customers and their agenda in a broader, holistic sense, and I don’t mean because you are trying to cross-sell to them!

Caring about them in this broader, holistic, sense means understanding, among other things, how what you are trying to sell them fits into their lives, and the patterns of satisfactions they seek from those lives.

Overall, a more accurate definition of customer centricity, and one especially useful at a practical level, would be something like the process of ensuring that every individual and department within an ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

organisation is taking every feasible step to add value to what the organisation does for its customers.

Maximum customer retention The truth is that customer centricity is a management strategy whose time has finally come and which is being regarded as the business strategy for ensuring maximum wooing and retention of customers.

So much for the theory; how do you make customer centricity work in practice?

As a matter of common sense, any activity directed around maximising an organisation’s customer centricity must start with an assessment of how customer-centric the organisation is at present.

This initial assessment needs to look in particular detail at the following questions, which should be asked and considered from the customer’s perspective.

Is your organisation making it easy for me to deal with you?

This question relates to the process and organisation element of the investigation.

Does your organisation give me an enjoyable experience when I deal with you?

This question relates to customer engagement.

Does your organisation understand me?

This question relates to the customer information process.

Does your organisation continually improve my experience as a customer?

This question relates to the metrics element of the investigation.

Does your organisation present me with products and services that delight me?

This question relates to the product development element.

The extent to which these questions can be answered with a ‘yes’ will give a good idea of how customer-centric the organisation is.

M

“The whole culture of the organisation must be aligned with customers too.

Indeed, it’s only when this cultural alignment has taken place that the organisation has any chance at all of being customer-centric”

6

customer engagement “It’s not just the organisation’s long-term profitability that will be enhanced by taking a customer-centric approach; short-term profitability considerations matter too” In practice, the process of investigating answers to these questions may involve specialised external assistance. Why? Because it is often necessary to probe into matters which the organisation would rather not talk about.

Also, by no means every member of staff including of course very senior people - will be naturally customer-centric anyway. The people who aren’t are the ones whose motivation must be investigated with particularly careful attention. It’s often the case that an external ‘investigator’ will feel able to ask questions that someone who is also a member of staff would be reluctant to ask.

Besides, no-one at any organisation is ever likely to admit to being explicitly opposed to customer centricity. Overall, the process to ensure that an organisation is maximising its customer centricity also needs to involve investigating the following two vital questions: Who all the organisation’s different customers actually are.

Precisely what the organisation’s customers want from it.

Neither of these questions is necessarily easy to answer, especially for a large organisation.

The second question is especially important.

An answer to it is essential for helping to define where the organisation should be going in the future. Organisations often think they know what their customers want from them. But organisations’ knowledge of this is often surprisingly superficial.

Insight is everything Understanding the nature of the benefit you are offering customers is more than vital; it’s everything.

So is being aware that your current product or service may be nothing more than the most recent iteration of a string of potential successive future iterations that will offer the

7

benefit more extensively and in a more customer-friendly way.

It’s true that customers will often not know what they really want until it is made available to them, such as when technological progress creates completely new products.

But that cannot be an excuse for organisations to be ignorant of what their customers really want from them in terms of the key benefit. Once reliable answers to the two vital questions mentioned above have been provided, it is easier to investigate all the following matters: The extent to which the organisation really understands what customer centricity actually is in terms of the organisation’s activities • A clear perception of the scope the organisation has to become customercentric • The time frames involved for attaining maximum customer centricity • The costs involved for attaining maximum customer centricity • All the constraints on customer centricity that will need to be dismantled or eliminated Whether an organisation is operating in the private sector or public sector, being truly customer-centric brings an organisation an incredibly potent and powerful flexibility to cope with any kind of change, and to maximise efficiency and success.

Stephen Hewett worked as a pilot and aviation company executive before joining The John Lewis Partnership, where he rose to become Development Manager, Research and Expansion. After 15 years at John Lewis, he joined the business and information technology consultancy Charteris plc, where he is now Head of Business Consulting.

Stephen Hewett’s book ‘The Customer-Centric You’ is available from amazon.co.uk and from all good bookshops. For his views on CRM see page 8.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

C O V E R F E AT U R E

For too long the role of customer centricity was usurped by that wordy and never-quite-sincere beast, customer relationship management, or CRM for short.

What do I have against CRM? Oh, nothing that a complete re-think of how organisations present themselves to their customers won’t cure! Seriously, the very fact that CRM has proven itself so inadequate in providing the universal tool for maximising the quality of customer relations, tells us, I think, a great deal about what customers really want from organisations.

CRM, which had its heyday from about the mid-1990s to a few years ago, was held up on its introduction as a panacea for medium to large organisations that wanted to stay intimately connected to their customers.

The idea of CRM was this: people observed that small businesses such as corner shops knew their customers and their customers’ needs really well and met those needs very successfully. CRM was an attempt to provide medium to large organisations with a tool that would in effect adopt the corner-shop approach and furnish it to much larger organisations.

It was a praiseworthy philosophy, but usually it didn’t work. The problem was that CRM was in effect a bolt-on computer system rather than a customer-centric philosophy.

Of course, many organisations loved the idea that simply by installing a computer system they could solve all their problems of delivering great service to customers.

But when CRM was a success at an organisation, this was usually because the organisation was, perhaps accidentally, becoming customer-centric anyway. For organisations where this didn’t apply, CRM just amounted to wallpapering over a cracked wall: the crack stays there, very likely gets worse, and pretty soon the real lack of integrity of the wall becomes only too clear.

So for many organisations, installing CRM turned out to be like imagining that one can permanently solve bad breath merely by sucking a Polo mint. The trouble was, the disappointment which many organisations experienced from CRM often led them to think that all concerted efforts to make an organisation more customer-centric were destined to fail.

Thinking like this is like imagining you’d never enjoy a cruise just because you’ve seen the film Titanic.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

8

customer engagement

M

Becoming social is an imperative for brands today, and while many are embracing the digital revolution, substantial improvements are yet to be made to build a brand with a distinctive social identity, according to a new global Weber Shandwick study in partnership with Forbes Insights 9

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

F E AT U R E

“Now, more than ever, executives need to harness this opportunity to connect with customers, facilitate a conversation and encourage feedback. Their reputations and livelihood depend on it”

According to the study, global brand executives believe that sociability is growing rapidly as a contributor to a brand's overall reputation, from 52 percent today with a projected estimate of 65 percent three years from now. Yet, a large majority (84 percent) report that their brand's sociability is not yet up to world class brand standards, despite the fact that nearly all of them (87 percent) say they have a social media brand strategy.

What does it take to be among the elite set of world class brands? The study found that being a world class social brand means interacting with target audiences and creating original content that heightens the interactive experience, going beyond broadcasting news, deals or events. World class brands get their communities of interest engaged and develop meaningful ties over shared passions or commonalities. They demonstrate a genuine interest in what their audiences say and listen carefully to responses. World class sociability rests on the collaboration of the entire organization to integrate the brand personality across all communications channels. World class sociability also means that brand managers are prepared to accept all the risks that come with the rewards of venturing into this new era of customer engagement.

Disconnect between theory and reality "There is a disconnect between theory and reality when it comes to socializing a brand. All too often, brand managers clamour for the latest and greatest application and new technology, bypassing the need for clear business objectives, a true social orientation and programs that deliver real value to brand communities. To be a fully socialized brand, leaders need a new blueprint; one that factors in both proper internal structure as well as external programming that help people be informed and identified with brands they engage online," said Chris Perry, president of Digital Communications, Weber

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

Socializing Your Brand –Risks versus Rewards Global brand executives consider that the rewards of using social media outweigh the risks, by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

Among the rewards of social media, global brand executives count strengthening customer loyalty, improving brand recognition, helping locate new customers and prospects and improving customer service.

"While there are inherent risks in socializing a brand, it is no longer an option to go without a social presence. Now, more than ever, executives need to harness this opportunity to connect with customers, facilitate a conversation and encourage feedback. Their reputations and livelihood depend on it," said Leslie Gaines-Ross, chief reputation strategist, Weber Shandwick.

Nine Drivers of Leading Brand Sociability: 1. It's not the medium - and it's more than the message: World class brands are much more likely than the average brand to create original content. 45 percent of them create content specifically for social media purposes, compared to 28 percent of all global companies. World class brands depend upon much more than just the medium to make themselves social.

2. Put your brands in motion: World class companies do more than build an inventory of social media tools. They apply their tools in more social ways than the average global company. For example, they are 44 percent more likely to offer brand-related mobile content, 43 percent more likely to participate in "check-in" apps, 41 percent more likely to do proximity marketing and 40 percent more likely to have their own branded YouTube channel.

3. Integrate or die: World class organizations are much better integrators of brand personality - they are nearly twice as likely as other organizations to have a consistent brand personality across all social and traditional media channels and are much more likely to include a social media element to their traditional print or broadcast messaging.

M

"Socializing Your Brand: A Brand's Guide to Sociability" offers organisations a starting point for developing their own best-in-class practices when creating an authentically social brand. The research was conducted online among 1,897 senior executives from high revenue companies across 50 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Shandwick. "Organizations need to break down silos, operate strategically and integrate all marketing communications. Only then can a brand successfully and seamlessly engage in a real social dialogue."

10

customer engagement

4. Make social central: 61 percent of world class brands have a dedicated social media strategist or manager, vs. 41 percent of all global brands. According to one global executive respondent, "The most important thing we can do is to centrally plan social media activities across all channels to amplify key messages."

5. Listen more than you talk: World class companies fine-tune their messages to customers and integrate what is on their fans' minds into their brand stories. Nearly twice as many world class brands have changed a product or service based on fan recommendations compared to the average global brand.

6. Count what matters - meaningful engagement: World class brands place more weight than other brands on their number of contributors when measuring social media effectiveness. Social contributors are ranked #1 by world class companies but #6 by other companies as a key metric.

7. Think global: Executives managing world class brands consider global reach as important as customer service as a driver of corporate reputation while the average global executive ranks global reach last.

8. Go outside to get inside: World class companies are nearly twice as likely as average global companies to engage outside support to measure their brand's social performance.

9. Be vigilant: To protect their social brand integrity, world class brands are always on high alert. They are 85 percent more vigilant since Wikileaks has been in the news and are 58 percent more likely to be concerned about privacy violations.

Brand Sociability Ranges Cross Continents "Socializing Your Brand" found relatively few differences across regions. Weber Shandwick and Forbes Insights believe this is due to the globality of social media and, although some geographies are more

11

technologically developed than others, they all embrace the same opportunities and face the same challenges of using social media to connect with customers in a meaningful way.

The most pronounced regional differences are: • North American companies are most likely to have integrated their social media brand strategies into their overall marketing or communications strategies (73 percent vs.

54 percent in EMEA, 60 percent in APAC and 62 percent in Latin America).

• While EMEA organizations are just as likely as those in other regions to have a centralized social media function, they are the least likely to have a dedicated social media strategist/manager (62 percent vs. 77 percent in North America, 70 percent in APAC and 78 percent in Latin America).

• APAC brand executives are significantly more likely than executives in other regions to report difficulty quantifying social media results/gauging ROI (27 percent vs. 19 percent in North America, 17 percent in EMEA and 14 percent in Latin America). In fact, this is APAC executives' number one barrier to using social media more extensively. APAC is also the most likely region to cite lack of talent to effectively implement social media as a barrier, which could be a reason for or byproduct of ROI challenges.

“World class brands get their communities of interest engaged and develop meaningful ties over shared passions or commonalities.

They demonstrate a genuine interest in what their audiences say and listen carefully to responses”

• Latin American brand executives expect the most from their brand's online sociability.

On average, they project in three years that 72 percent of their brand's reputation will be attributed to its online sociability. This is higher than what executives in other regions expect (65 percent in North America, 63 percent in EMEA and 66 percent in APAC).

"Collectively, brands are re-defining marketing models for a super-social media environment. Whether it's to reach employees, customers or media, social communications is a powerful, unstoppable market force. Communications and marketing executives and are now well aware. The question is how to use this power to maximum advantage," said Perry.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

F E AT U R E

There are a lot of ways to communicate with customers that are cheaper than the phone. But according to new research forcing people to use them could cost you more than you think says Mike Havard

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

12

customer engagement

fact, they’re finding, to their frustration, that the reverse is true, and that companies are attempting to force them into using those channels that are cheapest to manage.

The simple truth is this.

Customers actively want to use new, digital channels.

But they expect to do so on their terms. They expect organisations to provide new channels as well as (not instead of) more established ones. Nor does any one channel provide the complete answer. Customers will choose different channels for different occasions, depending on where they are, what they’re doing and the nature of their enquiry. They’ll often use several channels to complete a single ‘transaction’, researching a new product online, purchasing it in store, then using forums to discover new features. And, if there’s a problem, or a complex issue they need to resolve, they’ll likely resort to the phone.

Failure to provide access to even one of these touch points is likely to frustrate the customer and lose the sale.

Moving in the right direction?

It isn’t that companies haven’t made some steps in the right direction. Many have renamed their call centres as ‘multichannel contact centres’ and have added web chat and email to their offer. However, the changes are often superficial at best and, at worst, self serving. What customers are beginning to realise – and resent – is that ‘more channels’ hasn’t necessarily translated into ‘more choice’ for them. In

13

Focus on value Attempts to ‘save money’ in this way often backfire. Now more than ever (and, ironically, due to new media) customers can make their dissatisfaction felt very quickly and at great cost to the company that has offended them. By turning to social networking sites to express their dissatisfaction at service failures, they are giving a very public voice to their concerns. And, given that 53% of consumers have decided not to buy a product because of a negative online report, the financial impact can be disproportionately damaging.

In contrast, we’ve found that business recognised by their peers as leading the way in multi-channel customer service, are invariably achieving tangible financial benefits. Instead of allowing their strategies to be dictated by slavish comparisons of channel operating costs, they’ve developed a value proposition based on customer retention, and brand reputation, as well as individual transaction costs.

Here are a few examples from our research…

• National Rail Enquiries, which has seen customer enquiries grow by 343% over nine years yet still achieved a fourfold reduction in operating cost by migrating 80% of all contacts to the web.

• Since co-locating its online and contact centre teams, Surrey County Council has grown the percentage of enquires handled online from 85% to 94% and reduced its average cost per enquiry by 38%.

• HomeDepot, which estimates that it has deflected 15 million potential telephone calls and helped solve 8,500 customer problems via Twitter.

• Carphone Warehouse, whose YouTube ‘how to’ guides have received more than 6 million hits since their introduction in 2009, averting calls to the contact centre.

It’s clear that these companies have founded their multichannel strategies on two fundamental truths: That customers’ channel choices are based on convenience and context, and that the only person who should make the channel choice is the customer themselves!

M

There’s one thing our research which examines the multichannel strategies of more than 30 UK businesses, makes very clear. Companies that try to restrict access to the phone and force people to use lower cost channels rarely achieve the cost savings they aim for. And they frequently manage to alienate customers along the way. By contrast, companies that offer true channel choice, and work hard to encourage, rather than impose, channel shift by making all routes open and easy to access, are reaping considerable economic benefits. And they’re gathering a reputation for positive customer engagement along the way.

When they call to pay a bill they’re diverted to an automated system. Previously easy to locate numbers disappear from web sites. When they have a service issue they’re advised to read ‘frequently asked questions’. The help desk is offered only as a very last resort and – as if to deter them further – the team is kept small and, as a result, response times are unacceptably long. It isn’t that customers mind using automated systems or looking for answers online, they frequently prefer to do so. It’s just that they don’t want to be forced to do it when it would be their natural choice to pick up a phone.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

F E AT U R E

“The message is clear. If you don’t want to experience damaged revenues and customer back lash, you need to offer channel choice. Not impose it”

“The best businesses are finding the multi-channel ‘winwins’; where their desire to reduce cost meets their customers’ willingness to interact differently. A good multichannel strategy benefits customers and businesses alike, leading to reduced transaction costs, improved reputation increased customer satisfaction and greater customer loyalty.” says Mitch Lieberman, Market Strategy Director, Sword Ciboodle.

Embracing these guiding principles has meant that, instead of jumping on a social media bandwagon or forcing automation on reluctant customers, smart businesses are using new channels to enhance customer experience and meet efficiency targets. For example: • By investing in the development of web based service or mobile applications that are genuinely effective, fast and reliable they are ensuring that the majority of customers prefer to interact on line than call an agent.

• By using social forums such as Facebook and Twitter to provide customers with information and updates when there’s an issue they’re being more proactive in their service.

• By using automated outbound communications such as email and SMS at important stages in the customer journey, they’re managing expectations, increasing satisfaction and pre-empting unnecessary inbound calls.

By focusing their efforts on using additional channels to add value to the customer experience, they are making those channels increasingly palatable, encouraging customers to adopt other channels in preference to the telephone for many of their interactions. Though, crucially, not all.

Telephone best for complex stuff Even the most channel sophisticated and channel conversant customer will tend towards the telephone when their query is complex or emotionally sensitive. The companies in our research that are achieving the most positive results with alternative channels continue to operate an accessible, well resourced contact centre.

While more and more interactions are handled via automated or digital channels, contact centre agents

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

continue to provide the most important service channel.

They may be handling fewer calls, but each is likely to have an elevated importance in terms of its impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty.

This gives rise to a clear challenge. First, the telephone is often reached as a point of escalation, with callers transferring to a live agent from another channel when they recognise they have exhausted the first’s ability to resolve their issue. For the customer it is vital that the transition experience is both rapid and smooth. Being asked to repeat information already given via another channel is deeply unpopular, for example. Customers expect agents to have this information to hand.

They also expect agents to know if they have previously contacted the company about the same service issue by another service channel and to be able to support their use of those channels. Clearly this means agents must have the necessary tools and skills, including a single view of a customer’s multi-channel interaction history. From a technical perspective, this will demand systems integration; from a skills perspective agents need to be able to jump between channels with confidence as needed. Research shows that, in many organisations, agent recruitment and training is lagging behind. According to the 2011 ‘Digital Maturity Index’ published by the Engine Group, only 12% of companies have adjusted their recruitment practices to reflect the digital requirements of their business and its customers.

This is a scenario that simply cannot continue. In simple terms, in our multi-channel, digital world, the need for highly-skilled, well supported agents has never been higher.

In order to be more competitive and commercially effective organisations must take a long hard look at their channel performance to understand how innovation, better practices and customer insight can reduce costs and improve service delivery Ember’s research paper produced for Sword Ciboodle, ‘Why Multi-channel Must Mean Multiple Choice’ can be downloaded free of charge from www.emberservices.com.

14

customer engagement

To be a trusted brand is the holy grail. Consumer trust creates significant benefits - from repeat purchasers to customer advocacy, from price protection to more effective employee recruitment says Thomas Cowper Johnson Thomas Cowper Johnson began his career in the research department of US advertising agency DDB. After 14 years in advertising and ten years as Director of Brand at Norwich Union he set up his own business to advise firms on brand and customer experience management. He is now a director of ServiceTick Trust is hard-earned. Three of the top five most valuable global brands in Interbrand’s annual list are over 100 years old - Coca Cola, IBM and GE. (The other two, Google and Microsoft, have benefited from a sector that has rushed to prominence in the last 30 years.)

These top brands have achieved their trusted status by observing 5 basic rules: 1. Keep (or exceed) promises. Brands guarantee a certain level of performance from their products or service. If they do not live up to their promises they have no right to be trusted.

2. Value authenticity. Consumers need their chosen brand to be the genuine article. In times of recession there will be an inevitable short term drift to economy brands (Poundland) but brands that display authenticity (John Lewis) also thrive.

3. Recognise the vital role of employees. Staff are as much part of the brand as product; coaching, training and supporting them to ensure they are fully on brand is an essential investment.

4. Nurture brand advocacy. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising –Nielsen’s global survey on consumer trust in advertising confirms that 9 out of 10 people trust recommendations from people they know while only 6 out of 10 trust ads on TV or in newspapers 5. Cherish all your customers. Customers are a valuable resource. Listen to what they have to say. And whatever you do don’t favour new customers with deals not available to people who have been loyal to your brand for years.

Customers feel valued when brands seek their opinion (we are all flattered to be asked what we think). Trusted brands will invite feedback both positive and negative (Bill Gates knew that: “your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”); and with the tools now available any company can build an extensive and effective customer feedback programme. Customer experience measurement companies offer a single ‘voice of the customer’ hub that gathers and analyses in real time feedback from call centres, web and branch.

15

But listening to customers is of no value unless you are prepared to act on what they have to say. And acting on feedback can build trust in very specific ways: • Turning brand ‘antis’ into brand advocates - Tools are available that can automatically alert you to dissatisfied customers by identifying key words in IVR or email surveys. ServiceTick has found that levels of brand loyalty and advocacy will increase by a multiple of at least three times with customers whose complaints are responded to swiftly.

• Improving first call resolution (FCR) - improvements in FCR generate reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. IVR surveys can be used to determine FCR levels by asking the caller if they felt their issue had been resolved. Within the call centre itself resolution failure rates can be traced back to individual call agents, identifying training and coaching requirements within each team.

• Get under the skin of CSAT and Net Promoter Scores - CSAT and NPS are effective measurement tools but sometimes you need to know why people score you as they do. By asking callers: “What single thing did we do to make you rate us in this way?” responses become more easily grouped, less ambiguous and therefore easier to act on.

• Creating visible peer endorsement - brands are increasingly judged by their level of transparency. Trusted brands have the confidence to share positive and negative feedback not just with staff but with their customers and prospects. For brands proud of their service record it can be great publicity and a real motivation to staff.

Ultimately trust is built on the back of a relationship between brand and consumer; smart brands understand that by listening to customers they can earn that trust.

“Ultimately trust is built on the back of a relationship between brand and consumer; smart brands understand that by listening to customers they can earn that trust”

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

F E AT U R E

Consumers are demanding that retailers and manufacturers recognise and reflect the way they want to shop and buy. Retailers that understand and respond to this seismic shift and adapt swiftly are in a great place to capitalise on consumer needs according to a new white paper from Henley and Bezier

All this has been playing out against a backdrop of numerous other global trends that are affecting people’s lives and changing their behaviour. Consider global instability, the ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

volatile worldwide economy, environmental concerns, ageing societies, the work-life balance, feminisation, declining trust, the cult of celebrity and technological convergence.

There is now a dichotomy of requirements across generations.

Advertisers used to focus squarely on the youth market and those aged between 25 and 40. But now that the over 50s hold 75% of the wealth in the EU and contribute 50% of all consumer spending, advertising and retail specialists need to change their thinking radically.

By 2020 the number of people over 85 will increase by 50%,

M

Given the proliferation of change in recent years it is no wonder that our physical shopping space is also changing. In the last five years alone, YouTube has been born, the telephone has become a small PC, touch screens have become the norm, we’ve learned to keep in touch through social networking, our banks have failed, petrol has hit up to £1.40 a litre, house prices have crashed and China’s tally of millionaires has overtaken that of the USA.

18

customer engagement

being thrifty can be cool. Sites like The Frugalista and The Budget Babe are making ‘budget savvy’ a badge of honour.

Marketers must bear in mind that a great customer experience isn’t the same as great customer service. Customers expect great service but a great overall experience can deliver a powerful competitive advantage. As shoppers continue to adapt and evolve, so too must retailers and brands – it’s a case of adapt or die.

Delivering relevance Retailers and brands have a complicated backdrop to work against. But so too do shoppers. They are adapting to the changes around them by altering their behaviour and attitudes.

Across the board, consumers are becoming increasingly educated and confident in making choices that fit with their desires, beliefs and lifestyles. There is a real change in consumers’ approach in sectors as diverse as clothing, FMCG, grocery shopping and fragrances.

Customers are tuning into those messages that resonate and resolutely tuning out those that don’t. Delivering relevance has never been more important.

New multi-channel generation This group will be completely tech savvy, having grown up with digital technology as the ‘norm’. They will be sophisticated shoppers needing experiences and interactions motivating enough to drive them from internet shopping into store.

This generation will extend the consumer trend we’re already seeing towards less planning. Think last minute holidays, food on the go and fewer weekly shops. Retailers will also need to continue to focus on the requirements of the female shopper.

It’s accepted wisdom that females hold a lot of buying power but according to The Henley Centre for Customer Management women now account for 85% of all consumer purchases. In future, female millionaires will outnumber male ones in the UK by 2020 and by 2025, women will control 60% of the nation’s private wealth.

Retail’s future is constantly under the microscope. Headlines announcing the imminent “death of the high street” are all too commonplace. While it would be gratifying to think of these economically fraught, technologically-led times as unique or special, they are just another phase of a picture that always has been, and always will be, in constant flux.

The recession has spawned a counter-intuitive notion – that 19

Price comparison convenience is now available in real time (i.e. in the aisle) thanks to smartphone technology. In August 2011 Westfield, the world’s largest shopping centre operator, added Google Commerce search functionality to its in-mall mobile app to save shoppers’ time in their malls. Shoppers can search and compare prices at retailers across their local Westfield shopping mall, and contact the local retailers with one click to check availability.

Retailers and brands alike need to keep abreast of these changes and ensure their systems will maximise the opportunities that such technology is offering. For example, it’s great that customers can quickly ring through to a retailer from a price comparison app, but not so great if they cannot get through or if the person that answers the phone can’t help them.

The social media shopper As advertisers have discovered new communications channels, consumers have found themselves bombarded with messaging.

Not only have they started to tune out, they have also started to fight back by harnessing the power of social media.

Social media creates an environment in which shoppers can seek friends’ opinions and advice as easily as they can look for the lowest prices online. The voice of ‘real customers’ is an increasingly important feature of shopping today.

M

according to the Office for National Statistics. What will older people want from their shopping experiences? Think larger print, brighter lights, seating and parking. At the other end of the age spectrum, Generation Y will be mid-20s by 2015.

Tough economic times have certainly focused consumers’ minds on value, but in surprising ways. Deal hunting is more important than ever, with group buying platforms like Groupon emerging.

The practice is evolving from ‘penny pinching’ and a chore into a form of entertainment or even a full-fledged hobby. The social stigma associated with bargain hunting has been turned on its head. It’s now more than acceptable.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

F E AT U R E

“Retailers are moving steadily towards a more multi-channel approach. They will need to consider carefully which communication channels they employ – whether in store or online – to ensure this translates into a valuable and consistent customer experience”

According to Mintel Oxygen, four out of ten online shoppers like to read customer reviews before deciding what to buy. Online social network users are three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchasing decisions (Source: Henley Centre for Customer Management Centre) and nearly 84% would trust user’s reviews ahead of a critic’s Retailers are responding by integrating customer ratings into their own websites, while specialist review sites also give customers the opportunity to comment on their purchases. Often these have links to Facebook and other social media platforms.

Facebook has 800 million users and Twitter has 200 million, so it comes as no surprise that companies are looking for the opportunity to expand their reach to social media users.

Many companies are taking steps towards combining social networks and shopping.

Social commerce is still in its infancy and could be a risky investment for most companies given that there isn’t enough data available yet to prove its success. However it’s estimated that sales through social media will grow six-fold to $30 billion globally in the next five years.

Consumers are deal-driven and savvy but they do care about the experience. There’s recent evidence that the rise of quick-service formats and automated service has actually fuelled a greater desire for good oldfashioned customer service, particularly in face-to-face form.

to understand all of your customers’ needs – some of which they may not even realise they have,” one Apple training manual says.

Interestingly, employees don’t have sales targets or receive sales commissions.

Creating other new but relevant reasons to visit will help retailers generate much needed additional sales. Solutions could include extending the range of services on offer or offering practical solutions like childcare services. The trend, also demonstrated by Topshop and Debenhams, is bringing something that very exclusive, high-end retailers have done for some time to a more mainstream group of customers.

What the future holds Looking ahead, many people are talking of an underlying frugality they think will linger.

Research suggests that generally, shoppers’ purchasing decisions will be more considered.

Customers will replace ‘rampant deal seeking’ with more purposeful purchasing and keep using shopping techniques and tools they discovered during the recession.

Those tools will include on-going use of coupons (both online and via mobile devices), comparison shopping sites and stepped-up involvement in loyalty and rewards programmes.

Retailers are moving steadily towards a more multi-channel approach. They will need to consider carefully which communication channels they employ – whether in store or online – to ensure this translates into a valuable and consistent customer experience.

Shoppers, consumers and citizens habits are changing. This shift is not just a result of ever keener retail offers, or even the dramatic growth in retail and communications channels.

In the main it’s a result of us understanding our wants, needs and desires ever better.

Employee engagement Disengaged employees can’t create engaged customers and you can’t sustain great customer experiences unless your employees are on board.

As an example, Apple is known not only for its customer-friendly environments, intensive staff training and of course great products, but also for the culture it has created.

Crucially, Apple keeps reinforcing the culture that helps deliver consistently great customer experiences. For example, employees are told (and trained) not to sell, but rather to help customers solve problems. “Your job is

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

Consumers are no longer prepared to be ‘reserved’. Although people have never been happy to accept bad service and irrelevant messaging, it is now so much easier to do something about it by sharing thoughts and experiences with an ever growing circle of online friends.

Ultimately consumers are demanding that retailers and manufacturers recognise and reflect the way they want to shop and buy.

Retailers that understand and respond to this seismic shift and adapt swiftly are in a great place to capitalise on consumer needs.

20

s anie p m co al soci any l l m a Too that are the e m s f assu worker re o a t e n ey . Th cording e m c sa ot a es and n e m rs cou laise Ja Gallup to B und at l Asp Jim

21

M

customer engagement

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

F E AT U R E

How Engaged Are Your Customers?

ENGAGED customers are emotionally attached but they’re not strongly loyal. They do like your product or service, but they can be tempted to switch by a more convenient, more attractive, or lower priced offer.

Recently, Gallup asked more than 17,000 U.S. adults about how they use social media - evaluating everything from the latest mobile social media apps to old-school word-of-mouth.

What we found debunks three big myths regarding social media: that it effectively drives customer acquisition, that social networking is an online-only phenomenon, and that social networkers are all the same. More importantly, our analysis reveals practical actions that organizations can take to make their efforts more effective.

First step in a social media initiative: Determine who your most emotionally engaged customers are.

Far too many organizations approach social media using a "onesize-fits-all" approach. They launch Facebook pages or have their CEOs tweet brand-friendly messages. Everyone receives the same corporate-sponsored message, which effectively makes it a mass tactic. And using mass tactics to reach consumers implies that all social networkers are pretty much the same. They're not.

Whether you're targeting customers or prospective customers, some will be predisposed for or against your organization depending largely on their existing relationship with you. Emotionally engaged customers -- those with a deep rational and emotional attachment to your brand -- are far more likely to be socially engaged customers who will work for your company or brand within their social networks. (See sidebar "How Engaged Are Your Customers?")

The first step in a successful social media initiative is to determine who your most emotionally engaged customers are. The next step is to find out why these customers use social media; people tweet, post, blog, and "friend" others to meet their intrinsic needs, wants, and goals. They won't change their motivation or reasons to fit yours, so your organization must align its initiatives with your customers' goals. That's why it is critical to understand your customers' social engagement typology and level of social engagement.

The Social Engagement Universe Based on our analysis, Gallup has found that there are three basic kinds of behaviour in the social engagement universe: creation, consumption, and connection.

• Creation refers to customers initiating conversations about products, services, or organizations within social networks. Some of these customers - we call them bohemian creators - initiate their opinions about organizations and brands frequently online and offline. Conversely, casual creators share their opinions about organizations and brands much less often and entirely offline.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

NOT ENGAGED customers have a “take it or leave it” attitude toward your product or service. They’re disconnected emotionally and are attitudinally neutral toward your brand and what you’re selling.

ACTIVELY DISENGAGED customers are completely detached from your company and its products and services.

They will readily switch or - if switching is difficult or impossible - may become virulently antagonistic toward your company or brand. Either way, they’re always eager to tell others exactly how they feel.

• Consumption refers to customers gathering information about products, services, or organizations from social networks. Our analysis shows that there are two main types of these consumers: active consumers, who talk about organizations and brands on their social networks every day and passive consumers, who don't engage in these kinds of conversations every day.

• Connection refers to customers intentionally connecting others with information about organizations and brands. Connectors do this type of linking while non-connectors do not.

These three behaviours combine into eight social engagement typologies. Each typology exhibits a distinct set of needs, wants, and ways in which people use their social networks. (See graphic "The Social Engagement Universe.")

The Social Engagement Universe When Gallup asked more than 17,000 U.S. adults about how they use social media, three distinct behaviours emerged: creation, consumption, and connection. Those three behaviours further combined into eight typologies that represent a distinct set of needs, wants, and ways in which people use their social networks.

Creation: Bohemian creators initiate their opinions frequently online and offline; casual creators share their opinions much less often and entirely offline.

Consumption: Active consumers talk about organisations and brands on their social networks every day; passive consumers don’t engage in these kinds of conversations.

35% 30% 15% 11% 10% 4% 3% 2%

Connection: Connectors internationally connect others with information about organisations and brands; non-connectors do not.

Creation

Consumption

Connection

B=Bohemian C=Casual

A=Active P=Passive

C=Connectors N=Non-Connectors

C B B C B C C B

P A A A P P A P

N C N N N C C C

To demonstrate how diverse social engagement is, the two largest typologies in the social engagement universe exhibit completely different characteristics. For example, the Casual/Passive/NonConnector typology is the dominant mode of the oldest respondents and accounts for 35% of the social engagement universe. In comparison, Bohemian/Active/Connector is the dominant mode of the youngest respondents and accounts for 30%. Combined, these vastly different typologies represent almost two-thirds of the social networking population (65%). The remaining third is fragmented into six other unique typologies.

M

FULLY ENGAGED customers are strongly emotionally attached and attitudinally loyal.

They’ll go out of their way to locate a favored product or service, and they won’t accept substitutes. True brand ambassadors, they are your most valuable and profitable customers.

22

customer engagement The intrinsic reasons why the typologies engage in social networking are also different. Some seek mainly to influence, entertain, or inform. Others seek to learn, warn, create, or share or some distinctive combinations of these behaviours. Knowing the reasons why customers advocate and how they advocate by channel -- which also differs by typology - is critical for the targeting and messaging of any strategic social initiative.

The implication is clear: "One-size-fits-all" social media strategies can't account for this incredible variation in social networkers.

In addition to their typology, customers and prospects have a social engagement charge that reflects their likelihood to talk about your organization and brands either positively or negatively in their social networks. This charge varies among individuals and specific organizations, across industries, and over time based on an individual's level of knowledge and experiences with your organization. Customers have a more positive -- and lower negative -- social engagement charge than prospects. (See graphic "Getting a Charge out of Social Engagement.")

Getting a Charge out of Social Engagement Social engagement is the degree to which customers or prospects work for or against organisation in their social networks. Customers have a more positive - and lower negative - social engagement charge than prospects. This charge varies among individuals and specific organisations, across industries, and over time based on an individual’s level of knowledge and experiences with an organisation.

Customer

Prospects 35%

33%

28% 21% 17% 12%

9%

2

3

4

Three recommended actions Our findings lead us to recommend three practical actions for social media decision makers: 1. Target your most engaged customers with your social initiatives.

2. Apply different tactics to address the needs and wants of the relevant typologies.

3. Measure and manage your customers' social engagement and customer engagement to track progress and refine your approach.

Organizations of all types and sizes are pouring more dollars than ever into social media initiatives. Some comb the social sphere to react to negative opinion. Others try to generate buzz.

And most are launching both reactive and proactive efforts mixed with dozens of other traditional and digital tactics to see what sticks.

No matter how many social media initiatives organizations engage in, their decision makers tell us that with increasing social media budgets come greater expectations for return on investment, for a strategic process for measurement and management, and for accountability within these initiatives.

20%

11%

6%

Extremely negative

Despite the differences in typology and social engagement charge, we were surprised to discover one striking commonality across social networkers: On average, the size and reach of social networks are remarkably similar across types. And our analysis shows that network size and reach isn't predictive of whether a consumer will advocate positively on your organization's behalf.

Therefore, social media strategies that target individuals with large social networks to use them as influencers underestimate the differences between social networkers.

Extremely positive

CopyrightŠ 2010 Gallup, Inc All rights reserved

We understand, and we sympathize. But our analysis reveals a paradox that most social media initiatives fail to address: Your best bet to acquire new customers is to engage your existing customers, then align your strategy with the wants and needs that encourage them to engage their social networks on your behalf.

Advice for Leaders of Customer Initiatives If customer loyalty or engagement initiatives are part of your chief marketer's scorecard, then you're heading down the right path.

But if your customer loyalty strategy is not connected to your social media initiatives, you could be wasting valuable resources.

Instead, consider a phased approach: 1. Start by measuring customer engagement. If you're measuring customer satisfaction or using Net Promoter, that's a start. But Gallup data suggest that customer engagement is a better predictor and diagnostic of the emotional connection with your customers and subsequently, a better metric for those who will engage their social networks on your behalf.

23

2. If you have high levels of customer engagement, measure social engagement. Determine the social engagement typologies of your best customers and their level of social engagement charge. The virtue of social engagement measurement is that it is channel-neutral, which can help you measure the larger portion of social networking about your organization that isn't happening online. (In part 1 of this article, we debunked the myth that social networking is an online-only phenomenon.)

3. To give your customers what they need to advocate on your behalf, structure your social initiative strategies based on their predominant typologies. By focusing your messaging on your customers' social engagement typologies, you can design effective initiatives that give your customers what they want so they will feel confident vouching for you in their social networks.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

REVIEW

REPORT

Customer Engagement in Financial Ser Delegates at the latest Customer Engagement Club Directors Forum on the future of customer engagement in the troubled and much-maligned financial services industry saw culture and trust emerge as two crucial and closely related challenges going forward The Financial Services sector is under pressure to get its customer offering back on track. That pressure comes from consumers who have lost trust in service providers for a host of reasons, and from regulatory bodies such as the Financial Services Authority (FSA) who are introducing a roster of changes that impact the relationship between providers and those who use their products and services.

The opening keynote address was delivered by Nadege Genetay, head of the redress unit of the FSA who took the sector to task over the way it deals with customers – not surprising against a backdrop of 1.76million customer complaints in the first six months of this year, an eye watering rate of more than 10,000 complaints every single day.

Unhealthy attitude to customers Nadege pinpointed what she described as an unhealthy attitude towards customers among many financial services organisations and said the sector needs to clean up its act and adopt a more customer-centric attitude.

Her comments were echoed by Peter Flade, senior partner at Forum host Gallup Consulting, who pointed out that if the culture within an organisation is not geared towards its customers then there is no real chance of that organisation winning the trust from customers it needs to maximize success.

For this to happen then confidence, integrity, pride and passion all need to be in place along with a leadership that has compassion and offers stability – two things that have been in short supply in financial services.

the sector and Andy Scott, head of customer experience banking and financial services at Firstsource who showed how well handled complaints can turn crisis into opportunity.

Metro Bank getting it right One bank that seems to be getting its customer engagement offering right is Metro Bank, the first UK High Street Bank to open its doors in close on 150 years. Paul Marriott-Clarke, managing director of retail services at Metro Bank explained the customer centric ethos of a bank that is forcing competitors to look over their shoulders. Metro Bank wants to create fans, not customers, and nine in ten of its new customers are from referrals.

Following on from Metro Bank was Aviva where Rod Butcher head of customer service and insight talked about the group’s ongoing journey to customer-centricity including the use of the increasingly ubiquitous Net Promoter Score. Rod’s was a joint presentation with Deborah Eastman global had of business consulting at Satmetrix, one of the organisations behind NPS. Last but by no means least came Andrew Fisher, CEO of Towry, who focussed on the cultural change he has masterminded at the wealth company over the past six years, a change that has resulted in an increased level of trust – and of course performance - among both employees and customers.

Organisational culture and customer trust – get the first right and the second will follow.

Before the lively panel debate on the future of customer engagement in the financial services sector there were contributions from Paul Scott, director of strategic partnerships at Merchants who looked at key trends from the Dimension Data Global Contact Centre Benchmarking report; Conrad Simpson director at Interactive Intelligence who used case study examples to show how technology can boost customer engagement in

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

24

PRESENTATIONS

vices – a matter of culture and trust Keynote/Q & A - Market Overview from the FSA Nadege Genetay - Head of Redress Unit, FSA

Nadege Genetay

Overview of the state of the Financial Services sector and how regulatory changes will impact the industry and its relationship with customers.

Download presentation

Worldclass customer service – lip service or absolute priority?

Peter Flade - Senior Managing Partner, Gallup Consulting Unlike volatile equity markets and venture investors, loyal customers can be counted upon to build a solid revenue base as well as deliver growth and profits. But what is it that actually makes customers loyal? Gallup research shows that people stay faithful to brands that earn both their rational satisfaction and their deeply felt affection. No matter what the industry, there’s an emotional element to how a customer interacts with a brand. Although most organisations claim that their employees are their greatest asset and their number one priority is delivering worldclass customer service, the reality is frequently quite different. Peter will share how companies who are very deliberately managing employee and customer engagement to impact service quality and reduce service variation, have substantially improved their profitability and growth.

The number of complaints handled by the Financial Services Ombudsman has more than doubled in the last 4 years, presenting a huge challenge for financial services organisations just in terms of administration and processing. Andy Scott, head of Customer Experience, Banking & Financial Services, at Firstsource Solutions, explains how complaints need to be tackled not just as a problem to be solved, but as an opportunity to develop a more positive customer experience and as a platform for adding value to the business. How can the financial services industry not only handle the rising number of complaints to achieve productive, profitable and positive outcomes for all concerned as well as transform the public perceptions of banks and financial services companies?

Download presentation

Peter Flade

Creating fans not customers, Metro Bank - Case study Anthony Thomson, Chairman, Metro Bank Metro Bank’s proposition is all about giving customers a better experience. Anthony Thomson, Anthony co-founder and chairman, describes Metro Bank’s Thomson differentiated model, its unique culture and its relentless execution, which is attracting over 1000 new customers every week.

Download presentation

Download presentation

'Contact Centre Benchmarking report - key trends in the financial services sector' Paul Scott, Director of Strategic Partnerships – Merchants Paul Scott, Director of Strategic Partnerships – Merchants, takes a look at the financial sector trends from the Dimension Data Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report and shares some insights that are driving successful strategic outsourcing.

Paul Scott

Download presentation

'How technology can boost customer engagement in Financial Services' Conrad Simpson, Director, Interactive Intelligence Conrad will discuss the role of technologies in helping customer engagement in Financial Services.

Using real life examples he’ll show how new technologies and complexity need not compromise the goal of getting closer to our customers Conrad Simpson

Download presentation

Complaints handling – turning a crisis into an opportunity Andy Scott, Head of Customer Experience, Banking & Financial Services, Firstsource

Rod Butcher

Deborah Eastman

Aviva’s journey to customer centricity – Case Study Rod Butcher, Head of Customer Experience and Insight, Aviva Group plc Deborah Eastman, Global Head of Business Consulting, Satmetrix

• Hear about Aviva’s journey towards customer centricity and the lessons learned along the way • Learn how customer journey mapping can contextualise customer feedback and focus your efforts • Find out what’s next in terms of connecting employees to the customer agenda Download presentation

Driving change in a changing industry Andrew Fisher, CEO, Towry Transforming a business to get more from less is never easy and when that business operates in a sector that itself is going through rapid and Andrew Fisher fundamental change it becomes even more of a challenge. At fast growing Wealth Advice organisation Towry, chief executive Andrew Fisher has spent the past six years doing just that. Here Andrew gives an entertaining and thought provoking blow by blow account of how he has implemented the cultural changes that focussed on the needs of the customer, turning a loss making organisation into a profitable one.

Download presentation

Andy Scott

25

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

F E AT U R E

y tor Wile direc h Jack ecutive g i a H te is ex e Kenex Institu h t e c f n o r of orma Perf o-autho elivering c D and PECT: ving ‘RES lts by gi at they u w s h res oyee empl want’. y reall

Jack Wiley

How can organisations improve employee engagement, customer satisfaction and business performance?

Jack Wiley says there are seven elements ed of success built around R.E.S.P.E.C.T engag more, e s au e “Bec yees car and stay o r l emp m bette r eliver perfo , those d t a it h r longe sations t so benef i al organ P.E.C.T. . er R.E.S 64% high ormance f from ional per greater ly at oper gnificant faction” i is s and r sat e m o cust

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

26

customer engagement

For over 30 years, we’ve been talking to employees around the world, in an attempt to better understand the factors that contribute to the engagement, commitment, retention and overall satisfaction of employees.

In 90% of cases, the answer is one of seven things. In other words, there are seven elements that employees really want from their managers and their organisations. To borrow from the ‘queen of soul’ Aretha Franklin, these seven elements can be summed up using the acronym R.E.S.P.E.C.T. • Recognition - Employees want ‘a pat on the back’ and they want their views to count. Essentially, each individual wants to be recognised and appreciated as a valued team member - particularly by the person who should be most familiar with their work: their line manager. Our research shows that employees who are satisfied with their level of recognition are four times more likely to rate their boss as an outstanding leader.

• Exciting work - Employees want a job that’s challenging, interesting and fun. They want a sense of accomplishment and they want to feel the time they’ve spent at work has been worthwhile. According to our research, employees are significantly more likely to feel excited about their work if they are learning something new, or if they’re involved in a pioneering project or if they are empowered to operate with autonomy.

• Security of employment - Employees want job security.

They want to feel confident about their organisation’s future and they want stability and steady work so they can meet their financial obligations. Our research shows that an employee’s sense of job security is related to whether or not they trust the leaders in the organisation. To engender trust, leaders need to show consideration for the morale, welfare and well-being of their team. Leadership behaviour is extremely important because there is a direct link between the perceptions that employees have of their leaders and the performance of the organisation.

• Pay - Employees want to be compensated fairly for the work they do and the contribution they make (through base pay, bonuses and benefits). The important word here is ‘fair’. We all want to feel that we are being treated fairly and that our performance is evaluated fairly.

27

• Education and career growth - Employees want to be given opportunities to develop their skills and to advance their career.

• Conditions - Employees want a well-equipped environment that is comfortable, healthy and safe. For most people, the social working conditions are even more important than the physical conditions.

• Truth - Finally, employees want to be told the truth. They want to work for honest and transparent managers who act with integrity and who say what they mean and mean what they say.

We’ve found that these seven elements are surprisingly consistent across different countries, different industries and different job roles. In a nutshell, this is what workers want. So what? Here’s another question: What impact would it have if an organisation gave its employees exactly what they wanted? In simple terms, our research shows that managers and organisations who give their employees what they want - in other words, those who deliver R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - outperform those that don’t.

Proof of the pudding Our study found that organisations that deliver R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Recognition; Exciting work; Security; Pay; Education; Conditions and Truth - have an employee engagement level that is 117% higher. So, if you want to improve employee engagement in your organisation - or if you’re looking to measure engagement through an employee survey - these are the seven elements on which to concentrate.

What’s more, our study shows that the benefits go way beyond engagement. Because engaged employees care more, perform better and stay longer, those organisations that deliver R.E.S.P.E.C.T. also benefit from 64% higher operational performance and significantly greater customer satisfaction. This translates to the bottom line. Consider, for example, the economic measure of return-on-assets.

On this important metric, organisations in which employees feel they get what they want outperform those organisations that don’t deliver R.E.S.P.E.C.T. by up to ten times. Suffice to say: the impact of fulfilling workers’ most important wants is significant on employee engagement, customer satisfaction and even the bottom line. Our 30 years of global research boils down to one simple formula for organisational success: Give employees what they want.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

REVIEW

REPORT

Measuring customer engagement - why The latest Customer Engagement Club Directors Forum on Customer Engagement Strategy and Measurement took delegates on a journey through the worlds of BIG data, customer insight, company culture and employee and customer engagement in the search for competitive advantage The latest Customer Engagement Strategy and Measurement Directors Forum, hosted by Gallup Consulting and sponsored by Confirmit, Foviance and Verint Systems looked at the issues and challenges facing organisations operating in a multichannel environment - where obtaining a single view of the customer is an increasingly complex yet vital component of customer engagement strategy and measurement.

This Directors Forum examined the rapid changes in the dynamics of customer relationships and where organisations need more than ever to be where their ever more demanding and savvy customers are.

Customer behaviour understanding and insight through intelligent, strategic and joined up use of the ever increasing amount of customer and other data available to organisations were key themes that ran through the day – and where delegates have a resounding thumbs up to the event content.

As an added bonus delegates were each given a free copy of the influential new Multichannel Customer Experience report from Foviance - which got its official launch at the Directors Forum.

BIG data a big issue John D’Arcy, Practice Director, Analytics & Insight, Foviance gave the opening keynote looking at some of the key challenges facing organisations as they get to grips with BIG data - 90% of all the data ever produced in the world has been produced in the last two years and that explosion of data looks set to continue. John explored some of the different types of data available, what it is useful for and gave examples of how the use of measurement frameworks can advance customer engagement and experience strategy.

One of the hottest types of data relates to emotional engagement and Marco Nink, Strategic Consultant for Gallup Consulting gave his presentation around d that very subject, focussing on how emotionally engaged customers will give you more of their business. For customers feelings are fact and any metric that doesn’t take account of human nature is fundamentally flawed. Emotionally connected customers deliver significantly enhanced business results – greater share of wallet, retention and referral rates - compared with their rationally satisfied counterparts.

Multi channel customers spend more Simon Russell head of Multi channel at John Lewis the nation’s favourite retailer went on to show how customers are engaged across channels to give the best joined up service – a critical factor as John Lewis’s multi-channel customers, those that but online and in store are the most profitable for the company and spend more money more frequently that single channel customers. John Lewis is ramping up is multi-channel offering through a number of new initiatives including online customer reviews and free Wi-fi in store.

In an eye-opening presentation Helen Van Tonder, Speech Applications Specialist, Verint Systems EMEA asked delegates: Do you know what your customers really think of you? Helen said that if you’re not monitoring the customer conversation across multiple media channels – voice, texts, emails, the web, social media, customer surveys and more – you’re missing out on vital intelligence; intelligence that could help you streamline your processes, uncover causes of customer dissatisfaction, detect trends, prevent PR disasters and retain customers.

A lively panel debate on How to gain a robust insight into your customer operations and strategy for maximum return highlighted the need for customer engagement strategies to be led from the top of organisations and that customer insight is only or real bottom line when it is acted on by organisations that have the customer at the centre of their culture.

Claire Sporton, Director, Customer Experience Management, Confirmit in her presentation titled ‘Exploring the Elephant – stories from the front line’ looked at the customer journey across channels using case study examples from the likes of Best Buy and the BSI’ Claire examined how organisations can build individual experiences into a single accurate view and truly understand what our customers think ensuring they are able to benefit from seeing a complete view of the customer rather than at just a sum of the parts.

om Cust

John looked at the steps organisations need to take to engage their customers and importantly, how you will know whether these efforts are paying off. Research shows that 70 per cent weight of the decisions customers make are based on emotional rather than rational thought Following on from Marco was Julian Brewer, UKRBB Digital, Head of Commercial, Barclays Bank whose presentation was around a framework to measure and engage the digital customer.

He used case studies to explore a framework to measure, optimise and engage customers on their path through social to site engagement.

ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

er

Claire was followed Dr Guy Fielding, Director horizon2 who asked what it takes to really engage customers, looked at critical factors in customer contact and examined the credentials - or otherwise of the so called Customer Effort metric - and compared it with other metric a such as NPS and cSat

Measuremen

Strat

egy

t

Final presentation rounding off an excellent and varied day came from journalist and economist Michael Blastland who gave an entertaining account of the dangers of over-interpreting data and how falling into the traps of layering our pre-conceived ideas and conceptions into the data we see can be a recipe for disaster!

28

PRESENTATIONS

it’s how you use the data that counts Keynote: Who needs a measurement strategy anyway?

John D’Arcy - Practice Director, Analytics & Insight, Foviance John D’Arcy

John D’Arcy, Foviance’s Practice Director for Analytics and Insight, will open proceedings by looking at some of the key challenges facing organisations as they get to grips with BIG data. John will explore some of the different types of data available, what it is useful for and show examples of how the use of measurement frameworks can advance customer engagement and experience strategy.

We’ll reveal • How to gather unstructured data from all these channels, join up all the points of customer interaction and analyse this data.

• How to uncover invaluable insight and use this analysis to identify and drive change initiatives.

• How you can take evidence you can act on to enhance decision making, shape your customer strategy and performance management to improve the Customer Experience and get ahead of your competitors.

• Why our customers wonder how they ever managed without it Download presentation

Exploring the Elephant – stories from the front line Claire Sporton - Director, Customer Experience Management, Confirmit

Download presentation

'How to emotionally engage your customers to get more of their business' Marco Nink, Strategic Consultant for Gallup Consulting ‘For customers feelings are fact and any metric that doesn’t take account of human nature is fundamentally flawed. Emotionally connected customers deliver significantly enhanced business results – greater share of wallet, retention and referral rates compared with their rationally satisfied counterparts. We will explore what steps organisations need to take to engage their customers and importantly, how you will know whether these efforts are paying off.’

As we interact with our customers via more channels, their experience is built via numerous touchpoints and their opinions are influenced by more and more people. How can we build these individual experiences into a single accurate view and truly understand what our customers think? Looking at both multi channels, and across the customer journey, we will take a brief look at how some organisations are ensuring they are able to benefit from seeing a complete view of the customer rather than at just a sum of the parts.

Claire Sporton

Download presentation

Download presentation

Barclays case study: A framework to measure and engage the digital customer Julian Brewer, UKRBB Digital, Head of Commercial, Barclays Bank The presentation uses case studies to explore a framework to measure, optimise and engage customers on their path through Social to site engagement.

Julian Brewer

Download presentation

"John Lewis - Customer Engagement" case study Simon Russell, Head of Multichannel, John Lewis

Simon Russell

"How John Lewis engage their customers across channels to give the best service".

Download presentation

Are you listening to what your customers are saying – really listening? Maybe you review a small percentage of calls; maybe you’ve set up a Twitter search to pinpoint when somebody mentions your company name.

But is that enough? If you’re not monitoring the customer conversation across multiple media channels – voice, texts, emails, the web, social media, customer surveys and more – you’re missing out on vital intelligence; intelligence that could help you streamline your processes, uncover causes of customer dissatisfaction, detect trends, prevent PR disasters and retain customers.

29

At regular intervals contact centre pundits announce that there is a single “magic” ingredient that will Dr Guy engage customers and ensure success. Recent Fielding examples include First Contact Resolution, the Net Promoter Score, and Customer Effort. In this presentation Guy Fielding, Director of Research and Development for horizon2, will argue that good customer experiences depend upon a combination of a number of different factors, with each one contributing something, and something different, to the mix. Supported by data from recent case studies, he will present an evidence-based strategy for maximising customer satisfaction and engagement.

Download presentation

What's in a number? - the dangers of overinterpreting data Michael Blastland, BBC, Guardian, journalist and internationally renowned economist

Podcast

Do you know what your customers really think of you?

Helen Van Tonder, Speech Applications Specialist, Verint Systems EMEA Helen Van Tonder

What does it take to Engage Customers?

- Critical Factors in Customer Contact Dr Guy Fielding, Director horizon2

The language of business is numbers. Business leaders don’t want to be swamped by them, but do need quick tools and instincts to interpret them, especially to know when they mislead. Michael will argue that one of the best and most neglected of these instincts is to know when you don’t know, to see what the data doesn’t tell you. Uncertainty, he says, is underrated. Over-interpreting data, believing it hard when it’s soft, is dangerous but often encouraged - and responsible for some very big business mistakes. He’ll describe the traps, the consequences, and tricks to do better Michael Blastland

Download presentation

Podcast ISSUE SIX • DECEMBER 2011

pc

us

to

er

m

The only event to provide business solutions to drive Customer Engagement, Employee Engagement and ROI across all channels

du

PARK PLAZA HOTEL, LONDON

T h e join e

FEATURING CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AWARDS 26-27 NOVEMBER 2012

ex

pe

ri e

nce

The Summit will provide all those involved in customer engagement and employee engagement with the tools and strategies necessary to deliver mutually beneficial customer relationships, improved service and performance, customer and employee retention, loyalty and profitability. The 2 day programme for all stages of development will be delivered through a combination of a ‘c-level’ conference including keynote sessions, case studies, streams plus interactive workshops, roundtable discussions, panel debates, networking functions, a meetings programme and awards evening.

The Programme:

Sponsorship:

Will include more than 60 speakers/presentations and the main streams will be: • Multichannel Customer Engagement • Social Media Customer Engagement • Mobile Customer Engagement • B2B Customer Engagement • Employee Engagement • Customer Engagement Strategy & Measurement • Customer Engagement in Financial Services (panel) • Customer Engagement in Retail (panel)

Limited to just 24 sponsors with comprehensive packages including: • meeting areas/room • speaker/panelist slots • private client/potential client meetings • VIP meetings programme • Award category sponsorship • Complimentary delegate places

event

Who should attend: Senior executives responsible for customer service and customer and employee engagement • Customer Service Directors/Senior Management • Customer Loyalty Directors/Senior Management • Contact Centre Directors/Senior Management • Social Media Directors/Senior Management • CRM Directors/Senior Management • Marketing Directors/Senior Management • Direct Marketing Directors/Senior Management • Digital Marketing Specialists • HR Directors/Senior Management • Operational Directors/Senior Management

register interest For more information contact Chris Wood: chris@ictcomms.com and +44 (0) 1932 341828 or visit our website:

www.customerengagementclub.com

Programme Day One 08:00

Registration

08:30 – 12:30

Sponsors private client programme

0900 – 10:30

Workshop A

11:00 – 12:30

Workshop B

12:30 – 14:00

Lunch/Meetings

14:00

Opening Keynote

14:30 – 15:30

Streams/Panels

15:30 – 16:00

Coffee/Meetings

16:00 – 17:00

Streams/Panels

17:00 - 17:15

Chairman’s Summary

17:15 – 18:00

Drinks/Meetings

20:00 – 23:00

Awards Evening

Day Two 08:00 – 09:00

Breakfast/Coffee/Meetings

09:00 – 9:30

Keynote

09:30 – 10;30

Panel Debate

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee/Meetings

11:00 – 12:00

Streams/Consultant sessions

12:00 – 14:00

Lunch/Meetings

14:00 – 15:30

Streams

15:30 – 16:30

Coffee/Meetings

16:30

Chairman’s Summary/Close

Customer Engagement Club Directors Forums for 2012 • Multichannel Customer Engagement for Contact Centres, 26th January, London • Customer Feedback/Measurement/Voice of the Customer, 21st March, London • Social Media and Mobile Customer Engagement, 16th May, London • B2B Customer Engagement, 20th June, London • Multichannel Customer Engagement, 26th September, London • Customer Engagement Summit & Awards, 26 - 27 November, London • Employee and Customer Engagement, 5th December, London For speaking opportunities please contact Steve Hurst: steve@ictcomms.com For sponsorship and other enquiries please contact Chris Wood: chris@ictcomms.com and +44 (0) 1932 341828 Join the Customer Engagement Club and benefit from: • Weekly News Alerts • Customer Engagement Magazine, 6 issues pa, available in digital and print • Free and discounted access to Directors Forums and other Events • Access to all areas of the web site, news, features, reports, videos, white papers, archive

For free club membership and information on Directors Forums go to: www.customerengagementclub.com