Customer Insight Spring 2020

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AT GOODWOOD ALSO INSIDE… Igloo Energy HouseMark’s new STAR framework Swearing for Robots A new Index of Consumer Sentiment The Chief Insights Officer

FREE WEBINARS Our range of free 30 minute webinars is designed to give you an introduction to key customer research subjects.

From how to guides & what to focus on, through to best practice & the analysis of your results, our webinars will give you lots of hints & tips to help you get the most out of research.

KNOWING WHAT RESULTS TO FEEDBACK TO CUSTOMERS 15th April 2020 11:00-11:30am

We are often asked by clients for advice on what survey results and planned actions should be shared back with customers; organisations often worry about sharing too much confidential information and customers are often suspicious that the detail is missing. This webinar provides practical suggestions on how to effectively share information.

PRESENTATION SKILLS

HOW SERVICE BLUEPRINTS CONNECT THE CUSTOMER & INTERNAL VIEW

16th April 2020 11:00-11:30am

22nd April 2020 11:00-11:30am

Presenting effectively, particularly if your material is technical, requires a tricky mix of storytelling, design, and technical know-how. In this webinar we look at some practical tips to help you create the perfect slides and deliver a presentation which brings your story to life and makes your message more memorable.

Service Blueprints can take Customer Journey Mapping to the next level. Corresponding to a specific customer journey, which could involve multiple channels, touchpoints and business functions, Service Blueprints can help ensure a consistent customer focused experience. In this webinar, Stephen will be discussing how Service Blueprints can help you connect the customer experience with the views of your internal teams and business functions.

BEST PRACTICE PANEL RESEARCH

HOUSING: GETTING THE MOST FROM STAR

29th April 2020 11:00-11:30am

6th May 2020 11:00-11:30am

Panel research can be an effective way to access the views and opinions of consumers. Used correctly, it’s a flexible research solution with a range of uses.

Whether you’re looking for fast facts and figures or regularly tracking consumer behaviour, usage and attitudes (U&A), panel research could be the perfect option.

In this webinar we discuss best practice, the potential pitfalls and a range of approaches for getting the most out of panel research.

The STAR methodology continues to be the dominant framework for collecting customer satisfaction data in the housing sector. However, asking the same questions each year with little new insight can make it difficult to engage colleagues and even harder to take action.

This webinar provides some practical ideas for how to get more from STAR. The last 12 months have seen TLF Research team up with HouseMark to undertake a comprehensive review of the STAR methodology. We'll also go through the key outcomes of the review and make sure you're up to date with everything you need to know.

HYBRID METHODOLOGY, GETTING THE BEST OF QUANT AND QUAL

THE ONE PAGE RESULTS SUMMARY...HOW TO DO IT?

20th May 2020 11:00-11:30am

2nd June 2020 11:00-11:30am

Often B2B has a much smaller number of key accounts to focus on. An opportunity to capture feedback needs to maximise the richness from comments with the score to track. A hybrid methodology ensures you don't lose the best of both. This webinar looks at how to use a mix of methodologies to maximise the actionable insight from your customer research. We investigate the opportunities to capture rich feedback from comments and how to combine these with headline scores to track. A well designed hybrid methodology ensures you don’t lose the best of both.

Sharing the results of customer research can be challenging. As researchers we love detailed presentations, with lots of charts and graphs, but this view of the results would not work for everyone. When it comes to sharing the right results to the right people; one size does not fit all.

Sign up today at tlfresearch.com/webinars

EDITORIAL

Foresight This is all a bit strange and frightening isn’t it?

We put the bulk of this issue together before the

We’ve also got a great story from Rebecca Smith of Igloo Energy (page 21) about building an energy

full impact of Covid-19 was apparent (although

provider with a focus on retention rather than

perhaps, in retrospect, we were all a bit slow to

acquisition. Regular readers will know that we

pay proper attention to it). There’s no question

believe a “loyalty strategy” is the best way to do

that the world is a very different place now

business in pretty much any market.

than we thought it was going to be, and anyone

On page 12 is the second in our series from

Stephen Hampshire

pretending to know what the next year will bring

ContactEngine about the challenges of training AI

Editor

is making it up.

to deal appropriately with swearing. This time it’s

We considered pulling the article about our new Index of Consumer Sentiment (page 14), but in

focused on the importance, and complicated ethics, of using context to understand people.

the end we’ve decided to leave it as it was. The

Those of you who work in social housing will

point of the index is to capture how customers

know that HouseMark has recently relaunched its

are feeling at a point in time, and it does that

STAR framework. On page 27 we take a look at the

accurately. We’ll keep tracking sentiment through

changes, and ask what they have to teach us about

the year, and it will provide a good indication of

benchmarking more generally.

how people in general feel about the impact of the

Elsewhere we have articles on the role of the

pandemic on the economy and their finances. As

Chief Insights Officer (page 16), why world class

Nigel comments (page 34) confidence is important,

customer experience is harder than you might

but tricky to predict.

expect (page 30), a great list of free marketing tools

Our cover article (page 6) is an interview with Goodwood about their work to measure and improve employee engagement. It’s easy to forget

from Andrew Davies (page 18), and a review of The Pocket Universal Principles of Design (page 32).

Enjoy the articles, and please drop us a line

that exotic businesses such as Goodwood have the

if you’ve got an interesting story to share for a

same challenges in terms of attracting and keeping

future issue.

good people that the rest of us do, and fascinating to read about how they are approaching it.

ADVERTISING Marketing Manager Richard Crowther

Customer Insight is the magazine for people who want to deliver results to employees, customers and any other stakeholders as part of a coherent strategy to create value for shareholders. We publish serious articles designed to inform, stimulate debate and sometimes to provoke.

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Creative Director Rob Ward

We aim to be thought leaders in the field of managing relationships with all stakeholder groups.

Designers Becka Crozier Jordan Gillespie Rob Egan

www.tlfresearch.com uk@leadershipfactor.com

CONTACTS

EDITORIAL Editor Stephen Hampshire

PRINTER AB Print Group Ltd

Customer Insight C/O TLF Research Taylor Hill Mill Huddersfield HD4 6JA

NB: Customer Insight does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in the articles by contributing writers and/or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form

or by any means without prior written consent of the publisher. © CUSTOMER INSIGHT 2020

ISSN 1749-088X

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 3

C O N T E N T S

-

S P R I N G

2 0 2 0

Goodwood: An English Estate Like No Other Employee engagement at a quintessentially English estate

12

Swearing In Context Part 2 of our series on training AI to deal with profanity

14

How Do You Think Customers Are Feeling?

We launch a new Index of Consumer Sentiment for the UK

16

The Chief Insights Officer: It's About Way More Than Data What is the role of a Chief Insights Officer?

CONTRIBUTORS

06

Nigel Hill

Rachel Allen

Stephen Hampshire

Tom Kiralfy

Wine-lover, Munroist and customer satisfaction guru

Customer satisfaction evangelist, author and lover of the outdoors

Conference speaker, book-lover and occasional climber

Panel wrangler, banana lover and chinchilla owner

4 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

CONTENTS

EMPLOYEE Goodwood: An English Estate Like No Other

06

18

10 Free Marketing Tools to Help You in the Digital World

21

27

HouseMark’s New STAR Framework

30

Why World Class Customer Satisfaction Is Harder Than You Think

32

Book Review The Universal Pocket Principles of Design

34

How Hard Can It Be? Is consumer confidence rational?

Igloo Energy: a loyalty strategy for the energy sector

DIGITAL Swearing In Context

12

RESEARCH How Do You Think Customers Are Feeling? 14

GUEST FEATURE The Chief Insights Officer: It's About Way More Than Data

16

DIGITAL 10 Free Marketing Tools to Help You in the Digital World

18

GUEST FEATURE Igloo: In It for the Long Term

21

RESEARCH HouseMark's New STAR Framework

27

RESEARCH Why World Class Customer Satisfaction Is Harder Than You Think 30

BOOK REVIEW The Universal Pocket Principles of Design 32

HOW HARD CAN IT BE? Is Consumer Confidence Rational?

34 William Lidwell

William Lidwell

Kritina Holden

Jill Butler

DESIGNERS

Published by

Becka Crozier

Jordan Gillespie

Rob Egan

Right brain mastermind, music enthusiast and have I told you I’m vegan?

Creative magus, genuine tyke and 20ft wave rider

Beer drinker, pixel pusher and dour Yorkshireman

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 5

Kritina Ho

EMPLOYEE

6 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

EMPLOYEE

Goodwood

An English Estate like no other Based on a recommendation, Goodwood approached TLF in 2019 to talk to us about conducting an employee survey. It was, of

Chris, please tell us about Goodwood for anyone who isn’t familiar…

course, fabulous to be recommended. We are always delighted when our clients spread the word.

Goodwood is a quintessentially English estate, set in 12,000 acres in West Sussex,

It was clear that Goodwood had a definite

which has been in The Duke of Richmond’s

and clear vision of what they were looking for

family for more than 300 years. The family

and how the results would be used to drive

has always shared their sporting passions

change. However, within that framework

with the public. Rooted in our heritage,

they were very open to new ideas. TLF knew

we deliver extraordinary and engaging

it was important to understand exactly what

experiences in modern and authentic ways.

Goodwood needed and Goodwood were keen

Our flagship events include the Festival of

to ensure TLF could deliver.

Speed, Qatar Goodwood Festival and the

We were both aware that for an employee survey to be successful it has to be trusted

Goodwood Revival.

But what really sets us apart is our

both by those who are expected to take

people. It is their passion, enthusiasm and

part and those who are going to plan and

belief in the many things we do that makes

implement change based on the findings.

Goodwood such a unique place.

After discussions, we agreed to conduct our first survey together.

We have a diverse portfolio of more than 20 different businesses including our

Demonstrating that success is ‘driven from

organic farm, hotel, forestry, The Kennels –

the top’, in this interview, we find out more

an exclusive members’ clubhouse, a private

from Chris and David who were very actively

consultancy arm, and a luxury 10-bedroom

involved from day one in ensuring the survey

sporting retreat. Next year we are launching

was a success; from planning an enthusiastic

an all new dog event celebrating everything

and effective warm up campaign to secure

we love about our canine friends called

buy-in and drive response, to sharing the

Goodwoof.

results with divisions, departments and managers.

Goodwood’s Chief Executive Officer, Chris Woodgate, started his career in Corporate Finance, working for several of the biggest consulting firms including KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Chris was approached by Goodwood in 2010 and offered the role as Group Head of Finance.

Over the past decade Chris has risen through the ranks, becoming CEO just over a year ago.

Chris & David

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 7

EMPLOYEE

David Macey is Goodwood’s Talent Acquisition Manager.

David, you’re reasonably new to Goodwood. What attracted you?

What did you want to bring to your position? What were your first impressions?

I joined Goodwood three years ago and the time has gone really fast, because there are always so many amazing things happening here and no two days are the same. My first impression of Goodwood was just how warm and welcoming everyone was and how as a diverse estate we work collaboratively to get the job done. I love the creativity here and I am part of the People and Development team where we attract, recruit, develop and

Tell us about the Goodwood philosophy and how this extends to employees…

nurture the talented teams who make up Goodwood.

One of our main focus areas is to build

group of businesses that are based around

our employer brand, sharing what it is like

Duke and Duchess of Richmond and their

the family's sporting passion and work

to work on the Goodwood Estate so we

family,who live in the Grade 1 listed

sympathetically with the estate.

can really illustrate the joy of working for

Goodwood remains the home of the

Goodwood House, a building characterised by

Our aspiration is to become ‘The Home

its four distinctive copper domes. The family

of Exceptional Experiences’. There are now

are hugely passionate about the estate and

750 people employed across the estate. We

ensuring it is maintained and enhanced; they

champion creative, collaborative, determined

are very much the custodians of Goodwood.

and passionate people who are team players

Our vision is to create a truly sustainable

with a ‘derring do’ attitude to create the

Goodwood and therefore helping to attract the next generation of our people.

How do you recruit and train managers and employees?

What do you look for?

estate which is able to look after itself

best possible experiences for our customers.

and one in which the natural capital of

People with these attributes always succeed

the estate is enhanced. We are seeking

here and Goodwood is such a fun place to

internally before going out to market, so we

to do this through managing a healthy

work.

are very clear about what specific skills and

We first have good conversations

behaviours we are looking to attract. Our Goodwood values are the foundation of our strategy and purpose, which are:• The Real Thing - Authenticity • Derring-Do – The Wow • Obsession for Perfection – Quality • Sheer Love of Life – Infectious Enthusiasm We are an innovative, design-led business and our managers are crucial, they need to inspire their teams through living the values, encouraging creativity and making life at Goodwood fun! Development scored highly in the importance scale in last year’s TLF survey and our Learning & Development Advisor, Chloe, has developed an invigorating suite of sessions, which is available to all staff.

8 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

EMPLOYEE

Chris, you recently conducted an employee survey with TLF. What did you want to find out? What did you want to use the results for?

Goodwood is a customer focused business and our people are crucial to what we deliver.

We wanted to conduct a comprehensive employee satisfaction survey so that we could understand our people, see if they understood our strategy, had what they needed to succeed in their role, and if they were happy. We wanted to find out what we can improve on, and the results gave us a good view of what we need to do to improve things.

What have you learnt from the survey… What has it confirmed [things you already knew or suspected]? What have you learnt that is new or surprising?

We were very fortunate – we had an excellent response rate with over 600 people (83%) completing the survey. We found that we have an incredibly engaged workforce, with over 80% of our people being classed as engaged. Overall our employee Net Promoter Score was 37.8% and we found that our employees were really satisfied with working at Goodwood.

One of the things that surprised us was that we were clearly not communicating internal opportunities well: we had over 80 internal moves in 2019 but there appeared to be limited awareness of such opportunities.

However, on a more positive note, TLF created a brilliant word cloud page to show what four words our employees would use to describe Goodwood as a place to work. The four words most commonly used were….. “fun”, “unique”, “exciting” and “friendly”.

This was good to hear.

You’ve done surveys before, successfully, how does the latest survey dovetail with what you already know? What is Goodwood’s history when it comes to measuring employee satisfaction?

We had run surveys with another provider for three years previously before we turned to TLF after a recommendation. We liked

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 9

EMPLOYEE

How do you share your results?

TLF was really helpful and great at presenting the key findings to our Directors and then it was communicated to employees at one of our estate-wide ‘State of the Nation’ meetings. After the ‘State of the Nation’ meeting we spoke directly to people in smaller groups. We also followed up by sending out a communication with the key findings to all employees.

TLF’s ability to tailor questions, the depth of their analysis and the personal commitment and interest in Goodwood that Rachel, who

Rachel Allen

subsequently managed our relationship

Client Manager

and survey, had shown. The survey that we

TLF Research

undertook with TLF is different to other

rachelallen@leadershipfactor.com

surveys and so not directly comparable.

However, going forward we have decided to include benchmarking questions in all our surveys so that we have a clear view on

Any challenges or conundrums from the results?

employee engagement.

A number of employees wanted Goodwood

Any good surprises from the results?

to improve communication and engagement between departments; have better staff

Yes, the top five areas of importance for

facilities – i.e. break-out rooms; and increase

our employees included: ‘working to deliver

support for progression and development;

a level of quality that exceeds customer

along with developing our staff ‘Wellbeing

expectations’, ‘working hard to increase

Programme’. We have created an internal

customer satisfaction’, and ‘going beyond

application portal for jobs and an internal

what is expected to help make Goodwood

talent pool.

successful’. These are all incredibly

One of the themes that employees felt most

reassuring in a customer-focused business.

strongly about in the engagement survey

In addition, the other areas of importance

was that we needed to improve our internal

were: ‘[our employees’] ideas are listened to

communication. As a result we held detailed,

and valued’, ‘[our employees’] roles make

follow-up focus groups. We listened and

good use of their skills’, and ‘knowledge

are now investing in an employee internal

and abilities’.

communication platform called My Goodwood.

It was really positive to hear that our

We are transforming areas across the estate into

employees gave the highest satisfaction

break-out rooms to meet the need for better

score to ‘working hard to increase customer

staff facilities. Finally, we have extensively

satisfaction’ followed by ‘able to see the

refurbished one of the old architecturally

link between their work and Goodwood’s

significant buildings of the estate to create a

business objectives’.

beautiful smart modern office space.

10 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

EMPLOYEE

What are you stopping, starting and continuing to do based on the results?

This year we have a plan to focus on our ‘Wellbeing Programme’ as the previous topic

new internal courses. Importantly, we spent

at the outset. Take time to design the

of our people: following the survey we were

questions and work with TLF who can

clear that we wanted everyone to have a good

use their expertise to help guide your

understanding of our plan for the estate.

approach.

Any top tips for other organisations about to embark on an employee survey? You’re just about to run your second survey; is there anything you are doing differently this time round?

survey went and the help provided by TLF.

We were really pleased with how the

in the 2019 employee satisfaction survey was our ‘State of the Nation’ meeting.

We have used the results to develop an internal talent pool (an internal job application portal). We are also supporting the need for staff development and learning by introducing

Be clear about what you want to achieve

a lot of time launching our new vision to all

The only things we are doing differently this year is to make some tweaks to the questions in our survey and focus on a new topic, which is our ‘Wellbeing Programme’.

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 11

D I G I TA L

WARNING: PLEASE SKIP THIS ARTICLE IF YOU’RE EASILY OFFENDED BY PROFANITY

SWEARING

IN CONTEXT If you were given a pink card with the

"NEW HOPE FOR THE WORLD. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND OUR HOMES. HAVE NO SWEARING, BOYCOTT PROFANITY! PLEASE DO NOT SWEAR, NOR USE OBSCENE OR PROFANE LANGUAGE. THESE CARDS ARE FOR DISTRIBUTION. SEND FOR SOME THEY ARE FREE." 185 E 76 st New York, N.Y.

However, as we pointed out in the previous

message to the left a hundred years ago, it

instalment of our profanities series, swearing

meant the Anti-Profanity League has been

is not always intended to offend, and the same

alerted to your vulgar language. This pious

swearword can have multiple meanings.

and impractical band, founded in 1901 by

“They found examples of tweets where this was

Arthur Samuel Colborne of 185 East Seventy-

used to verbally abuse another user (you are an

sixth, distributed these cards to further their

ass), to emphasise a feeling (a good ass day) and

goal of totally eradicating all swearing – the

express emotion (pain in the ass). It was also used

very epitome of pissing in the wind.1

as an auxiliary (really need someone to save my

Nowadays, you are unlikely to receive a

ass), as a marker of identity (now this is a group of

printed card, but your social media posts may

ass-kickers) and in a non-vulgar way, given the

be flagged if they contain offensive or hateful

context (Kick-Ass 2 – what a movie).”

speech. The scale and instant reach of social

We used our profanity filter (a list of

networks mean that moderating language is no

common swearwords) to extract several

longer the job of a handful of eccentrics, but

thousand profanity-containing responses from

the task of the latest AI technology for flagging

customers with faulty internet service. We

harmful content, and tens of thousands of

then applied our best judgment as to whether

contract workers across the globe.

we should continue to communicate with

For sure, unlike with the Anti-Profanity

this customer, pause the conversation for a

League, moderating Facebook, Twitter and

while, or stop the conversation altogether. We

YouTube are not motivated by linguistic

found that for 30% of responses we should

squeamishness: online speech can have

just continue as usual. In a less contentious

real-world consequences. However, the Anti-

and more social setting than talking to

Profanity League exemplifies the pitfalls of an

your internet service provider, a far greater

broad-brush approach to recognising harmful

proportion of swearwords would be indicative

content.

of something other than abusive intent.

Firstly, what should be censored? Colborne

So, what was in this 30% that triggered

took an expansive approach to this, wanting

the profanity filter? A proportion were milder

to prohibit not only swear words, but also

swearwords, perhaps the equivalents of

‘leaders-on’, such as hell, devil take it, dad

Colborne’s ‘leaders-on’ such as crap or bloody.

burn it, gee whiz, and doggone, for fear such

But the most obscene words can be repurposed:

words would act as gateway drugs to the truly

https://stronglang.wordpress.com/2017/02/26/joseph-mitchell-a-s-colborne-and-the-anti-profanity-league/ https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/07/twitter-lgbt-search-block-explanation/ 3 https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/4/17424472/youtube-lgbt-demonetization-ads-algorithm 4 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/05/facebook-declaration-of-independence-hate-speech

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-use-irony-on-the-internet-11565409660 https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/C16-1231.pdf https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/N19-1221.pdf

1

5

2

6

12 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

‘The tech was fucking brilliant’ one happy customer opined.

filthy ones.

7

D I G I TA L

These examples demonstrate some of the

user’s posts, social connections, and a wealth

challenges facing any AI algorithm to identify

of background and historical knowledge.

offensive comments. An algorithm that

This, unsurprisingly, is extremely difficult.

over-indexes on the presence of particular

AI researchers are working on incorporating

Director of AI and Innovation

words ignores the nuances of how language

contextual information into its algorithms

Contact Engine

is used. Twitter ran into this problem when it

by directly learning profiles of authors of

inadvertently censored tweets containing the

text. This authorship information has already

Euan Matthews

contactengine.com

words bisexual or gay, because its algorithm

been shown to benefit sarcasm detection,

mistook such words as indicating adult-

a similar task to profanity detection. Like

self-expression. This approach, however, comes

content2; YouTube has also been accused

swearing, sarcasm is often an example of

with its own problem: the risk of finding people

of demonetising LGBT content based on

what internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch

guilty merely by their association with others.

particular words such as trans3. Algorithms

calls a ‘trust fall’ – a linguistic test used to

also struggle to recognise the difference

engender trust between interlocuters akin to

when not) is beyond current AI, meaning

between words used in quotation versus in

falling backwards trusting your friend to catch

human moderators are going to be greatly

anger: last year Facebook’s algorithm censored

you.5 In a 2016 paper6, researchers showed

needed for a long time. Currently, just 16% of

the Declaration of Independence due to a

that including context of a user’s previous

bullying and harassment posts are proactively

passage describing indigenous Americans as

tweets could dramatically improve the ability

detected by Facebook’s technology before they

“merciless Indian savages.”4

of an AI model to judge whether a future

are reported by users. Of course, moderating

tweet was sarcastic or not. A Facebook paper7

the posts of 2 billion Facebook users is much

sentence is not just a function of its words.

on content moderation shown at NAACL (an

harder than customer responses, but the

It's informed also by context, which can come

NLP conference) this year also uses author

following lesson still applies: we need to use a

in many forms: the intention of the author,

features to improve model accuracy – in

combination of technology and human empathy

background knowledge, the surrounding text,

this case the features are learnt using an

to understand how best to treat customers –

and the intended audience.

effect called homophily: the tendency for

particularly when they start swearing.

We need algorithms that

similar people to be connected in a social

The issue here is that the meaning of a

can incorporate the

network. Using a technique

full history of

called graph convolutions, user

Knowing where context is relevant (and

representations can be learnt both from a user’s posts and the online communities in which he or she interacts, helping the model better differentiate between, say, homophobic abuse and gay

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 13

G U E S T F E AT U R E

It’s sometimes hard to have faith in the

And it addresses those topics with 5 questions:

“wisdom of the crowd”, but there is one thing that people are reliably good at—telling

Would you say that you and your family are better off or worse off financially than you were a year ago?

you how they feel. They’re not always very good at explaining why they feel like that,

Thinking about the big things people have to spend money on such as their car, a new television, furniture and things like that, do you think now is a good or a bad time to buy major items?

which can be frustrating, but knowing how they feel means that we can come closer to

Looking ahead, do you think that a year from now you and your family will be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same as now?

understanding their behaviour, and make better decisions as a result.

Now turning to business conditions in the country as a whole, do you think that during the next 12 months we'll have good times financially, or bad times?

That’s the rationale behind the idea of measuring consumer sentiment and

Looking further ahead over the next five years or so, would you say that in the country as a whole we'll have good times financially or that things will not be so good financially?

confidence—even though they may not be great macroeconomic thinkers, the way ordinary people feel about their finances

Those 5 questions together make up the Index of Consumer Sentiment. The first 2 are also

and the prospects for the country has a big

used to create the Index of Current Economic Conditions, and the other 3 form the Index of

impact on their behaviour. That, in turn,

Consumer Expectations.

has implications for the economy and for business.

How are UK consumers feeling?

In 2018 TLF Research launched a new measure of consumer sentiment on our online

As you can see in the chart below, all three indices have increased since we started measuring

panel, modelled on the University of Michigan’s

them in October 2018. In particular there was a big step up in January 2020, which it’s hard to

Index of Consumer Sentiment, and we’ve

read as anything other than an endorsement from UK consumers for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.

tracking it quarterly ever since. In this article we’ll explain how the index works, look at how

84

it’s changed in that time, and suggest some

82

ways in which it could be used in the future.

80 78

Measuring consumer sentiment

76 74

• How people feel about the general economy in the longer term

Index of Current Economic Conditions

14 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

Index of Consumer Sentiment

Index of Consumer Expectations

Jan-20

Dec-19

Nov-19

Oct-19

Sep-19

Aug-19

Jul-19

Jun-19

May-19

Apr-19

Mar-19

in the short term

66

Feb-19

• How people feel about the general economy

68 Jan-19

situation

70

Dec-18

• How people feel about their own financial

72

Nov-18

based on, our index aims to measure 3 things:

Oct-18

Like the University of Michigan index that it’s

G U E S T F E AT U R E

It’s important to position that carefully.

First of all, we can assume that the prospect of Brexit is likely to have been having a

Now turning to business conditions in the country as a whole, do you think that during the next 12 months we'll have good times financially, or bad times?

negative effect on consumer confidence for some time. One piece of evidence to support

9%

that is the fact that these scores are still low

11%

when compared to the figures for the USA. Definitely good times

January 2020 Probably good times

27%

25% Not sure

Index of Consumer Sentiment Probably bad times

USA: 99.8 UK: 81.5

Definitely bad times

29% Current Economic Conditions USA: 114.4 UK: 82.2

endorsement for Johnson’s leadership may

beginning of a long-term recovery from the

be going too far, but it is certainly the case

gloom of Brexit uncertainty? Only time will

that this is by far the most positive outlook

tell.

that UK consumers have had for the economy

Index of Consumer Expectations USA: 90.5 UK: 81.0 When we look at the scores for specific

Get in touch if you have any questions

since October 2018. There are still plenty

about the index, or if you’d like more details

of people who feel pessimistic, but for the

about the data and methodology, and keep

first time there are as many optimists as

your eyes open for April’s results coming

pessimists.

soon.

What next?

questions, such as whether the country will have good or bad times in the next year,

We’re looking forward to maintaining the

consumers are revealed to be as divided as

index of consumer sentiment as an ongoing

they seem to have been on almost everything

insight into how UK consumers are feeling,

since 2016.

and we’ll be releasing the results once a

In other words, reading this as a ringing

Tom Kiralfy Panel Manager TLF Panel tom@tlfpanel.com

quarter. Is January 2020 a peak, or is it the

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 15

G U E S T F E AT U R E

Many companies now have data

Officer, Customer Experience Officer, Chief

Data Is a Commodity.

Empathy Is the Differentiator

dependence baked into their DNA. They

Customer Officer, or Chief Empathy Officer (a

collect and mine vast amounts of information

title my company had considered for my role)

on customers and prospects to uncover

— it is critical to create a role in the C-suite

trends, patterns, and opportunities to

to be the voice of the customer, personify

as Chief Insights Officer is to help companies

sell products and services across multiple

their needs, and build a culture of empathy.

understand how building customer empathy

touchpoints. “Data obsession” is a thing.

Google the term and the search engine

needs to be in the job responsibilities of

Isn't the C-Suite Crowded Enough?

returns page after page.

All of this increased reliance on customer

One of my most important responsibilities

everyone across the organization who touches the customer in any way, and what processes

Is it really necessary to add yet another

they can put in place to execute this way of

data has led many organizations to add

executive to the increasingly crowded C-suite?

a new position to the C-suite focused on

“If your organization happens to be one

understanding the customer. Often coined the

of the few with customer satisfaction and

Insights Officer’s job to help organizations

Chief Customer Officer, 35 of the Fortune 500

experience woven deeply into its culture, the

understand that data is a commodity while

companies have one1. The role means many

answer is no,” a McKinsey report2 said. “For

empathy is a true differentiator. A company’s

things to many people, but it often majors

most companies, though, this is not the case.

competitors have access to the same types

on data-driven insights. I believe that’s too

While nearly every organization claims to be

of data. If they don’t, they can purchase it.

narrow a definition and misses a key point:

customer-centric, few really are.”

Competitors have access to the same AI and

data alone isn’t enough to create great customer experiences.

Bring the Voice of Your Customer Into the C-Suite

In a nutshell, this executive role focused on

thinking.

Lastly, but most importantly, it is the Chief

machine learning technologies. They have

building institutional knowledge of customers

access to the same CRM and automated

should have a dedicated focus on the human

marketing systems.

side to drive stellar customer experience.

The race to combine technologies to collect,

It’s impossible to feel what a customer

process, mine, and analyze all this data is

experiences merely by analysing data.

important in a data-driven world. But data

Empathy doesn’t come from reading a screen,

only gets you so far, especially if it is looked

human insights to build empathy and deeply

but by finding ways to get inside customers’

to as a proxy for customer understanding.

understand what customers think, feel,

heads and truly understand how products or

Building customer empathy is the way to win

say, do, and want. That means creating

service thrill or frustrate them.

in today’s business environment, and it should

To create great experiences, you need

opportunities to do this first-hand. This often

What could be more important? As a

be the Chief Insights Officer’s primary job to show how that’s done.

requires a culture shift at companies that

Gartner report3 put it, customer experience

have grown accustomed to examining reams

(CX) is the new battlefront, with the vast

of data and then pumping out new products

majority of companies saying they compete

or services as quickly as possible to stay

mostly or completely on the basis of CX.

competitive.

Business leaders agree as well. A survey by

Janelle Estes

consulting firm Walker4 found 39% of CEOs

Chief Insights Officer

bit differently since I was named Chief

consider customer experience to be the most

UserTesting

Insights Officer at my company a year ago.

effective way to create competitive advantage

My responsibility is to guide our customers

— a number higher than talent, product,

in using data to shed light on their own

efficiency, brand and pricing.

That’s why I’ve approached my job a

customers, with a major focus on how human

The fact is, most companies don’t do a

Janelle is an expert research practitioner fascinated by human behaviour and intrigued by data insight. She brings over 15 years’ experience conducting large-scale customer

insight can feed into decisions that drive

good job deeply understanding the customer,

outstanding customer experiences. These

the market opportunity, and how they can

companies across a variety of industries to

recommendations are based on best practices

deliver products that truly rise to the occasion.

help them transform their customer, user, and

we see in the industry.

They just go into build mode without enough

brand experiences. Janelle is responsible for

research (human insights as well as data).

stewarding the future of Human Insight and

Regardless of the title — Chief Insights

research initiatives for both B2C and B2B

translating that into opportunities to evolve the 1

UserTesting platform.

https://www.inmoment.com/blog/what-does-chief-customer-officer-need-be-successful/

2

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/why-your-company-needs-a-chief-customer-officer-cco\

3

https://www.usertesting.com/

https://www.gartner.com/en/marketing/insights/articles/key-findings-from-the-gartner-customer-experience-survey

4

https://www.walkerinfo.com/Portals/0/Documents/Knowledge Center/Featured Reports/WALKER-Customer-focused-CEO.pdf

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 17

D I G I TA L

10 FREE MARKETING TOOLS TO HELP YOU IN THE DIGITAL WORLD Whenever I am doing any training workshops, regardless of the industry or skill

Google Trends www.google.co.uk/trends

Hootsuite www.hootsuite.com

level, everyone loves it when I talk about the tools that are available. Finding digital tools

One of my favourite tools comes from

that can help you with your job or even your

Google and it is their trends tool. This tool

media accounts across multiple platforms

life is great, especially when they’re free!

If you are looking after a number of social

lets you explore how Google’s data can be

then using a social media management tool

I love finding good free tools. In fact, I put

used to tell stories including search demand

is important. This is why Hootsuite is known

together a guide on my website with over 500

of a particular word over a period of time in

as the daddy of them all. It allows you to

free tools that I update every few months.

any region and also compares 2 similar words

manage, schedule, create and measure your

You can find it at andrewmilesdavis.com/

so you can spot trends, peaks, and troughs.

social media all in one platform.

Ubersuggest

Canva

marketing-tools Anyway, here are 10 free tools that provide you with a lot of value.

Answer The Public www.Answerthepublic.com

https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/ If you are into keyword research,

www.canva.com If you are like me and cannot get your

competitor analysis, idea generation and

head around Photoshop then Canva is the

overall online performance then this free

tool for you. Canva is a simplified graphic-

Whenever I start a campaign, I always

tool by Neil Patel should be on your list of

design tool that uses a drag-and-drop format

like to do some brainstorming. However,

tools to use frequently. Ubersuggest helps

and provides access to photographs, vector

sometimes I don’t want to ‘think’ and use

you generate so many important factors for

images, graphics, videos, and fonts. It is used

tools instead. One tool I always turn to is

your content marketing strategy, production,

by non-designers as well as professionals

Answer The Public because this tool lets you

promotion, and conversion.

and has grown considerably over the last few years. Most designs you see on social media

find out what questions and queries your consumers have by displaying what they're searching for in Google.

Portent Idea Generator www.portent.com/tools/title-maker

Evernote

use tools like Canva now and they have a

www.evernote.com

great mobile app.

One of the most popular free tools on

Lumen5

this list and there is a good reason for it.

www.lumen5.com

Evernote is a note-taking app that helps Another tool that helps with ideas but

you capture and prioritise ideas, projects

It’s no secret that video content is being

also gives you great headlines is Portent Idea

and to-do lists, so you don’t miss anything.

shown more and more in people’s timelines

Generator. If you ever struggle to come up

Also, unlike other note apps, it allows you

but creating video can be difficult. Lumen5

with concepts or titles then enter a keyword

to add images, share with others and syncs

is a video creation platform powered by A.I.

and give it a spin.

seamlessly with your phone.

that enables anyone without training or

18 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

experience to easily create engaging video content within minutes. Once you explore this tool, you will have so many ‘a-ha’ moments.

Smartsupp https://www.smartsupp.com/ A website without a chat is like a brickand-mortar store without a shop assistant. To offer a better customer experience and to help with conversions, most businesses now have some bot on their site to answer questions immediately. This is why if your website gets a lot of traffic, you should make sure you have an easy way for people to contact you and Smartsupp helps you with that.

Trello www.trello.com If you are working on many projects, then you need a way to stay on top of things and Trello helps with just that. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details. Also it can help you stay up to date with all the free tools I have shown you.

So there you have it! 10 free tools that can help grow your business and I am sure you can use some of these in your personal lives as well. If you liked these then please visit my guide for plenty more free tools: andrewmilesdavis.com/marketing-tools

Good luck!

Andrew Davis Digital Consultant & Workshop Leader andrew@twks.co.uk www.thinkingoutsidetheblog.com

RESEARCH

TLF GEMS NEWSLETTER MONTHL CX INSIGHTS FROM MONTHLY RESEARCH TLF RESE

Our mon monthly newsletter shares our favourite Custome Customer Experience, Insight, and Service Design h highlights.

Sign up to receive our newsletter at www.tlfresearch.com/customer-insight-subscription

TLF GEMS PODCAST

A MONTHLY PODCAST FROM TLF RESEARCH ON CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND INSIGHT

If you’re reading this and you like podcasts, you should definitely check out the TLF Gems podcast. Each episode Stephen and Greg talk about a different topic related to Customer Experience research and insight.

Search “TLF Gems” in iTunes or subscribe directly using the feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/tlfgemspodcast

G U E S T F E AT U R E

Energy companies don’t have a great reputation for customer experience. The Utilities sector performs poorly in benchmarks such as the Institute of Customer Service’s UKCSI, and most people would tell you that companies prioritise acquisition over retention, tempting customers in with attractive tariffs while taking

which meant that she was able to bring a fresh perspective, in keeping with their values of ‘Don’t think like a utility’ and ‘Don’t act like a utility’. As Rebecca says, “My initial perceptions were ‘customer service isn’t great in this industry, but I love a challenge.

Let’s see how we can make it great’.”

For 5 months Rebecca was Igloo’s customer service, balancing answering the

advantage of existing customers.

Igloo, a relatively new provider which has seen rapid growth, aims to be different. We caught up with Rebecca Smith, Director of Service and Culture, to find out more about their long-term view of customer relationships, and how their focus on the customer feeds into a strategy for

phone with creating customer journeys and learning about the industry, but over the last 3 years she has been able to build a team and systems around her from the ground up (something which many customer service leaders would be very envious of!)

It may be a luxury to start with a blank slate, but it brings challenges of its own.

sustainable growth.

Everything, from processes to forms, has to

Building from the ground up

be invented. I asked Rebecca how she has approached developing processes which are fit for the customer-focused business that

Rebecca was Igloo’s first hire, which must be a good sign that the organisation takes customer service seriously. Her background was in other sectors,

Igloo wants to be: “What I’ve tried not to do is build process for process’ sake. As and when we have a need for something, we build it.”

In the early days processes were developed by the team as a whole, working together to process map and conduct root cause analysis.

That has changed as the customer service

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 21

team has grown, but collaboration is still a key part of it. As Rebecca says, “My role in the business is to protect that as we grow.”

In the customer service team there are two forums (a customer experience forum and

Many organisations make the mistake of assuming that customers all want the same thing. Rebecca comments, “There’s a common phrase ‘treat the customer

profiling and profiling

an industry operations forum). Their job is

how you’d want to be treated’. I’ve always

ourselves, understanding our personalities

to pick up any roadblocks for the customer,

thought you should treat the customer how they

better. That’s been a key ingredient in what we’ve

decide what should be a priority, and

want to be treated, and that’s not necessarily how

created so far.”

then bring the product team in to develop

you want to be treated yourself.”

solutions. It’s clear from talking to Rebecca

This is a really important point—if we

All this work in onboarding and training means that staff are better able to anticipate

that she sees customer service as something

make the mistake of assuming that customers

that a “red” customer may want a quick and

which should be embedded in the culture of a

want the same things as us, then, with the

efficient service, while a “green” customer

business, not as an add-on:

best of intentions, we often end up creating a

would be more concerned with detail, and

“In so many businesses Customer Service is a

frustrating experience for them. It’s a mental

might want a written follow-up. It also

department, but it’s not. Customer service is an

trap that’s easy for all of us to fall into,

features in their approach to complaint

attitude, and we’ve really made sure we’ve built

unless we do something to guard against

handling, understanding that different

that, and that makes continuous improvement so

it. At Igloo they use a colour-based model,

customers may want different things.

much easier because we’re all on the same page.”

which many readers will be familiar with, to

Understanding customers Aiming to create great customer service is one thing, but actually doing it is another.

“Customer service exists, ultimately, because

understand different personalities amongst

something’s gone wrong. We’ve got all the

both staff and customers, and to help predict

technology in the world now that allows

what kind of experience will work best for

customers to self-serve. But people need to

each customer.

know that there is a real person there, a human.

“We’ve done loads of training around customer

22 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

Maybe some of our customers want that human

G U E S T F E AT U R E

cheapest deal. As a customer this means that you either have to settle for a poorer deal, or you have to live with the hassle of switching supplier all the time.

“Taking on new customers in this industry is almost too easy. With comparison sites you can quite easily take on thousands of new customers overnight. What it’s about is customer loyalty.”

Growth is important because of the relatively small margins available in the industry, and Igloo see a niche for themselves positioned to appeal to customers who want a good deal without the need for regular switching: “The issue is ‘how do I keep my costs low without the hassle of switching’. We’ve come into the marketplace to tackle that issue. We’ve got one simple variable tariff, so we have to interaction, and others don’t.

Customer service of the future is tailoring for both of those things.”

keep it competitive. We don’t have exit fees or a minimum term, because we don’t want to tie our customers in – we want them to be loyal.”

That proposition has been successful in

“There’s a common phrase ‘treat the customer how you’d want to be treated’. I’ve always thought you should treat the customer how they want to be treated, and that’s not necessarily how you want to be treated yourself.”

acquiring customers (Igloo now has 85,000, and has ambitious plans for further growth

to be known for the home services arm

experience right demands a mixture of

over the next few years). More importantly,

of the company, which ties together

systems that support it (e.g. CRM accurately

those customers are extremely loyal—77%

the benefits of building a

logging contact preferences) and staff with

of customers who joined Igloo in its first 6

loyal customer base with

the emotional intelligence to spot clues to a

months are still there. We asked Rebecca

the potential to help

customer’s personality (and to understand

where they expected to be in terms of

customers reduce

their own personality).

customer numbers in 5 years. Her reply is

their bills.

Getting this kind of personalised

revealing:

Growth

“We’re cautious to set targets on numbers. For us a better measure is how loyal are our customers,

New entrants in most markets,

and how happy are our customers.”

particularly ones as competitive as the energy sector, often find it difficult to grow. We asked Rebecca if that was true

Helping customers reduce their energy use

for Igloo, and the answer was…yes and no!

Although it’s a huge marketplace, 48% of

Being a successful energy

customers don’t regularly switch suppliers.

supplier is one thing, but

The other 52% are (to quote Martin Lewis)

Igloo wants to be more

“tariff tarts” who switch regularly to get the

than that, they also want

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 23

G U E S T F E AT U R E

starting with asking for honest feedback on her own performance and approach to things. Feedback is a word that sometimes carries negative connotations, prefer to start a conversation about that rather than immediately putting up the “The second thing is we’ve got technology that means we can understand how you’re using

customer’s direct debit.

“We want to help our customers to consume

but it’s clear that what Rebecca is talking about is a very healthy, open, culture: “You’ve got to be careful not to demonise mistakes, as long as we learn from them. And don’t profess to know all the answers. There are

energy in your home. We can profile your home,

less energy. From the customer’s perspective

a lot of things we’re going to have to work out

and we can suggest to you products and services

that’s making their home more efficient, it’s

together.”

that are going to help you manage your energy

reducing their bills, it’s also helping them to save

and reduce your costs.”

the environment, and for us to help cut carbon

directions is the key. Once installed in a

emissions.”

culture, it naturally makes people very

There’s a crucial battle to win in

open to listening to customers and

customers’ minds to help them realise that their energy bill is not simply about price,

Loyalty based on experience The energy sector, as we’ve seen, is

at least in theory, the opportunity to work

known for relatively low levels of customer

with cost-conscious customers to reduce

satisfaction. This is one place in which

their bill through a better understanding

Rebecca’s experience in other industries may

of energy use, rather than switching to a

have allowed her to bring fresh ideas.

cheaper tariff. If customers are using more than their profile would predict, Igloo would

“Traditionally you could afford to be lazy, because it’s so easy to take customers from a comparison site, it’s easy to think you don’t need to care for those customers or provide a great experience for them.”

Rebecca Smith

Igloo has an excellent average

Director of Service and

customer satisfaction score of around

Culture at Igloo

96%, based on a transactional

Rebecca was Igloo Energy’s first employee, joining to set up the brand’s customer service function in January 2017. She heads up a team of 56 people and looks after all

survey that goes out after every interaction. It also regularly tops the CAB’s table of complaints performance within the sector,

elements of customer service including social

and over 95% of complaints are

media, web chat, and customer care. Prior to

resolved within one working

joining, Rebecca had spent 10 years working

day. The results, though, are less

in contact centres across legal and social

important than how the feedback

housing. Now, at Igloo Energy, she’s using this

is used:

experience to design, implement, and deliver

“What’s important is that we

excellent customer service to its 92,000

don’t just focus on the numbers. My

customers.

emphasis is to focus on the people, to make sure they’re engaged.”

https://igloo.energy/

reacting to what they say as a positive, rather

but should be thought of as a combination of price and consumption. This gives Igloo,

Easy, honest, communication in all

Rebecca is a keen proponent of instilling what she calls “a feedback culture” throughout the business,

24 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

than being defensive.

G U E S T F E AT U R E

“That trickles down to our customer service as well. When we’re open about having conversations with each other in the office to say ‘How am I doing, give me some feedback?’, we’re open with the customer to say ‘How are we doing, give us some feedback?’, and we’re not defensive in receiving that feedback because it’s something which is normal to us.”

Complaints are seen as a gift. That’s something that many organisations say, but few have the ability to reliably act as if it’s true. The secret lies in that culture of openness and continuous improvement.

“If they don’t tell us, they’re just going to walk straight out the door. We won’t know we’ve done something wrong, and we might never learn from it, it might never get fixed.”

Summary As regular readers will know, we believe that a loyalty strategy is the key to building an

“You’ve got to be careful not to demonise mistakes, as long as we learn from them. And don’t profess to know all the answers.

There are a lot of things we’re going to have to work out together.”

seems to be doing, and there’s no question that puts them out ahead of most in the energy sector when it comes to their ability to think long term about the power of retaining customers and strengthening relationships with them.

“Unless you truly understand your customers and what they want to get from their energy provider, you’re never going to get there.”

Three pillars seem to support the building of those relationships: excellent service, an attractive proposition based around ease (we’ll give you one simple, competitive, tariff, without the need to switch all the time), and a focus on education that will help customers to reduce their bills while also contributing to a more sustainable energy future.

“We’re in the marketplace to educate. We want to drive engagement, and that’s a longterm battle, we’re not going to resolve that overnight.”

It would be impossible to deliver that without the right people, and the right culture to support them.

organisation which is sustainably profitable in the long term.

That’s precisely what Igloo

“There’s still lots of work we need to do, but I think as long as we continue to focus on the people, the rest of it will happen. That’s what I want to preserve as we scale.”

We’re looking forward to seeing that strategy pay off over the next few years.

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 25

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We can develop a bespoke 30 or 60 minute webinar for up to 500 of your staff.

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RESEARCH

In January HouseMark published its decisions on a new framework for STAR, based on extensive consultation and review involving 300 landlords and over 13,000 tenants and leaseholders. STAR, for those who are not familiar with the sector, is a framework which allows social landlords to benchmark their customer satisfaction against other landlords.

While not totally prescriptive, it sets out requirements and a core set of questions, so that benchmarking results are consistent. Whether or not you work in social housing, it’s worth taking a look at the approach that HouseMark has taken in its review of STAR, and reflecting on what it has to teach us about benchmarking more generally.

RESEARCH

An objective benchmark

Talking about the launch, HouseMark Chief Executive Laurice Ponting said: “I am delighted

Organisations in many sectors crave

with the level of engagement

benchmarking information on customer

seen in our review of STAR.

satisfaction, as well as other key business

This shows how serious the

metrics, so that they can objectively

sector is about listening to and

evaluate their performance. Metrics such

acting on feedback to deliver better

as Net Promoter Score (NPS), Satisfaction

services. Improving

Index, and Customer Effort are widely

performance

used in this way, and various providers

requires consistent,

provide the ability to benchmark against

robust data that gets to

other organisations.

the heart of what matters

In practice, though, differences in

to tenants and leaseholders,

survey methodology, sample selection,

and provides meaningful insights to

or question wording can mean that these

drive action. Using the new framework

benchmarks are not as objective as they

will ensure that landlords are capturing

may first appear. HouseMark’s STAR

customer feedback in line with in and

framework aims to provide a framework

out-of-sector best practice.”

which is flexible enough to meet the needs of different organisations, but consistent enough to ensure a fair and objective benchmark.

To make sure that it remains fit for purpose, HouseMark worked with representatives from the National Housing Federation (NHF), the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), Tpas, the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA), Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH), Taroe Trust, and Councils with ALMOs Group (CWAG). HouseMark also commissioned specialist research agencies Acuity and TLF Research to support the review and secure out-of-sector innovation and best practice, and held extensive consultations with landlords and residents to review ideas for improvement and evolution of the STAR framework.

28 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

RESEARCH

Methodology

Combining perceptual and transactional measures may seem unusual, but it is a pragmatic approach

STAR specifies acceptable approaches

to the challenge that the customer

to customer satisfaction measurement in

experience in social housing is a

order to be accepted into the benchmark,

complex mixture of broad ongoing

with requirements and recommendations

concerns such as safety alongside high

covering sample size, collection method,

volume transactional events, of which

survey frequency, and scale.

repairs is the most significant.

The framework requires consistency in response scales (either five or ten point), but is open to new options in terms of how those ratings can be given, including emojis and star ratings in addition to more traditional ways of indicating satisfaction. There is also flexibility in terms of research methodology, with online and SMS options allowed where appropriate.

Core Areas for Comparison STAR consists of five core areas,

Results Under the new framework, landlords

four “perception measures”:

will be given a star rating (from 1 to 5),

• Quality of home

launching in June 2020. This will make

• Health and safety

it easy to communicate both within the

• Ease of dealing with

organisation and with residents how

• Overall satisfaction

customer satisfaction compares to other

and one transactional measure:

landlords. This star rating will take

performance on responsive repairs

account of the context that can

(the single most important moment

impact results, so that landlords

of truth for most landlords in their

receive a fair overall assessment

relationship with customers). There’s

of the services

also a library of additional questions

they provide.

which landlords can choose from as appropriate to align with their needs as an organisation, including 15 recommended questions.

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 29

RESEARCH

WHY WORLD CLASS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IS HARDER THAN YOU THINK First published on https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/tlf-insight-unlocked People sometimes say (in fact I have said) that satisfying customers

33%

is simple—all you have to do is consistently give customers what they say they want.

Simple isn't the same as easy. Meeting customers' requirements flawlessly every time is a task beyond most of us. Still, perhaps good

25%

companies achieve it almost all the time—shall we say 90% of the time?

What happens when you give customers what they expected? They are satisfied. But satisfied is a relatively lukewarm word isn't it? A solid 8 out of 10. Good, but not great. How often do we create really high levels of satisfaction, giving customers a sense of delight with their experience, a 9 or 10 out of 10?

15%

14%

Let's take an illustrative example of a company that is doing a basically good job for its customers. As you can see in the histogram on the right, it's dissatisfying only 8% of its customers. The bulk of customers score 8, 9, or 10. Sounds like a company doing pretty well?

5%

Stop for a second and guess what the average score is.

It works out to an average of 7.96. As a satisfaction index of 79.6 that would be just below halfway up our league table. What that shows you is

1%

1%

1%

1

2

3

2%

3%

that, for all the hand-wringing about the state of customer service, the typical performance of organisations we deal with is actually pretty good.

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

What would it take to move our fictional company up towards the

43%

top of the league table, let's say a satisfaction index of 90?

38%

Play with the numbers and you'll find you need an awful lot of 9s and 10s to outweigh even a small amount of dissatisfaction. To the left is a distribution that would give you an index of 90.

So what point am I trying to make? In a nutshell, companies who have satisfaction indexes in the high 80s or 90s are very, very, good.

They get to the top of the league table because the majority of their customers are scoring them 9 or 10 out of 10 for nearly everything.

Being that good takes commitment and drive that verge on obsession.

Organisations in the middle of the league table, understandably, like to focus on the positives: few customers are dissatisfied, most

9%

customers are scoring us 8 or over. That's true, but if you want to

5% 0% 1

0% 2

0% 3

1%

2%

4

5

move from good to great it's going to take radical change.

2%

A score of 80 sounds like it's nearly as good as 90. The truth is it's a completely different level of performance, and you'll need to

6

7

8

9

30 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

10

completely reimagine your customer experience to make the step up.

Consumer Insight The data for the Sentiment Index article came from TLF’s panel.

The TLF Panel offers you an easy way to access the views and opinions of UK consumers. It’s a flexible research solution with a range of uses, including: Insight into consumer behaviour, attitudes and usage Facts and figures for compelling content and PR stories Brand awareness and competitor surveys Testing advertising and product concepts Recruitment for focus groups and interviews

60,000 UK consumers

Fast turnaround 2,000 responses within 48hrs

Range of question types Including open comment and media

Targeted surveys We can find the people you need

In depth reporting and analysis Demographic splits as standard

Want to try us out?

We’ll give you 2 free questions (worth £375) – email tom@tlfpanel.com for details Visit tlfpanel.com

BOOK REVIEW

Kritina Holden

Kritina Holden

Jill Butler

William Lidwell

Kritina Holden

Jill Butler

Jill Butler

W

il li

am

L id

w

e ll

Kr

it in

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Ho

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en

J il

lB ut

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William Lidwell

William Lidwell

32 Customer Insight Spring 2020 | www.tlfresearch.com

BOOK REVIEW

This little book (it genuinely does fit

Aesthetic-Usability Effect

a permanent place on my desk, and I’m

effects of colour (Black Effects, Green Effects, White Effects, etc.), which also

in the back pocket of a pair of jeans) has Aesthetic things are perceived to be easier

emphasise the impact that these apparently

going to suggest that you should think

to use than ugly things.

aesthetic choices have on people’s feelings

about putting it on yours as well. It’s

• Aesthetic things are often subjectively rated

and behaviour. For instance, “Consider

one of those books that you can read

as easier to use, even when no usability

green interiors to reduce stress and promote

from cover to cover (pretty quickly), flick

advantage can be objectively measured.

creativity.”

through for inspiration, or turn to when

• Aesthetic things are more effective at

you need to remind yourself of something

fostering positive attitudes than ugly things,

half-remembered.

making people more tolerant when problems

Who’s it for? One of the things that I admire is that it defines its audience widely,

are encountered.

Principles of Communication Other principles have important

• Aesthetic things are more likely to be tried,

consequences for the way we communicate,

as “designers of all types”. Even then,

accepted, displayed, and repeatedly used than

for example the Five Hat Racks, which gives

many of our readers might be a bit shy of

ugly things.

a framework for organising information in

describing themselves as designers. Is it for

• Aspire to create aesthetically pleasing designs.

different ways—by category, time, location,

you? Well, if you ever think about how to

It is more than ornamentation—it is an

alphabet, and continuum. This is a good

make things work effectively for customers

investment in user acceptance, forgiveness,

example of the way these principles can

or employees, or if you’re interested in how

and satisfaction.

invite us to review and examine the choices

the way in which things are presented affects

we have made when designing the customer

people’s behaviour, then you’ll benefit from

See Also Attractiveness Bias • Cognitive

experience. Have we organised information

this book. That’s got to include pretty much

Dissonance • Form Follows Function • IKEA

in the best way for customers? Would a

everyone, hasn’t it?

Effect

different way be clearer for some customers?

The book is a list of 150 “principles”,

The illustration is a photo of the HomeHero

drawn from a mixture of psychological

fire extinguisher, the design of which makes

theory and design experience, which may

people more likely to display it, therefore making

help you to understand how to design things

it more accessible in an emergency.

We also need to examine our own ways

which work more effectively. Each is defined and explained briefly (in no more than a

of working. One of my favourites is the

Principles of Design

Abbe Principle, which says that you should

couple of hundred words), and illustrated with an example or diagram.

I’ll quote principle number 5 verbatim to give you an example.

Principles of Measurement

measure things as close to their action as If you’d ever wondered why Apple

possible, because errors of measurement

products have a persistent reputation for

tend to increase with distance. This is

being easy to use, then this entry goes a

literally true with mechanical measurement

long way to explaining why. It’s also the

(say a pair of callipers), and metaphorically

best short argument I’ve ever seen for the

true when it comes to transactional customer

existence of design as a discipline. That last

satisfaction surveys or other sources of MI.

Stephen Hampshire

sentence “It is more than ornamentation—it is

As you can tell, I’m a huge fan of this

Client Manager

an investment in user acceptance, forgiveness,

book. If you’ve found any of the principles

TLF Research

and satisfaction” should be put on t-shirts

we’ve quoted interesting, then I guarantee

and badges the world over.

you’ll find it useful too. Perhaps you should

stephenhampshire@leadershipfactor.com

Scattered throughout the book are the

buy your boss one?

www.tlfresearch.com | Spring 2020 Customer Insight 33

HOW HARD CAN IT BE?

IS CONSUMER CONFIDENCE RATIONAL? As reported earlier in Customer Insight the

until well after the end of the transition period,

TLF Sentiment Index showed a big increase

the only rational conclusion is that GDP,

in January especially for business conditions

and therefore the average person’s financial

Nigel Hill

and the overall UK economy, but also, to a

prospects, will be less good.

Chairman

slightly lesser extent, for people’s own personal

But people often base their judgements more

TLF Research

finances. This is confirmed by other polls

on perception and gut feel than on hard facts,

especially the post-election business polls

thoroughly analysed. It doesn’t matter whether

from the IoD and the CBI which both showed

they are thinking about the performance of

customers are still more important than your

big increases as well as the PwC consumer

their Government, a recent experience visiting

understanding of the “hard facts”. And to take

confidence survey released on January 28th.

their local supermarket, or the process of

this aside a step further, if people are stupid,

making an insurance claim. All that matters is

you probably are too, so your understanding

better were the prospects for the UK economy

the customer’s perception, not whether their

of the “hard facts” will be equally suspect.)

and the average person’s personal finances on

views are right or wrong.

In reality, human beings’ proclivity to short

If we look at this rationally, how much

1st January 2020 compared with 1st December

It is also vital not to confuse this method of

cut most judgements is completely rational.

2019? On the plus side we had a stable

arriving at judgements with conclusions about

There isn’t time to adopt any other stance.

Government that would be able to make and,

human intelligence. People are not stupid. (As

There never has been, but with the constantly

more importantly, implement its decisions.

an aside it wouldn’t make any difference if they

accelerating volume of information that we are

Those worried about the outlook for the

are. If you want your customers to be satisfied

presented with, using gut feel to short cut most

economy in the Labour Party’s hands would

and loyal, the perceptions of those “stupid”

judgements and decisions has never been more

be breathing a big sigh of relief. On the other hand, there was a significant percentage of the population that felt it would be better off with Labour policies and most of the big economic unknowns before the election hadn’t changed. Most obviously, the details of a trade deal with the EU (if there is one at all) and the impact of that on UK businesses had not changed. Any rational, objective forecaster would have to conclude that the volume of trade with the EU post-deal was very unlikely to be as high as it is now. Since trade with any other country is lower than with the EU and it is inconceivable that the benefits of any new trade deals with other countries would be flowing

34 Customer Insight Winter 2019/20 | www.tlfresearch.com

rational. It’s not emotional; it’s sensible.

There are some human feelings and behaviours that are emotionally driven but peoples’ perceptions / judgements about their customer experiences do not come into that category.

Customer Insight Magazine is created and published in house by TLF Research.

The magazine is our way of sharing features and latest thinking on creating an outstanding customer experience. We hope you enjoy reading the magazine as much as we enjoy creating it.

If you’ve got an interesting customer experience story to tell and would like to feature in the magazine, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact our editor Stephen Hampshire for more information.

Email Stephen at stephenhampshire@leadershipfactor.com or give him a call on 01484 467014

ABOUT TLF RESEARCH We are a full service customer research agency. Specialists in customer insight, we help our clients understand and improve their customer experience.

Get in touch to find out more about what we do.

Visit us online at tlfresearch.com or call 01484 517575

FREE WEBINARS Our range of free 30 minute webinars is designed to give you an introduction to key customer research subjects.

From how to guides & what to focus on, through to best practice & the analysis of your results, our webinars will give you lots of hints & tips to help you get the most out of research.

UNDERSTANDING STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS 3rd June 2020 11:00–11.30am

Statistical significance can seem like a complicated and arcane world, but it’s vital to understand the basics if you want to make decisions with data.

We’ll cover what you can and can’t do with survey data, why confidence intervals may make more sense than significance testing, and how to explain it all to your boss.

MEASURING THE INTERNAL CUSTOMER

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION INDEX: HOW & WHY TO USE IT

16th June 2020 11:00-11:30am

24th June 2020 11:00-11:30am

I’m sure you’ll agree it is essential to manage and measure your external customer experience, but what about the internal customer experience? Your employees and stakeholders rely on one another every day to deliver your products or services. Understanding how different departments interact and identifying pain points can help you streamline your internal processes, which in turn should benefit your external customers. Greg will take you through why he thinks it is important to measure the internal customer experience and how it should form part of a successful employee engagement strategy. He’ll also share some practical examples on where this can have a positive impact.

A Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) can take your Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) scores to another level. Combining and weighting CSAT scores for individual interactions, product or services, will give you a much more accurate view of how satisfied your customers are with your business overall. This webinar will give you an overview of how to calculate CSI, examples of how to measure it and how it can be used to add an extra layer of detail to your CSAT scores.

SEMIOTICS & CX

RELATIONSHIP & EVENT DRIVEN RESEARCH

25th June 2020 11:00-11:30am

1st July 2020 11:00-11:30am

Semiotics is a technique that helps you to make sense of the way meaning is created. We believe that taking a semiotic view of the customer experience can be enormously valuable, and considering whether the whole customer experience is aligned can open up new ways to differentiate your business from competitors. In this webinar we give a quick introduction to the field of semiotics, and then explain how it can be used to make sense of details in the customer experience. Thinking about all the messages we’re sending to customers and how they may be received, will make a big impact to how customers feel and how well the journey works for them.

Relationship and event driven surveys are both vital tools in customer research. Organisations often make the mistake of committing to one or the other, or attempt the bad compromise of doing both in a single survey. A well designed research programme, including a mix of both survey types, gives more actionability at an event level and richer behavioural insights at a relationship level. In this webinar we look at the pros and cons of each survey type, when to use them, and how to blend them together into an effective customer insight programme.

FINDING & TELLING YOUR CUSTOMER INSIGHT STORY

MEASURING COMPLAINTS: FINDING THE PAIN POINTS

8th July 2020 11:00-11:30am

15th July 2020 11:00-11:30am

Do you struggle to find the key pieces of customer insight from your research?

We’ve all been there with really detailed presentations that provide a wealth of useful information, but the key takeaways can be lost. In this webinar we talk through techniques for finding the insight that really matters and how to share this information effectively to make a positive impact.

Complaint Handling can provide an opportunity to reignite customer confidence and even save unhappy customers. This webinar will help you understand how to quantify the impact of behaviours that will antagonise or reassure customers.

Sign up today at tlfresearch.com/webinars