ec magazine nov 2014

TOP10BRANDS PUT THEIR

EMPLOYEES FIRST

HOW THE UK’s

engagecustomerISSUE SEVENTEEN I NOVEMBER 2014

www.engagecustomer.com@engagecustomer

THE KEY INGREDIENTSFOR SUCCESS IN 2015

OVO ENERGY – THECHALLENGER UTILITYTHAT SEES ITSELFAS A RETAILER

MOLSON COORSRAISING A GLASSTO ALL CUSTOMERS

There are a lot of good reasons to consider the cloud. Increased flexibility. Faster deployment time. Minimal upfront

capital expenses. Reduced IT requirements. But selection of the best contact centre cloud-vendor is the make-or-

break decision. The Communications-as-a-Service offering from Interactive Intelligence is used by some to the most

well-respected companies around the world. Our cloud solution provides you the high levels of security you require,

with the level of control you determine, and the ability to move to on-premise if your business needs ever change.

Moreover, you have access to the broadest set of applications available, with the ability to move as rapidly as you’d

like. Good reasons to trust the Interactive Intelligence cloud.

www.inin.com

C l o u d - b a s e d o r O n - p r e m i s e

Steve Hurst,Editorial Director,

Engage Customer@engagecustomer

a word from the editor

I S S U E S E V E N T E E N • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 43

Still better late than never and it’s gratifying to know that those whohold the purse strings and the power when it comes to our customerand employee relationships are finally on board with the thinking thatsparked our launch of Engage Customer more than five years ago.

Benefits straight to the bottom lineOf course the evidence is plain for all to see. The improved businessperformance and market capitalisation of organisations who delivergreat service through their people is now a given – and even those whoimprove their service from non-existent to just about OK (take a bowRyanair) see benefits go straight to their bottom line.

My concern is that while CEOs are putting their people and theircustomer relationships at the top of their business agenda – areenough of them really drawing a causal link between the two, andmaking it part of an overarching business strategy? My fear is that thisis not yet the case – although the signs are that businesses are movingin the right direction, and those who do are enjoying a clearcompetitive advantage.

Our Cover Story in this issue of Engage Customer is a case in point. Itrefers to the latest Customer Experience Excellence research fromNunwood that identifies each year the top 100 organisations for serviceexcellence in the eyes of their customers. Our story is based on anexclusive webinar that Engage Customer ran with Nunwood tocoincide with the release of the results of that consumer research.

First direct first among equalsInterestingly the research identifies as a unifying factor among the Top10 of that Top 100, the best of the best, that they put their employeesfirst. In doing so their people work within a culture that lends itself todelivering high level and consistent customer experience. Nowhere isthat better exemplified than in the case of first direct, who deservedlytop the Nunwood league table for the first time. This virtuous circleformed by highly engaged, motivated and well directed employeesinteracting across departments with increasingly sophisticated anddemanding digital age customers is the only sustainable way forwardand will remain a focal point for our activities. This includes the launchof our first Employee Engagement Summit in April 2015.

In a recent Financial Times survey of chief execs they identified human capital and customerrelationships as the two most critical challenges they face in their quest for long term businesssuccess. The only surprise to me is that it has taken this long for our business leaders to realisethat the key to success revolves around our employee and our customers.

WHY ENGAGING YOUR PEOPLE IS THEBEST WAY TO ENGAGE YOUR CUSTOMERS

STRATEGYDefine your customer visionSTRA YTEGRAATDefine y omer visiontour cusDefine y

TOP10

BRANDS PUT THEIR

EMPLO

YEES FI

RST

HOW THE U

K’s

9-11

6-8

12-13

15-16

20-21

18-19

23-24

26-27

30-31

33-34

32

To join Engage Customer (free membership) and receive weekly Alerts, DigitalMagazines and Invitations to the Directors Forums and other Engage events go to:www.engagecustomer.com @engagecustomer

Mainline: T: 01932 506 300

Steve Hurst [email protected] T: 01932 506 304

Nick Rust [email protected] T: 01932 506 301

Chris Wood [email protected] T: 01932 506 303

Rachel Blake [email protected] T: 01932 506 302

Kelly Frazer [email protected] T: 01932 506 305

contents

contents


Cover StoryHOW THE UK’S TOP 10 BRANDS PUT THEIR EMPLOYEES FIRST

To coincide with the release of the Nunwood 2014 UK Customer Experience Excellenceresults, Engage Customer, in partnership with Nunwood, ran an exclusive webinar to

discuss the findings of the UK’s most in depth customer experience report. Here NunwoodSenior Partner Tim Knight explores the key findings

WHY ORGANISATIONS SHOULD ENCOURAGE AND RESPONDTO CUSTOMER REVIEWS – FOR BETTER OR WORSE

In this exclusive for Engage Customer following on from our webinar on the importance ofcustomer reviews editorial director at Engage Customer Steve Hurst quizzes Charlo

Carabott co-founder of Mazuma Mobile

OVO - THE UTILITY THAT SEES ITSELF AS A RETAILERIn this exclusive for Engage Customer we spotlight utilities challenger brand Ovo and askcustomer services director Justin Haines how running the business around the customer

is differentiating Ovo from its competitors

FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW ABOUT THE CUSTOMER JOURNEYThe customer journey is constantly unfolding every time there is an interaction with youwhatever the channel – in this exclusive for Engage Customer leading practitioners map

out the five key things you need to know

Expert OpinionWHY CONTACT CENTRES ARE THE NEW ENGAGEMENT CENTRES

Contact centres are usually the first responders for your customers - the most likely tohear when something’s not right, the ones expected to quickly solve problems, all with a

personal, reassuring response that instils customer confidence in your company

KEY INGREDIENTS FOR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE SUCCESS IN 2015Karine Del Moro has her own tasty recipe for future success when it comes down

to the customer experience and here she lists eight winning ingredients in trueMaster Chef fashion

MOLSON COORS RAISING A GLASS TO ALL CUSTOMERSIn an exclusive interview with Engage Customer, Laura Lee, UK customer experience

director at global brewing giant Molson Coors talks about its ambition to be ‘first choicefor our customers’

CONTACT CENTRES POISED TO TAKE CENTRE STAGEAs the customer experience moves up the pecking order of board level priorities thecontact centre is well positioned to fulfil a central role in an organisation’s customer

engagement strategies says Dave Paulding

COMPANY PROFILES

FORUM REVIEWCustomer Engagement in Telcos/Utilities

GET READY FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS WITH AN OMNICHANNEL STRATEGYThe Internet of Things (IoT) is still a fledgling concept says Dave Ogden, but it is one that

could make all previous customer service initiatives redundant worldwide

Editorial Advisory BoardDr Guy Fielding, Richard SedleyRod Butcher, Hugh GriffithsMarcus Hickman, Karine Del MoroDavid Cottam, James RapinacCrispin Manners, Professor Moira ClarkeProfessor Katie Truss, Mike Havard

Published by:Engage Customer Ltd,Nicholson House, 41 Thames Street,Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 8JG©engage customer

I S S U E S E V E N T E E N • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 6

Nunwood's Custo

mer Experience

Excellence Centre has been running

for five ye

ars. In that tim

e, it has

assesse

d over 110,000 customer

experiences across

750 brands,

helping organisations to

improve their

overall performance through an

enhanced understanding of custo

mers'

thoughts, feelings a

nd emotional

responses.

In 2014, the fift

h annual analysis o

f UK Custo

mer

Experience Excellence demonstrates th

at the bar

has been raise

d by a cluste

r of retail and

financial servic

es champions, c

ommitted to

excellence across all aspects o

f the

customer experience.

How the

UK’s top

10 brand

s

put their

employees f

irst

To coincide with the release of the Nunwood 2014 UK Custo

mer Experience Excellence

results, Engage Custo

mer, in partnersh

ip with Nunwood, ran an exclusive

webinar to

discuss

the findings o

f the UK’s m

ost in depth custo

mer experience report. Here Nunwood

Senior Partner Tim Knight explores th

e key findings

�

RANK 14 BRAND CEE 14 RANK 13

1 8.42 ▲ 3

2 8.33 ▼ 1

3 8.30 ▼ 2

4 8.22 ▲ 7

5 8.17 ▼ 4

6 8.04 NEW -

7 8.00 ▲ 10

8 7.95 ▲ 26

9 87.90 ▲ 12

10 7.89 ▼ 6


cover story

first by name and first by natureThe top 10 brands have ably demonstrated their dedication tocontinual improvement, and it is therefore unsurprising to see firstdirect at pole position in the customer experience excellencerankings. Indeed, many financial services brands have seen a markedimprovement in 2014, and first direct is no exception, with acustomer base that comprises of "fans" rather than everyday clients.It also boasts a dedicated team of knowledgeable staff members,who are committed to resolving issues within a short timeframe.

Meanwhile retailer John Lewis has landed in second place, showingparticular aptitude in resolving customer concerns and turningnegative experiences into positive ones (the brand refers to thisprocess as ‘heroic recovery’). John Lewis has also been praised forthe product knowledge displayed by its enthusiastic team members.

In third place is the online television-based retailer QVC, whichdisplayed particular strengths in customer empathy, offeringinformation and advice to its viewers and followers in a placid, down-to-earth manner, more akin to a chatty family member than ahardened salesperson. A full list of the top 10 brands can be found inthe graphic below:

Nationwide make top 10 for first timeNationwide is particularly worthy of note, attaining a top 10 positionfor the first time. It is riding the crest of a success wave for financialservices brands, and there is a growing sense that customers areregaining their trust in the banking sector, with higher Integrity scoresbeing noted across the board. Moreover, much of Nationwide'ssuccess can be traced back to its successful On Your Sideadvertising campaign which launched earlier in the year.

However, one theme which unites the brands in the top 10 is the wayin which they put their employees first. Staff members appearenthusiastic about the brands they represent, and they are invariablyproud to work for them. This is most apparent with first direct,whose staff offer a remarkably consistent experience; one customereven stated that they felt as if they were talking to the same personevery time.

Utilites continue on downward pathElsewhere, the Customer Experience Excellence scores in the Travelsector enjoyed a 0.6% increase in 2014, along with Entertainmentwhich rose by 1%. One sector which continues to experience �

“One theme which unites the brands in the top 10 is the way in which they put their

employees first. Staff members appear enthusiastic about the brands they represent,

and they are invariably proud to work for them. This is most apparent with first direct,

whose staff offer a remarkably consistent experience; one customer even stated that

they felt as if they were talking to the same person every time”

8I S S U E S E V E N T E E N • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4

difficulties, though, is Utilities, which hasdropped by 0.8%. This is largely down tothe fact that much of its business is builtaround meters rather than customers, andmany brands are struggling to make thenecessary transition.

One of the most fascinating insights foundwas the shift in customers' expectations,and brands are now required to deliver anexperience comparable to the bestorganisations they interact with. Forexample, there is increased pressure ononline retailers to deliver the sameexperience as, say, Amazon, and thesehigher-scoring brands are in turn expectedto improve upon their past successes.This is known as The Expectation Cycle,and it shows that the art of creating theoptimum customer experience is a never-ending task.

The Six PillarsHowever, if a brand wishes to gain insightinto its particular strengths andweaknesses, its performance can beassessed according to six universalcustomer experience facets, known asThe Six Pillar SystemTM. This systemcomprises the pillars of Personalisation,Integrity, Time and Effort, Expectations,Resolution and Empathy, and they are thekey principles that leading brandsconsistently master.

And whilst many brands may master thesefacets to varying degrees, one pillar whichhas become increasingly important tocustomers is that of Time and Effort,which takes into account the amount oftime it takes a customer to achieve their

objective, and the amount of effort theyhave to expend in the process.

Companies have shown a growingawareness of the value that customersplace on Time and Effort, and havestarted to use this pillar as a weaponagainst their rivals.

This was demonstrated by a recent adcampaign commissioned by thesupermarket chain Lidl, in which the brandstated that Morrisons, its competitor, had"found a way" to match its prices.

Lidl did Morrisons knowLidl proved this point by publishing the 28-point process that a customer would haveto go through in order to gain a discounton the Morrisons website, informing thereader that they could either follow eachof these steps, or they could "just go toLidl" instead.

For a company to become a customerexperience leader it must consistentlyadhere to all six of the pillars, and yetapply them selectively depending on thenature of the interaction. For example, if afinancial services customer telephoned todiscuss a particular issue, the pillar ofResolution could apply if the enquiry led toa successful outcome, or the pillar ofEmpathy might be more appropriate if itled to the regrettable closure of thecustomer's account.

Mastery of these pillars, therefore, isessential for improving customeradvocacy, customer loyalty, and customerretention, and these are rewards which thetop 10 brands are already reaping.

Tim Knight, senior partner,Nunwood

www.nunwood.com

“Nationwide is particularly worthy of note, attaining a top 10 position for

the first time. It is riding the crest of a success wave for financial services

brands, and there is a growing sense that customers are regaining their

trust in the banking sector”


In this exclusive for Engage Customer following on from ourwebinar on the importance of customer reviews editorialdirector at Engage Customer Steve Hurst quizzes CharloCarabott co-founder of Mazuma Mobile

WHY ORGANISATIONS SHOULD ENCOURAGE

AND RESPOND TO CUSTOMER REVIEWS – FOR BETTER OR WORSE

First off Charlo could we know somethingabout your background and how you cameto be joint founder of Mazuma in 2007?

I co-founded Mazuma Mobile in 2006 withJohn Lam. At the time, I already had over 15years of experience working in the mobilephone industry. With the consumer mobile

industry thriving in the UK, John and I wereone of the first to recognise the opportunitiesthat existed in providing an incentive forconsumers to recycle their phone and createda business model that others soon followed.As such, we have led the market on a numberof initiatives such as data protection, anti-stolen phone trade and educating consumers �

the big interview

Charlo Carabott,co-founder ofMazuma Mobile

www.mazumamobile.com

I S S U E S E V E N T E E N • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 1 0

on the best way to recycle their devices. It is a bigleap of faith for consumers to part with somethingas valuable as their mobile device via an onlineservice. We’ve worked hard to ensure that creatinga positive and reassuring customer experienceforms the core of what we offer. I’m pleased to saythat today we are now regarded as an authority inthe market, but more importantly consumers viewus as a reputable, efficient and friendly service thatforms part of their phone upgrade process.

Briefly tell us what Mazuma does and thesector you operate in

Mazuma Mobile is an online mobile phone resaleservice, committed to safely and efficiently recyclingold mobile phones or tablets - helping consumersmake cash in the most environmentally friendly way.We resell more mobile phones than any other onlinerecycling company and we are UK’s leadingindependent and fastest growing company in thissector. When we started, the sector was booming,and we reached a turn over £5.3 million in the firstyear. Soon, a high number of competitors jumpedon the wagon, some of them with mixed resultsand -maybe more importantly- with a different, less-quality oriented approach to customer service. Asof today we cover 30% of the market of all UKonline mobile recycling.

The mobile phone marketplace isunrecognisable from what it was in 2007 howhas your business evolved?

Smartphones have changed the way weperceive our devices. Mobile phones have beenstatus symbols since the mid nineties, and brandslike Nokia and Motorola released new devicesevery year. However, these phones were sturdy ifa little limited in what they could do. The feature

battle was played on for instance, the cameraspecs or cover colours.

After Apple and Samsung made smartphonesrelatively cheaper boosted by network subsidiesand accessible data connections, the real demandfor the latest versions of devices began. Apple inparticular have really led the market in creating theconsumer appetite for the newest and latestdevices on the market, with measured productupdates and clever marketing.

For us the business has had to evolve to meet theneeds of savvy customers who are seeking thebest deals in terms of the latest devices as well asa competitive landscape where there are manymore mobile phone recyclers - good and bad. Sofor the most part our business has had to evolve sothat it offers a consistently high quality of serviceabove all else, which we have had to maintain asvolumes of devices coming to us increase.

Can customer reviews make or breaka business?

Today’s consumers have a voice and we welcomeit. Reviews have been an integral part of ourmarketing strategy from day one when mobilephone reuse was still a new concept. In the earlydays we simply invited customers to write a reviewon our website. These proved to be powerfulreassurance for anyone wanting to try not just usbut also needing to understand the concept of theservice. Since then, consumers become moresceptical and savvy. So we have found great valuein working with a third party reviews site - in ourcase Trustpilot- so that consumers have the addedassurance of the neutrality of the reviews. We areone of the top rated companies on Trustpilot with98% rating.

“Being responsive,

transparent and

honest about how

you handle negative

reviews also

encourages those

who have something

good to say to feel

like they should

express it. People

trust a business more

if they feel they are

being listened to”

�

“A positive customer

experience and the feedback

that follows, reflects positively

not just on our brand but I find

it to be a really strong motivator

for employees, having positive

impacts on staff morale”


the big interview

What can a business do to ensure it gets great reviewsfrom customers?

First and foremost, it’s about providing a genuinely good serviceand experience for customers. Following that, encourage yourcustomers to provide a review - good or bad - either via yourwebsite, email communication or social media pages. Beingresponsive, transparent and honest about how you handlenegative reviews also encourages those who have something goodto say to feel like they should express it. People trust a businessmore if they feel they are being listened to. The trick is to makesure consumer perceive their opinion is valuable to the community,not for the company, so that they come back and review on aregular basis... making it second nature after purchasing.

Tell us about your relationship with Trustpilot and itsimportance to your overall business strategy

Mazuma Mobile has over 95,000 customer reviews on Trustpilotwith a 98% Trustscore. We publish customer reviews and thescore on our website and it’s an amazing way to inform our clientsthat they can trust us. Using third party to take your reviews is anadvantage, because sometimes customers are wary of companieswho collect this type of data in house.

We try to nurture customers’ trust in Mazuma in everything we do,from avoiding misleading messages on our website and ads, toresponding immediately to any enquires via our support desk.Giving our customers a simple way to provide their feedback -positive or not- has had a clear positive effect on the way theyperceive our brand. We listen to our customers and have refinedour service in response. For instance, often customers are lookingfor a quick payment option and might grumble about waiting all ofthree days for a payment - which is by industry standards alreadypretty quick. We were the first to introduce same day payment inthe industry. Similarly, we were at first inundated with requests toassist in deleting data from particular models of phones andtablets. In response, we were the first to create a data deletion toolon our website that features hundreds of models and providesstep-by-step instructions on how to delete information.

What’s your view on the relationship between employeeengagement, customer engagement, performance andprofitability?

Ultimately they all fit together. I strongly believe happy customersare good for business. A positive customer experience and thefeedback that follows, reflects positively not just on our brand but Ifind it to be a really strong motivator for employees, having positiveimpacts on staff morale. In turn, a customer engagement strategythat is working well via a reviews process can help to identify weakpoints in your business model. If you respond to it quickly, it will ofcourse improve your company’s performance and overall success.As our business is based low margin, high volume, it is extremelyimportant that we remain lean and efficient.

To do this we need to always ensure our customers are wellinformed and happy. Happy, well informed customers tend not tocontact us wanting information or wanting to complain. As a resultwe are able to transact with 1000’s of customers on a daily basiswithout the need of a huge call centre. We find investing in providingan excellent service is a lot more cost effective that providing apoor service and managing unhappy customers as a result.

Finally Charlo what are your plans for Mazuma going forward?

We see the future of mobile reuse as continuing to be an integralpart of the mobile phone industry ecosystem. Five million of ourphones have joined the mobile industry’s redistribution chain in thedeveloping world and right here in the UK and we have paid outover £212 million.

Our vision for the future is for the mobile reuse industry to developstronger partnerships with operators and handset retailers andmove from the periphery of the industry to a core part of thecustomer experience. We are already half way there, with ourservice having become an integral part of the consumer upgradeprocess and their purchase decisions. In order for this to happen,we strongly believe in continuing to advocate a high quality ofservice and industry practices so that mobile phone reuse is seenas a credible option for consumers.


In this exclusive for Engage Customer we spotlight utilitieschallenger brand OVO Energy and ask customer services directorJustin Haines how running the business around the customer isdifferentiating OVO from its competitors

As a new challenger brand how is OVOEnergy differentiating itself from itscompetitors including the Big Six utilities?

As a challenger brand, OVO Energy is focusedon delivering first class customer service. Thebusiness is designed and run around thecustomer and built to adapt quickly and nimblyto the changing environment we operate in. This means a number of things to ensure wedifferentiate from competitors. The majority ofthe management don’t have energy industrybackgrounds and instead come from great retailbrands which excel at customer experience andengagement. We invest in the best technologyso that we are as rigorously cost efficient anduser friendly as possible; we in fact considerourselves a retail business first; a technologycompany second; and only as a distant third autility. We don’t want to be a no frills energyprovider, we want customers to enjoy theirinteraction with us.

We are also honest and transparent about theprice we ask customers to pay, ensuring that wepass any savings made on wholesale energyprices directly back to the customer, so when wesave, they save and we are also fair and don’toffer short term introductory deals which soonshoot up, nor offer deals to new customers thataren’t open to renewing customers.

While the utilities sector has a poor overallreputation for customer service OVO issaying customers are in every conversation– how does that manifest itself and whatare your customers saying about you?

OVO was founded with a singular and simpleidea in mind: if an energy company was to be

built from the ground upwards around what wasbest for the customer, what would it look like?This idea that an energy company should bedesigned and run with the customer in mindhas been the foundation upon which OVO’sgrowth has been built, and it underpins ourvalues that as company we treat people fairly,offer competitively priced products and aretransparent and simple to understand.

When we’re making decisions as a company,we imagine the customer’s in the room with us.If they wouldn’t like what we’re thinking aboutdoing, we don’t do it. And since every singleone of our customers is a switcher, or theywouldn’t be with us, we’ve always known if wedidn’t work hard enough to keep them they’dvote with their feet.

We haven’t lost sight of this vision, even despiteour customer base increasing by 280% sincethe beginning of 2014. Our customers remainour number one priority and we are proud of thefeedback we get. MoneySavingExpert recentlyrecognised us as the number one energy companywhen it comes to customer service, and wealso placed first for overall satisfaction in theenergy helpline Customer Satisfaction Awards.

You currently have circa 400,000 customersand have a target of 1million customers by2017, how do you intend to achieve that?

Today’s tech savvy customers exist in a diverse,global marketplace and have much higherexpectations of service and reliability than everbefore. Thinking like a retailer, rather than autility, helps OVO guide behaviour in the rightdirection and investing in customer service isour top focus.

OVO - THE UTILITY THATSEES ITSELF AS A RETAILER

Justin Haines is customerservice director, OVO Energy

www.ovoenergy.com

�


feature

To help meet the target of one million customers by 2017 OVO hasinvested heavily in growing its workforce. In the last 12 months thecompany has more than doubled in staff, we have also relocatedour London team to larger premises and will be moving our headoffices in Bristol to a new location in the winter to accommodatethis growth.

We believe that through our key innovations and reputation forexcellent customer service we will continue to build trust in themarket, and by offering competitive pricing and rewards forcustomers, for example through our cost reflective pricing and our3% interest to those accounts in credit, we hope to continue togrow our customer base and ultimately achieve our goal. Thelaunch of OVO PAYG, In Home Technology and OVO Communitiesalso offers new and unique solutions to both current and newcustomers, adding to the potential reach of our customer base.

OVO makes much of its green credentials – how important adifferentiator is that for you in a highly competitivemarketplace?

We think it’s important to balance being ‘green’ with being affordable.Our Better Energy tariff has more than the UK average of renewablesincluded as standard, and along with our Greener Energy tariff, whichis 100% renewable energy, are two of the most competitive tariffsavailable on the market today. Over the last 12 months we have infact dropped our prices seven times, becoming the first supplier tooffer an annual bill below £1,000 with our Better Energy tariff.

I understand your intranet is known as the kitchen table –how did that come about?

Our founder and CEO, Stephen Fitzpatrick worked in the City forfive years and he no longer liked what he saw. He promised hiswife he’d get out by the time he was 30 and in 2008, around theirkitchen table in a Cotswold barn, they began to formulate theirvision of building a customer focused energy company from scratch.

We are proud of our roots, and the values that have been with usfrom day one. We want each and every one of our staff tounderstand where we have come from, and live our humble values,so we called our intranet the Kitchen Table in celebration of this.

What is your stance on the links between employeeengagement, customer engagement and performanceand profitability?

Our business is built around our customers. From the top calibrestaff we employ and the market leading technology we use everyday, everything revolves around delivering excellent customerservice, and it is from this that we believe profit will follow.

The journey starts with people engagement, right from recruitingthe right people, training them well and treating them fairly. We

have already seen some great customer engagement based on acommitted workforce. We manage the performance of ouremployees, but this is balanced in favour of quality of the customerexperience, which gives a very clear message to our teams aboutwhere we expect their focus to be.

Our straightforward tariff structure and cost-reflective pricing modelmeans that none of our customers are stuck on uncompetitivetariffs with disproportionately high profit margins. But anacceptable margin is needed to ensure a business can grow andcontinue to offer great service for customers. If we can do what’sright for customers, and make money, then we believe profit is ourfair share of the value we bring to society. The problem with profitis when it comes at the expense of your customers.

It is important to remember that efforts made to engage customersare all wasted if you’re not in the business of creating andmaintaining trust. Building any company fit for the future dependson that! Without trust, then your performance and profitability willnot be future proof.

Tell us about your relationship with Rant & Rave and howthat fits in with your overall customer engagement strategy?

When searching for the best way to engage with our customers,we measured the top ten reasons our customers call us and we’vemade sure that our customers can do all of those ten things online.By doing this we reduced our customers’ propensity to call us. It’sabout operating efficiently whilst empowering customers. However, if our customers interact with us less, when they doactually need to call us we need to be truly brilliant and wow them.In order to keep them as an advocate or get them fast on their wayto becoming one.

This is where our use of Rant and Rave comes in. It’s an onlinesystem which gives us real time feedback on how we areperforming. The team at Rant and Rave were flexible in taking ourfeedback about some changes we needed to make it perfect forus and our customers. It’s made a big difference; I’d go as far tosay that it’s revolutionised how we deliver our service at OVO and itboosts employee engagement too. Each call and email we dealwith is instantly scored out of ten by our customers. This meanswhen we score high, we can reward our advisors for a fantastic jobwell done but more importantly when we score low, it means wecan work hard – and quickly – to turn that negative into a positive.It’s real time which means you capture how your customer is trulyfeeling - it allows our engagement to be based on emotion which isextremely powerful.

The ability to combine all of our live feedback, unite every aspect ofthe customer journey and then measure this against other qualitymeasures such as our Net Promoter Score has given usunparalleled insight into our customer service levels and hascreated an altogether more streamlined and efficient strategy.

Enterprise data quality, integration, governance and analytics

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14

-MK

TC

-09

08

3 (

11

/14

)

For more details please meet us at

Customer Engagement Summit 2014

Exhibition Stand 75

The customer journey is constantly unfolding every timethere is an interaction with you whatever the channel – inthis exclusive for Engage Customer leading practitionersmap out the five key things you need to know

NICE invited a panel of accomplishedpractitioners of the customer experience for afrank roundtable discussion about the pathscustomers travel in their interaction. The expertpanel comprised of Principal at Innovantage,Brian Vellmure; Founder of thinkJar, EstebanKolsky; Director of Knowledge Managementand Social Customer Support for T-Mobile USA,Krissy Espindola, and the debate wasmoderated by Director of Solution Marketing atNICE Systems, Adit Moskovitch. Together theyconsider the five things you need to know aboutthe customer journey.

1. The customer journey is amacro/micro concept

Although the customer journey may have somecommon components, it can be as singular asthe individual traveling it.

Managing the customer journey requirescompanies to understand “who is the customer,what are they trying to accomplish, how arethey trying to accomplish (it) and how do we doa much better job of responding and creating agreat experience for them?” explained Vellmure.

Companies must be able to take a macro/microview of the journey: what happens in theaggregate, at the mass level and how does thejourney play out at a granular, personal level,with each individual’s needs and context.

2. A map is importantfor any journey

Organisations often seek to capture the journey,in all of its twists and turns, through a processcalled customer experience mapping andVellmure explained how it is an “organisation’sattempt at understanding [interactions] from thecustomers’ viewpoint.” He added that: “Howcustomers interact with companies is super-fragmented,” citing a study of 3,000 customersin which each customer journey was different.The customer journey map, as an overarchingconcept, may not reflect all customers’ realitiesat the micro level but mapping, as an exercise,helps to create a macro template of howinteractions should unfold.

Mapping provides a way for companies to:“follow in their customers’ footsteps, to seewhat’s working and what’s not,” observed

Five thingsyou need to

know now aboutthe customer

journey

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Espindola. Service organisations seeking to understand andoptimise the customer journey must “focus on what yourcustomers expect of their experience and modify your touch-pointsand processes accordingly.”

3. Feedback comes in many formsWhen mapping or seeking to optimise the customer journey “thevoice of the customer is probably the most important thing for anyorganisation to look at” observed Espindola. That voice, she said,can help companies to understand “what customers are sayingabout your brand and use it to inform decisions about marketing,servicing and channels, and take meaningful action” to shape thecustomer experience. But, she points out that there are a variety ofways to “hear” the Voice of the Customer - formal surveys togather feedback is one very important element, but there are more.“You don’t always have to be pinging your customers, asking fortheir feedback.”

Social media, including Facebook, Twitter and even Google, areexcellent sources of contextual information and feedback. Kolskypointed out that when seeking resolution to a problem mostcustomers start their journey on Google. Panelists also cited high-profile success stories of leading companies using onlinecommunities (a relatively new social channel for companies toexplore) coupled with their feedback survey insights to engagecustomers in the journey of other customers. Clearly, whenanalysing the journey, social networks need to be considered asanother feedback - and service - channel.

However, Vellmure sounded a note of caution about the Voice ofthe Customer as expressed on social channels, as research showsthat people are most likely to share either the positive or thenegative on social media. But as Kolsky highlighted, it’s not onlyabout what customers say on digital networks, but also what theydo online - or digital behavioural data. If your infrastructure iscapable of gathering and aggregating digital data in sufficientvolume, you will find, he said, the middle between the extremes, or“the truth about what customers care about.” It is this broader, BigData-driven interpretation of Voice of the Customer that’s mostrelevant to understanding the customer journey today.

4.Keep it easy and consistentIn building an infrastructure over which the customer journey willplay out, Espindola commented that it is important to minimisecustomer effort. Moskovitch noted how research from NICESystems (NICE Customer Experience Survey, 2013) shows thatcustomers want to expend as little effort as possible during serviceinteractions, explaining that 96% percent of customers reward loweffort with greater loyalty. Additionally, in a survey conducted byForrester, nearly 80% of consumers say that valuing their time isthe most important thing a company can do to provide them withgood customer service (“Demand For Effortless Service MustInfluence Your Customer Strategy,” Forrester Research, Inc., June10, 2014). Service organisations would do well to understandwhat’s happening with customers along their journey and optimisein a way that makes it seamless for them, Espindola concurred.

Furthermore, Espindola added, at every touchpoint, the experienceshould be consistent. “Organisations must understand the holisticcustomer journey - from marketing to customer service toretention, and make a concerted effort across departments to beable to provide an experience that is similar, no matter what

channel an interaction occurs on.” Moskovitch agreed: “Thecustomer experience should be seamless and continuous,consistent and cohesive for customers. They should not beexposed to the ‘noise’ that’s created by organisational silos,broken processes and other service clutter.”

5. Flexibility is not optionalHowever, as Kolsky pointed out, “channels are inherentlyinconsistent.” What is more, customers don’t take the same path,and they don’t think the same as companies do. And Vellmureraised the spectre of obsolescence, warning against the danger ofbuilding an infrastructure to provide consistency across channelswhen, in five years, the entire model of how customers are served,including the kinds of questions they ask and how they ask them,is likely to change. To him, the ability to understand and respond tothe context of interactions - not providing consistency - is critical.Moskovitch concurred: “As service providers, we can expect (andcertainly create) an experience that’s consistent. But we can’texpect the process of the journey - that is, the actual steps eachcustomer takes - to be. A customer should always experiencethere journey as a seamless and cohesive experience, but behindthe scenes, our technology has to be flexible enough to follow andsupport whatever path the journey takes. It’s service consistencyand process adaptability we should strive for.”

According to Kolsky the best solution is to “build an infrastructurethat enables customers to get what they want.” Instead of rigidsystems and corporate bureaucracies, he advocates building animble system that supports the individual journeys customerstake. This kind of flexibility may require companies to look atservice in new and different ways, he said.

Continuing old bureaucracies and legacy ways of doing businessmay hamper the natural flow of the customer journey, Kolsky said,which may be much more random than corporate structures cancomfortably accommodate. He said the customer journey is notabout “organisations needing to justify their own existence,” addingthat “you have to find the balance between trying to do what’s rightfor the customer and what’s necessary for the organisation.”

“The journey is organic and reflects what happens in thecustomer’s world,” agreed Moskovitch. “By analysing the journeyacross all touchpoints we can discover painpoints for ourcustomers - things like bottlenecks, channel deflection, self-servicedisconnects and so on. Understanding the customer journeyshould inform the design of customer-facing touchpoints,processes and procedures, not the other way around!”

The customer journey is a multi-faceted array of interactions andexchanges, online and offline, direct (to and with the company) andindirect (to friends or followers on social media, or peers in onlinecommunities). Our panellists agreed that it’s important for serviceorganisations to visualise, map, and therefore understand andoptimise the customer journey, and to cast a wide net for Voice ofthe Customer feedback to support that the process.

As you work to make the journey seamless and consistent you alsomust maintain flexibility to support customers’ individual journeys, inall their unique contexts. That might mean letting go of comfortablelegacy process that may hinder you in supporting new journey paths.

Be open, be nimble and remember that the journey isconstantly evolving.


Feature

16 APRIL 2015

The Employee Engagement Summit has been launched to meet the growingdemand by businesses to focus on implementing effective employee

engagement strategies and operations as a number one business priority.

Recent surveys have shown that Employee Engagement is now the number onefocus and challenge for CEO's having overtaken Customer Service.

The Employee Engagement Summit is organised by the Engage team whoorganise the Employee and Customer Engagement Forum, now in its fourth

year and the highly regarded Customer Engagement Summit.

For more information contact Nick Rust on:[email protected] T: 01932 506 301www.engageemployee.com

REGISTER

The1stEmployee

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1 8

So, says Gerhard Heide, Global Market StrategyDirector at Pitney Bowes, it’s only natural thatcontact centres are now vital to customerengagement. They’re a crucial tool to betterunderstand clients’ personal needs and meettheir expectations, to deliver the solutions theywant, and perhaps get something in return, likea sense of customer trust and loyalty.

Keeping up with the‘empowered customer’Achieving all this is a tall order to be sure, butcontact centres everywhere are facingcustomers that are empowered like neverbefore. Today’s “always on” consumers expectinstant, seamless access to information acrossall channels and on whatever platform suitsthem at any given moment. When they actuallydo decide to contact a company agent - byphone, email, chat, Tweet, or text - it’s likelybecause they can go no further on their ownand require personalised results and expertisefrom people who are moving as fast as they are.

All of which means contact centres are in needof the most accurate, relevant and timelyinformation from across the whole organisationfor each customer. In fact just as this digitalrevolution is emboldening customers, it’s alsoenabling smart companies to start transformingtheir contact centres with technology, too.

“They’re the people that customers call when it’ssomething that’s not simple,” says Heide. “Weneed to get away from the thinking that contactcentre people aren’t very qualified or areoutsourced and start considering the long term.You have to increasingly turn to accomplishedcommunicators and foster a culture of engagingwith your customers. But you also have to give

them the right tools - to have everything thecustomer has, in real time.”

Solutions for better data sharingand staff empowermentAmong those tools: technology that can bettershare and analyse customer data in order to putthose accessing it on equal footing with clientson any number of platforms. These softwaresystems, known as customer engagementplatforms, integrate information from across theentire business to deliver a full picture of anygiven customer’s relationship with a companyon a single screen - where contact centreagents can see the context and content of thedata and enable them to respond dynamically,on whatever platform is necessary, as quicklyas possible.

Heide illustrates how an omni-channel solutionworked with one British utility client. Whencallers would phone with questions about aconfusing monthly bill, an agent’s system wasnewly equipped to call up the actual documentof the statement on the screen. It showed that acolourful graphic printed on the bill was actuallyobscuring the customer’s account information.Where once an agent’s computer screen wouldhave offered just the basic account details andleft them blind to what the customer was seeing,Heide says enhanced links to digital files fromaround the company in this case literally put theagent and consumer on the same page.

These systems touch on several elements thatexperts point to as key to successful customerengagement. To start, it can mean more first-callresolutions of customer issues, which drivesimproved customer satisfaction. In addition, itcan facilitate more specifically tailored offers and

Contact centres are usually the first responders for your customers- the most likely to hear when something’s not right, the onesexpected to quickly solve problems, all with a personal, reassuringresponse that instils customer confidence in your company

�

WHY CONTACT CENTRES ARE THENEW ENGAGEMENT CENTRES



an opportunity to deal with customers based ontheir individual needs, in what can be a make-or-break environment for a company.

Fewer staff defections, morecustomer lifetime valueResearch shows it’s making a difference on thebottom line, too. According to a March 2014survey from the Aberdeen Group, companieswith omni-channel customer experiencemanagement systems (CEM) reported a 7.1percent increase in annual customer retentionrates, while comparable firms that did notshowed an erosion of 4.9 percent within theircustomer bases. Further, omni-channel CEMusers showed a 4 percent annual increase in thelifetime value of these customers, compared to a23.3 percent decline in client value across otherorganisations.

An omni-channel platform may also help solveanother costly problem: how to keep contactcentre employees happier and more likely tostay on board. Industry studies reflect thenotorious churn rate for this speciality: A 2013Deloitte survey showed a 31 percent annualattrition rate among call-centre operations withmore than 500 agents, and between 10 and 50percent among those with 100 to 500 agents.

By empowering employees with tools that canhelp them succeed - such as automatedrecommendations to draw better results, easieraccess to comprehensive customer data, and

technology that makes interactions moreproductive and pleasant - it can lessenfrustrations for them as well as for customers.This also reduces the significant costsassociated with recruiting, hiring, and trainingnew staff. One industry estimate found thebenefits to be mutual: Along with a 5 to 20percent hike in revenue from the new salesopportunities afforded by the omni-channeltechnologies, there was also a 2.5 to 10 percentreduction in employee turnover within thosesame companies.

Heide has been listening in on calls and seeingomni-channel solutions in action at contactcentres in recent weeks and says he has beenimpressed by the changes he’s witnessing.

“Almost every call was complicated. Nothingwas easy. Some of the callers wherethreatening, talking of going to the press.Nothing was as simple as 1-2-3, fill in a form -it’s a lot of things to go through,” he said.“Everyone was quite good. But in the pastthey would usually finish their calls with ‘Whatelse can I help you with?’ - which is fine.”says Heide.

“But it was lovely that now they were offeringspecific help for other services that are relevantto that particular customer, like would they liketo set up electronic payment plans, too? Ifyou’re a customer on such a call, where you feelthe organisation really understands you and yourneeds, I think you have a better experience.”

Gerhard Heide has nearly 20 years of experience advising many of the major B2C companiesacross Europe and the US on a wide range of analytical methods and service deliverytechnologies. He has delivered significant customer-centric solutions across many majorindustry sectors, including finance, communications, utility, retail and the public sector. Hiscurrent focus is on CRM, business insight and social media. Heide has also worked instatistics and queuing theory in collaboration with scientists at CERN and a number ofleading universities. He holds an MSc and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of EastAnglia. View the recording of a recent Engage Customer and Pitney Bowes webinarpresented by Heide “4 Next-Level Customer Engagement Strategies to Boost ContactCentre Efficiency.” www.engagecustomer.com

Gerhard Heide, Global Market Strategy Director, Pitney Bowes

E X P E R T O P I N I O N

expert opinion

www.pitneybowes.com

It’s a long time now since customer loyalty wasjust about offering good prices and deliveringhigh quality products. In a crowded marketplace populated by the most informed anddiscerning customers that businesses haveever had to deal with, price and conveniencesimply won’t cut the mustard.

Consumers are not only prepared to search fora discount, a better solution or an enhancedservice but they are also prepared to walkaway which puts even greater pressure onbusinesses to deliver something ‘extra’ toincrease brand loyalty.

The desire to attract customers, make themloyal and turn them into your advocates, and tomotivate less-committed customers to engage

more positively with the brand, means that theneed for a great customer experience is nowvital. To understand the experiences you’recurrently providing customers, you’ll need tobuild in a clear Voice of the Customerprogramme, to capture the views of customersand pinpoint the areas to focus on.

What’s the recipe for customer experience (CX)success? Well, there are some key ingredientsthat you need to lay your hands on…

1.A handful of stakeholders from aroundthe businessYou can’t build a CX programme in a vacuum.It’s vital that you include people from acrossyour company, rather than only those peoplewho are involved purely in customer experience �

Karine Del Moro has her own tasty recipe for future successwhen it comes down to the customer experience and here shelists eight winning ingredients in true Master Chef fashion


feature

or Voice of the Customer. Involving employees from the front line,with their insight into day-to-day customer experiences, marketingteams who understand what you’re trying to convey through thoseexperiences, and people from supporting functions, such asfinance or logistics who bring a knowledge of the processes thatimpact customers positively or negatively.

2.A large pinch of executive buy-inWithout support from the top of your company, your programme isdestined to remain a niche project. Executive buy-in meansstakeholders take the programme more seriously, that targets mustbe met, and most critically, that budget is assigned. You’ll need totalk numbers - e.g. ROI models - in order to capture your executiveteam’s attention and really lay the foundations. It may be dauntingto set yourself solid financial goals, but it’s what you need to do tosecure the future of your programme.

3.A selection of business goalsTo ensure your programme remains relevant and, more importantly,measureable, focus on the goals that are core to your business.The goals of your CX programme must be inextricably tied to thewider business goals in order to deliver real value to the company.By including a few simple variables such as turnover and churnrate, you can quickly start modelling the impact your programmewill have on the bottom line.

4.3-5 clear CX objectives It is imperative that you have clear and measureable goals for yourprogramme. “Happier customers” is not enough and there is moreto ROI than increased revenue. Ensure you support theseobjectives with metrics that really do reflect how your companyoperates. For example, Net Promoter Score (NPS) which candemonstrate a clear causal link between customer loyalty,customer acquisition and the bottom line. Or Customer EffortScore which is particularly suited to the call centre environment orbusiness areas dealing with problem resolution. Whichever metricsyou use, they must give you the ability to prove the success of yourprogramme.

5.1 customer journey mapThis may sound like a list of customer touchpoints, but in fact it’smuch more than that. Customer journey mapping must focus on

what your customers are trying to achieve at every stage of theirrelationship with you, and how they go about doing so. Your mapshould create a framework that encompasses the entire company,how each area impacts the customer and feeds into your Voice ofthe Customer programme to ensure you’re able to capturefeedback at the right moments.

A key purpose of the map is the ability it gives you to showeveryone in the company where they sit in relation to the customerand how their role impacts the customer. For those on the frontline, it’s easy, but for the team members who may considerthemselves far removed from the customer, it’s powerful to seehow their action can make a difference.

6.1 Voice of the Customer solutionMake sure you have the technology you need to manage yourprogramme. All the exec buy-in and support in the world won’thelp if people can’t access the information they need, customerfeedback gets lost or you end up alienating customers with poorfeedback experiences. Bear in mind that customers who choose toshare their experiences with you must be treated carefully so youneed to be able to follow up with them – individually or en masse –where appropriate. Make sure you can support whichever channelthey use to contact you – web, telephone, social media, mobile –and create alerts to flag immediate issues so the right team canget on the case straight away. And remember that information canindeed be power if your key stakeholders have the ability tomonitor the impact of your programme through a clear, customisedCX dashboard.

7.A large dollop of enthusiasmThis may not sound like it’s important, but it makes a hugedifference. While Customer Experience and Voice of the Customerare becoming well-established disciplines which generate clearROI, there is sometimes a sense of “herding cats” about getting allthe pieces you need aligned and all the stakeholders properlyinvolved. Use your stakeholders as CX advocates who can help toget buy-in from the whole business.

And what to do with these ingredients? Treat carefully, mix well andbe sure to share the final – delicious – results with your customersand employees!

Karine Del Moro is VPMarketing, Confirmit

www.confirmit.com

“In a crowded market place populated bythe most informed and discerning

customers that businesses have ever hadto deal with, price and convenience

simply won’t cut the mustard”


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Feature


In an exclusive interview with Engage Customer, Laura Lee, UK customer experiencedirector at global brewing giant Molson Coors talks about its ambition to be ‘first choice forour customers’First off Laura tell us a bit about your background and howyou came to the role of UK customer experience directorat Molson.

I’ve worked in a number of sales and marketing roles,predominantly in the drinks business, over the last 15 years. I’vebeen with Molson Coors for just over seven years and moved intomy current role just over 18 months ago. Previously I ran theSouthern based sales teams so I’ve seen first-hand the actions wetake that can both delight and frustrate our customers so I’mrelishing the opportunity to address the areas I know need fixing!

My role keeps me close to customers and allows me to work rightacross our business – with over 70,000 Carling stockistsnationwide I get to support customers across a number of differentchannels ranging from independent pubs, clubs, hotels and stadiathrough to large managed pub chains, major events and festivals,the multiple grocers and thousands of independent retail outlets.The number of touch-points each customer group has with us canvary significantly but the need to create consistency in our serviceis a constant theme.

What have Molson Coors been doing recently to add valueto the customer experience?

We’ve been working on customer experience since 2012 and I liketo think we’re at the forefront when it comes to our competitor set.Our ambition as a business is to be ‘First Choice for ourCustomers’ so everything we do is centred around this. We joinedthe Institute of Customer Service last year as a Council member,the first brewer to do so, to really demonstrate our commitment toservice – both to customers and importantly to our employees –and we’re actively working towards Servicemark accreditation.

We’ve focused on getting the basics right every time for ourcustomers, and you can only do that effectively if you actively listenand seek to understand what they really want from you. We havecomprehensive insight programmes across the business – usingphone interviews, email surveys and in the moment SMS surveys -and speak to around 4,000 customers per year. That insight informsall of our continuous improvement plans and it also means that whenit comes to change, we're not working on our hunches anymore.

We’ve also focused on playing back to customers the feedbackthey’ve given us as we’re big believers in telling them how weintend acting on their suggestions. Not enough organisations do itbut for me as a consumer, if you ask me what I think, I want toknow that’ve you’ve heard me – there’s nothing worse than beingconsulted and then ignored. It’s important to me that ourcustomers really feel they’re helping to shape our progress. It’s clear to us that what matters most to our customers is notwhistles and bells – it’s as simple as beer being delivered on time,their order arriving in full and that they feel supported by a friendlyand efficient team. So we’ve taken our service back to thefundamentals and are delivering against the promise of aconsistent and efficient service offer. Our customers all run busybusinesses and we need to make things as effortless as possiblefor them.

We use a number of measures to help us track progress. NetPromoter Scores (NPS), which we’ve doubled in 24 months, arefirmly embedded in our business, but I am conscious ofcomplimenting NPS with both Customer Satisfaction andimportantly Customer Effort scores – for me the danger of NPSalone is ‘heroes’ save the day and customers just recall the end

MOLSON COORS RAISING AGLASS TO ALL CUSTOMERS

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Feature


result – NPS can mask any pain the customer experiences alongthe way and it’s that pain that I need to resolve.

Tell us about your First Choice for Customers initiative andhow that works – we understand it is an organisation wideinitiative with all departments involved.

First Choice for Customers is the heartbeat of our business sowe’ve worked to repurpose our customer agenda through a clearoperating framework and with a number of engagement activities,particularly for those in non-customer facing roles recognising itcan be hard for these teams to see what part they play insupporting the customer.

With the introduction of NVQs in Customer Service and clearcareer paths for our service teams we’re helping our recruitment,retention and improving overall capability. By putting ourselves upfor recognition in areas such as the Top 50 Companies forCustomer Service, Top Welsh Contact Centres and CustomerExperience Awards we’re creating a real sense of pride internally inthe service we offer, which has boosted morale and engagementno end!

Your initiative to have cardboard cut-outs of key customersat your meetings sounds fun and engaging at the same time– tell us more.

It can be too easy to sit in a meeting and make decisions thatimpact customers without putting yourself in their shoes andappreciating how it might land. We’ve created 12 distinctcharacters that represent our customer base, all based on realcustomers, and we’re siting them around our business, in meetingrooms and contact centres. The intent is to remind teams toinclude the views of our customers in their discussions in a fun andengaging way. Each character’s story will play out as thecustomer’s journey with us progresses – so they may buy more, orless, they may complain and we may well lose their business – butour employees will start to see how all of our actions haveconsequences. I like to think of it as a soap opera unfurling acrossthe business!

Molson is a B2B organisation yet many of your initiativeshave a typically B2C flavour about them – what is your takeon this? Are the lines between B2B and B2C being blurredas customer expectations change?

Absolutely. Our customers are already customers of great serviceproviders – be they banks, travel firms or high street retailers andthere can be a tendency for B2Bs to lag behind B2Cs when itcomes to customers. B2B organisations all need to look to thebest B2C organisations out there – the principles of what theydeliver to consumers is not so different to what we do – they needto have well-trained and experienced customer teams, they receivecalls and orders, make deliveries and take payments – and so dowe. We’re not that different in our purpose.

To create sustainable service advantage I’m adamant that we setthe bar high for ourselves – it’s not about being just a little bit betterthan your nearest competitor. For me there’s no stretch or ambitionin that!

Tell us more about your scheme to get the leadership teamback on the front line – what impact has that had?

The idea is to get everyone, from the Chief Executive to our HRdirector, closer to front line roles so that they can see and hearfirst-hand what our customers want from us. The experience alsohelps them understand the pressures on our teams and see whenour systems and processes stop us being able to deliver theservice we want to give.

Several of our Directors have spent time with our consumer helpline,logistics teams, credit controllers and in our contact centre – takingcalls, not just observing. Feedback from our teams so far has beengreat and we now have a long list of actions to work on and aqueue of Senior Managers also wanting to give it a go.

I understand as part of your support of National CustomerService week you are taking three top ideas from Molsonpeople on board to improve customer service even further –could you tell us a bit about these.

Through the ICS we supported National Customer Service Weekand built it into a big focus on customer service right throughOctober. Our belief is that every team or individual in our businessis sat on a gem of an idea that would make us easier for ourcustomers to do business with, so we encouraged them all toshare those ideas with us. Our Directors convened a ‘DragonsDen’ to choose three ideas to progress, with those who suggestedthem now actively involved in helping make them happen which isgreat for their personal development. The three big ideas were:

1. The introduction of a licensee recognition programme – focused on making customers feel proud to sell good quality beer to their consumers

2. Better use of customer communications – we’ve got an SMS project about to go live and we hope that this will increase our connections with our customers and allow them to interact with us as and when they want

3. Corporate news – our customers tell us that they want to feel more connected to our business by understanding our direction and priorities.

Finally Laura what is your view on the links betweenemployee and customer engagement and how is this drivingyour continuous customer service improvement programme?

For me you can have the best service proposition out there but ifyour people don't believe it and feel part of it, it’s never going todeliver for your customers. Great customer experience is all aboutthe quality and engagement of your people, get that right andyou’re onto a winner!

Visit us at the Customer Engagement Summit

28th November, STAND 14Victoria Park Plaza, London

www.nice.comT: 0845 200 1000E: [email protected]

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28th Noisit us at the Customer Engagement SummitV

ictoria Park Plaza, London

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As the customer experience moves up the pecking order of board level priorities thecontact centre is well positioned to fulfil a central role in an organisation’s customerengagement strategies says Dave Paulding

In today’s world of multi-channel contact centres, where thecustomer is undoubtedly king, the implementation of a strongservice strategy has never been more important. The contactcentre often becomes the one place that forms, shapes andchanges customer perceptions of the organisation and, as a result,has a significant impact on the customer experience.

In a world where product and price differentiation are playing alesser role, it is the customer experience that is becoming theshining star of competitive advantage and can ultimately determinean organisation’s success or failure.

Ensuring that this strategy covers all aspects of the customerexperience and meets the demands of savvy consumers, however,can be quite a challenging task for contact centre operators andorganisations as there is a great deal to consider, especially in amulti-channel environment.

So what exactly should be included in a customer service strategy?

The customer experienceCustomers are looking for convenience and ease of use. Theywant to make contact with an organisation in the way that suitsthem – be it email, telephone, web chat or social media, and theywant their query or complaint solved as quickly as possible.

In recent research conducted by Censuswide it was found that thepreferred method of contact was email (54 per cent) followed bytelephone (37 per cent). A sample of 2000 UK consumers wassurveyed and it was further found that 79 per cent of thosesurveyed had to contact between two and five people before theircomplaint was resolved. It was also found that the longest timespent in a queue was more than 20 minutes and was experiencedby 42 per cent of respondents. These findings underscore theimportance of first time resolution and minimised waiting times.

The multi-channel platformWhile telephone and email are still proving to be the dominantcommunication methods, web chat, online messaging and social �


feature

media are growing in popularity. As a result, it is crucial that thecontact centre provides the customer with these choices.Customers expect to be able to use a variety of methods and ifone or more of them isn’t available, that affects the wholeexperience before it has even begun.

From an agent perspective, the contact centre technology shouldensure that these channels are effortlessly blended so that they arepresented with an overall view of the customer’s recentinteractions, regardless of the channel selected. This also ensuresthat the customer isn’t required to repeat the same details timeand time again, which is something that adds an element offrustration to any interaction.

ConsistencyThe key to delivering a great customer service experience is doingit consistently. This is also one of the major challenges that anyorganisation faces due to changes in staff, technology andcustomer demands. When it comes to a multi-channel platform,customers also expect symmetry. If a customer calls in to anenergy provider, for example, to get an account balance, theanswer received should be exactly the same as if the customerhad emailed the question, or even logged onto the website tocheck the balance himself.

More so, responses must be personalised, relevant and in context.This is especially true for responding to customers via social mediachannels. The customer wants to be recognised and treatedempathetically, something that social media channels can also helpwith as there is the expectation of receiving a more personalisedapproach due to the nature of these networks.

Levels of engagementFrom self-service options such as IVR menu or logging in to acorporate website, to speaking to an agent on the other end of anemail, web chat or telephone, the customer experience must alsobe seamless. The technology should reflect options that thecustomer is looking for; for example IVR menus should offerrelevant options that can help resolve a customer query and notmerely be used to reduce operational costs.

Beyond that, if one channel doesn’t yield a resolution, thecustomer should be effortlessly transferred to the next mode ofhelp where an agent has the customer’s details and knows what isrequired of the interaction.

In a nutshellDeveloping a great customer service strategy for the contactcentre that is relevant and consistent hinges on two factors:Understanding the customer’s reaction during and after eachinteraction and having the capacity to offer the channels thatdifferent customers are using to carry out any number ofengagements.

There is no doubt that it is the customer experience that is key tosuccess, and it is down to the customer service strategy that issupported by the right technology to ensure it is consistently goodacross channels.

“In a world where product and price

differentiation are playing a lesser role, it is

the customer experience that is becoming

the shining star of competitive advantage

and can ultimately determine an

organisation’s success or failure”

Dave Paulding, regional salesdirector UK, Middle East, atInteractive Intelligence

@davepauld

www.inin.com


How many meetings have you sat through where participants passionately advocate a “social media strategy” or “theneed to effect a ‘digital transformation’? And how many times have you experienced first-hand, businesses making‘knee jerk reactions through misplaced investments in digital interaction tools, without really thinking about whatcustomers need and want from them? Megan Neale reports

For me digital customer engagement is a science. Yes, a SCIENCE. I’mnot talking about the much documented links between behaviouralscience and customer experience (focusing on engagement, languageused, empathy etc.) Rather, I’m interested in unravelling consumerbehaviour when provided access to a wide variety of contact channelsand sources of information – and how those behaviours inadvertentlyimpact your digital customer management strategies.

Just implementing web-chat, self-service, or mobile app solutions isnot a guarantee that you’ve made things easier or simpler for thecustomer. Adding more channels to increase choice without a clearunderstanding of why customers choose a particular channel is acommon service pitfall. A big bug bear of mine is the number of mobileapps out there designed to help the customer help themselves butsimply don’t support effective service. Try it – after going through thepain of logging, downloading and registering the app, click the “contactus” button. I will bet you are routed out of the app and back to thegeneral website (probably not mobile optimised), making you start theprocess all over again. What is the benefit of such a service based onpoor, disjointed thinking that creates nothing but significant costs andunnecessary volumes.

So then, how do you go about designing am effective Digital CustomerEngagement solution? I’d say, right from the start, using the following 3steps as guidance:

STEP 1 – Decide the level of service youwish to provide and future proof it.

This will be invariably linked to your customer profile, their expectationsfrom your business, your brand image etc. There are 4 key categoriesto keep in mind and my diagram explains it better:• Pre-emptive service• Self Service• Assisted Service• Traditional customer service

STEP 2: Get under the skin of your customers’ digital behaviour patterns.

A lot of this is common sense, as we all behave in reasonably similarways. The cleverness comes from applying those typical behaviourpatterns to your customer engagement model - essentially making yourdigital customer strategy centred around customer behaviour ratherthan on assumptions which force use of specific channels.The tricky part here is that consumer behaviours are not linear orconsistent. Almost every contact scenario presents a different set ofcriteria which influence how consumers choose to communicate with abrand, at that point in time. And not all those criteria are within therealm of control of the organisation. I have devised a methodology toassist our understanding of those controllable and uncontrollablecontact scenarios.

Firstly, identify the trigger. All customer contact starts with a trigger ofsome sort, 3 key ones being :

• Trigger initiated by the business ( eg. marketing, promotion, change in service terms and conditions)

• Trigger initiated by the business or the customer (eg. a break-down in the service or product due to failure or user error)

• Trigger initiated by the customer (eg. change of mind or circumstances e.g. moving home, bank etc)

Once the trigger for service is defined, understand the key influencerswhich drive a consumer's decision about which channel they willchoose to contact you on. This step in the process helps youunderstand the thought process your customers go through to decidehow to act when they need to interact with your business.

DIGITAL CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT– THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE STRATEGY


�

• Channel the trigger is received on – if the trigger is initiated by the organisation then this will influence in part the channel the customer uses to act. This is not a given though and the next 7 criteria are important to consider.

• Nature of query – The inherent nature of query influences the way the customer chooses to contact the company. These could include the following considerations:- Is it sensitive to me personally or someone else? E.g. health

related (I require the privacy afforded by the contact channel to discuss this with the company)

- Is it personal? (information that I would like protected)- Is it a general query? (I would happily discuss this in an open

environment)

• Location - The location of the customer at the time of the trigger is a significant influencing factor in determining the communication channel. Is the customer alone? With friends or business associates? Or in a public place? At home? At work? In a car? The organisation has limited control of the location of the customer but should consider this in light of the likely nature of the query.

• Urgency – The time sensitivity of the query has a significant impact on how a customer behaves. If an issue needs to be dealt with immediately, the customer will choose the route they perceive to have the quickest resolution time. The business has absolute control over this, as it should be fully aware of the query types that require urgent attention and should promote the best channel for the customer to use.

• Device Access – The customer’s course of action will also be determined by the device access they have available at the location (landline phone, smartphone, PC/tablet/laptop or even Smart TV)

• Channels Available – The customer’s course of action will also be determined by the channels made available to them by the organisation and how well accessible they are.

• Past Experience – Businesses should not underestimate the impact of past experience with a channel and its influence on future behaviour. A poor web chat experience can put a customer off web chat for a long time. Whilst you cannot control what other companies do, it is imperative that you don’t disincentives customersfrom using your preferred channels due to poor execution

• Personal Preference – And lastly, customers quite simply will choose to act based on what they like to do. It’s that simple. Whilst you can’t necessarily influence personal preference you can educate customers on alternatives methods of contact which in time may change personal preferences.

I hope you see from this that almost every customer contact situation andscenario could be different and the accessibility of new information sourcesand channels only increases the complexity. That leads us to Step 3.

Step 3: Control the controllable

Don’t worry about the aspects you will never control, but focus on theareas you can influence. Analyse those controllable aspects of thecustomer decision making process and start to build your digitalstrategy around those. Consequently you are designing solutions borneout of an understanding of customer behaviour and circumstances,offering a range of solutions which match those behaviours.

To sum up, the aim of any customer engagement strategy is toaddress the reasons why, when and how customers choose to contactyou. This should be no different when considering a digital engagementstrategy. The introduction of digital into the channel mix has simplymeant that customers have more avenues to reach you. Thesignificance of understanding what drives usage of these contactavenues is critical when designing your engagement tools.

Finally, some companies view digital and traditional customer servicetouch points as two disparate sets. It is important that these two areinterlinked - for the sake of delivering a seamless, multi-channel serviceand for facilitating the creation of a ‘single view of the service’ for theagent. To ignore this, would mean rendering useless all the efforts tounderstand and influence customer behaviour in this increasinglydigital age.


C O M M E R C I A L F E A T U R E

Megan Neale is Executive Director for Transformation andOperations at HGS Europe

www.teamhgs.com

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Presentations

review

DOWNLOADPRESENTATIONS

CustomerEngagement inTelcos/UtilitiesForum23 OCTOBER, 2014

Keynote: Preparing the Plan – Important Considerations for your Customer Management in 2015 and BeyondMike Havard, Director, Ember Services

Drawing on experience and perspectives from Ember’sstrategy and operational programmes across energy, waterand telecoms, as well as wider industry references, Mikewill aim to inform your planning and thinking for howcustomer management will need to evolve for organisationsto stay relevant and competitive. From key trends in digital

customer engagement through to the practical aspects of operationalperformance and MI, the session will provide guidance for yourinvestment and planning priorities over the next few years. This willinclude: • Understanding the ‘value of value’ and how this should be thekey focus • The danger of dogmatism in data and digital planning •Assessing the relevance of regulation • The rise of transformativeoutsourcing, the myths and the principles for success.

2014 Trends in Utilities & Telecoms Customer ExperienceStephen Harwood, Client Services Director, NunwoodMaria Slaymaker, Client Services Director, Nunwood

Since 2010, Nunwood's Customer Experience ExcellenceCentre has studied over 800 of the world's leadingcustomer facing brands across a multitude of industries.This October, the fifth annual review of the UK market isreleased, providing one of the most comprehensive cross-sector evaluations of best practice. Exclusively for the UKtelecommunications and utilities sectors, this paper revealsthe key characteristics that determine success - The SixPillars of Customer Excellence. These pillars provide theuniversal principles that great brands weave into every partof their experience. With similarities in operating models,both the telecommunications and utilities sectors face a

number of common challenges in customer experience. Adoptingexternal best practice and challenging industry norms is essential for anybrand genuinely seeking to differentiate on the customer.

Making Mobile Better for CustomersDanny Dixon, Director of Customer Strategy, Three

Three’s Director of Customer Strategy, Danny Dixon, will setout how the mobile operator is putting the customer at theheart of its business and how this influences everythingfrom Three’s network strategy to its approach to pricing andcustomer care.

How Did They do That?Sue Forgie, Territory Manager, Interactive Intelligence

Customer delight, reducing Customer Complaints, unhappy customerbroadcasts going viral through social media… are all hot topics in theTelco and Utility industry. If we keep doing the same thing over and overagain can we really expect a different result? Sue Forgie takes a freshapproach and discusses some exciting ideas that are practical, realistic

and simple to adopt. One organisation has done that andemployee productivity has increased by 25%, another hasdecreased processing time by 83% - improving customersatisfaction – with no increase in headcount.

Relationships – Can We Talk?Graham Wright, Account Executive, Aspect

A look at the impact of communication on customerexperience, the evolution of customer conversation and thecreation of meaningful customer relationships. A step onthe journey from Service Provider to Lifestyle Partner.

Orchestrating the Social Customer ExperienceBen Kay, Former Customer Service Director, EE

Over the last few years many organisations have taken(often tentative) steps into the world of Social Media (and allthe challenges it brings). It is often the case that a singledepartment takes up ‘ownership’ of social, but it lifts the lidon the organisations customer experience. It’s time to startthinking about how we expose more of the organisation to

social and reap the benefits it can bring. In this session Ben will sharehis vision for the joined up social customer experience, as well as somepractical examples and tips from his time at EE.

Telco Initiatives to Improve their Customers’ ExperienceClare McCarthy, Practice Leader, Telco IT, Ovum

Telcos need to improve the quality of their service deliveryand service support. Competitive advantage is transient;products and services are easily copied, and globalizationand the Internet have made it easier than ever for newentrants to emerge and disrupt old business models.Meanwhile customer behaviors and expectations have been

shaped by the ubiquity of smartphones and social networks, givingindividuals a louder voice that they are not afraid to exercise, as well asgreater reach and choice. Telcos are therefore reviewing theiroperational and business support systems, and their businessprocesses in an effort to improve their product design, development anddelivery, as well as the way they handle faults and failures, and deal withtheir customers on a daily basis.

Partner-led Transformation at npowerEd Tann, Managing Director, Semita LtdRob Sawle, Partner Development Manager, npower

Rob and Ed will talk through the ongoingtransformation work at npower where a multi-partner model has been put in place to driveradical performance improvement.

The Telco and Utility sectors are both facing a number ofchallenges when it comes to engaging customers acrosschannels, with both sectors consistently scoring low acrossa raft of respected customer satisfaction surveys.



The Internet of Things (IoT) is still a fledgling concept says Dave Ogden, but it is one thatcould make all previous customer service initiatives redundant worldwide

To make sure that this doesn’t happen, the question that contactcentres need to ask themselves is, “how do we embrace theInternet of Things in order to make sure we are providingcustomers with a complete and satisfactory customerexperience?”

Although some vertical markets, such as utilities, media andautomotive, have had a head start in IoT – that is, the mass ofindividual objects or devices connected via the internet – we are

just at the beginning of its role in our everyday lives. AnalystGartner indicates that the IoT (excluding PCs, tablets andsmartphones) will grow to 26 billion installed units globally by 2020.

Since the overarching premise behind IoT is that everyday objects,from refrigerators to watches, have network connectivity, enablingindividuals and organisations to send and receive data through avariety of platforms. This has an impact on many industries, andnone more so than in customer service.

GET READY FOR THE INTERNETOF THINGS WITH ANOMNICHANNEL STRATEGY

�

Essentially, building the

optimum omnichannel

experience within your

customer service

department has to start by

putting the customer at the

heart of the operation, and

then build the technology

around this. For many years, it

was entirely the opposite

feature

feature

A different breedToday’s consumer is a different breed and now demands a lotmore when it comes to how they interact with the companies thatthey buy from. New technologies and the busy lifestyles peoplenow lead mean that they expect a satisfactory service that quicklyand effectively resolves their query – whenever and wherever theyare. All of this boils down to the changing role of the customerservice department within the business. There are four areas ofcustomer expectation that are placing pressure on the contactcentre; they now expect you to:

• Know them: Receive a personalised customer experience where your contact centre knows who they are, their details, and what their previous issues have been in the past

• Show them you know them: Receive targeted, timely notifications to show that you are aware of their history with your business and can demonstrate that you’re aware of their previous interactions and how they went

• Enable them: Be able to interact with your business over a variety of platforms, whenever and wherever they is

• Value them: Make sure that they are receiving the bestservice possible

These demands that are now facing the industry must be met bycontact centres, because if your business cannot providecustomers with what they need, they will simply move on toanother provider who can.

The rise of the IoT has only driven a greater need for omnichannelcustomer strategies, a concept that began in the retail industry, butis increasingly being regarded as the way that customer service isgoing in all vertical sectors.

Same puzzle – different piecesWhen we compare the capabilities of an omnichannel strategy andthe IoT, we can see that both of these are different pieces of thesame puzzle. As technologies continue to grow, customers aregoing to expect a more simplistic and unified experience whendealing with customer service, and the unified simplicity of anomnichannel strategy can provide this for them, meaningcustomers are kept happy through receiving an optimum andentirely satisfactory service, while businesses are able to run moreefficiently and retain loyal customers.

An omnichannel strategy is entirely focused on delivering quick andsimple solutions to customer queries, without them having to

disrupt their day in order to get them. If a customer is away fromhome and they find that they have an issue, they can simply Tweet,text, call, or go online in order to contact the provider to discussthis with them – or even better, solve it for themselves withoutengaging a customer service agent.

Then, if they want to continue the conversation later and on adifferent platform, or even with a human expert in the contactcentre, they can do this without having to start from scratchbecause all the data and information is kept from the previousinteraction.

However, there are a few questions that are raised. How do youbest implement an omnichannel strategy so that it benefits bothyour business and the customer? Is it a huge technologyinvestment? Will it replace the need for larger agent teams? Will Ineed to re-train my agents to fill a new kind of role?

Essentially, building the optimum omnichannel experience withinyour customer service department has to start by putting thecustomer at the heart of the operation, and then build thetechnology around this. For many years, it was entirely theopposite, but customers are now fighting back. For instance, abusiness may have the best technology available and is able toimplement an omnichannel system that is easily accessible to itscustomers. However, if agents are not capable of interacting withcustomers and unable to offer them the service they need,customers will simply jump ship to another provider who can.

The IoT is here to stay, and as consumer technologies continue todevelop, it is going to become a more relevant and influentialconcept. However this is not something that the customer serviceindustry needs to fear, in fact it is something that should bewelcomed with open arms.

It is within a contact centre’s capability to harness the idea of theIoT to offer its customers a truly connected experience, and anomnichannel strategy that provides customer with a connectedexperience while also providing them with the care and attentionthat they need will do just that.

It is important that contact centres realise that omnichannel is notjust beneficial to customers, it will help also help businesses thriveboth efficiently and financially, it is a win-win situation and thosewho don’t embrace it run the risk of being left behind by theircompetitors, so be prepared because the future is here.

“The IoT is here to stay, and as consumer

technologies continue to develop, it is

going to become a more relevant and

influential concept. However this is not

something that the customer service

industry needs to fear, in fact it is

something that should be welcomed with

open arms”

Dave Ogden is Contact Centreand Customer ExperienceConsultant, Aspect Software

www.aspect.com


www.engagecustomer.com

For more information please contact: Nick [email protected]: 01932 506301M: 07968 416007

Engage now at:

www.engagecustomer.com@engagecustomer

16 APRIL 2015

Evolution of Voiceof the CustomerDirectorsForum24 FEBRUARY 2015LONDON

Employee Engagement Summit - 16th April 2015, London

Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, London

Evolution of Voice of theCustomer Directors Forum- 24th February 2015, London

Blue Fin Conference Venue, Blue Fin Building,110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU

Eventsfor 2015

26th MarchCustomer Engagementin the Retail SectorDirectors Forum

21st MayCustomer Engagement inFinancial ServicesDirectors Forum

25th JuneSocial Customer EngagementDirectors Forum

16th JulyBig Data and AnalyticsDirectors Forum

24th SeptemberCustomer EngagementTransformation DirectorsForum

22nd OctoberDigital CustomerDirectors Forum

25-26 NovemberCustomer EngagementSummit

TBCOutsourcing CustomerServices Summit

ec magazine nov 2014

Documents

s e d o r o n p r e

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o u d b

research identies

s esteve hurst

consumer research

delivergreat service

cloud solution