cen dec 2011 issue

customerengagement

i s s u e s i x D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 1

The official magazine of theCustomer Engagement Club

www.customerengagementclub.com

2012 CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT SUMMIT AND AWARDS NOVEMBER 26/27 2012, LONDON

DIRECTORSF O R U M SAUTUMN 2011R E P O R T S

directors forumEMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT &CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

SponsorHost Partner

FREE TO ATTEND FOR SENIOR CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

How to forge the link between employeeand customer engagement, performanceand profitability in turbulent times

Employee Engagement& Customer Engagement8th December 2011, London

Speakers include:David MacLeod, Author of the Macleod Report,'Engaging for Success'

Prof Katie Truss, Employee Engagement Expert,Professor of Management at University of Kent

Peter Sinden, Director, LV= (case study)

Gary Tomlinson HR Director, Kia Motors (case study)

Angela Baron - Head of HR Practice Development, CIPD

Peter Flade, Senior Managing Partner, Gallup Consulting

Francis Goss, Head of Commercial Operations, Reward

Time: 9:30am – 5:00pm

Venue: Gallup Consulting, The Adelphi,1-11 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6HS

For more information contact Chris Wood: [email protected] +44 (0) 1932 341828 or visit our website:www.customerengagementclub.com www.jotform.com/form/12021522935

customerengagement

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

To join the Club (free membership) and receive weekly Alerts, DigitalMagazines and Invitations to the Directors Forums go towww.customerengagementclub.com

Editorial Director: Steve Hurst [email protected] Sales & Marketing Director: Chris Wood [email protected]: +44 (0) 1932 341828Customer Engagement ©ICT Communications Ltd

The official magazine of theCustomer Engagement Club

www.customerengagementclub.com

I S S U E S I X • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 13

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

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

26-27 How can organisations improve employeeengagement, customer satisfaction and businessperformance? Jack Wiley says there are seven elements ofsuccess built around R.E.S.P.E.C.T

28-29 The latest Customer Engagement Club DirectorsForum on Customer Engagement Strategy andMeasurement took delegates on a journey through theworlds of BIG data, customer insight, company culture andemployee and customer engagement in the search forcompetitive advantage18-20 Consumers are

demanding that retailersand manufacturersrecognise and reflect theway they want to shopand buy. Retailers thatunderstand and respondto this seismic shift and

adapt swiftly are in a greatplace to capitalise on consumer needs

according to a new white paper report fromHenley and Bezier

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

9-11 Becoming social is an imperative for brands today, andwhile many are embracing the digital revolution, substantial

improvements are yet to be made to build a brand with adistinctive social identity, according to a new global Weber

Shandwick study in partnership with Forbes Insights

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

24-25 Delegates at the latest Customer Engagement ClubDirectors Forum on the future of customer engagement inthe troubled and much-maligned financial services industrysaw culture and trust emerge as two crucial and closelyrelated challenges going forward

FEATURING CUSTOMERENGAGEMENT AWARDS

2 6 - 2 7 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 2P A R K P L A Z A H O T E L , L O N D O N

New

for 2

012

30-31 The joinedup customerexperience event

Stephen Hewett looks at what being customer centric really meansand why all organisations should be instigating customer focussedstrategies from the top - and concentrating on how these strategiescan add value to the bottom line

I S S U E S I X • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 4

C O V E R F E A T U R E

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Stephen Hewett,Head of BusinessConsulting, Charteris plc

It’s easy for organisations to pay lip-service to thenotion that their customers should be at the centreof their attentions. It’s much harder fororganisations to put that philosophy into practice.Understanding and empathising wholeheartedlywith your customers’ agenda requires a significantcultural effort, and often an emotional investment, too.

How much easier it is to be inward looking, focussing onyour own organisational stuff, your own agenda, your ownpreoccupations. Research carried out by the consultancy,Charteris, where I’m head of business consulting, suggests thatmost organisations devote about 70 percent of their time andenergy to their own internal stuff and only about 30 percent to addingvalue for customers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“If you’re not devoting at least 70 percent of your

time and effort to adding value for your

customers, the chances are you’re not

impressing your customers very much

and very likely also jeopardisingyour marketshare”

�

Also, it’s notjust the

organisation’slong-term

profitability thatwill be enhanced

by taking acustomer-centric

approach; short-termprofitability

considerations matter too.

Of course, this is anotherway of saying that if you make

your organisation morecustomer-centric now, the benefitsfor you kick in right away!

It’s all about the peopleAbove all, the Wikipedia definition is

inadequate because it doesn’temphasise the crucial point thatcustomer centricity is, in the realworld of business, dispensed bypeople in a personal sense ratherthan by organisations in an abstract,impersonal way

If an organisation doesn’t manage toachieve, practice and express at a

grassroots level the philosophy ofcustomer centricity, any attempt by anorganisation to make itself customer-centricis likely to be a lost cause.

You can’t be customer-centric if you aren’tsincere about caring about your customers’agenda, and you can’t be customer-centricif you only care about your customersinsofar as they are likely to buy somespecific product or service you are trying tosell them.

Instead, you need to care about yourcustomers and their agenda in a broader,holistic sense, and I don’t mean becauseyou are trying to cross-sell to them! Caring about them in this broader, holistic,sense means understanding, among otherthings, how what you are trying to sell themfits into their lives, and the patterns ofsatisfactions they seek from those lives.

Overall, a more accurate definition ofcustomer centricity, and one especiallyuseful at a practical level, would besomething like the process of ensuring thatevery individual and department within an

organisation is taking every feasible step toadd value to what the organisation doesfor its customers.

Maximum customer retentionThe truth is that customer centricity is amanagement strategy whose time hasfinally come and which is being regardedas the business strategy for ensuringmaximum wooing and retention ofcustomers.

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

As a matter of common sense, any activitydirected around maximising anorganisation’s customer centricity must startwith an assessment of how customer-centricthe organisation is at present.

This initial assessment needs to look inparticular detail at the following questions,which should be asked and consideredfrom the customer’s perspective.

Is your organisation making it easyfor me to deal with you?This question relates to the process andorganisation element of the investigation.

Does your organisation give me anenjoyable experience when I dealwith you?This question relates to customerengagement.

Does your organisationunderstand me?This question relates to the customerinformation process.

Does your organisation continuallyimprove my experience as acustomer?This question relates to the metrics elementof the investigation.

Does your organisation present mewith products and services thatdelight me?This question relates to the productdevelopment element.

The extent to which these questions can beanswered with a ‘yes’ will give a goodidea of how customer-centric theorganisation is.



6

“The whole culture of the organisationmust be aligned with customers too.Indeed, it’s only when this cultural

alignment has taken place that theorganisation has any chance at all

of being customer-centric”

�


“It’s not just the organisation’s long-termprofitability that will be enhanced by taking a

customer-centric approach; short-termprofitability considerations matter too”

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In practice, the process of investigatinganswers to these questions may involvespecialised external assistance. Why?Because it is often necessary to probe intomatters which the organisation would rathernot talk about.

Also, by no means every member of staff -including of course very senior people - willbe naturally customer-centric anyway. Thepeople who aren’t are the ones whosemotivation must be investigated withparticularly careful attention. It’s often thecase that an external ‘investigator’ will feelable to ask questions that someone who isalso a member of staff would be reluctantto ask.

Besides, no-one at any organisation is everlikely to admit to being explicitly opposed tocustomer centricity. Overall, the process toensure that an organisation is maximising itscustomer centricity also needs to involveinvestigating the following two vital questions:

Who all the organisation’s different customersactually are.Precisely what the organisation’s customerswant from it.

Neither of these questions is necessarily easyto answer, especially for a large organisation.The second question is especially important.An answer to it is essential for helping todefine where the organisation should begoing in the future. Organisations often thinkthey know what their customers want fromthem. But organisations’ knowledge of this isoften surprisingly superficial.

Insight is everythingUnderstanding the nature of the benefit youare offering customers is more than vital; it’severything.

So is being aware that your current productor service may be nothing more than the mostrecent iteration of a string of potentialsuccessive future iterations that will offer the

benefit more extensively and in a morecustomer-friendly way.

It’s true that customers will often not knowwhat they really want until it is madeavailable to them, such as when technologicalprogress creates completely new products.

But that cannot be an excuse fororganisations to be ignorant of what theircustomers really want from them in terms ofthe key benefit. Once reliable answers to thetwo vital questions mentioned above havebeen provided, it is easier to investigate allthe following matters:

The extent to which the organisation reallyunderstands what customer centricity actuallyis in terms of the organisation’s activities

• A clear perception of the scope the organisation has to become customer-centric

• The time frames involved for attaining maximum customer centricity

• The costs involved for attaining maximum customer centricity

• All the constraints on customer centricity that will need to be dismantled or eliminated

Whether an organisation is operating in theprivate sector or public sector, being trulycustomer-centric brings an organisation anincredibly potent and powerful flexibility tocope with any kind of change, and tomaximise efficiency and success.

Stephen Hewett worked as a pilot andaviation company executive before joiningThe John Lewis Partnership, where he rose tobecome Development Manager, Researchand Expansion. After 15 years at John Lewis,he joined the business and informationtechnology consultancy Charteris plc, wherehe is now Head of Business Consulting.Stephen Hewett’s book ‘The Customer-CentricYou’ is available from amazon.co.uk andfrom all good bookshops. For his views onCRM see page 8.



8

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

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

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

The idea of CRM was this: people observed that small businesses such as corner shopsknew their customers and their customers’ needs really well and met those needs

very successfully. CRM was an attempt to provide medium to largeorganisations with a tool that would in effect adopt the corner-shop approach

and furnish it to much larger organisations.

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

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

But when CRM was a success at an organisation, this was usuallybecause the organisation was, perhaps accidentally, becoming

customer-centric anyway. For organisations where this didn’tapply, CRM just amounted to wallpapering over a

cracked wall: the crack stays there, very likely getsworse, and pretty soon the real lack of

integrity of the wall becomes only too clear.

So for many organisations, installingCRM turned out to be like imaginingthat one can permanently solve badbreath merely by sucking a Polomint. The trouble was, thedisappointment which manyorganisations experienced fromCRM often led them to think thatall concerted efforts to makean organisation morecustomer-centric weredestined to fail.

Thinking like this is likeimagining you’d neverenjoy a cruise justbecause you’ve seenthe film Titanic.

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Becoming social is an imperative for brands today, and while many areembracing the digital revolution, substantial improvements are yet to be made tobuild a brand with a distinctive social identity, according to a new global WeberShandwick study in partnership with Forbes Insights �


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

According to the study, global brand executives believe thatsociability is growing rapidly as a contributor to a brand'soverall reputation, from 52 percent today with a projectedestimate of 65 percent three years from now. Yet, a largemajority (84 percent) report that their brand's sociability is notyet up to world class brand standards, despite the fact thatnearly all of them (87 percent) say they have a social mediabrand strategy.

What does it take to be among the elite set of world classbrands? The study found that being a world class social brandmeans interacting with target audiences and creating originalcontent that heightens the interactive experience, goingbeyond broadcasting news, deals or events. World classbrands get their communities of interest engaged and developmeaningful ties over shared passions or commonalities. Theydemonstrate a genuine interest in what their audiences sayand listen carefully to responses. World class sociability restson the collaboration of the entire organization to integrate thebrand personality across all communications channels. Worldclass sociability also means that brand managers areprepared to accept all the risks that come with the rewards ofventuring into this new era of customer engagement.

Disconnect between theory and reality"There is a disconnect between theory and reality when itcomes to socializing a brand. All too often, brand managersclamour for the latest and greatest application and newtechnology, bypassing the need for clear business objectives,a true social orientation and programs that deliver real valueto brand communities. To be a fully socialized brand, leadersneed a new blueprint; one that factors in both proper internalstructure as well as external programming that help people beinformed and identified with brands they engage online," saidChris Perry, president of Digital Communications, Weber

Shandwick. "Organizations need to break down silos, operatestrategically and integrate all marketing communications. Onlythen can a brand successfully and seamlessly engage in a realsocial dialogue."

Socializing Your Brand –Risks versus Rewards

Global brand executives consider that the rewards of usingsocial media outweigh the risks, by more than a 2-to-1 margin.Among the rewards of social media, global brand executivescount strengthening customer loyalty, improving brandrecognition, helping locate new customers and prospects andimproving customer service.

"While there are inherent risks in socializing a brand, it is nolonger an option to go without a social presence. Now, morethan ever, executives need to harness this opportunity toconnect with customers, facilitate a conversation andencourage feedback. Their reputations and livelihood dependon it," said Leslie Gaines-Ross, chief reputation strategist,Weber Shandwick.

Nine Drivers of Leading Brand Sociability:

1. It's not the medium - and it's more than themessage: World class brands are much more likely than theaverage brand to create original content. 45 percent of themcreate content specifically for social media purposes,compared to 28 percent of all global companies. World classbrands depend upon much more than just the medium to makethemselves social.

2. Put your brands in motion: World class companiesdo more than build an inventory of social media tools. Theyapply their tools in more social ways than the average globalcompany. For example, they are 44 percent more likely tooffer brand-related mobile content, 43 percent more likely toparticipate in "check-in" apps, 41 percent more likely to doproximity marketing and 40 percent more likely to have theirown branded YouTube channel.

3. Integrate or die: World class organizations are muchbetter integrators of brand personality - they are nearly twiceas likely as other organizations to have a consistent brandpersonality across all social and traditional media channelsand are much more likely to include a social media element totheir traditional print or broadcast messaging. �

“Now, more than ever, executives need to harness thisopportunity to connect with customers, facilitate a

conversation and encourage feedback. Theirreputations and livelihood depend on it”

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4. Make social central: 61 percent ofworld class brands have a dedicated socialmedia strategist or manager, vs. 41 percentof all global brands. According to one globalexecutive respondent, "The most importantthing we can do is to centrally plan socialmedia activities across all channels toamplify key messages."

5. Listen more than you talk: Worldclass companies fine-tune their messages tocustomers and integrate what is on their fans'minds into their brand stories. Nearly twiceas many world class brands have changed aproduct or service based on fanrecommendations compared to the averageglobal brand.

6. Count what matters - meaningfulengagement: World class brands placemore weight than other brands on theirnumber of contributors when measuringsocial media effectiveness. Socialcontributors are ranked #1 by world classcompanies but #6 by other companies as akey metric.

7. Think global: Executives managingworld class brands consider global reach asimportant as customer service as a driver ofcorporate reputation while the averageglobal executive ranks global reach last.

8. Go outside to get inside: World classcompanies are nearly twice as likely asaverage global companies to engage outsidesupport to measure their brand's socialperformance.

9. Be vigilant: To protect their socialbrand integrity, world class brands arealways on high alert. They are 85 percentmore vigilant since Wikileaks has been in thenews and are 58 percent more likely to beconcerned about privacy violations.

Brand Sociability RangesCross Continents

"Socializing Your Brand" found relatively fewdifferences across regions. WeberShandwick and Forbes Insights believe this isdue to the globality of social media and,although some geographies are more

technologically developed than others, theyall embrace the same opportunities and facethe same challenges of using social media toconnect with customers in a meaningful way.

The most pronounced regional differences are:

• North American companies are mostlikely to have integrated their social mediabrand strategies into their overall marketingor communications strategies (73 percent vs.54 percent in EMEA, 60 percent in APACand 62 percent in Latin America).

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

• APAC brand executives are significantlymore likely than executives in other regionsto report difficulty quantifying social mediaresults/gauging ROI (27 percent vs. 19percent in North America, 17 percent inEMEA and 14 percent in Latin America). Infact, this is APAC executives' number onebarrier to using social media moreextensively. APAC is also the most likelyregion to cite lack of talent to effectivelyimplement social media as a barrier, whichcould be a reason for or byproduct of ROIchallenges.

• Latin American brand executives expectthe most from their brand's online sociability.On average, they project in three years that72 percent of their brand's reputation will beattributed to its online sociability. This ishigher than what executives in other regionsexpect (65 percent in North America, 63percent in EMEA and 66 percent in APAC).

"Collectively, brands are re-definingmarketing models for a super-social mediaenvironment. Whether it's to reachemployees, customers or media, socialcommunications is a powerful, unstoppablemarket force. Communications and marketingexecutives and are now well aware. Thequestion is how to use this power tomaximum advantage," said Perry.

“World classbrands get theircommunities of

interest engagedand develop

meaningful tiesover sharedpassions or

commonalities.They demonstrate agenuine interest in

what theiraudiences say and

listen carefully toresponses”

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


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There’s one thing our research which examines the multi-channel strategies of more than 30 UK businesses, makes veryclear. Companies that try to restrict access to the phone andforce people to use lower cost channels rarely achieve the costsavings they aim for. And they frequently manage to alienatecustomers along the way. By contrast, companies that offertrue channel choice, and work hard to encourage, rather thanimpose, channel shift by making all routes open and easy to

access, are reaping considerable economic benefits. Andthey’re gathering a reputation for positive customer

engagement along the way.

The simple truth is this.Customers actively want touse new, digital channels.But they expect to do so ontheir terms. They expectorganisations to provide newchannels as well as (notinstead of) more establishedones. Nor does any onechannel provide the completeanswer. Customers will

choose different channels for different occasions, dependingon where they are, what they’re doing and the nature of theirenquiry. They’ll often use several channels to complete asingle ‘transaction’, researching a new product online,purchasing it in store, then using forums to discover newfeatures. And, if there’s a problem, or a complex issue theyneed to resolve, they’ll likely resort to the phone.

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

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

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

When they call to pay a bill they’re diverted to an automatedsystem. Previously easy to locate numbers disappear fromweb sites. When they have a service issue they’re advised toread ‘frequently asked questions’. The help desk is offeredonly as a very last resort and – as if to deter them further – theteam is kept small and, as a result, response times areunacceptably long. It isn’t that customers mind usingautomated systems or looking for answers online, theyfrequently prefer to do so. It’s just that they don’t want to beforced to do it when it would be their natural choice to pick upa phone.

Focus on valueAttempts to ‘save money’ in this way often backfire. Nowmore than ever (and, ironically, due to new media) customerscan make their dissatisfaction felt very quickly and at greatcost to the company that has offended them. By turning tosocial networking sites to express their dissatisfaction atservice failures, they are giving a very public voice to theirconcerns. And, given that 53% of consumers have decidednot to buy a product because of a negative online report, thefinancial impact can be disproportionately damaging.

In contrast, we’ve found that business recognised by theirpeers as leading the way in multi-channel customer service,are invariably achieving tangible financial benefits. Instead ofallowing their strategies to be dictated by slavish comparisonsof channel operating costs, they’ve developed a valueproposition based on customer retention, and brandreputation, as well as individual transaction costs.

Here are a few examples from our research…• National Rail Enquiries, which has seen customer enquiries

grow by 343% over nine years yet still achieved a fourfold reduction in operating cost by migrating 80% of all contacts to the web.

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

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

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

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

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

Embracing these guiding principles has meant that, insteadof jumping on a social media bandwagon or forcingautomation on reluctant customers, smart businesses areusing new channels to enhance customer experience andmeet efficiency targets. For example:

• By investing in the development of web based service or mobile applications that are genuinely effective, fast and reliable they are ensuring that the majority of customers prefer to interact on line than call an agent.

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

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

By focusing their efforts on using additional channels toadd value to the customer experience, they are makingthose channels increasingly palatable, encouragingcustomers to adopt other channels in preference to thetelephone for many of their interactions. Though, crucially,not all.

Telephone best for complex stuffEven the most channel sophisticated and channelconversant customer will tend towards the telephone whentheir query is complex or emotionally sensitive. Thecompanies in our research that are achieving the mostpositive results with alternative channels continue tooperate an accessible, well resourced contact centre.While more and more interactions are handled viaautomated or digital channels, contact centre agents

continue to provide the most important service channel.They may be handling fewer calls, but each is likely to havean elevated importance in terms of its impact on customersatisfaction and loyalty.

This gives rise to a clear challenge. First, the telephone isoften reached as a point of escalation, with callerstransferring to a live agent from another channel when theyrecognise they have exhausted the first’s ability to resolvetheir issue. For the customer it is vital that the transitionexperience is both rapid and smooth. Being asked torepeat information already given via another channel isdeeply unpopular, for example. Customers expect agentsto have this information to hand.

They also expect agents to know if they have previouslycontacted the company about the same service issue byanother service channel and to be able to support their useof those channels. Clearly this means agents must have thenecessary tools and skills, including a single view of acustomer’s multi-channel interaction history. From atechnical perspective, this will demand systems integration;from a skills perspective agents need to be able to jumpbetween channels with confidence as needed. Researchshows that, in many organisations, agent recruitment andtraining is lagging behind. According to the 2011 ‘DigitalMaturity Index’ published by the Engine Group, only 12%of companies have adjusted their recruitment practices toreflect the digital requirements of their business and itscustomers.

This is a scenario that simply cannot continue. In simpleterms, in our multi-channel, digital world, the need forhighly-skilled, well supported agents has never been higher.In order to be more competitive and commercially effectiveorganisations must take a long hard look at their channelperformance to understand how innovation, better practicesand customer insight can reduce costs and improve servicedelivery

Ember’s research paper produced for Sword Ciboodle,‘Why Multi-channel Must Mean Multiple Choice’ can bedownloaded free of charge fromwww.emberservices.com.

“The message is clear. If youdon’t want to experience damagedrevenues and customer back lash,you need to offer channelchoice. Not impose it”

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Thomas Cowper Johnson began his career in the research department of US advertising agencyDDB. After 14 years in advertising and ten years as Director of Brand at Norwich Union he set uphis own business to advise firms on brand and customer experience management. He is now adirector of ServiceTick

Trust is hard-earned. Three of the top five most valuable globalbrands in Interbrand’s annual list are over 100 years old - CocaCola, IBM and GE. (The other two, Google and Microsoft, havebenefited from a sector that has rushed to prominence in the last30 years.)

These top brands have achieved their trusted status by observing5 basic rules:

1. Keep (or exceed) promises. Brands guarantee a certainlevel of performance from their products or service. If they do notlive up to their promises they have no right to be trusted.

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

3. Recognise the vital role of employees. Staff are asmuch part of the brand as product; coaching, training andsupporting them to ensure they are fully on brand is an essentialinvestment.

4. Nurture brand advocacy. Word of mouth is the mostpowerful form of advertising –Nielsen’s global survey onconsumer trust in advertising confirms that 9 out of 10 people trustrecommendations from people they know while only 6 out of 10trust ads on TV or in newspapers

5. Cherish all your customers. Customers are a valuableresource. Listen to what they have to say. And whatever you dodon’t favour new customers with deals not available to peoplewho have been loyal to your brand for years.

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

But listening to customers is of no value unless you are prepared toact on what they have to say. And acting on feedback can buildtrust in very specific ways:

• Turning brand ‘antis’ into brand advocates - Tools areavailable that can automatically alert you to dissatisfied customersby identifying key words in IVR or email surveys. ServiceTick hasfound that levels of brand loyalty and advocacy will increase by amultiple of at least three times with customers whose complaintsare responded to swiftly.

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

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

• Creating visible peer endorsement - brands areincreasingly judged by their level of transparency. Trusted brandshave the confidence to share positive and negative feedback notjust with staff but with their customers and prospects. For brandsproud of their service record it can be great publicity and a realmotivation to staff.

Ultimately trust is built on the back of a relationship betweenbrand and consumer; smart brands understand that by listening tocustomers they can earn that trust.

“Ultimately trust is built on the back of arelationship between brand and consumer;

smart brands understand that by listening tocustomers they can earn that trust”

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

I S S U E S I X • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 1 8

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

All this has been playing out against a backdrop of numerousother global trends that are affecting people’s lives andchanging their behaviour. Consider global instability, the

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

There is now a dichotomy of requirements across generations.Advertisers used to focus squarely on the youth market andthose aged between 25 and 40. But now that the over 50s hold75% of the wealth in the EU and contribute 50% of allconsumer spending, advertising and retail specialists need tochange their thinking radically.

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

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

�

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

New multi-channel generationThis group will be completely tech savvy, having grown up withdigital technology as the ‘norm’. They will be sophisticatedshoppers needing experiences and interactions motivatingenough to drive them from internet shopping into store.

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

It’s accepted wisdom that females hold a lot of buying powerbut according to The Henley Centre for Customer Managementwomen now account for 85% of all consumer purchases. Infuture, female millionaires will outnumber male ones in the UKby 2020 and by 2025, women will control 60% of the nation’sprivate wealth.

Retail’s future is constantly under the microscope. Headlinesannouncing the imminent “death of the high street” are all toocommonplace. While it would be gratifying to think of theseeconomically fraught, technologically-led times as unique orspecial, they are just another phase of a picture that always hasbeen, and always will be, in constant flux.

The recession has spawned a counter-intuitive notion – that

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

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

Delivering relevanceRetailers and brands have a complicated backdrop to workagainst. But so too do shoppers. They are adapting to thechanges around them by altering their behaviour and attitudes.

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

Customers are tuning into those messages that resonate andresolutely tuning out those that don’t. Delivering relevance hasnever been more important.

Tough economic times have certainly focused consumers’ mindson value, but in surprising ways. Deal hunting is more importantthan ever, with group buying platforms like Groupon emerging.The practice is evolving from ‘penny pinching’ and a chore intoa form of entertainment or even a full-fledged hobby. The socialstigma associated with bargain hunting has been turned on itshead. It’s now more than acceptable.

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

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

The social media shopperAs advertisers have discovered new communications channels,consumers have found themselves bombarded with messaging.Not only have they started to tune out, they have also started tofight back by harnessing the power of social media.

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


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According to Mintel Oxygen, fourout of ten online shoppers like toread customer reviews beforedeciding what to buy. Online socialnetwork users are three times morelikely to trust their peers’ opinionsover advertising when makingpurchasing decisions (Source:Henley Centre for CustomerManagement Centre) and nearly84% would trust user’s reviewsahead of a critic’s

Retailers are responding byintegrating customer ratings into theirown websites, while specialist reviewsites also give customers theopportunity to comment on theirpurchases. Often these have links toFacebook and other social mediaplatforms.

Facebook has 800 million users and Twitterhas 200 million, so it comes as no surprisethat companies are looking for the opportunityto expand their reach to social media users.Many companies are taking steps towardscombining social networks and shopping.

Social commerce is still in its infancy andcould be a risky investment for mostcompanies given that there isn’t enough dataavailable yet to prove its success. Howeverit’s estimated that sales through social mediawill grow six-fold to $30 billion globally inthe next five years.

Consumers are deal-driven and savvy butthey do care about the experience. There’srecent evidence that the rise of quick-serviceformats and automated service has actuallyfuelled a greater desire for good old-fashioned customer service, particularly inface-to-face form.

Employee engagement Disengaged employees can’t create engagedcustomers and you can’t sustain greatcustomer experiences unless your employeesare on board.

As an example, Apple is known not only forits customer-friendly environments, intensivestaff training and of course great products,but also for the culture it has created.Crucially, Apple keeps reinforcing the culturethat helps deliver consistently great customerexperiences. For example, employees aretold (and trained) not to sell, but rather tohelp customers solve problems. “Your job is

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

Interestingly, employees don’t have salestargets or receive sales commissions.Creating other new but relevant reasons tovisit will help retailers generate much neededadditional sales. Solutions could includeextending the range of services on offer oroffering practical solutions like childcareservices. The trend, also demonstrated byTopshop and Debenhams, is bringingsomething that very exclusive, high-endretailers have done for some time to a moremainstream group of customers.

What the future holdsLooking ahead, many people are talking ofan underlying frugality they think will linger.Research suggests that generally, shoppers’purchasing decisions will be more considered.Customers will replace ‘rampant dealseeking’ with more purposeful purchasingand keep using shopping techniques andtools they discovered during the recession.

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

Retailers are moving steadily towards a moremulti-channel approach. They will need toconsider carefully which communicationchannels they employ – whether in store oronline – to ensure this translates into avaluable and consistent customer experience.

Shoppers, consumers and citizens habits arechanging. This shift is not just a result of everkeener retail offers, or even the dramaticgrowth in retail and communications channels.In the main it’s a result of us understandingour wants, needs and desires ever better.

Consumers are no longer prepared to be‘reserved’. Although people have never beenhappy to accept bad service and irrelevantmessaging, it is now so much easier to dosomething about it by sharing thoughts andexperiences with an ever growing circle ofonline friends.

Ultimately consumers are demanding thatretailers and manufacturers recognise andreflect the way they want to shop and buy.Retailers that understand and respond to thisseismic shift and adapt swiftly are in a greatplace to capitalise on consumer needs.

“Retailers are movingsteadily towards a

more multi-channelapproach. They will

need to considercarefully whichcommunication

channels they employ– whether in store or

online – to ensure thistranslates into a

valuable and consistentcustomer experience”

Too many companies

assume that all social

networkers are the

same. They are of

course not according

to Blaise James and

Jim Asplund at Gallup �

customerengagement


Recently, Gallup asked more than 17,000 U.S. adults about howthey use social media - evaluating everything from the latestmobile social media apps to old-school word-of-mouth. What we found debunks three big myths regarding social media:that it effectively drives customer acquisition, that socialnetworking is an online-only phenomenon, and that socialnetworkers are all the same. More importantly, our analysisreveals practical actions that organizations can take to make theirefforts more effective.

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

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

Whether you're targeting customers or prospective customers, somewill be predisposed for or against your organization dependinglargely on their existing relationship with you. Emotionally engagedcustomers -- those with a deep rational and emotional attachmentto your brand -- are far more likely to be socially engagedcustomers who will work for your company or brand within theirsocial networks. (See sidebar "How Engaged Are YourCustomers?")

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

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

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

• Consumption refers to customers gathering information aboutproducts, services, or organizations from social networks. Ouranalysis shows that there are two main types of these consumers:active consumers, who talk about organizations and brands ontheir social networks every day and passive consumers, who don'tengage in these kinds of conversations every day.

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

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

To demonstrate how diverse social engagement is, the two largesttypologies in the social engagement universe exhibit completelydifferent characteristics. For example, the Casual/Passive/Non-Connector typology is the dominant mode of the oldestrespondents and accounts for 35% of the social engagementuniverse. In comparison, Bohemian/Active/Connector is thedominant mode of the youngest respondents and accounts for30%. Combined, these vastly different typologies represent almosttwo-thirds of the social networking population (65%). Theremaining third is fragmented into six other unique typologies.

FULLY ENGAGED customersare strongly emotionallyattached and attitudinally loyal.They’ll go out of their way tolocate a favored product orservice, and they won’t acceptsubstitutes. True brandambassadors, they are yourmost valuable and profitablecustomers.

ENGAGED customers areemotionally attached but they’renot strongly loyal. They do likeyour product or service, but theycan be tempted to switch by amore convenient, moreattractive, or lower priced offer.

NOT ENGAGED customershave a “take it or leave it”attitude toward your product orservice. They’re disconnectedemotionally and are attitudinallyneutral toward your brand andwhat you’re selling.

ACTIVELY DISENGAGEDcustomers are completelydetached from your companyand its products and services.They will readily switch or - ifswitching is difficult orimpossible - may becomevirulently antagonistic toward yourcompany or brand. Either way,they’re always eager to tellothers exactly how they feel.

How Engaged Are Your Customers?

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

Creation: Bohemiancreators initiate theiropinions frequentlyonline and offline; casualcreators share theiropinions much less oftenand entirely offline.

Consumption: Activeconsumers talk aboutorganisations andbrands on their socialnetworks every day;passive consumers don’tengage in these kinds ofconversations.

Connection:Connectorsinternationally connectothers with informationabout organisations andbrands; non-connectorsdo not.

Creation Consumption ConnectionB=Bohemian A=Active C=Connectors

C=Casual P=Passive N=Non-Connectors

35% C P N30% B A C15% B A N11% C A N10% B P N4% C P C3% C A C2% B P C

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

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

In addition to their typology, customers and prospects have asocial engagement charge that reflects their likelihood to talkabout your organization and brands either positively or negativelyin their social networks. This charge varies among individuals andspecific organizations, across industries, and over time based onan individual's level of knowledge and experiences with yourorganization. Customers have a more positive -- and lowernegative -- social engagement charge than prospects. (Seegraphic "Getting a Charge out of Social Engagement.")

Despite the differences in typology and social engagement charge,we were surprised to discover one striking commonality acrosssocial networkers: On average, the size and reach of socialnetworks are remarkably similar across types. And our analysisshows that network size and reach isn't predictive of whether aconsumer will advocate positively on your organization's behalf.Therefore, social media strategies that target individuals with largesocial networks to use them as influencers underestimate thedifferences between social networkers.

Three recommended actionsOur findings lead us to recommend three practical actions forsocial media decision makers:

1. Target your most engaged customers with your social initiatives.

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

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

Organizations of all types and sizes are pouring more dollarsthan ever into social media initiatives. Some comb the socialsphere to react to negative opinion. Others try to generate buzz.And most are launching both reactive and proactive efforts mixedwith dozens of other traditional and digital tactics to see what sticks.

No matter how many social media initiatives organizationsengage in, their decision makers tell us that with increasing socialmedia budgets come greater expectations for return oninvestment, for a strategic process for measurement andmanagement, and for accountability within these initiatives.

We understand, and we sympathize. But our analysis reveals aparadox that most social media initiatives fail to address: Yourbest bet to acquire new customers is to engage your existingcustomers, then align your strategy with the wants and needs thatencourage them to engage their social networks on your behalf.

1. Start by measuring customerengagement. If you're measuringcustomer satisfaction or using NetPromoter, that's a start. But Gallup datasuggest that customer engagement is abetter predictor and diagnostic of theemotional connection with yourcustomers and subsequently, a bettermetric for those who will engage theirsocial networks on your behalf.

2. If you have high levels ofcustomer engagement, measuresocial engagement. Determine thesocial engagement typologies of yourbest customers and their level of socialengagement charge. The virtue of socialengagement measurement is that it ischannel-neutral, which can help youmeasure the larger portion of socialnetworking about your organizationthat isn't happening online. (In part 1 ofthis article, we debunked the myth thatsocial networking is an online-onlyphenomenon.)

3. To give your customers whatthey need to advocate on yourbehalf, structure your socialinitiative strategies based ontheir predominant typologies. Byfocusing your messaging on yourcustomers' social engagementtypologies, you can design effectiveinitiatives that give your customers whatthey want so they will feel confidentvouching for you in their socialnetworks.

Advice for Leaders of Customer InitiativesIf customer loyalty or engagement initiatives are part of your chief marketer's scorecard, then you're heading down the right path.But if your customer loyalty strategy is not connected to your social media initiatives, you could be wasting valuable resources.Instead, consider a phased approach:

Getting a Charge out of Social Engagement

Social engagement is the degree to which customers or prospects workfor or against organisation in their social networks. Customers have amore positive - and lower negative - social engagement charge thanprospects. This charge varies among individuals and specificorganisations, across industries, and over time based on an individual’slevel of knowledge and experiences with an organisation.

Extremely negative

Copyright© 2010 Gallup, Inc All rights reserved

Customer Prospects

Extremely positive2 3 4

6%

12% 11%17%

28%

35% 33%

21% 20%

9%

customerengagement


The Financial Services sector is under pressure to get its customeroffering back on track. That pressure comes from consumers whohave lost trust in service providers for a host of reasons, and fromregulatory bodies such as the Financial Services Authority (FSA)who are introducing a roster of changes that impact therelationship between providers and those who use their productsand services.

The opening keynote address was delivered by NadegeGenetay, head of the redress unit of the FSA who took thesector to task over the way it deals with customers – notsurprising against a backdrop of 1.76million customercomplaints in the first six months of this year, an eye wateringrate of more than 10,000 complaints every single day.

Unhealthy attitude to customersNadege pinpointed what she described as an unhealthy attitudetowards customers among many financial services organisationsand said the sector needs to clean up its act and adopt a morecustomer-centric attitude.

Her comments were echoed by Peter Flade, senior partner atForum host Gallup Consulting, who pointed out that if the culturewithin an organisation is not geared towards its customers thenthere is no real chance of that organisation winning the trust fromcustomers it needs to maximize success.

For this to happen then confidence, integrity, pride and passionall need to be in place along with a leadership that hascompassion and offers stability – two things that have been inshort supply in financial services.

Before the lively panel debate on the future of customerengagement in thefinancial services sectorthere were contributionsfrom Paul Scott, director ofstrategic partnerships atMerchants who looked atkey trends from theDimension Data GlobalContact CentreBenchmarking report;Conrad Simpsondirector at InteractiveIntelligence who used casestudy examples to showhow technology can boostcustomer engagement in

the sector and Andy Scott, head of customer experiencebanking and financial services at Firstsource who showed howwell handled complaints can turn crisis into opportunity.

Metro Bank getting it rightOne bank that seems to be getting its customer engagementoffering right is Metro Bank, the first UK High Street Bank to openits doors in close on 150 years. Paul Marriott-Clarke,managing director of retail services at Metro Bank explained thecustomer centric ethos of a bank that is forcing competitors tolook over their shoulders. Metro Bank wants to create fans, notcustomers, and nine in ten of its new customers are from referrals.

Following on from Metro Bank was Aviva where Rod Butcherhead of customer service and insight talked about the group’songoing journey to customer-centricity including the use of theincreasingly ubiquitous Net Promoter Score. Rod’s was a jointpresentation with Deborah Eastman global had of businessconsulting at Satmetrix, one of the organisations behind NPS.

Last but by no means least came Andrew Fisher, CEO ofTowry, who focussed on the cultural change he hasmasterminded at the wealth company over the past six years, achange that has resulted in an increased level of trust – and ofcourse performance - among both employees and customers.

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

Delegates at the latest Customer Engagement Club Directors Forum on the future ofcustomer engagement in the troubled and much-maligned financial services industry sawculture and trust emerge as two crucial and closely related challenges going forward

Customer Engagement in Financial SerREPORT

I S S U E S I X • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 2 4

R E V I E W

rvices – a matter of culture and trustPRESENTATIONS

Keynote/Q & A- Market Overview from the FSA Nadege Genetay - Head of Redress Unit, FSA

Overview of the state of the Financial Servicessector and how regulatory changes will impact theindustry and its relationship with customers.

Worldclass customer service– lip service or absolute priority?Peter Flade - Senior Managing Partner,Gallup Consulting

Unlike volatile equity markets and venture investors,loyal customers can be counted upon to build a

solid revenue base as well as deliver growth and profits. But whatis it that actually makes customers loyal? Gallup research showsthat people stay faithful to brands that earn both their rationalsatisfaction and their deeply felt affection. No matter what theindustry, there’s an emotional element to how a customer interactswith a brand. Although most organisations claim that theiremployees are their greatest asset and their number one priority isdelivering worldclass customer service, the reality is frequently quitedifferent. Peter will share how companies who are verydeliberately managing employee and customer engagement toimpact service quality and reduce service variation, havesubstantially improved their profitability and growth.

'Contact Centre Benchmarking report- key trends in the financial services sector'Paul Scott, Director of Strategic Partnerships– Merchants

Paul Scott, Director of Strategic Partnerships –Merchants, takes a look at the financial sector trends

from the Dimension Data Global Contact Centre BenchmarkingReport and shares some insights that are driving successfulstrategic outsourcing.

'How technology can boost customer engagement in Financial Services'Conrad Simpson, Director,Interactive Intelligence

Conrad will discuss the role of technologies inhelping customer engagement in Financial Services.Using real life examples he’ll show how new

technologies and complexity need not compromise the goal ofgetting closer to our customers

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

The number of complaints handled by the Financial ServicesOmbudsman has more than doubled in the last 4 years, presentinga huge challenge for financial services organisations just in termsof administration and processing. Andy Scott, head of CustomerExperience, Banking & Financial Services, at Firstsource Solutions,explains how complaints need to be tackled not just as a problemto be solved, but as an opportunity to develop a more positivecustomer experience and as a platform for adding value to thebusiness. How can the financial services industry not only handlethe rising number of complaints to achieve productive, profitableand positive outcomes for all concerned as well as transform thepublic perceptions of banks and financial services companies?

Creating fans not customers,Metro Bank - Case study Anthony Thomson, Chairman, Metro Bank

Metro Bank’s proposition is all about givingcustomers a better experience. Anthony Thomson,co-founder and chairman, describes Metro Bank’sdifferentiated model, its unique culture and its

relentless execution, which is attracting over 1000 new customersevery week.

Aviva’s journey to customercentricity – Case StudyRod Butcher, Head of CustomerExperienceand Insight, Aviva Group plc Deborah Eastman, Global Head ofBusiness Consulting, Satmetrix

• Hear about Aviva’s journey towards customer centricity and the lessons learned along the way

• Learn how customer journey mapping can contextualise customer feedback and focus your efforts

• Find out what’s next in terms of connecting employees to the customer agenda

Driving change in a changing industryAndrew Fisher, CEO, Towry

Transforming a business to get more from less isnever easy and when that business operates in asector that itself is going through rapid andfundamental change it becomes even more of achallenge. At fast growing Wealth Advice

organisation Towry, chief executive Andrew Fisher has spent thepast six years doing just that. Here Andrew gives an entertainingand thought provoking blow by blow account of how he hasimplemented the cultural changes that focussed on the needs ofthe customer, turning a loss making organisation into a profitable one.


NadegeGenetay

AnthonyThomson

ConradSimpson

Peter Flade

Paul Scott

Andy Scott

Rod Butcher

AndrewFisher

DeborahEastman

Download presentation








How can organisations improve employee engagement,

customer satisfaction and business performance?

Jack Wiley says there are seven elements

of success built around R.E.S.P.E.C.T

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For over 30 years, we’ve been talking to employees around theworld, in an attempt to better understand the factors thatcontribute to the engagement, commitment, retention andoverall satisfaction of employees.

In 90% of cases, the answer is one of seven things. In otherwords, there are seven elements that employees really wantfrom their managers and their organisations. To borrow fromthe ‘queen of soul’ Aretha Franklin, these seven elements can besummed up using the acronym R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

• Recognition - Employees want ‘a pat on the back’ andthey want their views to count. Essentially, each individualwants to be recognised and appreciated as a valued teammember - particularly by the person who should be mostfamiliar with their work: their line manager. Our research showsthat employees who are satisfied with their level of recognitionare four times more likely to rate their boss as an outstandingleader.

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

• Security of employment - Employees want job security.They want to feel confident about their organisation’s future andthey want stability and steady work so they can meet theirfinancial obligations. Our research shows that an employee’ssense of job security is related to whether or not they trust theleaders in the organisation. To engender trust, leaders need toshow consideration for the morale, welfare and well-being oftheir team. Leadership behaviour is extremely importantbecause there is a direct link between the perceptions thatemployees have of their leaders and the performance of theorganisation.

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

• Education and career growth - Employees want to begiven opportunities to develop their skills and to advance theircareer.

• Conditions - Employees want a well-equipped environmentthat is comfortable, healthy and safe. For most people, the socialworking conditions are even more important than the physicalconditions.

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

We’ve found that these seven elements are surprisingly consistentacross different countries, different industries and different jobroles. In a nutshell, this is what workers want. So what? Here’sanother question: What impact would it have if an organisationgave its employees exactly what they wanted? In simple terms,our research shows that managers and organisations who givetheir employees what they want - in other words, those whodeliver R.E.S.P.E.C.T. - outperform those that don’t.

Proof of the puddingOur study found that organisations that deliver R.E.S.P.E.C.T. -Recognition; Exciting work; Security; Pay; Education; Conditionsand Truth - have an employee engagement level that is 117%higher. So, if you want to improve employee engagement inyour organisation - or if you’re looking to measure engagementthrough an employee survey - these are the seven elements onwhich to concentrate.

What’s more, our study shows that the benefits go way beyondengagement. Because engaged employees care more, performbetter and stay longer, those organisations that deliverR.E.S.P.E.C.T. also benefit from 64% higher operationalperformance and significantly greater customer satisfaction. Thistranslates to the bottom line. Consider, for example, theeconomic measure of return-on-assets.

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

customerengagement


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

Measuring customer engagement - why REPORT

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The latest Customer Engagement Strategy and Measurement DirectorsForum, hosted by Gallup Consulting and sponsored by Confirmit,Foviance and Verint Systems looked at the issues and challengesfacing organisations operating in a multichannel environment - whereobtaining a single view of the customer is an increasingly complex yetvital component of customer engagement strategy and measurement.

This Directors Forum examined the rapid changes in the dynamics ofcustomer relationships and where organisations need more than everto be where their ever more demanding and savvy customers are.Customer behaviour understanding and insight through intelligent,strategic and joined up use of the ever increasing amount of customerand other data available to organisations were key themes that ranthrough the day – and where delegates have a resounding thumbs upto the event content.

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

BIG data a big issueJohn D’Arcy, Practice Director, Analytics & Insight, Foviance gave theopening keynote looking at some of the key challenges facingorganisations as they get to grips with BIG data - 90% of all the dataever produced in the world has been produced in the last two years andthat explosion of data looks set to continue. John explored some of thedifferent types of data available, what it is useful for and gaveexamples of how the use of measurement frameworks can advancecustomer engagement and experience strategy.

One of the hottest types of data relates to emotional engagement andMarco Nink, Strategic Consultant for Gallup Consulting gave hispresentation around d that very subject, focussing on howemotionally engaged customers will give you more of theirbusiness. For customers feelings are fact and any metric thatdoesn’t take account of human nature is fundamentallyflawed. Emotionally connected customers deliver significantlyenhanced business results – greater share of wallet, retentionand referral rates - compared with their rationally satisfiedcounterparts.

John looked at the steps organisations need to take toengage their customers and importantly, how you willknow whether these efforts are paying off. Researchshows that 70 per cent weight of the decisionscustomers make are based on emotional ratherthan rational thought

Following on from Marco was JulianBrewer, UKRBB Digital, Head ofCommercial, Barclays Bank whosepresentation was around a framework tomeasure and engage the digital customer.He used case studies to explore aframework to measure, optimise andengage customers on their path throughsocial to site engagement.

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

In an eye-opening presentation Helen Van Tonder, SpeechApplications Specialist, Verint Systems EMEA asked delegates: Do youknow what your customers really think of you? Helen said that ifyou’re not monitoring the customer conversation across multiple mediachannels – voice, texts, emails, the web, social media, customersurveys and more – you’re missing out on vital intelligence;intelligence that could help you streamline your processes, uncovercauses of customer dissatisfaction, detect trends, prevent PR disastersand retain customers.

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

Claire Sporton, Director, Customer Experience Management,Confirmit in her presentation titled ‘Exploring the Elephant – storiesfrom the front line’ looked at the customer journey across channelsusing case study examples from the likes of Best Buy and the BSI’

Claire examined how organisations can build individual experiencesinto a single accurate view and truly understand what our

customers think ensuring they are able to benefit fromseeing a complete view of the customer rather than

at just a sum of the parts.

Claire was followed Dr Guy Fielding,Director horizon2 who asked what

it takes to really engagecustomers, looked at

critical factors incustomer contact andexamined the

credentials - orotherwise of the so called

Customer Effort metric - andcompared it with other metric a such as

NPS and cSat

Final presentation rounding off an excellent and variedday came from journalist and economist MichaelBlastland who gave an entertaining account of thedangers of over-interpreting data and how fallinginto the traps of layering our pre-conceived ideas

and conceptions into the data we see can be arecipe for disaster!

Strategy

Customer

Measurement


R E V I E W

it’s how you use the data that countsPRESENTATIONS

Keynote: Who needs a measurement strategy anyway?John D’Arcy - Practice Director,Analytics & Insight, Foviance

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

'How to emotionally engage your customers to get more of their business'Marco Nink, Strategic Consultant forGallup Consulting

‘For customers feelings are fact and any metric that doesn’t takeaccount of human nature is fundamentally flawed. Emotionallyconnected customers deliver significantly enhanced businessresults – greater share of wallet, retention and referral rates -compared with their rationally satisfied counterparts. We willexplore what steps organisations need to take to engage theircustomers and importantly, how you will know whether theseefforts are paying off.’

Barclays case study: A framework to measure and engage the digital customerJulian Brewer, UKRBB Digital,Head of Commercial, Barclays Bank

The presentation uses case studies to explore aframework to measure, optimise and engage

customers on their path through Social to site engagement.

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

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

Do you know what your customers really think of you?Helen Van Tonder, Speech Applications Specialist, Verint Systems EMEA

Are you listening to what your customers are saying– really listening? Maybe you review a smallpercentage of calls; maybe you’ve set up a Twitter

search to pinpoint when somebody mentions your company name.But is that enough? If you’re not monitoring the customerconversation across multiple media channels – voice, texts, emails,the web, social media, customer surveys and more – you’remissing out on vital intelligence; intelligence that could help youstreamline your processes, uncover causes of customer dissatisfaction,detect trends, prevent PR disasters and retain customers.

We’ll reveal• How to gather unstructured data from all these channels, join

up all the points of customer interaction and analyse this data.• How to uncover invaluable insight and use this analysis to

identify and drive change initiatives.• How you can take evidence you can act on to enhance

decision making, shape your customer strategy and performance management to improve the Customer Experience and get ahead of your competitors.

• Why our customers wonder how they ever managed without it

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

Management, Confirmit

As we interact with our customers via morechannels, their experience is built via numerous

touchpoints and their opinions are influenced by more and morepeople. How can we build these individual experiences into asingle accurate view and truly understand what our customersthink? Looking at both multi channels, and across the customerjourney, we will take a brief look at how some organisations areensuring they are able to benefit from seeing a complete view ofthe customer rather than at just a sum of the parts.

What does it take to Engage Customers?- Critical Factors in Customer ContactDr Guy Fielding, Director horizon2

At regular intervals contact centre pundits announcethat there is a single “magic” ingredient that willengage customers and ensure success. Recentexamples include First Contact Resolution, the Net

Promoter Score, and Customer Effort. In this presentation GuyFielding, Director of Research and Development for horizon2, willargue that good customer experiences depend upon a combinationof a number of different factors, with each one contributingsomething, and something different, to the mix. Supported bydata from recent case studies, he will present an evidence-basedstrategy for maximising customer satisfaction and engagement.

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

The language of business is numbers. Businessleaders don’t want to be swamped by them, but doneed quick tools and instincts to interpret them,

especially to know when they mislead. Michael will argue that oneof the best and most neglected of these instincts is to know whenyou don’t know, to see what the data doesn’t tell you. Uncertainty,he says, is underrated. Over-interpreting data, believing it hardwhen it’s soft, is dangerous but often encouraged - andresponsible for some very big business mistakes. He’ll describe thetraps, the consequences, and tricks to do better


John D’Arcy

Claire Sporton

Dr GuyFielding

MichaelBlastland

Julian Brewer

Simon Russell

Helen VanTonder







Download presentation Podcast

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Th

e join

ed up custom

er experience event

The only event to providebusiness solutions to driveCustomer Engagement,Employee Engagement andROI across all channels The Summit will provide all those involved in customer engagement andemployee engagement with the tools and strategies necessary to deliver mutuallybeneficial customer relationships, improved service and performance, customer andemployee retention, loyalty and profitability. The 2 day programme for all stages ofdevelopment will be delivered through a combination of a ‘c-level’ conference includingkeynote sessions, case studies, streams plus interactive workshops, roundtable discussions,panel debates, networking functions, a meetings programme and awards evening.

26-27 NOVEMBER 2012PARK PLAZA HOTEL, LONDON

FEATURING CUSTOMERENGAGEMENT AWARDS

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

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

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

For more information contactChris Wood: [email protected] and+44 (0) 1932 341828 or visit our website:www.customerengagementclub.com

register interest

Programme

Day One

08:00 Registration

08:30 – 12:30 Sponsors private client programme

0900 – 10:30 Workshop A

11:00 – 12:30 Workshop B

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch/Meetings

14:00 Opening Keynote

14:30 – 15:30 Streams/Panels

15:30 – 16:00 Coffee/Meetings

16:00 – 17:00 Streams/Panels

17:00 - 17:15 Chairman’s Summary

17:15 – 18:00 Drinks/Meetings

20:00 – 23:00 Awards Evening

Day Two

08:00 – 09:00 Breakfast/Coffee/Meetings

09:00 – 9:30 Keynote

09:30 – 10;30 Panel Debate


11:00 – 12:00 Streams/Consultant sessions

12:00 – 14:00 Lunch/Meetings

14:00 – 15:30 Streams


16:30 Chairman’s Summary/Close

Customer Engagement ClubDirectors Forums for 2012

For speaking opportunities please contact Steve Hurst: [email protected] sponsorship and other enquiries please contact Chris Wood: [email protected] +44 (0) 1932 341828

Join the Customer Engagement Cluband benefit from:• Weekly News Alerts• Customer Engagement Magazine, 6 issues pa,

available in digital and print• Free and discounted access to Directors Forums

and other Events• Access to all areas of the web site, news,

features, reports, videos, white papers, archive

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

• Multichannel Customer Engagement for Contact Centres, 26th January, London

• Customer Feedback/Measurement/Voice of the Customer, 21st March, London

• Social Media and Mobile Customer Engagement, 16th May, London

• B2B Customer Engagement, 20th June, London

• Multichannel Customer Engagement, 26th September, London

• Customer Engagement Summit & Awards, 26 - 27 November, London

• Employee and Customer Engagement, 5th December, London

cen dec 2011 issue

Documents

senior customer engagement

engagement magazine

customer insight

customer satisfaction

customer engagementclub

employee engagement

comi s s u e s i x d

londondirectorsf o r