Ec mag sep oct 14

engagecustomer

www.engagecustomer.com@engagecustomer

ISSUE SIXTEEN I SEPTEMBER 2014

BIG INTERVIEW:VOLKSWAGEN’S ROADTO CUSTOMER SERVICEEXCELLENCE

BATTLE OF THE BRANDS:FIRST DIRECT VSWELLS FARGO

DON’T MISS THE TOPEVENT OF THE YEAR

CUSTOMERENGAGEMENT SUMMIT:

DAVID NICHOLSHOW ENGAGINGEMPLOYEES ANDCUSTOMERSPAYS DIVIDENDSAT ENDSLEIGH

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ISSUE

28 NOVEMBER, VICTORIA PLAZA, LONDON

Steve Hurst,Editorial Director,

Engage Customer@engagecustomer

a word from the editor

I S S U E S I X T E E N • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 43

We also saw that the link between organisations, their employees andcustomers would also need to evolve against a backdrop of rapidlychanging customer behaviour, coupled with consistently low levels ofemployee engagement across sectors and indeed across countries.As our customers have changed so have our people and the need fora more sophisticated insight and understanding applies equally to both.Monologue has changed to dialogue and the drive towards customercentricity that is finally being recognised by boardrooms as a necessityis in turn driving a re-examination of the links between employeeengagement, customer engagement, performance and profitability.

Why isn’t it working and what can we do?In this issue of Engage Customer we have several articles themedaround the links between employee and customer engagement andhow customer centricity, and the need for greater insight is impactingon this space. Our first ever Directors Forum examined the linksbetween Employee and Customer Engagement and was held at theoffices of Gallup – an organisation synonymous with employeeengagement and which has run global survey after global surveyhighlighting the high levels of employee disengagement that haveprevailed globally for many years.

So one of the things we have to examine is why isn’t it working andwhat can be done to make it work. This issue of Engage Customer willbe at our latest Directors Forum looking at this crucial area of business

and our opening keynote speaker is Peter Flade from Gallup who willbe looking at some of the areas where businesses are failing andshowing how that failure can be transformed into success.

Silo mentality once again the enemyAlso in this issue we have case study examples from organisations asdiverse at Volkswagen and Endsleigh Insurance examining their viewon employee and customer engagement and also some illuminatingcomments from Paul Barnes the MD of customer feedback insightcompany QuestBack about the need for the siloed mentality that stillexists within organisations in their approach to employee and customerengagement to be done away with.

Paul rightly in my view contends that the move towards customercentricity that is once again highlighted in this issue of EngageCustomer means we must re-examine and re-evaluate our approach toemployee engagement and its impact on customer engagementperformance and profitability.

Meantime watch this space for further news from Engage Customer onour commitment to Employee Engagement as a focal point of ouractivities. For us the virtuous circle that is formed by properly engagedand directed employees interacting with increasingly sophisticated anddemanding digital age customers is a no-brainer for long termbusiness success.

When we launched Engage Customer five years ago it was in large part because we sawhuge changes coming up in the way that customers interact with organisations and theneed for greater levels of customer insight and understanding as those interactionsbecame more complex and more challenging

HOW THE MOVE TO CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY ISMOVING THE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT GOALPOSTS

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

Time: 09:00 – 17:00

Date: Thursday October 23rd 2014

The Telco and Utility sectors are both facing a number of challengeswhen it comes to engaging customers across channels, with bothsectors consistently scoring low across a raft of respected customersatisfaction surveys.

Both face challenges in the perception of where the customer lies within theirorganisations and much work needs to be done – particularly in the utilitiessector where accusations that the Big Six utilities effectively run a cartel areongoing – and where Government is stepping in to control pricing.

This Directors Forum will investigate the issues that face these troubledsectors in turbulent times in terms of their customer engagementstrategies in an increasingly regulatory environment and shine alight on the best way forward for sustainable success.

Delegates will learn:• The winning strategies that telco and utility sector organisations are

employing to gain and regain customer trust and loyalty

• What the regulatory changes aimed at ensuring the sectors improve their customer service outcomes mean in practical terms including controls on pricing

• What the very best telco and utility organisations are achieving through implementation of customer centric strategies

• How to measure and quantify the business benefits of strategic and meaningful customer engagement strategies

• How telco and utilities organisations can differentiate to win customer trust and gain competitive advantage

• What the future holds in troubled business sectors and what long term customer engagement strategies are needed to succeed.

Speakers todate include:• Case study: EE• Case Study: Npower• Case Study: First Utility• Case Study: British Gas• Forrester

Customer Engagementin telcos/utilities23 OCTOBER 2014, LONDON

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contents

contents


Cover StoryHOW ENGAGING CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES PAYS DIVIDENDS

In this exclusive interview Engage Customer editorial director Steve Hurst puts the spotlighton David Nichols customer operations director at Endsleigh and Zurich about its journey to

customer centricity and the key role played by employee and customer engagement

VOLKSWAGEN’S ROAD TO CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCEIn an Engage Customer exclusive interview Petra Krivinskas - head of Customer ServicesCentre Operations, Volkswagen Group UK reveals the automobile giant’s journey towards

customer service excellence

REVEALED THE MOST INTELLIGENT WAY TO INTERACT WITH CUSTOMERSFrom the growth of social media to the latest smartphones, a multitude of technological

advancements has raised both consumers’ expectations and the demands on businessesto produce the highest levels of customer service excellence says Dave Paulding

THREE ENGAGING STEPS TO GAMIFICATION HEAVENThere are three simple but effective steps to introducing engagement through

gamification successfully into your organisation says Neil Penny

SOCIAL CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT DIRECTORS FORUM SUMMARY

THE BIG FOUR CUSTOMER CENTRICITY SECRETS FOR TRANSFORMING CUSTOMERSINTO ADVOCATES

What’s the secret of bringing a level of service to your customers that makes them wantto tell the world about how great your organisation is? Stephen Hewett and David

Pickering have the answers

Talking HeadsBREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS BETWEEN EMPLOYEE AND CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENTIn this Engage Customer exclusive editorial director Steve Hurst talks with QuestBack MDPaul Barnes about the three key trends that are transforming the customer insight space

as organisations wrestle with customer centricity and the need to engage in greaterdialogue with employees

FIRST DIRECT VS WELLS FARGO -WHICH BRAND HAS THE MOST UNIQUE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY?

This exclusive article is from customer experience management consultancy Nunwood, aspart of its Customer Experience Excellence (CEE) programme. The CEE programme

focuses on understanding the external and internal characteristics of the organisationsthat excel in this area, enabling them to learn, without bias, from the world’s best brands

Expert OpinionHOW TO TURN YOUR CFO INTO A CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CHAMPION

When it comes to rallying your organisation around customer experience programmes,CFOs might seem like some of the toughest people to get on board.

COMPANY PROFILES

Final WordWHY YOUR BUSINESS BENEFITS WHEN EMPLOYEES ARE ENGAGED

Colin Shaw reckons paying your people more is far from being philanthropic – but it doesmake sound business sense

EditorialAdvisory 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

First off David could you tell us a bit about your backgroundand how you came to the role of Customer OperationsDirector at Endsleigh (and Zurich Personal Lines)?

I started my career in Financial Services working at Aviva,specifically in the General Insurance market. I worked in anumber of customer facing roles before becoming moreinvolved in the leadership of contact centres. I moved to ZurichInsurance in 2004 and developed further capabilities incustomer demand planning, outsourcing and continuousimprovement.

I joined Endsleigh as the Chief Operating Officer in 2012 and,more recently, was appointed as the Customer OperationsDirector following the closer alignment of Endsleigh and ZurichPersonal Lines. My latest role takes responsibility for ourcombined customer facing activity and customer journeydelivery.

Talk us through the Endsleigh journey to customercentricity over the past two years - I understand therehave been a number of key phases to this since theinitiative began in summer 2012?

Over the last two years there have been some significantdevelopments in this area, which have focused strongly on

improving Endsleigh’s delivery to the customer. This hasinvolved three distinct phases of change. The first phaselooked at the levels of customer demand experienced by ourcontact centres. We invested resource in improving planningand scheduling capabilities, and enhanced capacity throughintroducing a new telephony platform. To support an improvedalignment of our people to customer demands, we alsoreshaped our operations to focus our skills very firmly oncustomer service, sales and claims.

Our next phase introduced continuous improvement throughimplementing a lean methodology to support the identificationof challenges that our customers face and also support for ourteam in fixing the root cause of these challenges. During thisphase we also enhanced our measurement of customersatisfaction, with a focus on the “ease of doing business” withus, by introducing measures such as net promoter score.

The third phase of change focused on enhancing our servicedelivery. Our partner, Brand Biology, specialise in customerengagement training and they really helped us improve how weengage with our customers through the contact centres. Thiswas a hugely engaging phase of our change and provided allof our team with skills enabling them to respond to ourcustomers in a way that really enhanced the customers’experience with us.

I S S U E S I X T E E N • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 6

HOWENGAGING

CUSTOMERS ANDEMPLOYEES PAYS

DIVIDENDS�

In this exclusive interview Engage Customer editorial director Steve Hurst puts the spotlighton David Nichols customer operations director at Endsleigh and Zurich about its journey tocustomer centricity and the key role played by employee and customer engagement

What have been the main benefits of working with BrandBiology in your journey and how has your relationshipwith them evolved? – I believe you have won someawards in recognition of the work you have donetogether?

The engagement with Brand Biology has been hugelysuccessful for us at Endsleigh. The initial focus of BrandBiology was getting to know our business, our customers andthe behaviours of our contact centres. They spent time withour operations team understanding our typical language andthe services we provide for our customers. Based on this, theyproduced a highly innovative training programme for our peopleat Endsleigh. This included role play of real life scenarios usingactors to demonstrate how language and behaviour might beperceived by different customers, which helped to give theteam a better understanding of some of their own behavioursnorms. This exercise was hugely engaging and improved theability of our team to listen and respond appropriately todifferent customer demands.

We recently achieved the bronze award at the NationalCustomer Services Training Awards in recognition of thisproject and our work with Brand Biology.

Endsleigh was formed originally by the National Union ofStudents and is still the UK’s largest student insurer – howare you tailoring your contact centre operations to caterfor this digitally savvy always connected customer base?

I think it’s important to understand your customers. Ourcustomer insight work has allowed us to develop a strongunderstanding of the preferences customers have around howwe engage with them. This has helped to develop our thinkingaround the online services we provide as well as how those

services are supported. It’s fair to say we are on a journey andthat journey is about providing “omni channel” servicingcapabilities that vary depending on the need of the customer atany point in time.

For example, a customer may start their decision to purchaseinsurance through a range of web-based services, such asusing online assistance on their computer, or on their phone torespond to questions that they may have. However theseneeds can easily change if they find themselves needing toreport an accident or the loss of a personal possession. Ourability to support our customers by their favoured contactmethod has become critical in the delivery of our insuranceservices.

What is your view on the link between employee andcustomer engagement, and how does that manifest itselfin your contact centre operations and overarchingcustomer centric ambitions?

I strongly believe that if, as a team, we are engaged in processof improving service delivery and are passionate about theservices that we are offering, it will be recognised by ourcustomers. Our change programme has had a very strongimpact in increasing the engagement of our people. This isbecause we have found it helpful for people to be able tohighlight challenges that customers may face, work throughthese and, as a result, feel adequately equipped to providesolutions.

Our teams meet daily to focus on the customer experience thatthey are delivering and to agree how they might improve ourcapabilities. The daily meetings focus on where we add valueto customers and how this can be further improved. In additionto this, our incentive schemes are all very much focused


cover story

�

“Our change programme has had a very strong impactin increasing the engagement of our people. This is

because we have found it helpful for people to be ableto highlight challenges that customers may face, work

through these and, as a result, feel adequately equippedto provide solutions”

David Nichols, customeroperations director atEndsleigh and ZurichPersonal Lineswww.endsleigh.co.uk


around feedback from our customers rather than the moretraditional sales-based incentives that so often feature incontact centres.

Tell us about some of the metrics you use (NPS, Top Boxetc) in assessing customer satisfaction and overallperformance and how these have since you introducedthe ‘customer centric’ strategy.

On a daily basis we use NPS as well as measures that we referto as “top box”. Our top box measures ask our customers toscore us based on the knowledge of our people, such as howhelpful we were, whether we provide clear information and theoverall friendliness of the contact. We effectively measure howmany customers score us as 10 out of 10 in these areas hencethe reference to top box. All of our measures are tracked at anindividual level allowing us to provide targeted coaching aroundthe scores that each employee receives.

Our team leaders can access all of this information on a realtime basis allowing us to monitor how we are doing at all times.In addition to measurement, we also pay very strong attentionto any verbatim comments that our customers leave us. Thesecomments are full of rich insight about the services we provideand really help us to pin point great experiences or opportunitiesfor change. We also ensure that customers who take the time

to provide us with feedback get a response from us.

I understand the next phase in the programme forcustomer centricity is introduction into the all-importantclaims department – what do you hope to achieve theregoing forward?

Our claims teams have very much been a part of all the changethat we have introduced to date and we monitor customerfeedback in this department in the same way as in sales andservice delivery. We have already implemented the first twophases of the change project into our claims teams and arejust starting phase three with the introduction of the BrandBiology training. Based on the success we have alreadyachieved in sales and service, we have high hopes for thisbeing replicated in claims.

One of our key goals is to ensure that our teams are able torespond to our customers in the best possible way during theirtime of need. Being able to tailor the contact we providecustomers during the claim process should remove some ofthe concern that may exist during a difficult time – and we willbe monitoring the results of this delivery very carefully. Thelanguage we use, the contact we provide and identifyingsupport that the customer needs are all fundamental elementsof this delivery for our claims teams.

“Our teamsmeet daily to focus on

the customer experiencethat they are deliveringand to agree how they

might improve ourcapabilities”

cover story

In an Engage Customer exclusive interview Petra Krivinskas - Head of Customer ServicesCentre Operations, Volkswagen Group UK reveals the automobile giant’s journey towardscustomer service excellence

VOLKSWAGEN’S ROAD TOCUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE

Petra Krivinskas, Head of CustomerServices Centre Operations,Volkswagen Group UKwww.volkswagengroup.co.uk

Volkswagen Group UK is one of the largestautomobile companies in the world, and we’reproud to have been recently recognised forour customer service, receiving the BestCustomer Focus – Large Enterprise awardfrom the Institute Of Customer Service. Withone in five vehicles driven in the UKmanufactured by Volkswagen Group, webelieve that our customer service should liveup to our world class brands, which includeVolkswagen, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA andVolkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

Our Customer Quality division ensures that theentire Volkswagen Group is Customer Qualityfocused, and representation on the Board ofManagement ensures that communicationfilters through every level, including allfranchises and networks. Customer service isat the core of everything we do, and theVolkswagen experience spans before, duringand post purchase, therefore involving eachand every department.

While many organisations view customerservice as a short term solution – fixing theproblems of today – Volkswagen believes thatdelivering a consistent and quality customerexperience is critical to long term success. It’sbecause of this that over the last 18 months,we have developed and begun to implement athree-year strategy and vision for VolkswagenGroup customer services, focusing on deliveringexcellence for customers, as well as alignment,clarity and direction for Volkswagen suppliers.

The Volkswagen Group Customer ServicesCentre (CSC) – externally endorsed bySCHEMA® as a leading customer serviceoperation – is at the heart of the strategy. Itemploys 330 staff, who on average receive55,000 contacts and handle 10,500 cases permonth. With dedicated customer service staffto advise on each Volkswagen brand, this isthe frontline of the operation, playing a vitalrole in customer experience. The strategyrevolves around one goal – to deliver a high-quality service consistently and efficiently.

Keen insight helps usbe right first timeThe effective use of customer feedback andthe way this translates to changes in policy issomething Volkswagen is wholly committed to,and plays a fundamental role in ensuringcustomer focus. At every stage, the customeris at the forefront of the decision makingprocess, and we’ve employed a strategy thatplaces the customer at the forefront ofoperations, activities and achievements.

The CSC Insight Team helps in the challengeto stay one step ahead of customers’ needsand demands, identifying potential issues andchallenges before they develop. By identifyingwhat’s being reported, at what scale, andwhat’s being done, they are able to identifyquality issues and support the business todevelop a solution. In a recent example, a highlevel of RAC call-outs was identified as beingcaused by roadside punctures and vehicles �


the big interview

the big interview

not carrying a spare tyre. This was a factory decision made toreduce fuel consumption, but the negative impact this had oncustomer experience has led to all our vehicles now having theoption to carry a spare wheel.

At this point we use Knowledge Base, an innovative system andoperating process, created and commissioned by VolkswagenGroup UK. This tool streamlines the communication process and isdesigned to provide quick, accurate answers to customerenquiries, ensuring that advisors receive all the relevant brandinformation, including technical issues, new products and productinformation. This optimises the Volkswagen Customer Serviceexperience in keeping with the organisation’s ‘right first time’ ethos.

Finding permanent business solutions to these issues reducescontact to the CSC. This is one of the main aims of the CSC’sstrategy. Counterintuitive as it may sound, it’s a great thing forus to identify root causes and act to remove the need forcustomer contact.

Collaboration brings ‘one business’ to lifeVolkswagen Group has a complex, multi-layered operating modelwith brands, a 750-strong franchised retail network and supportservices like the CSC, but to customers it’s all one business andit’s our job to live up to this by delivering consistently across all keytouchpoints. Every part of the business has to meet the same highstandards and work together to produce a smooth, seamlesscustomer experience.

Retailer visits have been a critical part in getting this right. Invitingretailers into the CSC helps each side understand the pressures inother areas of the business and find new ways to work together.This ‘one business’ approach extends to the relationship betweenthe CSC and the wider Customer Quality team. This crucialpartnership is the key that can turn customer feedback into achange in factory process.

The keen insight we gather is worth nothing without thecollaboration necessary to implement a solution. This is the pointwhich converts knowledge into action.

Measuring engagementOur overall customer focus strategy measures customerengagement through customer satisfaction, customer feedbackand proactive customer contact. Progress towards our customersatisfaction goals are measured through a range of criteria,including ease of contact, ownership, resolution, attitudes andbusiness understanding, while customer service targets aremeasured by an external research company and complemented byindustry-wide surveys such as NCBS, JD Power and IACS. Usingcustomer satisfaction surveys we are also able to create adefinable measure of brand loyalty in customers.

We’ve also developed a range of customer service tools unique to

Volkswagen, including a Customer Service Mood Barometer,created especially for the Customer Services Centre as a uniquemeasure to understand the impact the centre’s involvement has oncustomers. The Customer Services Centre consistently converts29% of ‘negative’ customers to brand advocates and ourcustomer satisfaction rates increased from 75% mid 2012 to81.2% Q4 2013.

Customer service is a career At Volkswagen we believe that customer service is a career, notjust a job, and have implemented a career framework that identifiesand supports emerging talent through a robust learning anddevelopment programme. Volkswagen Group Customer ServicesCentre employees receive eight weeks of training before going live,compared to the average 10 days at other service centres, and thistraining is an ongoing and progressive learning process. Weengage and motivate staff by recognising employees andcelebrating successes, investing in team members through pay,environment and skills development. We’re proud of our stafftenure and 50% of Volkswagen Customer Services Centreemployees have been with the company for four or more years.

Equally important to training and development, the recruitmentprocess is also a vital step in delivering excellent customer service.Customer service is both rewarding and demanding, and it takes acertain calibre of candidate to succeed. We look for dynamic teammembers who possess the core key strengths required for the role.These include customer focus, commercial acumen, relationshipand communication skills, and of course, passion and enthusiasm.

We strive on a daily basis to engage and empower our employeesto make a difference, and advocate internal knowledge sharing andtwo-way communication, through Listening Boards, quarterlyGeneral Manager sessions, our New Starters Forum, Pit Stops andfeedback forms.

Involving employees in the decision making process is also key. Wehold weekly sessions to analyse customer surveys, and customersatisfaction survey results are shared at monthly performancereviews to address areas that require improvement, and to seehow the Volkswagen customer experience can be improved.

A vision for the future Last year, the UK automotive industry, which comprises over 30manufacturers/importers, sold more than 2.2 million cars. Themotor industry continues to face a range of challenges from thecurrent economic situation, concerns for the environment and newcompetitors. With a 20% share of the UK market and a 750-strongretailer network, we’re dedicated to delivering great customerservice and it’s what sets us apart from other manufacturers.Volkswagen Group’s vision is to be renowned for its service, sothat people talk about the service in the same positive way thatthey talk about our cars, and our Customer Services Centre is akey element to achieving world class service to match our brands.

“We strive on a daily basis to engage and empower our employees to make a difference,

and advocate internal knowledge sharing and two-way communication, through

Listening Boards, quarterly General Manager sessions, our New Starters Forum, Pit

Stops and feedback forms”

I S S U E S I X T E E N • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 1 0

feature


From the growth of social media to the latest smartphones, a multitude of technologicaladvancements has raised both consumers’ expectations and the demands on businessesto produce the highest levels of customer service excellence says Dave Paulding �

Dave Paulding is RegionalSales Director, UK & MiddleEast, Interactive Intelligence www.inin.com

The relationship between companies andconsumers has been radically transformedin recent years in line with the escalatingnumber of communications channels.

Year on year, the world of customerservice is changing. A new breed ofcustomer has emerged – one that has aloud voice and a number of publicplatforms on which to make it heard.Customers are becoming moreempowered by technology and driven bythe immediacy it provides, and anticipatethat same sense of urgency from theirinteractions with businesses. Whether it isto resolve a complaint, answer a query orrequest information, they want thequickest and most efficient resolution.

In fact, in a recent global survey,commissioned by Interactive Intelligenceand administered by independentresearch firm, Actionable Research, atimely response was ranked as the mostimportant part of a customer serviceinteraction.

What customers really wantThe study, which was a follow-on to asimilar survey conducted in 2013,addressed two key areas, ‘what docustomers want in a great serviceexperience?’, and ‘what do customersand companies want from the technologybehind that great customer experience?’.A group of global consumers werequestioned, alongside a group ofprofessionals, which included ITprofessionals and customer care leaders,about their customer service andtechnology expectations and preferences.

Evidently, for consumers around the world,the customer experience continues to gain

importance and, for companies, itprovides the gateway to new businessand higher levels of customer loyalty.Customer service excellence directlyimproves sales and this sentiment wasechoed in the 2014 study – with nearlyhalf of consumers’ surveyed (45 per cent)saying they “always” or “usually” maketheir products or services purchasingdecisions based solely on theorganisation’s customer servicereputation.

Speed is the key Another key finding, perhaps unsurprisinggiven the pace of today’s fast movingtechnology, is that speed is the top prioritywhen it comes to customer serviceinteractions. Opinions have changed in thelast year regarding what each groupvalues most in a customer serviceinteraction, as the results from the 2013study differed, indicating that consumersrated a ‘knowledgeable agent’ as the vitalelement of an interaction.

However, in terms of specific methods ofcommunication, a phone call with anagent is still by far the most preferredchannel, despite the prolific growth inavailability of other methods. The resultsdid show that although alternate channelsare definitely making inroads, 61% ofconsumers and 56% of professionals stillprefer the telephone.

Web chat taking overThe 2014 study showed that there is alsoan increased preference for live agent webchat and this is slowly taking overcustomers using email, which dropped by4 per cent for consumers and 7 per centfor professionals compared to theprevious year’s figures. �


“In simple terms, social

routing effectively channels

the customer to the most

appropriate service

representative in the

contact centre”

“Today’s consumers take a multi-pronged approach

when communicating with companies and the use of

social media channels have had a dramatic impact on

both the speed of the response and the way contact

centres deal with customer enquiries”

feature


The immediacy and very public nature of social media make it anideal target as an alternative communications method forconsumers. During the past few years, businesses have been madewell aware of its ramifications, and many customer service strategieshave had to evolve and incorporate an element of social media.Given the global popularity of social media, the study uncovered asomewhat surprising result, as only one per cent of consumersprefer to use these social sites to interact with a company.

Although, in perhaps a nod towards more people starting to adoptthis as their chosen method, the findings from the group ofprofessionals showed they were more common users of socialmedia, using social channels at a four per cent rate to interact withbusinesses. In addition, more than half of the consumers surveyed(53 per cent) said they have used, or would use, Facebook tointeract with a company for customer service.

Clearly, many businesses are meeting the high requirements oftheir customer base, as 64 per cent of consumers reported havingan exceptional, positive customer experience.

The study demonstrated that word of mouth remains as strong asever as the majority also stated that they would tell others abouttheir positive experience, in fact, 70 per cent of them said theyreferred the company they had their positive experience with totheir family and friends. Apart from Sweden, this percentageincreased in every country in which the survey took place from2013 to 2014.

Customer frustrations are myriadWhen it comes to frustrations during a customer serviceinteraction, the main annoyance reported by customers involvedthe agent they were speaking too. The most noted examples werenot being able to understand the agent when speaking on thephone, and dealing with an agent who is condescending ordemeaning, or both.

Similar kinds of unprofessional behaviour had been reported duringlast year’s survey, and this was reflected in the 2014 study, ashaving a competent agent still remains the highest priority. Themajority of consumers actually said they would likely seek analternate vendor if an agent was condescending or demeaning. Customers place a high value on their interaction with agents,particularly those who contact businesses or service providersregularly. Specific aspects of customer service rated the most

important included agents who have access to the individual’sprevious transaction details. This leads to speed of service, moreefficient transactions and removes the need to repeat informationduring an interaction.

The overall results from the study suggest that the most successfulcontact centre operations are those that reflect the continuallyevolving needs of their customers. Today’s consumers take a multi-pronged approach when communicating with companies and theuse of social media channels have had a dramatic impact on boththe speed of the response and the way contact centres deal withcustomer enquiries.

Social routing emerging trendOne of the latest emerging trends capable of addressing many ofthe issues brought up in the study, with the ability to take customerservice to its highest level is social routing. The new method ofsocial routing provides the next step that contact centres need tomore accurately meet their customers’ requirements with a specificand tailored approach.

As the number of alternative channels widens, social media, webchat and video chat will start to catch up with the popularity oftraditional communication methods. The survey showed theincrease in customer expectations, who are looking for the samelevel of functionality, service and interactivity for their product andservice related query that they receive when buying online. One ofthe biggest problems is the gap between the buying experienceand the support experience, and social routing could be theanswer to meet this demand.

In simple terms, social routing effectively channels the customer tothe most appropriate service representative in the contact centre.The consumer will be presented with agent options and will, ineffect, select the best, most suitable customer service advisorthemselves to address their query, complaint or informationrequest. The power is once again handed back to the consumer.

Whatever customer service path businesses take, the focus for thefuture has to mirror the behavior and opinion of its targetconsumers. The overall findings from the 2014 survey provide aframework of what consumers believe a superior customerexperience should entail, they provide answers to many vitalquestions which could be used to ensure that every potentialcompany interaction is carried out in the most intelligent way.

There are three simple but effective steps to introducing engagement through gamificationsuccessfully into your organisation says Neil Penny

THREE ENGAGING STEPS TOGAMIFICATION HEAVEN

Gamification is looking like it could be a great way for organisationsto engage with workers, particularly the ‘Facebook generation’, toboost productivity and customer service.

However, with analysts predicting that 80% * of gamifiedapplications will fail to meet business objectives this year, thethought of understanding the concept of gamification, let aloneimplementing it, might sound like an uphill battle.

Here I outline practical advice and my top tips for a successfulapproach to boosting your rewards and recognition programmesusing gamification.

The consumerisation of IT has taken hold and is a fact of life formost organisations. People expect to use technology similar to thedevices they use at home and in their personal lives. They expectto use social media and increasingly they are completely turned offby the traditional interfaces of many older business applications.


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Organisations looking to recruit and retain tomorrow’s top talentcan do a lot to ensure that they manage their workforce, includingintroducing gamification techniques that actively improve employeeengagement and help boost productivity.

Gamification uses game theory to introduce a competitive elementto work operations that use social capital, self-esteem and fun toappeal to the workforce. It forms an important aspect of employeereward and recognition schemes, and can be used to encouragestaff to work towards corporate goals.

Top tips for introducing gamificationinto the workplaceUnderstanding how gamification works is one thing, making it aviable option that works in a real-life business environment issomething quite different. Here is a practical guide, a simple three-step methodology that will put you on the road to successfulgamification.

Gain buy-in• Don’t assume everyone understands the concept of gamification

and make sure to position it as a motivational reward and recognition system rather than just another fad

• What’s in it for the players? Linking rewards to something tangible like cake and coffee, or even monetary gain, will grab their attention

• Recognise that not all players are the same – challenges and rewards need to reflect differences in roles and function

• Don’t commit to promises of rewards you can’t keep – a sure-fire way to demotivate your team

Start simple• Wait until everyone is familiar with gamification before introducing

more complex, longer-term goals and rewards• Go slowly to build up confidence and keep players keen – start

with simple challenges and rewards that encourage healthy

competition between players such as ‘highest weekly customer satisfaction rating’, ‘lowest service level agreement stats’, ‘lowest number of re-opened incidents’ or ‘highest number of approved knowledge base articles submitted in a month’

• Decision criteria for determining winners should be based on measurable statistics such as being ‘rated 5 out of 5 by a customer’ rather than just ‘closing 10 incidents a day’

• Make first-time rewards attainable to keep new players motivated• Create tiered rewards that motivate players to continually do better• Mix it up – apply different rewards for different Service Desk

groups at different times but make sure players are competing against colleagues performing similar tasks

• Don’t be ‘out-gamed’ – minimise the opportunities to cheat by keeping rewards criteria clear and strict

• Align gaming scenarios with business objectives to keep them real and meaningful – after all, gamification is all about supporting the business!

Monitor and Iterate• Continually review the effectiveness of your gamification

techniques – is everyone participating? Are there enough rewards and challenges to keep players interested in thelong term?

• Listen to staff feedback – more often than not, they will know what works, what does not and come up with fresh ideas

• It’s an evolving process – constantly tweak and roll-out new challenges and rewards to keep up momentum

In today’s collaborative world, using clever technology thatintegrates the concepts of game theory is essential to gaining thesupport of younger staff members. At the end of the day, they aretomorrow’s business leaders.

Engaging them in a way that entertains and educates is vital tocreating a dynamic and thriving work environment. By introducinggamification successfully, companies can look forward to increasedemployee motivation that boosts productivity and impactspositively on customer service, and ultimately the organisation’sbottom line.

* “Gamification Trends and Strategies to Help Prepare for the Future” Brian Burke, research vice president at Gartner.

“By introducing gamification successfully, companies can look

forward to increased employee motivation that boosts

productivity and impacts positively on customer service, and

ultimately the organisation’s bottom line”

Neil Penny is Product Directorat Sunrise Softwarewww.sunrisesoftware.com


28 NOVEMBER, VICTORIA PLAZA, LONDONTHE JOINED UP CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE EVENT

The Summit is the only joined-up customer experience event todrive successful customer and employee engagement strategiesfor organisations looking to improve customer retention, loyalty,

and business performance and profitability.

E N G A G E C U S T O M E R , O R G A N I S E R S O F T H E S U M M I T , W O U L D L I K E

L E A D I N G B P O P R O V I D E R

ENGAGE

WITH OVER

40 SPEAKERS,

PLENARY KEYNOTES,

2 STREAMS, NEW

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T O T H A N K T H I S Y E A R ’ S S P O N S O R S A N D S P E A K E R S I N C L U D I N G :


W E A R E P L E A S E D T O A N N O U N C EO U R S P E A K E R L I N E - U P W H I C H I N C L U D E :

Louise CooperChartered Financial Analyst, writer,Times financial columnist,broadcaster and reporter oneconomics and market activity

Mike HavardSummit Chairman, Director,Ember Services

David WildCEO, Domino's Pizza

Peter BurrowsChief Executive, Engage Mutual

Ivanka JanssenDirector, Global Route to Consumer,Diageo

Sean RisebrowDirector of Customer Service, Fidelity

Peter SindenDirector, LV=

Heather McGillHead of Customer Experience,London Olympics

Mathis WagnerCustomer Service Director,Charles Tyrwhitt

Lucy CrowtherHead of HR, Argos

John ClelandCEO, Maplin

Paul HughesHead of Social Engagement,Telefonica O2 UK


Social Customer Forum - Presentationsreview

DOWNLOADPRESENTATIONS

Social CustomerEngagementDirectors Forum3 JULY, 2014

Opening Keynote: Forging Innovative Customer RelationshipsJustin Hunt, Founder, The Social Media Leadership Forum

New technologies present fresh opportunities to connect inreal time with your customers. Many organisations are focusingsolely on traditional customer relationship managementobjectives and are largely motivated by reputationalmanagement issues. In this talk, Justin Hunt, founder of TheSocial Media Leadership Forum will share cutting edge

examples of how companies can and are reinventing online customer serviceand collaborating with customers in innovative ways to produce new goodsand services.

BT Case Study: 'Serving the Social Customer'Dr. Nicola Millard, Futurologist, BT

Customers like to talk to each other on social media but howdoes social media fit alongside other channels when it comesto talking to organisations? How does the social, "Omni-channel" customer use different channels? How do traditionalservice organisations need to evolve to cope?

Intelligent engagement boosts social customer experience and salesSadiq Mohammed, Director, Serco

When it comes to developing online sales and reducingpurchase abandonment, few initiatives can match theeffectiveness of web chat. But, that's not all. The latestgeneration of web chat takes customer engagement andsocial business onto a new level. As well as providing an agile,highly responsive and dynamic platform that meets customer

expectations for convenience and speed, it's also delivering significantbenefits in terms of online customer experience and interaction. Thispresentation will highlight how the use of predictive intelligent targeting inweb chat solutions helps to maximise service personalisation throughappropriate, friendly and conversational customer engagement.

Social Customer care - is it time to forget the phone ?Conrad Simpson, VP Telco EMEA, Dimelo

As new digital channels become an increasingly criticalelement of great customer care, many organisations aredebating business cases, art of the possible and how to takethe first steps. Using case studies from Dimelo's widecustomer base Conrad will cover these issues using practicalexperience based data. He'll focus on when is right time to

make the move? How to make sure you get it right? And of course, is itpossible to forget the phone?

'Pivoting the Social Customer’Leon Stafford, Regional Territory Manager, Interactive Intelligence

Social Contact is established as a legitimate service contactpoint. Using supplementary channels effectively can turn thechallenge of managing a new channel into an opportunity todelight. Leon will present the Interactive Intelligence view of thisrelationship with examples of InIn Customers of putting thisinto practice.

Telefonica/O2 Case Study: O2’s truly embedded Social inService approachPaul Hughes, Head of Social Engagement, Telefonica

Many brands are not sure where to begin with their SocialEngagement journey. Should they jump in at the deep end andbuild a contact centre-based approach immediately or shouldthey get the basics right first? I discuss Telefonica UK’s views,their engagement journey and some of the important things toconsider while building your Social Engagement strategy.

“Mobile devices & apps – the power behind social customerservice change”Alex Noble, Collaboration Social Media Expert, Cisco

Social Media existed before mobile devices and apps, but wasseen as niche and had minimal impact on customerengagement. In this session we look at how mobilitytransformed Social Media’s impact on social customer serviceand where social customers may go next.

Panel Debate includes: Jon Morter, Ben Stockman andJustin HuntJon Morter, Award-winning social media community specialistand speaker

Naked Wines Case Study: A Social Business, not a Social StrategyJo Gunn, Director, Naked Wines

Naked Wines launched mid recession 5.5 years ago in astagnating industry. To succeed, they had to do thingsdifferently and do things better. This presentation explores thepower of creating a truly social business, a business who putsthe customer at the very centre of it’s business model anddecision making.

Barclaycard Case Study: The story of a big businessembracing contentLucy Wren, Head of Social Media, Barclaycard Europe

The story of a big business embracing content. Thispresentation will look at the implications of moving from acomms to a content focus for Barclaycard. We will look at whyare we doing it, what the impact has been on our operatingmodel and how we are measuring success. The journey isnowhere near over for Barclaycard but the presentation will

cover the good, the bad and the ugly to date.

It's good to talk (normally)Ben Stockman, Social Media & Business Development Specialist, Jon Morter, Award-winning social media community specialist and speaker

Social media activists Jon Morter (#RATM4XMAS,Condescending Corporate Brand) and Ben Stockman (RageAgainst the Election, SXSELondon) explain how, withcompanies clamouring for attention amidst the online chatter,too many businesses forget to communicate normally - howdoes this reflect on their brand, what are they doing wrong and

what should they do to fix it? What does social media ‘done right’ look like?

This high level Directors Forum demonstrated how understandingthat building relationships with customers through social/mobilenetworks rather than trying to take control is the key to your futuresuccessful Social Business strategies, delivering long termbusiness benefits and sustained competitive advantage

What’s the secret of bringing a levelof service to your customers thatmakes them want to tell the worldabout how great your organisationis? Stephen Hewett and DavidPickering have the answers

THE BIG FOURCUSTOMERCENTRICITYSECRETS FORTRANSFORMINGCUSTOMERSINTO ADVOCATES

Every customer has a need they want meeting or a problemthey need solving. Yet what’s often forgotten in the cut andthrust of modern life is that customers genuinely want to enjoyinteracting with suppliers. Customers love having their needsmet or their problems solved.

Of course, different types of customer interaction offer differentlevels of potential enjoyment. We don’t suppose many of us getquite as much fun from, say, phoning our local authority with aquery about council tax as we get from going to our local winewarehouse to select half a dozen bottles, or when we buy a newcar. But the common thread is that in any customer interaction,successful resolutions and positive outcomes deliver gratification tocustomers and at least some level of enjoyment.

Nothing abstract about serviceSo, great customer service certainly isn’t some abstractmanagement theory, but instead something intense and genuine.It’s also something of the moment that’s created between acustomer service person and a customer.

No matter how many people work for an organisation, the simpleand vital fact is that at the moment when the customer is interacting �

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Stephen Hewett is founder and chief executive of C3Partners, which brings new customer-focused strategiesto both public sector and private sector organisations. Hehas published two books about Customer Centricity:‘The Customer-Centric You: Making Customers theFocus of Everything You Do’ and ‘Customers Are TheAgenda: A Practical Guide to Customer-CentricManagement’. These books are published byManagement Books 2000, and are available on amazonand from all good bookshops. www.c3-partners.comStephen Hewett’s personal website iswww.stephenhewett.co.uk

David Pickering is chief executive of C3 Partners, a formerchief executive of Charteris plc and a former director ofLogica plc. David is an experienced leader of consultingand services businesses - both public and private. Stronglycustomer and sales focused, David has extensiveexperience of building start-up enterprises into successfulconsulting brands - Charteris plc grew to become one ofthe top 40 management consulting businesses in the UK.David also has extensive corporate experience. As a directorwith global IT services firm Logica he led the growth ofsome of its largest operating units. David is a CharteredEngineer and Fellow of the British Computer Society

with the customer service person, that customer service personrepresents, in effect, as far as the customer is concerned, the totalityof the customer service being delivered by the entire organisation.

If, for example, I want to buy a new mobile phone and I go into aHigh Street mobile phone shop, the fact that the shop may be partof a chain of hundreds of such shops, employing thousands ofpeople altogether, is actually fairly irrelevant to me at that moment.What I want is to find someone in the shop who is knowledgeableabout mobile phones and can help to answer all my queries, and –and this is what matters most of all – really cares about helping me.

Even if that week, 999,999 customers of that organisation haveenjoyed brilliant customer service from that organisation, if I don’tget brilliant customer service myself, I won’t be impressed byknowing (and in fact even less by being told) that those 999,999did. There’s no enjoyment there!

The four fundamentals Great and enjoyable customer service relies on a small number offundamentals. Firstly, the customer service person must havesound knowledge of the thing the customer is asking about;secondly, the customer service person must have genuineenthusiasm for being helpful; and thirdly, the customer serviceperson must have a charming and helpful manner.

As well as this, there’s a vital fourth ingredient, trust.

At C3 Partners we think trust is, in fact, the most importantelement of excellent customer service. Building on the point thatthe core of the customer service relationship is the interactionbetween customer and customer service person, it’s only logicalthat we want to feel we can trust the customer service person togive us the advice we need.

After all, trust is hard to win and easy to lose. Naturally, brandreputation - along with context and experience - play importantparts in establishing trust. It also certainly helps if the customerservice person is working for an organisation we like and have faithin: based on a good and ideally excellent track record of thatorganisation meeting our needs and solving our problems.

How to win trustAlso, appearances matter. People are generally more inclined totrust a customer service person, maybe wearing a uniform,working in a High Street outlet of a major organisation thansomeone in casual clothes running a stall down a side-alley. Yet infact, it may be that the person running the stall knows their stuffmore than a customer service person in a large organisation’s retailoutlet. For example, many mobile phone service shops - as �

feature


opposed to outlets run by the major mobile phonecompanies - are a bit scruffy and charmless inside, butthe people who work in them are often ultra-knowledgeable and eager to help and truly trustworthy.

Whatever the nature of the organisation that isdelivering customer service to us, the samefundamentals apply. As customers we want whoeveris giving us service to know their stuff (knowledge), towant to help us (enthusiasm), to communicate well(that is, to have charm), and to inspire us to put ourfaith in them (trust).

Trust is generally easier to achieve face-to-face thanvia a virtual communication method such as theinternet or email. The fundamental physical interactionbetween customer and customer service personalways has a great deal to teach us in this world ofmulti-channel customer communications.

Face-to-face communications allow all sorts of vitalelements that promote trust to be brought into play:eye contact, smiles, body language and so on. In aphone conversation there’s only the customer serviceperson’s voice and manner to go on as tools forinstilling trust, and if the customer is texting or emailingthe organisation, or interacting with a website, then allthe customer has to go on is words.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg had it rightThe film The Social Network (2010) features a scenewhere the Mark Zuckerberg character has anepiphany one cold evening and tells his friend EduardoSaverin that it would be great to build a website thatinvolves ‘taking the entire social experience of collegeand putting it online.’ This, of course, is the basis forwhat became Facebook.

In a world where the level of service manyorganisations offer via virtual means is, unfortunately,still comparatively poor, what organisations that wantto deliver at least some of their customer servicedigitally need to do is, surely, is to find ways moreeffectively to ‘digitise’ the best experience of offeringface-to-face service to customers.

The pace of development of digital resourcesis breathtaking. There are tremendous, andindeed thrilling, opportunities to deploy digitaltools and technologies to create a much moreintimate and personalised interaction withcustomers that’s based around the delivery ofknowledge, enthusiasm, charm and - aboveall - trust.

Delivering digital trustHow can organisations ‘deliver’ trust via digitalmethods? Well, one way is to let the customeractually see the person at the organisation. Inthis context, Skype’s capabilities for enabling anorganisation to interact with a customer surelyaren’t being exploited yet to anything like the extentthat they could be.

Trust can also be advanced by creating quantifiablemetrics to do with establishing a track record ofreliability. Many internet retailers - Amazon and eBayspring to mind - are adept at finding ways of winningcustomer trust by enabling customers to commentand rate the service levels of suppliers.

I imagine many customers would be unwilling to dealwith a supplier who had much less than a 95 per centsatisfaction record. We are probably willing to accept afailure rate of five per cent, but not much more.

But there’s one last vital point to make about thepower of trust. The evidence shows that we areactually prepared to pay more for something if we feelwe can really trust the person we’re buying it from.This fact itself surely gives businesses a strongmotivation to do all they can to build trust into theircustomer service, across physical customer servicechannels and also virtual ones.

Knowledge, enthusiasm, charm and trust: these are the‘Big Four’ fundamentals of customer service excellenceand enjoyment. Make no mistake, any organisationthat can deliver the ‘Big Four’ to its customers,physically and virtually, will routinely convert customersinto advocates. How enjoyable is that!

“Trust can also be advanced by creating quantifiable metrics to

do with establishing a track record of reliability. Many internet

retailers - Amazon and eBay spring to mind - are adept at

finding ways of winning customer trust by enabling customers

to comment and rate the service levels of suppliers”


In this Engage Customer exclusive editorial director Steve Hursttalks with QuestBack MD Paul Barnes about the three key trendsthat are transforming the customer insight space asorganisations wrestle with customer centricity and the need toengage in greater dialogue with employees

BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERSBETWEEN EMPLOYEE ANDCUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

Paul Barnes,MD, QuestBackwww.questback.com

First off Paul tell us about yourbackground and how you came to therole of MD at QuestBackI actually started out my career as a charteredaccountant, which is a useful foundation forany business career, but I quickly moved outof KPMG to work for a start- up softwarecompany and I have stayed in the softwarespace ever since, always with innovative fastgrowth companies. QuestBack is the fourthcompany I’ve worked with and the third in thecustomer experience space so I think I'mgetting to know the territory pretty well now!The progression has been a natural one,staring with Speech Recognition in 2000moving on to multi-channel interactionmanagement in 2007 and now to enterprisefeedback management in 2014. Whatparticularly drew me to QuestBack is thesense of ambition and clarity of purpose thatruns through the whole company - we aredefinitely on mission!

We understand that Questback has gonethrough some major changes over thepast two years could you tell us aboutthose changes and how they areimpacting on the business?QuestBack is 14 years old but hasundergone a radical transformation in thepast two years. The company recognisedthe changes that we're going to happen asCompanies struggle to become morecustomer centric and to engage more in adialogue with employees. The opportunity tocreate a platform for managing this use ofinsight was identified and a series ofacquisitions undertaken to build thiscapability. When you merge four software

companies into one in a short time it takes alot of focus and dedication to deliver the goalof an integrated product whilst continuing toprovide value to existing customers. I'mfortunate to have joined when this work hadbeen mostly completed and the results aregenuinely impressive.

You are presenting at our Employee andCustomer Engagement Forum – whatnuggets would you like delegates to takeaway with them from your slot?I want to open up debate as much asanything on the topic of why CustomerExperience and Employee Engagement stilloperate in silos. The fact that these two areintrinsically linked is common sense and hasbeen well documented over the years, mostfamously in the Harvard Service: Profit chain.Yet most companies today still look at insightfrom employees and customers in isolation.We commissioned a study on this recently andfound that only 5% integrate data fully fromthese sources. However this is clearly a topic ofrelevance at present, as 57% of companieshave either started to do the integration orplan to in the next 18 months. The barriers todoing so seem surprisingly high though;companies are struggling to make a clearbusiness case and are also constrained bytechnology limitations and inflexible organisationstructures. I hope that we can identify someways to break down these barriers andaccelerate a more joined up approach.

The home page of your website stressesthat you are ‘mobile first’ could youexplain the rationale behind this and howit works for your customers?

T A L K I N G H E A D S

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talking heads

When you are collecting data from people, asking them to respond tosurveys, contribute in a community etc, it has to be easy, especiallyin this current environment of “survey-saturation”. Being able tointeract with them on the device they are using at the time istherefore essential. The realisation in QuestBack a few years agowas that the approach of making interfaces “mobile compatible”just didn’t cut it anymore and that the thinking had to flip around.Being “mobile first” means that we think about the mobile devicefirst and build interfaces for this and subsequently make them“desktop compatible”. This removes the frustration of havingdifferent versions or having some functionality that isn’t available or iscompromised when using smart phones, tablets etc. It just works,as it should do, with no discussion. This means that all the projectteam can focus on what’s the best way to deliver value to customersand the business, without wasting time on compatibility issues.

Tell us how you use the concept of ‘community’ to gaindeeper insights into the thoughts, feelings and motivationsof employees and customers.Community is a big topic in the insight space at the moment. It’simportant to draw a distinction between a customer servicecommunity, which is aimed at driving self-service and reducingcost, and what is termed a Market Research Online Community(MROC) which is about having a dialogue with people to gaininsight. As organisations grow in maturity in their use of insightthey move from the simple “are we doing a good job” questionsand the linked measures such as NPS and CSat, into a moresophisticated approach linked to real business outcomes such asrevenue growth and product innovation. To do this requires a realdialogue which was historically been done face to face, but whichcan now be done digitally using MROCs. A couple of greatexamples of this that we support are BMW, who are using thisapproach to understand how drivers feel about electric cars andFidelity, who are gaining insight into how individual investors makedecisions on financial products in the light of the various crises thathave affected that sector in recent years. This level ofunderstanding can’t be gained through simple surveys but is vital ifcompanies are going to make the right decisions.

What are the four stages you have identified thatorganisations go through in their customer insight journey?From working with our customers across many sectors we haveseen a consistent trend in how organisations progress through aMaturity Matrix when it comes to using insight. To simplify this wecan pick out four key stages:

Tactical – where the need to gain insight is recognised, but nostrategy exists so a series of isolated survey projects are run,usually with no knowledge of each other.

Response – this is where a consistency of approach is brought inand the use of simple tracking measures are implemented; NPS,CSat, Effort score etc.

Insight – this occurs where the data is linked directly to realbusiness outcomes; sales & profit, and where the engagementmoves from survey questions to a full dialogue.

Foresight – is the end goal where the models are developedenough to be predictive; for example when a product is launchedthe business knows the revenue that will be generated due to theinsight gained from customers and prospects.

Could you give us some examples of organisations who aregetting things right?There are many examples that I’ve seen in different sectors. Atpresent we are working closely with RSA who are developing aproactive approach to engaging with employees and to linking thisto customer experience. A very different example would be Rovio,the ‘Angry Birds’ company who are genuinely at the ‘Foresight’level of maturity. They were able to outsell Coca-Cola in the softdrinks market in Finland by gaining insight from their fans (theythink about fans, not customers).

Finally Paul how do you see the future panning out for thesector and where will QuestBack fit in to that future?There are some seismic shifts going on in the business world atpresent and I think it’s a great opportunity for those of us workingin the Insight space. Firstly companies are becoming more datadriven in how they make decisions, whether this is big data orsmart data, and the reliance on a CEO’s intuition is much reduced.Secondly the shift to being customer-centric is mainstream now;whilst sectors such as retail have been there for some time, therest of the market now has to follow. Finally there is a shift in howemployee engagement is done. The days of the ‘annual survey’are over; companies need to have an ongoing dialogue withemployees if they want to be successful, especially as we comeout of recession and employees have more choices. This hasaccelerated as the ‘millennials’ start to dominate the workforce –the idea of only being listened to once a year is anathema for them!The opportunity comes from recognising that these three trendsare all about how feedback is sought and managed in order toderive insight. Taking an integrated view of this makes thedaunting become achievable and can unleash immense benefit interms of competitive advantage. At QuestBack we believe wehave a part to play in this as the “platform for insight”. This canonly be an enabler for others to bring their expertise to bear, but it’sproving to be an effective approach for our customers.

“There is a shift in how employee engagement is done. The days

of the ‘annual survey’ are over; companies need to have an

ongoing dialogue with employees if they want to be successful”

I S S U E F I F T E E N • J U L Y 2 0 1 4 2 4

This exclusive article is from customer experience managementconsultancy Nunwood, as part of its Customer Experience

Excellence (CEE) programme. The CEE programme focuses onunderstanding the external and internal characteristics of theorganisations that excel in this area, enabling them to learn,

without bias, from the world’s best brands

- WHICH BRAND HAS THE MOST UNIQUECUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY?

FIRST DIRECTWELLS FARGO VS

First direct and Wells Fargo are both bankinggroups, with first direct operating in the UK,and its rival operating in the US. One of themhas adopted a rather unique customerexperience strategy - and it appears to beworking.

First direct has propelled itself into third place inthe Customer Experience Excellence rankings,with an impressive CEE score of 8.19. WellsFargo, however, sits in a considerably lower

183rd place in the US rankings, with a similarlymodest CEE score of 6.12. What can WellsFargo learn from its fledgling UK rival?

Integrity is integralIntriguingly, out of the five 'visions' Wells Fargosets out on its own website, only two of theseare customer-focused, ('Ethics' and 'What'sright for our customers.') This may explain whythe brand is currently struggling in the integritypillar, with a low score of 5.20. Many �www.nunwood.com

battle of the brands

customers seem to have a distrust for the bank, with severalreporting unexpected charges or mortgage payment increases,which the brand not only seems reluctant to resolve, but is also,apparently, unwilling to take responsibility for.

First direct, however, is somewhat more successful in this area,with a more impressive score of 8.08. There appears to be agreater level of trust amongst its customers, primarily because ofthe ease with which the bank can be contacted over the phone,with serious problems such as fraud or compromised bankaccounts being resolved swiftly. Events such as these reassure thecustomer that the brand puts the wellbeing of its clients ahead ofits own business goals.

Let the customer know they are cared forAnother weak pillar for Wells Fargo is that of empathy, where itscores a disappointing 5.29. Several customers have expressed afeeling of not being understood or cared for, particularly when theyare charged for banking mistakes, which they don't believe to betheir fault. Moreover, some customers have reportedly been told bythe brand that it has no desire for their business.

Conversely, the pillar of empathy is a strong one for first direct, witha solid score of 7.73. One customer said that "the man [they]spoke to was very polite and helpful - he gave [them] some greatadvice and was really friendly," whilst another added that they "feltvery valued and... that [they] can contact them at any point and[their] problem will be dealt with."

It's all in the customer experience strategyIt is clear from the Six Pillar SystemTM that first direct's customerexperience strategy is successful. This is an outstandingachievement in a culture that is largely distrusting of the bankingindustry. The ironic memes and humorous quips on the brand'swebsite, whilst relatable, aren't at the heart of the bank's successthough. Rather, it is first direct's performance across all six pillarsof Customer Experience Excellence which has made it one of thetop three UK brands of 2013.



Given their focus on reducing costs andincreasing operational efficiency, they mightwonder if a customer experience programmes isworth investing in. Before they give you theirblessing, they’ll likely ask questions — importantones — about your plans:

• What additional costs will customer experience improvements create?

• Will customer experience changes complicate existing business processes and impact our efficiency?

• What will the ROI of these improvements be?

These questions don’t have to be deal-breakers.In fact, you should use them to your advantage.By focusing on the financial impact of yourcompany’s customer experience investments,you can give your CFO plenty of reasons to getbehind your mission. Here are five key financialbenefits of a great customer experience that youcan use to help make your case.

Reduced cost to serveUnhappy customers tend to require moreservice, whether from frontline employees,

support channels like call centers, or B2Baccount teams. Regardless of the specificsituation, this extra support means youremployees either work more hours or don’thave the bandwidth to get everything done— because they are spending time soothingunhappy customers. If you’re able to identifyand fix the pain points that repeatedly addfriction to your customer experience, you’llreduce your support costs and free youremployees to serve other customers or towork on the important projects they’vebeen neglecting.

Costly, broken processes brought to light and fixedFixing pain points is helpful from an operationalperspective as well. When you have visibility intoparts of your customer experience that aren’tworking well, you’ll often find aspects that canbe made more efficient and easier for thecustomer — or that can be eliminatedaltogether. This fine-tuning process lowers costsand improves customer satisfaction atthe same time.

When it comes to rallying your organisation around customerexperience programmes, CFOs might seem like someof the toughest people to get on board.

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HOW TO TURN YOURCFO INTO A CUSTOMER

EXPERIENCE CHAMPION


Higher retention - defraying the cost of acquiring new customersEven the best companies make mistakes in howthey deliver their customer experience. If thesemistakes go unnoticed for too long, even thesmallest are enough to make customers leavefor good. And those customers might share theirbad experiences with others.

But if you’re able to identify problems andrespond quickly to resolve them, you’ll be ableto improve customer retention — meaningmarketing and sales don’t have to eat up yourentire budget in an effort to bring on newcustomers to support net growth. Yourcustomer acquisition plan can be morestrategic, focusing efficiently on the untappedsegments that are most important to youinstead of keeping a “leaky bucket” full.

Higher profitablerevenue growthAcross industries, happy customers tend tospend more. This trend seems obvious forsubscription-based companies, where happycustomers are likely to stay around for longer. Buttransaction-based companies enjoy the samebenefits, with the happiest customers spendingas much as 140% more than the least satisfiedones, according to a recent Medallia study.

Happy customers are often driven towardshigher-margin products as well. For example, agym member who’s happy with the service she’sgetting would be much more likely than adissatisfied member to sign up for extra classesand personal training — which are moreprofitable for the gym than basic membership.

Lower costs to hire andtrain new employeesEmployees on your frontline enjoy their jobsmore when they deal with happy customers.Happy employees stay with your companylonger, meaning you spend less time and moneyhiring and training replacements. But ifemployees feel weighed down by inconsistent orill-considered customer experience rules, theirdissatisfaction will make them move on sooner— and in greater numbers.

These customer experience benefits willresonate long after you’ve finished pitching yourCFO. If your data and proof points are trulyrelevant to your organisation, your CFO might notjust sign off on them. She might become yourbiggest customer experience champion of all.

To learn more about the financial benefits ofcustomer experience—and how some of theworld’s leading brands are realising them rightnow—download Medallia’s ebook:

Medallia’s new ebook author Michelle de Haaff leads marketing at Medallia and has 20 yearsof experience working in customer experience related software and services companies.Before Medallia, she was CMO and VP of Products at Attensity, a voice of the customer

analytics company. Previously, she worked at AdSpace Networks as the VP of Marketing, atBlue Martini Software leading Product Management, at Levi Strauss & Company as the

Director of eCommerce and as a Manager in Ernst & Young’s CRM Practice.

Michelle de HaaffVice President of Marketing

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

expert opinion

I S S U E F O U R T E E N • A P R I L 2 0 1 4 2 4I S S U E S I X T E E N • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 2 8

Ember is a customermanagement consultancyfocused on helping clientsmaximise the commercialvalue of their customerengagement activities byidentifying and exploitingopportunities for costreduction, revenueenhancement and improvedcustomer worth.

Our approach is unashamedlyfinancial. In every consultingproject, we will identify not

only how to make yourbusiness better, but howmuch you stand to gain bydoing so. Our services spancustomer managementstrategy, operationsconsulting, outsourcingprocurement, contracting andmediation, innovativedeployment of analyticsservices and increasingly thestrategy and deployment ofdigital channels into the mix.

We would be pleased tounderstand your challengesand explain how we can help.

Contact details: Alastair [email protected] 871 9797www.emberservices.com

EMBER SERVICES

Clicktools is the leadingprovider of premium, Cloud-based survey software forbusinesses. The companylives by its brand promise tohelp customers betterunderstand and serve theircustomers. Since 2001, theClicktools solution hasenabled organizations toimprove customer experienceby collecting, centralizing, andacting on customer feedback,leveraging the power of CRM.Notably, Clicktools was thefirst survey provider to

integrate with Salesforce™and was an original memberof the AppExchange®. Thecompany is privately held withheadquarters on the SouthCoast of England and a US-based office in Phoenix,Arizona. More info atwww.clicktools.com.

Contact details: [email protected]@clicktools.comwww.clicktools.com

Clicktools Ltd.7 Branksome Park HouseBourne Valley RoadPoole BH12 1ED. UK.

Main: 01202 761822Sales: 0800 0432587Fax: 0800 471 5273

Clicktools Inc.1661 East Camelback RoadSuite 235, PhoenixArizona 85016, USA.

Main: 1-800-774-4065Sales: 1-800-774-4065Fax: 1-800-767-2070

CLICKTOOLS

Interactive Intelligence is aglobal provider of contact centre,unified communications, andbusiness process automationsoftware and servicesdesigned to improve thecustomer experience. Thecompany’s solutions, whichcan be deployed via the cloudor on-premises, are ideal forindustries such as financialservices, insurance, outsourcers,collections and utilities.

The company’s standards-based all-in-onecommunications softwaresuite was designed toeliminate the cost andcomplexity of multi-point

systems. Founded in 1994and backed by more than5,000 customers worldwide,Interactive Intelligence is anexperienced leader indelivering customer valuethrough its on-premise orcloud-based Communicationsas a Service (CaaS) solutions,both of which include software,hardware, consulting, support,education andimplementation. At InteractiveIntelligence, it’s what we do.

Contact details: Jamie [email protected] 418852www.inin.com

INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE

Confirmit enablesorganisations to develop andimplement Voice of theCustomer, EmployeeEngagement and MarketResearch programmes thatdeliver insight and drivebusiness change. Confirmit’sclients create multi-channel,multi-lingual feedback andresearch programmes thatengage customers, empoweremployees, deliver acompelling respondentexperience, and provide highReturn on Investment.

Confirmit’s customer

engagement model providesthe power to listen to theVoice of the Customer,integrate it with financial andoperational data to generatepowerful insight, and takeaction that will deliver effectivebusiness change and createcompetitive advantage.Confirmit has 350 employeesand is headquartered in Oslo,with offices around the world.

Contact details: Joe [email protected]+44 (0)20 3053 9376www.confirmit.com

CONFIRMIT

QuestBack online surveys andmanaged feedback solutionsempower companies to makesmarter decisions, transformcustomer and employeeexperience and get ahead of

the market.

Contact details: Tel.: 0207 403 [email protected]/uk

QUESTBACK

COMPANY PROFILES


Mindpearl is a BPO specialistfocusing on international, highquality contact centreoperations. Mindpearl wasrecognised as the‘Outsourcing Contact CentreProvider of the Year 2013’ atthe National OutsourcingAssociation (NOA) Awards inthe UK. With an emphasis oninbound, multichannelcustomer support, Mindpearlsupports global brands in theaviation, leisure,telecommunications, retail andweight managementindustries in English and 20+languages. With our highlyskilled, motivated multilingualworkforce and ourstrategically located ‘Follow

the Sun’ locations, inBrisbane, Barcelona, CapeTown and Suva, Fiji, we havethe know-how, experienceand resources to maximisebusiness performance andprofitability.

Contact details: South AfricaCandace Laubscher [email protected]: +27 (0) 21 440 6707T: +27 (0)79 514 7006

UKAlan [email protected]: +44(0)7780 115 042www. mindpearl.com

MINDPEARL

To advertise here contactNick Rust • T: 01932 506 301E: [email protected]

ADVERTISE

Nunwood helps businessescreate consistently brilliantcustomer experiences.Our approach is uniquely ‘full-service’. This means we join upcustomer strategy, experiencemeasurement, feedbacktechnology and frontlinetraining. By connecting thedots, our clients delight theircustomers more frequentlyand achieve their commercialgoals more easily. To createbrilliant results, we work hardto understand what ‘brilliant’

means. Our CustomerExperience Excellence Centre isthe world’s largest customerexperience research centre.Its work ensures everyNunwood client is connectedto the cutting-edge ofinternational experiencedesign and best practice.

Contact details: Tim [email protected] 3720101www.nunwood.com

NUNWOOD

PITNEY BOWES

LiveOps is the global leader incloud contact centre andcustomer service solutions.More than 350 companiesaround the world, includingSalesforce.com, Symantec,Royal Mail Group andNeopost, trust LiveOps’technology to enable effectivemultichannel, social andmobile interactions with theircustomers. LiveOps' award-winning platform hasprocessed more than 1 Billionminutes of customerinteractions and managedoperations for the largest US-based cloud contact centre of

20,000 home-based,independent agents.Headquartered in RedwoodCity, California with Europeanregional headquarters inLondon, LiveOps has morethan 10 years of cloudexperience LiveOps is thepartner of choice forcompanies wanting tomigrate to the cloud.

Contact details: Ann Ruckstuhl,Chief Marketing [email protected]+44 (0)20 3006 8280www.liveops.com

LIVEOPSMedallia is a leadingcustomer experiencemanagement (CEM) SaaScompany. Founded in 2001,the company is trusted bysome of the world’s topbrands — including Verizon,Macy’s, Sephora, Honeywell,Wells Fargo, Sony, FourSeasons, Sodexo, and BestWestern — to createexperiences that customerslove. Medallia enablescompanies to capturecustomer feedback across a

multitude of channels andtouchpoints (such as online,social media, mobile, andcontact centers), understandit in real-time, and driveaction everywhere — fromthe C-suite to the frontline.

Contact details: Medallia UK1 Pemberton Row,London EC4A 3BG, UK44 203 1310 200Sales: 1 844 238 37 67www.medallia.com

MEDALLIA UK

COMPANY PROFILES

Pitney Bowes, a globaltechnology company, powersbillions of physical and digitaltransactions in the connectedand borderless world ofcommerce.

We enable data-drivenmarketing, parcel shipping &logistics, and statements,invoices & payments throughour data management &engagement software,location intelligence offerings,and shipping & mailingsolutions .

Helping clients achieve theirgreatest commerce potentialare more than 16,000passionate employees aroundthe world, our relentlesspursuit of innovation with over2,300 active patents, and ourfocus on clients, who are atthe centre of all that we do –from small businesses to 90%of the Fortune 500.

Contact details: Mr. Raj MadabushiE: [email protected]: +44(0) 1491 416835www.pitneybowes.com/us

Colin Shaw reckons paying your people more is far from beingphilanthropic – but it does make sound business sense

WHY YOUR BUSINESS BENEFITSWHEN EMPLOYEES ARE ENGAGED

Colin Shaw is the founderand CEO of BeyondPhilosophy, one of the world'sfirst organizations devoted tocustomer experience. Colin isan international author of fourbest-selling books and anengaging keynote speaker &also recognized as one of theoriginal top 150 BusinessInfluencers by LinkedIn.Beyond Philosophy provideconsulting, specializedresearch & training from theirheadquarters in Tampa,Florida, USA.

Follow Colin Shaw on Twitter:@ColinShaw_CX

When I worked at Mars in the 80's, they had apolicy of paying people over the market average.Was it because they were philanthropic andthought that the working class deservedmore than they were getting? No.

So why did they do it?

Any capitalist can tell you the answer. Marsdid it because better people meant betterprofits. Mars realized that a committed andtalented person would produce more thanthe average person. By paying the talentedperson better that produced more, theyattracted other talented people. Having ahigher paid employee base raised the talentlevel, and with it profit margins. It meant inthe long run Mars saved costs by payingemployees more.

Employee Engagement saves costs inmany waysHigher production and talent-level peremployee isn’t the only way the higher paypaid off for Mars, however. By treating theirpeople better than other employers, Marshad employees that wanted to be there. Theywere inspired to be part of a good team. Theybelieved in the message and brand promiseof the company.

When employees are engaged, you are farmore likely to deliver on the brand promisethat your organization makes with employees.Happy employees make happy customers.Engaged employees are far more likely findways to make a customer’s day becausethey like their job and the company forwhich they work.

By creating an environment that fosters thistype of experience between employee andcustomer, your organization benefits inincreased customer loyalty and retention. Anysuccessful business leader can tell you it costfar less to keep a customer than it takes toget a new one to take their place. When itcomes to cost savings, customer retentionand loyalty is a huge priority.

Not only do you reduce the costs ofcustomer churn, but you also reduce the costof employee churn in your workforce, anothercostly line item in any organization’s budget.When you retain your talent and develop along-term relationship with employees, yousave countless costs in recruiting, trainingand ramp up period. In addition, you continueto reap the benefits of an engaged employeewhose relationships with their customers onlycontinues to thrive.

Brand reputation is heightened Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO ofAmazon.com, said, “Your Brand is what otherpeople say about you when you are not in theroom.” Bearing that in mind, consider thatyour employees are likely to say a lot aboutyour company when you aren’t in the room.What would your employees say?

If your employees are engaged, you wouldlikely be pleased with the word of mouthbranding they provide your organization. Theylikely say great things about the vision of thecompany and the way they are treated there.

Furthermore, these employees givecustomers great experiences, too. So whenthey leave your “room” they are also likely togive your company positive word of mouthendorsements.

Now that the social media has created aworld with far more transparency, branding isfar more complicated task. Marketing withword of mouth is the Holy Grail for today’smarketers. Best of all, it costs less thantraditional advertising so it saves youadditional costs there as well.

Paying your employees more, appreciatingthem and creating an environment where theyfeel valued and trusted may cost you more inthe short term. But with all the long-termsavings such an investment creates you haveto ask yourself, “Can I afford not to createengaged employees?”

the final word



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

UpcomingEngageevents

Engage now at:

www.engagecustomer.com@engagecustomer

- 28th November 2014Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, London

THE JOINED UP CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE EVENT

29th JanuaryVoice of the Customer Forum

Customer Engagement in RetailForum19th February

Outsourcing Customer ServicesSummitMarch

Employee Engagement Summit16th April

Customer Engagement inFinancial Services Forum21st May

Social Customer Engagement forum25th June

Employee and Customer EngagementForum16th July

Mobile Customer Engagement Forum24th September

Customer Engagement inTelco’s/Utilities Forum22nd October

Customer Engagement Summit26th November

Customer Engagement in Telcos/Utilities Directors Forum- 23rd October 2014, London Blue Fin Conference Venue, Blue Fin Building,110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU

Events for 2015

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