The Irish customer has finally got a seat at the

boardroom table

Ireland Customer Experience Report 2016

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Executive summaryThe second year of our Ireland Customer Experience (CX) report delivers some very interesting and unique insights. The league table sees ups, downs and new brands challenging the established ones for a place in the Top 100 as well as customers’ hearts and minds. Also, our in-depth study with CX practitioners uncovers the challenges they face in delivering CX, the new strategic imperative. We have also turned the spotlight on specific sectors and brands who are leading the way in CX.

So what sets the remarkable apart from the good? Simply that every decision they make and every action they take, is driven by the customer. This approach is evident throughout our report, from the league table winners to the customer champions in our case studies, to our trend predictions for 2017.

Success in CX needs to be driven from the top. The C-Suite in an organisation must be fully committed and passionate about customers and the staff who deliver it. Giving the customer a seat at the boardroom table is critical. As we see with this year's customer champions, this can take many forms – in a credit union all board members are also customers, the CEO in Peter Mark reads all customer complaints, and Boots Ireland tell a customer when their suggested improvement has been implemented. These may seem like small things but it is the ability to do lots of these small things brilliantly that makes the difference.

As part of our CX Practitioner Survey we asked interviewees to tell us which company they would most like to copy or imitate when it comes to delivering great CX. The brand that came out on top was Amazon. Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, started out by leaving an empty chair at his board room table so his team were forced to think about the “most important person”; the customer. The role is now played by specially trained employees known as “Customer Experience Bar Raisers”.

Amazon is one of the brands that we have recognised in our new CXi Excellence Awards, Ireland’s first consumer-judged awards programme. We are proud to recognise and celebrate the winners of this year’s awards as well as the Top 100.

We hope you find this report informative and useful in your CX journey.

The CXi Team

Authors: Cathy Summers, Michael Killeen, Inga Ryan, Gerard O'Neill, Susannah Hewson and Micheál Gannon

The Six Pillars are a registered trademark of KPMG Nunwood.

KPMG International’s Trademarks are the sole property of KPMG International and their use here does not imply auditing by or endorsement of KPMG International or any of its member firms.

ContentsExecutive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Has Ireland made up ground globally? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Irish CX lessons for 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Ireland’s Top 10 CX league table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

The Six Pillars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

The Economics of CX excellence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

CXi Excellence Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

CXi Practitioners Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Top 100 league table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Sector analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Spotlight on Experience Destinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Spotlight on Airlines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Spotlight on the Public Sector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Customer Champion case studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Further resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

About CXi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Become a CXi subscriber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

“ If there’s one reason we have done better than our peers, it is because we have focused like a laser on customer experience, and that really does matter”

Jeff Bezos, Amazon

Methodology

The 2016 CXi survey was conducted in June 2016 by Amárach Research. A representative cross section of Irish consumers were asked to select from 170 brands across ten sectors. Over 42,000 customer experiences were evaluated using our Six Pillars, as well as Net Promoter Score, loyalty, value for money and verbatim comments.

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Has Ireland made up ground globally?In 2015, Ireland lagged behind the UK and the US in giving great experiences to its customers. Despite a slight drop in its overall performance, the US is still firmly out in front and remains better than the UK and Ireland in delivering CX excellence. Indeed, the top five brands in the US are the best in the western world.

In 2016, Ireland has seen a slight uplift in its overall CX score with the top 10 brands in particular seeing improvements. In 2016, one Irish brand would have made it into the USA top 10; this compares to zero brands making it into the top 10 for 2015. On a more positive note, we would have had five brands in the UK top 10.

Ireland still lags behind the UK on all of the Six Pillars (for more on the Six Pillars see page 10) except Time & Effort. There has been a slight closing of the gaps in Personalisation, Empathy and Resolution. Integrity has worsened slightly but it is Expectations that continues to be the most significant gap for Irish businesses. There is little change in the figures from 2015 indicating that we are still over-promising and under-delivering. It also highlights that the Irish consumer is getting frustrated with the quality of the experience they are currently receiving.

Irish CX lessons for 2017The following lessons were identified from interviews with senior management teams in Ireland’s CX champions and discussions with subscribers to our CXi programme. We also collated inputs from 42,000 Irish consumer brand evaluations collected in our 2016 CX Excellence Survey. Inputs from CX experts in Ireland, UK and the USA are also included in our findings.

Walk in your customer’s shoes. This year’s top Irish CX champions all have one thing in common: they are 100% customer centric. They invite customers to board meetings, spend time with customers on a regular basis and many have senior teams dealing with customer complaints directly. Customer Journey Mapping is an ideal way to walk in your customer’s shoes and understand their wants, needs, expectations and desired outcomes. Ensure you include customers and staff in the Customer Journey process.

You don’t own the customer, the customer owns you. If you want to deliver CX excellence you have to assume your customer is right until it is absolutely plain that they are not. Happy customers are your strongest asset and unhappy customers can cause untold problems. Create an excellent resolution programme to turn detractors into advocates.

“ Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. Bill Gates

Effortless vs 'Remark-able' CX. Omni-channel is becoming more and more of a hygiene factor as customers expect effortless interactions everywhere – online, phone, email, webchat, social channels and more. The challenge is not only to deliver an effortless experience but also to exceed customers’ expectations and deliver 'remark-able' experiences at key moments of truth. By 'remark-able' we mean where customers remark about their experiences and sell on your behalf.

“ Companies with extremely strong omni-channel customer engagement retain, on average, 89% of their customers compared to 33% for companies with weak omni-channel customer engagement. Aberdeen Group Inc.

7.06

Ireland 2015

UK 2015

7.25

USA 2015

7.60

7.08

Ireland 2016

7.42

USA 2016

UK 2016

7.33

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4 Invest in what’s visible to your customer. Far too often companies CX investments are focused on internal projects and marketing. The result is often zero impact on the customer's experience. Rebalance budgets in areas that favour the customer, (such as staff training), to generate greater return on investment.

“ We take most of the money that we could have spent on internal systems and advertising and instead put it back into the customer experience. Then we let the customers be our marketing”. Tony Hsieh, Founder of Zappos

There is no room for internal silos in CX excellence. Delivering CX excellence requires each member of staff and department to work in harmony to deliver the brand promise. Marketing, Operations, IT, HR and Finance must all be on the same page with the customer’s best interests firmly at the heart of everything they do. This should be driven and supported from the top of the organisation.

Employee engagement is crucial. Investment in CX training for customer-facing staff and senior management is money well spent. Staff need to be empowered and rewarded to show genuine empathy and go that extra mile for customers. We must train staff to build emotion into every transaction and engagement with customers. Developing a CX culture is hugely important and needs to be driven by management. Doing the right thing and having strong customer values will translate into good business.

“ Culture is the root of experience. A culture where the customer genuinely comes first is a prerequisite of experience excellence”. KPMG Nunwood

Don’t ignore your most valuable data. Maximise valuable insight from all channels, particularly social media, by capturing and analysing qualitative feedback such as comments. Integrate this data with other data sources to give you a fully rounded view of your customers. You must understand your customers in order to deliver true personalisation and empathy.

CX investment increases but ROI still a challenge. While many large companies are investing in CX, there is still some reluctance to shift budget into it from other areas. One reason for this is the challenge in showing a return on investment. As well as customer measures such as NPS and CSAT, include more revenue-based analysis such as retention, loyalty and operational cost reduction to build CX business cases.

“ By 2017, 50% of consumer product investments will be redirected to customer experience innovations”. Gartner

Social media is now a hygiene factor. Customers expect brands to provide an efficient and engaging social media experience and are quick to share both positive and negative outcomes. Brands must closely watch these channels, responding quickly and managing resolution heroically.

Mobile customer experience takes centre stage. Customers increasingly use their smartphones to interact with companies. Apps and access to self-service tools via mobile help customers have effortless, valuable engagements with companies.

" By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human". Gartner

Make it easy for customers to sell on your behalf. Provide them with 'remark-able' experiences or surprise and delight them in a way that they can easily talk about or share with their friends, family and colleagues. These become amplification mechanics that provide the unexpected, ‘going that extra mile’ impact which customers are unlikely to experience very often.

Doing the ‘small things’ brilliantly and consistently. Customers can have multiple interactions through multiple channels with a company. Attention to detail within each micro experience makes the difference in delivering CX excellence. It’s the tiny things that add up to a great experience when you put them all together.

“ We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every small yet important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better”. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com

We have entered the era of experience branding. A brand is no longer what a company says it is. It’s what a customer feels it is. A brand is what a brand does. It’s what customers experience. We have entered the second great age of branding: the era of experience branding. This is apparent with this year’s Irish CX champions who are differentiating their business by CX rather than customer promises that aren’t backed up by delivery.

Irish CX lessons (contd)

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Ireland’s Top 10 CX league tableThis year, Ireland’s top 10 is an interesting mix of premium and value, domestic and foreign brands. Half of the brands from the top 10 in 2015 are to be congratulated for maintaining their champion status, particularly the Irish Credit Union who are in the top spot for the second year running. What sets our top 10 apart is their unblinking focus on the customer and the empowerment of their staff to deliver experiences that customers truly value.

1 Irish Credit Union: Run by their members, for their members, they forge the most powerful bond with their customers, built completely on trust. They work hard to understand what individual customers want. Products are designed to meet real customer needs, rather than being based on the ideas of backroom executives.

2 Lush: Lush invest in CX rather than advertising. Topping the UK league table in 2015, they lead the way in turning customers into passionate, enthusiastic fans. The Lush Kitchen, where you can watch and follow your product being made is a real example of how to engage and inspire customers online.

3 An Post: Exceptionally high personalisation scores are the result of strong relationships with postmen/women who deliver to your door every day. This human contact is particularly valued in rural areas. The net result is that customers feel cared for and understood.

4 Sam McCauley Pharmacies: An Irish community-based family business. Their exceptional, personalised care and good value has ensured loyal customers. A wide range of unexpected offerings including healthcare, beauty, flu vaccination, weight management and lifestyle advice is supported by social media and online sales.

5 Citylink: Citylink rank highly in Integrity and Time & Effort due to their excellent service. They do the simple things brilliantly and consistently, like providing clean, comfortable buses with wifi, and an easy-to-use online seat booking system. They make travel enjoyable and hassle free.

6 Peter Mark: With over 55 years in business in Ireland, the success of Peter Mark owes much to their absolute commitment to talk, listen and observe their customers. The finances are the last thing that are looked at. The philosophy being that if everything else is going well it will reflect positively in the revenue.

7 Boots: Caring about customers and their lives is a central focus for Boots who celebrate 20 years in Ireland in 2016. Showing the care in 'remark-able' ways across different channels sets them apart and keeps customers flocking back.

8 Aldi: One of the German brands that revolutionised the Irish grocery shopping experience with quality products at affordable prices. They adapt to customer demands, increasing and diversifying their products accordingly using indigenous suppliers. Their non-grocery offerings consistently delight and exceed expectations.

9 M&S Retail: Their loyal following consider them a ‘go to’ for quality basics. Spacious shops and empathetic, well-trained staff who go out of their way to help are reflected in their high scores in Personalisation and Integrity.

10 Penneys: Scoring highest of all brands in 2016 for loyalty, Penneys keep customers coming back with regular arrivals of new, exciting stock that deliver high fashion looks at low budget prices. They also do Resolution brilliantly with their no quibble, money-back policy.

10 M&S Simply Food: Quality, innovation and choice are the hallmarks of the M&S food offering. Their range is tailored to customer needs whether it is healthy cooking, celebrating a special occasion or quick and easy dinners. Known for the high quality of produce, it’s a one stop shop for wonderful treats.

Rank 2016 Brand 2016 Score Change from last year

1 8.20

2 7.95

3 7.88 5

4 7.87 9

5 7.85 27

6 7.82 47

7 7.80 2

8 7.76 4

9 7.70

10 7.69 1

10 7.69 2

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The Six Pillars™ of CX excellenceThe Customer Experience Excellence Centre, established by KPMG Nunwood, is the world’s largest CX think tank. Through an ongoing research programme across three continents over seven years, over 1.4 million consumer evaluations have been gathered.

The Centre’s research demonstrates that a universal set of emotional qualities defines an outstanding customer experience – these are the Six Pillars™ which are essential elements to master for a differentiated customer experience.

The Six Pillars™

As the Six Pillars have a clear link to loyalty and advocacy, organisations that deliver across the Six Pillars demonstrate that enhanced commercial outcomes are achievable.

The Economics of CX excellenceOrganisations who excel in the Six Pillars ultimately create greater shareholder value. The Six Pillar framework enables emotional connections to be made with customers. These connections create behaviours and relationships consistent with growth leading to the delivery of multi-tiered commercial outcomes.

The following diagram illustrates the economics of customer experience excellence.

Guiding economic model:

The Six Pillars™ is a registered trademark of KPMG Nunwood.

PersonalisationUsing individualised attention to drive an emotional connection

ExpectationsManaging, meeting and exceeding customer expecations

ResolutionTurning a poor experience into a great one

IntegrityBeing trustworthy and engendering trust

Time & EffortMinimising customer effort and creating effortless processes

Empathy Achieving an emotional understanding of the customer’s circumstances

Customer Experience

Shareholder Value

Repeat purchase sales

First Order Results

Cross sales

Less price sensitivity

Positive word of mouth

+

Positive reputation

Higher sales

Higher prices

Second Order Results

Lower acquisition

costs

Lower costs to

serve

Stable customer

base

Lower volatility/ vulnerability

Drivers of Shareholder Value

Acceleration of cash flows

Increased cash flows

Higher residual values

ExpectationsPersonalisation

Time & Effort

Integrity

Resolution

The Six Pillars

Empathy

PILLAR IMPACT ON ADVOCACY

17%

12% 25%

14% 15%

17%

PILLAR IMPACT ON LOYALTY

17%

13% 21%

16% 15%

18

%

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Credit UnionOverall Winner

2016

CXi Excellence AwardsCXi was set up to recognise, learn from and celebrate CX excellence in Ireland. This year we are proud to launch Ireland’s first CX awards programme - with a difference. To avoid falling into the trap of award fatigue, we created an awards programme that is judged by the best team of judges the country can offer. With over 72,000 Irish consumer brand evaluations, we now offer Ireland’s first consumer judged awards programme.

We are proud to recognise and celebrate our new champions across ten sectors, the best value, best loyalty, highest new entrant and highest climber. Congratulations to our inaugural winners and to our top 100. In 2017, we will be delivering an event-based celebration. There is no better recognition for your company and staff than a vote of appreciation from those that you serve.

The 2016 CXi Winners:

CREDIT UNIONFinancial Sector

CITYLINK Travel Sector

LUSHRetail Sector

LAYAInsurance Sector

AN POSTUtilities Sector

FOTA WILDLIFE PARKExperience Destination

ALDISupermarket Sector

DEALZBest for Value

ODEON CINEMAEntertainment Sector

PENNEYSBest for Loyalty

PASSPORT OFFICE

Public Sector

LUSHHighest New Entrant

BUTLERS CHOCOLATESRestaurants Sector

PETER MARKHighest Climber

TESCO MOBILETelecoms Sector

AMAZONBest CX Brand

voted by CX Practitioners

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Only the beginning We interviewed senior CX managers in Ireland from a cross-section of large Irish businesses, in order to get a qualitative insight into how companies are responding to their CX challenges.

Most see themselves involved in a ‘CX arms race’, with customers’ expectations rising as fast – or faster – than their organisation’s ability to improve CX. Which is why most think they are ‘average’ when it comes to honestly rating the level of CX they provide to existing customers, though some feel they are doing a better than average job.

While most have a dedicated CX manager or unit in the organisation, the level of involvement by different functions and departments varies significantly. Not surprisingly, the Customer Service team is extremely involved in managing and delivering CX, followed by the Marketing department. Other departments such as IT, Finance and HR have less involvement, suggesting that CX is still seen as a narrow, operational issue rather than a broader, strategic opportunity in several organisations.

There is general agreement that they have a clear and ambitious view of the CX they are trying to deliver. Indeed, there is a clear consensus that CX is a strategic imperative. However, their ambitions are curbed by a lack of shared vision for CX that is understood and preached from the top as a guide to decision making. It doesn’t help that many feel they lack a single, connected view of customers’ data that is readily available across teams and departments.

Organisations monitor and measure customer behavioural data but struggle to use information they already have to effectively flex their response to changing customers’ needs and expectations. Though many operational processes incorporate CX feedback, there is a gap integrating CX ambitions with HR practices in many organisations.

Measuring What MattersMost managers use surveys to capture customer feedback. Only a minority use focus groups or qualitative techniques to understand the drivers of CX experiences and

behaviours. They measure customer satisfaction through different measures, with Net Promoter Score the most common (but by no means universal) measure used. Many rely on operational data such as new account openings, switching, complaints and cross-selling to ‘fill out’ the picture.

There is evidence that many organisations have begun to work through the economic impact of CX by working out the sensitivity of customer loyalty (and potential customer losses) to poor CX. Others have explored price sensitivity of customers as a result of good/bad CX.

They all put people at the heart of great CX (sometimes despite the limited engagement of the HR department on an ongoing basis). Most provide regular training to relevant employees to improve CX, though very few have CX performance tied to the pay/bonuses of all employees, including managers.

Many confine a direct tie between CX and remuneration to a narrow group of management and staff, typically those dealing with customers at the front line in a customer service or similar role. Though as many don’t reward any staff based on CX performance.

The CX FutureRight now, most of the CX managers see CX as an important competitive differentiator. Essentially, if you do a good job for your customers, they’ll tell your competitors’ customers who in turn will switch to you. But beyond that, there is limited evidence that organisations see CX as a central part of their future strategic direction. Most are reactive rather than proactive in that regard.

So what are the barriers preventing a more strategic approach to CX as part of business growth ambitions? The fundamental barrier is that most organisations say they haven’t the financial resources for CX projects. In other words, they are happy to work with the investments they have made in CX so far, and to replenish them as required, but there is limited appetite for a strategic investment in raising CX performance to the point where it becomes a significant differentiator in the marketplace. Many consider the current level of IT and other technological systems are simply not up to the task.

But our CX managers are not resting on their laurels, waiting for the future to happen. They are engaging in measures to improve the IT service systems, including mobile channels and apps. Likewise, most are focusing on better mapping of customer segments and their journeys, adjusting how each is managed to optimise their CX.

Nevertheless, it is clear from our study that there is no magic bullet. The only path to CX success lies along one of strong, internal commitment – including financial resources. This co-exists with continuous, external engagement with customers to understand what is working, what isn’t, and how to fix it. Fortunately there are many excellent CX practitioners in Ireland already – and we can all learn from them as we progress along the path to the CX future.

CXi Practitioners Survey

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5 9

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10

57

56

50

60

64

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60

57

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60

65

26

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28

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26

22 33

31

33

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33

94

97

88

95

92

88

85

91

92

95

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88

98

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100

100

87

12

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14

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18

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14

20

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47

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37

41

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79

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76

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66

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77

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66

6

84

The Passport Office

Industry colour key:

� Supermarkets

� Retail

� Entertainment � Public Sector

� Travel

� Restaurants

� Financial

� Utilities

� Telecoms

� Insurance

Change from last year

To find out your CX score please contact us

Ireland’s Top 100 Champions 2016

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SUPERMARKET

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Sector analysisThe 2016 CXi Survey covers brands in 10 sectors. In this section we look at the performance of this year's sectors compared to last year. This year we added a new sector, the Public Sector, which included the An Garda Síochána, NCT, the Ambulance Service, Passport, Revenue and Social Welfare offices. We also added 30 new brands across the remaining nine sectors to reflect the changing brand landscape.

Getting Better, Getting WorseAnalysing our survey results by sector enables us to spot significant CX trends that we might not see if we only looked at individual companies. Both the Telecoms and Utilities sectors saw the biggest improvement in overall CX scores. However, improvement doesn’t always mean success as individual companies in these sectors didn’t do well in our top 100. The supermarket sector has taken the top spot from retail whilst the majority of sectors have remained the same.

We can see in the graph below how the improvement/deterioration in average Six Pillar scores varies from sector to sector.

SupermarketThe top sector for Integrity, Resolution, Empathy and Expectations measures. Unsurprisingly, they also lead the way on value scores with Aldi and Lidl both making it into our Top 20. Interestingly, M&S Simply Food also made it into the Top 10, demonstrating that some consumers are prepared to pay more.

RetailThe largest sector with 17 new brands added in 2016 and 12 from the sector making it into our Top 20. The best performing sector in the Personalisation and Time & Effort pillars. The brands that score well in Personalisation (including Sam McCauley Pharmacies, IKEA, Penneys and Boots) focus on delivering tailored products, services and experiences that truly meet customer needs.

TravelA slight dis-improvement in 2016, primarily due to declines in the Expectations, Integrity and Empathy pillars. A key contributor to this is LUAS whose overall score declined by -14% dropping them 105 places down the ranking and out of our Top 100.

RestaurantsA slight improvement in their overall CX score with little change in the Six Pillar scores. All fourteen brands in the sector maintained a Top 100 position. In the US, the Restaurant sector is second, driven by getting the small things right and looking at every aspect of the customer journey.

FinancialAlthough the Financial sector saw a very slight decline in the average CX score across the category, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank saw improvements in their own results. Increases in Integrity, Resolution and Empathy scores indicate effort is being put into CX.

EntertainmentDeterioration in the Integrity and Empathy pillars are key to the decline in the overall CX score. Value for money perceptions also declined, suggesting a growing number of disgruntled customers are unhappy with their current experience.

UtilitiesA big improver, with increases driven by Empathy, Resolution and Integrity. Airtricity & Electric Ireland are the most improved brands in the sector whilst Irish Water continues to remain the lowest scoring of all brands in the survey.

Ireland Sector Ireland 2016 Sector Ranking

Movement from 2015

Overall CX Score 2015 vs 2016

Supermarket 1 + 1%

Retail 2 + 1%

Travel 3 - 1%

Restaurants 4 0%

Financial 5 0%

Entertainment 6 - 1%

Utilities 7 + 3%

Telecoms 8 + 3%

Public Sector 9

Insurance 10 - 2%

0.0%

4.0%

-4.0%

Entertainment Financial Insurance Restaurants Retail Supermarkets Telecoms Travel Utilities

2016 vs 2015 Six Pillar Scores

Personalisation Time & Effort Expectations Integrity Resolution Empathy

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In our 2015 CX Report, Experience Destinations (EDs) ranked highly in our top 100. But because they are a one-destination venue, EDs can outscore businesses with multiple venues where consistency is a serious challenge. As this could be considered an unfair advantage, our colleagues in the USA and UK stopped ranking them some years ago.

In 2016, four EDs would have featured in our top 20. However, while we have omitted them from this year’s league table, we continue to recognise their excellence in delivering exceptional brand experiences.

We recommend that businesses look to other sectors for inspiration in delivering exceptional CX – and there’s a lot to be learnt from EDs. They don’t just offer top-quality entertainment; their technical infrastructure, staff, services and support enable and enhance the experiences. EDs that get it right provide a seamless service which leads customers to return consistently. And this translates into a healthier, stronger business.

Fota Island invests heavily in training staff and upping their CX delivery. While the catering has been described as expensive, the grounds are impeccably clean and well managed. Fota creates a sense of wonderment

for both kids and adults alike. Staff are happy to spend time with families, educating them and giving them a deeper appreciation of the natural world. They also run excellent seasonal events to keep the offering fresh and relevant.

The National Concert Hall brings a wide range of world-class performances to Irish people. NCH staff go out of

their way to accommodate patrons and can draw on a wealth of technical and musical knowledge that ensures the smooth running of events. They offer online booking and event information, assisted access, an onsite restaurant and a beautiful venue, all of which supports a world-class customer experience.

Dublin Zoo has undertaken large scale improvements in recent years. They excel in the basics. Ticket purchase couldn’t be easier and their website provides a range of useful and interesting information to enhance

the zoo visit. Walking through the beautiful redesigned property is a delight with a range of facilities such as playgrounds and dining areas catering for all family members. They do far more than just exhibit animals; they actively encourage an understanding of nature and sustainable living. The Zoo TV programme shares insider information about the lives of animals and fosters an awareness and love of nature.

Better BenchmarksIt is still relatively rare for a business or organisation to benchmark its CX performance outside its own sector. On the one hand, this makes sense in terms of competitor intelligence and the obvious links between CX, loyalty and switching. But on the other hand, many find themselves in sectors where they are ‘tarred with the same brush’ in terms of public perceptions and customer expectations. So it makes sense to look beyond your competitors in order to set the bar higher for CX. If only because that’s precisely what your customers do themselves as they shop across multiple categories, sectors and brands indifferent to the niceties of market categories and competitor sets.

Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly evident that there is a growing degree of polarisation within sectors, never mind between them, when it comes to delivering CX. We are beginning to note a growing divergence between ‘the Best and the Rest’ in several of the sectors we track. The same is true outside of Ireland: typically, we see a trailblazing brand, focused on CX, that shifts perceptions about what to expect from a bank-utility-insurer etc, and they quickly benefit through loyalty, market share and word-of-mouth business development.

So behind the average scores is a story of excellent CX providers and a long tail of CX laggards. All the more reason to look outside your sector to see who is raising the bar: though do keep an eye on your own category in case it happens to be one of your competitors!

Sector analysis (contd)

TelecomsImprovement in scores was driven by Resolution and Expectations. Value for money and loyalty scores also improved, no doubt convincing many telecoms customers that things are ‘getting better’. Although only three of the eleven Telecom brands surveyed made it into the Top 100 there are positive signs of progress.

Public SectorOur new sector has much room for improvement (despite strong performance by individual departments). Time & Effort and Empathy are the main dimensions holding government organisations back, as well as perceived value for money (though obviously some services are only ‘purchased’ indirectly through taxation).

InsuranceRemaining at the bottom of the ranking they are held back by poor performance in Personalisation, Expectations and Integrity. The biggest drop was in Empathy, likely to be driven by continuing price increases and products that consumers find challenging to understand.

Spotlight on Experience Destinations

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Competition between Ireland’s two largest airlines, Ryanair and Aer Lingus, has changed dramatically in recent years. From a tussle between cheap and premium, the battle is now being fought on a more middle ground. Ryanair is offering service enhancements while Aer Lingus has embraced a value-added proposition – and the winner is the consumer who demanded, and is now enjoying, a better overall customer experience. I’m disappointed to see Aer Lingus drop down the Irish league table in 2016. I had also thought that Ryanair’s much-heralded customer experience improvements would have yielded an even bigger jump into the Top 100 than they did.

In the context of the Six Pillars, Ryanair substantially improved its Expectations, Resolution and Empathy scores, suggesting Irish

consumers are beginning to recognise that they are serious about getting closer to them. Ryanair has also enjoyed some public attention in turning poor experiences into 'remark-able' ones; while improvements to digital platforms and cabin baggage policy are positively acknowledged in the survey.

Aer Lingus has fallen back on Empathy and Resolution, which is surprising when one considers its legacy, and has also dropped on

Time and Effort. It would seem that Aer Lingus’s continuing service improvements such as auto bag-drop at Dublin Airport, reinvigorated training programme for frontline staff and improved punctuality performance, have yet to fully register with the Irish consumer.

With the commoditisation of travel, airlines need to differentiate themselves. In the age of three-clicks to buy, they must become more valued by customers who are better informed by shared experiences from fellow travellers. Whilst airlines can sometimes have a narrow view of customer experience, most travellers correctly see it as their entire interaction with an airline. Hence, the ease of making a booking and the smile of a cabin crew member are equally important, even though both can happen months apart.

This year’s report prompts important questions. Has Ryanair harvested all of the low-hanging fruit in their move towards delivering better customer experience? Will there be a similar upward trend in 2017 or will building on current success prove more difficult? And will Aer Lingus arrest its drop from this year and move closer to the top 10? My feeling is that both airlines will significantly improve their respective positions – after all, Aer Lingus has recently been awarded a 4-Star Skytrax ranking (airlinequality.com) joining an exclusive group of quality airlines; while Ryanair continues to announce new initiatives and carry record passenger numbers. Time will tell.

Micheál Gannon (micheal.gannon@icloud.com) spent most of his career in Aer Lingus, most recently as Director of Customer Experience and Brand.

For the first time, the Public Sector was included in this years CXi Survey. Many of these public services are hugely important and at times they are critical to people’s wellbeing. People often call upon them when they are most vulnerable and so experiences with them are particularly impactful. It is notable that no public sector organisation feature in the UK or the USA Top 100 league tables. We are happy to see the Passport Office (ranked at 32) and An Garda Síochána (ranked at 97) make it into our Top 100.

The Passport Office is lauded for their simple online application service. Their tracking tool, which is updated twice daily, provides reassurance that customer applications are being looked after. It’s also possible to

contact them by telephone. You can make appointments to meet staff in their offices, so customers can interact with them in whatever way suits them best. Hence, their high scores in Personalisation and Time and Effort. Those people who miss the application deadline can also avail of the 10 day Passport Express Service. Our survey indicates that the Passport Office has further work to do on meeting customer Expectations, as they do not always deliver within the expected timeframe.

An Garda Síochána has traditionally had a close relationship with the community. Every day, thousands of Gardaí speak to the public. This can range from a simple request for information in a Garda station to dealing

with traumatised victims of crime. While they score well in Personalisation, Time & Effort and most importantly in showing Integrity, they fall down on Expectations, Resolution and Empathy. However, they are endeavouring to address the latter as is evidenced in a new training regime for recruits, which includes a focus on communicating in a professional and courteous manner and being empathetic. We look forward to seeing the impact of their Modernisation and Renewal Programme 2016-2021 which aims to further improve how they interact with the public.

With an average ranking of 130 in the 2016 survey, we will be monitoring to see if the other brands in the Public Sector (NCT, Ambulance Service, Revenue and Social Welfare offices) put greater focus on CX in the coming year.

The Passport Office

Spotlight on Airlines

An inside view from Micheál Gannon

Spotlight on the Public Sector

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Customer Champion Case Study Customer Champion Case Study

Empathy1st place

The Irish Credit Union tops our CX Excellence league table again this year, demonstrating consistency in the delivery of outstanding customer experiences. Each of the 339 Credit Unions in the Republic are independently run and owned by the members. All of them share the same ethos that the member is the business and their culture, behaviours and activity flow from this. They are embedded in the community and the funds stay in the community; interestingly they see themselves as the original 'crowd-funder'.

Trust is central to relationships with members, and maintaining this trust is a critical factor in their ongoing success. Trust-based relationships are built and maintained over the long term and are anchored in the community.

Looking after members comes naturally to staff and is very much part of the culture. This is supported by ongoing CX training but, as the Credit Union point out, it is very hard to train people if the culture isn’t right. Face-to-face interaction is hugely important to members and is still a key part of what the Credit Union does. It enables emotional connections to be made, displays empathy and differentiates the Credit Union within the financial sector. An example of this is the ‘Personal Micro Credit Initiative’ programme, designed as an affordable alternative to money lenders. For those who are experiencing financial difficulties, participation in this programme is a rare experience of being “treated like a real person”.

The Credit Union excel in Personalisation, getting to know customers by understanding their individual needs and circumstances. In recent times this has meant embracing the digital era ensuring their relevancy to the next generation. Many Credit Unions now use apps and online interfaces to make interaction easy, one example being the facility to make loan applications on Facebook.

Enriching local life through support of communities, whether by sponsoring sporting and social events or by educating people, is part and parcel of the Credit Union’s identity. Reflecting their strong education ethos, they work with schools to teach children about budgeting, credit and debt and encourage them to open savings accounts.

In 1961 Peter and Mark Keaveney opened the first Peter Mark hair salon with a core philosophy to “make customers happy by providing the highest possible standard of hairdressing”. Fifty-five years on, this philosophy is still very much at the heart of a business that now has 71 salons and 1,700 staff. It has also contributed to them being the highest climber in our Top 100, jumping 47 places to 6th place.

CX is led by the salons and whilst there is a consistent service framework, staff are empowered to use their personalities when dealing with customers. Peter Mark sees the hairdressing customer experience as being very unique with each customer wanting something quite different. Having customers spend an average of 25 minutes for a blow dry is seen as a huge advantage in getting to know a customer and understand their needs. All staff, from the CEO to the salon staff spends a lot of their time talking to, listening to and observing customers. The finances are the last thing that are looked at, the philosophy being that if everything else is going well it will reflect in the revenue.

Peter Mark is clear that their strongest asset is their people and they invest heavily in technical and soft skills training for staff. Apprentices undergo a rigorous four-year programme followed by continuous professional development. Each apprentice is a protégé, a member of the family and senior managers delight in their staff success. This nurturing, supportive environment with a philosophy that “all people are good” is evident at all levels within Peter Mark, where employees and company owners work and socialise together. Throughout the recent recession they retained all of their salons and staff, clearly signalling a commitment to their people.

Peter Mark put their success down to a combination of strong investment in staff, leading edge style and a tailored, personal service for clients. Being forward looking, keeping up to date with trends and anticipating customer needs are paramount. As Cathal Keaveney, Head of Professional Development told us “Nothing about what we do is a given, we still have to impress the client every time and that’s what we love about it”.

Looking ahead, Peter Mark aims to further improve customer experience through multi-channel engagement. The key will be to integrate it carefully with the in-salon experience to ensure they maintain their strong and empathetic customer relationships.

Empathy Integrity

excels in:

6th place ExpectationsIntegrityPersonalisation

excels in:

The Credit Union really does make the lives of its members and communities better. The simple, but powerful ethos of “member first” is embedded in all decision making and is reflected in a consistently excellent performance in the Six Pillars.

Customers place great trust in their hairdresser. Recognising and respecting this trust has helped Peter Mark make decisions that are right for the customer and right for their business

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Homestore + more opened their first store in Tallaght in 2004. Since then, they have grown rapidly with 18 stores nationwide and plans to open two more before Christmas. As a new brand in this year’s survey they have done exceptionally well, coming in at number 12 in our top 100.

Jonathan Stanley, Managing Director, puts their success down to a number of factors: product excellence, superior stores, a strong management culture and the highest level of customer service. But he says what set them apart is that they genuinely want to help customers - “if we treat customers like a member of our family they will come back”.

Staff, or colleagues as Homestore + more prefer to call them, are not measured on sales but on how they deal with customers. This is monitored through a weekly mystery shopping programme focused on proactive, genuine customer engagement. Delivering a consistent customer experience with over 500 staff is a challenge Homestore + more rise to through a strong management culture and investment in their colleagues. This starts at recruitment, looking for people who understand their customer philosophy, and continues through comprehensive training and career progression programmes.

Each store has a trainer who constantly updates and tailors training based on colleague feedback. The “Plus One” programme has been particularly successful, empowering colleagues to take an extra minute or two to help a customer and make them feel valued. Examples of these “Plus Ones” include carrying a mother’s shopping to her car, providing an umbrella when it’s raining or even helping a customer to change a punctured tyre.

A commitment to the philosophy that people prefer to do well in work has created a culture where the abilities of colleagues are truly valued and they are given the opportunity to grow and develop in the organisation. Many of those who started on the shop floor are now store managers, area managers, buyers, business development managers and product designers. All are committed ambassadors for the Homestore + more brand.

Empathy

Ranking in the top 10 of the CXi league table for the second year running demonstrates that Boots Ireland is a true customer experience champion. In Ireland they have become part of the community with 80+ stores, and over 1 million active loyalty card users. Their success is based on a fundamental understanding of customer needs with care at the heart of everything they do.

Boots recognises that the retail environment has changed hugely with customers expecting store colleagues to offer expertise, advice and product knowledge. An example of its success in this area has come from ensuring that pharmacists move from the dispensing area to having a more customer-facing role within healthcare. Private consultation rooms in-store allow them to provide a personalised customer experience.

All store colleagues are seen as “Champions of Care” and the recruitment process focuses on key behaviours and ability to care. Richard Bradley, MD Boots Ireland, believes that you cannot care for customers unless you feel cared for yourself so huge importance is placed on ensuring colleagues are valued for making a genuine contribution to customer care.

Giving ‘everyone the right to feel good’ is at the heart of Boots Ireland’s partnership with the Irish Cancer Society. Much more than just fundraising, store colleagues help cancer sufferers to address their specific healthcare and beauty needs and wants. For example, Boots Cancer Beauty Advisors can give skincare and makeup advice to those going through chemotherapy, to help them to continue to look and feel good.

Bradley has also focused on improving the customer experience. He firmly believes that retailing is still about shops and expansion means 90% of the Irish population are less than a 15 minute drive from a Boots store. However, he also recognises the need for a brilliant omni-channel experience consistent at every touch point. The store locator within the Boots flagship app, pharmacist appointment booking system and Boots Advantage card help to deliver a highly personalised, highly valued customer experience. It is very much a case of technology enhancing the experience rather than replacing it.

CX is one of the key KPIs that Boots focuses on and picking themes and trends out of the data is vital. Individual customer comments are highly valued and Boots makes a point of letting individual customers know when the changes they suggested have been made.

Resolution 12th place7th place Integrity Personalisation Time & Effort

Customer Champion Case Study Customer Champion Case Studyexcels in: excels in:

Expectations

The mission of Jesse Boot was to “administer to the comforts of communities in hundreds of ways”. This year, Boots will celebrate 20 years in Ireland and their focus on care of customers and colleagues means the business continues to do this with great success.

It’s this shift in focus from sales numbers to genuine customer and colleague engagement that is at the core of Homestore + more’s growth. Coupled with the mantra to make themselves a “better homestore + more every year” indicates they are likely to see this growth continue well into the future.

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Customer Champion Case Study

26th place

Since they opened their first Irish store in 2011, Tiger have seen huge success in this market with their 25th store due to open shortly. They are a new entrant in our CXi league table, ranking 26th overall but scoring particularly well in Time & Effort (2nd), Value (3rd) and Loyalty (6th).

The key to Tiger’s success is providing ‘wow’ products at affordable prices. Gillian Maxwell, co-owner of Tiger, believes that Irish people are attracted to good design and Tiger regularly collaborates with designers and artists, to create accessible designer products that ordinary people can afford and enjoy in their homes.

Tiger want to make the customer shopping experience as fresh and exciting as possible with music, lighting and layout of goods all designed to enhance this. They excel in saving people time and effort with their huge range of products and the layout of their shop floor where all items are clearly visible and are grouped in themes.

This huge product range and the introduction of new products on a monthly basis have driven loyalty as customers regularly come back to see what’s new. Expectations are exceeded as there is always a pleasant surprise for customers. This is balanced with staples that people always need such as candles, napkins, tissues and party goodies.

Tiger want the in-store experience to be entertaining and staff are encouraged to include customers in conversations and have the ‘craic’ with them. This fits very well with the fun and quirky nature of the brand and Irish customers love being part of the Tiger team. Everything starts from the shop floor with office staff, from Human Resources to Accounting regularly spending time there to appreciate how best to meet customer needs.

Customer feedback is something that is taken very seriously at Tiger and comes in many forms including social media and talking to customers and staff. A dynamic brand, they will shortly pilot an in-store customer evening to get feedback on improving the customer experience.

Time & Effort

Further resources CXi is a community of CX practitioners supported by specific CX tools and services. These include consumer research (Ireland and abroad), customised briefings, CX action planning, an annual festival event, face-to-face and online networking opportunities and a CX resource library.

To find out more, see www.cxi.ie

Ireland's next CX Masterclass The CX Academy is part of the Dialogue/CXi group and runs CX training and professional development programmes for business owners, senior managers and customer-facing staff.

Download the Irish 2015 and 2016 reports at www.cxi.ie

Download UK and USA industry

analyses at www.nunwood.com

Register to attend the CXi Annual CX Festival, being held in 2017. You can learn about last year's annual event at www.cxi.ie/storiesfestival

Get in touch by calling +353 1 881 8844Enquire about becoming a

subscriber of CXi. See page 31 to find out more about our range of package options.

excels in:

Integrity Expectations

Tiger continue to surprise and delight Irish customers with their exciting product range, bright and engaging stores and their sense of fun, proving that the high street is very much alive and well.

To sign up for the next CX Masterclass in Trinity College on November 9th, go to www.dialogue.ie/cxmasterclass or call +353 1 662 2277

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