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Chair’s Report: Virtual CX Marketing Summit Friday 9th October VIEW FROM THE CHAIR Martin Hill-Wilson Brainfood Consulting Published by
Chair’s Report:
Virtual CX Marketing Summit Friday 9th October
VIEW FROM THE
CHAIRMartin Hill-Wilson
Brainfood Consulting
Published by
Virtual Employee Engagement Summit 2020
VIEW FROM THE CHAIR1
VIRTUAL CX MARKETING SUMMIT 2020
I took over second day duties. It was a fast-paced day. In fact, I learnt something new within
the first ten seconds of introducing my first speaker Tim Bond. That bastion of direct
marketing the DMA now calls itself the Data & Marketing Association. A sign of the times.
Tim’s title was ‘We are not normal’. This refers to the notion that marketers should not self-reference their own communication habits and assume customers act in the same way. DAM research shows that brand discovery still encompasses traditional channels such TV, friends and family. In fact, the core challenges of effective marketing remain the same. Using customer data in a way that generates trust and is experienced as relevant engagement by the customer. Next up was Victoria Nickless from Reading Borough Council who told the story of how her social team stepped up in the aftermath of a terrible random incident mid-summer that left three dead and a further three wounded. Throughout that unprecedented time, her team had to engage with the needs of local, national and global audiences on top of existing demands from the pandemic which had put the team into homeworking mode. Response was orchestrated by the team and promoted over social. A virtual vigil was held over YouTube and Facebook allowing the Council to offer a way for mourners to pay their respects. Behind the scenes, the platform they used allowed everyone to remain focused on priorities, manage misinformation and coordinate with other teams across the council. Moving on, Mark Evans from Direct Line took over talking about their evolution. From seeing the growth in digital channels over eight years ago to next developing an agile based digital services function over the next few years. This walled garden approach was then reintegrated back into the mainstream business albeit still as a ‘mono functional’ business unit. Nonetheless. the rest of the business started to notice the impact of agile. Over the next few years, this evolved to the
point of federating all teams at head office into autonomous cross functional teams with their own missions and end to end ownership. This boosted the number of squads from 10 to 100. By this point the focus on digital became contextual as opposed to functional. According to Mark, the biggest challenge has been mindset and new behaviours. T shaped competency development challenges traditional career paths and is not attractive to everyone. It also changed senior leadership’s role from command and control to coaching and support. All in all a brave move within a traditional business. One that challenges everyone comfort zone. But necessitated by a fast moving world. Next up was Rebecca Harvison from EE who talked about her quest to enable a more human centered approach when responding to customer complaints. This was modelled on the ambition of providing a consistent standard regardless of channel or functional team. The way in which written communication is crafted shapes customer experience. Letters are typically stuffy and formal. Emails can sound technical and impersonal in tone. So, a more personal way of writing was targeted. One that was closer to the way people talk in everyday conversation. All teams and departments became involved and aligned with the aim of a more personal way of communicating. It worked! Customers liked it. The programme is being rolled out to BT as a result, My special congratulations to all those in legal and compliance teams for being willing to adapt and embrace new way of doing things. We then pivoted to a conversation with Matthew Ford from Hawksmoor restaurants about the challenges faced by this sector during COVID. His message was a need to go back to
Martin Hill-Wilson Founder
Brainfood Consulting
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basics during a very reactive period. His team concentrated keeping their long-term customer base loyal with carefully personalised communication. Nonetheless innovation was also needed. As a result, the brand opened up to home delivery. An idea which would not have been contemplated a year ago. A demonstration that the leadership team is resilient, pragmatic and willing to adapt to survive. Essential qualities. Moira Clark from Henley Business School then took over and explored the importance of rebuilding consumer confidence. She started with a slew of stats that showed the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. It has impacted consumer behaviour in a number of ways. A shift to value and essentials. A flight to omni-channel and digital. Greater propensity to try new brands and switch loyalty as a result. And finally a heightened expectation for in store hygiene and personal safety. In response, brands need to invest in digital and be effective online, enable click and collect, focus on local shopping and invest in al fresco eating. And be seen as operating with zero waste with sustainability credentials and a strong community focus. My last pre-lunch slot was an interview with Brandie Deignan, Managing Director for Marco Pierre White Restaurants, an inspiring role model both within her own organisation but also within the wider business community, inspiring others to believe in themselves and go for their ambitions. We talked about the need for agile CX strategies within the hospitality sector, the importance of ‘servant leadership’ and a long term people agenda, being prepared to think about the box and faith and optimism that things will work out. After lunch Clayton Ricketts talked about how Save the Children has reconnected the public with their core charity mission and grown contributions despite a static giving market. This required them to review how they and the broader charity market present their issues. It a move from sympathy to empathy. It is also about tapping into new channels to reach new givers. This new world is subscription based, cause based, offering an authentic voice and being willing to speak out and learn from commercial peers such as Lego. The most recent fruit of this new mindset is the subscription-based book club called Wonderbooks - a great example of how to execute on the new trends. Next up was Phil Szymala a research leader from PayPal. His work is focused on improving sales conversion which is highly competitive. Physical retail has strongest conversion rate. Desktop online conversion is twice as effective as mobile which is just 2%. . So how to remove the friction and reasons why consumers fail to convert? Research shows multiple issues at payment stage. Such as a lack of preferred payment options, a mistrust of entering personal payment details or being unclear if payment protection is available. In terms of solutions, further Paypal research showed consumers prefer digital wallets because they help mask personal details. They like choice of
which card to use especially with younger cohorts. By addressing these concerns, it is no surprise to learn that Paypal customers are twice as likely to convert when a Paypal option is visible and offer an NPS that is 8% higher than the norm. Raghav Gupta from Expedia Group then explained how they measure customer experience. They use a three step process. Achievement of outcome, effort and resulting emotion. They view this in terms of end to end journeys as well as a more detailed view of journey stages such as the use of coupons on a particular web page. The potential value of developing a metric at this point is tested by exploring whether it can be subjected to root cause analysis, actionable insight and improvement. If not then a metric is not developed. This disciplined approach has worked well and allowed Expedia to drive continuous improvement and encouraged cross functional teamwork to fix things. Maria Fernando from Santander Asset Management provided the last topic of the day: strategic content. This involved focusing on the most impactful content based on what customers find most valuable. In Maria’s case, this turned out to be educationally based to help customers be more effective in their asset management. The content programme she developed serviced to gain trust and position the brand-customer relationship in a positive context even before anything is bought. The approach resulted in a 30% increase in traffic which validated the focus on value. And that was the end of a fascinating day on CX related Marketing.
VIEW FROM THE CHAIR
VIRTUAL CX MARKETING SUMMIT 2020
Chair Report: Virtual CX Marketing SummitVIEW FROM THE CHAIR
Martin Hill-Wilson, Founder, Brainfood Consulting
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