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Trust – The Embodiment of Customer Experience

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Guest Blogger

Trust – a small word that means so much. It is a word that plays an enormous part in all our lives. A word that epitomises our start in life – from the minute we enter in to the world, we immediately have complete trust in the people who care for us. As we grow up we learn to trust in a wider sphere of people – our families and friends, as well as respected figures in our communities such as doctors, teachers and religious leaders. We learn to trust in the things people tell us – in opinions and perspectives. We start to trust organisations that we interact with. The majority of us are fortunate to be brought up in way that we understand what trust means. For all these reasons, it is 100% clear to me why I believe that trust is the embodiment of customer experience. We grow to inherently believe it exists, and as such expect it to be present when we experience the things we do.

The fact that I am writing this blog post regrettably is a reflection of the fact that the very thing we instinctively have when we are brought in to the world, is continually being eroded away by the attitudes and behaviours of our modern society. When it comes to the world of customer experience, it would be fair to say that the consumer no longer knows who to trust. Let me ask you a few random questions:

Do you trust your bank to treat you fairly?
Do you trust your clothing retailer to sell you clothes that are made ethically?
Do you trust your food retailer to sell you food that is exactly as it states on the packaging?
Do you trust your mechanic to give you a fair price for repairing your car?
Do you trust your newspaper to tell you the truth?
Do you trust your online shopping to arrive at the time you expect?
Do you trust your local council to do what is best?
Do you trust your government to do what is right?
Do you trust anyone who comes to your door in order to sell you something?
Do you trust the companies you transact with to put you, the customer, first?

In times gone by, we may well have been able to answer ‘yes’ to many (if not all) of these questions. It is a sad fact that we may well now answer ‘no’ to the majority of them. The Oxford English Dictionary defines trust as:

“The firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something”

Are we able to apply this definition to the companies with which we have experiences? It is very difficult today to talk about business that we absolutely trust to do the right thing. Many are trying. One of the UK’s largest food retailers, Morrisons, is attempting to get its customers to trust it to sell good quality meat that comes from reliable British sources. Whilst we still feel the effects of the horsemeat scandal, their campaign may well help the consumer to get a little confidence back.

British banks have a lot more work to do in order to get the consumer to trust them again. Earlier this year, the leaders of one of our failed banks has offered to return his Knighthood in recognition of the banks ails. For so long the consumer has been taken for granted – it will take a very long time before we trust the financial services sector again.

Every industry is affected by trust. Just recently, four Japanese car makers have recalled 3.4 million cars over a defect in passenger airbags. The culture that created the most robust process methodologies the world has ever seen, are also now in the firing line.

Failing to deliver an experience that can be trusted can have far greater consequences today than in years gone by. The best example of this is the now world famous ‘United Breaks Guitars’ story, and Dave Carroll’s mission to expose that lack of care and respect United Airlines gave him as a customer. As of today, the video he posted on YouTube about his experience has been viewed almost 13 million times. The damage to United Airlines is probably immeasurable.

Whilst my words have focussed very much on the lack of trust, we should start to focus on how to earn it – and in a lot of cases, how to get it back. I believe that it is possible to create the ‘trust equation’ for organisations to align to.

The equation looks at four things:

Honesty
Reliability
Consistency
Care

Let us have a quick look at these in turn.

Honesty – consumers just want organisations to be honest. Just tell me the truth. Do what you say you are going to do. Do not try and hide anything. Consumers also expect that organisations will not get things right 100% of the time – so just be honest with me when you get it wrong, and address the issue. How many businesses that you deal with are honest?

Reliability – we all want the businesses we deal with to be reliable. We want to know that things will work as they should. I wanted to buy a specific clothing item from a small independent retailer the afternoon before I was due to go on holiday. I arrived at the shop to find it closed. It was 4:15pm. On the door, in big letters it stated that the shop closed at 5:00pm every day. Reliable? Not only did the retailer miss out on that purchase, they will not be given the opportunity to get another.

Consistency – this is vital in delivering an experience that the consumer will trust. If you are able to deliver a consistent experience, your consumer will be far more likely to keep coming back. The bigger the brand, the harder this is to do. Premier Inn is a hotel brand that is starting to excel in the consistency arena. Every Premier Inn is the same – it looks, feels and behaves the same. By contrast, other hotel brands deliver inconsistent experiences, meaning that you do not always get what you expect.

Care – this is the final bit of the trust equation. If you are able to achieve the first three elements, you are in great shape. But it is possible to be honest, reliable and consistent without caring. As a consumer, I want to know that the company I deal with cares about me. They recognise the importance of me as a customer. If not, it is unlikely that I will build an emotional connection with that company. If that does not happen, the likelihood of me recalling my experiences is minimal. One could argue that Ryanair are a brand that sums this up. They are very honest in what they do. They are very reliable (the most in their industry) and consistent. But do they care?

I believe that Trust is the embodiment of customer experience. I believe that if organisations do not embrace Trust, and work hard to ensure that they deliver experiences that can be trusted; they will fail to be able to attract and keep the customers they exist to serve. Companies that we can trust will be the real winners as our fast changing world powers on.

Do Happy Employees Mean Happy Customers?

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Emma Kennedy

Happy employees have been linked to satisfied customers and better service A colleague of mine recently wrote a blog on why every customer experience matters, looking particularly at the importance of employee attitudes in service delivery. These attitudes, and the commitment of the employee to providing consistent positive service interactions, is ultimately determined by how engaged the employee is with the organisation.

The link between levels of employee engagement and the quality of service provided is well documented, with recent research by Bright Horizons highlighting that 89% of employees with high levels of well-being reported high job satisfaction and nearly two thirds of those employees reported consistently putting in extra effort at work. Further to this, it has been suggested that companies who effectively appreciate employee value enjoy a return on equity and assets more than triple that experienced by firms that don’t.

One organisation that seems to recognise this point, and use it to its advantage is John Lewis. John Lewis is a unique organisation in that it is owned by its employees – or partners – who have a say in how it is run and receive a share of the profits. Every year John Lewis releases a partner survey for all their employees. The most recent results highlighted that 82% of partners said they feel respected, with 81% reporting they feel well informed about what’s going on in the business. Given that John Lewis employees stay with the company twice as long as they industry average, these figures are hardly surprising. This level of employee engagement has led to John Lewis being recognised in a number of customer satisfaction surveys and awards, for example, in 2012 it was voted Multichannel Retailer of the Year.

John Lewis has undoubtedly got their employee engagement right, and customers are benefitting from this. Other organisations must want the same positive experience for their own customers, so who will be the ‘John Lewis’ of 2013? What strategies will be adopted to replicate these successes and improve the customer experience?

Brands in Administration: Can they still Focus on Customers?

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Lindsay Morrison

Brands in financial distress and customer loyalty Towards the end of last year, we spoke about high street brands like Comet going into administration, and how this can affect customers. This week, Twitter was up in arms at HMV’s refusal to accept gift vouchers, after the firm revealed earlier in the week that they too had gone into administration. Customers appeared to be turning on the high street music store, demanding they be compensated for their now defunct gift cards and vouchers. So have the store inadvertently turned their last few remaining customers away? The refusal to accept valid gift cards is, after all, out of HMV’s hands, with the administrators now effectively running the company’s 45 UK stores.

So I ask the question – if you find yourself in HMV’s position, can you still operate as a customer centric business? Many would argue that no, your priorities change, and saving your brand is fundamental. And of course I agree with this. But shouldn’t saving your brand also mean holding onto your remaining customers in any way possible?

Earlier this month, I wrote about customer loyalty in the face of brand scandal, but perhaps this is the tipping point. Should HMV have done more to reward their loyal customers, even as they were bringing in the administrators? And will this decision backfire should they survive?

While there may be light at the end of the tunnel for HMV this week, only time will tell if their customers will rejoin them on the high street.

Our Top Ten Posts of 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Nupur Chatterjee

The Percepta team in Europe have spent this past year understanding, analysing and making the best out of customer service, experience and insight trends and news to deliver the best for our clients and partners. This process has led to some great blog posts and we’ve put together ten of our most popular ones in this roundup of 2012. We hope 2013 brings our clients and partners across the globe, as well as our teams working with them, heaps of success, knowledge and joy. Wishing all our readers a prosperous 2013!

Our top ten posts of 2012:

Loyalty: Why Every Customer Experience Matters

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Eva Sturm

Thinking about your own experiences as a customer, I am sure you can come up with a range of different experiences. Yet, don’t you agree, that the better the experience the more likely you are to return or repurchase? What do you think are the factors that define the quality of customer service you receive? Is it employee satisfaction? Or does it depend on the training employees receive?

The other day, for instance, I ordered a pizza from a renowned pizza delivery service as I didn’t have the time to cook after working all morning, and had to leave for an important appointment shortly. Even though the company promises a maximum of 20 minutes delivery time in my neighbourhood, the delivery guy arrived after over 30 minutes. As this alone was not stressful enough, he did not have any change on him. After a few awkward phone calls he had with his boss, I myself had to go to the corner shop to get the right amount of cash. In spite of gulping down my pizza, I was still 15 minutes late for my meeting. Even though I’d only made contact with a single employee, I decided to never use this delivery service ever again because the promised customer experience was not delivered.

While every employee represents the company they work for, it is even more so for employees in customer facing roles. Such employees are paramount in the quest of creating customer loyalty through good customer service. While there are people who are naturally good with customers, it is not always possible for companies to employ such individuals. Also, even the most caring employee might, once in a while, have a bad day. Intensive training and employee engagement could therefore help companies ensure their staff, even when they are off-site, represent and uphold company values appropriately, thus reinforcing customer loyalty.

What do you think is the best solution to ensure employees create a positive customer service experience? Do you think that better training and/or engagement within the pizza delivery service would have improved the delivery guy’s performance? And is there a way in which the company could have reacted in order to obtain my loyalty despite this faux pas? Let me know your thoughts via the comments section!

Customer Loyalty and Generation Y

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Eva Sturm

Generation Y (Gen Y for short) is a widely used term to refer to the Millennial Generation composed of people aged between 18 and 30. In the UK alone it numbers almost ten million people. This Generation is connected, influential and profitable, has a high purchasing power, and is thus a significant component of any business strategy. Yet, the question arises around how best to create lasting relationships and engage with this generation.

Recent research results by a leading customer experience company has shown that two key customer loyalty drivers among the Generation Y segment are general brand popularity and word-of-mouth from friends and family. As a result, the decision-making process and loyalty of Gen Y members are more changeable than that of older generations. However, loyalty programs do make a difference – according to the research, 74% of Gen Y individuals stated that a good loyalty program is likely to influence their purchase decision. Added value through rewards or incentives attract this generation – ranging from straight cash-back options over product rewards to soft incentives. Irrespective of the choice of reward or incentive, the key consideration is that they can earn them fast and frequently.

Trust remains a major issue for young people joining loyalty programs. Companies need to establish an environment of trust where customers can be sure that their personal data is secure and only used exclusively for its intended purpose in an ethical manner. This insight is especially important for companies because with the prospect of rewards, Gen Y consumers are more likely to share further information.

One major difference between Gen Y customers and those of an older generation is their use of technology when engaging with brands and loyalty programs. Mobile devices like laptops, tablets and smart phones are preferred for browsing the web over desktop PCs. They are therefore more likely to engage and conduct business with brands and companies through smartphone apps and social media. In fact, about a quarter of Gen Y consumers use apps and over half of them utilise social media to interact with loyalty programs, and prefer mobile apps over plastic reward cards.

This, however, leads us back to the social component of trying to connect with Generation Y consumers through loyalty programs. Not only do they want to be rewarded for sharing their information, but they want to hear from you and build relationships at the same time. So how does an organisation do it? How can a brand successfully attract the attention of the Gen Y consumer and ensure their loyalty? Let us know your thoughts via the comments section.

Big Data: How are you using it?

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Emma Kennedy

How are Organisations using Big Data? The amount of data in the business world has been rapidly growing over the past few years particularly with the development of technology. This data is often collectively and commonly termed ‘Big Data’. When used effectively, it has the potential to become the next frontier for innovation, operational excellence, competition and profit.

Undoubtedly the explosion in the volume of data organisations are capturing about their customers, suppliers, employees, operations and competitors, both directly and indirectly, can generate tremendous insight. In their 2011 study the McKinsey Global Institute identified potential benefits of this insight across many sectors; from billions of dollars per annum benefits for health care and public sector administrations and increases of up to 60% in operating margins for retailers. Furthermore, in today’s consumer driven environment, business decisions can no longer be based on what has previously been successful. With the shift in power towards the consumer, there is now a requirement for highly personalised services, recommendations and communication. Consumers want to receive the right message at the right time through the right channel. If organisations fail utilise their data effectively to surpass these customer expectations, their competitors will leave them behind.

Despite this, a recent study conducted on behalf of Total System Services Inc. (TSYS) has shown that over 30% of organisations are not utilising their data to drive business decisions. With evidence suggesting that utilising customer data effectively can lead to improved customer relations, customer loyalty and advocacy – why would organisations choose to ignore this important resource?

The issue may stem from the organisational culture – perhaps there is not a customer centric culture, or the decision makers do not understand the value of customer data? Some organisations may argue that they are not equipped to deal with customer data or changes that may stem from customer insight. Or do organisations believe that in simply gathering ‘big data’ they are doing enough?

Innovation. What’s Your Take?

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Samantha Lee

A term that is used repeatedly by companies, yet I am not sure we fully understand what it means, how we can nurture an innovative culture or whether it is a good or bad thing.

I read a blog recently by Pat Lencioni entitled “Is innovation good or bad” and started thinking about this interesting term and how frequently it is used or requested without there being a clear understanding of what it means and why we are doing it.

There are several written definitions of innovation but the one that I feel is the most relevant is: “Innovation is creating value by implementing ideas”

If adding value is the measure, then who is the measurer? Is this a personal measurement? I ask these two questions because I feel in today’s world it is so easy for people to say “we are an innovative company” or “you are not an innovative company.” The same applies to personal beliefs.

So what are my thoughts on how to deal with this?

Review your customer survey to ensure that the “innovation” section / questions are asked in the right way so that you can specifically understand what this means to the person responding. I believe that innovation is personal so this is crucial. Without this you will not know what to do more of, less of or where to spend your money.
Look at the employee innovation feedback and the client feedback to see if there is a correlation.
Define innovation in your organisation, sector and identify when innovative ideas occur and tell people about it, reward people for innovation.
Implement a robust ‘idea to innovation’ process that aligns to your vision so that ideas become real commercial services or products that add value.

So what does the future look like in relation to innovation? I hope more clarity, better measurement and personalisation. To avoid thinking that innovation is about large investments but to focus on the smaller things that truly add value to your customers and employees.

An Insight Into A Big Media Player – STV

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Emma Kennedy

The Percepta marketing team recently attended the Communications Breakfast in Glasgow with guest speaker Rob Woodward, Chief Executive at STV. The theme of the breakfast was ‘Digital STV — the Future’, focussing on the vision of the organisation and how television is going to affect us and the businesses we operate in, in years to come.

Rob opened his presentation by demonstrating that people who watch TV are more than just viewers — they are consumers. They dictate what they watch, where and when, and this has been heightened by the ability to stop, record and play live TV. He pointed out that this will only become more evident as the lines between television and internet become increasingly blurred.

Being one of the first channels to launch its own channel on YouTube, undoubtedly places STV at the forefront of digital media. Rob pointed to the fact that their success in this area can be attributed to the combination of excellent technology coupled with an enthusiastic and skilled workforce. Creating an effective team ethos and culture is central to the progression of the organisation, and Rob gave us an insight in to how they do this at STV:

Be accessible internally and externally
Trust instinct
Instil confidence in the team
Know when to make change in your organisation
Communication internally with staff is key — they must be informed
Implement and measure your KPI’s
Companies can ‘super perform’ by inspiring others to over achieve

Rob talked about the 3 pillars of STV — Connectivity, Community and Creativity. Our data rich environment means we know more about customers than ever before, and STV utilise this information to create a community with customers. At STV customer insight is key to enabling new relationships, something that Rob insists is a marketing must for all businesses who want to survive and thrive.

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