ANNUAL REVIEW
Day Three: Thursday 3 December Gerry Brown, The Customer Lifeguard
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ay three of the Customer Engagement Summit also happened to be the last conference day in the EBM calendar and while not wanting to diminish any of the other days in a challenging year, this did feel as if we had scaled new heights. In particular, it coincided with the news from the previous day that UK approval had been granted for the Pfizer vaccine and as a result all of the presenters stood a little taller, and had a virtual spring in their step David Dagger from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) shared some recent positive feedback about the links between a great CX/ EX and loyalty, trust, productivity, and profitability from their recent surveys where Covid-19 unsurprisingly was prominently featured. It once again demonstrated why customer experience (CX) really matters and that business performance improved measurably and significantly for those companies that really did put at the top of the agenda. David highlighted the customer service dividends that were really compelling; increases in ebitda, average profit margin and average revenue per employee. But he didn’t stop there and went on to show the huge financial costs in productivity from not delivering great CX and topped it off by showing what mattered most to customers, and the impact on customer satisfaction. For any for those attendees that questioning the ROI of CX, this presentation clearly washed away any lingering doubts. Adam Firbank, British Gas (BG) & Darren Collins from Quadient teamed up to introduce us to Customer Communications Management (CCM) and how using CCM & journey mapping can improve customer engagement, right across their customer base. Adam shared how they had realised that many parts of the customer journey were created for the benefit of BG and didn’t accurately reflect the needs of their customers. This led them to taking a really deep dive, using CCM techniques to understand what a customer goes through at each step of the journey. This resulted in uncovering many customer pain points, and a complete restructure of the approach to customers, the communications they preferred and how to reduce contact inefficiencies and costs. While it still early days in the project, it’s clear that this journey has British Gas on the road to customer success. Coming back for return match were Matt Leenhouts from Tottenham Hotspur FC & Nicholas Brice from Soul Corporation, who took us on a tour of the new Spurs stadium and the culture they have helped create that they call the Spurs Way. They shared the importance of making every fan being made to feel welcome, whether home or away, and the importance of a great off-field performance as well. But as Nicholas pointed out, the stadium is not just for football matches and other vibrant businesses such as catering, hospitality, conferences, and other attractions also bring the fans in. The One team, One vision approach that all colleagues live every day, and helps them manage all these different journeys, is clearly working. It’s obvious that Spurs are league leaders in employee engagement and all the key metrics such as awards, retention, engagement, and overall fan satisfaction that are the true measures of success. We were then joined by Seb Reeve from Nuance who majored on the theme of how many CX leaders across all industries are achieving things they would never have thought possible – including meeting sudden, unprecedented customer demand for digital engagement. And this wasn’t just “digital natives” and other younger demographics, but, as Seb pointed out even our grandmas are ditching the visit to the branch bank for a session with their table. Seb continued to show us that this was due to more simplified digital journeys, AI empowering agents, and increasing trust in the brand. The net result, a huge increase in customer interactions to 31M, of which more than half were digital and in particular the use of AI to help all demographics have a great experience. Seb’s very well-made key point in all of this was that those organisations that recognised this trend early and adapted their digital journeys accordingly, have set themselves apart from the competition, thus showing very comprehensively, that only the agile survive. Following a welcome cup of coffee, we were treated to an interview with Anand Roy from Disney, who in his role as Regional Director of Music & Live Entertainment, gave us a great tour of the Magic Kingdom and some of the challenges that even Disney faced as the Pandemic took hold, especially when it came to their light entertainment shows which were shut down globally. But with the innovation and inspiration that Disney is known for he related how they had found a silver lining, especially in south east Asia, where with a “digital first” population, music consumption of streaming platforms reached new heights. In addition, the global launch of Disney+ has had a tremendous impact on connecting in ways that they never had before. The range of stories and universes that these channels addressed now appealed to all demographics and because of a 90-year history of trust is the bedrock on which the company is built and means that Disney, through hope, optimism, and the best of the human experience, continues to find their way into the hearts and minds of all children, regardless of their age! Staying with an entertainment theme, we welcomed Jorma Kremser from BOSE, who amplified the message that their Customer centricity is not just a buzzword, but the leading principle of all their product innovations and communications. But, with COVID-19, being able to create the same level engagement in an online world would be a real challenge. This meant establishing a virtual sound testing environment, which clearly is not quite the same, but with the innovation that Bose is renowned for, they were able to closely mirror the experience a customer has instore and maintain that close bond that they have forged over the years. They added the ability to extend the trial period, made the returns policy more generous and inclusive, with the bottom line being that the insight they have gained from the virtual experience will really benefit them when the sound of customers
WINTER 2020
Gerry Brown Chief Customer Rescue Officer The Customer Lifeguard
in stores becomes the normal once again. Kevin Young from The Economist brought us pages of good news and his interview was one of the highlights of the day. Reaching different demographics with the best content and being one of the first publications to provide in-depth coverage of Covid19, demonstrated their strong reputation for rigour, accurate reporting and inclusiveness that has led to them now having 50 million social media followers. Kevin went on to tell us that while increasing followers was important, building long-term relationships with each demographic was even more critical to their long-term growth. And while digital was growing they weren’t forgetting their print version and the large numbers of subscribers that counted on seeing their distinctive cover every week. Kevin finished by sharing their goal of being able to reach new people, regardless of the medium, to be trusted and continue to innovate and shape their thoughts, provide an idea of what’s coming next, new ideas that reflect what’s going on both globally and locally and continue to be the voice of reason and hope. Continuing with a communication theme we had another engrossing interview with Marcus Arthur from UKTV. Marcus started off by explaining the UKTV proposition and how it targeted two market segments. The paid market and the terrestrial market and the importance of the former when with Covid-19 advertising revenues “went off a cliff”. He went on to discuss their competition, Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and BritBox, which clearly impacted viewership. But recognised that it was important to ensure that they still had a strong brand and that each brand promise has to reflect people’s emotional choices and that they weren’t trying to be all things to all people. Marcus also
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