Customer alchemy

Turning complaints into golden opportunities

Complaints: not problems but opportunities

There are particular drivers in your industry/business that make this outlook particularly valuable.

•Providing insight led innovation to grow the business •Becoming more customer centred

Ryanair

‘Ryanair, the World’s most hated airline, are a bunch of lying ‘bastardos’ who talk up their customer service statistics to give us the impression they are providing satisfaction.’I hate Ryanair.com

Net-a-porter

“I placed an order with Net-A-Porter.com on a Thursday and paid an extra 20 dollars for over night shipping. …I said well you didn't fulfill the overnight and they refused to refund the 20 overnight shipping charge. They where rude and called me back several times to insure the point that they where not going to refund my 20 dollars. This was my first and last purchase with them.”

Antennagate

‘They have not handled this well at all and they have turned this into a bigger problem than it needed to be,” Van Baker senior vice president of research, Gartner.

Massive complaints, initial dismissive response led to backlash on Twitter

•Apple forced to deliver apology and press conference•Refunds offered for people still unhappy•Apple in danger of damaging its “rock star image•Made national news headlines in a matter of hours•Demonstrated need for companies to react quickly to problems before Facebook and Twitter escalate issues to national and international coverage

Wow Bao

“Going to 'business' dinner (at)Wow Bao. Can any1 tell me if it's going to suck as much reviews suggest.” Tony Bosco, Twitter

When Tony Bosco saw mostly negative reviews about the restaurant Wow Bao, he Tweeted:

"Going to 'business' dinner (at)Wow Bao. Can any1 tell me if it's going to suck as much reviews suggest.“

And almost immediately he got a response from an unexpected source — BaoMouth, the official

The restaurant offered him a coupon to find out for himself, on the house. Wow Bao sent Bosco two $15 gift cards via an iPhone app, and Bosco went the next night, posting pictures of the food on Twitter."I would say it made it a little more exciting," said Bosco, 34. "That immediate interaction”

Pret A Manger

“At the end of the day, all we do is sell sandwiches.  What really matters is the service.  People can see through the bullshit – they judge

you by what you do.” Anson Read, store manager

“I like coming here because I get served by human beings.” 

The entire team receives a bonus worth about £30 a week if the shop scores well in the weekly ‘mystery shopper’ report 

Under-performers stand out and teams don’t want them, in a sense there is a social contract between members of a team rather than between the company and each employee

Managers have complete autonomy and spending authority to resolve problems

Similarly, staff can discard substandard ingredients or even completed but unsatisfactory sandwiches on their own say-so

Innocent smoothies

First Direct

• Changed the perception of banks

• Recruit the right people

• “Every single customer has individual needs

• “Magical rapport”

“You can see through a script.  What we are asking is for people to be

themselves.”

“First Direct spends an incredible amount of time trying to understand the market and the

customers.  It is designed around the customers.  It’s no different online.”

Claire Dunston, Markeing innovations Manager

John Lewis

• The five principles for John Lewis

• Make staff care about customer service

• Teach protocol - but empower staff to make decisions themselves

• Make sure front-line staff feedback on what customers want

• Be exceptional

• Maintain customer service levels online

‘When a deluge of snow blanketed the country in December 2009, a certain John Lewis in Buckinghamshire realised that closing its doors as normal and sending customers into the blizzard would be callous. Instead, it decided to host an impromptu mass sleepover. It made up its beds and let more than 100 people stay the night, laying on food for everyone and opening up toys for the kids to play with.”

"They (frontline staff) have insights no one else can form. It's tempting to feel that once the information has been gathered, the job is done. But your processes and culture need to be altered as a result."

vs.

Lens 1: Trends

Customer empowerment

‘Customer empowerment’ – complaining is your right and the move from 1:1 to many means an army can be mobilized in minutes

‘Everywhere communication’

Ubiquitous communication – mobile/smart phones means that anywhere and everywhere can provide a feedback/feedout moment

Real time publishing

Real time publishing – Blogs, Twitter, Facebook means that your experience can be out there instantly (long before you have cooled down)

Distrust of organisations

Ever expanding consumer choice

In a world where there are easily accessed alternatives, customers churn if you give them

a reason businesses

Lens 2: Business opportunities

Complaints offer huge opportunities as well

as obvious threats for businesses

Free customer research

Receive, hear, internalise and act upon pure and unspun insight

Bring customer focus to life

Use complaints as a stimulus to multidisciplinary

teams and run ideation sessions to enhance product lines

Develop ongoing relationships

Build on the fact that the customer has initiated

the “conversation” to maintain dialogue

Build customer centred IT systems

to support complaints and customer centricity

Develop self reinforcing processes

Develop & recruit

The skills, competences and capabilities that make you into an ultra competitive, ultra responsive service organisation

Use complaints as KPIs

It’s not about reducing complaints it’s about increasing feedback by ensuring the channels are both in place and communicated to consumers. Level of post complaint customer satisfaction is the key measure of success

Lens 3: Brand experience

Brand service

Calls must be a positive brand experience on every conceivable level. Utilise the brand essence to drive a multisensory experience. Staff members should reflect the brand personality

Brand environment

Background music should be brand appropriate

Brand communication

Language should•Enhance perceptions •Strengthen bond with brand•Provide a positive experience customers will tell others about•Give permission for the brand to continue the conversation

Lens 4: Customers

Current reasons for customer complaints

Source: Top 10 US companies: Groubal

What are the emotional triggers for a complaint?

Feeling

Ripped offDisappointedTaken advantage ofEmbarrassedStupidAngryPatronisedFrustrated

What are their fears?Being Unable to express their POVPatronisedHumiliatedIgnoredBelittledStuck in the systemFobbed offPowerlessNot worth it, they won’t do anythingNo response

What are their hopes?AcknowledgmentApologyAssurance of no repeatsTo deal with someone senior enough to take actionTo be listened, to be heard and understoodFor you to take responsibility and ownership for the problemTo be compensated/reimbursedTo be thanked for taking the timeFor action to be takenTo be kept ‘in the loop’To be able to feel they have ‘won’

What leads to a positive experience?

Empathy

Authenticity

Flexibility

Appropriate and timely actionExceeding expectationsFeedback until resolutionRespectful ongoing dialogue

Key behaviours

• Never take it personally

• Don’t ignore complaints

• Offer to replace faulty products immediately

• Always try to offer something to a dissatisfied customer

• When all else fails ask your customer what they would do

• Always thank complainants for their input

Lens 5: Technology

•  

CUSTOMER DATABASE

Broadcast channels

Print media

TV

Radio etc

Interactive Channels

Web

Social media/P2P

SMS

Email

Call centre

Interactive Devices

PC

Mobile

Smart phone

Kiosk

iPad

INSIGHTRULES

CREATIVITY

Multiple channels

Make it as easy as possible to connect them to a real person whilst developing insight into customer segment preferences to ensure you are there for them - when, where and how they like to be contacted

3rd Parties

NEW/IMPROVED PRODUCTS/SERVICES

INNOVATIONCREATIVITY

SEGMENTED/MICRO TARGETTEDCOMMUNICATIONS

The Business

BRIEFS REPORTS KPI’s/MIS NEEDS

INSIGHT

CUSTOMER DATABASE

REFINEMENT OF DATA THROUGH

COMPLAINTS/DIALOGUE CAPTURE/ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL

MEDIA

Insight into actionUse the ever increasing cycle of info into insight to refine products and “comms” whilst driving reports for retailers, shareholders and other stakeholder groups and MI/KPI for the business

Recommendation

• Drive every inbound communication to a free, brand appropriate, refreshingly delightful, loyalty inducing HUMAN INTERACTION

• So to give good customer service– Get the right people

– Set clear, ambitious standards

– Train them properly

– Give them constant, objective feedback

– Link their rewards to long-term quality service

– Above all respect them as individuals and let them be themselves

• And remember that companies don’t give good service, people do