Sugarcon 2013: Left Brain Meet Right Brain: Customer Experience, Business Benefits, and How We Feel About it All

Paul Greenberg2013

LEFT BRAIN MEET RIGHT BRAIN: CUSTOMER

EXPERIENCE, BUSINESS BENEFITS, AND HOW WE

FEEL ABOUT IT ALL

“CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a system and a

technology, designed to improve human interactions in a business environment

Source: Searchcrm.com

“CRM is the only science of business that attempts to reproduce an art of life.”

Source: SkipWalters.net

“If a customer likes you and continues to like you they will continue to do business with

you. If they don’t…they won’t”

The Basic Premise

What businesses value and what customers value are different

• Meaningful experiences/customer value:– Accomplishment (sense of satisfaction in achievement)

– Beauty (pleasure to senses & spirit)

• Bang & Olufsen

• “Form follows function” (Louis Sullivan)

– Creation (producing something new – lasting contribution)

– Community (sense of unity with others – common purpose)

– Duty (applying self to responsibility)

– Enlightenment (understanding through reason or logic)

– Freedom (sense of living without unwanted restraints)

– Harmony (pleasing relationship of parts to whole)

– Justice (feeling of equitable & unbiased treatment)

– Oneness (unity with that around you)

– Redemption (deliverance from past failure or problem)

– Security (freedom from fear of loss/worry)

– Truth (commitment to honesty/integrity)

– Validation (sense of being valued individual worthy of respect)

– Wonder (awe of something beyond understanding)

Source: Making of Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences –Diller, Shedroff, Rhea (2006)

The Basic Premise

FEELINGS ON A SCALE OF…NOT

In love Love Like a lot Eh Don’t like Hate

Feelings on a Scale of…Not

• Customer intersects but…– That’s only part of the life of a

customer – and…

– This has serious implications for customer experience and its treatment

PVCEVC

Vendors/Suppliers

Friends Family

Everything Else

Going On

OtherCompanies

External Agencies

Partners/Channels

EVC

Company

Part of PVC Intersects EVC Customer

Keep in mind, that because people have “personal value chains,” there are things

your business cannot control….

But there are things you can…

DESIGNING & MANAGING THE EXPERIENCE

• The objective:– The customers’ experiences should be good enough to ideally create “a company like me.” – This should result in something that provides mutually beneficial value to both customer and

company

• The ideal results come in four parts:– The ordinary is kept ordinary– Customers’ expectations are met and occasionally exceeded.– A flexible approach, processes/best practices, and ongoing cultural/organizational support are

institutionalized.– The customer feels good about their involvement with you – no matter what form it takes.

Designing and Managing

• Behavioral– “My high-level definition is that influence is the ability to change someone’s

thought or actions. You either change someone’s sentiment or opinion or feelings about something, or you change their actions. A purchase, the referral of a friend, staying loyal – all of these are behavior changes.” – Michael Wu, Chief Scientist, Lithium Technologies


• A combination of some or all:

– Products

– Services

– Tools

– Consumable Experiences


When the ordinary fails, the impact is greater on the experience then when the extraordinary and luxurious fails, because there is no expectation of possible failure of the ordinary.


MAPPING THE EXPERIENCE

How to start: First steps

– Make sure that the perception of and the vision for the customer experience are consistent across the company

– Be certain that you have a CRM strategy for the entire value chain before you execute on the plan

– Remember you will be involving your customers directly

Mapping the Experience

The customer map

– The interaction

• Granular process

• Multi-channel

– Expectations against the interaction

• As important as the interaction itself

– Weight of each interaction will vary from customer to customer

• Will vary with individual customer potentially day-to-day


“We need to do this because the industry is highly competitive… All of the competitors are willing to cut prices and they are improving services daily. We need them to be exceptional.” – Sandra De Zoysa, CCO, Dialog Axiata


Mapping the Customer Experience

– Survey the customer’s response to each point of interaction – in depth interviews

– Make sure that senior management conducts at least some of the interviews

• Notorious for not ever speaking with customers in their present positions

– Compensation to the customers who participate

– Choose customers from representative segments


Never presume for the customer

– You don’t know what emotional weight they give the interaction

– You don’t know what caused that reaction to the interaction

– You don’t know why the customer remembers what they remember

While doing the interview, ask them general questions designed to trigger their memories, but do not guide them

– Its what they remember, not what you want them to remember


Visual (or verbal) cues provide information but, you still have to interpret & judge.


What does this picture tell you?

I’m asleep

I’m frustrated

I’m dead


CASE STUDY: DAVID’S BRIDAL

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Greeting & Registration– Were you greeted when you first came

in? If yes, can you describe how you were greeted?

– How would you describe the mood/personality of the person who greeted you? Do you remember what he/she said? If no, where did you go, what did you do?

– Did any employees ask you if you needed help?

– How do you feel about not being greeted?

– Did you register? If yes, can you describe what happened?

– Did the greeter give you a registration form to fill out or did she fill out the form for you?

– What did you think of the length of the time it took to register?

– Were you given catalogs to look through?

– Was there a consultant called over immediately or were you given a realistic time of how long you would have to wait?

– How long did you have to wait for a consultant to come over and help you?


Consultation & Product Selection– What did you think of the consultant

you worked with? How would you describe the personality/mood of your consultant?

– Did your consultant listen well and show you gowns that were similar to what you requested?

– Was your consultant knowledgeable about the product/store policies?

– Did your consultant spend adequate time helping you?

- Can you describe your experience shopping for the gown? Did you pick out the dresses you wanted to try on or did your consultant pick for you?

- Did your consultant show you different styles, colors of wedding gowns? Did your consultant help you pick out coordinating accessories to go with your gown?

- How did you feel while trying on your gown?

- Did you visit the store more than once before deciding to buy your gown? If yes, how many times?


Other high level examples of questions for mapping

– Can you describe your experience shopping for your bridesmaid dresses?

– How did your checkout go?

– Did you have to order anything? If yes, what happened there, how did the process go?

– What happened with David’s Bridal between the time you ordered your dress and picked it up?


CASE STUDIES: MANAGING THE EXPERIENCE

• Colombian Telco

• Targeting residential service for CTOs

Justin Timberlake

“He seems to not take himself too seriously and that moxie can take you a long way. It’s one thing to passively watch someone on YouTube. Its another to spend $10 on an album. Personality points help get that wallet opened.”

Keith Caulfield, Billboard assoc. director of charts/retail

• He carefully manages the “Timberlake Experience”– While releasing The 20/20 Experience

• He did few interviews• Alignment with trusted brands

– Went only on key shows – e.g. Jimmy Fallon, SNL, SXSW, Grammies

– Target-only edition• Controls the consumable

experiences

Justin Timberlake

DELIVERING THE EXPERIENCE

The Quality of Engagement

THE PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

Delivering the Experience

• The overarching strategy– Engage the fans all ways– Know each fan’s individual

lifestyles to customize accordingly

– Measure, measure, measure, learn, learn, learn

• Two programs– How You Doin’?– Early Birds

Flyers’ Fan Engagement Program

“The How You Doin’? Program is the culture of this organization. We are always making sure that we aren’t just implementing software, but are embedding the philosophy and outlook into everything we do internally and externally.” -Shawn Tilger, SVP Business Operations, Philadelphia Flyers


How You Doin’? Program– All staff at both HQ and Wells Fargo Center

trained to: • Greet everyone who comes into

stadium• Answer questions for all comers• To go above and beyond for customers

– Staff are rewarded for their success at transmitting the experience• Can be nominated by fans• Get prizes and bonuses

Help drive renewalsDelivering the Experience

How You Doin’ - Facebook How You Doin’ – Linkedin


• 87% of all fans greeted

• 97% were highly satisfied

Doin’ Fine!



• Cool or not, this is still a business decision that needs to see a return

• Went to incentives based program


• The Early Bird Game Plan: Seasons Ticketholder Renewals & Acquisitions– Client development department

– Account reps assigned hundreds of accounts each

– Use Turnkey to analyze all season ticketholders

• Likelihood to renew

• 10 categories of criteria

• 5-star system

– All renewals loaded into system with profiles and ratings


• The Spot Event – 2-3 stars

– They book the Hall of Fame Room at Wells Fargo Center for happy hour

– Season’s ticket holders

– From ice cream, to ice cream, beer, wine, snacks

– Renew today


• The Experience

– Customers felt that they were getting personal attention in a room that also reminds them of the team’s rather storied history.

– They get food and drink – which really isn’t a lot but the combination makes the wavering ticket holders feel good.

– “You don’t have to have luxury, you only have to feel luxurious.”



The Results?

– From 2010 through 2012, seasons ticket renewals were up more than 1000 from the previous year.


• The Steps– Develop an engagement strategy– Define what you’re going to need to do and to have– As you get what you need to have, start doing what you need to do– Flyers case

• Strategy• Customer knowledge – KEY segment: KEY individual• Designing the experience• Training for staff• Compensation for staff – reinforcement of the strategy• Be clear on ROI or outcome• Implement


CHOICE, CIRCUMSTANCE, CONTEXT

• The customer experience is often decided in the first few minutes of the interaction– That means the choices made

by the company in the initial stages are critical to the results by time interaction ends.

Choice, Circumstance, Context

• Expectations driven by the general hotel experience– Easy check-in– Recognition of elite status– Courtesy regardless of status– Willingness to explain decisions– Consideration of marital status– Clean rooms– Respect for individual customer’s

“space”– Efficient room service– Easy checkout

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• The hotel experience – choice– No points at check-in unlike any other hotel – Lack of courtesy – refusal to explain why this

happened.– Lack of consideration of marital status – double

beds w/o any foreknowledge– Lack of respect for individual customer’s day –

two attempts to sell timeshare w/in hour– Inefficient room service– Not easy checkout – no one at a NY hotel in the

early morning.

• The hotel experience –circumstance– Non-working room keys– Broken lamp– Jammed shower handle– Large “unlabeled” lobby –signs difficult to find

• The hotel experience –context– Multi-tiered internet pricing– No offer of any concern for late customer service– Dark room – but there was a broken lamp and

poor experience

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Circumstantial events wouldn’t matter as much

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The Hilton lost a contract that was theirs to keep


ADVOCATES + COMPANY = LOVE*OUTCOMES

• A continuously excellent experience drives advocacy– Meeting expectations for things important to the customer– Exceeding expectations on occasion to delight the customer– Consistency of the interactions regardless of channel– Engagement at the level the customer is looking for at the time

Advocacy

The 360° view of the customer is no longer the holy grail. It’s a pre-requisite.

The Outcome?

The new holy grail: A company like me.

The Outcome

Technology

Sugarcon 2013: Left Brain Meet Right Brain: Customer Experience, Business Benefits, and How We Feel About it All