Designing and deciding digital CX route-map & the priority omnichannel service investment to realise it
The issue
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Having delivered the ‘brilliant basics’ part of a CX transformation programme, the bank needed to define a digital CX design to deliver a signature, differentiating experience
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A pressure point was that customers’ expectations of doing their banking anywhere/ anytime/on any device were growing, and the ground had been lost on this to digital challenger banks
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The bank was also in sharp cost control mode so it was critical that digital CX investment choices were well evidenced, validated and focussed
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We had to answer the question: where and how to prioritise omnichannel service investment to deliver a competitive digital CX?
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With many competing candidates for digitising customer service across the existing product portfolio, we had to be clear about what omnichannel improvements would realise greatest value from a CX and commercial perspective
What we did
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Reviewed draft digital strategy and developed investment prioritisation criteria to focus CX and omnichannel service design choices
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Defined design principles to guide the development of Omnichannel capability
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Competitor and cross-sector benchmarking to identify key areas of digital CX differentiation
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Evaluated and ranked CX/service design options against agreed prioritisation criteria and ability to leverage existing IT capability and technology roadmap
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Flesh-out of to-be CX/service design with benefit cases supporting the investment priorities identified
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Produced and validated a sequenced digital CX/omnichannel implementation route map
The results
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Delivered new digital CX/omnichannel design with 10 key touchpoint changes, each with benefits ranging from £3.5M to £9M annually in a fully realised state
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Pragmatic, phased change route map adopted, which drove early cost savings and new customer acquisition uplift by addressing highest priority CX pain points, allowing subsidisation of next phases
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80% of the technology capabilities required to deliver the route map were covered by leverage of existing or planned future (and already budgeted) technology assets and upgrades
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Building capabilities for customer centric decision-making using time to value
In our latest blog post relating to Intelligent CX, Curzon Analyst Milla Bradstock explores how to build capabilities for customer centric decision-making using Time to Value.
Time to Value, as a metric, initially rose to fame among software companies and its insights now drive improvements in a range of business contexts. In a customer context, it is described as the length of time between a customer purchasing a product or service and seeing the value of that action. Yet to untap the metric’s full potential, businesses must take a longer-term view of its application that goes beyond resolving customers’ immediate needs.
As T2V requires organisations to understand the value of their product or service from a customer’s perspective, it entrenches customer-centricity into the way businesses think about their services. At a time of rapidly shifting customer priorities, organisations that take this approach will be well placed to remain aligned to the needs of their customers.
Measuring Time to Customer Value
Tracking T2V builds a picture of your present customer journey, which will inform solutions to better fulfil customer needs. However, you can only track T2V if you know what ‘value’ is in the eyes of your customer. The definition of value will, of course, differ amongst your customers, but we can start to break down this metric into two sub metrics:
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Time to Basic Value – The time it takes for a customer to see the minimum amount of value from your product or service. Delivering on this metric doesn’t lead to customer loyalty necessarily, but will increase conversion.
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Time to Exceeded Value – The time it takes for a customer to see enough value to exceed their expectations over a longer period of time. Delivering on this metric reduces churn, builds loyalty and increases customer lifetime value.
For example: A travel app with an easy to use interface and intuitive search results will deliver on the Time to Basic Value metric. However, its Exceeded Value will be realised only when it helps a customer have a good holiday i.e. booking a place to stay using the platform.
T2V helps businesses identify obstacles to customer satisfaction, which inform solutions for long-term value creation in the eyes of their customer. For SaaS businesses, onboarding is essential to their customers seeing value from their purchase, which creates the challenge of motivating customers to complete the process.
Focusing on accelerating T2V at this point in the customer journey can therefore decrease customer churn and improve satisfaction. Automated onboarding can be an effective tool, delivering frictionless setup and easy deployment through product tours, in-app messages and onboarding checklists. In tune with customer demands for instant service and ultimate convenience, this tool enables customers to seamlessly see the value of their purchase for themselves.
Implications for organisations
- Move the narrative from Customer Needs to Customer Value
- Focus on Customer Engagement beyond the initial purchase
- Measure and monitor customer engagement throughout the Customer Lifecycle
- And, of course, ensure the engagement delights the customer every time
How we can help
T2V is just one of the tools that we employ to help our clients improve customer value. Businesses that invest now in strengthening their capabilities for meaningful customer engagement will build the resilience necessary for long-term success.
Get in touch to explore how we can help your organisation create lasting value for your customers.
Rachna Trehan leads Curzon Consulting’s Intelligent CX practice. Connect with Rachna on LinkedIn or contact her to discuss how this could apply to your organisation.
Other members of the Intelligent CX team
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Creating a strong operating model in the digital age
In our latest blog post relating to Intelligent CX, Curzon Associate Partner Rachna Trehan explores how to start creating a strong operating model in the digital age.
It is undeniable that we are deep in the ‘digital age’, or even the ‘post-digital age’. Different organisations are still at different levels of digital maturity and have shown a remarkable capability to change.
I think we can also agree that “Customer Needs” have changed. Browsing, selecting, influencing, engaging, buying, renewing… these all have new meanings which organisations are responding (some leading the way) to keep up with.
So, let’s take this argument further. How do we ensure organisations are set up to adapt to change rather than react to it? Whether it’s technology advances, changing customer needs or business continuity, they need to be agile and flexible.
The answers lie in transforming your operating models.
Four pointers to help you start to create a strong operating model in the digital age
Here are four pointers that we recommend in the sales and service space:
Build Agile Delivery Cells
- Create Change cells around customer journeys that move fast, drive change, engage different talents and build an AGILE mindset.
- Build flexible organisational structures enabling the growth and deployment of change cells.
- Focus on outcomes, not outputs, in every part of the organisation. Change your metrics, incentives, and culture to be customer outcomes focussed.
- Build processes / journeys with Systems and Design Thinking but with an agile mindset.
- Collaborate with customers… before finalising products, journeys, metrics, operating models.
Focus on building platforms, not just software solutions
- Build or transition to cloud-based platforms and collaborative solutions.
- Ensure service designs are accurately reflected through the systems, and deliver the desired outcome.
- Think end-to-end connectivity across customer journeys and potentially across the value chain.
Keep your employees happy
- Happy employees are motivated to work with agility, create happier customers and generate more revenue.
- Employee Happiness is actually a measure – there are ways to make it tangible, and track impact on the top/bottom line.
- Invest in your people – Train them to “add value” to the customers / company. Having high quality human conversations can actually be a differentiator.
- Flexibility in resourcing and ways of working – “physical boundaries” and “typical employee profiles” are a thing of the past. The world is your oyster. AI powered WFM solutions can take the pain away.
Focus on Customer Engagement
- Get customers to engage with your products, journeys and people.
- Learn from these engagements and improve the happiness quotient around them.
- Spread the word within your organisation – Sales, Loyalty, Up/Cross Sales all depend on customer engagement.
Get in touch
These four areas will help you start your journey towards creating a strong operating model in the digital age.
Curzon provides the experience to prepare our clients for the future and deliver tangible results. See you on this exciting journey.
Rachna Trehan leads Curzon Consulting’s Intelligent CX practice. Connect with Rachna on LinkedIn or contact her to discuss how this could apply to your organisation.
Other members of the Intelligent CX team
CONTACT US TO FIND OUT HOW WE CAN HELP
Improving customer satisfaction at a leading retail and commercial bank
The issue
- Continuing declines in NPS and CRI scores across retail and commercial customer bases
- Board’s ambition was to achieve market-leading customer recommendation levels
- Ongoing customer service challenges driving up customer dissatisfaction ― but unclear as to true extent and causes
- Big gaps between customer expectations and delivery
- True extent of customer dissatisfaction not identified or addressed, and NPS surveying not used to mine for triggers. 40% of customers thought they had complained vs 4.5% recorded
- Reality was 45% of customers who’d formally complained were dissatisfied with complaint resolution, making them far more likely to churn (62%)
What we did
Designed & executed a pricing, product and service migration of all policyholders to one new modular product
- Worked across retail and commercial banking operations to understand and map impacts of service failures and complaints response on NPS and CRI scores
- Identified biggest linkages between types of service failure, quality/ timeliness of complaint resolution, and the creation of Detractors
- Surfaced major under-reporting of complaints and inaction where known detractors continued to be detractors
- Developed set of targeted remedial actions to apply at point of service failure or complaints to prevent creation of detractors or convert them into neutral/advocates, minimising risk of eventual lapse
- Defined how to cost-effectively and proactively pinpoints and stop service failures occurring
- Designed operational changes in four customer management areas across Retail & Commercial Banking to reduce service failure and complaints volumes and costs
The results
- Recommendations agreed by both divisions
- Transition plans delivered
- ExCos in implementation
- Reported improved NPS & satisfaction rate scores
- On-target run-rate cost reduction benefits
What our clients say
“As a result of Curzon’s support a strategic and digital leap has been made in how we manage the entire asset lifecycle to transform our Developer Service experience. This is a programme and a product that sets a new benchmark within the industry.”
Jason Tucker
Director of Alliances & Integrated Supply Chain, Anglian Water
An award-winning team
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New rules for insurance customer growth
Curzon Consulting Financial Services lead Doug Badham discusses the “New rules for customer growth” for insurance companies in an article for Raconteur.
New Rules for Customer Growth
The old norms of insurance cause a lot of customer pain: ever-rising premiums, slow and undifferentiated service, complex procedures and poor communications. But big changes are afoot. Insurance customers want better for less as rapid technology advancement continuously raises service expectations – and disruptive new entrants are riding the wave. Inward-looking insurers ignore this at their peril. Doug Badham said:
“We believe the industry has passed the point where it’s possible to grow profitably by sticking to the old rules,”
Successful net insurance customer growth now depends on embracing a new set of rules.
All customer contact is precious and should be as convenient as possible
Policyholders expect to be treated as valued customers, able to interact 24/7 across joined-up access points as they do in other sectors. Seamless access boosts retention and reduces overall cost to serve, and requires digital enablers to be at the heart of the insurer’s operating model.
“Insurers can no longer hide behind data security and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulation as reasons not to allow multiple channel completion of processes,” says Mr Badham
The focus must be on retention from day one
Keeping customers is harder than ever: switching, reducing or dropping cover has been rising steadily due to household cost-cutting and self-researched offer-hopping, leaving some underinsured. Use of comparison sites also means consumers leave bigger data footprints, which ratchets up competitor targeting of renewal dates. To defend against this, care and consistency must be core to the entire customer journey. The jolt when a frictionless sales process gives way to a clunky claims procedure won’t be tolerated.
As Mr Badham explains: “Optimising claims experiences and making best use of technology to help customers minimise the cost of a claim, or not have to claim, is how retention battles will be won.” Take the LeakBot recently introduced to homecare cover, which alerts customers to first signs of a leak before worse damage ensues. Alongside claims experience, affordability is a prime reason for customer exit and another cornerstone of retention effectiveness will be the increasingly precise, personalised renewal pricing artificial intelligence can deliver.
Have more meaningful customer communication more of the time
Too often insurers’ attempts to communicate have an adverse rather than positive impact. Providers need to treat every customer touchpoint as an opportunity to demonstrate the value of their cover, particularly since April 2017’s FCA renewals regulation, which requires every renewal notice to encourage customers to shop around.
The best will use analytics to provide genuinely beneficial, timely insight that allows customers to understand and minimise their risk, for example: “You are regularly braking sharply and exceeding speed limits.” According to Mr Badham: “What’s happening in health insurance, where providers are transforming from benign payers to lifelong wellbeing partners, is likely to be followed in motor, home and other lines.”
Rebuild or build a brand based on trust and followership
Insurance has become something of a dirty word in recent years, with many incumbents losing customer trust. Restoring it is partly about making the move from a back-office-centric operating model to one that delivers digitally driven customer management and contact excellence. On top of this, compelling brand proof points are crucial to fend off powerful non-insurance brands that have taken a foothold, such as John Lewis, and to combat price erosion from online distribution challengers. It won’t be a case of outspending them. The insurers who cut through the noise of comparison tables and “expert” web articles will be those earning and sustaining customer advocacy through trusted recommender communities and app-based insurance aggregators such as Boughtbymany and Brolly.
There’s no hiding place from the disruption. Shedding the old rules and becoming a genuinely customer-driven insurer – in the customer’s eyes – is what it will take to thrive in the new environment.
This article originally featured in Raconteur, April 2018
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