Customer Experience Design

The best examples really are important

  "We don't have a good language to talk about this kind of thing. In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer, ... but to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation."

Steve Jobs. CEO Apple

I was talking with someone in work the other day about design and I mentioned Apple as an example of a company that understands design and uses it to achieve exceptional business success.   His response was that I couldn't use apple as an example because "they were different."

EXACTLY! That's my frickin' point. They are different. They're astonishingly successful. And one of the key drivers of this is because they're consistently great at design.

There aren't that many companies who are really great at design. If we  don't put these on a pedestal as examples of what can be achieved then we'll end up trying to look just like most of the companies that are already just like us. Which seems to be how most organisations actually approach this issue anyway.

Trying to mimic a company which is just as bland and  your own doesn't sound like much of a recipe for success to me.

How much better does it have to be before customers start to talk about it?

The magic bullet of marketing is strong word of mouth recommendation from existing customers.

So how do you create good word of mouth marketing, and at what point does it begin to gain momentum and take on a life of it's own?

Most companies view the challenges to be about improving customer satisfaction across the board. But that's clearly going to be impossible for complex offerings of the type delivered by financial service companies. So typically they'll reduce their focus to a number of key moments of truth when they're looking to drive improvement. They identify say half a dozen key interactions which are disproportionately important and work on these. For something like motor insurance they might be:

Starting well

Quote / buy

Claim notification

Communication

Renewal

Finishing well

So they'll try to improve the experience in these areas and hope that levels of customer satisfaction will rise as a result, and that customers will begin to talk more about them, and in a positive way.

But here's the problem. At what point do customers start to talk more? If you increase customer satisfaction by 1 % then do customers talk more positively about you by 1 % more as well?  Or is there some kind of limit to be reached before customers begin to say good things. Do you need to increase customer satisfaction by 5 % or 10 % or 20 % before the effect kicks in?

The relationship between increasing satisfaction and increased word of mouth is not linear. You probably do need to see a big chunk of improvement before any noticeable extra word of mouth recommendation feeds through. And such delays, and the inexact science (or black art) behind them often creates enormous difficulty for those trying to drive through the change because it can be hard to create organisational momentum for such things. After all, just how does a customer discuss a 5 % better experience?

There might be another tool that can be used to help loosen resistance though.

People talk about unexpected things. Stuff they just weren't expecting and which makes them stop and think. And often when people are surprised by something it creates an emotional response. And emotional responses are what human being tend to talk about to one another.

So, if you can build just one or two unexpected things into your offerings, then you'll have customers attentions. On it's own of course it won't succeed. An unexpected surprise and a crap service won't make your business successful. But a surprise built around improvements to key interactions will begin to ramp up the volume of conversation about you. People will become interested by the surprise, and therefore more interested to see what sits behind it.

And it can have the bonus of removing some of the organisational blockages that exist in order to achive your bigger change aims. Positive noise and interest around your company created by the unexpected event is likely to see more people within the company throw their weight behind you.   

Design Truths - Part 1

1. How you say hello to a prospective customer really counts
2. How you say goodbye to an existing customer really counts
3. Saying sorry and meaning it gives you strength
4. Recruiting and managing your employees on the basis of their strengths is the single most powerful HR decision you can take
5. Most organisations get 4 wrong
6. Penny pinching costs pounds in terms of customer loyalty
7. If the managers of most organisations treated their wives / husbands in the same way as they expect their companies to treat their customers, they'd be divorced within months
8. Treating customers with respect isn't a nice to have
9. Never under-estimate the power of the story that the customer has in their head about your organisation. If it's a bad one then you're organisation is probably in trouble
   
10. Emotions are the most powerful driving forces that human beings have. Recognise this when designing experiences for your customers

The design process

Someone gets an idea. Let’s build X.

Or maybe your company has identified a need for a new product. Perhaps it’s the ‘Hmmm, we might need to do something about that’ type of need. Or it might be the ‘OHSHITAREWEINTROUBLEIFWEDON’TDOSOMETHINGQUICKABOUTTHAT’ kind of need.

Or it might be that your company has identified an opportunity for a new product – one of those times when preparation meets chance.

Whatever the source and imperative behind the idea, many companies find themselves adopting a similar way of pushing the product idea through the development and launch process

It looks something like this:

You develop a scoping document. You try to define just what is it you’re trying to do and how you’re planning on doing it. Its emphasis is on product and features. And how much money you’re company is going to make out of it.

The people who came up with the idea try and garner high level support to carry it forward. Orphan ideas rarely survive. If it’s connected with a problem that’s big enough and ugly enough then you may find that senior level support is already in place. To a point.

You look at the market. Maybe (probably) invest in some market research. Get some agencies on board so that they can talk to your customers and play it back via a 150 page PowerPoint presentations.

You develop a cost benefit case. Build assumptions. Define key performance indicators. Begin to define and document the project issues. Risks. Milestones. Key dependencies. Critical success factors.

You refine the Cost Benefit Case. An ongoing process, especially as scope gets changed – as it generally does.

Drop the proposal into your company’s decision making forums. Pray.

If it comes out the other side them maybe get some budget. Probably never enough.

Battle to hang onto it. Manage the project as the budget is threatened or slashed. Manage it throughout further budget challenges.

Build your project team. Is this a ‘Bring Out Your Dead’ exercise or can you get the people you want? Maybe, if you try really hard. But can you get the people you need? Do you know what people you really need?

Appoint a project manager. Try to get one you know and trust, but maybe have to put up with one that’s allocated to the project by some central resource team. Hope that they can work on your project for 100% of their time. Hope that they’re interested in the product that they’re being asked to deliver. And of course hope that they properly understand the project.

·         Begin working with IT in earnest. Enter the nightmare of system build. Maintenance. Hosting. Security protocols. Code. Hardware. Software. Network

·         Detailed Requirements Specification. Sounds sexy doesn’t it? Go on say it again. Slowly. Detailed Requirements Specification. Who would have thought a list of functional and technical requirements could be such a turn on?

·         Sourcing and supply

·         Legal

·         Marketing / print / media / brand

·         Training

·         Pricing

·         Operations

·         Research

·         Finance

·         Sign off arrangements

·         Compliance

·         Telephony

·         Sales staff

·         Accounts and billing

·         Intermediaries

·         User Acceptance Testing – Ooooo! Another sexy one.

·         Pilot

·         Live launch

·         Customer satisfaction survey

·         Celebrating project success

·         Closedown and handover to business as usual

Phew! Another product launched! Aren’t we great!

Erm…

Is this how it is where you work? Does your company have an emphasis on process and project? On product features and pricing? On ‘getting it out there’ so you can get some revenue in? 

Think about what’s happening here.

You’re probably following a process. Maybe it’s properly documented. Hopefully it’s properly documented! Your emphasis throughout this though is mainly on the product. It’s mostly about functionality and IT and pricing and compliance and terms and conditions. These things typically suck 95% plus of the energy and effort from a new product project.

Where’s the bit that wants to wow the customer? Is there enough emphasis to ensure that what the customer actually experiences in finding, buying and using the product is going to really TURN THEM ON! YEAH BABY! Is the remaining 5% enough to ensure that what the customers experience is enough to have them running back for more, AND telling their friends about it?

No? Oh well. It’s not as if you set off with the intention to forget about the customer. You maybe have a customer champion involved somewhere. And you make sure that you talk about the importance of customer service and customer experience. But you kind of get sidetracked by the pressures of ‘HURRY UP AND DELIVER IT NOW!’ And anyway, isn’t it down to the operational staff to make sure that they deliver a wow experience? It’s not really the project teams’ job is it? And the plan hasn’t really allowed for this. We’ve been too busy making sure that the system build came in on time and to specification. Or perhaps you’re just responsible for a small part of the process. Hey you’ve done your bit.

In another kind of company, here’s how it tends to be.

They involve all the same people and teams as the guys in company 1. But they do it differently.

They have a product development process which recognises the need to design the experience that their customers will have. If you don’t design something deliberately then the only way that it’s going to happen is by accident. And if it can only happen by accident then chances are that it’s not going to be consistent. That means that sometimes it will be good. Sometimes it will be bad. Most often it will just be bland.

They don’t rely on just dropping the product into an existing operational set up and letting them get on with it. That would be to leave things to chance. Instead, they have a very strong emphasis on the customer. What does the customer need this product for? What will they be looking for when they buy it? How can we make it easy for them to find it, to buy it, use it? How can we make the experience of finding, buying and using so memorable that they’ll want to buy from us again. What will our operational staff have to deliver in order to achieve all this? What do we need to do to ensure that our operational staff can do this?

This kind of thinking is not just about the product. It’s about the company. The service. The Experience. The customer.

More coming on this soon.

Inside out design

Thanks to Nick for pointing out that the image in my earlier posting about Lotus Notes was very small.

Here's where I could get very defensive - which is what most businesses do when faced with criticism from their customers. I could point out that all Nick had to do was click on the image and a much larger one would have appeared in a new window and suggest that the error was his in not doing what I'd intended he do.

And even though the image does appear in a new larger window if you click on it, the fact that Nick didn't do that is not his fault. It's mine. Because I designed the experience of reading my blog. And I failed to consider that maybe he and others wouldn't think to click on the small image.

How many time have you experienced being on the receiving end of self justication from organisations claiming that it's your fault that things didn't work out as they'd hoped because you didn't do what they'd intended? Or how many times have you been the person defending the poor design on behalf of your organisation?

Moost of these mistakes are caused by the simple fact that having an inside perspective means we know more than our customers about the experience we're creating. Unless we're really careful this can trick us. And when you combine this was natural human defensiveness about the things we've created... well then you can see how problems can occur.

Thanks for your feedback Nick. I'll act on it.

As good as pastry

Just been chatting with to Fiona.

She tells me that when she's eating her mum's home-made steak and kidney pie she always saves the pastry round the edges to the end because it's the bit she really enjoys.

What pastry are you giving your customers? Are you letting them enjoy it on their terms and when they choose to, or are you making them consume it when and how you decide? And if you're controlling it in this way then it begs the question of whether it's really pastry anyway.

And do you ever bake some really surprising and simply wonderful things in your pies? The kind of surprises that will have customers raving about you to their family and friends. The kinds of surprises that will change the story in their heads about the kind of individual or company you are. The kinds of surprises that will bring them back for more.

If not, then it may be time to work on your recipe.

Discourtesy Calls

We've all probably experienced a 'follow up courtesy call' from an organisation we've done business with in the past. How many times have you been left feeling that this call was about you, or more about the organisation making it?

Many organisations use so called courtesy calls as a means of trying to make a customer think that the organisation is wonderful, and as an opportunity to try and sell something else. So essentially they are interrupting you with a sales message. When this happens, is the customer really going to think - 'wow, those guys at (insert organisation name) really care about me. I've gotta give them more of my business now!' Of course they don't. Often the experience just leaves a sour taste in the customer’s mouth - or at best is instantly forgettable.

I've recently been involved in some work in my own company looking at this. There was a realisation by the sponsoring manager that what was happening wasn't working. Despite honourable intentions the execution was failing. So here's some of the design principles we created to help put this back on track.

• That it must feel authentic to the customer. So the caller has to engage with them, make the conversation about them (not the company), and leave them feeling emotionally warm about the follow up call experience.
  
• That the caller must know enough about what service the customer had in the first instance to be able to talk about it and understand it. If instead the caller gives the impression that they're just working their way down a list and asking standard 'is everything OK?' type questions then it just feels like a process.
  
• That if any dissatisfaction is identified during the call that the caller takes ownership of it and sorts it for the customer.
  
• The person who dealt with the customer previously should ideally be the one who makes the follow up call (prior knowledge / connection / rapport etc).
  
• Keep it short - the customer should be the one to do most of the talking and if they have nothing to say then don't drag it out.
  
• Never, ever try to use the call as a means to sell anything - not even subtly.
  
• If we pick up any action points out of the call then deal with them super fast - we've created expectation by making the call and if we then fail to deliver on the implied / explicit promise that this is only about helping the customer we've blown it.
  
• Make sure that customers only get one courtesy call.
  
• If the customers not in then leave a brief message saying that we're just checking everything's OK and leave a direct contact number if they want to let us know about anything.
  
• Tone of voice is critical. Must be friendly / relaxed / genuine / not too enthusiastic.
  
• Frequently expose all staff (via recordings) to good examples of follow up calls - as well as bad so they can tune themselves into what works and what doesn't.
  
• Replay the learning from follow up calls back into the organisation - process changes / improvement opportunities etc.
  
• If we make changes based on customer feedback then let the customer know - closes the loop and makes it clear that we're listening and acting on what they say.

And finally - remember that courtesy calls are about the customer. Not the organisation. If you can't get past this basic point then its better not to do them.

It'll do thinking

A lovely article from Seth Godin today. the message, if it's bland / boring / unexciting, then don't do it.

The financial services industry is rife with examples of launching new products and services that fall way short of what they could be, or even what they were planned to be. The reason is usually financial - "Hey it may not be quite ready yet, but we've gotta get some money from it now - so launch it as it is and we'll fix it later". The financial services industry is not exactly awash with products and services that customers actually find exciting (no matter how organisational masturbation has taken place in putting them together). 

When tension is good

I love the concept of tension. Not the kind of tension that means we go around thumping each other. But the kind of creative tension that comes from clearly showing who we are and who we want to be. It applies equally well to individuals as to organisations.

 
Even better is when we do things that crank up the tension beyond just wanting something to change and forces us to actually make the change. Like going public with something when it’s not currently doable – and making it clear that this is what we’re aiming for. We can either do it in an aspirational way as Kennedy did in his famous man on the moon speech, or in a really brave and uncompromising way like a senior manager making his bonus dependent on achieving the highest ever customer satisfaction scores. Wouldn’t that focus his mind and drive different behaviours – especially if he also had to hit record revenue and profit scores.