Service is changing and becoming even more central to the customer experience. Content can play a key role in delivering a better service to customers and adding value across the entire customer experience. Join us to find out how your brand can evolve its service proposition and use content to serve your customers even better.
From the super-slick to the luxury, this presentation explores the new faces of service and the role content can play in both, before going onto explore how brands can turn conversations into super examples of service.
This was presented by the Strategy team of content marketing agency, Seven, at their recent event, Future Think: The Future of Service.
To keep informed and up-to-date about upcoming events and insight from Seven, please contact our Strategy Director, kevin.sutherland@seven.co.uk or visit: www.seven.co.uk/subscribe.
23. 2. Higher customer expectations
Source: Zendesk Study: The omnichannel customer service gap
24. ‘Brand Butlers’
“With pragmatic, convenience-loving consumers
enjoying instant access to an ever-growing number of
supporting services and tools (both offline and online),
brands urgently need to hone their 'butlering skills'*,
focusing on assisting consumers to make the most of
their daily lives, versus the old model of selling them a
lifestyle if not identity.”
Trendwatching, 2014
25. So what’s the pay off for brands?
Increased influence in the customer
journey
Increased loyalty
Increased revenue
26. So what do the
new faces of
service look like?
37. So what’s the role
for content with
these new faces
of service?
38. 1. Being useful – provide content that helps customers
make better buying decisions
2. Being enriching – provide value added services that they
don’t expect and make their lives better
3. Providing consistency - through a consistent editorial
purpose and regular drumbeat of content
4. Showing your brand’s EQ – understand your customers’
emotional as well as functional needs
39. Trendwatching, 2014
“Too few brands understand that
amid all this rapid change, the
fundamentals of great service
remain the same. It's about the
feeling of being recognised.
Listened to. Valued and cared for.
Smart brands will find new ways to
serve those age-old imperatives.”
42. Trendwatching, 2014
“Too few brands understand that
amid all this rapid change, the
fundamentals of great service
remain the same. It's about the
feeling of being recognised.
Listened to. Valued and cared for.
Smart brands will find new ways to
serve those age-old imperatives.”
51. 4
To our customers,
At Apple, we strive to make world-class
products that deliver the best experience
possible to our customers. With the launch of
our new Maps last week, we fell short on this
commitment. We are extremely sorry for the
frustration this has caused our customers and
we are doing everything we can to make Maps
better.
Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO
59. 1. Leave a good impression.
2. Be careful who gets the car keys.
3. Don’t lie. Ever.
4. Apologise as if it were for a
friend.
5. Keep your promises.
6. Remember the little things.
7. Do this in everything you do.
Marketing as service is one of the biggest trends out there – content plays a key role within this
Have you ever noticed on Tripadvisor that often the most highly rated accommodation are small b&bs that are not that flash but have superb service?
Good service is important. People really value it.
American Express research in 2013 When 1,620 consumers were tested under laboratory conditions, 63% said they felt their heart rate increase when they thought about receiving great customer service.
For 53% of those tested, receiving great service triggered the same cerebral reactions as feeling loved.*
Econsultancy recently did a survey last year amongst B2B and B2C marketers and the customer experience came out as the single most exciting opportunity for their organisation
So why has the digital age made service so important
The increase in channels has made customer journeys more complex. Customers now have endless online and off-line options for researching and buying new products and services, all at their fingertips 24/7.
In JL’s recent retail report, they identify 4 different journeys based on whether they started instore or online and ended in store and online. Out of these journeys, half were blended journeys between instore and online.
McKinsey forecast that during the next five years or so, we’re likely to see a radical integration of the consumer experience across physical and virtual environments. By 2016, the web will influence more than half of all retail transactions, representing a potential sales opportunity of almost $2 trillion.2
You can see from these stats here that 87% of customers think brands need to work harder to create a seamless experience for customers and 69% think expectations for customer service are increasing year on year.
So what’s this driven by?
Consumer expectations set by pure play digital retailers like Amazon who pride themselves on friction free experiences and quick deliveries.
Consumers also have a need for instant gratification set off by busier, more urban based lifestyles
There’s also a greater sense of consumer power with more choices and more ways to have their voice heard.
Trendwatching, a trend consultancy as the name suggests, have named a trend for this new approach to service
So service is as much about usefulness and meeting and pre-empting needs and putting the customer in control, more than it is about former brand led marketing behaviour.
In fact TW say the ideal is ‘BRAND BUTLER OMNIPRESENCE' which is a mix of (discreetly) being there when customers want you to be there, and pleasantly surprising them with your presence when they least expect it.
You can talk to customers much earlier in the purchase journey – before they are considering their next purchase or after the purchase has already happened.
Increased loyalty – bad service increases likelihood customers will switch. Trendwatching says Globally in 2013, 66% of consumers switched brands or business due to poor customer service, a 4% increase on the previous year. Some 82% of those who switched said the brand could have done something to stop them.
McKinsey say that effective customer journeys increase revenue by 15%. They go on to talk about effective journeys are consistent journeys – that great customer experience isn’t about a one off experience at a certain touchpoint but the culmulative experience across all the touchpoints.
I am now going to talk to you about 2 ways that service is being manifested in the digital age
Service that helps customers enjoy a smoother buying process (a nod to Amazon) and make better buying decisions
Fitbay helps customers make better fashion buying decisions relevant to their body type. Anyone who has worked on any fashion brand, like we do on Tu or Bonmarche, knows that consumers biggest gripe with brands and media is using models who are too skinny and too young and don’t represent average women’s figures.
Fitbay overcomes this by enabling shoppers to find and follow their "body doubles" to see what clothes work well on people with similar proportions to them. There is a fashion community who have different sizes where you can use them to find clothes to fit and fashion inspiration by what they buy
You can see what your body doubles are wearing to get fashion inspiration
You can collect clothes you love in your online wardrobe and share about your favorite styles to get more fashion inspiration
You can discover new brands for your body type based on existing brands and sizes in your wardrobe – brands make the suggestions
Zappos – one of the leading US online shoe and clothes retailers enables customers to find what they are looking for more quickly, opening up more sales opportunities. You send a photo of something you are looking for and zappos will find it for free. Originally this was a 24 hour service but it has become so popular the lead times are now a little longer.
Virgin helps customers enjoy a smoother checkin experience and whole airport experience much smoother using wearable tech – the focus of our last Future Think.
In Heathrow, Copenhagen and Edinburgh tests, concierge staff used Glass to identify passengers, initiate check-in automatically and provide updates on weather and local events at flight destinations. Virgin say the service may alert staff to passengers’ personal preferences, such as dietary requirements, in future.
In Copenhagen Airport, passenger services staff used Glass to access to gate, baggage and flight information and benefit from real-time language translation.
An example closer to home for us at Seven, Experian have been trying to move from just being seen as competent to being seen as caring. They also tend to be used when people are worried about their credit score rather than greater financial planning.
Seven have been developing content that help people plan their credit alongside their greater financial planning and life events making Experian a destination for Financial planning. The content has also been moved before the paywall providing a genuine service to all UK consumers not just those signed up to the service. This has greater brand benefits as well as benefits for SEO.
Seven is using content to help them become competent AND caring. We haven't built an app or a platform as such, but we are pushing helpful guidance via socially-driven content and micro sites to help consumers better adage their money and their credit rating. This is helping them achieve more of the things they want in life. Content has been brought in front of the paywall and advice an guidance is now helping people manage their credit on an ongoing basis, rather than just when they have a problem.
There are benefits for Experian too:
Having an "always on" relationship with customers, rather than them dipping in just when they have a problem
Providing helpful guidance around credit builds brand affiliation
Traffic to the site will improve, aiding conversion
Over time, Experian can become a "go to" destination for credit guidance
Offering something for nothing means that when customers do need credit help, they are more likely to use Experian.
Service that enriches the customer experience by going over and above in ways the customer wouldn’t expect
Often these services help customers feel in the know and part of a lifestyle, making them feel special.
Strong believers in linking the instore and online experiences to create a strong customer experience
Celebrating retirement renaissance – rather than their usual bright young things campaign
Have a Bright old things boutique instore and online – exclusive products for Selfridges
Driving instore and online visits and PR, plus positioning Selfridges as a thought leader and destination beyond retail.
I first saw this mentioned the other night on the BBC – a great achievement for any campaign I’m sure you’d agree
Another example is Four Seaons who are using Pinterest to help guests plan their holiday, once they have booked.
Here Four Seasons influence their customers before they even get to the hotel by providing a value added service around holiday planning. Guests start a board on Pinterest to plan their upcoming holiday and Four Seasons staff pin other ideas to that board to help guests to plan their itinerary and get excited about their stay
A B2B example: Delta partners with Linked In to take advantage of 2 things: plane journeys are seen as dead time plus they realised that they are flying some influential business people in innovation.
Delta creates networking opportunities for business after realising that they were flying lots of influential business leaders in innovation. They partnered with linked in to offer opportunities for you to sit next to one of the leaders when they are flying next to an event, giving you one to one access and mentoring opportunities you might not otherwise get. Examples of innovators are Eric Migicovsky, the creator of the Pebble smartwatch, the most successfully crowd-funded Kickstarter project to date
Opening business hubs in conjunction with Regus for mobile and home workers within their stores. Together they aim to provide ‘A-Z of office supplies and services under one roof.”
The drop-in facilities will offer on-the-go workers a professional business space to work from, whilst incorporated meeting areas will allow homeworkers to meet with clients and suppliers close to their home, whilst maintaining a professional environment.
The hubs will offer a drop-in business lounge featuring secure wifi access, comfortable seating with laptop stands, as well as a co-working space and private screened "Think Pod" desks, a range of meeting rooms, and administrative support services including printing and copying.
Content is very important:
McKinsey think that The companies that ultimately succeed in omnichannel marketing and sales will likely resemble tech companies and, interestingly, publishers—effectively using big data and digital touchpoints to drive growth and reduce costs, while producing and managing a variety of content… in real time across multiple platforms to create breakthrough customer experiences.
So for one of the world’s leading management consultancies, a content marketing approach is correlated to a great customer experience
And to bring me back to the start when I was referring to Amex’s research and the link between great customer service and being in love, I leave with another great quote from Trendwatching…
We live in a culture where it seems everyone is trying to strike up a conversation with us online. As a result, as the barriers to creating online content have come down so too has the value of online conversation. It’s time to turn ‘content’ into an action or a verb so to speak. Content has to work harder and really ‘do’ something. Here’s why creating content so valuable it’s a service will not only catapault you into the centre of the conversation but will also impact how much people trust you.
Seven truths about
Service starts with the first interaction
Conversations impacted by content are in yellow. Make sure your conversations touch both the offline and online world in a positive way.
Service is impacted by every interaction. More than ever, you’re one bad experience away from a crumbling reputation. Make sure all your staff – in all departments – follow a social media policy that you implement.
Is the customer always right? No. But they’re still the customer. Great service puts honesty, respect and truth at the forefront. Be a brand that reflects the actual experience someone will have when they buy your product or service. Make sure the conversations you have tell the truth about what you do.
Apologies are an art and a competitive advantage.
Great service is about keeping promises and setting clear policies.
The little things go a long way. This is also how you can turn great service into a conversation starter
Service never ends
There’s a reason we’re talking so much about service through meaningful connections. And it’s because connecting with someone makes us feel something and it’s not just the warm and fuzzies. Connecting with people alters our brains by flooding them with chemicals. Trust is a biological movement that happens through our bodies. Experiments have proved that we can measure trust biologically by paying close attention to oxytocin levels. Things that increase oxytocin levels: hugging, dancing, praying, and engaging on social networks.
Giving people oxytocin increases generosity in unilateral monetary transfers by 80%. Researchers have also showed that it increases donations to charity by 50%. So the knock-on effect of raising oxytocin levels is that people open up their wallets and share their money with strangers.
For every piece of content you produce, think if this was the first time someone was coming across my brand would this leave a great impression?