Syed's Customer Experience Blog

EFM or CIA? the answer is CEM

It has been refreshing of late to see some of our friends in the analyst community have an open debate  regarding whether it is appropriate to continue to categorize solutions such as ResponseTek as EFM (Enterprise Feedback Management) or by a newer term CIA (Customer Insight & Analysis). You can read more about Forrester’s perspective on EFM on Andrew McInnes’blog here, and Bruce Temkin’s perspective on the terms on his great Customer Experience Matters blog here.  EFM is a term formalized by the CRM group at Gartner back in around 2001 and you can read all about its genesis here.

In 1999 when ResponseTek started using the term CEM (Customer Experience Management) and we defined it as, "the people, process and technology strategies focused on monitoring all customer experiences across the customer lifecycle with the aim of connecting frontline employees and management to the actual customer experience to improve the quality and consistency of those experiences."

Back in 1999 no one else was talking about CEM, it was all CRM and when Gartner did start looking at the kinds of things ResponseTek and a few other companies were doing they eventually defined it as EFM in 2001. I always had a problem with Gartner definition of EFM and what it encompassed as I found it way too narrow a definition compared to the actual conversations we were having with clients. EFM always seemed more like a proxy for a ISO 900x system than something focused on customer experiences and employee behaviours.  In 10 years I can't remember a single client that has talked about their objectives as being the implementation of a EFM system. Our clients have always spoken about their goals in terms of "connecting to customer, improving quality, satisfaction, consistency, etc." I believe everyone has been aware of the framework that EFM embodies but always recognized it as a subset of the broader goals covered by CEM or VOC strategies. At ResponseTek, we have always considered EFM to be a subset of CEM and EFM solutions are a subset of the capabilities that most leading enterprise CEM vendors can offer.

As for CIA I think it is too early to tell whether this has legs (read more here). I know and respect Bruce and he has done a huge amount to getting the customer experience space understood. If Bruce's objective was to start a dialogue and challenge the relevance of EFM then I think he has done the job. However, I am not sure we need another term when CEM and VOC are still ill defined and expansive in the topics they cover. I believe that Bruce and Ed Thompson over at Gartner have some of the best thinking on how the CEM space fits together and I hope they can find a way to rally around a single point of view in relation to CEM.

As for the EFM vs. CIA  debate I would say the answer is irrelevant at the moment because clients are not using either, EFM because it is outdated and CIA because it is too new. For me and our clients it is all about CEM and Voice of the Customer but I am not an Analyst so you don't have to listen to me ;)

Syed

 

The power of text messaging for customer feedback

The last 12 months have been really exciting when it comes to use of text messaging/sms as a tool for customer feedback. At ResponseTek we have always held the opinion that the closer you are in time and channel to the customer experience the better the information you will collect. This has been easy in the web and call center channels but in the retail channel it has been a big problem. However there is good news, there is a quiet revolution happening in retail feedback management that is being led by the European Telco's and they are quickly being followed by other retailers. The revolution focuses on the use  of SMS to capture the voice of the customer at the point of purchase.

Text messaging is a great technology for certain types of retailers to collect large amounts of timely information that can be used by the front lines almost every day. In Europe the use of text messaging as a feedback tool is rapidly accelerating as companies move away from more problematic or expensive  programs such as outbound calling or receipt back messaging/surveys. It is also very effective, we have seen clients that can expect a 20-30% response rate from text message feedback programs if designed intelligently. The feedback can also be quite rich, with both quantitative and qualitative information being collected across up to 6-10 questions.  Where text messaging feedback was an experiment for lots of companies in Europe 12 months ago now it has become their core retail satisfaction monitoring method.

One thing I do still find surprising is that although North America is the icon for the iphone/smartphone generation there is very little (if any) adoption of this exciting technology this side of the pond. Even though this approach is an obvious fit for companies like Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc.  they don't seem to be connecting the dots yet and continue to spend big on more expensive yet less timely research approaches.

Regardless of the differences in North America and Europe relating to text message feedback programs, what we have seen within clients is proof of a technology and approach that is here to stay and one that can dramatically change the way a company connects with it's customers and employees.

Syed

What is the role of the Customer Experience Executive?

Companies started formalizing executive roles focused on customer experience about 2-3 years ago. As someone that has operated in the Customer Experience (CE) arena for over 10 years it was great to see the customer experience getting formalized and my hopes for companies using the "voice of the customer" as a serious management tool increased accordingly.  At the time we never really knew how the role was going to play out but it seemed surrounded by good intent.  Unfortunately the SVP/EVP/VP Customer Experience  has rarely lived up to it's promise and now as times get tough the number of Executive's with a "Customer Experience" title that are being let go is increasing almost daily.

The problem I think is that most, if not all customer experience executives operate in a Corporate Group role rather than in the Operating Groups of large companies. The effect this has is that they become responsible for guidance and best practice identification but the have very little power or influence where the rubber hits the road, at the operating groups.  As a result in my experience very few customer experience executives have been able to transfer their excitement and priorities for monitoring and managing the customer experience across to the executives in the operating groups. 

The other factor that has led to the lack of impact a typical customer experience executive has on changing the business is where the budgets are held. Most group level CE executives have a small budget which is focused on addition market research, consultants, etc. However, the budgets needed to truely transform customer experiences are much larger and typically owned by operations or the contact center. As a result most CE executives never get into the real issues around measurement, consistency, systems or behavioral change because they do not have the mandate or resources to affect change.

I am disappointed to see that so many CE exec roles are being cut these day's but I also recognize that the role as it has been used in most companies today is ineffective. The role and responsibilities of a CE exec needs to be revised if they are ever going to impact large organizations. Perhaps the role should sit in the office of the CEO, be an extension of the operations role or operate at the board level similar to an audit or compensation committee?

If you have come across a company where the CE exec does have the influence and resources to make change happen please let me know.

Syed

Top down vs bottom up improvement strategies

Are you trying to change your customer experience from the top-down or bottom-up? ..........

I am amazed at the number of executives I meet as part of my work at ResponseTek who greet this question with a blank look or a “what do you mean…”?

Assuming that your business has joined the conventional thinking that a good customer experience leads to a higher probability of happy customers (and that happy customers are good), then you have to come up with a strategy that leads to happier customers.

Here is the top down scenario: First you decide hire McKinsey, Bain or BCG…(nobody ever got fired for that). Six months, a million dollars in consulting, and workshops (ad infinitum) later, your consultants of choice will typically deliver you a comprehensive top-down customer experience improvement strategy. It will include marketing messages, slogans for the employees, new compensation plans, a few tracking surveys and some benchmarking with competitors.  If you’re lucky, it might even have an operational framework for continuous improvement, such as customer workshops, panels and focus groups.

So if you spent the money and got all of this, you’ve got your top-down strategy for customer experience improvement.

The good news? You won’t get fired. Hiring big name consultants is always a great strategy to hide behind when you don’t have a clue.

The bad news? Top-down strategies alone rarely work.

To improve customer experience and sustain improvements, employee behaviors must change. Partner behaviors must change. The behaviors of your outsourced suppliers representing your brand must change. Anyone interacting with your customers has to focus on improving the customer experience.

With top-down strategies such as aggregate customer-sat scores or compensation incentives, the behavioral change needed for business improvement is at best temporary. To sustain improvement, you need to ensure your top down strategies are complemented by bottom-up strategies.

Bottom up strategy scenario: Bottom-up strategies focus on making employees accountable for the customer experience every day, during every interaction. Bottom-up strategies take the basic principles of short interval control, used effectively in the manufacturing sector, and apply them to today's service focused environments, such as call centers, retail stores, and field service and support teams.  Bottom-up strategies focus on timely measurement and reporting of customer experiences at the individual or transactional level. By deploying timely measures within a framework of timely, individual reporting, employees can quickly and continuously identify for themselves behaviors that do not enhance the customer experience.  This level of personal awareness and individual reporting can then be very effectively used by supervisors for training or coaching.

The combination of top-down and bottom-up customer experience strategies is powerful…but rarely practiced.  I don't know if this is because corporations lack an understanding of this as a best practice, or because it’s much harder to do than top-down alone. What do you think?

Final thoughts: Perhaps the best way to think about a top-down strategy on its own – that is, without the bottom-up strategy - is in the context of a manufacturing quality improvement strategy. With a top-down strategy, you just have a quality plan, quality targets, quality linked compensation, and monthly surveys of the quality actually coming off the front line. A bottom-up strategy adds a production line quality team that measures quality at every production stage on an hourly basis, and quality addresses issues daily. In today’s environment, no one would try to improve manufacturing quality with just a top-down strategy, without front-line measurement and improvement processes that shadow the production line. And yet, that is exactly how companies are trying to improve the quality of their customer experience using consultants and market research.

I hope this prompts you to ask your executive team about your company’s top-down and bottom-up strategies for improving the customer experience.  Let me know what you find out!

Syed

Beware of your "Analog Customers"

In today's world of online reviews, customer blogs and social networks, you could be mistaken for thinking that all your customers are online and that is the only place that experience sharing is occurring.  The reality is that we are analog and not digital beings and most of our recommendations or warnings still happen outside the internet, during conversations with people we know (more here).  The vast number of customer experiences and recommendations that I absorb are from people who I know or meet and relay it to me face to face.

We typically think of analog customer advocacy as being less valuable or dangerous than digital advocacy because of the limited audience that is exposed to it. For example, I might not be happy with my cell phone provider but at the most, I am only going to tell 10-20 people about it. On the other hand, millions of people can see the same information online, so companies tend to accept analog advocacy as a high impact but low risk influence on their customer base.

I was recently reminded that the "analog consumer" is getting smarter and learning the power of "eye balls".  As I drove down the highway recently I passed a car with a big sign in the back window. The sign said, "THIS CAR IS A LEMON. DO NOT BUY ONE".  The surprising thing to me is even after several weeks I remember that this sign was in the window of a Ford Escape but I can't remember many of the other cars I passed that day (or any other day). In the online world reviews are not usually linked to the actual product (an image all you can expect) but here the review was stuck onto the product. In the online world you can't see the reviewer or you don't even know if they own the product they reviewed, but here the reviewer/customer was IN the product! This connection between the customer, the product and the review in the real world was incredibly powerful and had more impact than any review I could ever read on a Ford Escape (I am never going to go near one).  Then I thought about audience and the fact that this guy must be driving past thousands of cars per week and influencing everyone's perception of the Ford brand. Now that is power which has a lot more influence on consumers than some online review site that uses reviewers for hire.

Unfortunately for Ford, this example is about them but it could have so easily been about any automotive manufacturer.  The next step might Lemon stickers for cell phones, camera's, etc ...who knows.

We are living in a world where more and more customers are becoming comfortable with sharing and broadcasting their experiences. At the moment the bulk of sharing occurs offline but most of the broadcasting occurs online (interesting blog on online vs. offline sharing here). This story shows the potential for that to shift.

My advice to companies is to beware of your "analog customers" and deliver great experiences every time. It only takes one customer to put a "Lemon" sign in their back window and it could cost you and your brand more than you think.

Syed

What is CEM?

Everywhere you look today someone is talking (or shouting) about customer experience management (CEM) and how important it is to their business. However when you start to ask people what is CEM, it is either followed by a wall of silence and people looking off into the distance or a barrage of consulting speak with whiteboards full of impressive conceptual models and 9 box matrix charts.

My view on CEM is very simple (thankfully). "CEM is the processes, systems and measures a company has to have in place to deliver a consistent customer experience that aligns with the brand expectations."

So that isn't too complicated, well not to write anyway, but to do it is one of the hardest things a company will ever do.

CEM is not touchpoint mapping or CRM or NPS(TM) or any of the other things exec's are being sold to make them feel like they are doing the right things. CEM is getting it right for your customers every time! Every thing else should be a means to this end or ignored.