How to use single-sign-on in retail to improve customer experience
I recently gave a speech on identity management and GDPR at the Gigya Identified 2017 conference in London. There I had the opportunity to listen to another Julien Marlot who is the head of digital activities at Unibail. Unibail-Rodamco is Europe’s leading listed commercial property company specialized in shopping centers in European capital cities. Julien gave some very interesting insights about how Unibail-Rodamco uses identity management on its website and it made me reflect about the...
Moncler and DKV don’t care about customer complaints
Who said big companies are customer-centric and focused on customer satisfaction ? Besides firms which tweak their satisfaction surveys to obtain better results (see the example of Belfius), others simply seem to ignore the basic principles that ensure satisfied customers. Handling complaints is one of them. Moncler : how to NOT handle a complain You all know Moncler. It’s one of the most successful high-end leisure fashion brand. It’s an amazing brand that has turned into...
Customer loyalty : 3 sets of KPI’s that should become your priorities
My good friend Christian Barbaray published an article (in French) where he listed the KPI’s that firms most commonly monitor. He split them in 3 categories (“global”, “asquisition”, “loyalty”) and concluded that firms on average monitor 11 KPI’s. What I find interesting is not so much the number of KPI’s they follow but rather the type of KPI’s they follow. While some of them make perfect sense (revenues, visitors on your website) others seem to me...
4 hints to avoid your customer satisfaction survey from failing
In our latest article we discuss the Goodhart’s law and what it meant for customer satisfaction measurement. In short, if satisfaction scores become a company’s objectives, the likelihood is high that results will be biased. Contact us for your B2B market research A very good article explains the origin of this bias (it’s called reflexivity) and even details other “laws” that point to the same effect : Goodhart’s Law is most succinct: “When a measure becomes...
How the Goodhart’s law makes customer satisfaction surveys fail
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”. This is the Goodhart’s law and it explains in my opinion why why an awful lot customer satisfaction measures fail. Let me take two concrete examples that I’ve experienced myself : Audi and Beflius. in this section I’d like to discuss two concrete examples of customer satisfaction measurement that becomes organizational objectives and therefore cease to be good measurement instruments. The Belfius case...
Ford builds trust and satisfaction with the Ford video check
Ford is currently rolling out a new digital tool that will help build trust and enhance customer satisfaction : the Ford video check. We tested it and it’s just amazing. Read further to see how Ford is transforming the car maintenance experience into a trust building experience that will eventually improve customer loyalty. Car maintenance and repair : a matter of trust If you have already brought your car for repair, you know how stressful it...
Belfius : 95,25% customer satisfaction. Can you believe it?
I visited a Belfius branch last week and was stunned to see their latest marketing campaign and their claim about their high customer satisfaction: 95,25% customer satisfaction ! Can you imagine ? This is just an amazing score. So amazing that it can hardly be trusted as I already wrote many years ago on this blog. I digged into this matter, looked for facts on the satisfaction in the banking industry and explain below why the...
Good news for customers’ satisfaction : robots will replace humans
We have some good news for you : robots are about to replace humans. People are finally going to be able to focus on what they do best : having relationships with other humans. Artificial intelligence evrywhere : what is left for real people Artificial intelligence is already everywhere. Some people find this alarming. Other find it great. One thing is sure : artificiel intelligence is getting every day more clever. Look for instance at the...
Linkedin helps recruiters develop bad practices
There’s something I hate about Linkedin. When you are active in a sector where demand exceeds offer, you start getting all kind of bullshit InMail and connection requests from recruiters. I’m in the Big Data consulting business; you can easily imagine what kind of attraction power my Linkedin profile represents for recruiters working on a no-cure-no-pay basis, receiving positions to fulfill from clients and not knowing where to start to find the right candidates. For them...
More debt leads to lower customer satisfaction
It is well known that firms in the US use mainly external financing (debt) to finance growth. It actually is believed to account for 80% of financing. Yet, this external financing puts pressure on the firms and studies have revealed the adverse consequences it represents : less investment in advertising and R&D less full-time employees, lower wages, more part-time employees inferior product and service quality With so many negative outcomes, how can customer satisfaction evolve when...
Imperfection can also be a source of delight and customer satisfaction
Who said satisfaction stems from perfection. Imperfect products can also lead to enjoyment and satisfaction. Take for instance the example of Merci, a premium retailer located in Paris that attracs trendsetters from all over the world. They just started a temporary exhibition entitled “Imparfait, Nobody’s Perfect” (“Imperfect, Nobody’s Perfect” in English) which is dedicated to imperfect products : art works, serial products exhibiting failures and defects, but also some more traditonal products that are hardly perfectly...
Measuring emotions for a better customer experience management
Can we measure customer experience ? This is a topic we already discussed here and the answer was no. Let me come with a new proposal that was addressed by Sensum during the CPDP 2017 conference : can our body reactions be a reliable measure of customer experience (or at least part of it). Please read further to discover more about this very exciting insights into how measuring reliably emotions can help us better understand customer...
How data vulnerability affects firms’ performance and how to remedy it
Everyone talks about privacy. But what is it really ? A recent article in French economical journal “La Tribune” built upon two recent BCG reports (here and there) on data protection and privacy to question firms’ practices around data privacy 62% of French people surveyed by BCG said companies don’t respect the private character of their data. Yet, what is privacy ? Most people will claim they know but once you scratch the surface you quickly...
Customer satisfaction, customer experience and big data
Improving customer experience is priority #1 of top executives for the next 12 months (Lemon and Verhoef 2016). At the same time Big Data is on every serious company’s agenda. How can Big Data contribute to creating a customer experience that will ensure customer retention ? This is the topic of today’s article where we will question the usefulness of Big Data in today’s digital sphere (yes ! we’ll dare doing that !). What is customer...
What are the latest conclusions of academics on customer satisfaction and customer experience ?
In the Journal of Marketing special issue ” Mapping the Boundaries of Marketing: What Needs to Be Known”, Lemon & Verhoef (2016) deliver 5 very useful conclusions on the state of customer experience and satisfaction research. These 5 conclusions, taken from the very latest top research in the field of marketing, are useful for practitioners and lead us to formulate 5 sets of recommendations. Start with service quality to measure customer experience Since there is no...
How novelty and serendipity improve customer satisfaction
Product recommendations have enabled E-commerce websites to become a place where mass marketing converges with niche marketing. Recommendations are pivotal in enabling less popular products to be discovered by people who are the most likely to like them : this is a long-tail strategy. There is however a dilemma to be adressed : how much of novel and unexpected products should be recommended to online visitors to enhance their satisfaction? This is the purpose of today’s...
Artificial Intelligence : why we need respectful algorithms
Developments of artificial intelligence are a source of concern for several reasons. First of all AI threatens jobs, privacy and our perceived freedom. Second, 99,99% of the population doesn’t really understand what AI is and where it originates. In today’s post I’d like to raise the case of respectful Artificial Intelligence and explain why we need the way we conceive “intelligent” algorithms. Why do we need respectful artificial intelligence and privacy laws ? Technology should be...
Banks are laying off : only because of digitalisation ?
ING : 3500 jobs cut. Axa : 650 jobs cut. BNP Paribas Fortis : 1000 jobs cut. As the Financial Times pointed out, some 100,000 jobs will be cut in the banking sector in 2016. Read again. One hundred thousands. That’s a lot. The reason which is given is that digitalisation have made jobs redundant. And I very much agree with the fact that digitalisation has dramatically changed the business landscape and has forced companies to...
Customers are kings ? No ! Not all !
We think that not all customers deserve the same level of attention. Actually some customers should even be left dissatisfied. Looks like a strong statement ? Read further to be convinced that you should change the way you decide on how to satisfy your clients. This article will introduce you to Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), a metrics that companies should be using to allocate resources efficiently. Yet, few companies use the CLV to decide on their...
RAGE 2015 study : customers more dissatisfied than ever with complaint handling
The 2015 edition of the RAGE study is out … and guess what ? Post-complaint satisfaction has never been so low and firms seem to keep doing the wrong things about complaint handling. Complaint handling practices are obviously wrong in most firms and as the results below show, particular attention should be given to the quality of the interaction between the customer and the employee. Customer satisfaction is essential. Only for our subscribers: exclusive analyses and...
How to increase satisfaction of call centers in 3 easy steps
I got many positive reactions about my latest post on call centers’ phone menus. It seems many of you are frustrated by these anti-satisfaction systems. What they achieve to create among customers is everything but satisfaction. I wondered about we could make them better. What would be the rules to follow if someone wanted those systems to be more customer-oriented, more satisfactory for clients ? How would we increase the satisfaction of call centers as a...
High on frustration, low on satisfaction : call centers’ phone menus
In the word of service there’s one thing that really drives me crazy : call centers’ phone menus. You know the feeling. You’ve got an issue and have to dial a national number to get assistance. “Press 1 for English, 2 for French, 3 for Dutch, 4 for German, 5 for Italian, 6 for Finnish, 7 for Esperanto”. By the time all options have been spelled out you have forgotten which choice to make and press...
Can we measure satisfaction in our bodies ?
I’ve been studying customer satisfaction, dissatisfaction, loyalty for more than a decade. Both my academic and business experiences have taught me one thing : there’s no one-size-fits-all magical recipe to satisfy people. There are almost as many ways to satisfy clients as there are clients. That’s why the quest for efficiency in satisfaction can be considered illusory. Relying on satisfaction surveys is often inaccurate (despite the reliability of tools like the NPS) to measure the outcome...
Complaint handling in numbers : are customers really satisfied ?
Over the years I’ve collected a series of statistics about complaint handling. I call them “the metrics of dissatisfaction”. These figures reveal that despite 30 years of research in the field, hundreds of papers and books published and tons of recommendations, companies are still not getting it. Complaint are still not being handled well and customers are more dissatisfied than ever. The dangers of dissatisfaction These figures should be enough to convince you that complaint handling is...
How to ruin customer satisfaction in one sentence
Sometimes, satisfying and keeping your customers can depend on very little details. Here’s a personal story of a recent interaction with Coolblue, an e-tailer whose excellent customer satisfaction practices have been discussed several times here. What this story will tell you, is that past performances can’t predict future customer retention. One mistake can be enough to ruin a valuable customer’s loyalty. Coolblue: a flewless history of best satisfaction practices I’ve been a big fan of Coolblue since...
Service quality and satisfaction : when will real-estate agents change ?
Whether you are looking for a property to buy, sell or rent, chances are high that you have dealt with real estate agents. In Belgium real estate agents have a bad reputation and as we showed in a previous research, it was justified. Today we are reporting on 4 key recurrent problems on this market that foster incredible dissatisfaction. Read further and we bet you’ll recognize yourself Customer’s needs not understood The first satisfaction levier which...
Retail: 4 mistakes that will make your customers leave your store
In those days of showrooming (browsing shoppers) it has never been so important to ensure your customer is satisfied and stays in the stores. Those 4 mistakes will certainly make your customers leave your store right away. Make sure you avoid them ! 1. Waiting time too long People hate queues; be it for check out of to try clothes, you should avoid at all means that your customers must wait. Did you know that in...
Big Data: TAM Airlines creates unique customer experience
Let’s stick with our new habit of having a shorter Friday post. Thanks to our good friends at Creapills, we learned about the initiative of TAM Airlines leveraging Big Data and Data Analytics to increase passengers’ satisfaction. TAM Airlines used a Facebook Connect to get personal information on its passengers. For those of you who don’t know what a Facebook Connect is, it’s a popup that enables a website to capture data from your Facebook account...
87% customer loyalty : the magic recipe to make billions
In the last years, I’ve been very cautious in explaining to our clients how to increase customer loyalty. When I was giving conferences 10 years ago the equation was still “easy” to solve: more customer satisfaction led to increased loyalty. This equation doesn’t hold anymore. Yet one company achieves an incredible loyalty rate and drives billions out of it : Apple. Apple achieves what is probably the highest loyalty rate in the world: 87%. More precisely...
How to train thousands of employees on customer satisfaction with a serious game
How to inform and train all your employees on the importance of customer satisfaction ? This is very complex when you have hundreds of employees, even more when they are not in direct contact with the customer. This challenge was solved very well through gamification by Axa France. Why satisfaction of your customers does matter I’m not sure it’s really necessary to explain something so obvious, but for those that may not have read this blog...
DHL, Amazon and Audi partner to revolution the supply chain
If you are in e-commerce, you know that delivery is a crucial part of the customer experience. If you want your clients to be satisfied and to repurchase from your site, you’ll have to make sure the delivery runs flawless. Yet, flawless delivery (on time) is not enough anymore : it needs to be free-of-charge and the trend is towards quicker and same-day deliveries. Customers’ expectations are more and more to get their order the same...
Naked Wines: great service and amazing customer experience
We are always looking for the greatest customer experience on earth, service quality that will move you to the highest levels of loyalty. We found a new amazing example in the UK in the e-commerce industry : Naked Wines. Read below what those guys did. It’s just amazing. Dissatisfied customer ? Make him happy to regain trust You know we are very much following complaint handling practices in Europe and are especially receptive to companies showing...
France and Belgium : two countries lacking a culture for customer orientation
In a very inspiring article (in French) Frederic Klotz, former community manager of Rue du Commerce, describes all the problems an e-customer can face in France (don’t hesitate to read the interview Frederic gave us last year). He describes the lack of customer orientation in French firms and suggests that French customers are the most badly treated. Frederic, believe it or not, France is not a unique example of a country lacking service culture and drive for...
How to get back in touch with dissatisfied mobile app users
In the last 10 years we have been in touch with many companies conducting satisfaction surveys. One thing surprised us. In many cases, these results were used for reporting purposes to the management but were not used to actually improve situation. In other words, dissatisfied customers were not contacted to understand what happened and to attempt to recover the situation. It’s like if companies were too shy (or shameful) to do it. Do the experiment for...
12 years dedicated to protecting consumers … voluntarily
I had the pleasure to meet two weeks ago another customer satisfaction hero, the destiny of whom was tightly linked to that of Frédéric Klotz (read his interview). The man I met is Joël Guillon, someone I’ve indirectly known for years through the complaint resolution forum he launched in 2002 : LesArnaques.com Joël is one of those knights who fights against bad companies’ practices and who shares his knowledge and his time to help other consumers....
Must-read : interview of a customer satisfaction champion
We are publishing today a very special post. You’ll find below the interview of someone I consider to be a customer service hero, a champion of customer satisfaction. Frédéric Klotz had worked for RueDuCommerce (one of the most renown e-commerce website in France) for 10 years and became known on forums, blogs, social media for his outstanding qualities. He kindly agreed to give us an interview where you’ll learn what he learned in terms of complaint...
