Access is at the heart of good experience

[Note: This is an abridged version of remarks made at the Market Research Society's CX/UX/MR conference. Thank you to the Market Research Society (MRS) for the opportunity to chair the conference!]

Good morning everyone. I am Patrick Alcantara and I have the pleasure of welcoming you to the 2023 MRS CX/UX/MR Conference. I look after UK&I insight at AXA Insurance, which spans our commercial, health, retail and Ireland businesses. I have an insight background and previously set up the Voice of the Customer programme at Co-op, helped launch the Amazon insurance store featuring Co-op home insurance as well as new pet, travel and commercial insurance products using customer insight. I also worked at O2 and the Business Continuity Institute, as well as produced research on behalf of organisations such as the former UK Department of Business, Innovation & Skills, BSI, PwC, SAP, Siemens Netherlands and Zurich Insurance, giving me great exposure to different industries.

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Before we get on with the rest of the programme, I’d like to pose a question, which has probably been asked by our execs before – ‘Why?’ Why attend this conference? Why focus on experience? Why put effort on research anyway?

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My answer is, we put effort into what we do because good experience enables access.

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Simply put, access is at the heart of good experience.

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When we provide a good experience, underpinned by powerful insights about the people we serve, we enable access. We let people in. People access products and services they deserve, at a time and location that suits them, in a way that meets their needs. Good experience fosters trust.

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Conversely, when we deliver a bad experience, often because of incomplete understanding, we deny access. We shut people out. People have trouble accessing products and services, jump through various hoops, and often get poor solutions that hardly meet their needs. Bad experience creates distrust.

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Access, premised upon good experience and powerful insights, is a fundamental commodity in the 21st century. Apart from financial means and knowledge, access to essential products and services will ultimately decide society’s ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. I know this personally because I am an immigrant. I know how it feels to jump through hoops to prove that I am worthy enough to study, live and work in this country. I know how it feels to come here and arrange things that most people take for granted – a roof over your head, a bank account, a phone contract. I know how it feels to be at the receiving end of poor experience, on things such as proving the right to work, or getting a visa, or even just queueing at immigration on holiday, simply because I was born elsewhere.

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Of course, I say this recognising that I am in a privileged position because I have the means and the platform to speak about it. But how about the people who can’t speak for themselves? This is why good experiences matter. This is why insights matter. This is why we, as a profession, matter. We have the training, tools and techniques to speak truth to power, challenge the lack of access, and ultimately make people’s lives better.

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Nowhere is this more apparent than in the financial services sector. Financial products and services – your bank account, your mortgage, your credit cards, your insurance policy, your pension and investments, among others – form the backbone of modern life. We simply cannot do many things without access to cash or credit. Once more, good experience, brought by insights, enable people to access financial products and services that make it possible to live a good life. On the other hand, bad experience, made worse by little or no insight, create market failure that deny people access. Often, getting it wrong brings significant consequences, make people’s lives worse, and undermines public trust in financial markets.

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Regulators like the Financial Conduct Authority realise this and have introduced a raft of new rules which aim to avoid these market failures in the first place, by introducing a clearer and higher standard of care towards consumers. Foremost of these rules is the new Consumer Duty, which envisions a shift from a tick-box exercise in compliance towards a culture where firms consistently focus on customer outcomes. The focus on customer outcomes should be driven from the top, should cut across business functions, and will require considerable evidence. The new Consumer Duty should enable customers to access financial products and services better, as well as put them in a position to act and make informed decisions on their interests.

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We can contextualise the Consumer Duty in the light of recent activity such as the General Insurance Pricing Practices reform, where insurance companies are now required to charge the same prices for new and existing customers, avoiding an inadvertent ‘loyalty penalty’ which collectively costs consumers ￡4.2bn in the next 10 years. We can also view this Consumer Duty side by side with recent guidance on treating vulnerable customers fairly, noting that vulnerability isn’t necessarily apparent and should be taken into consideration when designing financial products and services. These reforms represent a step change in the way UK regulators are championing customers and driving culture change in the financial services industry.

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The customer outcomes envisioned by the Consumer Duty set clearer and higher expectations of firms. These expectations are underpinned by overarching, cross-cutting rules which include the following.

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1.?????One, to avoid causing foreseeable harm; and

2.?????Two, to enable consumers to pursue their financial objectives.

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These are embodied by outcomes which set out a firm’s relationship with customers.

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1.?????One, communications should enable consumers to make effective, timely and properly informed decisions about financial products and services, or what is called the Communication outcome;

2.?????Two, products and services should be specifically designed to meet the needs of consumers, and sold to those whose needs they meet, or what is called the Products & Services outcome;

3.?????Three, customer service meets the needs of consumers, enabling them to realise the benefits of products and services and act in their interests without undue hindrance, or what is called the Customer Service outcome; and

4.?????Four, the price of products and services represents fair value for consumers, or what is called the Fair Value outcome.

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These outcomes must be met at all times and should be clearly evidenced. It is apparent from these expectations that firms should go beyond traditional compliance that focuses on individual rules and specific conduct by business units. Compliance from the view of the Consumer Duty is meant as an encompassing activity involving the whole organisation. The focus on outcomes presents an opportunity for CX, UX, and market research professionals to drive this new vision of compliance because of their nearness to customer insights. This also poses a challenge to the same professionals because the Consumer Duty requires a 360-degree view of the customer, something that won’t be possible if we remain in our respective silos.

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This has practical implications to our activity as CX, UX, and market research professionals in the financial services space. For those of us in other sectors, we can still take a leaf out of the financial services playbook and ask ourselves similar questions like the ones below.

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1.?????For the Communication outcome, how might we signpost important information to customers? How might we deliver content in a way that is accessible, especially to vulnerable customers? How might we communicate content in plain English, avoiding jargon as much as possible?

2.?????For the Products & Services outcome, how might we design products and services that best meet the needs of our customers? How might we eliminate design that inadvertently take advantage of behavioural biases, such as the tendency to over-borrow and under-pay? How might we remove unclear structures that make it harder for customers to decide which products and services to buy? How might we remove unnecessary barriers to exit, such as fees or difficult switching procedures?

3.?????For the Customer Services outcome, how might we provide adequate support? How might we remove barriers to getting that support, such as contact details which are hard to find? How might we ensure support even if commercial incentives are lacking?

4.?????For the Fair Value outcome, how might we create products and services that are fit for purpose and represent good value? How might we shift the conversation away from just offering the lowest prices, but also signposting quality? How might we build pricing that is fair and test it with customers?

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These practical questions make it apparent that we are in the right position to champion our customers because we have the methods, tools and techniques to answer these. It is for the same reason why CX, UX, and market research colleagues at AXA UK are involved in driving the response to the Consumer Duty. We need to address cross-cutting activity such as our overall customer design approach, customer testing, brand and marketing communications, digital experience and accessibility. We need to work with our compliance counterparts in demonstrating how we are meeting these outcomes, backing these up with relevant quantitative and qualitative data, given that compliance requires considerable evidence. We also need to improve our processes internally and work with support functions such as the contact centre, digital design, as well as claims to create better experiences for our customers. Clearly, these activities require an approach that bridge traditional silos of insight, help bring colleagues from other areas together, and create a coherent, consistent and transversal response.

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We do these because access is at the heart of good experience. Demonstrating access also helps drive compliance. Ensuring access is the work of the entire organisation, led by CX, UX and market research professionals.

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We will revisit these themes throughout the conference with our incredible line up of speakers. Representing a broad cross-section of industries, we will show how we can achieve greater customer centricity and access, by showcasing insightful case studies, panel discussions and presentations. The MRS has produced a fantastic conference, as it draws upon the collective expertise of its speakers and the organisations represented today. I am truly excited to be with this company of speakers and organisations, and hope you are too.

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To conclude, the CX, UX, and market research space is an incredible place to be in because of our collective ability to create good experience and therefore, access. Enabling access to useful products and services will create the material and social capital required for people to thrive. With our times bringing unprecedented challenges to the way we live and work, not to mention broader issues such as social inclusion and the survival of our planet, enabling access, driven by good experience, is essential, fundamental work.