Focus on Experience: Edition 3
Welcome to Focus on Experience newsletter and its third issue! On the second Wednesday of every month, while we try to bring you the latest developments and highlights from the field of experience management, don't forget to follow us closely and experience us in order not to miss the content we will create special for that newsletter or to see and read it first hand!
In this newsletter, we will examine some of the most important resources, reports, studies and best practices in the world of CX and EX, as well as some of the most prominent topics and developments in the world of CX and EX, primarily customer and employee experience. It is a time-consuming effort to find what makes sense in all this cacophony and what is important for your business. That's why Focus on Experience aims to bring together the latest developments in the field of experience and to provide concise, straightforward information
In the March newsletter, how order taking is automated by using robotics in the retail sector, the impact of working four days a week on the company, how artificial intelligence models are trained and how they classify, why airlines should embrace free wifi services more, machine customers seen as one of the customers of the future and their expectations, why insurance technologies should focus more on customer experience, the critical role of the customer journey in creating memorable moments, why customer experience cannot be more important than price, and not only companies that celebrate Women's Day on March 8, but also companies that have made this a part of their organizations can grow their business, as well as a few suggestions we have gathered for you this month and our article titled "Customer Experience vs Customer Success" can also be found in this issue.
So let's dive into the world of experience.
Customer Success vs. Customer Experience
In this article, we will examine the differences between customer experience, which takes place at every stage of interactions with the customer, and customer success, which we often hear about in the post-sales process.
Imagine that you are going to have a party at home with your friends at the weekend. But you realize that some products are missing in your home in order to throw this party. For example, each of you likes singing so much that you thought it would be nice to have karaoke on the weekend, and this was part of your party plan. But you need a microphone to sing karaoke and you don't have one. You immediately started a research and found a few alternative products. You then ordered one, taking into account many factors such as the features, price and the experience environment offered to you. The delivery process was so fast that you received it even though it was very close to the weekend.?
After your delivery, you received a call from an unfamiliar number. You answered the call and the person on the other end was an employee of the company you purchased the product from and said that he would give you information about the use of the product after the sale. You were very impressed by this event. Because you learned about the numerous features of this product and you were able to use it with your friends over the weekend. As a result of your weekend and the experience you had while buying the product, you decided to buy ancillary products that would complement this product and further enhance your karaoke experience, and a long-term relationship with that brand began to form.
For more detailed information on what customer experience and customer success are and where there are differences between the two, take a look at this month's blog post.
Experience Express
Robotics In Retail - How Zara Uses AI & Robotics to Automate Order Pickup
Although we see the use of artificial intelligence and robotics in different sectors, one of the most prominent sectors is retail. In the retail sector, artificial intelligence and robotics technologies are used in many areas from supply chain management to warehouse and distribution operations, from store and marketing to back office operations. The introduction of artificial intelligence and robotics to the retail sector is not a new phenomenon. However, despite having a long history, most sectors have only recently started to integrate them into their business processes.
So how did Zara, one of the giants of the retail industry, manage to integrate artificial intelligence and robotics technologies into its business processes? Apart from Zara, what is the latest situation in other global brands and what are the good examples in this field? What is the status of Zara today, which set out to speed up online order pickup? What does it mean for people working in this field that a single robot can collect 2400 orders simultaneously? In short, what is the state of AI and robotics in the retail industry, both in-store and out-of-store experience? What are the advantages of AI and robotics technologies in perfecting and improving the customer experience?
You can find some of the above questions by taking a look at the article "Robotics In Retail - How Zara Uses AI & Robotics to Automate Order Pickup" published in USM.
The Impact of the Four-Day Working Week on the Company
We know that people have been working five days a week for 40 hours in total in certain institutions and organizations for almost as long as we can remember. But it has taken a lot of hard work to get to this point. Now the same struggle is taking place for a four-day working week. A Think Tank organization Autonomy, the University of Cambridge and Salford, and Boston College recently shared the findings of a joint study.?
According to the results of the trial conducted with 61 companies in 2022, 9 out of 10 companies continue to use the same practice one year after trying the 4-day week. So what are the benefits of the 4-day work week for both employer and employee?
As the head of the 4 day week campaign put it, change has not arrived at the door, it has already passed the door. A 40-hour work week is not a good fit for human life. There is not enough time to do the other things we want to do in our lives outside of work.?
To find out more about the findings of the four-day work week trial, and to learn more about the four-day work week campaign and its impact on both employers and employees, take a look at this article by Lottie Elton in Big Issue .
How Does AI Classify? Top Insights On How We Train Models
For people who are far from the world of programming and coding, or who do not work in the IT department, how artificial intelligence is trained and how it is made to do the desired things is a subject that has always been both curious and complex.
In fact, when artificial intelligence systems are programmed, programmers do it with the existing data at hand. In the beginning, you train it like a newborn baby. This is one of the most critical points in developing an AI model. As you feed that program with more meaningful data and teach it which of the results to be returned from this data is desired and which is undesired, it will produce meaningful results in the same way.
So what exactly do you want the system you are trying to develop to do? Sometimes answering these and similar questions is both difficult and complicated. However, the more you can train the model at the desired level, the better it will perform classification and at the same time generate synthetic data.
For more detailed information on the subject and how AI is trained, take a look at How Does AI Classify? Top Insights On How We Train Models published by John Werner in Forbes .
Good For Business: Why More Airlines Should Embrace Free WiFi
Why do you choose one airline over another? How important is the impact of the passenger experience on this choice? The extra rights and experience offered to passengers both at the airport and on board the aircraft affect their preference for the next journey.
In-flight wifi is one of the recent additions to this experience. Airlines such as JetBlue and Delta allow their passengers to maintain their connection with the outside world in a simple and free way without any additional fee while on board. Of course, this service is reflected in both ROI and recommendation rates.
According to the findings of the research conducted by Viasat, when choosing an airline, passengers firstly look at the ticket price and secondly consider the wifi opportunities. Therefore, the return of this service, which is offered for both customer satisfaction and competitive advantage, is positive.
For more information on the subject, you can take a look at the article published by Alexander Mitchell in Simple Flying titled Why More Airlines Should Embrace Free WiFi.
Your Future Customer Is a Machine
The dynamics of the market and consumer habits are very dynamic and changing according to the conditions of the period. We have lived from past to present on a line where the person on the consuming side of a human-centered market understanding has always been human. However, when we consider the position of artificial intelligence and machines today and the revolutionary developments they have made, the only customer mass is no longer human.
The machine customer, which started to find a place in the literature after IoT became widespread, has started to change the dynamics of the market like never before and will continue to do so in the future. Unlike the purchasing behavior of human customers, which is based on impulses and desires, the machine is informed by data and driven by efficiency, making purchasing decisions in an algorithmic and data-driven approach.
According to the results of a study conducted by Gartner, CEOs state that by 2030, 20% or more of their companies' revenues will come from machine customers. There is a paradigm shift beyond the change in the consumer target mass. Machine-driven markets and machine customers are reshaping how products and services are sold and consumed.
For more detailed information on AI-driven consumerism, machine customers as a new type of customer and how it will change historically, you can take a look at the article titled "Your Future Customer Is a Machine" published by Tamarah Usher on Medium .
Why InsurTechs need to focus on the customer experience
Why do insurtechs need to focus on customer experience just like any other industry? What are companies that do not make customer experience a part of their innovations losing today and what will they lose in the future? In order to attract and retain customers, insurtechs need to build the customer experience holistically from the first point of contact to the stage after the policy service is provided. It is a known fact in every sector that customer withdrawal rates are very easily affected by the experience encountered.?
There are many key areas where customer experience can stand out from competitors and where companies can start to improve their customer experience processes. One of the key areas that can improve customer experience is automation. In addition, customers are more interested in simplicity and ease of use today than ever before. It's not about creating and delivering something complex and comprehensive, but about making it accessible to everyone with minimal effort. A study by brand strategy and design firm Siegel+Gale found that 76% of respondents were more likely to recommend brands that prioritize simplicity.?
Personalization is as important in insurance technologies as it is in other industries. InsurTechs can differentiate themselves from their competitors and increase retention rates with personalized holistic customer experience design. According to a study conducted by Accenture, 80% of consumers stated that they are willing to share their data for more diverse personalization benefits.?
For more detailed information on why InsurTechs need to focus on the customer experience, what they should prioritize and how they can do it, and the experiences of a real example of a company that has designed its way of doing business accordingly, you can take a look at the article "Why InsurTechs need to focus on the customer experience" published in FinTech Global .
Using customer journey orchestration to create memorable moments
Creating customer satisfaction and turning this satisfaction into long-term loyalty is one of the most fundamental goals of organizations. Therefore, when designing the customer journey, you should find ways to provide your customers with unforgettable moments and experiences.
According to a study conducted by Salesforce, almost 90% of customers care more about the experience of buying and using a product or service than the product or service itself. Therefore, being able to offer your customers a near-perfect experience environment will be one of the points that will make you stand out against your competitors.
There is a point that should not be ignored when designing memorable experiences. Technology plays an important role in creating memorable experiences, but people are at the heart of these memorable experiences. Therefore, it is necessary to create experience journeys by considering both technology and people who are consumers on the same level.
For more detailed information on how to create memorable experiences, how you can look at the customer journey as a musical orchestra, and ways to stimulate people's impulse and desire to buy, you can take a look at the article "Using customer journey orchestration to create memorable moments" by Greg Kihlstrom in Customer Think.
Why Customer Experience Will Never Be More Important Than Price
Is it only the experience that the customer will have with the brand or has had in the past that attracts the customer to a brand, or is it the price of the product or service compared to its counterparts? The answers to this question will be parallel to the answers to the question of whether the same egg hatches from the chicken or the chicken hatches from the egg.
For some, the pricing policy and the price of the product or service come before the customer's experience. For others, the order of importance is established in the opposite order. However, one of the points that should not be forgotten is that the price is not at a separate point from the customer experience, but rather as a part of the customer experience.
Two of the most prominent values that customers give to a brand are consistency and predictability. Therefore, brands that do not express their pricing policy transparently and do it in a dynamic way (continuously increasing or decreasing the price according to the demands) will lose their customers before they meet them with the experience environment they offer to their customers.
For more detailed information on the relationship between price and customer experience, you can take a look at the article published in Forbes by Jon Picoult titled Why Customer Experience Will Never Be More Important Than Price.
Brands Celebrating Women Every Day, Not Just On March 8th, Will Grow Their Businesses
Every year on that day of the year, March 8, brands send cards to their female employees, current and potential customers, give promotions or discount coupons, etc. So how do things work in companies for the 364 days of the year after March 8? From the way of doing business to the execution of operations, from the decision-making mechanisms of the company to the members of the board of directors, what is the place and voice of women in the company and how much is it taken into account?
Yes, March 8 and other special days are great opportunities for marketers, but reducing this to a single day leads to insincere approaches. The attitude of businesses that do not have gender equality as part of their corporate culture does not reveal the real situation.
In their relations with a brand, both employees and customers first look at the values of that brand. In businesses whose value structures are not built in an egalitarian environment, both people prefer not to work and not to buy any products or services. In short, or in other words, women do not want a card sent to them that day. On the contrary, they want to see that they are cared for every day.
For more information on how brands are approaching special days, which brands are making it more than a marketing tool but part of their values, and how they are staying in touch with both female employees and customers not just for one day but for 365 days, take a look at "Brands Celebrating Women Every Day, Not Just On March 8th, Will Grow Their Businesses" by Allen Adamson in Forbes .
Quote of the Newsletter
Every customer you have is a media company.
Gary Vaynerchuk
Word of the Newsletter
Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty refers to the continuity of the relationship that customers have built with the experience they have encountered in line with the product and/or service they have previously purchased from an organization. Customer loyalty does not only ensure the retention of existing customers for organizations. At the same time, loyal customers act as a representative, advocate or a marketing department employee of that brand.
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Author of "From Impressed To Obsessed" | Keynote Speaker | Customer & Employee Experience Expert | Advisor to CEOs
1 年Thank you, Wiseback, for featuring my article about "Why Customer Experience Will Never Be More Important Than Price." Many CX professionals and consultancies routinely declare that customer experience trumps price -- but the reality is more nuanced than that!