businessinfomag.uk
magazine
10
agenda
Customer needs ignored
by top brass
C-suite executives are more interested in
profit than customer service, or so say their
own employees.
A new report by The Institute of Customer
Service,
Leading by Example
, reveals that more
than half of employees (51%) think their CEO
and board ‘put profits before the delivery of a
great customer experience’.
Only 36% of managers think their senior
executives ‘actively listen’ to customers in
an effort to improve service, while 44% of
frontline staff feel their ideas are not taken on
board.
Jo Causon, CEO of The Institute of Customer
Service, said: “If employees suggest that
customer needs are not understood in the
boardroom, what must customers be feeling?
Unless the UK’s C-suite takes the time to
analyse customer preferences, behaviour
and levels of satisfaction, they should not be
surprised if customers go elsewhere.”
Local businesses too casual about online marketing
The first ReachOut UK Small Business Survey highlights a casual approach to online marketing
and engagement amongst local businesses.
Its findings show that only one third of email or website enquiries are responded to within an
hour of being submitted and, in four out of five businesses, up to 25% are not followed up at all.
According to a Harvard Business Review study, 50% of consumers choose to do business with the
company that responds to them first.
Less than half (45%) of respondents believe they do enough to market their business online and
54% don’t know which marketing tactics deliver a return.
Cool or creepy? The verdict’s in
Loyalty schemes have become a mainstay of
customer engagement and an essential quid
pro quo in the age of big data, a new study
reveals.
Putting Data in the Driver’s Seat
by data
analytics company GI Insight claims that
loyalty schemes are useful both for attracting
customers and for building trust and developing
longer-lasting relationships.
One third of consumers say they have
switched brands purely because they liked a
loyalty scheme and 76% are unwilling to hand
over their personal data to a company that
doesn’t have a trusted scheme in place.
Almost two thirds (64%) say they are happy
for a company to hold details of their personal
preferences and circumstances as long as the
information is used to send “relevant and timely
offers and communications”.
Loyalty schemes are quid pro
quo for big data
Marsden Building Society has installed a
SmartVoice ViewPoint customer feedback
solution from Sinclair Voicenet at its
headquarters in Nelson, Lancashire. Each month,
it conducts up to 3,000 customer surveys over
the phone following a call to the customer
service centre or by email at the customer’s
convenience. Heather Crinion, General Manager
Operations at Marsden Building Society, said:
“This hosted service enables us to demonstrate
that we value the opinions of savers and
borrowers and are clearly focused on meeting
their needs.” Marsden Building Society now
plans to extend use of SmartVoice ViewPoint to
its branch network where customers will be able
to complete web-based surveys at a kiosk.
One of the benefits of collecting data on
customers is the opportunity it presents
to personalise products, services and the
shopping experience. However, in doing so,
businesses must be careful not to cross the
line of what is acceptable.
Personalisation specialists RichRelevance
asked 1,000 UK consumers to rank applications
of new technology in retail environments as
creepy or cool. Here, on a sliding scale, are their
verdicts:
Cool
n
Scan a product on your mobile device to see
product reviews and recommendations of other
items you might like (72% cool).
n
An interactive map on your mobile phone
showing exactly where items are located and
the quickest path to them (63% cool).
n
Personalised recommendations, promotions
and coupons on your mobile based on your
location in-store (43% cool).
Getting Creepy
n
Instead of price tags on products, digital
screens display prices tailored just for you (44%
creepy).
n
Digital screens in dressing rooms display
product recommendations based on items you
have with you and past purchases (45% creepy).
n
A salesperson unlocks the dressing room
door before you arrive based on your detected
location within the store (63% creepy).
Creepy
n
Using facial recognition technology to
display advertisements on digital screens based
on a shopper’s age and gender (68% creepy).
n
A salesperson greets you by name when you
enter a store because your mobile phone alerts
them to your presence (73% creepy).
n
Facial recognition technology identifies
you as a high-value shopper and relays this
information to a sales associate (77% creepy).
It should be pointed out that within the
findings there were big differences between
age groups. For example, half of under-30s find
personalised product recommendations in the
dressing room “cool”, compared to only one
quarter of over-45s. Similarly, while 63% of
under-29s think it cool to have location-based
personalised promotions, 56% of over-60s find
it creepy.
At IFA 2015, Samsung gave visitors a glimpse of
the retail store of the future, in which intelligent
displays enhance the shopping experience
through personalisation and interactivity.
Applications range from the use of movement
sensors and personalised advertising technology
to deliver targeted advertising as customers
move around a store to virtual fitting rooms
(illustrated), mirror displays and signage
that pairs customers’ clothing choices with
complementary accessories.
