2012: Customer experience is the new brand

Lessons for financial institutions to increase brand impact

By: Gavin James and Dana Roytenberg

Most companies spend a lot of time defining their brand – the values they want people to associate with their business – and market to promote that perception. But these days, companies face challenges in controlling how their brand is perceived, because customers have the tools to broadcast their experiences with the business on a mass scale. A “brand” is now less about brand promises, and more about how companies deliver on those promises.

• How customer experience is becoming
  the brand.
  While many consumers may not know a company’s official brand story, it’s a good bet they have impressions about the brand, based on their experience across various touch points, as well as influence from friends, family, media, and the general public. Consider the recent public outcry about proposed debit card fees, which led banks to reverse decisions to charge fees for debit card use. Even the anticipation of a negative experience led customers nationwide to express negative perceptions about “big banks.” As a result, though banks may not have lost a significant amount of customers, the value of their brand and customer loyalty may have suffered.

78% of consumers believe that having a great experience makes them loyal - according to a recent Loyalty 360 survey.

• Social media is evolving how we
  experience brands.
  Consumers are increasingly turning to social media to express service complaints, and how/when/if a company responds may influence their perception of the brand. Additionally, social networks like Twitter and Facebook make it easy for passionate consumers to voice their perceptions about a business (good or bad), potentially influencing millions of people. In other words, “word of mouth” has gone viral. To maintain control of their brand, businesses need to ensure the customer experience aligns with their brand promises.

Understanding how to monitor customer experience

To strengthen a brand, you need to deliver the experience customers want. That starts with effective listening and engagement, combined with agility to keep up with changing expectations.

A recent Temkin Group report cited that less than 25% of businesses measure the emotional reaction of their customers.  "Companies need to integrate customer experience metrics into the rhythm of how they run their business and link those measures to their brand strategy."

• Gain a holistic view of the customer experience with analytics.
  If you have a Voice of the Customer program, make sure you’re monitoring across all channels and touch points. For example, the rise of digital banking means new challenges in ensuring a smooth experience across online and mobile access, ATMs, and automated phone services. For a richer perspective on the customer experience, consider using text mining of unstructured data (e.g., social media comments) to complement structured data (such as profiles and transaction histories).
• Measure emotional connection to
  your brand.
  A strong brand is one that resonates with people, so it’s vital to track how customers and the public feel about your company. Sentiment analysis can help you effectively spot trends and emerging issues. When sentiment is positive, you can engage champions to increase brand awareness. When the tide turns negative, you’ll be better prepared to address problems early and offer special attention to improve brand perception.

Increasing brand impact with customer experience insights

As people and technologies evolve, so does the customer experience. Your brand needs to evolve along with it. Effective analysis of feedback across all touch points gives you a clear picture of the customer experience, and guides you in engaging with customers in ways that strengthen your brand.

Here are a few examples of financial services companies doing it well:

• American Express® – Maximizing engagement on Facebook
  The company is successfully using social media to reinforce positive feelings about the brand and drive customer acquisition. On Facebook they ask questions that tie a customer’s personal experiences with Amex products, such as, “What summer memories did your Amex Card make possible?" Our analysis of 5,300 Facebook comments over two months helped target which efforts worked best to engage customers. And their Link-Like-Love program takes engagement to the next level by rewarding existing and new customers based on what they “like” on Facebook.
• Experian™ – Using analytics to increase loyalty and drive new business
  As part of their customer-centric daily workflow, Experian Credit Services uses data analytics to monitor feedback, and delivers it to sales and service teams who can take action quickly. The company also shares feedback across the organization, categorized for client segments to help lines of business understand unique needs and concerns. In this way, Experian stays prepared to meet and exceed client expectations, which helps enhance brand perception and increase the likelihood of recommendations.
• California Coast Credit Union - Leveraging YouTube to promote the brand
  To attract new business and strengthen perceptions of their brand, the credit union encourages members to share entertaining video clips that celebrate the brand and generate enthusiasm with young audiences. It effectively builds loyalty into the customer experience, while promoting the brand as a welcoming community.

Brand is about more than goodwill; it’s a valuable company asset that’s beginning to appear on balance sheets at significant valuations. And customer experience is about more than meeting basic needs; it’s about making people feel great:  trust, ease, convenience, delight. Companies that deliver on their brand promises —by systematically aligning their customers’ experience with their brand vision— will be positioned to win for the long term.

Return to top

Emerging Issues – Stay ahead of the curve with your Voice of the Customer program

By: Brandon Purcell

2011 was an important year for Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs in the financial services industry.  Many banks and credit unions adopted new Voice of the Customer initiatives, and companies with existing VoC programs began to harness their full potential with new types of analyses.  Some companies monitor customer feedback to determine the top customer experience pain points and service breaks.  Other companies gauge their brands’ relative health by tracking sentiment on social media.  However, there is one VoC strategy in particular that companies are beginning to adopt for its significance, swiftness, and overall necessity —the analysis of Emerging Issues.

What are Emerging Issues and why are they important?

• Customer experience pain points - Emerging Issues are commonly characterized by a sudden increase in the volume of comments about a certain aspect of the customer experience.  For example, if a bank rarely sees comments about wire transfers, and then suddenly receives a huge influx of chatter on the subject, an Emerging Issues analysis will flag wire transfers so an analyst can look into the problem.  Monitoring and quick identification of Emerging Issues allows a company to fix problems before they affect a large number of customers.
• Risk is another factor in determining Emerging Issues.  Some comments, even in smaller quantities, might warrant further inspection.  Typically, these issues center on security breaches or regulatory and legal compliance.  For example, an Emerging Issues analysis can monitor “phishing” complaints so a bank can make necessary changes to their websites and email protocols to protect customers from fraud.  In these cases, the potential risk to your customers and your brand qualifies it as an Emerging Issue.  Therefore, certain themes should be assigned a degree of risk, so that comment volume is not the only factor.
• Strategic opportunity is another type of Emerging Issue a company can identify and track.  Internal customer feedback and social media both provide a wealth of information for banks and credit unions about their competitors and their products.  Companies can monitor this data to determine the moment their competitors are doing something right so they can emulate it.  Conversely, when competitors misstep, a business can capitalize on the opportunity immediately.

How to implement an Emerging Issues analysis

Like a well-managed Voice of the Customer program, an effective Emerging Issues analysis relies on a combination of text analytics and business intelligence. 

• The quantitative aspect looks like this: Text analysis uses natural language processing software to “read” through thousands or even millions of comments, and then categorizes comments based on their content.  A strong VoC program should invest sufficient time and resources into refining this categorization for accuracy.  Text analysis can then be used to determine the total number of comments referencing each theme. Once the average number of comments on each theme is established, the software can look for significant deviations.
• The qualitative aspect of Emerging Issues analysis relies on business intelligence.  A good analyst who understands the bank’s business as well as the customer experience is needed to interpret the data.  Analysts should initially help design the analysis by using their financial services knowledge to refine the categorization scheme. They should also assign weights to categories based on severity, or to issues of strategic importance to the organization.  Then, they can interpret the analysis by separating the noise from the true insights, and by digging deeper when necessary.
• The final piece of this analysis involves taking swift and decisive action based on the results.  An effective Voice of the Customer program should be aligned with partners to implement changes.  The whole point of Emerging Issues is to nip problems in the bud before they snowball out of control.

Start the analysis now!

Analyzing Emerging Issues on a regular basis allows you to:

• Address customer experience issues proactively
• Fix service breaks before they become systemic
• Protect your brand from negative perception
• Mitigate your exposure to legal and security risks
• Stop attrition before it happens

Given all these benefits, why not start today? 

Return to top

1.877.676.3743  .  San Francisco . Silicon Valley . Los Angeles . Seattle  .  Sitemap

© 2002-2011 Beyond the Arc, Inc. All rights reserved.