How to pamper your customers - The Marketer magazine

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/how-to/how-to-pamper-your-cu...

If customer care makes you think of smiley staff and comfy chairs youre missing half the picture. Real customercentricity requires backroom gadgetry The customer is always right. In theory. In practice, customers often get trampled as companies forge ahead with short-term objectives. Yet getting to know your customers and keeping them happy can be the most effective way to meet financial targets in the long term; happy customers come back time and again. But smiles, free extras and simple courtesies all too rare and to be celebrated will only carry a company so far. In the cut-throat world of modern business, recognising a customers needs requires an investment in insight and that means technology. To understand how best to serve your customers, you must understand how and where they interact with your business and exactly what will persuade them to stick with you through thick and thin. Milking your data dry The relentless march of IT services means there are now a plethora of technologies to track customer details and behaviour. These can be bought off the shelf, but the real art lies in managing the data to produce a meaningful picture of the customer. The ultimate aim of database marketing is to build what is known as the single customer view (SCV). This involves amalgamating all data sources to produce as full a picture as possible of your customer. Creating the SCV can take time, but, once in place, it can help a company make informed decisions about how best to serve its customers. Once you have access to all the transactional data you can see if a customer is worth 1,000 a year to your business or 50. And once you know that, whose problems do you want to solve first? says Andy Wood, managing director of database marketing firm GI Insight. Avoiding system overload The killer software most companies will invest in is customer relationship management or CRM. This technology has earned itself a mixed reputation over the years, due to mishandling by the overzealous: People get caught up in the technology and lose sight of the business objectives, says John Haigh, head of CRM at software firm CPiO. Used correctly, CRM software can revolutionise customer service, particularly in smaller companies where manpower is limited and customer retention a vital factor. Online data storage company Clunk Click serves a diverse range of SME customers and recently installed a CRM system to improve both inbound and outbound communications: When someone calls we instantly know what they have bought from us, when they bought it and what level of service they require, says Jeremy Keane, head of operations. We have a three-man support team and call turnover time is now a lot quicker than it was. CRM efficiencies also come into play in outbound communications: If I need to tell customers about a possible service interruption because of an upgrade, I can do so in five minutes, adds Keane. Touchy customers Every time a customer comes into contact with a business, that organisation has an opportunity to impress. Carefully managing these various touchpoints can make all the difference to the customer experience. Related Links
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"When used corectly, CRM software can revolutionise customer service and retention"

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How to pamper your customers - The Marketer magazine

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/how-to/how-to-pamper-your-cu...

In the past the telephone was king and call centres dominated customer relations. But the creeping presence of the internet means other channels are now available in the form of e-mail and online forums, as well as mobile technologies such as SMS. Each channel has to be catered for if the whole audience is to be served: You have to be able to respond to customers on the channel they choose, says Phil Shuldham-Legh, director of communications at contact centre operators The Listening Company. They dont want to repeat themselves, so if they contacted you via a web form they expect you to have that information to hand if they ring a call centre. Vodafone is one company taking customer service via the web very seriously. Two years ago its customer service team noticed that more customers were popping up in online forums with queries about the companys phone service. Gradually we began to intervene on the forums, helping customers who were having difficulty getting a mobile to perform, says David Morgan, head of eCare for Vodafone UK. The company then decided to take this process a step further by setting up its own online forum. This allows the team to help with very specific technical queries, as well as more general mobile questions, and we can use the content more effectively by linking to and from it, maximising value to customers, says Morgan. For Vodafone, the forum is one of many customer service channels, but one that serves a particular niche: We believe were helping customers who might not have otherwise contacted us and would have struggled on or just not used a service properly or at all. We are filling a customer service gap, says Morgan. Important though these new channels are, the telephone remains the weapon of choice for customers with a complaint to make. When it comes to calming irate customers, simple techniques such as picking the phone up after no more than three rings are good practice. But todays demanding customer requires more concrete results: Weve moved away from call pick-up rates as a measure of good service to call resolution, says Shuldham-Legh. If you focus on resolving a callers problem you will probably listen more closely to what that caller actually wants. High call volume could actually be a sign that the level of problem resolution is low. So ask yourself, are you taking 10,000 calls a day or just 1,000 customers calling 10 times to get their problem resolved? he says. Marks out of 10 Waiting for the customer to come to you could leave you under the mistaken impression that everything is perfect. Ultimately, to know what your customers really want, you have to go and ask them. In the hotel industry excellent customer service is essential to retain market share. Disgruntled guests often simply check out without reporting their grievances. Two years ago the UKs largest budget hotel chain, Premier Inn, realised its customer feedback process was not working. Guests were invited to complete feedback cards in their rooms but these often went missing, says Gerard Tempest, marketing director at Premier Inn. The company called on the services of research group ORC International and together they streamlined the process. We now regularly email 100,000 guests within 48 hours of their visit and get a 35 per cent response rate, says Tempest. By asking the latest customers what they think of its service, Premier is able to tailor its product to their needs. Were not interested in just satisfying our

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How to pamper your customers - The Marketer magazine

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/how-to/how-to-pamper-your-cu...

customers needs, but in providing an experience that is so good they recommend us to others, so we look for those who score us five out of five. Some of the results of this intense feedback process are often surprising and have led to significant tweaks in the customer experience: The scores for our breakfasts were not as high as other parts of the process so we increased the range and quality and in the process converted more sleepers into diners as well, says Tempest. Business customers also suggested that the range of TV channels wasnt all it could be, so were now rolling out Freeview.

Dos and donts

Do collate customer information to build the fullest picture of your customer base and preferences. Do give relevant customer data to frontline staff so they recognise customers Addictive quality contacting the business. Do give frontline staff the Excellent customer service is not the sole domain of the larger enterprise power to resolve a SMEs also have the potential to shine. At the opposite end of the scale from Premiers established hotel brand is Umi, a customers problems rather than fobbing them start-up hotel business that has one outlet in London and is planning to open off with excuses. another in Brighton this summer. Do offer customers all Founder and general manager Steven Lowy launched the company also at the available channels to budget end of the market after an eye-opening backpacking trip: I noticed that contact you telephone, mobile, e-mail and backpacker hostels in Vietnam charging 50p a night offered better customer internet. service than many London hotels. Do aim to build loyalty by creating a closer Umi aims to offer five-star service in a three-star hotel and, after just a year in relationship dont try to business, Lowy is already reaping the rewards of its high service standards in buy it through terms of customer loyalty. giveaways. We make a point of remembering details such as what a guest likes to drink, so Do remember its much after five visits a chilled bottle will be waiting for them in their room, says Lowy. more cost effective to retain a happy customer This individual approach is obviously working to inspire loyalty: In its old guise as The Westminster this hotel had just three regular guests. We now have a pool than acquire a new one. Don't make promises of 35, he says. you cant keep. Its In consumer markets loyalty mechanisms such as points cards can help ensure customers stay faithful to a brand. In a B2B context, such simple mechanics are impossible to devote the same resources to all frowned upon in favour of the personal touch. In B2B markets more than customers. Some are anywhere else, people buy people, says Chris Hare, client service director of more important than B2B marketing agency Gyro International. others and worth a Customers have a lot of factors shaping their decisions they will constantly be greater investment. Don't assume everyone reviewing prices and loyalty comes from the account manager who picks up the telephone understands their issues and resolves them quickly. when they want to talk to A company that has built its reputation, and considerable market loyalty, on you look to the web. excellent B2B service is Star Technology. This internet service provider focuses Don't expect technology on the SME market and has won numerous awards for the service it offers to to answer all your 3,800 businesses nationwide. customer service issues. Technology can help to Kevin Wright, customer service manager for London, explains how he keeps build closer relationships, services up to scratch: First, we are local, with regional offices serving local but it is better to focus customers. Second, we have face-to-face meetings with our top-line customers on customer needs at least quarterly to devise a support plan for them. Finally, every customer is rather than technical given an escalation document with the mobile numbers of the regional and capability. operations directors so that they know how to promote an issue until it is Don't assume that all solved. feedback from customers is genuine Perhaps the policy of distributing the mobile numbers of senior managers to not all complaints make it customers is just whats needed to ensure excellent customer service across all through your feedback businesses. loop and you may have to go to the customer to Case study: Betting on data for better customer service get a true impression of your service. Gathering customer information was never the issue for online betting service Betfair the challenge was making sense of the information collected

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How to pamper your customers - The Marketer magazine

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/how-to/how-to-pamper-your-cu...

We had customers opening different accounts to bet on different sporting events. It was hard to tell if these were the same customer at different life stages or different customers altogether, says Martin Ruddy, previously head of data and planning at Betfair and currently an independent consultant for the company. This situation was confusing for both the business and the punters, who might be contacted by the company many times in one week. To build a single customer view (SCV), Betfair turned to data specialists CDMS to help clean up its database. Records were cross-referenced and duplicates removed so that customers could enjoy the benefits of personalised communications, such as reports on betting patterns in specific sports. Triggers were also monitored to spot situations where a customer needed help: If someone signs up and doesnt bet or suddenly stops betting, we send an e-mail to find out why and offer help, says Ruddy. Better data means a clearer picture of the customer and the ability to predict their needs: Now we can build propensity models that allow us to upsell and cross-sell new services based on preferences those customers show. As Betfair refines its SCV it is building closer customer relationships. We are now putting customers into five or six segments, says Ruddy, but we hope to increase that to five or six hundred segments. Patrick Dye is a freelance journalist and former editor of Mad.co.uk

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