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Thursday, September 03, 2009

Is self-service better, or just cheaper?

There's a terrific article at the BAI Banking Strategies website about the dangers of using self-service technology only to reduce costs, without any benefits to customers.

The Conundrum of Self-Service: Cost Savings or Customer Service? by Nicole Sturgill.

You don't have to trade off improved experience for improved cost -- the best self-serve deployments achieve both. Ms. Sturgill provides one example I really liked for this -- Dexia Bank based in Brussels. They created a self-service zone for cash transactions, and then removed the barrier that the wickets had set up between customers and staff. This is the kind of reciprocity that is very appealing to customers.

As Ms. Sturgill says,

The bank must be asking, “Is this faster for customers?” rather than “How much money can I save?” Another useful question: “Is this easy for customers to figure out?” rather than, “How much can I reduce staff?” While those latter benefits will exist, deploying from a perspective of saving money and reducing staff will look like exactly that and customers will be able to spot it easily.

When scoping out new systems and approaches, you need to set up design criteria that make sense for the customers and the company. Company criteria may relate to efficiency, quality, reduced staff, etc. Customer criteria need to include a requirement that the experience be at least as good, and preferably better. It could be better by reducing an irritant of some kind, for example. Or better because it's faster, more convenient, easier, 

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Posted by Susan Abbott on Thursday, September 03, 2009 at 02:10 PM in Customer Experience | Permalink

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Is self-service better, or just cheaper?

There's a terrific article at the BAI Banking Strategies website about the dangers of using self-service technology only to reduce costs, without any benefits to customers.

The Conundrum of Self-Service: Cost Savings or Customer Service? by Nicole Sturgill.

You don't have to trade off improved experience for improved cost -- the best self-serve deployments achieve both. Ms. Sturgill provides one example I really liked for this -- Dexia Bank based in Brussels. They created a self-service zone for cash transactions, and then removed the barrier that the wickets had set up between customers and staff. This is the kind of reciprocity that is very appealing to customers.

As Ms. Sturgill says,

The bank must be asking, “Is this faster for customers?” rather than “How much money can I save?” Another useful question: “Is this easy for customers to figure out?” rather than, “How much can I reduce staff?” While those latter benefits will exist, deploying from a perspective of saving money and reducing staff will look like exactly that and customers will be able to spot it easily.

When scoping out new systems and approaches, you need to set up design criteria that make sense for the customers and the company. Company criteria may relate to efficiency, quality, reduced staff, etc. Customer criteria need to include a requirement that the experience be at least as good, and preferably better. It could be better by reducing an irritant of some kind, for example. Or better because it's faster, more convenient, easier, 

I wrote my own post about this a while ago. I get better service from low cost airlines because

a) it's cheaper
b) I get to choose my meal from a menu
c) I get to choose my movies on portable pay per view TV screens (www.virginblue.com.au)

So I pay less and get to buy exactly the bits I want.

Paradoxically, some low cost airlines know if they also provide better face to face service (free) then they are on a winner.

My audio post on the matter is here http://servingmatters.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-low-cost-airlines-give-better.html

Branding Today: Why It's Ineffective, Irrelevant, Irritating, and Impotent

By Augustine Fou , July 31, 2009

Why do advertisers still do "branding"? Probably because they're trying to drive sales. But many advertisers don't realize that branding as it is done today is irrelevant, ineffective, irritating, and impotent.

It's not their fault, really. They've been led astray by agencies practicing the false religion of branding. Paraphrasing Lucas Conley, author of "Obsessive Branding Disorder:" "Branding is a quick, easy alternative to true innovation, offering the satisfaction of a sense of change without the real, hard work. In the blind pursuit of this escapist religion, their frenzied efforts -- perfecting names, wordsmithing brand essences, debating 'robin's eggshell blue' as brand color -- almost feel like genuine work."

But branding today involves advertisers shouting our carefully crafted brand messages at target consumers, beating them over the head with every opportunity we get.

A Brand Used to Be a Symbol Burned Onto a Cow's Butt

A brand on a cow's rear end identified the ranch where the cow was raised. Because that ranch had a long-standing reputation of raising healthy cows, the brand was its symbol of quality. The buyer could rest assured he was buying healthy cows once he saw that brand. It simplified purchase decisions. But once the "-ing" was added to the word "brand," and agencies started to ply the black art of "branding," a brand was no longer the symbol of quality and reputation earned over time. Instead it was something that was just made up by ad agency creatives "applying ingenuity to the disingenuous," Conley points out.

Advertisers spend enormous amounts of money making up what they want consumers to think or believe about them and even more money on blasting the message out through paid media (TV, print, radio, banner ads). Excruciating attention is paid to which shade of pink best represents the brand. But, honestly, few consumers can tell what the official brand color of Victoria's Secret is. Even fewer care. The exact shade of red in Circuit City's brand color scheme has little bearing on my willingness to shop there; the more modern-looking yellow-on-blue tag in Best Buy's logo never got me to actually buy something from that store. In place of genuine innovation, good money and time are squandered on perfectly describing how the consumer should think, smell, taste, hear, touch, or feel about the brand. But these made-up dimensions are hardly ever effective in simplifying a potential customer's purchase decision, like a true brand used to do. Modern consumers need more information than can be delivered in the 30-second feel-good TV ad or the beautifully photographed (and Photoshopped) print ad.

A Brand Is No Longer What the Advertiser Says It Is

A brand is now what consumers think it is and tell others it is.

"Digital" broke everything. The house of cards that is modern-day branding can no longer stand in an environment where consumers can talk to each other and their conversations are spread far and wide and are even archived and available to inform future users. Consumers can review and rate products and give each other feedback and recommendations. A brand shouting its message is no longer the only source of information; consumers have many other sources of trust and objective opinions.

Even if a brand claims it has great customer service, how consumers actually perceive the brand and how they describe it to others has far greater weight in the minds of future consumers. Further, digital channels break through information and geographic boundaries. Consumers can now compare features and prices of dozens of similar products -- e.g. digital cameras -- rather than rely on the measly in-store selection and the limited information on tech spec cards. Consumers can also now buy products that better suit their needs, even if those products aren't available in their local stores. Branding claims are irrelevant. Consumers are empowered now and will speak up.

Nowhere is the new level playing field more painfully apparent than in the movie business, where examples abound like an extremely low-budget movie. "Blair Witch" (No. 210; $6 million budget for production and advertising) outranks a super high-budget movie, "Matrix Revolutions" (No. 217; $160 million budget for production and advertising) in gross sales on the All Time USA Box Office List, according to IMDB.com. Despite millions of dollars of new beer advertising, some big beer brands reportedly suffered a double-digit drop in sales over during the July 4th holiday period compared to a year ago; perhaps the product does not have as much "drinkability" as its glossy ads claim.

Big Don't Need Branding; Small Brands Don't Need Branding

Big brands and small brands both need sales. Big brands like American Express don't need more branding. American Express already has 100 percent unaided recall. What it really needs is more people signing up for credit cards. The brand campaign of comedian Jerry Seinfeld speaking with Superman certainly was delightful, but did it accomplish the goal?

Small brands don't need branding either. They especially need sales. Sweetriot, a brilliant 3-year-old startup on a mission, has not done any branding. Yet its chocolate sells for more per ounce than Valrhona or Ghirardelli. In the same vein, Apple never said in its ads that it was about beautifully designed products that are easy to use; but its products were and have consistently delivered on this promise. Google never said it was about efficient, accurate, and clutter-free search; but it was and still is. Zappos never said it was about great customer service, but it was, so its satisfied customers told others that it stood for great customer service.

The true brands never do branding; they never make it up or even say it. Instead the brand is earned as great products and services substantiate and deliver on the brand's promise continuously. In this way, a reputation is earned over time and the brand is a symbol of this reputation, which helps new customers simplify their purchase decision. Fake brands, on the other hand, are the ones that make up what they think customers should think or feel about them; typically, they shout the loudest at consumers. Modern consumers have enough information overload during the day that they are irritated by advertisers finding crafty new ways to shout at them everywhere they turn -- e.g. "on urinals, golf holes, beach sand," writes Conley.

What to Do if You Can't Do "Old" Branding Any More

Branding that involves made-up claims and fanciful brand smells, colors, or auras has been rendered completely impotent by the habits and expectations of modern consumers. What should an advertiser do in this Darwinian new world of empowered consumers? First, make a kick-ass product. Second, make a kick-ass product. Third, repeat one and two -- remembering that the "kick-assed-ness" of your product evolves over time and you need to continue to innovate to stay ahead of very capable fast-followers (i.e. copycats). But how do you make an awesome product and do so continuously? You listen to your customers and then listen some more. And then you change internal business processes so that the insights gained from this listening can be quickly turned into new product features, value-added services, and more.

We are talking about real product innovation here -- "true innovation" as Conley calls it. It is hard work. But digital also provides the tools and venues where feedback from customers is readily and continuously available. Advertisers can review user feedback, comments, and archived suggestions. Instead of branding, practice brand stewardship. Brand stewardship is constantly being aware of what your customers think of your product and what they need. With this knowledge, advertisers are empowered to innovate their products and services to substantiate their promise to customers and earn a reputation over time -- i.e. the brand. Good brand stewardship is not branding.

A true brand exerts brand gravity. What is brand gravity? It is the accumulated reputation that attracts new customers to buy and keeps current customers in orbit. The new branding is true and rapid. It calls for continuous innovation, informed by real-time consumer feedback that leads to consistent delivery of stellar products and an earned brand reputation is earned. That is why branding (as we do it today -- shouting made-up messages) is ineffective, irrelevant, irritating, and impotent. There is a correct way to do "brand-ing" nowof excellence.

A great article that confirms the view that Brands are not what YOU say they are, but what other people say it is.

The folks at Gallup have provided an interesting profile of an engaged customer.

How many of your customers have a strong emotional attachment to your product?

Can your customers envisage a life without you or your product?

Brad Issaac recently suggested 10 ways to stay positive. But many of these apply equally to customer service interactions. I've added my own customer service spin beside each point.

Brad suggests

1) Speak in the positive - more so, end in the positive - e.g."that is not possible although we can ..."

2) Rethink obstacles - especially system obstacles

3) Avoid Ultimatums - so avoid saying "if you don't cooperate, we will have to cut off your service"

4) Force yourself to smile or laugh - don't be disingenuous, but don't frown back.

5) Remember the things you're good at - especially when your confidence is rocked.

6) Reach out to others - get someone's help

7) Sleep on it - not always possible, but take a time out. Put the phone on hold, or walk to the store room - then return.

8) Start more sentences with "I can" - back to being positive.

9) Reduce your stress levels - don't get caught up in an argument. You always lose.

10) Figure out how problems will pan out in the long run - for the customer and the store/brand relationship. Every person has a massive impact.

Telephone directory

 

1800 prefixed numbers are FREECALL in Australia. 13 prefixed numbers are the cost of a local telephone call in Australia.

Personal enquiries:

Telephone Banking (including registrations for Telephone Banking and Westpac Online)	132 032
Telephone Banking from overseas	Dial the international access code then (+61 2) 9293 9270
Westpac Broking	131 331
Home loan enquiries (new & refinancing)	1300 130 961
Home loan enquiries (existing loans & enquiries)	132 558
Home loan enquiries (settlement bookings)	1300 367 449
Personal loan enquiries	132 651
Westpac Online ( for advice on technical issues)	1300 655 505 (8am - 8pm Mon - Fri and 9am - 5.30pm Sat AEST)
Westpac Online from overseas	Dial the international access code then (+61 8) 8424 8490 (8am - 8pm Mon - Fri and 9am - 5.30pm Sat AEST)
Cardholder enquiries	1300 651 089
Gold Card enquiries	1300 367 228
GM Holden Card enquiries	131 200
Lost and stolen cards (calling from within Australia)	1300 651 089
Lost and stolen cards (calling from overseas)	Call the operator in your current locality and book a reverse charge call to Australia (+61 2) 9374 7082
Personal account enquiries	132 032
Investment & superannuation enquiries	1300 130 272
Life and income insurance enquiries	1300 130 272
Home & contents insurance enquiries	1300 650 255
Car insurance enquiries	1800 805 458
International Services	(+61) 1800 632 308 or 131 032 Moving to Australia?

Business enquiries:

Business account enquiries	132 142
Business Direct	132 772
Equipment Finance	1300 360 322
BusinessChoice Card (application enquiries)	132 772
BusinessChoice Card (all other enquiries)	1300 650 107
Business Online (for advice on technical issues or for assistance registering for Business Online)	1300 655 505 (8am - 8pm Mon - Fri and 9am - 5.30pm Sat AEST)
Business Online from overseas	Dial the international access code then (+61 8) 8424 8490 (8am - 8pm Mon - Fri and 9am - 5.30pm Sat AEST)
Corporate and Purchasing Card enquiries	1300 650 107
Lost and stolen cards (calling from overseas)	(+61 2) 9374 7082
Business Telephone Banking	132 142
Card Acceptance Solutions	1800 029 749
Investment/ Superannuation & Insurance Hotline	1300 130 272
Financial Advice Information	132 772
International Advisory Centre	1300 656 251
Agribusiness	Access your state representative
Women in Business	Access your state representative

Corporate enquiries:

Corporate Online Help Desk Corporate Online technical assistance	1300 134 291 (5am - 7pm Mon - Fri AEST)
Corporate Online from overseas	Dial the international access code then (+612) 9374 7237 (5am - 7pm Mon - Fri AEST)
All other corporate enquiries	Contact your relationship manager

Careers enquiries:

Careers@Westpac Support All careers enquiries

1300 130 548

It is one thing to talk about delivering wonderful customer service, it is another thing altogether to implement wonderful customer service.

Service should be simply but it is so overly complicated. Why should a customer have to navigate 40 phone numbers to call a bank? Service is simple, are you simple to deal with?