Customer experience: yourdefence against financialpressures

In today’s challenging economic environment, themost valuable resource is a happy customer base. Toget and keep that resource, businesses must createa fulfilling customer experience.

Enhancing the customer experiencethat your organisation offers mightnot seem an obvious priority,especially in an uncertain economicenvironment. However at this time,more than ever, organisations shouldbe focusing on getting the experiencethey provide to their customersabsolutely right.

Most organisations have alreadymounted initiatives aimed atimproving customer satisfaction, andbelieve that they have achieved anacceptable level. But now thatcustomers are becoming morecost-conscious and competition is

increasing, are you satisfied that yourorganisation is doing all it can toensure a continued share of walletwhile keeping costs under control?

Capgemini Consulting believes thatfocusing on the customer experienceprovides an organisation with aunique opportunity to target bothtop-line growth and bottom-line costreductions. Using our approach,organisations attract and retaincustomers whilst also cutting wastagein the customer management valuechain.

the way we do itCapgemini Consulting

Moving the goal posts

In an increasingly commoditisedenvironment, companies need to finda way to stand out from the crowd.While there are many ways todifferentiate an organisation from itspeers, a unique customer experienceis one of the few ways to foster aneverlasting feeling about a particularorganisation. Another advantage ofproviding a truly differentiatedcustomer experience is that it cannotbe easily replicated by thecompetition.

Consider BMW. This companydistinguishes itself in the luxuryautomobile market by not just sellinga vehicle, but by selling an experienceassociated with buying and drivingone of its cars. BMW advertisementsoften appeal to the ‘emotion’ ofdriving. Dealers have been known tomaintain contact with buyers in therun-up to vehicle delivery, buildingup the customer’s anticipation of theday they become a BMW driver.

Post-sales service is also a pleasurableexercise. Most BMW showroom andservice centres provide customerswith free Internet access, a bar andvideo games where customerscan race each other while they waitfor an oil top-up. With touches likethese, BMW has succeeded in movingthe goal posts for other upmarketautomobile manufacturers.

A good customer experience helpsreduce the cost of ‘churn’ and therelatively high cost of sale associatedwith customer acquisition. This isparticularly true for businesses thathave contracts that they wish theircustomers to renew on a regular basis.

Cut the cost, not the service

Developing a customer experiencestrategy can help businesses tounderstand what its customersconsider as value, and identifyopportunities to save money byeliminating waste – that is, costswhich don’t contribute to customerrepurchase. An example might be thepractice of putting chocolateson hotel pillows, which costs anaverage hotel £50,000 per annum. Ifinvestigation shows that thechocolates do not affect the guests’decision to return to the hotel, thenall this expense could be eliminated.

Providing a valued customerexperience does not have to beexpensive. Low cost airlines arehaving much success, not by offeringcomplimentary gourmet coffee orfirst class seats, but by delivering anexpected experience to customers atthe right price. Simple changes to thecustomer value chain at the rightplace at the right time can provide anexperience that customers talk about,and more importantly return toexperience again and again.

Dare to be different

The first step towards defining acustomer experience is to decidewhat you want to be known for.Successful companies dare to bedifferent from their market peers bycoming up with a unique offering.Where could your organisation bedifferent? We have a model that willhelp you make the right decision.

Once a business has agreed on how itwants to differentiate itself, it needsto achieve consistency in every aspectof customer experience if it is tocommunicate that differentiation. Acustomer dealing with a business mayquickly disregard a good customerexperience as a ‘random’ event, orattribute it to a ‘nice’ individual. It isonly when they have had repeated andconsistent positive experiences thatthe customer begins to associate thehigh-quality experience with thebusiness. This consistency will thenlead to brand trust and further sales.

For an organisation to deliver aconsistent customer experience, itmust establish a customerexperience vision that is understoodacross the organisation, and rewardits employees for delivering thatexperience. But how does one definean experience that is relevant – thatis to say one that customers willvalue?

Defining a relevant experience

With our robust, logic-basedprocesses and toolsets, CapgeminiConsulting helps clients implementchange quickly and safely. Typically,we deliver short projects to get ourclients started on the CustomerExperience Transformation journey,while equipping the client’s own teamwith the tools and training they needto continue the journey.

Capgemini Consulting has developeda six-step approach for helpingclients deliver an experience that isrelevant to the customer. Ourapproach is all about understandingwhat customers ideally want andcurrently get, identifying theorganisation’s optimum marketpositioning, and then finding ways toalign the two. Our team helpsorganisations to understand theircustomers from the customers’ ownperspective. Many organisationsbelieve that they know what theircustomers value; however, their viewis usually based on the opinion of thesales force or the productengineering team and may not be insync with that of the customer.

For example, a phone companyresponded to customer complaintsabout complicated bills byredesigning the layout of the bill andexpanding online help.However, after analysing the problemfrom a customer’s perspective, itbecame apparent that customers werehaving trouble understanding thecomplicated pricing policy, and notthe format of the bill.

While analysis of typical customerscenarios provides insights that helpto improve customer experience,businesses should not ignoreextreme or exceptional customerexperiences. An example might betheir treatment of a customer whooverlooks a bill, as opposed to beingunable to pay it. Inappropriateexperiences at times like these can

result in lost customers or costlyrework.

Focus groups, labs and customersatisfaction surveys rarelyprovide the complete insight oneneeds; one needs to observecustomers in the ‘jungle’ – that is, intheir own environment: at work, athome, in the pub and so on. Forexample, consider the airlineindustry. How many airlinesemployees really know what it is liketo be an economy class customer?They can find out by conductingmystery shopping, with bothcompetitive airlines and their owncompany.

One customer-centric organisation,Four Seasons Hotels, provides a‘familiarisation stay’ as part of itsemployee orientation programme.Every employee is given a free night'sstay for themselves and a guest, alongwith free dining. While there,employees are asked to grade thehotels on such measures as thenumber of times the phone ringswhen calling room service, and howlong it takes to get room serviceorders to the room. Practices likethese help employees understandwhat it feels like to be in thecustomer’s shoes.

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Collaborate with us

Customer ExperienceTransformation is about spendingyour money cleverly, investingin what customers value andeliminating what they don’t. In anaverage of 12 weeks, we can help youto understand what it is that yourparticular customers value and tofind ways to deliver the experiencethey want.

To show how the CapgeminiConsulting approach can add valueto your business, we would like tooffer you a half-hour taster sessionwhere we come with you into your‘jungle’ to help you experience whatyour customers experience. Do youdare to accept the Capgeminichallenge?

Customer Experience online

Why not go to the CustomerExperience website and take part inour online discussion forum, viewexpert opinion on the challenges ofthe customer experience, and to seehow global organisations, such asOrange, have worked with CapgeminiConsulting to define their owncustomer experiences.

www.uk.capgemini.com/customer-experience

Patrick JamesVice PresidentGlobal Marketing, Sales and ServiceCapgemini ConsultingE: Patrick.James@capgemini.comT: 0870 366 0262

Gaye AndrewsHead of Customer Experience UKMarketing, Sales and ServiceCapgemini ConsultingE: Gaye.Andrews@capgemini.comT: 0870 195 1093

© 2008 Capgemini. No part of this document may be modified, deleted or expanded by any processor means without prior written permission from Capgemini

Capgemini, one of the world’s foremostproviders of consulting, technology andoutsourcing services, enables its clientsto transform and perform throughtechnologies. Capgemini provides itsclients with insights and capabilities thatboost their freedom to achieve superiorresults through a unique way of working—the Collaborative BusinessExperience®. Present in 36countries,Capgemini reported 2007global revenues of EUR 8.7 billion andemploys over 83,000 people worldwide.

Capgemini Consulting is the Strategy andManagement Consulting division of theCapgemini Group, employing 5,000consultants worldwide. Leveraging itsdeep sectorial and business expertise,Capgemini Consulting advises andsupports organisations in transformingtheir business, from strategy through toexecution. Capgemini Consultingdelivers successful outcomes by workingside by side with clients to identify thebest solutions to critical businesschallenges.

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Our unique ‘outside-in’ approach

Current investments in IT-led CRMprojects have helped organisationsimprove their interface with theircustomers, yet their customersatisfaction levels tend to remain atmediocre levels. Why is this? Part ofthe problem is the perennialdifficulty of ‘seeing ourselves asothers see us’.When an employeereceives a customer complaint, basichuman nature will drive thatemployee to excuse it as a ‘blip’.Hence there is a need to get an‘outside-in’ view from an impartialadvisor who can adopt the customer’sperspective.

Capgemini can provide a team to helpyou identify what engages customersand what puts them off. Ourknowledgeable and experiencedpeople equip client staff with tools,training and knowhow, so that theyquickly become self-sufficient inoptimising the customer experiencefor themselves.