Case
BRINGING BRAND VALUES TO LIFE FOR A DIFFERENTIATED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Create customer loyalty to your brand by mobilizing your workforce to deliver a branded customer experience in
every customer interaction
The power of a branded and differentiated
customer experience
A call center for a large Dutch bank had been floundering in their performance for more than a year. It gave them pause to think about what they could do to break through to a new level. It was the peak of the financial cri-sis: satisfaction was down, sales were declining and customers were very skeptical of all banks. Driving a turnaround in this envi-ronment would be a challenge but it was nonetheless necessary to take action before it was too late. EarlyBridge facilitated the man-
agement team in gaining insight
into the strategy and positioning
of their channel for the bank.
The bank wanted the channel to sell, sell, sell. Customers were demonstrating that they were calling for service and were in-terested in buying as part of the overall solution to their problem – but not as the focus of their call. There was a mismatch in how the channel was positioned and how customers used the channel. The vision and strategy was adjusted to account for this shift in thinking and a program for differentiated customer ex-perience was born. Differentiated customer experi-ence put the customer at the cen-ter of the business allowing the organization to think and act in the customers’ best interests.
Impact
Customer satisfaction was 15% higher in the pilot group compared to the test group
Employee engagement was 56% higher in the pilot group compared to their colleagues in
the same business line
Sales conversion for the pilot teams was above the average for the rest of the business line
study Turning
Thought Into Action
Critical Success Factors
Five building blocks
customized to the
business and the ob-
jectives
Making the challenge
small for the organi-
zation
Turning the existing
management meeting
structure into an
opportunity to put
the customer at the
center of the busi-
ness and focus on the
differentiated cus-
tomer experience
Internal customer
experience coaches
who learned how to
use the five building
blocks to continually
stimulate new cus-
tomer focused behav-
iours in the organiza-
tion
“Customers asked ´what’s happening over there!´”
Agents understanding of their role and their confidence
in delivering the right customer experience improved
5 building blocks The program was designed using Ear-lyBridge’s customer engagement model. This model uses five building blocks to define and deliver the right customer experience:
Brand values
Customer profiles in the form of persona’s identified by the group themselves
Moments of truth based on known customer needs
Channel characteristics
Customer context
A differentiated experience The building blocks were customized to deliver on the desired branded experi-ence for the customer contact center using the brand values as the umbrella. The call center agents were trained in the five building blocks and the effort was translated into a practical ap-proach using three phases of the con-tact in relationship to the customer experience:
Create space in the customer inter-action
Recognize that the customer is open for a broader conversation
Take the opportunity to advise the customer on their banking needs in the form of new products/services, extra service or simply reinforcing that they are a valued customer
EarlyBridge helped team managers focus on making a difference by be-ing vigilant in the small things that make a big impact for customers:
Positive language, speaking in pos-sibilities for the customer
Understanding the customer need behind the service question
Applying their knowledge filter for the benefit of the customer
Management focus on the cus-tomer
Alongside the transformation of the call center agents and their approach to managing their customer interac-tions as experiences, the managers were turning their regular team meetings into opportunities to focus on the customer. Next to their nor-mal management activities, team managers would coach agents and would use their team meetings to focus the discussion on the moments of truth for customers
Impact
Call center agents reported that their customer interactions took on a more positive character. Customers were asking what they were doing differ-ently. Customer satisfaction im-proved and sales conversion re-mained above the average for the line.
Employee engagement soared thanks to involving the agents in the build-ing blocks and returning the focus of their work to the customers and their needs. A differentiated customer ex-perience delivered the breakthrough they were looking for.
EarlyBridge BV
Herengracht 518
1017 CC AMSTERDAM
The Netherlands
31 (0) 20 715 5918
[email protected] www.earlybridge.com
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