Net Promoter Community

What to do when Customer Loyalty becomes business as usual

A lot of companies start measuring customer loyalty by adding the ulimate question to their customer satifaction survey. When they notice that this metric is indeed a much better metric they often start redesigning their survey. Next to that we all learned that the closed loop to the customer is one of the most important thing. How could this be done when we only measure once a year? Dr. Kit Skov Hagemann of Experian leads us to the process they went through to re-energise their Net Promoter Programme.

They did the Net Promoter 360 view assement with Satmetrix, with the following outcome:

• Restructure the loyalty programme
• Re-engineer the survey & scope
• Re-invigorate the loyalty buzz

They started immediately with in-depth investigation by using touch-point mapping. With the outcome that the support desk needed to be re-organised. They increased the frontline engagment through CRM and personalised their organisational communication.

The key learnings which can be extracted from their case are:

• Get your frontline people engaged
• Ensure people skills match development stage
• Do not over engineer, keep it stupid simple (KISS) and make it practical

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Metro Bank is the first new high street/retail bank to open in the UK in the last 150 years. And what a refreshing change to see that they are building on a foundation that is as different as chalk from cheese, when compared to most of their competition.

Anthony Thomson, Co-Founder and Chairman of the bank and also Chairman of the Financial Services Forum, gave a great presentation on how they have launched operations with the customer experience firmly at the heart of their business strategy.

For most companies, Net Promoter and the focus on customer experience is usually a discipline and strategy that is almost "reversed-engineered" into the organisation, sometimes many years after the company has been in operation. It is fascinating to see a company who is starting with NPS at the very foundation of their business. Will this approach pay-off?

To date, it certainly seems to be reaping dividends for Metro Bank. There's been a lot of press coverage of their innovative approach to how they treat the customer. And from today's session description alone, it is clear that Anthony does not hold with the more traditional concept of "the bank is always right and customers should be grateful that we bother with them."

Metro Bank has garnered a Net Promoter Score of 84% from their customers. That is higher than the score achieved by First Direct in Satmetrix' recent release of UK Consumer benchmarks for Banking. (Metro Bank were not covered this year but I expect them to be joining the benchmark in 2012.) And this customer advocacy is driven by their focus on employees. They have a unique culture that reinforces their central tenets of belief. To get the right employees they:

• Find people with passion and a mindset for service delivery
• Train and empower them
• Reward and recognise the right behaviours

And use the Net Promoter discipline to measure what matters.

Come on, it's time to join the revolution.

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Oliver Rack, VP World Service at American Express has a great, easy to listen to, presentation style. And the subject of his presentation was also great - the focus on becoming the world's most respected service brand.

American Express has been in operation for 160 years in operation. Service has always been central to the strategy. The three pillars of their ongoing strategy are:

• Drive growth
• Drive efficiency
• Drive superior service

To help target their focus, they have looked at the best service providers in other industries such as:

• Sony
• Apple
• Costco
• First Direct
• Singapore airlines

Customers are more mature and have more demands. There is a lot more to consider:

• Expectations are informed by broadening service experiences across industries
• Impact of social media
• Want it now demand
• Multiple touchpoints
  Increased regulatory scrutiny

Customer care principles are at the heart of American Express' Relationship Care. It's about a human and holistic mindset based on extraordinary customer care and depending relationships that form a competitive advantage.

Key to this strategy is the empowerment of the American Express customer care professionals who are managing the relationships with Card Members. Empower them to achieve first time resolution. Remove scripted responses. Underatnd the differences between transactions and relationship care.

When hiring for these roles, Oliver highlights that they are not so interested in those who have call centre experience - unless they also have the passion for the customer. Understand that the card member is a human being and should be treated with empathy. The key foundation for getting the right staff and developing them properly?

• Hire for passion, teach the skill
• Act with humanity
• Create a culture of passion and pride
• Empower your employees

it comes back to the same ideas that Rob Markey raised. How can we have an army of customer promoters if we don't have an army of employee promoters? American Express have this and understand the reason for it.

One very interesting comment that came from the floor: Did it cost a lot to change the call centre?

Oliver gave a great answer. Change had to be made. Investment does need to be made initially so there is an uplift in costs at that point. But as your employees get into their stride, and you focus on resolution not call handling times, efficiency improves and your overall costs reduce. Job done!

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A tous les participants francophones de cet évènement, je souhaite la bienvenue!

Comme l’a si bien indiqué ma collègue Maya-Coralie sur un post précédent, il est vrai, qu’à ce jour, le Net Promoter n’en est pas encore au même niveau de maturité chez les francophones (ou les pays latins, plus généralement) que dans les pays anglo-saxons en particulier. Ceci ne doit pas être considéré comme une faiblesse, mais bien au contraire comme une réelle opportunité pour les entreprises n’ayant pas encore entrepris cette démarche.

En effet, le recul permet de vraiment capitaliser sur les meilleures pratiques déjà mises en œuvre et éprouvées au sein d’autres organisations. Aucun besoin de réinventer le fil à couper le beurre! D’autres s’y sont essayés et sont, pour nombre d’entre eux, prêts à partager sur leur expérience. C’est aussi tout l’intérêt de cette nouvelle édition de la conférence annuelle européenne Net Promoter : Ecouter, Apprendre, Echanger pour en repartir avec de nouvelles idées, de nouvelles pistes à explorer et une nouvelle dynamique dans le développement de ses propres programmes clients.

Le fil rouge de cette conférence parle de lui-même : Innovation, Action et Résultats: Tout un programme me direz-vous? Mais ô combien nécessaire en ces temps de digestion de crise : Le moment idéal pour remettre à plat ses propres processus internes et enfin placer le client au centre de toute la stratégie d’entreprise. Cette fois ne soyons pas trop chauvins et regardons en face ce qui fait la force des entreprises étrangères, qu’elles soient basées outre Manche ou outre Atlantique : Toutes ont en commun une réelle centricité client exacerbée par une méthode d’écoute à la source même de leur politique d’innovation. Et c’est dans ce contexte que la discipline associée au Net Promoter Score prend toute sa force et sa pertinence: Fournir les bases décisionnelles nécessaires pour inclure la voix du client dans ses propres choix stratégiques. Et pour, en final, en tirer naturellement tous les bénéfices.

Gageons que les nombreux témoignages proposés au cours de cette conférence ne feront qu’illustrer ce type de démarche. Et que vous en repartirez encore mieux armés pour offrir à votre entreprise les moyens de ses ambitions.Je serai également présent lors de ces deux jours, donc n’hésitez pas à venir échanger et partager sur vos propres points de vue ou questions.

A la semaine prochaine!

Alexandre Walker

Directeur Général France - Satmetrix