Author: Mark Atterby

The creation of smart places has become an indispensable feature of the customer experience. For some time, hotels, airports, stores, entertainment venues and other location based brands have utilised mobile and digital technology to measure and analyse the traffic patterns of people. IoT (Internet of Things) is expected to accelerate the growth and evolution of these smart places. Findings from a recent survey by Altimeter suggest that smart places offer an opportunity for legacy brands with extensive physical outlets. That opportunity lies in the delivery of omni-channel customer experiences that online only brands can’t deliver. E-commerce has largely replaced products…

At the heart of the customer experience is the concept that people no longer buy products or services. They are, in fact, looking for outcomes and experiences. The brands they are loyal to consistently provide them with the outcomes they desire. It’s something that digital natives such as AirBnB and Netflix understand. It’s something, however, that many organisations are struggling to come to terms with. The experience economy has taken over from the service economy. In 1998 the Harvard Business Review explained that in the experience economy, “a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and goods as props, to…

In the past good security practices were low on an organisation’s list of priorities. Recent scandals and revelations concerning cyber-crime have made data security and privacy a top priority for governments and industry regulators. Companies that are slack with data security now face significant risks and repercussions. However, the opportunity also exists to turn data security into a competitive advantage. It’s been reported that cyber-crime is costing Australians over $1 billion a year. In the last year nearly 700 million people in 21 countries experienced some form of cyber-crime. Tony Smales, CEO of Forticode, highlights, “cyber-crime is fed by data…

There is often a large gap between what company executives believe the custom experience to be and what customers actually perceive it to be. There is always going to be some gap in perception. But for many organisations there is clearly a chasm between perception and reality. According to the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, only 24% of Australian consumers believe organisations have been improving their level of customer service compared to 38% who believe that companies are spending less effort on providing better service. Australians are amongst the unhappiest customers in the world, convinced that businesses do not…

Most companies are struggling to see viable uses of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) within their business. According to new research from Prophet, VR and AR can pose more questions than answers. What are the advantages of VR and AR? How can they be incorporated into a company’s business strategy? Which technology should companies invest in? In March we examined how immersive technologies can impact the customer experience and the type of opportunities it can present. A wide range of organisations in a variety of industries has been trialing AR applications. According to Rupert Deans, AR enables a…

Do your customer journey maps truly represent your customer’s experience or your own assumptions on what your customer’s experience? For journey maps to be effective, brands need to deploy in depth qualitative techniques that offer true insight into the customer’s experience. Customer journey mapping has become a critical component in redesigning the customer experience. Yet, many organisations still base their maps around internal assumptions and what they believe the customer journey should be, rather than mapping the journey from the customer’s perspective. Customer Journey mapping refers to a range of techniques that aim to connect every aspect of a business…

Recognising the need to provide more effective service to their members and customers, UniSuper has appointed Brendan Donoghue to head of customer experience. UniSuper is a $66 billion super fund for the higher education and research sector. Brendan’s appointment aims to strengthen UniSuper’s Member and Employer Experience division and help drive innovation throughout the organisation. The appointment recognises the need for superannuation providers to become more proactive and innovative in the way they address the needs of their members and university partners. Chief customer officer Lee Scales, comments, “We’re pleased to welcome Brendan to the team. His passion and expertise…

Social media has played a pivotal role in shaping and redefining the customer experience. We’re all familiar with the mainstream juggernauts of Facebook and Twitter, but there’s a vast array of niche social media outlets catering to the unique interests of particular customers. And more are regularly popping up. Social media has given customers greater power by providing them a forum to share their experiences. In return, brands have used it to understand more about their customers, thereby building better engagement, loyalty and brand awareness. This entails, however, a very different strategy when marketing and communicating with customers. Delivering generic…

In the coming days, the GDPR comes into effect in Europe. Worldwide it represents a significant recognition of the issues surrounding data security and its impact on the customer experience. On one hand, customers want to know that their data is secure. On the other hand, they want personalised services tailored to their individual needs and expectations. To provide highly personalised service, brands must have a greater understanding of their customers’ needs, purchasing histories and preferences. In other words, they need to store and mine vast amounts of customer data. They need to analyse and act on that data so…

Most business leaders and marketers aim to differentiate their brand from those of their competitors. It’s commonly viewed that differentiation is the key to success of the brand and its profitability. Others however,would argue it’s more important for your brand to be relevant to your customers rather than be differentiated over competitors. As markets shift and change, certain products and categories of products and the appeal consumers have to those products will shift and change. And in an age where everything is being disrupted that change is happening at an ever increasing rate. ‘Brand relevance’ refers to the emotional connections…