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BILLY LOIZOU

LEND ME YOUR EYES

Voice of the customer

4/21/2016

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Every customer has a voice...yet not every company listens. Successful companies use their customer as their secret weapon. Accessing that secret weapon isn't difficult; create customer focus groups, conduct market research, invest in social listening or merely send out timely customer surveys across the customer journey via digital channels like email, web and sms. Sounds simple doesn't it, but why do most companies take a blind eye? Is it because it's too difficult, too expensive, too confronting? Most of the time it is just easier to keep doing what you have always been doing because it has worked in the past.
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It is fair to say that most large Australian companies have a monopoly on the market so their is no real need to change. Until the competition sneaks up behind you and is starring you in the face i.e the taxi industry vs. Uber, hotels vs Airbnb and retailers vs Alibaba. All three companies don't carry any inventory, yet drastically improve customer service and provide new revenue opportunities for those willing to leverage their technology. Companies need to go from being brand centric to becoming customer centric.

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Heinz are a perfect example of a brand who listened to their customer and implemented their recommendations. The sauce that they produce is of great quality, however the user experience of trying to get the sauce out of the glass bottle is extremely clumsy. If you make some subtle design changes like flip the bottle upside down and change the material (glass to plastic), the experience changes dramatically.
“People want what’s best for them, and they can switch on a dime, because there’s always a new disruptor disrupting the last disruptor. So companies should just strive to keep changing and adapting to their customers’ needs.”
Hearing the voice of the customer is essential for effective marketing, but also improving service. If companies are to be relevant to the consumer of tomorrow, they will need much more than an email blast engine and a call centre. They must develop a broad contextual understanding of the customer.

Voice Of The Customer Programs:
Many companies have embarked in creating seamless customer journeys across product, marketing, stores, call centres and sales. How do you now capture feedback to see if what you are doing is providing a positive or negative experience? Answer: set up a Voice of the Customer (VoC) program. Effective voice of the customer programs allow you to connect and engage with customers at key points in the customer journey. 

The Voice of the Customer is a term used in business to describe the process of capturing customers’ requirements. It is a product development technique that produces a detailed set of customer wants and needs which are organised into a hierarchical structure, and then prioritised in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives. 
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To enhance customer experience and increase business growth, many firms are developing voice of the customer programs. Successful VoC programs should support a cycle of five activities that make up a closed-loop process:

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  1. Identify: What is it that you want to learn?
  2. Devise: What is the best way to collect the data?
  3. Collect: Capture the data through the right channels
  4. Analyse: Gather insights in real-time
  5. Draw: Monitor results and take action

The most successful VoC programs help companies connect multiple types of feedback across data channels, provide collaboration across functional departments, incorporate voice of the employee and leverage dashboards and reports that allow you to visualise the information regardless of the source. The key objective is to help deliver clear ROI, business results and prioritise issues.

​There are plenty of platforms now that allow you to implement VoC programs. Here is a quick snapshot of market leader Qualtrics' platform; 
capturing the customers voice & realtime reporting dashboard:
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"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
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Blockbuster VS. NETFLIX

3/22/2016

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Blockbuster in 2004 ended negotiations in buying 49% share of Netflix for $50 million. One of these businesses is now bankrupt...the other one has a market valuation of over $30 billion. Companies need to not lose sight of the bottom line, however innovation and a change in customer behaviour can have you scratching your head only ten years later. 

Former Blockbuster workers all over the world must cringe every time they hear the words “online streaming” and “on-demand.”


That’s because back in 2000, Reed Hastings approached former Blockbuster CEO John Antioco and asked for $US50 million to give away the company he founded — Netflix.

Antioco, thinking that it was a “very small niche business,” ended the negotiations and didn’t buy Netflix, which at the time was a DVD mailing service, according to Variety.

Now Netflix — just short of being worth the same as CBS last year — soared past the television network owner with a $US32.9 billion market valuation. Netflix also reached the 50 million mark in subscribers of its paid service and became available in 40 countries, CNN Money reported last year.

“Management and vision are two separate things. [Netflix was] losing money,” a former Blockbuster exec told Variety back in 2013, explaining Antioco’s decision.
This isn’t the first time that a company missed out on an opportunity that could have shifted continents of the business world. There have been other bitter “what ifs” including: Verizon shunning Apple for the first model of the iPhone, Comcast foregoing Disney, Friendster refusing Google, and AOL merging with Time Warner instead of AT&T.

Perhaps the company that made the biggest blunder in tech history is Yahoo, which had chances to buy both Google and Facebook.

Source: 
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/
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The Customer Service Revolution #CustomerClienteling

1/31/2016

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Shopping is now a 24/7 experience. Digitally savvy customers are able to research, compare products and prices, and read reviews before making a purchase decision. They are becoming more vocal and share their brand experiences—good or bad—with their social network. Most brands struggle today to deliver a positive experience from sale through service and 89% of customers are leaving brands due to a bad customer experience.
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It is no surprise that companies who invest in a 'customer-centric' strategy are seeing amazing results in their overall business KPI's. The best brands in the world provide their customers with a memorable experience...that experience creates an emotional connection which will stay with the customer for life. McKinsey & Company provided some research in 2013 to support this theory.
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​Fast forward towards the end of 2015 and these statistics above are even more convincing. Organisations are no longer just focused on the 'Increase in ROI' they are now also conscious of two other metrics; 'Customer Satisfaction' and the 'Willingness to Recommend.' The close link between service and marketing is now apparent. A well armed marketing team should help set up every department around them to know the customer more intimately. The key is then being able to serve the customer information in a friendly and actionable manner. Welcome customer clienteling.
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​Customer Clienteling: Serve Your Customers Better!

Retailers today need to empower their employees with information that allows them to have a helpful and meaningful conversation with clients. Innovators are recognising that the retail industry needs tools that truly fit the way consumers shop and how sales people sell. Retailers and consumers have embraced these reimagined tools, and these companies are seeing great success. According to PWC the following clienteling tools enable:
  1. Connected Customers: Armed with a dynamic customer profile, sales and service associates can now make informed, personalised cross-sell and up-sell recommendations to customers at the point of sale. The payoff? Higher sales per customer and improved customer loyalty.
  2. Connected Stores: The solution helps retailers create seamless, consistent interactions and experiences across multiple channels—including online, in-store, on mobile devices and via social media. The result is improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
  3. Connected Employees: Better-connected employees—those who collaborate more effectively, share success stories, and contribute first-hand product knowledge—help improve their own performance as well as that of their peers. For the enterprise, this means greater operational effectiveness.
  4. Connected Products: The solution can help deliver real-time insight into customer preferences, buying habits, product reviews and product availability. Armed with that data, enterprises can make better, informed decisions, scale more easily and increase their returns on investment. 

Customer Journeys: Bring together the physical & the digital
Customer clienteling has been around for a few years now, particularly in the retail and financial space. However utilising the Salesforce platform, customer clienteling solutions can now trigger real-time journeys straight from the Marketing Cloud whilst the customer is in store or just left. 

Imagine you are an existing customer and visiting a Country Road store. You are browsing their summer range when you get approached by Samantha one of their friendly customer service staff. Samantha has an iPad in her hand and with the quick scan of your loyalty card or by utilising iBeacon technology can access your customer record. Samantha now has access to your:
  1. Customer Profile Information
  2. Style Recommendations
  3. Wish List Items
  4. Online Browsing Behaviour
  5. Purchase History Details
  6. Loyalty Status and Special Offers
Some customers might be frightened by companies having access to this amount of data but the objective is purely to provide a more personalised shopping experience. Samantha now becomes your own personal stylist and the same unique experience you get online can now also happen in store. Samantha also now has the ability to send you communications from within the store during your shop. For example items you have recently tried on, items that customers similar to you have purchased, trending items online, the products you have put on lay-by or more importantly send a personalised message from Samantha herself after the shop. The insights can power Samantha's conversation and level of service, however provide the relevancy to enhance your shopping experience. See the example below:
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The lines between the physical and the digital are slowing becoming blurred. We can now push the boundaries of CRM, digital marketing, and the in-store experiences. 

If you would like to hear more about these leading solutions, I recommend you reach out to the thought leaders and innovators in this space Proximity Insight: http://www.proximityinsight.com/.

You wont be disappointed!
"Customer service is not a department 
....it's everyone's job!"
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WHat is the iceberg principle?

1/31/2016

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Imagine you're floating on the Titanic and about to hit an iceberg. It doesn't seem that big - actually it's only half the size of the boat. No big deal, our boat is much larger so it shouldn't be an issue.....actually what you forget to realise is that you can only see what's on the surface. The other 85% of the iceberg is below the surface and that will determine the size of the impact.

Anyways....enough about the Titanic - the underlying message here is called the Iceberg Principle or as Hemingway called it, the Iceberg Theory. The observation is that in many cases only a very small amount (the tip) of information is available about a situation, where as the 'real' information or bulk of operations and data are hidden. When Ernest Hemingway would introduce a character in one of his novels he would spend years crafting their persona, yet only introduce the bare minimum leaving the mysteries to unfold through his writing and the imagination.

​​How does this relate to marketing?
At its simplest form, most marketing teams spend majority of their time executing campaigns. The customer gets bombarded with marketing communications that have no brand consistency (due to the different departments sending the campaign) and more importantly, the content isn't particularly relevant. Marketing departments all around the globe are spending more than 8hrs a day executing tasks that require human interaction 9 to 5, 5 days a week. That sort of work ethic is not scalable and will only stunt your innovation and business growth. As a consultant, typically when you intervene with a framework or solution that will help, the response is quite alarming:
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The thought of slowing them down and taking two steps back just doesn't sound like the right solution. However under the surface you can see there is no alignment, disconnected systems, broken processes and personal agendas.
The duck's legs move a million miles an hour underneath the water, yet on the surface they seem so calm and collected.
The Framework
The tip of the iceberg for marketing departments is the customer. The customer receives the communications and believe it or not can identify quite quickly whether you are actually listening to their needs and have all your ducks in a row.

The framework has four key areas of focus:
  1. Customer: Explore the customer lifecycle by mapping out the current and future state customer experiences. Strategically define what’s working and what’s next? 
  2. Operations: Define current process for building, sending and measuring emails and workflow in other key channels. 
  3. Technology: Determine what data and systems you use that may require an integration. This will help drive automation. 
  4. Strategy: Understand your company's quantifiable goals, digital marketing vision and the value you bring to your clients. More importantly your priorities for this year and beyond. 
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Your customer only sees the output - yet what happens underneath the surface plays a big factor in whether it is considered successful or not!
If you create this sort of thinking internally it will give you a framework to work with, that will not only free up time but also align team thinking and collaboration. The end goal for every marketing department should be - connected technology, clear marketing strategies, loyal customers and more importantly being able to do more with less!
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How Virtual Reality Will Change The World We Live In!

1/26/2016

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I have just boarded a 13hr flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, excited by the fact that I'm heading to San Francisco to attend Dreamforce 15' for the biggest technology conference on the globe. As I'm trying to pass time on the plane by watching movies, listening to music and reading a book (George Orwell, 1984) - my mind starts racing thinking about the future. This is a common occurrence for me, "live in the moment" I keep telling myself. I start thinking:
"I have a lot of time to kill on this trip, imagine if I had a virtual reality headset that would allow me to do anything I wanted whilst in mid air - like visit open home inspections, go car shopping, go camping, spy on my dog?" That would be cool and practical!"

How It Will Change The Real-Estate Industry

Meet Lucy Thomas, a mid 30's and newly married Accountant who is expecting her first child. Up until now husband David and her have been renting in the inner suburbs of St Kilda however are keen to buy a larger home now that they are starting a family. Work is getting busier, the days are getting shorter and energy levels aren't quite as high as they use to be now that she is 6 months pregnant. 

Lucy gets home from a long day at work, makes a cup of tea and sits by the fire place ready to look at some new open planned apartments being built within a 10km radius of her current location. She puts on her full HD Virtual Reality headset and starts scrolling through the menu using a swiping down hand gesture. She selects the real estate app exactly the same way you select an app using your iPhone - difference is this is highly animated and has an in built Bose sound system to enhance the experience. The light sounds of John Mayer come on in the background as the headset is synced to her Apple music account and also connected to the family wifi. 

The first thing Lucy sees is a helicopter view of Melbourne city. She has access to both a street view or standard map but can also filter her preferences for available homes and new developments. Lucy is seeing relevant information on previously sold houses, the average price of sale and also getting highlighted key pieces of data that are specifically targeted to her - for example dog parks, closest yoga centre, schools, cafes, hot spots and distance to work via car or public transport. The below picture is purely a mock up.
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Lucy zones in on East Malvern a beautiful green leafy area 10km from the CBD and finds a brand new development that sits comfortably within their price range, not too far from work and big enough to start a family in. She decides to take a virtual tour of the yet to be developed luxury apartments. The below picture is purely a mock up.
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Now this is where the magic happens...
Standing out the front of the brand new development in East Malvern, Lucy gets her first glimpse of the building. The sun is shinning down and she can hear the sounds of birds chirping and cheerful families close by. The smell of freshly mowed grass can also be part of the amazing customer experience. Lucy is now guided through the lobby, up to the 3 bedroom luxury apartment that she showed interest in. As the door slowly opens she can hear her favourite Saturday morning song being played from the living room: "What a wonderful world" by Iz Kamakawiwoʻole.

Slowly she is taken through the apartment - living room to bedrooms. Everything along the way has been personalised for Lucy's world. Her Facebook account has been synced so all the photo frames in the house show pictures from her beautiful wedding day with David, to photos of her French Bulldog Oscar. Lucy can also interact with the virtual world by opening cupboard doors for insight into storage space. While guiding herself around the house Lucy decides to start customising certain aspects - like the apartments colour theme, finishings, decor and furniture making her feel like a conductor. The creativity and flexibility of such a tool puts the power in the customers hands and the data into the marketers hands.

Once Lucy is finished she takes a stand back and admires her work. She receives a tap on her shoulder from her David who has arrived home slightly early. She takes the headset off and passes it over to David, then whispers "I think I have just found our new home!
As the internet of things advances, the very notion of a clear dividing line between reality and virtual reality becomes blurred, sometimes in creative ways!
The example above is how I envision one industry being disrupted. Everything from buying a car, booking a wedding venue to renting holiday accommodation can be enhanced through virtual reality. Nothing will ever take away from pure human to human interactions - but the idea of having the ability to do all the above from within your home makes me excited and nervous.
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