Friction vs frictionless

Customer journeys today are varied but most customers now have a low tolerance for friction. Cult make up site Trinny London has a very well-managed customer journey and provides a great example of the customer experience done well. The site has seamless UX that follows the user across channels to remind them what their colour set is, and what products they’ve already bought. Next also provides a very seamless experience across all channels. The company undertook a full digital transformation early on and can now build on a stable platform. But there are plenty of opposing examples. I logged into Harvard Business Review on all devices but when I click a link from Twitter or elsewhere, I’m still asked for login details. Firewalls are certainly a big source of friction for customers.

There’s also Made.com where a colleague bought a rug and was subsequently sent a reminder email asking if she wanted to buy a rug. She continues to receive rug-focused emails even through the same email address used to purchase.  

Balance user experience with watertight security

A common trait among poor customer experiences is that nearly all of them are non-linear. They move from social media to an app and sometimes even to human interaction. Comparing experiences makes the flaws of a platform blindingly obvious. Take logging in to Netflix vs Amazon on your smart TV for instance; Netflix makes you use whatever horrid UX your TV and remote have to put in your full email address and password. On the flip side, Amazon gives you a simple code to put into your phone/tablet/computer and that’s it. Putting the user and their real-world context first always removes friction and this is a prime example of that. So, how can businesses strike the right balance between user experience and strong security? When security is linked to respecting your data and privacy, rather than being bloody-minded or a hangover from legacy systems, then I think customers can be more willing to accept a little friction. They don’t mind logging in again across multiple devices if they know it’s for their own security. If not, it looks like sub-standard UX.

Businesses often fall down when apps aren’t comfortable making use of the customer’s device. For example, I have two banking apps on my phone, one only uses fingerprint, the other allows me to use facial recognition which is much quicker and more convenient.  

Data in exchange for a seamless experience

There’s the expectation that if you share a certain level of data with the brand, your experience should then be seamless. It is vital that you are able to deliver and it’s always been the case. How often have you been driven mad by call centres passing you around departments where you keep having to give the same information? If you can convince someone that they will have an easier life because they told you something, they usually won’t mind telling you. In most cases, handing over data is hope over experience. The trick is for brands to give people a good experience from the start, so they understand what they are signing up for and what the clear benefits will be to them.  

Good customer experience is a state of mind

Really, Customer Experience (CX) should never be a department, but a state of mind across all business areas. The minute organisational structure trumps the customer experience, it becomes sub-standard. You must always remember to design with a customer-first approach – it sounds trite but is still depressingly the exception rather than the rule. If necessary, share your KPIs across business units to ensure alignment, and force silos to consider the impact of their actions. It’s easy to fall into the trap of different business units actually working to different objectives – for example, one team is tasked with reach, another with conversion when the real KPI is sales.

All decisions made should be in order to remove the barriers between the customer and the goal. There’s also a huge value for working closely with customer service. It gives an invaluable understanding of what real people do when they use products, interact with brands, and so on. Businesses should look outside the standard channels for new employees and find people who have lived the life they are trying to service. 

The post How to Ensure a Frictionless Customer Experience appeared first on PerformanceIN.

And that’s a problem with a lot of communication. You can gather all the data and automation in the world, but if you don’t add any human thought to it, then it underwhelms and loses its value to the customer. Which is a shame for emails in particular, where the size of the prize is potentially huge (the median email marketing ROI is 122% according to eMarketer)

The “white noise” in your inbox is the underwhelming, wallpaper emails that you probably get with frequency but that don’t do anything to convince you to interact with them or the brand that sends them. Bland is not where you want your brand to be. So, here are five ways you can bring a bit of colour and timbre to your emails – particularly during an unprecedented surge in internet use (up 30% according to Vodafone):

1. Don’t invest more money – invest more time

Moneysupermarket is a great example of a brand which has spent much more time thinking about its communications, sent fewer emails in response, and got better results. It’s not always about investing more in an email programme, just investing more time in thinking about and planning it.

2. Start with the effect you want to have

One of the ways brand emails slip into the realms of white noise is by following a very linear path with emails: “we’ve got new products – let’s tell the world about them”.

Or they might spend too much time looking at a plan for a year in one go, filling slots, and end up scrapping around for content: “what can we send this segment at the end of October?”

The starting point actually needs to be “what do we want customers or potential customers to think, feel or do at the end of the year? And what effect do we want it to have on our business?” A monetary effect is an obvious one, but objectives can also include brand-building. 

3. Not every brand could (or should) be like Amazon

Amazon are undeniably big email communicators (in the US, Amazon owns a massive 30% market share in e-commerce according to Vero. I’m not saying Amazon has got their strategy wrong, but not every brand is Amazon.

Not every business has that level of data around their customers, what they browse for, what they buy. And not every brand has the breadth of products they can cross-sell effectively.

If the sole goal is to keep going until a customer buys, then Amazon’s strategy is working. But the power of the Amazon approach is often reminding people they need to buy something else from Amazon, rather than the product in the email. Think about your customer journey and if you’re not Amazon, don’t use theirs as a blueprint.

4. Try the pub test

Keep your eyes on the prize. Each time, there should be a value exchange for the customer or prospect. What are you asking them to do, and what’s in it for them? If in doubt, think about the pub test. You’re talking to your mate over a pint (in the good old days when we could!) – you ask him to give you his email address and tell him all the cool sh*t he’ll get if he does. Would that convince him?

There’s a lot more to email than a quick lever to pull in the quest to sell more. Even if sales are your key objective, blanket “white noise” emails will do more harm in the long run, than good.

5. CRM in the time of COVID-19

As I’m writing this, the world has gone into lockdown for who knows how long and the one thing people can’t do is be targeted for a quick buck. The doors are now closed. But CRM (and especially email) provides the perfect channel for continuing to communicate with your audience. To do this effectively, however, understanding all that I’ve talked about above is vital. You have to understand the role you would normally play in a customer’s life and then transition that away from sales and into authentic value.

I believe this will make us all better at understanding how people really perceive our brands, enabling us to communicate with them on a more human level once things go back to ‘normal’.

The post If Emails are White Noise, You’re Doing Them Wrong appeared first on PerformanceIN.

The Covid-19 Consumer Confidence Report, published by Mapp Digital, has revealed that 41% of UK consumers are delaying major purchasing decisions due to the current situation.

Meanwhile, 47% of UK consumers believe that the Coronavirus crisis will have a significant impact on their spending habits over the next 12 months.

Mapp Digital surveyed 1,194 UK consumers between March 23-24 2020.

Delayed purchases

The most likely products to be delayed were white goods (15%), followed by cars (9%) and properties (6%).

Furthermore, 40% of consumers plan to spend as little as possible for the coming months.

In addition, 37% revealed that they are visiting e-commerce sites a lot less than usual; and 60% admit that they are more careful with what they spend their money on.

52% of consumers expect to be in isolation for up to three months.

“It is a great reminder for brands to continue going the extra mile for their vulnerable customers, but also to focus their marketing efforts on brand values and maintaining trust,” said Ricardas Montvila, senior director, global strategy at Mapp Digital.

This report was produced to help UK brands to align their strategies in priorities in line with consumer confidence in the short-term during the isolation as well as in the long-term post Coronavirus.

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