Author Archives: Syamant

Retail is here to stay. Experience Needs Imagination

January 30, 2019 By in Customer Experience Leave a comment

A social media update announcing the coming retail apocalypse is now a routine occurrence. News articles about this issue are relatively common as well. The impression created is that new players hungrier for success are stomping all over brick and mortar. At the same, these new companies are not just online but are also opening stores and designing unique data-driven experiences. 

If done thoughtfully, automated services and bots can be a nice convenience. People want to have a more straightforward experience. Besides, there is enough to show that people like to socialise. We crave company and connections. For a long time, it was convenient to go to malls and traditional stores. These places provided the convenience of everything under one roof. You could also spend time with family, friends and celebrate occasions. Technology has upended this equation a bit. It is somewhat more convenient to order or manage requirements via websites, voice assistants, apps and bot. The robot hotel did end up creating vast amounts of work for the few humans that were part of the project. 

Retailers, however, need to rethink the offer and experience. Traditional thinking about space optimisation needs to be reinvigorated, and customer journeys need to redesign. I am very optimistic about the changes taking place. New retail requires fresh imagination, and it can be exciting to imagine and implement this brave new future.  Store formats and services will go through a transformation primarily driven by the question, what can the store do more? A new connected customer experience that builds on a data-rich environment but brings the core values of human empathy in service delivery. 

No matter where this retail leapfrog takes us, some fundamental principles need to be kept in mind. 

Focus on first-time customers: 

India is growing fast and not a saturated market like many others. There is an opportunity in the smaller retail formats as well as larger ones. Rather than look over the shoulder and worry about competition, there is an opportunity to redesign the experience for all. Maybe there is something to be learnt from another sector like software companies. They have a term called on-boarding. Rather than sending promotional or sales offers, how can we think about re-designing the experience of our first-time customers? Many of whom may be experiencing the category in a completely different way. 

Integrated customer experiences: 

Ok, let’s get the omnichannel word out of the way then. It seems to be the panacea for all the ills of modern retail. Much of the writing related to omnichannel is confusing. What about the leadership in retail then? Are they clear about the benefits of omnichannel?  Not all organisations are ready to implement it for varying reasons. It is, however, looking at the business model from a technology point of view and it seems to lose track of the actual needs of the customer. 

Companies have viewed the social channel as a way to promote and for customers as a way to highlight service gaps. The service equation needs redefinition.  Emphasis on process enhancements could be brought about if the stores, social channels, apps could offer relevant services that matter to the customer. The key focus needs to be on the customer journey and pertinent aspects across touchpoints. How can integration of search, purchase and service across these multifaceted brand outposts drive value and convenience for the customer? 

Data defines the experience:

Adding technology does not mean a business is making adequate use of the data. All too often data exists in a silo;  achieving whatever the company may be trying to track. Unlike the traditional retail businesses, the online retailer is probably generating far more data and is also using it more effectively. Moreover, I think it is the pace of data generation and subsequent utilisation that needs attention. Traditional dashboards do not quite cut it. Is it just better algorithms or a better culture of data utilisation? Could be both?

We have got to look beyond basic transactional analytics. Gone are the days when CRM meant sending emails and old style loyalty programme statements. CRM also does not mean third-party sourcing of data via dubious service providers to enhance existing transactional data.  Due to concerns about data protection, privacy laws and even security issues, organisations need to be mindful of not being blindsided by weak data governance. 

The opportunity offered today is to connect the data that would otherwise exist in silos. Making it count means offering customers something that is timely, relevant and convenient. What can be done to create a perpetual and actionable insights platform and not just social media command centres of the not so distant past? 

Moreover, let’s not lose track of the retail team 

Working in retail can be very demanding with pressure to offer excellent service even going beyond the call of duty. However, with almost gig economy like business models where a person belongs to a staffing service provider how motivated can this person be to go above and beyond. Then there is the distance between the employee and the leadership of the retail brand, going through the matrix organisation and so on. It can be tough! Companies have sought to address these existential threats by increasing automation to reduce attrition and more. 

So this surprises me. Will automation improve convenience or will it enhance the experience that you remember? So the charter for the new retail has to be about how people can help create moments that leave lasting impressions. There is then a need to think about the customer journey, and it’s touchpoints and the employee journey concurrently. It is not enough to offer standard learning modules. Learning then has to be based on insights we have on customer intents. Ideas that were designed earlier to improve offer or optimise the website, need to be brought into  learning for improvement. Not on a post facto basis but at a pace benefiting the promise the brand makes to a customer. Connected customers in a new connected store, need employee connection in  detail as well. Microlearning, augmented learning experiences, constant skill enhancement has to be a consistent part of the journey. 

Data is going to play a critical role in building the employee experience. Not just the basic data of who sold more and if they have been trained in the necessary modules. Instead, analysing team performance much as we see in sports. Where every single ball bowled or played, free kick taken or goal scoring movements are mapped and discussed. Learning and Development needs to be a mentor with multiple feedback systems to help improve the performance of each. We need to think of people as assets, not some number on excel sheet to be ‘optimised’ or automated away.

People will continue to form the basis of a high-performance retail experience.

Thinking about the Unpolished Dal and FMCG Brand Experience

January 29, 2019 By in Customer Experience Leave a comment

Many years ago, an engine oil major, a much-loved brand in India worked with us to answer an important question, “What next?” Why? Because each new car brand was endorsing their own or partner engine oil brands. Also, the experience had changed from one where a customer went explicitly to get the oil they wanted to one where the car company just changed the oil whenever the car went for service.

This company went out to create a very successful direct servicing connection with their customers.

It is now time for FMCG brands to think about customer experience of their products. The kirana (grocery) store in urban Indian markets is slowly disappearing. Indian shoppers are increasingly ordering online, driving the brick and mortar kirana store to rethink their business models. There are several reasons for this. First, the grocery retail in India forms 60% of the total retail market. Secondly, it is a hyper-local business.  Preferences for fruits, vegetables, ingredients and other goods vary according to locality, even in the same city. Thirdly, grocery has another added charm; these are essential purchases with high repeatability. However, there is more, it’s a high margin business for online retailers if they can capture the customer base and introduce private labels.

However, the customer experience in most grocery categories has a long way to go. For instance, if I say, unpolished dal a specific brand will pop up in your head. They created the category, backed it with their strong trustworthy name and made me aware that this was a healthier option. It’s the only brand I look for when either ordering online or in my sporadic grocery store visits. And, there is significant difficulty in ordering it. Grocery shelves have many companies claiming to offer unpolished dal. Since the brand that I actually want is impossible to get most of the time I look for substitutes. A lot is being written about the private labels started by grocery retailers and I wonder if high margins is all there is to it. Could it be that the unpolished dal company only thought about advertising and forgot about the many other touchpoints urban consumers now look at. 

Could it be that the unpolished dal company needs a refresh of the consumer journey?

The journey map for a new grocery brand needs to factor that customers are increasingly aware that good food and good health are directly correlated, and while they will make an effort to seek out the brand they trust, they also want convenience and better service. Which is perhaps why the engine oil brand is still going strong after 15 years and the unpolished dal with great advertising is struggling to be visible to me. 

However, what does all this mean for the traditional FMCG businesses? Traditionally, the FMCG sector has seen itself as a brand company. Most product manufacturing was either outsourced or restricted to the company’s centralised factories in a few locations. The company distributed these to the kirana stores and focussed on creating customer pull through advertising and promotions. The store owners created the customer experience and not the brands. The kirana store owners understood what customers wanted, how products could be upsold and made mattered.

With the ability to capture customer mindshare and stickiness, the grocery e-tailers will now have disproportionate control over distribution channels. They can quickly move customers to their private labels. Additionally, e-tailers already own consumer data and know their preferences. Creating relevant communication is easy for them.

How can the FMCG company compete?

The answer perhaps lies in rethinking the retail experience in the form of customer journeys and building a direct customer-company connection. Knowing your customer is the first rule of customer marketing, and in a data-driven world, perhaps it precedes everything else. However, aggregating databases with customers name, number and email with customers social updates is mostly ineffective. The lifestyle preferences of the customer and their needs have to be an ongoing journey of better understanding and better services.

Thinking about the Electric Vehicle Customer Journey

January 25, 2019 By in Customer Experience Tags: , , Leave a comment

The electricity business worldwide is at the centre of changes brought about by new technologies and rapid merging of multiple business verticals. These changes are increasingly apparent in India as well. This transformation which involves substantial enhancements in renewable capacity, the push towards electric vehicles (EV), electrical charging stations, storage, new software-driven experiences and above all the changing face of the utility.  

Filling it up vs charging  

Most automobile companies have announced plans for EV’s and the market is expected to expand for these products. In the push towards electric vehicles, there is considerable excitement over the need for electric charging stations which will power these vehicles. There is much to be done since at present EV charging stations in India stand at just a few hundred. This space is likely to see considerable action in the coming years as the EV infrastructure will need charging sites for various uses. Offices, multiplexes, residential complexes are the possible places where these are expected to come up soon. It will change the current car fuelling paradigm where fuel is only available at petrol pumps. There will broadly be two kinds of charging, trip continuation charging and destination charging. Destination charging will be done at the end of a journey and will be at homes and offices and will utilise lower voltage AC charging to deliver energy into the vehicle. Trip continuation charging will be done at the service station and will involve fast charging. The more significant challenge though is behaviour change. How will consumers adapt to charging a car vs filling fuel?  

The new grid and enhanced services  

There are several implications for the grid with several thousand EV charging stations coming up. The foremost one being the increase in electricity demand with a new sector moving towards electrification. It could also put a strain on residential and commercial infrastructure and their service support systems. Multiple technological solutions are being worked upon to ensure grid reliability and stability. Also, newer organisations get a chance to embed themselves along the value chain – infrastructure, energy distribution and new service offerings are all possible.  

Pay as you go / Subscription / Memberships / Bundling  

While traditional oil and gas companies are setting up EV charging stations at the petrol pumps and continuing with the pay as you go, model, much more is now possible. Taking a cue from the telecom/entertainment world, subscription services and bundling offers might open up new avenues of transportation models. They could be in the form of tariffs, other energy services, or bundling with other vehicle services. Specialised EV charging companies could emerge with innovative models such as top-up cards, bundling home energy use and EV charging at stations, memberships to charging networks. 

Implications for customer data 

EV’s, unlike the combustion engine cars, are traditionally data-dense products. They will generate vast amounts of insight on how you drive, where you go, what music you listen to and more. As consumers use more such vehicles their data will reside with multiple EV producers, the electric company, charging service, music service and more. Privacy by design and consumer protection will need to be factored in. At one level, the product is updateable remotely, and companies have to think very differently about the way they manage their product features. The electric vehicle ecosystem promises much, but we can’t think about just taking the existing journeys and updating them. 

We need fresh new thinking in creating these journeys to manage needs articulated and most importantly the unsaid needs. More on this here. 

Science, Creativity and Imagination

May 7, 2018 By in Others Leave a comment

I was 15 when I read Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke and discovered space fiction! What a story that was even though some concepts were beyond me. Recently, I was reminded of the key aspects of the book when I read about the interstellar object that passed through our solar system.

At that time, Star Trek and Cosmos were broadcast on our television screens. Carl Sagan talking about the wonders of space. Every episode left you with a sense a awe and inspiration. I came to know about Voyager spacecrafts journey across our solar system at that time and have kept abreast of the latest till their last recorded moments in our solar system. The technical feats achieved with such early-stage technology fill me with a sense of awe. The real merged with the reel with Captain Kirk seemingly continuing the mission of the scientists of that time.

Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian cosmonaut in space. He and Ravish Malhotra were household names. I remember the Insat-1B and the SLV3 missions and followed them with as keen an interest as the information of that time allowed. So the world of space in the form of Cosmos, Star Trek had an Indian connection.

The idea that the rockets that carried humans to the moon were outdated and soon to be replaced with the space shuttle was quite exciting then. The shuttle went up like a rocket but landed like an aircraft and in that year the space shuttle Challenger seemed to indicate it was safe too. It went into space multiple times that year. There were also the Soviet Soyuz T11 and Salyut 7 to dream and discuss.

In that year, I re-discovered the 1977 edition of the Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft. This was found in an old bookshop by my father and it had been there in our collection. It had a lot of pages, very heavy to lift but it was fascinating. Every single aircraft by a country was listed there. I remember reading about the Marut. Comparing features of some of the world’s best aircraft was a good past time. It had photographs, illustrations, specifications and so much more. I felt rather grown up! This was also the year the Indian Light Combat aircraft was announced or at least came into my field of exploration. It felt good that India would develop an aircraft for our own use!

And then there were ads! How could you not like the ads? They were better than the programmes that one got to see on TV. I longed to somehow record those ads in my collection but I did not have the means to do, till much later in my schooling. It certainly sparked an interest in marketing and brands!

We’d won the world cup a year earlier and the Indian cricket team had visited our school. I remember recording the anecdotes on a dictaphone and sharing with colony friends. It had a micro-cassette and that was very interesting to me. A neighbour wanted me to test it. He worked for Indian Airlines and was part of the programme that would induct one of the first Airbus planes in India. I still remember the Airbus stickers on his bags!

While I read a lot it was mostly Soviet classics and comics. But I was introduced to computers in a magazine called Computers Today. It seemed to discuss things that sailed over my head. It would leave a lasting impression despite not understanding mainframes etc. Here’s an example of the tech coverage of that time.

I signed up for the after-school computer programme based on the BBC Micro. It was basic but it was thrilling to hear sounds, see some of the text art as graphics on those screens. Went on to learn Basic and felt like a genius!

There was awe and I wanted to explore more. So the books at the British Council and American Center libraries came in handy. Even though most of the concepts were way about my level.

Oh and music! It was still the era of records and one made sure that the record was not scratched. Cartridges required special care as well. It was fun to find a way to take the line-out of the record player into another music system. Primarily to create mixtapes. It was an early stage experiment that would continue to grow. Mixtapes would grow on to become a big interest for me. Another thing that I learnt was to open the music system and figure out its belts and gadgetry etc. There was the soldering iron to explore with. Some of it known to the family and some not. But frugal mix and match was the order of the day.

All in all, a time of inspirational moments in space, mind opening science fiction, first steps in technology that would become central in my life. The idea of recording mix tapes, recording events would come back later. It allowed me to get comfortable with my interests and not just scholastic activities.

There was a curiosity to learn then and it has only grown bigger. Some of the curiosity gets transferred into work solutions but there is still the same core foundation of interests that form a part of my conversations and exploration.

Now imagine a child who is going to be 15 in about another 9 to 10 years. It is fascinating to think about what she is going to experience . What will inspire her and what will become a lifelong interest-

In a world filling up with technology where anything can be 3D/4D printed, will she turn to handcrafted experiences?
Will the first generation of humans have already settled on Moon or another planetary outpost? What will be the stories from there?
What will serendipity bring to her musical or creative interests?
Will she learn with holographic images much the same way that the holodeck offered in the Star Trek?
Will humans have overcome the more significant issues of the current time?
Will she have any aspiration to drive a car in a world of seemingly autonomous vehicles?
What will she want to tinker and will the machine be her connected assistant?

Writing this was good nostalgia but imagining the next 15 year old’s inspiration, one thing is certain the Future is not more of the past.

Also available here as part of the Linkedin #WhenIWas15 series

Observations on Healthcare Marketing in India

June 23, 2016 By in Customer Experience Tags: ,

A. India is unique in healthcare marketing. In most developed countries healthcare is insurance driven. In India on the other hand, hospital and doctor brands are largely driven by the direct payments made by individuals for procedures, services and care.

This leads to healthcare brands advertising in a plethora of ways such as

  • Newspaper inserts
  • Health camps in colonies
  • Radio ads
  • SMS promotions
  • Testimonials of patients
  • Doctor promotions via Ads and PR
  • Public health messaging
  • Social (Digital) platforms

B. Over and above all this, hospitals and doctor brands also attract a large number of international patients. A testimony to this is the fact that the lobby of almost every Delhi hospital is now full of patients from all across the world. Looking more like an international airport than a hospital waiting lounge. The above channels of outreach then have an additional aim of attracting international patients too.

C. In the past 10 years, Healthcare advertising has moved from reticence to over the top, endless stream of communication, where every disease is promoted as serious and significant, needing specialists and testing. World heart day, World Diabetes day etc are given extraordinary coverage as well as Mothers day where hospital brands suggest special women’s health packages. Healthcare services now come in all shapes and sizes – post operative care, emergency care, web platforms for everything, wellness brands – but what is missing is an integrated approach towards the customer. Many a times customers are left feeling that they are just a body for multiple testing and procedures but no specialist wants to speak to the other and patients are increasingly being left to fend for themselves.

D. Some hospitals have also started outsourcing important services like labs, dental care and IVF to external specialists which has its own set of customer experience issues. Hospitals are also setting up sub brands. Initially hospital departments such as Ortho, Neuro became brands and now increasingly specific treatments such IVF are being branded.

E. The big question though is, “Does the customer trust the system?” There is a recent book on this but you don’t have to look far to find cases that point to an increasing mistrust of the doctor, the procedure and even the hospital. You just need to search within facebook to find instances where patients trust has been broken. What are you doing to me? How much is it going to cost me? Do I even need it? – Maybe a Trip Advisor kind of customer rating system of healthcare is really what is needed now.

F. For the people who have health insurance, things are not any simpler. As things stand today, a Rs 24 lac insurance is roughly 1 month of ICU care. Where will this lead to? There is mistrust between the 3 parties – patients, hospitals and insurance.

G. The challenge with hospital brands is one of scalability. One can get funds to build buildings, buy expertise and instil processes. But trust, transparency and belief in brand are priceless. That’s really the challenge for hospital branding! The patient needs to be at the centre of decision making. The emphasis instead, is on procedure and increasing length of hospital stays.

H. It’s really not about buying the latest equipment but actually making information available to customers whenever they need it and providing them with integrated care pathways.

The Essence of Your Brand’s Digital Ambition

November 4, 2015 By in Customer Experience Tags: , Leave a comment

Taking a brand in to the digital space makes changes at the very heart of a business. It creates opportunities for growth or situations where market share is lost. The truth is ( and we speak from our experience in marketing, design, learning, services, technology, branding, research, consumer insights and creative ) that while consumers experience brands in an omni-channel environment – marketers and their agencies continue to work in designated, functional silos.
Nowhere is this more apparent in both client and agency organisations. Agencies offer almost routine solutions for e-mail marketing, web design, search, social media et. al. They may be specialists but they also work in silos. Is it perhaps a function of client organisations where digital or technology managers / heads also focus on specific areas with related KRA’s? Creating their own silos in the process?
Social platforms or tools such as software implementations alone, whether for say – a social media command centre or a delivery enablement feature in the ERP, are not going to create market leadership. A thought process and an offering, its differentiated positioning, business deliverables have to transform into functional enablement via a set of clear processes – where role alignment of everyone involved is crucial.
But somewhere, there is the beginning of a need. Manifesting in the fact that companies are facing business challenges beyond the obvious.
Consider this. A global brand was looking to create a social media dashboard to learn more about their current and new fans/followers across owned social media channels and produce correlations between their marketing activities and sales data with the social behaviours of their fans, to produce actionable, qualitative and quantitative consumer insights.Eventually the company opted for a conventional analytics platform and opted to track something simpler. Did they miss an opportunity to do some ground breaking work? Perhaps yes and therein lies the element of ambition for digital.
In conversations with managers, one hears the need to explore new frontiers but when it comes to acting on the plans, things tend to get a lot slower. Is it Lip service to the latest buzz words? What will nudge the decision makers to do more?
But where are the clear answers to basic questions? Where is the brand? What is it that we are really offering the customer? How is it being experienced and sustained online? Through repetitive product-centric content posts churned out by bright people starting out in their careers? Or via boring, clunky banner ads or pop-ups that lack imagination? Simply because digital or social is hygiene.
There is a need for a conversation on what it means to be Digital in the Digital Business and to figure out cross-functional solutions that are nimble and enable results. Based on consumer insights. And what value can a brand add to a consumer’s life. That is the essence of the digital ambition.
And there is a need to start this conversation. For there is a larger issue at stake here. It seems like a simple thing. Of getting the basics right. Even if the ‘ basics ‘ keep changing with time and technology.
When you think about digital we’d like you to put your customer at the centre of your decision making. No jargon, just clean, common-sensical stuff to drive business outcomes. Whether it is a clear thought process, proof of concepts and achievement of specific deliverables we’d like to work closely with you on your next digital challenge for your brand.

This post started as a twitter conversation with Riitu Chugh and has been jointly written with her. She is an Account Planner and a Social Business Strategist. We’d love to know your thoughts!

Cities, Sports Leagues and their Brand Experiences

April 30, 2015 By in Customer Experience Tags: , Leave a comment

It was match day and not an ordinary one at that. Bayern Munich was scheduled to play in the final of the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League. This information was part of the briefing by the pilot of a Lufthansa flight that I was in. What stuck me was the use of ‘my team’ in the way he announced this. He promised to update us about match result later as well. That day his team won and I guess the team of many in the plane too because there was a loud cheer.
Match days on twitter tend to be interesting. Many people in the stream refer to a particular team as ‘us’ or ‘we’. Now if this was someone in europe referring to their favourite club teams it would almost be normal. It may be unusual for some to see people in India referring to European club teams as ‘us’. Perhaps it is not surprising either. These clubs have become global brands with merchandising and activities that extend well beyond their region and the league’s season.
The Riera Blanca area in Barcelona is home to FC Barcelona. The Mobile World Congress is a big part of the Barcelona experience but equally there is quite a bit of FC Barcelona in there as well. You check in at a hotel and they will tell you about tickets that can be purchased on your behalf. They will talk about their team but equally talk about the history and team musuem too.
This contrasts to how some of the new teams are referred here in the social stream. More people still talk about a city’s team in third person. First the cricket and soon after hockey, football, badminton, kabaddi and basketball leagues have started. Perhaps there will be more as well. Do you remember any of the players that represent these teams? Some cricketers maybe but others? If you live in Mumbai, are you an Indian, Master or Magician team supporter. The likely hypothesis is that it’s all a blur. The player, the team and sport are not quite connected with the city they represent.
Engagement with the league, it’s teams and players is linked to the actual days of the tournament. Yes one will see matches, remember an episode for a day or two and then there is the next match to consider. Maybe take part in some contests online or enjoy the game in the company of friends at an eating establishment. Players change every year and are signed on for astronomical accounts. Sporting expertise aside, they have little resonance with the brand name. The same world famous cricketer could have navigated 4 or 5 teams in as many years. So, do the citizens of Delhi, Mumbai or Calcutta think of them as ‘my team’ ? Not really. Its great viewing but not necessarily great brand resonance. Maybe most of the Indian leagues are young and there is much more work to be done.
So what’s the connection with the city?
Naming is emotive and the brand would have several ingredients that can be considered when one thinks about the future. These could be location and community, spirit, governance and more. Let’s say there are 3 teams that represent a city. Is there a common characteristic that connects the 3 teams to each other?
1. Does a city know the teams that represent it in various sports leagues?
2. How does the city connect with the teams? Do the know their players?
3. What’s the experience for a fan of the city?
4. What’s the engagement during the season?
5. What’s the experience after the season. Have these teams embraced the culture and the ongoing conversation of the city.
6. Whether it is CSR or cause marketing, most teams have linked to some cause. Maybe there is an opportunity to make it more credible and part of the engagement with the city.
What’s in it for the brands?
While I am not an expert on brand valuations, but I do believe that the customer experience is what really matters in building a long lasting brand. How does one value a team of a young league? By the value of its players or by the business they generate? or something else? I read an article on team valuations, and I quote it here.
The Forbes Fab 40 consists of the 10 most valuable sports brands in each of four categories–businesses, events, teams and athletes. How do you place a value on a brand? For sports business brands, this means quantifying the amount the business would fetch in an arms length transaction in excess of what a comparable rival would be worth.
The team needs to win and that ensures full stadiums. There is also the business aspect. It needs to be a viable venture. It needs to increase it’s fan base, build a community and identify sources of engagement and revenue. Conventional wisdom says that there are four ways a sports team can make money: tickets, sponsorships, merchandising, and licensing. Sometimes people might add player trading and prize money.
Perhaps one could also start to imagine new sources of revenue from the majority who do not go to watch games and love their sport. The elements of a sports team and its ecosystem have four main components and connecting these elements in fresh ways can create opportunity for sustainable business growth.
ports leagues table
In Summary, the experience framework would need to touch upon :
Clarity – Other than being the licensee of a city name, what does the team stand for? How are they linked to the city buzz? What do they offer a fan?
Conversations – The leagues need to get people talking about their sport in an active sort of way. Participating not just in entertainment centres and social media alone but in sports grounds, active lifestyles and more.
Connected – Thinking about the experience of a fan- On ground, Other venues, digital platforms and more.
Causes – Can the team do more for the cause they represent?
Capability – This is more a part of the team’s ability to win! But the fan should feel that they are part of a worthy team of their city.

Cardboard People, Photoshopped Beauty and Real Brands

April 19, 2015 By in Customer Experience Tags: , Leave a comment

This is supposed to be the age of transparency, empathy and connectedness. Can we please agree on what the real brand is?
Advertising is photo enhanced. Situations are all about perfect locations, beautiful happy moments or scary ones depending on product category. Advertising success invariably is shown as looking down upon someone else. Deviousness instead of playfulness gets you to the perfect family plan. All in the name of creative license. Fair enough.
You are after all an informed customer, making informed choices about your favourite brands. Yet you wonder about the intent of the brand?
Brand celebrities ask people to trust them. It’s known they don’t use the products they promote. They just hold them in their hands. So what if the customers lose health, money, feel vulnerable due to the dubious benefits of the product. There is always the exclamation mark in small print or spoken in faster language that saves everyone. Due diligence by the celebrity is rarely important. You are told customers understand that the celeb is play acting and it helps in sales. The big tick in sales is all that matters. Not what happens later. The mis-sold house, insurance or health product, the bad service is not something that concerns the celebrity. The marketing game is on.
You are told that the reputation management tools take care of customer concerns and everything is fine.
Shaving brands tell you how to treat women by shaving more. Yet are conspicuously silent on the biggest issues of the day. There is a perfectly better way to talk family products and plans. Devious methods is not one of them.
You are told that privacy is gone and that if you did not pay for the product you are the product.
You wonder about your data and your favourite brands desperate attempts to monetize your transactions even further. And even more desperate attempts to protect their corporate data. You wonder, did you have a choice. Would you like a choice? Then you wonder about products that you purchased, the price that you paid was it worth it.
According to the paradox of choice the customer will always be dissatisfied. Because of you see.. Choices!
You know that answer and yet you don’t want to say it. The choices are not that many.
Why are we focused on dystopian means and methods? Link baits, deviousness, hacking and so on. Where is the leadership that is focused on positive means and directions. Increasingly brands will need to engage with society, discuss policy with stakeholders and customers. If the brand wants people to trust them, then some methods need to change, because you see, trust means BEING REAL.
So, what’s the real brand? What does it really stand for?

Lighting Up My Life

January 28, 2015 By in Customer Experience Tags: , Leave a comment

In an earlier era, lighting was a much simpler affair. One went and purchased fixtures once. Light bulbs and tube lights were replenished, as and when needed, typically at the local electrical fittings store. The entire house had a similar lighting schema.
Things are different now.
Now, people experiment with lights. Lighting schemas for each room may differ, maybe it’s colour, maybe it’s the technology or maybe it is the visual impact of the room that they want to enhance.
The projects are not one off but instead an ongoing experiment with aesthetics and beauty in their lives. The brand experience then is about experiences over a lifetime of interactions.
Whether the customer is redesigning an existing space or working on enhancing a new one, the broad path remains largely along research, store visits and purchases. Perhaps in some cases there is an implementation partner (architect, interior designer, contractor) who is an interface. In the spirit of our times, the customer has choice. But does each choice offer an experience that helps the customers with what they set out to achieve? To create the perfect well lit room!
Brand choices in conjunction with services like Houzz provide customers many options to explore. What’s interesting is how things are noted for later reference. The photo of an interesting lamp, technology checklists, the link of an interesting site, the price details sourced from a friend, contact numbers of key people to contact may all make their way to Evernote, Pinterest and similar services. A quick mobile search for directions and the store to find the perfect lighting solution is invariably found. The ease of accessibility, parking options certainly make their way into conversations when shortlisting stores.
There are questions and expectations as the store visits commence. The customer wants an opportunity to discuss the big idea they have. Someone to guide them with tool kits that help make better decisions. One may not know the latest industry jargon but one certainly knows the importance of making a wise decision. Instead as with all technology products, one get informed by way of jargon.
We learnt the following on speaking to some customers :

  • In many conversations on this topic, a repeating theme was the not so well lit lighting store. The customer walks-in to a store with lights mostly switched off. Perhaps there was an effort to save light but then there are sensors that can easily remedy the situation.
  • One’s then faced with wall to wall fixtures. Do the excessive number of products without any visual segregation hinder or aid decision making or solution seeking? The book, Paradox of Choice comes to mind.
  • Company websites that could certainly be improved upon in terms of information, standards and toolkits

And yet lighting is a very exciting space.

  • While one wants to make one’s home bright with the right lights, one wants to be smart too. The right fixtures, technology that consumes less energy are the core basics of smart. What one may want to explore is the ability to link lights with sensors, link it to the smart phone and aim for even better energy management. Concepts like Hue, Nest, Homekit are in the minds of the customers. Would you get these experiences at your current store? What would need to change?
  • Smart is good but solar and alternative energy is certainly on the agenda of a few progressive customers. Finding information, experts, products and proof of concepts are very hard to come by. At the moment, it’s tough to find information on solar power backups like UPS/ Inverters.
  • Finally the partners, the people who help with ideas and implementation.
    What should they know?
    How can they be trained?
    How can the smart lighting project be an exercise in co-creation with the customer?
    What’s the digital toolkit for all this?

There is a lot more to do when lighting up someone’s place. The opportunity to make a difference starts now.

Brand Interfaces of the Future

January 27, 2015 By in Customer Experience Tags: , , Leave a comment
The idea of a front-end design of the future is a very compelling. Currently, most would focus on responsive websites but if you look at the idea of front-end of the future, it is not quite a website but much more.

There are 5 points to consider.
1. Multiplicity of Screens – You are looking at a design that renders well not just in display but in relevant functionality across these screens. The screens to consider conventional desktops/laptops, tablets and phones, perhaps even your car dashboard.
2. Information/Experiences in Contextual Services – The content and design needs to focus on information that gets rendered in services like Google Now, Twitter Cards other contextual services which could be around voice e.g. Siri or Cortana. Imagine a fund raising promotional tweet with the Support button within the twitter stream. This would have rich content maybe even video, information to help buy, plus the standards of twitter cards. Imagine, Google Now displaying a reminder to a phone user about a show that is about to start.
3. Experiences in the age of Wearable’s, Continuity and Sensors – Smart watches are around the corner, notifications are not only getting smarter but you can act on them right in that interface. You do not need to open an app for it. Imagine watching something on your phone while in the car, reaching home and pushing that video straight to your TV via Chromecast. Imagine web experiences with integrated notifications, devices in the age of Continuity and similar services.
4. Social Platforms, Analytics and Delivery of Integrated Experiences – At a simpler level, what can be done with live experiences, customer sharing aggregation, on going social listening, promotional campaigns including programmatic buying and more. Given that social is also resides in the notification tab, how can one re-imagine it all. This could be personalised experiences that factor in not just past usage but also factors like where they are now. Imagine travelling to another city, where there is a performance and you get a notification that tells you about it. With the buy button right in the notifications tab waiting for you to pay with a biometric id on phone!
5. Content management takes on a different meaning. It is then not just about managing information and products and updating it from a backend. It’s about a tool and a process that streamlines information and delivers it as appropriate for the device, location, customer and the context. All in real time! In a sense that defines the meaning of responsive.
Today, this is one’s understanding of what the front end is likely to be. It’s a start and more options will emerge. It is going to be a mix and match of many services. All needing to talk to each other likely via API’s. So the front end is not just the 5 points above but the interplay between the API’s and what more we can do with them.
The experiences for a customer or an employee will have almost similar interplays across places, times and devices. Imagination, relevance and ambition are going to be key.

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