Are Your

Customer

Relationships

Sticky? Three Customer Centric Research

Approaches to Improve

Engagement During and After

the Honeymoon Period

Introduction

While every interaction with

your brand ultimately helps or

hinders customer loyalty, the

"honeymoon period" of the

customer journey is the most

critical time for you to create

“sticky” relationships.

Evaluating this early phase

offers numerous opportunities

to set your customers on a

path to a higher lifetime

value by delivering

extraordinary experiences.

From online banks to

pharmaceutical companies to

retail settings, companies are

feeling the pressure to

differentiate themselves in

today’s customer centric

marketplace. Understanding

this first stage of the customer

experience pathway helps build

the solid foundation necessary to

create brand ‘stickiness.’

In this eBook you will learn practical

examples of how to inform strategy that

make customer relationships stickier.

Part 1: Why Does Customer Experience Matter?

Part 2: What is the Honeymoon Period and Why is it so Important?

Part 3: Practical Examples

- Customer Journey Discovery

- InTouch™ Communities

- Re-visiting Longitudinal Analysis

Part 4: Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

PA

RT

ON

E

Wh

y d

oes

cu

sto

mer

exp

eri

en

ce m

att

er?

There has been a lot of buzz and spin about “customer

experience.” Is it just another trendy management fad that helps sell

consulting time? Does it apply to my company?

Peter Drucker says it best in his landmark book Management: Tasks,

Responsibilities, Practices: “There is only one valid definition of a business

purpose: to create a customer…It is the customer who determines what a

business is. It is the customer alone whose willingness to pay for a good or

service converts economic resources into wealth, things into goods.”

Customer experience matters

because it is fundamental to

the purpose of every

business, to create and by

implication – keep customers.

In 2012, Forrester Research estimated that the net annual revenue benefit of superior customer experiences ranged from 88 million to 3.1 billion depending on the industry.

Superior Customer Experiences = ↑ ROI

But what do you do when your CFO says ‘show me

the money?’ What is the economic value of

customer experience?

PA

RT

TW

O

Wh

at

is t

he “

ho

neym

oo

n p

eri

od

” a

nd

wh

y

is i

t so

im

po

rtan

t?

We all know both intuitively and by life experience that the early

moments or stages of a relationship are critical – ask any job candidate or

salesperson about the importance of making a good first impression!

The honeymoon period, often referred to as the onboarding process, will be

an anchor for the customer’s feelings about you for the duration of the

relationship.

Evaluating your early

customer life cycle offers

numerous opportunities

to set your customer on a

path to a higher lifetime

value by delivering

extraordinary experiences.

Grow

Aware Attract

Nurture Engage The honeymoon

period in the path

to loyalty is at the

‘Engage’ phase of

the cycle. This is

where we initially

start to build the

relationship and

set expectations.

The path to loyalty and profitable

customers

Different

industries

same principle

Regardless of the

industry, there is always a

honeymoon period for a

customer. The honeymoon

period goes beyond the first

‘moments of truth’ and

addresses the customer’s full

on-boarding process whether it

be weeks or months.

The underlying nature of the customer problem, what the

customer is trying to accomplish during this early stage, is

similar across industries. The principle of the honeymoon period can be transferred to any type of business.

PA

RT

TH

REE

Pra

cti

cal Exam

ple

s

Business Problem: A major financial institution knew they had a good

on-boarding experience. They wanted to design a

great experience to grow share of wallet.

Industry:

Financial Services

How do we identify

channel-specific

strategies to improve

the new customer

experience?

Companies must leverage

the power of the honeymoon

period to build stronger

engagement. Improving the

experience will lead to

additional investments and

increased loyalty.

Companies cannot assume they understand the investor’s on-

boarding experience. Detailed mapping provides a comprehensive look

at the experience to ensure needs are being met and gaps identified.

Identifying critical decision points allows companies to be proactive in

personalizing the experience with relevant communications.

Recruited new customers to

participate in a 12 week study

Combined individual

ethnographic

exercises with short “pulse”

Surveys using two separate

platforms

Collected “artifacts”, such

as marketing and

communication

materials

How we did it

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12+

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12+

Satisfaction

Emotional Impact

Value Add Why the drop?

Company reaching out to

customers

Customers reaching out to

company

Weeks

Weeks

Communication flow between the company, client and the customer.

We evaluated moments across the first 100 days

We drew nuances and emotions from

individual stories

I would appreciate if (company) showed me how they could be a “port in the storm” for me. I need their expertise.

I had a sense of accomplishment after opening my account – I was taking a step forward.

The first few interactions had a big impact on me. They gave the company a “face”.

What (company) did well for me… Exceeded expectations: great websites, smart reps

What could have been better… Provide primer on investing options

What I expect going forward… Less hand-holding: be there when I need you

We asked the right questions to enable the

company go from good to extraordinary

Make It Truly Personal 2

CMI identified three areas that were relevant and meaningful

Provide Relevant

Communication &

Education

3 Give Me Confidence 1

Core Competences Onboarding

Expectations

Be a reliable resource if I have

questions

Make me a confident investor; be

there for me

Make me feel like I’ve made a

good decision

Stay in touch/follow-up

Get to know me

Customize communications

Make website more customized

and easier to navigate

Offer more live, positive

interactions

Provide newsletters, things to

know

Keep me informed of

products/tools

What did the financial services

company do next?

Designed an alternate customer centric

communications program

Rigorously tested the effectiveness of the new

program to build customer engagement

Optimized and rolled out the program

further entrenching customers

What CMI Learned

Instead of using independent qualitative and quantitative methods, use an integrated platform

Think differently about the skills required for these programs. A team approach that includes customer engagement, immersive skills and quantitative analysis will ensure a successful outcome.

Business problem: A major pharmaceutical company wanted

to know why patients were abandoning

their Patient Assistance Program (PAP) .

How could they identify the triggers and

touchpoints that were having the greatest

impact on the success of their PAP?

Industry:

Pharmaceutical

Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs) are specialized support

groups offered by Pharmaceutical Companies to assist in financial and

behavioral support focused on achieving the best health outcome for

the patient.

Why is the success of a PAP important?

• Increased regulatory pressure to

have more influences on patient

adherence

• Reinforce the value of

the company’s brand

• Improve patient health

Understand the

triggers and

touchpoints by

mapping the

journey

Increase

effectiveness of

critical touch

points along the

pathway

Increase patient

awareness of

health outcomes

yielding greater

adherence

Improve patient

health and

optimize

business

How to get to Improved

Patient Health

Recruited a short-

term

community of

customers (MROC

platform)

Integrated

qualitative and

quantitative

approach to

decipher emotions

and motivations

Informed Strategy

by modifying critical

touchpoints

How we did it

Advantages of an Integrated Platform

Gather real-time in the

moment insights

Leverage technology for

active communications

Easier to use advanced

analytics to understand

decisions

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week

10

Week

11 Week

12+

Called PAP 1-800 number /

Visited PAP website to

initiate application

process.

They were pretty helpful

in telling me what

information I needed to

apply.

Filled out application to

determine eligibility. Correct

proof of income was not

provided.

The application requires a lot of

documentation. I hope I

completed it correctly.

Received notification

of enrollment status in

the mail and

confirmation of

shipment.

What a relief!

Received 90 day supply with

personalized instructions and

drug information.

The instructions are

easy to follow. Time

to start taking my

meds.

Visited PAP website to research

side effects. Did not find relevant

information and proceeded to

research other websites and

similar medications

These side effects are making me

nervous. Do all OAB meds have

these side effects? Should I look

into other OAB meds?

Received email that it is

time to complete re-

application for refill.

Do I have to fill out all that

paperwork again? Do I really

need these meds? Maybe I can

find an alternative to taking

meds.

NON-ADHERENCE:

Did not place order

for refill.

Received email that

additional proof of

income is needed.

I hope I got it right

this time.

Consumer thoughts & feelings

Touch point

Critical decision points of concern

To fully understand the

journey you have to map the

experience

Understanding the triggers

and touchpoints along the

map will help identify the

pain points of the

patient’s journey. Only

then can you truly improve

the experience.

Typically companies map the journey from the inside out - the

company’s perspective. We show you a ‘walk-in-the-customers-shoes’

journey.

In the previous example you see that the patient’s journey ends in non-

adherence. Not an ideal result. The map outlines the points of concern

along the journey.

Week 2 –

Live chat feature was

added to facilitate the

online enrollment

process.

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week

10

Week

11 Week

12+

Called PAP 1-800 number /

Visited PAP website to

initiate application

process.

Filled out application to

determine eligibility. Correct

proof of income was not

provided.

Received notification

of enrollment status in

the mail and

confirmation of

shipment.

Received 90 day supply with

personalized instructions and

drug information.

Visited PAP website to research

side effects. Did not find relevant

information and proceeded to

research other websites and

similar medications

Received email that it is

time to complete re-

application for refill.

ADHERENCE:

Placed order for refill.

Received email that

additional proof of

income is needed.

Informed channel-specific strategies

Touch point

Re-designing the Journey The pharmaceutical company made specific modifications to the

onboarding process to address the points of concern, ultimately

improving the experience and ending the journey with adherence.

Week 6–

Motivational email was replaced

with a personal call from an

adherence coach.

Week 8–

Automation was added to the online portal.

When significant changes are made to an

adherence plan, live-chat will be initiated to

talk through the changes.

Week 11–

Along with a motivational email, a

personalized status update based on data

from the online tools is provided. The touch

point was also moved to week 10.

Business problem

Your company has ideas for how

to redesign the on-boarding

process but you are not sure if

these ideas will really improve

customer engagement.

How do you test

your experiences

that unfold over

time?

Issues with the common approaches

• Too disconnected from the real experience

• Doesn’t take time into account

• Difficult to incorporate the details that

matter when there are multiple

interactions

• Insights are limited to aggregate

conclusions

• No opportunity to observe the dynamics

between pre and post

Concept

Testing

Pre/Post

A typical pre/post study

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Control

Test 1

Test 2

En

gag

em

en

t

How do you understand

what’s happening in the

middle?

What’s a alternative solution?

Applying Latent Growth Modeling (LGM) to a

customer insight challenge

LGM is a longitudinal analysis technique

to estimate growth over a period of time.

It is typically used in academic and

commercial settings.

LGM: How it’s done in Customer

Experience

1. Define success criteria

2. Develop metrics to evaluate success

3. Build a short term customer panel

4. Measure throughout the experience

5. Explore the “paths”

A longitudinal view allows you to ask

the important questions

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Control

Test 1

Test 2

En

gag

em

en

t

Why is test group 2 the highest at this particular time?

What is causing the steady improvement in Test group 1?

Now that we’ve identified the different paths that

customers are following, LGM allows you to drill down to

find out what’s driving these differences.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Control

Test 1

Test 2

En

gag

em

en

t

Higher engagement in the

3rd month for Test2 is

driven mainly by stronger

perceptions of “feeling cared for.”

The consistent rise in

engagement over the last

3 months in Test1 is driven

by growing perceptions of

“confidence.”

PA

RT

FO

UR

K

ey T

akeaw

ays

Follow the journey

Nothing substitutes this longitudinal view during the honeymoon period. You must walk in the customer’s shoes to understand how the experience unfolds for them.

Understand the triggers and

touchpoints

Identify the pain-points and moments of truth. Are there any influences outside of your process that are affecting the outcomes the customers are trying to achieve?

Leverage Communities

Use a customer-panel approach and track the same customers over time. Technology makes this possible.

Test

alternatives

Finally, engage your stakeholders with compelling stories

Present results

in a compelling

ways to show

the story

Let’s link up You can talk to us through social media

Join our group on

Share this eBook with other

Customer Experience Professionals

in your network.

www.cmiresearch.com/w/insights/

CMI – Customer Experience

Brian Lunde VP, Customer Experience Practice Leader

blunde@cmiresearch.com 312.600.4898

Intelligence that delivers exceptional brands and experience™

To find out more about CMI and our innovative solutions please contact us: kshah@cmiresearch.com www.cmiresearch.com