Building and Inspiring

Customer Engagement

George Tsakraklides

Why is Customer Engagement important?

Within the first year of its operation, the Money Advice Service has provided help to more than 1.3 million customers who needed financial advice

A service in high demand

But who is using it? And are they satisfied?Service usage tells us nothing about customer satisfaction and service performance Understanding who current customers are and their experience will help shape and continuously improve and target the service – something essential at this stage

Make it last: create a brand which inspires loyalty and creates reputation

Sometimes those who need help the most are also the ones not seeking it. An advice service should not help only the “easy customers”. Social responsibility means taking the extra step persuading those in need that they need help. It means campaigning, educating, bringing about change not only in people’s lives but in people’s minds

…and are those who need help the most getting it?

The Money Advice Service has the opportunity and backing to become the leader in the industry, to set the standard. In order to do this it needs to inspire real engagement from customers. This is what brands do. Brands are essential for credibility, reputation, repeat business, and inspiring not just the present but the future of an organisation, galvanising it from within to achieve

Brands have the ability to create a deep and personal relationship with the customer

Understand the current customer base

Identify and attract potential customers

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Success is not about number of “hits” but about engaging with the right customers

Threat: providing the wrong service to the wrong people

Threat: failing to help those who need the most help

Failing to compete on the high street

Understand Current Customersvital questions which any successful service must answer:

??Is your business fulfilling a real customer need? Do you know who your customer is? Do you know their aspirations? Do you give them a great customer experience? Have you lived inside their shoes? What is the unmet need that you serve?

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Understand Current Customers Example solutions

Usage analysis. Aggregate and analyse customer transactional and demographic data from website e.g. who is using which service, how much, when, through which channel?

Solution

A user vs. service vs. channel grid will help to:

Prioritise most strategic servicesAllocate resource and investment accordingly Customise services for audiences

Benefit

What drives financial responsibility Customer pen portraitsTargeted marketing

Audience Segmentation. Conduct market research to align attitudinal data to the transactional data

Uncover service gapsIdentify performance issues

Customer Satisfaction Tracking. Continuous monitoring of Key Performance Indicators over the course of the next few years

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Identify and attract Potential New Customers

Build a detailed picture of the Customer Journey to seeking financial advice. Qualitative research with current and potential customers fitting the profiles of the customer segmentation

Obtain a deep understanding of the drivers and barriers to engaging with the service. At which point do they seek help? What makes them unlikely to engage?

Solution

Customise communications at specific touch points in the journey. At which point in the journey are potential customers most receptive to MAS?

Customise messages - Which messages most resonate and which do the opposite? At which point in the journey?

Benefit

Emotional Insight Mining. Seeking financial advice is a sensitive matter for many, and can involve a number of complex emotions: helplessness, fear, guilt, denial, complacency. Understanding these is essential to unlocking the secret motivations of the advice seeker and managing to connect with them at a much deeper level

Enable The Money Advice Service to “think like an advice seeker” throughout:provision of servicescustomer campaignscommunications

Using the tone and language which resonates with those who seek advice

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Build a brand which inspires

The brand is the “relationship glue” between the organisation and the audience that holds it all together and makes the connection unique and personal. It can also unite different people

“Branding is really about discovery. It’s about uncovering that thing deep inside you that creates unique value for your customers. Your brand is your soul. Every business has a unique brand hidden beneath a layer of marketing fluff. And that’s the tough part.”

Jay Ehert

What is important to you? Why are you unique? Why should customers choose you over others? What are your values, mission and vision? Why do you do what you do? What is your story, your passion, why do you love it? What problems do you solve? How are you different?

3The search begins here. Ask yourself:

Build a brand which inspires

Brand Identity – Who are you? What are the values which the brand “believes in” and needs to communicate and which the brand and the audience have in common? E.g. compassionate vs. strict, formal vs. informal, funny vs. serious

Brand Implementation. How are the brand values expressed in the various vehicles: brand name, logo, font and visual identity, website layout, advertising, communications language style and tone

Brand Expression. A brand lives and breathes both inside and outside an organisation. The very ethos and vision of an organisation, as expressed by the brand, inspires the strategy and future of the organisation

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