Customer Experience Vs. Customer Service

I’ve come across number of people who get confused between “Customer Experience” & ‘Customer Service”. I am no expert on this, but choose to express my point of view on this. In simple words, I can say that customer Service is a part of customer experience. This diagram will further help to understand the difference between the two…

Customer Service is one of the touch points that contiributes to the overall customer experience. Here are few interpretations on “Customer Expereince & Customer Service”.

What can ‘Robotic Distribution’ do for you?

Very recently I came across a great video about Kiva Systems’ – Robotic Distribution used by Zappos.com. By just the look of the massive store house it seemed like a preview to I,Robot, but as the video goes along I am amazed by the benefits of this Robotic Distribution. Here’s the video of this cool technology:

“It’s a major game-changer. There’s no question about that. You can increase productivity immensely,” said Michael Levans, editorial director for a group of supply-chain trade magazines like Logistics Management.”

This automation enables Zappos to process an order in 12 minutes! as compared to 40 (single order) -150 (multiple order) minutes earlier. Isn’t this amazing? The robots  don’t just add speed in processing, but they also save a ton of energy costs. There are entire sections of the warehouse that don’t need any lighting or climate control (because humans don’t go there). Accuracy is another added advantage!

Another interesting part about this automated adaptation is the reaction from the employees. They look so relieved by the arrival of Robots. Employee reaction is of utmost importance. Employee reaction is one of the most ignored part in the whole customer experience cycle. A firm must to put the same rigor in enhancing employee experience that they do to enhance customer experience. After all, employee is a (internal) customer to0.

Any advancement in operational automation tends to fail if they’re not fully accepted by the employees. I must say this investment definitely seems to have enhanced the experience of internal customers.

Apart from numerous benefits derived through this technology, one thing that I can take out of this is… For a real commitment to Customer Experience, a firm has to rethink the whole value proposition including the back-end operations! Kudos to @ZapposCEO, Gap and Staples who use autonomous robots to pluck products from their shelves and send them to you.

Tropicana takes a U-Turn, reverts back to old packaging!

Early in January, PepsiCo‘s flagship product, Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice changed its packaging (on left in the image below). A day or two ago the company executives plan to discontinue the new packaging (which is already in market) and bring back the previous version back!

How stupid is that?

I am curious to know if there was any  rationale behind launching a new packaging in the first place! I am sure there was, but wonder what type of research lead to this decision to launch new packaging.  If customers did not want a new packaging…. then why introduce one?

I don’t mean to be rude, I’ve have been a Tropicana fan since long. I even loved the new package design. But for me, the deal breaker was the connection between how I perceive Tropicana & the new package design. For me, the new packaging diluted the premium appeal of the brand. It made Tropicana look like a store brand.

I am glad Tropicana is back on track & that is surely becuase of those Tropicana fanatics!

Welcome to the Participation Era.

As I watch numerous commercials, online or otherwise… I ask myself, “will I buy this brand because of this advertisement?” my answer is “No, not at all”. I believe advertising is mere a tool to create awareness or in some cases, generate interest about a particular brand of product or service.

As we entered the digital age, brands are not solely build by messaging or advertising, but by their behavior with the consumers. The most important thing today is not about what brand says, but it’s about ‘what brand does’ & how consistently it does. For a brand manager, integrating the brand with the product benefits is not enough… I’d say, it will be a recipe of disaster.

A brand manager has to think about the right mixture of integration between Brand-Product-Consumer.

Of all the above mentioned components of integration, ‘Consumer’ is the most important component. A brand has to seek ways to connect with the people and start a conversation, a conversation that is engaging & relevant enough for people to share among their communities.  Create a platform for participation, co-create with your consumers. I strongly feel that, a consumer has to be seen as a co-owner &  the key to success is to listen to the consumers & act accordingly.

First brand that comes to my mind is Starbucks! It’s a perfect example of a a brand adapting to the new digital revolution. The brand launched MyStarbucksIdea.com, an online platform for suggestion and virtual community to involve the brand followers. Many initiatives that Starbucks has launched have come from consumer’s mind. When a brand actually acts on consumer’s preference, a sense of belonging is created in the minds of consumer & this can be on of the core things that will turn a consumer into an advocate.

The Participation Era has arrived & the only way to survive  is to embrace ‘consumer’ as an integral part of marketing process. This is the era that demands ‘actions’ more than ‘advertising’  & ‘ brand experience’ more than just ‘product features’. The question we have to ask ourself is, “am I ready for the Participation Era?”

Make your customer happy in 5 minutes!

Before:

A blogger posts negative comments about recent communication by Hallmark.

Next Day:

With a new post, his negative comments turn to positive. Infact he advocates the Brand

why?

He receives a personal response from the Public Affairs at Hallmark.

Great Job! Ms. Deidre Mize! I am sure it must have taken her less than 5 minutes to check the feed & reply to this dissatisfied consumer. Controlling consumer reaction on digital medium becomes very difficult. But, tools & technologies are in place to make things easier for brand manager & the PR personnel. Even free services like ‘Google Alert’ are a hand stretch away… only if one cares about customer satisfaction. According to me, a brand has to continously interact with their consumer at various touch points. Their reaction is the best Key Performance Indicator one can ask for.

Once again great job Ms. Mize & great job Hallmark! This post has been a great learning for me, especially because it tells me how a small amount of investment can make a customer happy. A small email made such a difference! These are small things that we can keep in mind, but we somehow tend to forget, ignore or jut don’t understand. Afterall,  a ‘life time value’ of a smiling customer will be way higher than and hence very essential for a brand manager to keep them happy. This lesson learned will remain with me for long.

“Things turn out best for the people who (brands that) make the best out of the way things turn out.”

- Art Linkletter

Drink Tap Water!

Recently came across an article in Business Week titled, “Bottled Waters Lose Their Effervescence” it was great reading that article because just a month ago, I along with a team of talented Brandcenter students had worked on a brand campaign for SIGG Water Bottle. Here’s the presentation to induce people to drink tap water & make SIGG a stylish environmental commitment…

Brand Campaign for SIGG Water Bottle

Will be great to have your feedback on this.