May 20, 2010 0
There’s a Better Way to Create a Good Customer Experience
We’re just back from the excellent two-day European Customer Experience Event where folks from Zappos and Harley-Davidson talked about how they build their ‘wow’ experience.
It’s our first time there and, to be honest, not the usual beat for us. But it should be – both for us and the insight community in general. Researchers who do anything related to loyalty or customer service should be attending this type of event because they get to meet the folks who actually put their work into practice – customer experience and service heads from major organisations, public and private.
We’ll blog more with some things that caught our eye. But first, in what’s becoming a tradition, here’s a wrap-up chat with three fellow delegates in which we talk highlights, learnings, customer experience in the public sector, digital natives vs. immigrants, behavioural economics, engendering loyalty by charging people (!), transparency and authenticity, convergence, and improvements for next year. Enjoy!
STARRING:
- Brian Koma, VP Research, Vovici
- Sharon Bayliss, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
- Toni Blumeris, MD, Harding & Yorke (S. Africa)
A lot of folks are drinking the Zappos kool-aid these days. And it’s easy to see why. Because every now and then you come across a company that’s so contrarian in its thinking and execution that it leaves most observers bewildered. Before it was Google with quirky initiatives such as 
Harley-Davidson needs no introduction. It’s an iconic brand that, unlike Zappos, has been around for decades. And for many of us it conjures up distinct emotions such as freedom even if we’ve never experienced their products.
Kindly hosted by Dean van Leeuwen, TomorrowToday’s intellectual adventurer and scholar of the new world of work. He focuses on customer loyalty and talent engagement.
The fact that companies like Toyota and Tesco and Proctor & Gamble in many of its categories have shown that you can in fact keep improving delivery on the basics, shows that it’s not just a commodity…
The renowned marketing Professor Patrick Barwise is a relatively rare animal, an academic with commercial instinct and pragmatism. Here he talks to Michael Warren about the ramifications of his two most recent books, ‘Simply Better’ (which won the American Marketing Association’s 2005 prize for the best recent book in marketing), and one that he is currently writing with the working title: ‘Customer Insights – Beyond Market Research’. His ability to cut through marketing myths, hype and meaningless jargon using solid reasoning reinforces his position as one of the industry’s most valued thought-leaders
Our team of brand specialists tell us what’s hot in branding, why they love the iPod brand, and why staff need to live the brand and product experience to maximise brand effectiveness. Markets mentioned: drinks, electronics, financial, Internet, retail, social media, telecoms
How does First Direct manage to consistently excel on customer service? Does it offer different levels of service depending on customer value? Does it hold aspirations to extend it’s brand beyond finance? What prospects lie ahead?
Podcasts
