Customer Experience

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Customers don’t view these interactions as channel-centric or as journeys, paths and lifecycles in the same way a brand might view them. Each one, however small, elicits emotion from the person at the other end. Over time, these individual interactions or moments accrue, forming the basis for customer experience.[pic 34]

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This expectation is especially relevant for Safelite AutoGlass, a provider of glass installation services with 6,500 retail locations. Bruce Millard, the company’s assistant vice president of digital and customer experience, takes a holistic view. Customer experience is “everywhere we touch a customer or they look for us, being present and trying to make the experience as seamless, painless and effortless as possible.” Millard emphasized the importance of the convenience factor for his brand. “People don’t want to go out and buy a

windshield or side glass. They have a problem; they need a resolution,” he said.

In a Q1 2016 survey, research and consulting firm Temkin Group found that brands across all industries have plenty of room for improvement when it comes to eliciting positive emotions from US internet users. In all sectors studied, Temkin found that while most new purchases prompted a “good” feeling, the bulk of customer service interactions fell in the “poor” or “very poor” category.

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Average Emotion Ratings* for New Purchases vs. Customer Service Interactions Among US Internet Users, by Service Type/Industry, Q1 2016

August 2015 research from Nice Systems and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that internet users in major

metro areas worldwide used an average of 5.6 customer

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New purchases

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Customer service interactions

service channels. One-third of respondents reported that they used seven or more service channels, and only 3% said they used one. For most businesses, these channels are rarely just digital. Brick-and-mortar stores, call centers or even direct mail could all encompass their particular world of touchpoints.[pic 36]

John Caruso, partner and creative director at digital experience agency MCD Partners, believes that this always-on environment of multiple channels puts incredible pressure on brands to keep up. People “expect first-contact resolution for all their problems,” he said. “You pick up your device and you expect it to get resolved right away. Across all devices and platforms and services, customers expect it to all just work.”

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Auto dealer 69% 34% Computer manufacturer 66% 35% Hotel 64% 44% Wireless carrier 63% 30%

Appliance manufacturer 62% 37%[pic 37][pic 38]

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Bank 61% 41%

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Credit card issuer 60% 38%

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Airline 58% 32%

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TV/internet provider 55% 6%

[pic 43]

Auto insurer 50% 42%

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Health plan 29% 18%

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Note: read as respondents on average felt "good" about purchases from auto dealers (score of 69%), but felt "very poor[ly]" about customer service interactions with auto dealers (score of 34%); *Temkin Emotion Ratings are based on a scale of 1-7 where 1=upset and 7=delighted, and are calculated by taking the percent that selected 6 or 7 and subtracting the percent that selected 1-3; scores of 0%-40%=very poor, 41%-50%=poor, 51%-60%=OK, 61%-70%=good and 71%+=excellent

Source: Temkin Group, "Q1 2016 Consumer Benchmark Survey" as cited in company blog, March 3, 2016

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206907 www.eMarketer.com

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Many experts who spoke with eMarketer for this report consistently pointed to the same companies that have effectively heightened customer expectations, not just within their own sector but across the board: Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix and Uber.

Though Airbnb is a travel brand and Amazon is primarily a retailer, each is a technology company at its core, with an engineering-driven focus on testing, iterating and constantly improving its products, services and overall experience.

Jesse Shultis, vice president of customer experience and channels at insurer Cuna Mutual Group, said that when he looks at the competitors to his company’s TruStage product from a business perspective, he focuses on other insurance companies. But the pool becomes much

broader when looking at the competition from a customer experience perspective. “I don’t think anybody comes

to the TruStage website and says, ‘Jeez, this is a much better website than the other insurance company,’” he said. “What they’re saying is, ‘This is as good or not as good as Amazon.com.’”

Of course, many companies must deal with a larger number of touchpoints than that of digital natives. “These digital-only companies have it much easier because

their footprint is narrow toward digital,” said Peter Kang, executive vice president of creative at customer engagement agency Rosetta. “They tightly control the customer experience” because of the relatively fewer channels with which they have to work. Though it’s also

fair to say that some of these companies have been built from the ground up with the customer journey in mind and don’t have to deal with legacy