Time has become the scarcest resource people have. Companies have to make everything as convenient and fast-paced as possible. Netflix (who are almost notoriously in sync with their customers' wants and needs) invented the 'Skip Intro' button. After its launch, not a day went by without people praising the streaming service for it. After all, what's not to like? You get to watch your episode quicker and it will save you at least ten minutes throughout the day if you've planned a hardcore bingewatch session. All jokes or sarcasm aside: time is serious business. Time = money.
Push for Pizza
So how do you innovate the right things for your customer? You have to (get to) know what they want. You collect experience data (ask what they want or how their experience was), data on user behaviour (track what they do, for example on your webshop), and other customer data you can think of. Domino's, for example, discovered that about 80% of their customers order the same pizza everytime. It didn't make sense that customers had to go trough the process of ordering time and time again, if they always asked for the same thing.
Enter Push for pizza. Push the button and your favourite pizza gets ordered right away. They also put it into a zero-click app, just opening the app is enough to order. A bit superfluous? Maybe. Convenient? Yes. Personalized? Definitely. Quick? Faster than real-time. And remember: if it works, it ain't stupid.
It might seem silly, but Domino's growth has been of the charts for the last couple of years, surpassing big tech companies like Google and Facebook. Why? Because of their detailed knowledge into their customer base they could innovate the right things. This allows them to become stronger than their biggest industry competitors like PizzaHut.
Artificial Intelligence and other technological advancements have led to benefits for companies who succesfully adopted them. Still, the human touch is what sets companies apart: computers predict, people surprise. Computers deliver, people over-deliver. People have to step in where computers fail. When customers are satisfied it's mostly because an employee did something extraordinary. They make or break a customer's day.
At Coolblue they have one specific best practice to close the loop between employees and customers, especially the delivery staff. Their delivery people are doing more than just dropping off a washing machine, they're actually making people happy.
So at Coolblue, the delivery personnel gets called into the office each morning before their rounds. They sit down and get to read customer feedback, to see if they delivered on their promise: 'Anything for a Smile'. More so they get to celebrate each other's successes, ask questions, or give feedback to their team leads and colleagues. The next day they'll receive new feedback on those matters in return. And as their CEO Pieter announced, they rounded up 2018 with a - for them - unseen NPS℠ of 69. Engaged employees truly lead to happy customers!
Creating customer centricity is only possible if you innovate the right things. It goes beyond board room meetings or doing what makes sense to you. It's about getting to know your customer and creating the right experience for them.
Let's end with one last example. Efteling, a Dutch theme park, is a master in putting themselves in the shoes of their customers. Even though it's the parents who pay for the tickets, it's actually the children who make the rules. So the Efteling personnel walks around the park with a camera set on a child's height. This way they can see for themselves how kids experience the theme park, and they know what's going well and what can be improved. In doing so, Efteling literally brings their employees and customers closer together. Now that's customer centricity at its finest.
Want to know how we can help you? Don't hesitate to reach out, we're always ready to have chat!
Receive the best insights on Customer Experience and stay up-to-date with our latest company news.
