Company and Customer Creating together

We were engaged to conduct customer research in support of our client’s five-year sales strategy. The organisation operated in transport, insurance and accommodation services across six brands, and it had asked its most loyal and valuable customers to nominate what additional service they’d most like to see the company offer. Where were the gaps, and what could the company do to fill them? The word came back from the customers that they wanted services that would make them feel special when they were holidaying with the company. Some of them were elderly, and they felt they deserved a bit of luxury. They didn’t want products that made them feel as if they were slumming it, and they didn’t much care if cheaper products were available. What they mainly wanted was to make sure that there was somebody around to help them if things went wrong. As part of the implementation of the strategy, we had already completed work on segmentation, behaviour based persona models and customer journey frameworks, and we had mapped key journeys. A significant amount of work had gone into creating the personas, using both qualitative and quantitative research, and there was still more that the company could draw out of those. We were engaged to undertake customer research as a way of involving customers in the development of the overall strategy and ultimately in the co-creation of products and services, leveraging human-centred design principles to ensure we incorporated a people perspective into the decision-making process. The main objectives for the initial project were to: • explore the customer appeal of the proposed service offering • gain an understanding of customers’ needs and preferences in the delivery of products and services • explore customers’ attitudes towards and knowledge of the products and services currently being offered • provide recommendations to maximise customer appeal and inform the evolution of the strategy.

by Isabella Villani

Excerpt taken from Transform Customer Experience.

Transform Customer Experience explains why Company and Customer Creating Together can improve your organisation and shows you how to do it. Visit www.isabellavillaniauthor.com or click the link below to get your copy today!