ORLANDO -- Jim Dicso, President and Chief Revenue Officer, Sunday Sky, told attendees at the 6th annual Loyalty Expo on Friday that contextualized video speaks to the “notion of a conversation with customers.”
During the session, “How to Use Contextualized Video to Foster Deeper Engagement and Loyalty,” Dicso said that conversation must be personal and relevant and follow a certain philosophy or flow, and change as the customer passes through the lifecycle.
Sunday Sky has partnered with Time Warner Cable to deliver a best-in-class approach that targets relevance, engagement, and value to TWC customers throughout their lifecycle. The goal of contextualized videos for TWC customers is to create an experience that leads to increased satisfaction levels and enhances the overall relationship brad/consumer relationship.
Jason Barbrow, Vice President, Customer Lifecycle Experience, Time Warner Cable, participated in the session via Skype and said TWC wants to focus on areas that “we can impact and drive measurable change.”
Contextualized videos can drive up the perceived quality and experience for customers and recalibrate the brand/customer relationship.
What do we want them to feel? “A broader, enhanced view of their relationship with Time Warner Cable, opening their eyes to all of the ways we bring value to their lives,” Barbrow said. “A sustainable, emotional connection to our brand. There’s an art to calibrating each relationship to meet this delicate balance.”
What do we want them to do? “Remain loyal over time,” Barbrow said. “Feel confident that we will do the right thing when they reach out to us to resolve issues. Feel that our employees are empowered to provide satisfactory resolutions to questions, comments or concerns. Become advocates of our brand.”
Contextualized video relevance can take the form of many different personalized messages based on timeliness, season, recent behavior, and upcoming events. Opportunities for contextualized videos include customer acquisition, value per customer, customer experience, churn avoidance, and cost reduction.
According to data from Barbrow and Dicso, the value for customer spend represents up to a 30% lift, at least 90% have a positive experience, 5%-25% churn rate reduction, a 10%-20% cost reduction, and a 19% conversion lift.
A voice in a sample contextualized video to “Phil” reviewed his cable bill, which included new DVR service, and recommended television shows to watch that night including “The Daily Show” and “Conan”.
Another sample contextualized video reviewed American Express charges, and reminded the man that his son’s birthday was coming up, and suggested birthday present ideas along with an update on his loyalty points.
Barbrow acknowledged there are negative views attached to contextualized video, centered on customer service and price; intense competition; and consumer perceived product parity regardless of provider.
“It puts a lot of pricing pressure on us,” he said. “It all comes down to price so this idea of differentiation is crucial for us. Customers come in on promotional prices, and over their life they’re priced up. That alone creates challenge for investors.”
For contextualized videos to forge a niche market, Barbrow said they have to be “about relevance and engagement. If we do that well, there’s a mutual benefit that can bring value to their lives. We want to create a sustainable emotional connection to the brand. And we want them to become advocates for our brand.”
Dicso said there are phases of the customer lifecycle and the onboarding phase contains different phases within it. The three levels to maximum engagement are personalization, recognition, and differentiation.
Dicso said email is the most common channel being used as an outbound push for contextualized videos. “It sets an expectation for what’s coming in the subject line,” Dicso said.