Metrics
You Know “Customer Experience.” What about “Customer Effort?”
Shep Hyken makes the case that brands should put special focus on customer effort. He writes, “Looking for ways to improve the experience, save your customers time, and be more convenient is part of what will make your customers want to come back.” Of note is the article’s emphasis that reducing “customer effort” tends to increase customer loyalty. Many brands focus on the emotional aspects of CX, but it’s noteworthy that consumers are unlikely to return to a brand that made them work hard to get service or resolve a problem.
Tech
Near-Real-time Retail Personalization
The internet of things has changed in ways that benefit brands. “By consolidating IoT data with other data streams (website traffic logs, point-of-sale, warehouse information, customer support and so on), retailers have the power to completely transform the customer shopping experience from a mass-market, cookie-cutter promotion to a personalized shopping experience.” This article is in keeping with what brand leaders tell Loyalty360. The growing concern over data privacy does not come at the expense of customers’ demand for personalized shopping experiences. That demand is ever-increasing.
Employee Engagement
Lyft Struggles with Driver Satisfaction, Profitability
Despite being a household name and a top-of-mind brand in ride sharing, Lyft remains unprofitable. “A major point of uncertainty is whether Lyft will be able to maintain the flexible nature of its relationship with drivers. It’s in Lyft’s best interest to make sure drivers remain classified as independent contractors, not employees who qualify for benefits and other company-sponsored perks.” The brand faces external legal pressures, as lawsuits may end in court rulings that find the drivers to be employees rather than independent contractors.
Data
Docomo Puts Customer Data up for Sale
NTT Docomo has announced that it will provide its consumer data on the 68 million members of its reward points program to its (over 300) partners. Docomo has stated that this sharing will be met with increased privacy protection measures. “The company plans to analyze member information with their consent and sell access to the database. Buyers could study consumer behavior based on location, age, and gender, improving product development and marketing campaigns. Pricing has yet to be determined.” The selling of customer data is likely to become more common in coming years, but it’s difficult to predict how increased concern with data breaches and new legislation will affect the trend.
Brands
Let Pixar’s Rules Guide Your Brand
Over at Medium, Shahed Khalili shows how Pixar’s “Rules for Storytelling” can be applied in brand storytelling. “In the past couple of decades of building software, I’ve told many poorly structured stories and have learned to tell good ones. I’ve seen how a good story by a product manager results in a happy customer, and no story becomes a feature no one uses.” Notably, Khalili states that these storytelling rules are useful for communications with employees, not just consumers. Storytelling is currently used (quite effectively) in marketing, but perhaps its applications go well beyond that.