Start-up customer experience: The case for a ‘customer first’ approach
UK start-up businesses are on the rise – 2016 saw a record number (650,000) of new start-ups, with this trend predicted to continue in 2017. Alongside this, customer experience is being recognised as a driver of growth amongst B2B service providers, yet less than 25% are excelling and only 23% of B2B organisations claim to have a customer-centric approach. With last week marking six months since starting up ourselves as ‘lens’, we wanted to reflect on some of our own experiences to illustrate:
- Why we firmly believe that a ‘customer first’ approach is so important
- How getting the customer experience ‘wrong’ can have a negative impact on customer behaviour, loyalty, and advocacy
- …And why/ where significant opportunities exist for B2B organisations who ‘get it right’
Here, we take a look at some of the fundamentals of a customer first approach and illustrate how they played out across our own experiences when starting out…
#1 - Understand your customers’ mind-set and needs
Taking the plunge into ‘start-up world’ brought about a whole series of conflicting emotions - we were in a place that we hadn’t been in before…a totally different ‘mind-set’. We were very focused on an overall mission - ‘To set-up our business so that we were ready to go on day 1’. This meant creating a ‘to do’ list which included things like registering the business, buying (and setting-up) the right IT equipment, taking out the right business insurance, and setting-up business banking, etc. Each item on our ‘to do’ list represented an individual customer journey that we would go on, with each journey involving different organisations.
Our mind-set very much shaped our needs, which was somewhat different to what we would want/ need as a consumer - we were a different persona. In general, we felt that very few of the organisations we dealt with really took the time to understand this. Some of the banks got off to a reasonable start – they suggested that they had products for us by having the word ‘business’ in the naming of their accounts and, with some, we could then look at accounts for ‘start-ups’ versus those who were ‘already running a business’ or ‘switching providers.’ Beyond this, the questions they asked us were pretty much about facts and figures (e.g. ‘What will your turnover/ net profit be, will you be dealing in cash?’) and not about what we actually needed.
The impact?
First impressions count. We started out feeling that we weren’t fully understood and that the banks, in particular, weren’t all that interested in us as a business. Turns out, that feeling became a reality…
#2 - Design around customer goals, not a product or a process
After understanding who your customers/ target customers are, the next question a business should ask is, ‘What are customers trying to achieve with us?’ This leads to the identification of customer goals, which define individual customer journeys, e.g. ‘to set-up our business banking.’
It quickly became clear that the bank had designed their experience around their product and associated process, not around us achieving our goal. This was most apparent in terms of where we each perceived our journey to end – to us, being ‘set-up’ meant that we had everything we needed and knew how to access and manage our accounts; to the bank, the emphasis seemed to be on our account being open – they sent out the necessary comms. and then it felt like ‘job done’…
The impact?
In the short-term, we had some issues with setting-up and support was hard to find – we were unsure who to contact, which lead to us sending several emails and making quite a few calls. This quickly descended in to feelings of ‘what have we done…’
#3 – Map the end-to-end journey, not just interactions with your brand
It’s also important to note where our business banking journey had started, which was before we got in touch with our chosen bank. We’d begun by researching and comparing bank accounts online and seeking recommendations from other businesses, meaning that we came armed with information, perceptions, and expectations. This vital context surrounding interactions, including the ‘route’ taken to get to the brand, is often missed by businesses, who often perceive that the customer journey starts at first contact with their organisation.
The impact?
In our case, setting-up business banking was also just one of the journeys that we were on in our ‘quest’ to achieve our overall mission – and many of these journeys were dependent on each other, e.g. we couldn’t set-up our direct debit for insurance without our bank account details. Therefore, when we had to wait 4 weeks for an in-branch appointment, it may not have seemed like a big deal; however, to us, this was part of a much bigger picture – meaning it was more of a ‘pain point’ than the bank is likely to have anticipated.
#4 – Understand the rational journey – i.e. the thought process and support needs beyond the product/ service
The bigger picture, and the journeys themselves, were also about much more than the physical interactions (touch-points) we experienced – the more touch-points we went through, the more questions we had…and the extent to which we could get answers dictated our behaviour.
When it came to laptops, we wanted to know which one was right for us. We started off in store, where one retailer provided attempted to provide some POS guidance – laptops for different ‘purposes’ (none of which mapped to what we needed). We reverted to comparing laptops online and managed to narrow our options down by seeking recommendations from friends and family in business and applying some guess work. To make our final decision, we decided to go in back in to store, where we chose the most expensive of our shortlisted options.
The impact?
You could argue that this was a win for the retailer as we bought the most expensive laptop from our shortlist. However, we also needed an ‘all-in-one’ printer/ scanner, a cloud-based storage/ file sharing system, and various software…cue more questions. We’d have happily bought them all in one go if we’d have known we could get the answers we needed. However, the lack of proactive help from the ‘advisor’ in-store meant we decided it would be ‘easier’ to go back online and purchase the other items we needed from elsewhere – so, does this really count as a ‘win’?
#5 – Understand what matters most (and why) to build an emotional connection
Across the different journeys, we expected to feel a ‘healthy level’ of anxiety - but there were some stages/ touch-points where we felt more anxious. In some cases, this felt natural; in others, this was due to, or at least ‘heightened’ by, poor customer experience. When we started our business banking account journey, we wanted an in-branch appointment initially - we called to make one, the contact centre ‘pushed us’ back online…and even when we were (finally) at our appointment, it was suggested that an online application might have been better. Whilst online would be our preferred channel in ‘consumer world,’ this was different – we were in a new territory and we had to get this right.
The impact?
We wanted to use specific channels for specific reasons. Whilst digital channels will enable us to manage our accounts ongoing, at this point we wanted face-to-face contact with someone who would be on-hand to answer key questions we had and would be accountable for helping us to achieve our goal. For the bank, this was a real opportunity to connect with us and start to build a relationship – whilst in the end, they gave us an initial face-to-face meeting, it was with reluctance and we certainly didn’t feel valued. Our stance now is that we’ll stay with them for the free banking period offered by the product; however, beyond that, our decision will depend on how well they respond to what matters to us in future. Building an emotional connection where/ when it matters most is so important in terms of customer loyalty and advocacy – people will forget what you said or did but will remember, and talk about, how you made them feel.
#6 – Measure the right things and prioritise based on key drivers
The things that matter most to customers should be amongst the things that a business measures – this means focusing on key stages/ touch-points (‘moments of truth’) and the drivers of satisfaction across these interactions.
The impact?
Our experience has led us to question whether the organisations we have dealt with have designed around the things that are important to start-up businesses specifically… Interestingly, none of the organisations that we have dealt with have approached us to ask us for feedback on our experiences.
Some final reflections…
So… we didn’t have the best customer experiences and we wouldn’t recommend the bank or the retailer…or any of the businesses we dealt with for that matter.
As the start-up market continues to grow, it’s time to take things seriously. Adopt a customer-first approach; Get the customer experience right, identify opportunities to fulfil other needs at the right points, create reasons for business customers to be loyal, and build advocates of the future.