Opinion Finding faster Leader growth: Loyalty and new spend Follow the money: growth through targeted customer experience

Transcription

1 Opinion Finding faster Leader growth: Loyalty and new spend Follow the money: growth through targeted customer experience

2 No business that fails to deliver positive customer experiences can hope to grow for long. 2

3 The value of knowing your customer has been a maxim of good business almost since businesses first began and focusing on the most valuable customers a priority. Identifying a business s most valuable current customers is straightforward enough. The challenge comes in focusing on the customers who have the greatest potential for driving future growth, and identifying the best ways to grow these relationships. A new perspective on customer value Traditional approaches to customer experience management (CEM) value customers on the amount they currently spend with a business. Those who spend more are high-value customers; those that spend less are low-value. The problem is that customers don t buy products from just one company. Most consumers have repertories of brands within any given category. Only by understanding its share of their overall spend in a category can a business understand the true future value of each customer and the risks or opportunities that they represent. An understanding of customers in context becomes all the more important as consumer choice increases and competition for each customer intensifies. At TNS, we have championed respondent-level understanding of market dynamics that reveal strong fluctuations in the share of wallet that consumers give to different brands. A company s customers have varying propensity to churn completely or shift spend to and from rivals. Only by seeing them in the context of the market can CEM strategists react effectively, identify the customer segments of most Our customer growth survey is based on conversations with over people in 16,000 six countries for fast food, retail banking and mobile handsets importance to future growth, and manage touchpoints to deliver the experiences those customers demand. Fast food, one of several categories featured in our customer growth survey of 16,000 people across six countries, demonstrates the importance of a respondent-level view. 3

4 28% At risk Ambivalents Secure The traditional approach to customer segmentation treats two men who each spend $10 on their weekly visit to a fast food restaurant as equally valuable. A respondent-level approach might identify one as a father taking small children to the restaurant as a much-valued weekly treat, and the other as a student who spends a lot on fast food, most which is with a competitor chain. Each has very different needs and offers very different growth potential. Low business relevance High business relevance Pinpointing the growth opportunity By recognising such distinctions, we are able to divide, high-value customers that would once have been grouped together, into anchors and growth drivers. already give a high proportion of their overall category spend to a company and show limited potential for additional growth in this category. In 14% 20% contrast, growth drivers have a higher category spend, with scope for the company to increase its share and could still represent further potential through crossselling or up-sell potential. Focusing on the individual, and their total category spend, takes CEM to a new dimension when it comes to assessing customer value and managing customer CEM strategists must focus on potential churn threats experiences. Whereas traditional measures segment for 49% both groups, but whereas 18% their approach to customers based solely on their current value or anchors rests on understanding loyalty drivers and business relevance, this approach adds a respondent-managlevel view of future growth potential, based around efficiency growth drivers must rest opportunities on analysing their use of seeking to retain spend profitably; Incremental the strategy for category spend and projected behaviour. competitors and investing to grow share. Low growth potential High growth potential Identifying growth opportunities and how to leverage them Low business relevance High business relevance Manage efficiency Low growth potential Incremental opportunities High growth potential 4

5 28% At risk Ambivalents Secure Similarly, we are able to establish vital distinctions between currently low-spending customers with a company. These are divided into the manage efficiency segment, with low growth potential, where the focus is likely to be on managing experiences as efficiently as possible and avoiding over-servicing; and incremental opportunities, a potentially valuable source of future growth given their high spend on the category as a whole. CEM strategies for incremental opportunities must focus on the question of why they currently prefer competitive offerings, and whether investment can realistically increase a business s share of their spend. Previously, this group would have been dismissed as simply low value. Besides fast food, the global survey applied this segmentation approach to the retail banking and mobile handset markets. In all three cases, the results demonstrate how seeing customers in context provides far greater insight into their true value. And as the following example from the US fast food category shows, these insights enable precise recommendations about the CEM measures that will help to drive growth most efficiently. The US fast food market: a case study The US fast food market has seen growth stagnate since consumers began cutting back on discretionary dining at the start of the recession and competition for a reduced pool of customers is creating clear winners and losers in the CEM battle. The market challenges are shown by the fact that around half of all fast food customers fall into the manage efficiency segment, loyal to particular brands or restaurants but rarely visiting them. The relatively small number of anchors (loyal, high-value customers who visit the same chain regularly) shows the dynamic nature of the market. Competition revolves around the fifth of customers who are growth drivers, with high potential value that no single brand has been able to lock up entirely, and who currently spread their weekly visits across several restaurants. Within this challenging environment, we find stark differences in performance when it comes to managing the experiences of the most important customers and see these differences reflected in the changing fortunes of rival brands. The US fast food market Low business relevance High business relevance Manage efficiency 14% 20% 49% 18% Low growth potential Incremental opportunities High growth potential 5

6 Brand one: positioned for growth The most successful brand achieves a customer loyalty score of 86, significantly above the category average. However, the real key to this organisation s success is its ability to deliver strong positive customer experiences for its most valuable segments. It scores 101 amongst growth drivers and 104 amongst anchors, securing current revenues and maximising potential for growth. With a score of 81, the incremental opportunities segment also provides a healthy channel for increasing revenues and as with growth drivers, that increase in revenues will come at the expense of rival fast food brands in these customers repertoires. The strong position revealed by the loyalty score is reflected in the fact that this brand has doubled its number of outlets in the past 10 years, and currently opens between 1,000 and 2,000 new restaurants each year. The strength of customer relationships Low customer Low customer Loyalty Growth Segments Loyalty Growth Segments Manage Incremental efficiency 80 opportunities Manage efficiency Incremental opportunities Percentage of entire customer base Percentage of entire customer base High customer High customer

7 Loyalty Growth Segments Percentage of entire customer base Brand two: revenues at risk In contrast, brand two demonstrates the danger of failing to satisfy the customers who are best-placed to deliver forward momentum for a business. Not only does its overall loyalty score of 62 lag behind that of its rival, but its satisfied customers are largely restricted to the anchors category, with limited potential for future growth. A score of 65 amongst growth drivers and 41 amongst incremental opportunities provides the brand with few opportunities to increase its share of promiscuous customers fast food spend. Companies should be scoring 70 and above amongst target segments to be in a position to retain existing customers and drive growth. The strength of customer relationships Low customer Low customer Incremental opportunities Manage efficiency Manage Incremental 41 efficiency 60 opportunities High customer High customer Loyalty Growth Segments Percentage of entire customer base Loyalty Growth Segments Percentage of entire customer base 62 7

8 When we overlay an understanding of the business volume generated by brand two s different segments, the picture becomes more worrying. account for the largest share of its current revenues, however fewer than half of the revenues from this Poor leads to insecure business 45% 27% 28% At risk Ambivalents Secure segment are classed as secure and over a quarter are classified as at risk from rival brands. Brand two urgently needs to improve customer loyalty amongst its most important customers or it risks losing out to rivals who are more effective at delivering the experiences those customers demand. From precise insight to actionable strategy In developing an actionable strategy to manage those experiences, it is again important to go beyond the traditional average view of customer needs. Only by looking at the key drivers of satisfaction for specific customer segments, can we identify the measures that will deliver most value in terms of securing revenues and driving growth. In our fast food example, a close look at the touchpoints of greatest importance to brand two s growth drivers shows how competitive strength on several key areas has been undermined by weaknesses in a few critical touchpoints and how remedying these can deliver significant and immediate returns. actually rate brand two s taste and value for money (two of the most important factors for customer satisfaction) very highly. They like its range of food and drinks and they come across its restaurant locations often enough to make them easy to visit. Service is quick and efficient enough and there are no major problems on the atmosphere of the restaurants or their child-friendliness. Yet these strengths are being undermined by underperformance in other vital areas. may like the taste of the food but they don t rate the cleanliness and tidiness of the restaurants they eat it in and they don t find the staff particularly friendly or helpful. They harbour some serious doubts about the quality and freshness of ingredients as well. So, in this scenario, there are clear and immediate measures that brand two can take to stabilise its revenues amongst its most important customer segment, and start leveraging its advantages on taste and value to take share from rival restaurants on its customers menus. Staff education and employee engagement is the number one priority, likely to reward any investment in training and communication with strong returns in customer satisfaction and increased spend. On the quality and freshness of ingredients, brand two can choose to invest in fresher produce, 8

9 guided by clear insight as to the additional revenues this is likely to generate. Alternatively, if the problem is that consumer perception of the quality of ingredients lags behind the reality, then it can focus marketing on addressing this issue. CEM as a growth channel The analysis of the two rival brands positions illuminates how customer-centric strategies can contribute far more to a business than simply the defence of existing revenues. Many of the customers with the highest growth potential for any company are also the customers of competitors, and part of their definition as high-growth potential is that they currently use that company s products and services less than those of others. Increasing share of wallet amongst growth drivers and incremental opportunities is one of the most direct means available of taking share from rivals. And when customer-centric strategies are geared to the most important touchpoints for these groups, they become powerful and immediate channels for driving growth. Once customers true potential to a business is revealed, the key to realising it lies in aligning business strategy and KPIs around the key drivers for the most valuable segments. Only by investing in the touchpoints that will deliver increased satisfaction for these groups can CEM help to secure and grow revenues efficiently. Doing so requires engaged employees (as our fast food example shows) and touchpoints that are carefully aligned to both customer expectations and internal processes. Above all, though, it requires a clear understanding of the true current and future value of each customer to the business and the importance that should be attached to meeting their needs. 9

10 About is part of a regular series of articles that takes an in-depth look at a particular subject, region or demographic in more detail. All articles are written by TNS consultants and based on their expertise gathered through working on client assignments in over 80 markets globally, with additional insights gained through TNS proprietary studies such as Digital Life, Mobile Life and The Commitment Economy. About TNS TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and stakeholder management, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world s consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world. TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world s largest insight, information and consultancy groups. Please visit for more information. Get in touch If you would like to talk to us about anything you have read in this report, please get in touch via enquiries@tnsglobal.com or via About the authors Susanne O Gorman, Global Director, Stakeholder Management, is responsible for building stakeholder management expertise, best practice and knowledge and portfolio management at TNS. With over 12 years experience in stakeholder research, she joined TNS in 1998 as Account Director for a large multinational client, then the Stakeholder Management team in 2004 focussing on customer experience management and employee research. Susanne has a PhD in Sociology from Regensburg University and a postgraduate scholarship at the London School of Economics. Charlotte Nau joined TNS as a consultant in the Stakeholder Management team in She specialises in strategic and tactical customer experience and corporate reputation management research. Charlotte is involved in the development of TNS s flagship solution TRI*M and provides worldwide consultancy in designing and implementing projects in this area. She holds graduate degrees in Media and Communication Studies from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, and the University of Memphis, USA. 10