Leveraging the web to sell and serve enterpr rise customers in the postal industry Point of view January, 2010
Content 1. How key postal players web sites and portals compare 2. Food for thought from postal industry web sites and portals 2
1. How key postal players web sites and portals compare 3
Internet is a key channel to sell and serve postal customers Postal and parcels customers are more and more using the internet as preferred channel to collect information on products and services For many customers, especially younger consumers, the Internet is the first choice for gathering information and performing countless other tasks. We will provide a user friendly Web experience that satisfies customer needs for immediate access to information and services. USPS Vision 2013: Five-Year Strategic Plan for 2009-2013 Postal services are more and more integrated with the internet We are again improving our internet services by offering worldwide shipments and are reiterating our promise to our customers of being easily accessible, anytime and anywhere. Thomas Ogilvie, Product Manager for Private Customers at DHL Parcels - Sending parcels worldwide with DHL online franking Customer interaction via the web channel is much cheaper than via face to face or call Experience shows that cost reductions of 20% to 50% are achievable by driving interactions to self-service versus using a human agent, but only if the interaction successfully supports the customers' manner of interacting. Gartner 2009 - A Framework for Creating the Future Customer-Centric Web 4
When building a web portal, a company should align the functionality to the visitors life cycle By 2012, organizations that lack customer-centricc web strategies will soon trail competitors that have them Addressable Branding/Advertising, Contextual Marketing, Transactional Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Loyalty Mgmt., Partner Marketing Community Mgt., Product Review Services, Ideation and Innovation Engines, Social Networking, Community Marketing, Social Commentary/Validation E-Commerce: Web Storefront Product Configurators, Catalog, Pricing, Inventory, Product Recommendation Engines, Product Reviews, Partner Portals (B2B), Customer Portals (B2C), Sales Partner Mgmt., Lead Mgmt. Case Mgmt, Knowledge Mgmt. ERMS, Enterprise Feedback Mgmt., Remote Diagnostics, Community- Driven Service Solutions Capture Pre-sales activity Sales Post-sales service activity Visitor life cycle Experience delivery infrastructure and tools Visitor context Visit understanding Site content Site infrastructure Customer Segmentation, Context Providers, Context Aggregators, Context Brokers, Presence/Location, Servi ces Text Mining, Web Analytics, Predictive Analytics, Clickstream Analysis, Interaction Recording Site Search, Semantic Web, Content Mgmt, Personalization, Localization, Multisite Mgmt Chat, Cobrowsing, Virtual Assistant, Notifications/RSS Feeds, Mashup technologies, Portal Frameworks, Cloud Platform Security, MDM, GDS Source : Gartner 2009 - A Framework for Creating the Future Customer-Centric Web 5
We identified 10 key functional areas that enable a postal website to be customer-centric A web portal needs to be mature on these functional areas in order to fully support each step of the visitors life cycle Visitor Life Cycle Capture Pre-sales activity Sales Post-sales service activity 1. Customer identification and segmentation 3. Channel integration 5. Business products information and search capabilities 8. Manage past and current service executions 2. User experience, context and personalization 4. Web2.0 and emerging capabilities 6. Quoting and contracting 9. Invoicing and payment options 7. E-shop 10. Complaint handling 6
We assessed the maturity of the web portals of six key European postal operators on these functional areas Functional Area Description Evaluation criteria 1. Customer identification and segmentation 2. User experience, context and personalization 3. Channel integration 4. Web 2.0 and emerging capabilities 5. Business products information and search capabilities How well does the site support managing user information? Is the site differentiated depending on the segment of the user logged in? Does the site provide rich and consistent user experience? Does the site propose interesting services to generate more volume? Is the site personalized based on the user connected? Does the site integrate with other to sell the product? Does the site support emerging and Web2.0 technologies? How consistent and detailed is the product information provided? How easy is it to find the best product or service fitting the users needs? Content adapted to customer segmentation Self registration Forgot password Personalized content and features Extra services available Use of multimedia Site presentation Cross-brand integration channels used Availability of multiple channels Channels context dependency (customer, product, service, ) RSS catalog feeds Product videos Product wikis Social networking and blogs Collaborative browsing Consistent product content Product comparisons Catalog views Product ratings and reviews Product and features keyword search 7
We assessed the maturity of the web portals of six key European postal operators on these functional areas Functional Area Description Evaluation criteria 6. Quoting and contracting What features are available beforee and after requesting the quote or placing the order? 7. E-shop What does the site offer to help purchase simple Save shopping cart products online? Product promotion Recommendation and favorites Cross-sell and up-sell Order entry and summary Credit card support Shopping cart segmentation 8. Manage past and current service execution 9. Invoicing and payment options What features does the site offer to manage current and past orders and cases? How extensive are the invoicing and payment options on the site? Quotes Contract history visibility Contract generation and renewal Converting quotes into orders Order or case entry and tracking Order or case history Real-time help/chat Collaborative browsing Saved payment options Invoice management 10. Complaint handling Does the site provide users with multiple ways to enter complaints or get help and contact customer service? Complaint entry Complaint history Marketing Opt-in/Opt-out Help, FAQs and solution search 8
De Post/La Postes web portal is a bit less mature than its industry peers Company Capture Pre-saless activity Sales Post-sales service activity De Post/La Poste La Poste Deutsche Post TNT Post Swiss Post Royal Mail Strong Weak 9
The maturity gap of De Post/La Poste is the highest in previsitor life sales and sales steps of the cycle Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Customer identification and segmentation Multiple logins for different products and services. German segmentation Quoting and contracting Contracts visibility for MassPost No quoting and contract renewal User experience, context and personalization Limited fluidity across brands. Personalization and use of multimedia E-shop Many credit cards supported. Order summary No favorites. No save Channel integration Contact is not real-time and not easy to find. Web-forms require a lot of information Manage past and current service execution Deposit tracking and history for MassPost. No real-time help Web2.0/Emerging capabilities Limited use of Web 2.0 functionalities (only on Certipost site) and video Invoicing and payment options Not possible to manage payment options nor current and previous Invoices Business products info and search capabilities Inconsistenties in level of detail, No product comparison. Limited search Complaint handling No history of complaints. No central management of Opt-in/Opt-out. Strong Weak http://www.post.be/site/ /fr/sse/index.html http://www.post.be/site/ /fr/business/index.html 10
La Poste has the highest level of maturity of all the selected competitors in all areas Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Customer identification and segmentation Content adapted to user identified. Multiple logins to access services Quoting and contracting Quotes are done via multiple product simulators No contract management User experience, context and personalization Many widgets. Profiles. Personalization. Poor brand integration. Multimedia E-shop Recommendations, credit cards. Favorites. Save. Promotions. No cross-sell Channel integration Context is kept. Transfer is real-time : chat, call me now Manage past and current service execution Online order tracking and history. Real-time help (chat) Web2.0/Emerging capabilities RSS Feeds. Product videos Social networking. No product wikis and rating Invoicing and payment options Payment options can be saved and managed Invoices not managed Business products info and search capabilities Consistent and detailed product content. Predefined profiles for some industries Complaint handling Complaint entry with clear and short SLA (48h). Contextual help and FAQ Strong Weak http://www.laposte.fr/entreprise-professionnel 11
Deutsche Post could strengthen its pre-sales and postsales functionalities Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Customer identification and segmentation Limited functionalities to manage login. Clear B2B and B2C separation Quoting and contracting Quotes can be generated. No contract management and history User experience, context and personalization Navigation not very fluent (pop-ups, cross-brand). No or limited personalization E-shop Product comparisons always proposed. No favorites. No cross-sell Channel integration No context preservation Contact information is not easy to access Manage past and current service execution Mobile tracking. No realtime help Web2.0/Emerging capabilities No Web2.0 capabilities and no use of multimedia Invoicing and payment options Not possible to manage payment options nor current and passed invoices Business products info and search capabilities Product comparison and powerful product search tool Complaint handling Not possible to enter complaints. FAQ available Search for help is limited Strong Weak http://www.deutschepost.de 12
TNT Posts level of maturity is good compared to the selected European competitors Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Customer identification and segmentation Various logins for different services, some provided by the account manager Quoting and contracting Visibility of existing contracts. Quote entry. No contract renewal User experience, context and personalization Fluid navigation. Limited extra widgets. Limited use of multi-media E-shop Product favorites. Save. Recommendations. Crossselling. Many credit cards Channel integration No clear service level agreements. Channels are context dependent Manage past and current service execution No email tracking. Entry and tracking of orders. No real-time help or chat Web2.0/Emerging capabilities Product videos No Web2.0 features Invoicing and payment options Possibility to manage billing options. Possible to manage invoices Business products info and search capabilities Consistent and detailed content. Advanced search. No comparison and rating Complaint handling Various channels to enter complaints. Powerful FAQ and help features Strong Weak http://www.tntpost.com 13
The Swiss Post has very strong Capture, Pre-sales and Sales capabilities Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Customer identification and segmentation One login giving access to all services. Registration via administrator. Quoting and contracting Quotes can be generated but not possible to order. No contract management User experience, context and personalization Fluent navigation. My Account personalization. Virtual Post Office E-shop Offers a platform to sell products online. Cross-sell / Up-sell recommendations Channel integration Channels are not context dependent. No context is captured. Manage past and current service execution Order entry, tracking and history. No real-time help Web2.0/Emerging capabilities RSS feed on DM. Limited use of podcasts. No wikis and social networking Invoicing and payment options No invoice management functionalities Business products info and search capabilities Consistent content. No comparisons. Limited product search capabilities Complaint handling No area dedicated to complaint entry. No SLA. FAQ for certain topics Strong Weak http://www.swisspost.ch/ 14
The Royal Mail is mature and has strong features to manage payments and invoices Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Functional area Maturity Maturity explanation Customer identification and segmentation Various logins for different services. Self registration and profiling possible Quoting and contracting Possibility to enter quotes based on parameters No contract history User experience, context and personalization Navigation is fluid. No personalized content. No use of multi-media E-shop Favorites. Credit cards. Recommendations. No cross-sell and no save Channel integration Channels proposed depend on the product context. No context captured Manage past and current service execution Order entry and tracking. Possibility to use templates. No real-time help Web2.0/Emerging capabilities No web 2.0 capabilities and no use of multimedia Invoicing and payment options Payment and billing options can be saved and named. Invoices are managed Business products info and search capabilities Consistent and detailed content. No comparison. Search with like match Complaint handling Complaints are redirected to other channels. Easy to use tool for help and FAQ Strong Weak http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm 15
2. Food for thought from postal industry web sites and portals 16
Customer identification and segmentation: One login to access all online services of the Swiss Post 1) Request new registration 2) Enter masks 3) Select requested services 4) Enter company details and confirm http://www.swisspost.ch/ 17
User experience, context and personalization: The Virtual Post Office of the Swiss Post 1) Entering the Virtual Post Office 2) Selecting a service, view of promotions 3) Visual price calculations 4) Access online shopping http://www.swisspost.ch/ 18
Channel integration: Chat and call me now capabilities of La Poste Chat on professional e-shop Immediate call back on Maileva site to co-brows in on-line sales demonstration http://monbureaudeposte.laposte. fr/pros/accueil.html http:/ //www.maileva.com/contact.php 19
Web2.0/Emerging capabilities: Deloittes perspective on social media Deloitte developed a presentation on how postal operators can harness the opportunities presented by social media. This presentation gathers real examples of postal companies leveraging social media to interact with customers and provides steps to progress in this area 20
Business products info and search capabilities: Product search tool of Deutsche Posts site Like type search providing a list of results with photo, description, access to more detail, price and possibility to add to the shopping cart https://www.efiliale.de 21
Quoting and contracting: Product simulators on the La Poste site 1) Enter DM simulation 2) Enter additional information 3) Select volumes sent in each department 4) View the result of the price calculation http://www.simulateur-md.fr 22
E-shop: Cross-Sell recommendations on TNT Posts e-shop When the user accesses the detailed information of a product on the TNT e-shop, he is recommended other cross-selling or up-selling products to add to the shopping cart http://mailorder2.tntpost.nl 23
Manage past and current service execution: UPS Tracking and tracing widget UPS created a Widget that can be downloaded and installed to track and trace parcels in a convenient way 24
Invoicing and payment options: Royal Mail invoice history and payment 1) Query for past and present invoices 2) Access invoice and invoice orders detail 3) Select invoices to be paid 25
Complaint handling: Complaint entry with SLA of 48h at La Poste First level of qualification of the complaint Clear communication on call-back SLA s and commitments of La Poste 26