Earlier this month, Enlighten was privileged to host a group of esteemed colleagues at the Trans-Tasman Business Circle lunch.
Guests heard from customer experience leaders of three of Australia’s most recognised brands and were treated to an informative discussion around the changing landscape of customer experience. The panellists were:
- Catriona Larritt, Chief Customer Officer, at Jetstar Airways is responsible for delivering a great customer experience and revenue in the airline’s businesses across Asia Pacific.
- David Koczkar is Group Executive – Chief Customer Officer, at Medibank and is accountable for all key customer touchpoints, including Medibank’s retail store network, customer contact centres and digital channels, and the group’s customer experience transformation, marketing, and product functions.
- Krissie Jones is Executive General Manager – Retail Banking, National Australia Bank where she and her team, help customers achieve their financial goals.
Guests were reminded of critical aspects to achieving good customer experience and business outcomes, with all three leaders commenting on the need to personalise, build and maintain trust, create empathy across all channels, and the role technology is playing in bringing this all together.
The need to personalise in customer experience
A highlight was one of the panellists speaking on the notion of personalisation in customer experience, and how they looked outside their business for inspiration, namely at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
The hospital system has several consumers – patients, visitors and the medical teams, each with their own unique needs. Often hospitals are designed with the medical teams’ requirements at the forefront.
The Royal Children’s chose to do things differently and focused on the needs of their patients, i.e. very sick children. As such, hallways and waiting rooms are fun zones, with bright colours and plenty of distractions. By focusing on the needs of their primary consumers, the hospital was able to ensure an experience that benefited those who used it most.
This knowledge was then used internally to help their organisation develop their own personalised customer experience. The entire panel agreed on the value of looking outside your own industry for innovative and inspiring ideas.
Building and maintaining trust
Panellists spoke about how building and maintaining trust with consumers is more important than ever. What was once a choice between two brands is now a global mix of hundreds, which has consumers asking who they know and trust before making a purchasing decision.
With the disruption of artificial intelligence and robotics filling in for call centres, it is essential organisations also remember the human element of what the consumer may need.
The role of technology in customer experience
One of our guests commented on the unique blend of technology and talent that is at play to deliver customer objectives in these organisations. This idea of creating a hybrid workforce to achieve exceptional customer experience will be a key growth factor in the future, and one that requires a redefining of the traditional workforce models.
A leader at Allianz was encouraged to hear that leaders are all facing the same challenges on their customer experience journey, regardless of the industry. He said, “customer’s expectations have changed remarkably driven by greater awareness and technological capability.
When trying to address this it is important to understand the customer wants you to meet their expectations, tailoring how you communicate and meet those expectations to the differing situations you may experience – one size definitely no longer fits all”.
A sentiment shared by Chris Yong from Acquire BPO, who said, “customer experience impacts all areas of your business, therefore invest time in knowing your customers and their touchpoints and journeys”. Equally, it is important to look outside the businesses’ own industry to get inspirations on improving customer experience.
Final thoughts
It was an encouraging and inspiring event that gave us an insight in to how some of Australia’s largest brands are dealing with the changing landscape of customer experience. Attendees walked away with great insights and renewed energy to look at their own businesses and see what lessons could be learnt.
