Context First-Next Wave POV_Final
- 1. Context First: The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design
- 2. 2 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design At its core, Mobile First is primarily a design strategy, not a holistic approach to customer experience. The information contained in this document is proprietary. ©2016 Capgemini. All rights reserved. Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini.
- 3. 3 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design Context First:The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design These leading companies don’t think of themselves as Mobile First anymore, but it was a strategy for them once upon a time Without question, the ubiquity of smartphones is driving many companies to adopt a Mobile First strategy. Mobile First is a clarion call to recognize that many customers are most likely to be engaging an organization digitally through a mobile device and that organizations therefore must respond by designing every experience for smaller form factors first, i.e., smartphones and tablets, and then derive the native website experience by creating larger, enhanced versions of the mobile experience. This design strategy helps experience designers to break free of the “design by removal” trap: having to design a mobile app by removing functions originally designed for a 12”-14” computer screen. Over the last few years, we have seen numerous Fortune 500 corporations, including United Airlines1 , Starwood Hotels, and Starbucks, recognize the challenge and transition to Mobile First design. According to John Devanny, Managing Director at one of our partner firms in New York City, Moment, “Web experiences had become really bloated and unfocused. The value of Mobile First has been to help companies simplify, clarify and focus.” However, midway into 2016, we believe that a Mobile First strategy is no longer enough. As Devanney points out, The Emerging Inadequacy of Mobile First This is because, at its core, Mobile First is primarily a design strategy, not a holistic approach to customer experience. Furthermore, customers nowadays interact with a brand through myriad touchpoints and in a variety of contexts. Only focusing on mobile as the end goal therefore solves for a relatively limited scope of a customer’s needs and wants. As Mike Roberts, a Principal at Capgemini Consulting, puts it: “The customer journey is now much more complex and much more synchronized with daily life.” Given the complexity of today’s customer journey, Mobile First design simply has too limited of an ability to account for customer context. Where Mobile First Went Astray The Mobile First movement started with two premises: 1) that mobile is now the operating system of our lives and 2) that because consumers are increasingly starting their customer journey on a mobile device, that companies need to design for mobile as the primary touchpoint. The first point was and is undeniable. But we believe that for three specific reasons, the second premise was flawed: 1. Mobile is Not a Channel While a smartphone might appear at first blush to be a channel, it is in fact multiple channels with multiple interfaces to multiple touchpoints. A smartphone functions as a telephone which may connect a customer to a call center. It is a manual interface to a web browser which may visit a native website. It functions as the residence for a native mobile application. And it also has a voice interface which may be used to connect to any of the above touchpoints as well as to search the larger internet for information about products and services. Finally, it is important to recognize that text messages are poised to become a transaction medium. “These leading companies don’t think of themselves as Mobile First anymore, but it was a strategy for them once upon a time.”
- 4. 4 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design What is Context First? Context First strategy focuses on understanding why customers are engaging with companies to begin with. According to our friend JP Stallard, co-founder of Solv in San Francisco, Context First is an exercise in “asking the right questions and understanding the true purpose of a product or service.” As opposed to Mobile First, Context First seeks to understand the complete environment surrounding the customer and leverages mobile devices as tools of determining context, not the sole element of context. What’s more contextually relevant is who is using it, exactly where they are using it (e.g. location, indoor or outdoors, in-store or browsing online), and what their relationship is to the brand, product or service in question. As summarized by Capgemini’s Roberts: “driven by mobile, brands can now get deeper into your daily life.” Context First focuses attention on delivering a customer experience which is both highly personalized and responsive to each phase in the customer’s decision journey. By taking the time to observe customers in many contexts, companies can develop customer personas based on a blend of quantitative and qualitative attributes, focusing on what each persona needs, wants, and cares about, and what their objectives are most likely to be across various contexts. Using a small number of refined personas as design targets, companies can begin to offer each customer a tailored experience in a range of contexts. In summary, calling “mobile” a channel and including it in a customer journey map as a single touchpoint risks making a lot of assumptions about how a mobile device might be employed. 2. Mobile is a Powerful Identifier of Customer Context A customer using a smart device, e.g., a smartphone or phablet, is potentially providing a unique identifier. They are also likely providing geolocation. With geolocation, experience designers have the opportunity to understand what is near the customer and how that might influence their needs. We can also know time of day and, with integration of 3rd party data, you might even know the weather. Finally, if they have registered, we may also know something about their historical needs and also how they have interacted with the brand across touchpoints. Over time, this wealth of data should allow us to begin to anticipate a customer’s needs and respond appropriately, based on context. 3. A Mobile Customer May Be Better Served by a Response Outside the Device Mobile First assumes that because mobile usage is so prevalent that we need to be thinking about responding on the form factor of the device in the consumer’s hand. But if we broaden our view to consider the customer’s context, there might be a better way to respond to that customer. Perhaps via a salesperson’s tablet, a digital kiosk, or perhaps even a digital sign nearby. As a result, companies following a pure Mobile Frist strategy are missing emerging opportunities for customer engagement. A recent poll conducted by Rosetta2 explains the potential consequences: engaged customers buy 90% more frequently and spend 60% more per transaction.” The Possibility of Context First A Context First approach is capable of doing what Mobile First cannot because it focuses first on understanding why a customer is engaging and the specific context of the customer’s needs or wants, not only the medium through which the customer engages. By applying this broader, device- agnostic lens of customer context, experience designers can deliver a customer experience that is highly personalized and more responsive to each phase in a customer’s decision journey. The customer journey is now much more complex and much more synchronized with daily life
- 5. 5 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design Rebecca Minkoff Digital Changing Rooms Context First leaders Consider EpicMix Ski, a mobile application that was developed by Vail Mountain Resort. EpicMix Ski is designed to segment users and adapt its behavior based on learnings from the wide variety of visitors that flock to Vail each year. With EpicMix Ski, thrill-seeking mountain bashers will receive different information and prompts than, say, ski-bunnies that are most interested in hanging in the lounge. This smart adaptation delivers a differentiated experience that is more valuable to both customer segments, and does so by understanding the likely intent of the Context First is an exercise in asking the right questions and understanding the true purpose of a product or service customer based on their persona and the context they are in, e.g., on the way towards mountain in the morning or on the resort’s premises in the evening. According to Moment’s Devanney, understanding the customer’s mindset is key. In particular, “the customer’s psychological makeup at the point in the experience you are designing.” Capgemini’s Roberts agrees and emphasizes the criticality of asking the question: what is the customer doing before and after engaging with the brand? To illustrate, women’s clothing retailer Rebecca Minkoff incorporates digital dressing rooms that enable virtual fittings and customizable adjustments in the room’s lighting to match the environment that the shopper intends to wear the clothing. The digital dressing rooms are designed with the understanding that customers are interested in knowing what a dress will look like in mood lighting at a restaurant, or how a coat will look in the sunlight, rather than in a fluorescently lit dressing room. Uber is another company making considerable strides into Context First. Uber’s ability to detect the user’s location and tie it with regional regulations ensure both drivers and passengers enjoy trouble-free pickupsa . Imagine if Uber was not context aware and allowed passengers to request rides at locations where, its service UberX, is not legally allowed, for example at certain airports, resulting in traffic tickets for the driver and major inconveniences and delays for the passenger. a Uber’s recent decision to use Foursquare’s location database suggests that Uber is attempting to learn even more about customer context. Personalized purchase recommendations based on previous consumer interactions can increase conversion rates by as much as 20%
- 6. 6 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design Uber Pickup Station at Airport How Context First Delivers Business Results There are strong indicators that Context First will deliver improved business results. For instance, 61% of smartphone users say they are more likely to buy from an app or mobile website that customizes information to their location.3 Personalized purchase recommendations based on previous consumer interactions can increase conversion rates by as much as 20%.4 Just imagine the possibilities as Context First is only in its infancy. For Uber, this means predicting when customers will need a ride before they request it. EpicMix Ski may facilitate bookings based on their market segmentations. Context First is all about finding the best ways to serve customers in their world. Defining Your Customers’ Context What customer attributes do companies need to pay attention to in order to create this highly personalized customer experience? As user experience designers, our goal is to help the customer achieve her intended objective in a way that delights in her current context. This may mean eliminating steps to speed the process; or conversely, adding in a step that enables her to easily broadcast her activities to her social circle. It all depends on her objective. We have identified three key dimensions, termed ‘context drivers,’ that a designer should consider in developing an experience that aligns with the Context First approach. Collectively, these three drivers account for the who, what, why, where and when that encompass the customer experience. 1. Customer Persona Experience designers know that solid personas are a combination of quantitative demographics and qualitative insights. Personas need to account for the needs, wants and desires that drive quantifiable past behavior, observable preferences, brand loyalty and the projected lifetime value of that particular customer. Most importantly, personas may span multiple traditional quantitatively- driven customer segments, as personas are customers with shared objectives and mindsets, despite a potential delta in traditional demographics.5 2. Customer Objective At any given point, a customer is in one specific phase of her purchase journey that consist of: Discover, Buy, and Service. For instance, she may be in the “Discover” phase where she is seeking product or service information; she may be
- 7. 7 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design Disney’s Magic Band in the “Buy” phase where she is seeking to transact; or perhaps in the “Service” phase, where she is looking for post-purchase support. Identifying the right phase, and providing the right type of attention for that phase, matters. This is important, as 70% of Americans are willing to spend an average of 13% more with companies who provide above-average customer service.6 The customer’s objective is necessarily influenced by her past experiences with the brand. We must use everything we know about both the customer as an individual - what led her to engage, her past and current activity across our channels, and her persona - to infer her objective and phase of the journey. Based on her objective, we should be looking to design an experience that quickly adapts to that objective.7 3. Customer Environment Effective adaptation to the customer’s objective will be heavily influenced by her immediate environment. Her environment encompasses both the ‘where’ and ‘when’ of a situation and may be derived from the local time, place, proximity to other relevant locations, and even the current weather. Several examples illustrate the power of these three drivers, across a multitude of industries. Rebecca Minkoff understands a shopper preparing for a date (Driver 1: Customer Persona) is interested in knowing what a dress will look like in restaurant mood lighting (Driver 2: Customer Objective) rather than within a brightly lit dressing room (Driver 3: Customer Environment). As user experience designers, our goal is to help the customer achieve her intended objective in a way that delights in her current context Within hospitality, Disney’s Magic Band is able to incorporate known visitor profiles (Driver 1: Customer Persona) and real time park flow and capacity (Driver 3: Customer Environment) to plan and adjust itineraries to reduce wait time (Driver 2: Customer Objective) and optimize the overall experience for the visitor and their family.
- 8. 8 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design Major League Baseball has encompassed known fan information (Driver 1: Customer Persona) to deliver specialized promotions from vendor coupons to upgraded seats on game day (Driver 2: Customer Objective). Their mobile app also has the capability to deliver supplemental content and directions based upon the fan’s location within the stadium (Driver 3: Customer Environment). What’s next? These brands are on the right track, but imagine the potential for customer experience and top line growth if a brand were able to fully address all context drivers and further enhance the customer experience, thereby creating more brand advocates.8 Not only do advocates act as influencers, but data shows that they also tend to spend 15% more than non- advocates. What if MLB extended their use of customer personas and offered VIP food service to the die-hard fan that refuses to leave his seat during a game? For this case, the optimal upcharge could be calculated by aggregating the historic willingness to pay for fans MLB Ballpark Mobile App Not only do advocates act as influencers, but data shows that they also tend to spend 15% more than non-advocates The data to enable Context First is already being captured and the opportunities for companies to drive value are endless within the target segment. Might it be helpful for Rebecca Minkoff to send a calendar reminder to a busy mom of an upcoming wedding this weekend and imbed both a dress recommendation based on purchase history and an offer for free overnight shipping? The data to enable Context First is already being captured and the opportunities for companies to drive value are endless. Since Context First is still in early stages of adoption and utilization, early mastery of Context First can propel companies to leapfrog competitors and position themselves as that elusive customer-centric brand.
- 9. 9 Context First : The Next Wave of Customer Experience Design Customer Information Potential Servicesto Offer What, for example, might the MLB app become if they took full advantage of all three Context First drivers:CustomerPersona, Customer Objective, and CustomerEnvironment? Offer premium content for At Bat app on mobile device Recommend items from the team store using fan's browsing history Offer mobile food ordering and delivery to seat Delivery of food during non-critical game situations (between batters) Die hard fan (Driver1: Persona) Customer orders food and pays using credit card on file Recently shopped for teamgear (Driver2: Objectives) Follows every play, doesn’t leave seat (Driver 2: Objectives) Follows every play, doesn’t leave seat (Driver 2: Objectives) 01 02 03 04 At stadiumwatching game (Driver 3: Environment) Want toknow latest stats (Driver2: Objectives) At stadiumwatching game (Driver3: Environment) At stadium watching game (Driver 3: Environment) At stadium watching game Bases loaded, two outs (Driver 3: Environment) 1 United Airlines is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fortune 500 company United Continental Holdings 2 2014 Rosetta Consulting Customer Engagement Study 3 Consumers in the Micro-Moment, Wave 3, Google/Ipsos, U.S., August 2015, n=1291 online smartphone users 18+ 4 Capgemini Consulting Report: Click2Stores: How Can You Drive In-Store Traffic Through Digital Services? 5 There is a temptation to say we can design experiences for an individual customer, but the truth is that experience design always has boundaries. We aggregate common, important customer needs in personas and respond in our design. Done well, the experience feels completely customized to our most valuable customers. 6 2014 Global Customer Service Barometer, American Express 7 We might also observe enough aggregated objectives to change overall functionality. When Rue La La recently realized that 40% of its revenue was coming from mobile and that the largest growing segment were Android users, they added Google Wallet Instant Buy to their app to create a 2-click checkout experience. they increased conversion 4x over non-Android users. 8 Readwrite.com. Top 5 ROI Benefits of Customer Experience Management Utilizing all three drivers
- 10. Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini CapgeminiConsultingistheglobalstrategyandtransformation consulting organization of the Capgemini Group, specializing in advising and supporting enterprises in significant transformation,frominnovativestrategytoexecutionandwith an unstinting focus on results. With the new digital economy creating significant disruptions and opportunities, our global team of over 3,600 talented individuals work with leading companiesandgovernmentstomasterDigitalTransformation, drawing on our understanding of the digital economy and our leadership in business transformation and organizational change. Find out more at: www.capgemini-consulting.com Capgemini Consulting is the strategy and transformation consulting brand of Capgemini Group. The information contained in this document is proprietary. © 2016 Capgemini. All rights reserved. Authors For more information contact Now with 180,000 people in over 40 countries, Capgemini is one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2014 global revenues of EUR 10.573 billion. Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business, technology and digital solutions that fit their needs, enabling them to achieveinnovationandcompetitiveness.Adeeplymulticultural organization, Capgemini has developed its own way of working, the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on Rightshore® , its worldwide delivery model. Learn more about us at www.capgemini.com. About Capgemini and the Collaborative Business Experience Emily Gonthier Senior Consultant emily.gonthier@capgemini.com Kyte Feng Senior Consultant kyte.feng@capgemini.com Tony Fross Vice President tony.fross@capgemini.com Rohit Mahajan Senior Consultant rohit.a.mahajan@capgemini.com United States Tony Fross Vice President tony.fross@capgemini.com United States Michael Welch Managing Consultant michael.welch@capgemini.com