CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING in BANKING sector – how to improve the onboarding process
The Challenge:
Our Client wanted to create a Customer Experience Map throughout all stages of the Customer Journey, covering all used channels of interaction. The ultimate goal was to improve the onboarding process, reducing the risk of creating a dis-jointed experience for the current – and potential – customers. The key research question was what were the customers’ needs, expectations and pain points at the key touch point at every stage of the customer journey?
The Approach:
We designed and ran a three-stage survey:
A Qualitative Exploration (focus group discussions), to define and describe the customer journey from customers’ perspective, registering the important drivers and touchpoints through the process;
A Quantitative Survey (CATI), to verify and “size” the qualitative findings. It provided better understanding of the importance of the drivers influencing customers during their on-boarding journey;
A Mystery Client Drill to capture the actual customer experiences in the branches and to evaluate the employee performances vs. the company standards, client expectations and competitors.
The Outcome:
Along with the detailed picture of the specific Customer Journey, the qualitative research discovered the “correct reaction in extreme circumstances” to be the ubiquitous underlying driver of satisfaction throughout the entire onboarding process, especially when lined with small gestures of appreciation and time saving procedures. The observed high level of satisfaction with the brand was also confirmed at the quantitative stage, together with a couple of small, but very specific needs related to the credit card propositions. The level of Client Service turned out to be defined by speed of service and (quality of) information provided.
The Benefit:
The applied holistic approach allowed us to capture – and analyze – the integral Customer Journey and focus on the specific touchpoints with potential to improve the onboarding process. This methodology allowed for very specific recommendations related to establishment of better relationships (internal and external), corrections in employee attitude, stronger respect to the client’s time and more effective transfer of meaningful information within and outside the institution.
MEASURING THE RESPONSE TIME – Combining Implicit & Explicit Data
How measuring response time in consumer research adds another layer of knowledge to your insights.
THE CHALLENGE
Our client wanted to reposition its brand by making it more premium, more attractive to women in particular and addressing the “UNIQUENESS” and “LUXURY” need states specifically. The company developed a TV advertisement to address the sought target and positioning, and wanted to verify its effectiveness. In addition, the client wanted to know how credible is the explicit data gathered through the process of interviewing and is there any additional, hidden and intangible context in consumers’ answers to be taken into account when evaluating the communication.
THE APPROACH
We ran a quantitative survey: a central location ad test, where women were invited to watch the advertisement and evaluate it through a structured self-completion questionnaire, designed to measure the response time for each of the covered KPIs at respondent level. With this response time at hand, we were able to tell:
What was the level of certainty in answering a question: were the respondents sure (answering fast), or they doubted and thought a lot before providing an answer (answering slow);
What was the share of the “high certainty” answers at particular question – and who were the respondents to answer with high certainty, compared to those who answered with low certainty.
THE OUTCOME
The combined analysis of the explicit (respondent answers) and the implicit (response time) survey data revealed the commercial to communicate unmistakably the category and the brand being advertised. Yet, the intended brand message was not clearly understood. Verifying further the answers versus the time they took at respondent level, we discovered the advertisement to address the “ENJOIMENT” and “CALMNESS”, rather than the sought “UNIQUENESS” and “SUPERIORITY” need states. In addition, despite the declared high level of associations with important and pleasurable constructs (vital for the success of any communication), the long response time on these questions exposed the low level of certainty / over-claim in the answers and confirmed the risk of the communication ineffectiveness.
THE BENEFIT
Adding the implicit data to the traditional analysis of explicit survey results helped our client to understand better the kind and the size of the risks related to the planned communication. The final decision was to re-design the advertisement in order to settle its flaws (“pale” message and wrong positioning), increase its salience (associations with important and pleasurable constructs) and keep its excellent performance in branding and category growth.
