Insights2020: Driving Customer-Centric Business Growth

Editor's Notes

• #3: Start with the insights2020 clip: We’re living in exciting times… globalization, urbanization, new economies, and new technologies …   Are driving huge business and marketing changes: Like new consumer touch points, New solutions, Increased speeds, Disrupting category definitions, New players rewriting the rules.   The technology is empowering consumers More informed, Expecting transparency, demanding accountability. and challenging growth   Growing amounts of data Yet often lacking true insights Today’s insights & analytics world is changing at the speed of light   Forcing business-, marketing, and insights leaders to answer fundamental business questions: Are we truly consumer-centric? What insights do we require to guide our strategy? And how do we organize to win?
• #4: As the introduction film just showed: We live in a connected society – by 2020 there will be an estimated 50 billion connected devices in the world – that is an average of 7 per person! Also an estimated 212 billion sensor-enabled devices. Just think about that number for a second. All the data-points we can leverage for insights! It’s hard to imagine the possibilities for the ocean of behavioral data these devices will provide; but this does mean we will (finally) have the data available to figure out much better what customers want, it will allow us to better understand our customers and become much more Customer Centric.
• #5: But not only we now CAN be more customer centric, we also MUST become more customer centric, because traditional business value drivers don’t cut it anymore. Anyone can produce quality products, manufacturing doesn’t provide a (sustainable) competitive advantage anymore (Ford, Sony). And with the rise of connected devices, transparency of the digital world and commoditization of information and data, the real (future) source of competitive lies in truly understanding the needs of customers and serving them in a fast, transparent and credible way (Amazon). And in being truly customer centric.
• #6: And yes, everybody has been talking about it for decades, and it is getting even more attention recently in publications.
• #7: But does it really drive business growth?! Is it really the silver bullet we all think and want it to be? To answer that question we initiated Insights2020
• #8: And more specifically, these are the two questions Insights2020 will answer: WHAT are the drivers of Customer Centricity? And HOW to achieve Customer Centricity?
• #9: Insights2020 is being supported by a world-class, cross-industry Advisory Board Keith Weed, Chairman – Global CMO - Unilever Sir Martin Sorell – CEO - WPP Diego Scotti – CMO - Verizon Julian Prynn – Marketing Director Middle East - BAT Jerry Wind – Lauder Professor / Professor of Marketing - Wharton University Harish Bhat – Group Executive Council - Tata Gayle Fuguitt – CEO/President – ARF Rob Norman – Chief Digital Office – GroupM Tony Fagan – VP research – Google Barbara Lamprecht – Director Brand & Marketing Strategy - Volkswagen
• #10: …and a strong and broad coalition of founding partners ESOMAR – the overarching industry association for market research ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) – a large advertising industry association in the US. Korn Ferry - a world-wide executive recruitment, leadership and talent consulting service LinkedIn – the world’s largest professional social network Kantar - home to the world's leading research, data and insight companies Millward Brown Vermeer – global marketing strategy consultancy firm
• #11: Insights2020 is a combination of qualitative (331 vision interviews) and quantitative surveys. As well as distilling learning from behavioral data, for which we were able to use the LinkedIn database, and crowdsourcing which we did in collaboration with an expert pool from Whar6ton University. And of course we did quite a lot of desk research to make sure that we are building on all the knowledge and learning that was already available.
• #12: Now first of all, let’s establish what we actually mean with Customer Centricity. From the 331 interviews we conducted for I2020, a clear pattern did emerge. First and foremost, that Customer Centricity is a STRATEGY. It’s not an activity, it is a strategic choice Customer Centricity is a strategy, consistently guided by a compelling Brand Purpose, delivering better and on more, true customer needs, driving growth and commercial business value.
• #13: Throughout our analysis, we looked at what overperforming and what underperforming companies do. We compare the scores of companies that grow faster and outperform their competitors in terms of business growth, to those companies that lag behind in terms of growth; the underperformers
• #14: The business growth was self-reported, so we validated self-reported growth vs actual growth and there is a strong relation between those. And especially for the top two and bottom two boxes respondents actually answered very realistically. And when you think about it, that makes sense. If you work at Apple you just know you are overperforming, and when you work at HTC you know that you are performing below par versus your competitors.
• #15: And the first question we asked was “How do they see the future?” Well, Insights & Analytics and technological developments clearly offer opportunities: We can enrich our understanding of customer with behavioral data, we can personalize our offerings accordingly, we can bring our insights into actions across multiple touch-points with our customers and – especially true for over-performers - we can better let our brand purpose guide our actions by intensifying and amplifying our reach.
• #16: On the flipside, there are also significant challenges to overcome. The top-4 challenges are Internal silo’s and bureaucracy - struggling with the functional silos, internal barriers that hamper collaboration On top of that, organizations are struggling with their legacy of structure and functions that are not designed to deal with the opportunities of today Making sense of data – with the commoditization of data the challenge is not so much to have the right data, but to make sense of it all Recruiting wholebrain people – people who both have the analytical skills to work with data ánd have the capability to translate data into actions, into clear recommendations and to use their judgement to interpret data   Interesting to note that underperformers are especially struggling with Silos and Legacy. It seems like overperformers have accepted that ‘silo-busting’ is actually a myth, that there will always be silos, and that a cultural change is needed to deal with the silos rather than trying to find the solution in structure. Overperformers on the other hand especially feel the challenge to make sense of all available data and to hire the right wholebrain people who can help them to make sense of it all.
• #17: So, ‘What ARE the drivers of Customer Centricity? Well, our study uncovered 10 key drivers of Customer Centricity, clustered in 3 dimensions. We have used the 66 variables in the I2020 data to identify which drivers contribute most to Business Growth; Customer-centric business growth. By doing this, we can quantify the impact of drivers. Three distinct dimensions came out, each with consisting of specific drivers. First of all, an external dimension: delivering a Total Experience to Customers. 3x more (85% vs 29%) The second is the internal, the organizational dimension: Customer Obsession. 4x more (87% vs 22%) The third dimension is about the Strategic Leverage of Insights and Analytics, and the Insights Engine. 4x more (51% vs 12%) We will now zoom in on each of the 3 dimensions to understand in more detail WHAT to do and HOW to achieve this, step by step. We will illustrate each element with a case study example to bring it to life.
• #18: Let’s look at WHAT overperformers do to create Total Experience and HOW they achieve it, step by step. Purpose-led Data-driven customization Touch point consistency.
• #19: Overperformers link everything they do to a clear brand purpose, very significantly more so than underperformers: 80% vs 32%. Brand Purpose serves as a North Star, guiding all decision. Brand Purpose gives crystal clear direction on what you stand for towards customers, consumers, employees and other stakeholders. Our brand positioning / purpose is based on customer needs (91% vs 56%)
• #20: The way Whiskas linked everything they do to Brand Purpose is a great case to illustrate HOW this can be achieved. Based on mass-qualitative research, Whiskas elevated their positioning that was all about Care, to a truly purposeful positioning that is all about ‘Nurturing Nature; Nurturing the cat’s true nature’. Derived from the insight that people are fascinated by the Big cat characteristics they see inside every little cat. The way cats move, their physicality, their similarities with their big cousins that live in the wild; tigers, cheetahs, jaguars and panthers This purpose was not only integrated in all brand communications and activities, but also translated into the actual product; adapting the shape of the pellets and the nutritional profile of the product inspired by the what the cats really need, rather than what their owners think looks nice. On top of the functional and emotional execution of the purpose, Whiskas joined forces with the World Wildlife Fund to create a true societal movement and protect White Tigers in Siberia.
• #21: The 2nd driver in creating a total experience for the customer is data-driven customization. Insights 2020 found that overperformers are much more likely to create experiences based on data-driven insights (73% vs 31%).   Overperformers also use Insights & Analytics to build personalized offerings compared to underperformers. (64% vs 28%)
• #22: The car insurance industry has been engaged in a ‘race to the bottom’ for several years; competing with extremely low rates to attract the 30% of customers who are keen on switching, while trying to maximize margins on loyals, ‘sleepers’ and high-risk groups. Offers and insurance premiums were traditionally based on socio-demographic segmentation resulting in risk-profile segments. This arms race, combined with the socio-demographic segmentation has led to large groups of dissatisfied young customers, who felt they were disadvantaged by their reckless peers and had to pay very high premiums on their policy. A new 1-to-1 approach on segmentation – based on actual driving behavior - is now enabling customized offers, pricing and service. Telematics, made possible by sensor enabled techniques applied in the cars of their clients. All-state has embraced this new way of real time predictive data modelling and data-driven customization to offer a fairer and truly customer centric proposition. And many are now following suit.
• #23: Overperformers use I&A to drive consistency across all touch points (64% vs 29%). With the number of channels and touch points exploding, the need to create consistency for customers is all the more important.
• #24: Burberry has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, because of their seamless integration of on- and offline channels, the use of social media and technology and their focus on touch point consistency. The latest move Burberry has made is really extending the brand into the world of external partners, beyond the core of their own brand. Burberry is to become the first global brand to launch a dedicated channel on Apple Music as it looks to use the partnership to push its music credentials and champion British talent. Staying true to their brand values and play into consumer demand of unique and in this case local content.
• #25: Let’s move on the more internal focused dimension of Customer Centric Growth. WHAT to do and HOW to achieve this: Embraced by all Leadership priority Collaboration Experimentation
• #26: It starts with everyone focusing on the customer at all levels and across all functions and even through external partners. At overperforming organizations, Customer Centricity is fully embraced by all functions. This is the driver that contributes to customer centricity, more than any other one, sets winners apart from losers: 79% vs 13%.
• #27: Marriot was at the bottom of the UK ‘Customer Experience Excellence’ ranking in 2014. There was an urgent need to improve the customer experience to drive business results. Marriot has really embraced a culture and strategy of Customer Centricity. In the leisure business this can easily confused with customer SERVICE, but in Marriott’s case it truly is CENTRICITY. Driving a culture of change, experimentation and CC from bell-hop to CEO, using enabling technology and the loyalty card system to customize experiences, embracing a new way of advertising to appeal to millennials. Customer Centricity is really back on the strategic map, in all functions and decisions. At Marriot Customer is now truly embraced by all functions And in no more than 12 months they are back in the Top-20 and rising (early 2015)
• #28: At overperformers, Customer Centricity is top priority for leaders (91% vs 48%) These organization have their leaders truly leading customer centricity from the front. They don’t just talk the talk of CC, they also walk the talk by basing incentives on Customer-related KPIs (45% vs 24%) Interestingly, leaders of CC companies are often more likely to engage with and share content on social platforms like LinkedIn. They are reading and sharing content that is focused on their customer, leading from the top. Sir Richard Branson is an influencer on LinkedIn and uses social media to engage directly with Virgin customers, combining a customer-centric approach with a strong brand purpose. Branson was the first influencer to reach over 1 million followers on LinkedIn and continues to highlight entrepreneurial tips and focus on leadership, management and the customer.
• #29: Credit Karma is a free credit and financial management platform for US consumers that is challenging and changing the way the credit card market in the US (Challenging the likes of AMEX and VISA). Their leadership have a deep Customer First belief, and an intrinsic drive to help their customers, and focus on customers who need help most, often people that risk getting in financial trouble, rather than prioritize most profitable customers. It is creating full transparency for customers, and offering tools which allows users to track their credit card, loan transactions and balances in Credit Karma’s interface. It also provides tailored financial recommendations based on each individual user's credit profile. It provides calculator tools for debt repayment, amortization, home affordability and simple loans. As of April 2015 Credit Karma has over 35 million members and 250 employees Small agile start-ups often have the clearest focus from the top on customer centricity. You might think – that’s easy, wait until they are bigger… But they are becoming bigger, rapidly. See how Uber, Airbnb are changing their industries, like Amazon did only a few years ago. Who would have thought that Amazon would threaten Walmart at some point? Startup CEO’s often make a very explicit point about the culture they aspire and the central role of the customer in it. All these leaders have in common that they are obsessed about the customer experience, and voice it wherever they can, and recruit the right people that embrace that philosophy. It makes them successful and don’t forget: they are after your customers as well… The other 2 drivers creating a focus on Customer Obsession are key elements driving company culture: Collaboration and Experimentation as an element of taking risks. Both of these are part our culture and values at LinkedIn and have been since the company was founded by Reid Hoffman in 2003.
• #30: Overperformers work more closely with customers (72% vs 45%). High customer-centric companies describe their companies as highly collaborative (52% vs 5%) We also found that employees of truly CC companies are also more connected on the LinkedIn platform. 23% more connections 25% more connections outside their own company 20% more connections in their own function 23% more connections outside of their own function
• #31: GoPro, a camera designed to capture life's most exciting moments, advertised its product and built a fan base by posting content to YouTube. By using YouTube as a production tool and encouraging fans to do share the content shot on their cameras, GoPro was able to increase their sales and raise awareness of their brand. GoPro has been able to discover a community of content creators, sharers, and brand evangelists. Traditional marketing to a large extent, has been replaced by co-creation with brand fans
• #32: Overperformers embrace risk and experimentation (40% vs 13%). This driver of a Customer Obsessive culture goes further than just managing risks, but embraces risk-taking and a test-and-learn mentality. At LinkedIn, 2 of our values speak to this idea: “taking intelligent risks” and “acting like an owner.”
• #33: These aren’t just values that are signposts on the walls in our offices. I have been with the company for 4.5 years and have been impressed by how important these are not just in maintaining our entrepreneurial spirit as we’ve grown, but because to continue to grow and to achieve the vision we want to achieve, these are critical. From taking risks in your career to taking risks as a company, these are essential. Because of the importance of intelligent risk-taking, we introduced a framework earlier this year to keep intelligent risks top of mind and to help teams at LI understand how to identify, evaluate and take a risk to move ourselves and the company forward. Having this mindset to take a risk and learn from our mistakes and keep moving forward - empowering every single employee to take intelligent risks is a very powerful way of empowering change and moving fast.
• #34: Let’s move to the last dimension of Customer Centric Growth: the Insights Engine. Again, we will talk about WHAT to do and HOW to achieve this: - Leading role of I&A - Unlocking the power of data - Critical capabilities
• #35: I&A helps to lead the business significantly more often at overperformers (51% vs 18%). In this context we talk about the concept of I&A, not necessarily the I&A function. I&A leading the business means I&A are infused in all business decisions, and the I&A function has matured into a true business partner with a seat at the (board) table. For example at overperformers I&A reports more often into the CEO (29% vs 12%), giving I&A a seat at the board table and the ability to be part of decision making. Also Underperformers often have separate ‘Insights’ and ‘Analytics’ teams, within different departments. Also, I&A reports into Marketing more often, making I&A more of a ‘marketing services’ team. It is critical to organize for a Single Version of the Truth in your company. This does not mean that The Insights folk have all the databases centralized, but that there is a clear Insights Guardian role. Because the risk with all these data in the hands of so many people and functions is clearly that the data can start to live a life on their own and the wrong conclusions are drawn. Let’s look at some obvious and not-so-obvious examples of companies where I&A is leading the business. Leading can be explained in different ways. At Unilever, no major decisions are taken without Stan (Global CMI) is either pulled into the room or consulted. CMI does not have an actual seat at the board table (reporting into the CMO), but is treated as of it it does. On regional and local level CMI does not report into Marketing, but into the GM to act as a true business partner. Unilever CMI mission is ‘inspire and provoke to enable transformational action’
• #36: At overperformers, the I&A function reports into the CEO (29% vs 12%). Although relatively low absolute number of companies where this is the case, we do see a clear trend that this is changing. ‘I&A from the corner of the room to the cornerstone of the room’ Harish Bath a former Insights leader is now a member of the Group Executive Council (GEC) of Tata Sons. Harish, a loyal Advisory Board member of Insights2020, truly champions the customer perspective at the very top level of the company.
• #37: The most fundamental role for I&A is to support / help marketing and management to take better decisions by providing customer and market related information on specific topics Then, I&A can start to inspire: Ensure customer voice is clear, show different lenses and uncover new opportunities based on customer needs I&A can further step up to challenge the business: Provoke with underlying customer insights and ensure action ability of recommendations; Insights & Analytics is part of annual business cycle And finally, I&A can take on a leading role: Drive strategic priorities, by owning the customer experience, identifying and prioritizing opportunities for growth and translate implications to other parts of the business. (Role split: marketing focused on developing value propositions and introducing / communicating in market)
• #38: Overperformers are linking different data sources to distil insights, in twice as many of the cases as their underperforming peers (67% vs 34%) Overperformers are thinking about how to use and leverage data from various data sets in a holistic way. An example of unlocking the power of data stems from LinkedIn’s mission to help professionals be more productive and successful by building the economic graph, a digital map the global economy to connect talent with opportunity at massive scale on behalf of our members.
• #39: We can look at every LinkedIn member with a specific skill set in each region (for example, computer science – C/C++) and look at the attention they receive from recruiters to map out supply and demand. Our data can show that for example London is a highly competitive market, with lots of supply and lots of demand. Copenhagen is significantly less competitive – what we’d call a “hidden gem” market. In addition, governments such as the UAE and city councils are leveraging this data to inform and understand how to attract talent to their workforce and economies and to understand potential shifts.   Looking at migration trends for every region in the world, for any skills set combined with census and additional sources is one example of the power of data. Again, because of our ability to store, compute, and transmit this information at increasing speed and accuracy, we can quantify previously un-seeable phenomenon like the migration of human capital. In this case, how STEM talent migrated across the globe in 2013. Using the LI data to keep a close eye on migration trends across the world can be a powerful signal in the creation of economic opportunity. Knowing how careers, companies and countries fit into the ever-shifting global economy can be a source of individual empowerment.
• #40: Three interesting data points: I&A within overperformers have a strong sense of the business (75% vs 50%) are Coming up with more creative solutions (Wholebrain) (69% vs 42%), apply Storytelling (60% vs 36%) to maximize their impact
• #41: At Mondelez, a multinational confectionery conglomerate, the insights and analytics functions has gone through considerable amount of change. By organizing themselves globally in 5 centers of excellence, they ensure mastery of their market research and analytics domain (1. portfolio and growth opportunity identification; 2. base business optimization (analytics); 3. Pricing; 4. Shopper insights; 5. Consumer insights). By reporting directly to the Chief Growth Officer (Executive Vice President of Strategy), Mondelez I&A was forced to increase their business acumen. And not only perform research but also come up with creative solutions to the challenges the business is facing in each of its categories. The next step will be to use Storytelling to bring creative solution and required course of action to live in engaging manner. Inspire the organization to ‘want to’ take action rather than ‘have to’. Frame the customer context, challenge, and proposed approach in compelling way. And lastly, they will be in a position to deploy their strategic skills, able to recognize and distill key customer insights into opportunities to drive business growth. Use the voice of the customer as guidance to choose between multiple options for growth, offset by organizational context and business potential.
• #42: So, today I presented to you WHAT the key dimensions are for customer centric growth and share with you the steps to improve each driver with a wide range of examples what other companies are doing.
• #43: The exciting part of having such a robust global cross-industry study, is that we are now also able to quantify the improvement potential for any organization that participated in our study. We are able to assess a company on each of the 10 drivers in our framework on their current performance. We benchmark it across the total population and the over-performers to see where they stand. We can then define the ambition on each lever – given their customer centricity ambition and strategy, and link the improvement potential of becoming more customer centric to revenue growth and thus concrete $$ monetary impact. This is an illustrative case, but in this example, you see the company at hand has some higher and some lower scores vs the study. Based on the ambition presented there is an improvement potential leading to an equivalent of 2.8% in revenue growth. I am convinced this will trigger some interest at board level, if they aren’t already driving customer centricity!
• #44: Each of you will be at different stages in your journey. And you will all define your own CC ambition, but before we go there are three things you could take out action immediately. The customer is not static and your proposition will always be a part of a bigger experience. Winners look at the Customer through the lens of the Total Customer Experience Journey. It is not about your product or service but about the difference, be it big or small, that you make in the day or the life of your customer. Never forget that
• #45: Secondly: forget about 100% detail and correctness of the data, but focus on accessibility and increase actionability. Many companies hire high-paid data scientists that spend their time and energy creating the perfect data-set, cleaning and managing all day. That is a waste.
• #46: Stop managing risks. Start experimenting! Allocate some of your budget to learn and become future oriented. But not only budget, adopt a mindset that failure IS an option, embrace the power of experimentation
• #47: And don’t just validate what you deliver to your customers, but reach out and find ways to co-create and innovate with customers. Find new platforms where you can interact and rapidly deliver new solutions and enhance the customer experience. More important than anything else: Go out and be with Customers. Talk to customers, walk with them eat and drink with them. If need be: sleep with them. And have fun while doing it. That will be contagious!
• #48: The way Whiskas linked everything they do to Brand Purpose is a great case to illustrate HOW this can be achieved. Based on mass-qualitative research, Whiskas elevated their positioning that was all about Care, to a truly purposeful positioning that is all about ‘Nurturing Nature; Nurturing the cat’s true nature’. Derived from the insight that people are fascinated by the Big cat characteristics they see inside every little cat. The way cats move, their physicality, their similarities with their big cousins that live in the wild; tigers, cheetahs, jaguars and panthers This purpose was not only integrated in all brand communications and activities, but also translated into the actual product; adapting the shape of the pellets and the nutritional profile of the product inspired by the what the cats really need, rather than what their owners think looks nice. On top of the functional and emotional execution of the purpose, Whiskas joined forces with the World Wildlife Fund to create a true societal movement and protect White Tigers in Siberia.
• #49: Today we presented WHAT the drivers of customer centricity are and what steps to go through to improve. This presentation is not the final deliverable of insights2020, but merely the kick-off. It’s an invitation to those wanting to bring this industry to the next level. In the coming months we will further explore How we can build Customer Centricity in specific countries and business contexts, we seek to collaborate, experiment, use different techniques like crowdsourcing, use different sources like LinkedIn and other partner membership databases, exploit our networks, publish and share our findings and collect more data to enrich our insights in this area. We invite you to join us in our quest to improve Customer Centricity via our 10 drivers and explore best practices and guidelines on HOW to best achieve this.
• #50: Thank you for listening, please reach out to us to further discuss.