Case

DRIVING CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY: A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO CONSUMER RELATIONSHIPS

Creating a multi-channel blueprint as the basis to drive a consumer-focused organization

From product– centric to

customer– centric

Despite a mandate from the CEO of a large global consumer prod-ucts company to move from a product-centric to a consumer-centric business, management struggled to create a holistic view of how to manage direct relation-ships with consumers. The legacy of working via retail-ers presented an internal barrier to out-of-the-box thinking about how to give consumers what they were asking for in terms of con-tacting the company directly via multiple channels. The objective was to create a ho-listic, logical and pragmatic vi-

sion of managing consumer re-lationships that could be used as the basis for transforming the organization to a consumer-focused enterprise. Approach Using existing consumer re-search and insights, the organi-zation’s channel capabilities were profiled to identify how the com-pany was communicating with their consumers, and allowing consumers to communicate with them. Channel proficiency was mapped in the four regions and channel strengths were identified.

Impact

The basis for a 3-year business plan to drive channel development and build a powerful

consumer-centric organization

Initiated a series of pilots to create new consumer relationship building opportunities across the

consumer experience landscape

Global Customer Experience Award 2008, Winner Customer Strategy Award Europe

Runner-up Gartner CRM Excellence Award 2008

study Turning

Thought Into Action

Critical Success Factors

Consumer insights for a

view of the current

situation supported by

research and channel

usage numbers

An outside-in approach

to translating the inter-

nal view of contact rea-

sons to the external

view of what is motivat-

ing the consumer to

make contact

An end-to-end view of

how the total consumer

experience works, inte-

grating the brand pillars,

the channel strengths

and the “plus one” be-

haviors into the fabric

of how the company

will do business in the

future

A core team from key

stakeholders in the or-

ganization

“Select pilots translated the blueprint into action”

A consumer experience landscape showed how reactive

and proactive experiences combined to deliver a holistic

relationship-building approach

Eighteen unique consumer-initiated experiences were defined across the pre-buying, buying and post-buying spectrum. Nineteen proactive con-sumer experiences were developed and integrated into the landscape to support relationship-building via more value-added contact initiated by the company in the consumer’s best interests. Consumer Experiences A consumer experience landscape showed how the experiences fit to-gether to support the company’s goal of developing relationships di-rectly with consumers and how they worked across channels to extend the consumer experience. A model was developed to show how the channels worked together to help consumers interact better with the company. This provided the foundation for initiating new channel implementations and pi-lots, and to continue to improve the cross-channel integration towards a true multi-channel platform. Blueprint Imprint Footprint A structured approach ensured that the blueprint was followed by a number of pilots to imprint the new way of working on the organisation.

Thereafter the refined approach was rolled out across the organisation to create a broad footprint in the mar-ket. The joint blueprint process re-sulted in a three-year roadmap identifying specific steps to trans-form the organization and make it more consumer-centric. Three central pilots were defined to move forward with the vision and to identify the financial and opera-tional implications for rolling out. Some aspects were considered “no regret” decisions, meaning that there was no need to build a busi-ness case, just implement. Impact The company re-organized, moving Consumer Care under the wing of Marketing. A Consumer Loyalty and CRM group was established with a team of consumer experience architects to advise Marketing, Products and Countries on rolling out the blueprint.

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