Customer Experience Strategy

Abstract:

Earth & Soul Pizza changed e-commerce and point-of-sales (POS) software providers in 2023, but was this the right business decision for the organisation?

Despite countless onboarding challenges, the organisation decided to remain with the new provider for three months, and evaluate performance.

During the monitoring phase, Earth & Soul customers reported that the new software CX and user experience (UX) was disappointing.

The leadership team used the double-diamond framework to research if the overall dining experience measured up against customer expectations, and if the transition to the new e-commerce provider impacted CX.

View the presentation deck here

Final grade: 80% – High Distinction

Skills demonstrated in this project: CX design · UX design · customer journey mapping · lo-fidelity prototype · change management · double-diamond framework · quantitative research · qualitative research · STEEP trend analysis · SOAR analysis · customer personas · ACAF feedback loop · CX strategy pyramid · human-centred leadership · business strategy · pain and gain points · change implementation

Executive Summary:

About the research:

In the Deloitte report, Restaurants of the Future Arrives Ahead of Schedule, Chick et al (2020) poignantly highlights trends in customer expectations.

In particular, customers want a consistent experience across all possible touch-points. Convenience and speed are the greatest drivers when ordering takeaway, with digital innovation needing to meet these needs.

Casual dining and quick service restaurants can use this information to improve their customer experience (CX), and strategic and tactical plans.

Furthermore, as noted by Hawker et al (2018), customer expectations keeping rising as to what is acceptable, let alone exceptional.

So, how does the Earth & Soul Pizza CX measure up against contemporary customer expectations?

Did the recent transition to a new e-commerce system impact CX? If so, to what degree?

These questions, and several assumptions, form the basis of the CX research undertaken for the organisation.

The process commenced by:

Gathering insights through customer interviews
Examining macro and micro trends, and
Identifying opportunities for improvement within the current state CX

This report discusses why the organisation needs to place the customer at the centre of the entire ordering experience.

If recommendations are implemented, the result could be better efficiency, a reduction in quality control issues, a deeper level of customer satisfaction and increased weekly revenue.

Research Findings:

The research tells us that Earth & Soul’s customers are generally “promoters” (Bain & Company n.d.) and highly satisfied with the experience.

The organisation boasts an average net promoter score of 83, which Bain & Company considers as “world class”, (Qualtrics XM n.d.).

However, quality control and consistency matters to the organisation’s customers more than anything.

If the team falls short of perfection, coaching the relevant employees to lift attention-to-detail, and using transparent customer communication when something goes wrong, is the best way to handle errors.

When considering micro trends that are out of the organisation’s control, suppliers, particularly the new technology partner, impact daily operations both negatively and positively.

When the new e-commerce system works well, CX is satisfying. However, when incremental pain points arise along the customer journey, customer satisfaction reduces.

By working collaboratively with the technology partner to improve the digital CX through a series of low-cost, lo-fidelity adcept prototypes, CX could be lifted to a ten-out-of-ten experience.

The proposed CX strategy:

As reported by Bough et al (2017), a data-driven decision-making framework must be used to inform the design and delivery of CX improvements.

This is why the organisation chose the Double Diamond Framework (Eisermann et al c.2003) and ACAF Feedback Loop (Ask, Categorise, Act, Feedback) (Tousley n.d.) to inform the development of the CX strategy and design prototypes.

The organisation’s ultimate vision, is “How you do anything, is how you do everything,” (Caro 2019) and this philosophy needs to be felt at every touchpoint along the customer journey.

From the way the team prepares raw produce and donates food waste to Shelagh for her chickens to enjoy. To the making and cutting of the pizzas, then delivering piping hot food to our persona, Homely Hannah’s, door. Or remembering Hannah’s name when she’s in-store, and we’re chatting with her son about running for school captain.

“How you do anything…” has always driven the leadership team’s values and ethics. However, when you rely on others to share your vision without authentically embodying it yourself, outcomes and measures can get lost in translation.

This is why the philosophy is a fundamental pillar for CX strategy success, driving why we do what we do.

CX design prototype

The organisation adopted a lo-fidelity adcept prototype, which is low-cost and allows customers to collaboratively work with the business to develop a feature that improves the CX for an existing product.

A critical CX element that cannot be directly controlled, the e-commerce website, was the feature chosen.

The prototypes in this report aim to re-design the e-commerce home and product pages, and improve the voucher redemption process.

Customer desirability is high, directly informing the feature requests. The benefit of heeding customer advice is reduced customer effort when seeking to redeem rewards or place an order, and improved CX.

The Principles of Change Management (Kotter n.d.) informed the prototype development and testing.

Customer consultation occurred via email newsletter, SMS and in-person conversations, whilst customers were informed of the change management processes by email newsletter, SMS, in-person conversation, in-store print collateral and social media content.

Employees were consulted in-person, and informed via in-store notices and memo.

To fall short of an elevated CX, Earth & Soul Pizza fails to leverage the fundamental pillars of success: passion, dedication, commitment and humanistic leadership (Humanistic Leadership Academy n.d.).

The organisation needs to collaborate with the new technology partner, and advocate for the customer, so the proposed CX design prototypes are developed urgently as feature requests.

References:

Chick J et al (2020) The Restaurant of the Future Arrives Ahead of Schedule, Press Release, Deloitte website, accessed 2 March 2023. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/press-releases/deloitte-the-restaurant-of-the-future-arrives-ahead-of- schedule.html

Chick J et al (2021) The restaurant of the future: A vision evolves, Analysis, Deloitte website, accessed 2 March 2023. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/restaurant-future-survey-technology-customer-experience.html

Hawker R et al (2018) Breakthrough Design for a Better Customer Experience and Better Economics, Bain and Company website, accessed 2 March 2023. https://www.bain.com/insights/breakthrough-design-for-a-better-customer-experience-and-better-economics/

Bain & Company (n.d.) ‘About the Net Promoter System’, Net Promoter System website, accessed 14 March 2023. https://www.netpromotersystem.com/about/

Qualtrics XM (n.d.) Measuring Customer Experience – The CX Metrics to Think About, Experience Management, Customer, Qualtrics website, accessed 2 March 2023. https://www.qualtrics.com/au/experience-management/customer/customer-experience-measurement- metrics/

Bough V et al (2017) Four ways to shape customer-experience measurement for impact, Operations, Our Insights, McKinsey & Company website, accessed 2 March 2023. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/four-ways-to-shape-customer- experience-measurement-for-impact

Eisermann et al (c.2003) ‘The Double Diamond’, Design Council website, accessed 9 March 2023. https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our- work/skills-learning/the-double-diamond/

Tousley S (n.d.) Customer Feedback Strategy: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need, HubSpot website, accessed 7 March 2023. https://www.hubspot.com/customer-feedback

Caro C (2019) How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything, Leadership, Forbes website, accessed 17 January 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/01/04/how-you-doanything-is-how-you-do-everything/?sh=2d07f2ab19c1

Kotter (n.d.) The 8 steps for leading change, Kotter website, accessed 6 February 2023. https://www.kotterinc.com/methodology/8-steps

Humanistic Leadership Academy (n.d.) ‘Our Manifesto’, Humanistic Leadership Academy website, accessed 16 March 2023. https://humanisticleadershipacademy.org/manifesto/