Best Practices in Improving Customer Experience by Focusing on Overlooked Touchpoints

All rights reserved 2012.

Improving Customer Experience by Focusing on Overlooked Touchpoints Irene Etzkorn, Executive Director, Simplification / September 12, 2012


Why are things so complicated?

•  Companies speak to themselves • Mergers and acquisitions create duplication •  The mystique of Systems and Legal •  Adherence to old processes; slow

conversion to new technology •  Lack of expertise in plain language writing,

information design and information architecture


The stranglehold of legalese

Using the word “not” three times and “included” twice in one sentence creates a brain twister.


Industries talking to themselves


Simple stuff sells


ING Direct


“The busier life gets, the more value there is in simplicity as a point of competitive differentiation.”

“It’s good for American society, not just good business sense. Simplicity and clarity make us more productive.” Arkadi Kuhlmann Chairman, President and CEO of ING Direct USA


“Philips is touching the core of people through simplicity.” Andrea Ragnetti, former Corporate Marketing Officer, Philips


It’s the blend of art and science that simplicity requires which touches people viscerally.


Unheralded touchpoints

Interfaces

Bills Policies

Statements

Deeply Branded Customer Experience

Proposals Correspon-dence

Applications Disclosure


The elements of simplification

Simplified Experiences

Brand strategy

Information architecture

Technology Customization

Plain language

Information design


Genworth American Express United MileagePlus

2012

1975

Quest

Chubb

IRS

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Discover

Edward Jones Sony PSP

Cleveland Clinic AT&T Citibank IBM

Pioneers in simplified customer experience


Siegel+Gale’s SimplicityLab™

A proprietary evaluation methodology and index for measuring the effectiveness of brand strategy and design based on our core philosophy of simplicity.


Allstate simplification blueprint


Previous policyholder documents


Redesigned policyholder documents


Insurance Score—inconsistent explanation across multiple channels (Before)

“In evaluating insurance policies, our method of considering all of these factors together, as a whole, ensures that no single negative item will necessarily prevent a customer from qualifying for a lower premium.”

“Our model does not consider information such as income or net worth because we are not assessing our customers’ credit-worthiness.”

“In fact, certain credit report information has proved an effective predictor of insurance losses. It also allows insurance companies to keep costs competitive by making it possible for customers who are less likely to experience losses to pay less for their insurance.”

Call Center Web Printed Communications


Insurance Score—clarifying a key concept across multiple channels (After)

“Allstate uses a number of factors to calculate insurance rates. The factors, taken together, allow us to apply rates based on the likelihood that a loss may occur—similar to the way a health questionnaire helps a life insurance company predict losses and set rates. Over the years, we have learned that certain credit information allows us to predict the likelihood of loss with great accuracy. It is this group of loss-related factors that we consider from a credit report, not the credit score, nor a person’s credit-worthiness.”

Call Center Printed Communications Web How we determine your premium In [State, Company] uses a secure computer program to pull information from your credit history and produce an insurance score. Your insurance score is just one component used in determining your auto tier. As the diagram show, Allstate considers your auto tier along with other information, such as [driving record/location of home/etc] to determine your premium group. Some of the items we consider in a typical customer’s credit history include the number of credit accounts and the length of time you’ve maintained your credit accounts. We also consider your payment history and how often lenders have made inquiries into your credit report other than to make promotional offers. These specific aspects of an individual’s credit history have been shown by research and experience to indicate the likelihood of experiencing an insurance loss.

How do we determine your rates? To determine your premium we would consider such factors as: •  What type of car you drive: How old

is it? What safety features does it have? •  Who drives the car: What is the age,

driving record and gender of each driver? •  How you use the car: How far do you

drive? Do you use the car to commute or for pleasure? Where do you keep (garage) your car?

We also consider your insurance score, a calculation based on elements from your credit history. Over the years we’ve found that including insurance scores helps us better predict the likelihood of experiencing an insurance loss. This helps us match our rates to the risk we’re assuming.


Documents that educate and inform, rather than merely report data


Governmental influence SEC rulings on simplified prospectuses and disclosure of fees

Trend

1in10 taxpayers receives a notice

Heatmap indicating areas of confusion: CP2000

No confusion High confusion

Source: Siegel+Gale SimplicityLab


Confusing 42-step, 10-page notice

Start 1

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Results: Respondents are more likely to pay

31% 37% Original Revised

Difference is statistically significant at the 95% level of confidence Source: Siegel+Gale SimplicityLab


What does simple mean?

+  simple is clear. +  simple is fresh. +  simple is honest. +  simple is useful. +  simple is inspiring. +  simple is smart.

Best Practices in Improving Customer Experience by Focusing on Overlooked Touchpoints

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