Interactive products have become a permanent part of our reality in the form of mobile applications and social platforms. When they were created, attention began to be paid to and research conducted on the experiences related to using them (so-called User Experience, UX). This involved simply collecting feedback from customers.
The UX era, however, is already becoming history. The market in many sectors has developed to an incredible degree in recent years and has entered the era of digital transformation. If a company wants to build good user experiences related to the use of the products it offers, it must change its attitude toward the customer — in line with the latest trend, Collaborative Exchange (CX), the successor to User Experience. What exactly does the change taking place before our eyes consist of?
Customers want collaboration
The culture we live in is described by sociologists as a participatory culture, which encourages consumers to take part in the process of creating content. This changes the perception of many aspects of everyday life — even ones as obvious as the media. For many years, it was believed that they played an active role, in opposition to the passive recipients of the content they delivered. It turns out, however, that for today's media recipient, value lies not only in the possibility of receiving information, but also in participating in its creation.
The basic model of roles is being reversed, and we are beginning to observe this trend not only in the media market but also in the area of business. Customers are ready to engage in a relationship with a given company, and the company can use this readiness to collect data about them. Collaboration must take place with the consent of both parties — and bring benefits to both sides.
“The advantages flowing from data provided by engaged users are enormous, and this means that companies can save on expensive, comprehensive infrastructure solutions by receiving feedback on the services or interactive products they offer directly from customers,” explains Marek Woźny of Capgemini. The company published in May of this year the report From UX to CX: Rethinking the Digital User Experience as a Collaborative Exchange, in which it announces the end of the User Experience era and the replacement of UX with a new approach to customer relations — Collaborative Exchange.
Both sides benefit
The term User Experience, used since the 1970s, refers to the impressions a person experiences while using a given interactive product and is generally used to talk about software, websites, or devices. UX primarily assumes a passive role for the user, and its design consists in creating the product in such a way that all experiences related to it are pleasant, positive for the given person, and bring satisfaction.
“This approach to customer relations now raises many objections, because it does not use the potential that the customer brings in any of the four areas — economic, social, cultural, or informational. It was used commonly for several decades, but today it is no longer current, also because new products and services are being created, such as VOD platforms or specialized photo banks for graphic designers, which in a sense force the use of a different model of cooperation with the customer,” explains Marek Woźny.
The approach known as Collaborative Exchange gives the customer greater control over the process in which they take part, offering great value to the company whose offer the customer is currently using. CX is based on two values — participation and information. The first proves important for the customer, fulfilling their need for active participation in a given process. The second gives the company a chance to collect valuable information about the customer.
It is a win-win situation in which both sides benefit. As part of the CX tactic, the courier company UPS enabled its customers some time ago to track packages in real time. By providing information about the shipment, the company gained a good reputation in the eyes of customers and at the same time reduced the number of inquiries about where the shipment currently is and when it will be delivered. Starbucks, on the other hand, asked customers to submit ideas through a special platform that they would like to share with the company. Out of more than 150,000 proposals, the company implemented as many as 277 new solutions.
Customer trust is the key to success
Several rules apply in the CX approach, the most important of which is one: the customer must trust the company. Otherwise, they will be unwilling to cooperate and will not share any data with it. That is why the CX approach should be applied thoughtfully, taking into account the needs of the other party.
Examples of improper application of the CX approach were indicated in the report From UX to CX. Capgemini experts recalled Facebook's problems, which, by introducing a feature involving the automatic collection of the most important events from the past year, lost a great deal in users' eyes, because among the memories there were also unpleasant ones, related, for example, to the death of a loved one or a breakup with a long-term partner, and this could not be changed independently.
The American postal service USPS also lost out due to the improper use of CX by introducing automated devices intended to relieve employees. It turned out, however, that without customers' consent, they sent transaction confirmations via SMS, which could not be turned off. This resulted in a deterioration of opinions about USPS in the eyes of many Americans and financial penalties for the postal service in the amount of 34 million dollars.
Several models of cooperation
So how can the CX approach be applied in order to gain from it rather than lose? Marek Woźny believes that one should start by thoroughly analyzing and understanding its principles of operation, which to a large extent refer to the ordinary human feelings of every customer. One should also realize that within CX there are several different types of cooperation. “Capgemini experts described them in the report, pointing to different roles of the customer and the company. As a result, it was possible to develop four basic types of cooperation in which the company can be a companion, an advisor, a host, or a director for the customer,” says Woźny.
The models of cooperation can be divided according to how large a role the customer plays in the cooperation process, how much information they provide to the company, and how this data is then used by the company. And so: if a company not only collects but also uses information about the customer to continuously improve the quality of the services and products it offers, it takes on the role of advisor, which assumes strict control over the possibility of customer participation in the cooperation. This is a model intended for companies that want to be regarded as experts in their field, which is why it works, for example, in the case of companies in the medical industry. But companies operating in other sectors also coped perfectly well with applying this strategy. Michelin, one of the world's largest tire manufacturers, used QR codes on the Chinese market to be able to track the route of tires sold throughout the country. Michelin uses the information obtained in this way only internally to plan marketing and distribution activities, but the introduction of this solution also had several advantages for customers, who can, for example, make sure that the tires they purchased are not counterfeit.
The director is a company that also, to a certain extent, enables the customer to participate in the cooperation process, while controlling it and collecting as much information as possible. Unlike advisor companies, it does not use the collected information to tailor its offer to the needs of a specific user, much like a conductor who does not direct the movements of their baton individually to particular members. Courier companies operate similarly, receiving from customers a great deal of personal data (often not only an address but also a phone number, etc.), but not using it to personalize their services, thereby building the position of a professional brand that cares for the well-being of its customers and for the information they entrust to it.
A companion cooperates with its customer on many levels, not only collecting data about them but also offering them the opportunity for continuous active participation in the cooperation process. This distinguishes this type of company from both of the previous ones. In terms of using the collected information, companies using this type of customer relationship resemble advisor companies. Capgemini experts cite Waze, a navigation application that enables users to independently add information about traffic, report accidents, and closed roads, as an excellent example of this kind of company. This requires a high level of engagement on the part of people using the application, which nevertheless serves to transmit information.
The most interesting role a company can take on, however, is that of host. This type of cooperation assumes that the company encourages its users to undertake activity that is not, however, directed directly at the company. Experts compare this model to a panel discussion in which the company would act as moderator and its customers as panelists. The moderator only encourages the discussion participants to engage in dialogue, offering them space for conversation. An example could be the company Lyft, a platform that enables users to arrange shared car rides, or the All-Star Profile Status introduced by the LinkedIn portal, awarded to users of the platform who have completed building their profile. LinkedIn encourages users to create content and share it with others, becoming merely its medium.
Win the fight for the customer
“The choice of a particular type of cooperation is sometimes determined by the company's belonging to a given sector,” says Woźny. “Companies using the confidential data of their customers, operating, for example, in the areas of medicine or finance, will by nature tend to fulfill the role of director rather than host. Organizations involved in education, on the other hand, will naturally position themselves as advisors, using the collected information only internally,” he adds.
Capgemini experts agree that it is high time for companies to rethink their approach to cooperation with customers and adapt their activities to one of the indicated archetypes. “The key to success in the next phase of digital transformation is developing a strategy that takes into account customers' needs and emotions, emphasizing the exchange of information and enabling both sides to participate in the entire process — even to a small extent. If companies do not start working on solutions in this area, they will lose the fight for the customer,” believes Woźny.
The full report From UX to CX: Rethinking the Digital User Experience as a Collaborative Exchange is available here.
About Capgemini:
The Capgemini Group, which in 2017 celebrates its 50th anniversary, employs more than 190,000 people in over 40 countries. A global leader in providing consulting, technology, and outsourcing services, it recorded global revenue of EUR 12.5 billion in 2016. Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business, technology, and digital solutions that fit their needs and enable them to achieve innovation and competitiveness. A deeply multicultural organization has developed its own way of working, the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and its own global delivery model — Rightshore®.
More information: www.capgemini.com
Rightshore® is a trademark belonging to Capgemini
