For consumer-driven businesses, the pressure to make purchasing easy and quick has perhaps never been more intense. So, how do businesses cut out the friction? That was the focus of “Removing Friction from The Customer Journey,” a session at the Interactive Customer Experience Summit on June 2.
Luke Wilwerding, VP, North America sales, Elo Touch Solutions, left, and Dan Morton, VP, guest experience, Hilton, during the «Removing Friction From the Customer Journey» session at the ICX Summit in Columbus, Ohio on June 2.
Most consumers, having grown accustomed to the speed and efficiency of the digital age, often want the best product in the most convenient way possible.
For consumer-driven businesses, the pressure to make purchasing easy and quick has perhaps never been more intense. So, how do businesses cut out the friction? That was the focus of «Removing Friction from The Customer Journey,» a breakout session at the Interactive Customer Experience Summit on June 2 at the Hilton Easton hotel in Columbus, Ohio. The session was sponsored by Elo, a touchscreen solution provider, marketing screens to restaurants, the hospitality industry, transportation and more.
The session, moderated by Luke Wilwerding, VP, North American Sales, Elo Touch Solutions, included Sandi McKibbon, senior director, retail strategy and design, Rogers Communications and Dan Morton, VP, guest experience, Hilton.
The panelists agreed that before finding solutions to reduce friction, companies must first create a map of the customer’s journey through a transaction. Mega businesses such as Uber and Amazon created processes to eliminate hurdles that many companies are trying to mirror.
«We are a serving people business, as our CEO often says on almost every call,» Morton said. «At the same time, we also want to bring great digital experiences to augment that.»
Hilton is one of the largest hotel chains in the world. Morton said it’s beneficial to have great customer experience because it increases the likelihood of guests staying at a Hilton again and boost sales for the hotel giant’s many franchise owners. He said the brand’s guest rewards program has been very successful.
COVID changes customer demands
Rogers, a Canadian telecommunications company, provides wireless communications and cable television, along with telephone and internet services for individuals and businesses. McKibbon said when the COVID-19 pandemic hit more than two years ago, the telecommunications business lost a lot of customer traffic.
«Up to that point, everything was touch and feel. It was very up close to the customer,» McKibbon said. «COVID meant that people couldn’t touch a large part of our products, which is quite a bit of our business.»
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Dan Morton from Hilton hotels talks about ways to improve customer experience at the ICX Summit in Columbus, Ohio, on June 2. Moderator Luke Wilwerding, from Elo Touch Solutions, looks on. |
The pandemic brought the hospitality business to a screeching halt in 2020. Room rentals dropped about 90%, according to Morton. The industry had to alter customer experience systems on the fly.
«It was a lot of, ‘How do we make sure the people that are still traveling are being supported?'» Morton said. «At that time, it was a lot of people who needed to travel because of COVID, nurses, first responders and so on. Eventually, as more people began to travel again, it was about ‘How do we meet our guests where they are?'»
For guests to safely order food, Hilton set up contactless delivery. Also, after a large portion of staff was furloughed or laid off, the hotel chain had to maximize resources with a limited staff.
«It’s easy to say that during this time, there was a lot of thought put into how do we address customer preferences and needs,» Wilwerding said.
How do we reduce friction?
While the pandemic was tough on many industries, it did allow businesses to pause, take a step back, analyze processes and decide how to make customer experience better.
McKibbon believes eliminating friction mostly comes down to time. Busy consumers grow impatient with slow, cumbersome service.
«We really doubled down on thinking, ‘What will save the customers’ time?'» she said.
Rogers worked on improving its appointment booking process and then pivoted to other areas. McKibbon said the telecommunications brand sent surveys to customers to gauge feedback, but emphasized the importance of listening to front-line service representatives. Rogers created a portal for service reps to list ways to improve customer service. Ideas were voted on and reps with the best ideas received prizes.
«That’s a really important thing in terms of providing a feedback loop,» Wilwerding said. «I love the idea of an incentive.»
Hilton, meanwhile, ramped up its digital check-in process, which includes a digital key. Guests didn’t have to interact with people and could enter their rooms without grabbing heavily-touched doorknobs. Hilton spent time testing and launching different customer experience plans to see what was most efficient to reduce friction. Morton said the company’s journey through COVID was «fun, but challenging at the same time.»
«A lot of the work that we did ended up having legs beyond (the pandemic),» Morton said. «For instance, a lot of our guests wanted contactless arrival, but sometimes they wanted to upgrade. Going to the front desk was the only way they could upgrade, so we launched automatic upgrades last year in order to meet that need.»
Morton said the pandemic brought many conveniences customers enjoyed and now expect. The hotel brand began studying consumer data to watch and better understand costumer behavior. Technology wise, Hilton brought in wayfinding displays and more QR codes. Guests can scan QR codes to get apps and find hotel information, replacing book directories in every room.
McKibbon said Rogers rolled out a line of digital signage displays from Elo and launched a touchscreen table for Apple products. Rogers has also installed more kiosks to modernize its cash payment system.
«For us, it’s happy reps, plus happy customers and that equals happy company,» McKibbon said.
Photos provided by Networld Media Group.