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In this episode of Ipsos' Customer Perspective podcast, host Helen Bywater-Smith is joined by Zaheed Thawer, Director of Global Customer Centricity at leading insurance provider Manulife, and Vik Sood, EVP and Service Line Leader of CX Canada at Ipsos.
Zaheed shares how Manulife is transforming the Customer Experience and redefining the role of insurance in customers' lives. Through innovative products, digital engagement, and human-centred design, Manulife is building deep, emotional connections that go far beyond the typical transactional relationship that most people associate with insurance. By harnessing technologies like gamification and leveraging partnerships that enable proactive health management, Manulife is interacting with customers dozens of times per month rather than just once or twice per year. This allows them to better understand and meet customers' evolving needs and expectations across different life stages and cultural contexts. We discuss the critical importance of empathy, both for customers dealing with challenging life events and for the frontline employees who engage with them. By equipping and supporting employees with the right mindset, capabilities, and wellbeing resources, insurers can drive better customer and business outcomes.
If you're interested in learning how a customer-obsessed culture, creative use of digital tools, and human touch can breathe new life into a traditional industry, this is a must-listen episode.
Check out our latest Customer Perspective LinkedIn Live event - The Experience Beyond The Product, and more of our CX and Channel Performance thought leadership.
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We open the new season of Ipsos' Customer Perspective welcoming Katrina Haby, Director of Customer Experience at Melbourne & Olympic Parks - Australia's heart of sports and entertainment, along with Lance Webb, CX lead for Ipsos New Zealand and head of CX Advisory for Asia Pacific.
Katrina and Lance join Helen Bywater-Smith, Ipsos' Global Head of Experience and one of the new hosts of Ipsos' Customer Perspective, to discuss how to design Customer Experiences in the events space. In this episode, we delve into the power of belonging and inclusivity, exploring how Melbourne & Olympic Parks design events that cater to diverse audiences, and leave a lasting impact. We also discuss the power of immersive customer journeys, the importance of drawing inspiration from unexpected places, and the enduring power of personalized human connection. Tune in to discover actionable insights and practical tips that you can apply to elevate customer experiences in any industry. We finish with a new book club feature - where our guests recommend their favourite books to elevate your experiences.
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Ipsos’ Channel Performance teams partner with clients across the world to understand and measure channels and shoppers, to drive sales conversion. In our world of ‘convergent commerce’, they help improve performance across all sales and service channels – physical, contact centre, and digital – to deliverprofitable growth.
We’re joined by Craig Bradley, who leads Channel Performance, and Stuart Wood, product leader for ‘Shopper’. At the start of 2023, Ipsos’ Shopper Insights and Virtual Testing teams joined our Channel Performance business. Virtual Testing offers simulated physical and digital retail environments to measureshopper decision making, and test different activation scenarios. Craig and Stuart tell us why these businesses came together, focusing on the benefits for clients, the business challenges addressed and, of course, the impact of so doing – with plenty of example cases. They delve into each aspect of Channel Performance: Channel Sizing, including Retail Census, Retail Audit and Illicit Trade Assessment, to inform channel entry and growth strategy; Execution Measurement to ensure compliance; Mystery Shopping with the end goal of driving the right customer behaviours; as well as Shopper Insights, with a behavioural science lens, to optimise marketing ROI; and Virtual Testing to win at the point of purchase. Craig and Stuart give a shout out to best practice organisations and share their predictions for the future.
Check out Ipsos’ latest Channel Performance, CX and omnichannel/convergent commerce thinking.
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Many financial services businesses deploy external intermediaries in one form or another. These B2B (business to business) relationships are typically between the financial institution and external salespeople, advisors, agents, brokers, wholesalers and such like. In many cases, these businesses are then selling toother businesses, rather than the end consumer.
Unfortunately, it can be easy to overlook people who don’t work directly for your firm, because you may not ‘see’ or have regular contact with them. However, as an extension of your firm, they represent your brand, products, and services. More importantly, their success has a significant impact on the success of your firm during challenging economic times.
Mary DeBisschop and Jeff Repace, Senior Vice Presidents in our Ipsos US Customer Experience team, have recently published a paper called ‘Whyempowering intermediaries can help financial services companies in a challenging economy’. They join us on our Customer Perspective podcast to talk about helping businesses understand what it takes to maintain successful B2B relationships with their intermediaries.
And if you’d like to hear more from Mary and Jeff, sign-up for their upcoming webinar on 7th June: [WEBINAR] Empowering B2B Intermediaries through Customer Experience | Ipsos.
Ipsos’ latest CX and Channel Performance thinking may be found via these links.
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We’re delighted to welcome Emma Dark, Director of Customer Service at Estée Lauder, along with one of our favourite podcast co-hosts, Jamie Thorpe, Head of Experience Management at Ipsos in the UK. Emma and her team have recently been crowned the Best Small Customer Contact Centre of the year, in the highly prestigious European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards (ECCCSAs). Our own Helen Wilson, CX and Channel Performance CXO and Customer Perspective host, is the ECCCSAs’ Chair of Judges, and she certainly knows a great gold winner when she sees one! Emma takes us on her career journey, with signs of success evident early on; at just 17 years old, she opened her first store as a manager. She moved up the customer service ladder in leading global brands and start-ups, but with CX and EX always at the heart of her roles. As such, she’s exceptionally well-placed to share her take on some of our top topics including the role of Customer Experience measurement and management in CPG organisations, the importance of embedding ESG in experience, challenges when operating in our convergent commerce world, and, of course, delivering that Return on CX Investment (ROCXI). If you’re new to CX or looking to improve your CX focus, be sure to listen to Emma’s guidance on the three CX ‘must dos’!If you want to hear more from Estée Lauder, take a trip back to Season 2, Episode 9, when we were joined by Kate Fannin, Executive Director, Retail Experience & Insights, North America Corporate Marketing.
For more information about Ipsos’ point of view, check out our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking. Read ‘Embedding ESG in Experience’ to find out how organisations can derive value from ESG.
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In some of our Customer Perspective podcasts over the past year or so, you may have heard us talking about Convergent Commerce – the blurring ofphysical and digital commerce environments and touchpoints. In this episode, we’re continuing our Convergent Commerce journey, but from the angle of thebricks and mortar store.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that with all the talk about digital channels, the physical store is dead. Nothing could be further from the truth.Its roles are expanding not contracting. And depending on the category, often a majority of shopping task time and purchases are made in physical stores.
We’re joined by Norrelle Goldring, one of the authors of our recently published paper, ‘The Morphing Store: bricks andmortar evolution in a convergent commerce world’. We’re discussing how the physical store is changing, how its roles are expanding, and, of course, what this means in terms of designing for, delivering, and measuring success.
Ipsos’ latest CX and Channel Performance and thinking may be found via these links, along with ways in which our CX – including Service Design,Shopper Insights, Mystery Shopping, and Execution Measurement experts can support organisations as they face the challenges and opportunities posed bythe ‘morphing store’.
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We’re delighted to welcome Sybil Nicolson and Kristian Green to the first episode of our sixth season of Customer Perspective. Sybil is an Insights Executive for Transport for London, which many of you will know as TfL. Kristian is a Director in Ipsos’ UK Channel Performance – Mystery Shopping team, and a transport and tourism sector expert.
For those of you not familiar with TfL, this is the organisation which runs the operation of London’s public transport network and manages London's main roads – no small task given we’re talking the likes of 1.4bn tube travellers every year, 2.3 bn bus passengers – when every journey matters… that’s quite the organisational challenge!
Sybil and Kristian describe some of TfL’s research activities, including their large-scale, long-term Mystery Shopping programme: London Underground Customer Care Monitor (CCM). They explain how it remains fresh after more than 10 years, the research and logistical challenges associated with such a major initiative and how to overcome, and, most importantly, how TfL puts this to work, to drive positive change across the organisation and improvements for customers.
For more information about how to build a successful mystery shopping programme, head to Designing a ‘Smarter’ Mystery Shopping Programme | Ipsos. And do check out our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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We live in volatile times that are influencing customers’ expectations, needs and opinions. Understanding and empathising with customers and the context of ‘their world’ needs to be at the heart of experience design.
We welcome experience design experts, Helen Bywater-Smith, Ipsos’ Global Head of CX Service Design and author of our latest Ipsos whitepaper, CX Service Design: Creating emotional attachment and driving brand growth, and Jean-Francois (JF) Damais, Global CX Chief Research Officer.
Helen and JF share best practice and service design guidelines for brands to create emotional attachment and drive the right behaviours, leading to increased retention, share of spend, advocacy, operational efficiency, and, ultimately, an improved Return on CX Investment: ROCXI … and, yes, the line “designers of memories, expressers of brands, impacters of bottom lines” may have been uttered!
Check out the paper for a more in-depth look at CX Service Design case studies and actionable frameworks. And when you’re reading it, think about a specific journey or experience that you would like to design, refresh or repair, to improve your relationship with your customers. Consider it a ‘mini CX design clinic’!
Head to these links to find out about more Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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We welcome Alison Chaltas, Ipsos’ Global Head of Shopper and Omnichannel, and Norrelle Goldring, global consultant, co-authors of a recently published Ipsos whitepaper, ‘Beyond omnichannel to convergent commerce ecosystems’.
Last season (S4, Ep5), Alison joined us to speak about convergent commerce, including what this actually means, those emerging channels where convergent commerce is evident, and the impact on the consumer/customer journey. In this episode, we take the conversation to the next level, to discuss convergent commerce ecosystems, including what that looks like, what this means for means for brands and retailers, including what they need to do to align themselves to consumers’ ecosystems, whilst keep the customer at the heart of such a move (always!) and not developing ‘things’ for their own sake.
We’ll be inviting Alison and Norrelle back to speak about another new paper in our series, but head here if you simply cannot wait to know more about ‘The Morphing Store: bricks and mortar evolution in a convergent commerce world’.
Ipsos’ latest CX, Channel Performance and Omnichannel specific thinking may be found via these links.
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We welcome Kate McLaren, General Manager - Customer Quality at Kia Motors UK to our Customer Perspective podcast. David Hart, Kia Customer Experience Manager, joined us back in Season 3, speaking about some of the drivers of Kia’s success, and we’re delighted to share the next episode of that story, and to provide a glimpse of what the future holds for Kia. We welcome back Jo Causon, CEO of The Institute of Customer Service, another season 3 favourite, as well as regular guest and host, Ipsos’ very own Jamie Thorpe, Head of Experience Management.
The conversation between these three true CX experts is enlightening and wide-ranging, with topics including how Ipsos, The ICS and clients work together and the benefits that brings. They discuss how, in these challenging times, Customer Experience has never been more important, along with the associated challenges, and what really makes a difference when driving those desired business outcomes. They dive into trust, authenticity, empathy and the value and ways of creating emotional attachment with a brand. But, of course, it’s all about the impact, with ROCXI (Return on CX Investment), all important. Jo points to data that shows how companies that succeed in achieving higher than average customer satisfaction results over a sustained period of 5-8 years, deliver 10% higher than average levels of EBITDA. And as Jamie says, if you cannot tell that story for your own organisation, identifying that financial return on the back of improving employee engagement and the Customer Experience, then there’s work to be done! Head to Money talks or budget walks | Ipsos, co-authored by Jamie, for some advice.
Check out our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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We are delighted to welcome Attila Szabo, who is Managing Director at Ford of Poland, leading the national sales company. We’re also joined by Annamária Földes, who leads our Ipsos Customer Experience and Channel Performance business in Hungary. Attila speaks to us about Ford’s electric future and what that means for the future Ford Customer Experience, including the opportunities afforded by the electric CX journey to further strengthen the customer relationship. He describes some of the learnings from the pandemic and those new digital, and subsequently phygital, touchpoints which were introduced by necessity, but which have been retained and enhanced the experience, and so driving better customer outcomes. Attila is a big fan of mystery shopping, describing it as the “moment of truth … irreplaceable”, along with Voice of the Customer (VoC) research. Of course, as a CX savvy organisation, the importance of CX is recognised throughout Ford, with the ‘Chairman’s Award’, the top award for dealerships, having CX as the primary measure. The future is bright, the future is partially here … Customer Experience is ever more important – we agree, Attila, and look forward to welcoming you back to share the next instalment of Ford’s story.
Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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We are delighted to welcome Yvette Steyn who focuses on growth and innovation at Distell, Africa’s leading producer and marketer of alcoholic drinks, which are sold across the world. We’re also joined by Zibusiso Ngulube who heads up Ipsos’ Channel Performance business in South Africa. Zibs is one of our experts in retail measurement, including within the indirect/informal channel.
Distell’s purpose is ‘Creating memorable moments. Crafting a better future’, and in this episode Yvette and Zibs tell us about the industry coming together in an incredible sustainability initiative, in South Africa, to drive a better future for the industry as a whole, advancing licensing in particular and a reduction in alcohol abuse, contributing to an upliftment of society, in a meaningful way. They discuss the challenges faced, the practical aspects of mapping the size of the market, including the number of independent retailers – licensed and unlicensed – and gaining a deep understanding of this unique alcohol landscape, which has been hit hard by Covid lockdowns. They uncovered some surprises, so settle in and be prepared to be inspired by what they’ve achieved and the impact this initiative is having.
Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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We’re dishing up a ‘mash-up’, between our Customer Perspective and Educated Conjecture Ipsos podcasts, to give a customer and citizen perspective on the world. We’re joined by Mike Colledge, giving us the ‘citizen lens’, and Ray Kong, with the ‘customer lens’.
Ray and Mike talk to us about what matters to today’s citizens – what’s keeping them awake at night, of course recognising that customers are citizens too. Among the topics covered are: customers’ expectations of brands in helping them address pressing concerns – cost of living and sustainability among them; liquid expectations, including those crossing from the private into public sectors; executives’ challenges, including staffing; and, on a positive note, disruption breeding innovation.
As a flavour of the conversations they’re hearing:
“ … when my income hasn't risen as fast as my cost of living … the expectations (of organisations) are not that they are going to solve the root causes, (but) … how do you help me navigate these times?”
“I vote every four years, but I spend every day, and I'd like my money to have a similar impact to my vote on those broad social issues”
And from a business leader: “I know that this (staffing) is a problem. I know that we need to find ways to do better, but I just have no tools to solve this, because I cannot get people … and I cannot develop alternate tools fast enough”.
Mike leads Ipsos Public Affairs in Canada, and is co-host of Educated Conjecture, our podcast that examines a current or emerging issue – what’s happening today, the future impact, and steps that might need to be taken to generate a better outcome for tomorrow.
Ray Kong is a President in our Ipsos Client Organisation and has previously led Ipsos CX business in both South Africa and Canada. Ray is representing Customer Perspective, which our loyal listeners will know is aimed at all of you who are concerned with helping your organisation deliver on its Brand Promise to customers.
If you’d like to add another podcast to your favourites list, head to Educated Conjecture. And, yes, we’ll be inviting Darrell Bricker to educate us, but if you cannot wait and would like to read his book, Empty Planet, head here for details. Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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We are delighted to welcome Jasper Lam from TD, which serves 24 million customers around the globe, and is the sixth largest bank in North America, by branches. TD’s mission is to give clients the best banking experience possible, every day. Jasper’s team is responsible for Customer Experience Strategy, Customer Experience Measurement and Analytics, CX Metric Operations and Transformation, and the Customer Journey Framework. We’re also joined by Ray Kong, a President in our IpsosClient Organisation, and he’s previously led our CX business in South Africa and Canada – so also a man who knows a thing or two about CX!
Jasper and Ray share their views on how customers’ needs and expectations have changed over the past few years, great examples of organisations who are ‘getting it right’ (Shaun at buybuy Baby, please tell us you’ve heard Jasper’s story about the great experience you delivered!), and how TD Bank creates the culture that enables their staff to deliver that ‘legendary service’. We know Ben Page will certainly appreciate the ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ (Drucker) reference! Jasper and Ray also give the lowdown on customers’ changing relationships with money and their banks, how the ‘value equation’ is evolving, and what that means for brands. We’re already looking forward to Jasper coming back to talk more about CX and EX. There are so many quotes I could pluck from this interview – enjoy!
Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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New Ipsos research shows men having expressed increased interest in purchasing male cosmetics in recent years, exposing an opening for brands to target this cohort, and signaling a likely evolution in the definition of masculinity. Overall, 15% of heterosexual men aged 18–65 in the U.S. currently use male cosmetics and makeup; an additional 17% would consider using it in the future.
We’re joined by two expert guests, both from Ipsos in the U.S.: Carlos Aragon, a Vice President, in our Channel Performance business and Kristy Click, Senior Client Officer – and they’re co-authors of our recently published PoV, ‘There’s a market for men’s cosmetics – and a generation gap’. Carlos and Kristy share a brief history of men’s grooming, skincare and cosmetics products, describe how expectations and behaviours have changed, tell us about the products that are being added to routines and benefits sought, conversations that are taking place on social media and what’s/who’s topping the social media chats, and give advice to brands wanting to reach men searching for skincare and cosmetics products, and tap into the massive growth potential in this area.
Head here to read their paper, or here to watch Carlos’ and Kristy’s recent webinar.
Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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The goal of regulators around the world is to ensure that the markets they regulate are functioning well, that the companies they oversee abide by the law, and that consumers do not suffer the consequences of malpractice. It is mandatory for compliance teams to ensure their organisations comply with regulatory requirements – and prove it. If organisations do not perform in line with regulatory expectations, and consumers suffer as a result, the commercial impact can be significant. The scale of regulator fines and consumer claims over the past decade is testament to the fact that too many organisations have failed.
This week, we are joined by Ipsos’ Andy Firth, Head of Analytics and Insight in our UK Channel Performance team, mystery shopping expert, and author of our recently published Driving compliance at the frontline paper. Andy talks about the ways to mitigate such risk, and the tools to measure and drive compliance, including Mystery Shopping, a key methodology in the toolkit.
This podcast is recommended listening for any organisation – regulators and the regulated – interested in ensuring that frontline staff are adhering to regulatory standards and treating customers fairly.
Head here to read the paper. Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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We are delighted to welcome Helen Campbell-Watt, a woman of many firsts, from Coutts, and Jamie Thorpe, our Ipsos UK Head of XM. Helen shares the genuinely fascinating story of Coutts, which was set up in 1692, and became one of the best-known private banks in the world. Serving the likes of royalty, politicians, business leaders…indeed, “history makers to penalty takers”, an incredibly diverse, high net worth customer base, with high expectations, brings, of course, unique challenges. But Coutts is an organisation where client focus comes from the top, has “culture embedded in the client”, and “the client is always on the agenda”; it has “3 metrics and client is one of them”.
Helen tells the story of Coutts’ incredible history, highlighting philanthropy and innovation (in 1963, for example, Coutts became the first British bank to use computerised accounts). But the story continues and we hear about Helen’s futures desires … with the metaverse firmly on that list. There’s no doubt about it, you will love listening to Helen and Jamie – and as a man who’s seem more than his fair share of exceptional Customer Experience, when Jamie’s impressed, you know it’s got to be special. And thank you, Helen, for those lovely comments about Ipsos!Find out more about our latest Ipsos CX and Channel Performance thinking.
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