Customer Experience Engineering

It’s a fairly simple proposition, customer experience engineering; rather than developing something you think (or know) is incredible, and then putting effort (and money) into trying to explain why your customers need and want it, you start with what your customers need and want and reverse engineer your products, services, communications and even your behaviour, to suit.

Sounds like a pain in the proverbial? Well, I won’t use the old ‘easy as 1, 2, 3’ cop-out slogan, and if anything it’s closer to ‘STOP, LOOK and LISTEN’ but… read on.

It doesn't Costa lot!

Customer experience is a fickle thing – it’s tough to pick out the highs and the lows; sometimes you know full well that service could be better (say, at a Supermarket check out – whatever you do, never make eye contact!) and sometimes you know that it doesn’t get much better (in this instance, an online experience with one of the big ones like Amazon, who seem to know what you’re thinking and when you’re thinking it – has spending money ever been so painless?).

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.”

One of the blessings (or is it a curse?) of being the Operations Director for a Branding Consultancy like Idealogy, is that you never know what the day will throw at you.

But whatever it is, you'd better be ready!

Paul Wright has had 20 years of being ready, and the one constant is that, around his robust flexibilty, “…the times they are a changing!”.

20 years ago the marketing and communications landscape was one of brochures and trade shows and stationery and press advertising. Today, that landscape is full of terms like websites, experiential and ambient media, e-campaigns, social media, customer experience and the ‘B’ word.

So how does someone like Paul deal with that kind of far-reaching change? After all, it’s not as if he can just transfer the skills of one era and transplant them into the current milieu. For Paul, his greatest asset is his matter-of-fact approach to all things – ‘let’s not get excited here!’. And it’s a mindset that has served both him and the business well.

Whatever the question, whatever the challenge, his unruffled perspective keeps projects on the rails, long after many of us would have jumped off the train. His ability to combine a generation of traditional production skills with the competencies required to deliver complex multi-media projects is a lesson in sangfroid – he remains composed and self-assured under extreme pressure.

Which brings us neatly to our headline.

Paul’s attitude to his changing universe is one of crushing inevitability. Just don’t ask him difficult questions when he’s trying to get a can of drink out of a machine. It’s surprising how quickly that calm veneer crumbles. And the language isn’t far behind.

Pepsi anyone?

Posted by Idealogy

A real first for Idealogy! FIRST CLUB. Helping Fitness First make fitness pay for itself!

Here’s a breakthrough moment!

How much more regularly would everyday fitness enthusiasts go to their clubs if they also had access to a basket of other great benefits on top of the obvious health improvements? The more you train, the better-off you feel!

That’s the theory behind Fitness First’s FIRST CLUB and the cue for Idealogy to get involved with the online function for this powerful Member Benefits programme.

FIRST CLUB provides committed members with value-based offers, discounts and rewards at many High Street, Travel, Energy, Insurance & Lifestyle brands that soon add up. All Members are entitled to FIRST CLUB member benefits and those members who have been with the club for over a year are automatically upgraded to FIRST CLUB + where they will benefit from another level of rewards.

Working with initial concepts from the Fitness First internal team, Idealogy were tasked with creating a sympathetically branded web environment as a home for this fantastic campaign.

The Fitness First UK site already attracts over 100,000 visitors per month and FIRST CLUB has been designed from the ground up to say ‘Thank You’ to all members and to reflect membership needs as they migrate through the benefits offer.

Idealogy, already the creative and management resource behind www.fitnessfirst.co.uk, has huge experience in web-based customer experience marketing and the FIRST CLUB challenge went live in record time, due to fantastic cooperation from the Fitness First internal marketing and digital teams.

Is that what they mean by being first to market?






Posted by Simon Johnson