HELPING YOUR CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE BETTER

A Selection Of Our Successful Partnerships

PIZZA HUT UK

THE CHALLENGE

After multiple product iterations and nearly 9 years of declining sales, Pizza Hut UK mandated a key strategic initiative to understand customer motivations on a deeper level and translate the insights to a re-designed customer experience.

“Experience Engineering made us realize that we should stop obsessing about Pizza Hut and start obsessing about what people want to feel when they’re inside our restaurant. That shift in thinking has unlocked a tremendous amount of creativity within our organization.”

Jens Hofma- Chief Executive, Pizza Hut UK

THE SOLUTION

The work resulted in very intentional changes in the customer experience, including implementation of clues in the environment and employee behaviors, all designed to create a consistent emotional effect for the customer.   According to CEO Jens Hoffma, “EE made us realize we should stop obsessing about Pizza Hut and start focusing on what people want to feel when they’re inside our stores. Suddenly we had a great alignment mechanism for ensuring all our actions and innovations were heading in the same direction”. Within 3 months of implementing the customer experience design, sales grew by 40% and the number of satisfied customers increased by 22%.

LA QUINTA

THE CHALLENGE

La Quinta Inns & Suites embarked on a brand re-fresh that not only mandated in-depth improvement of their customer experience, but also the development of a more engaged and motivated employee experience and culture.

“Our guest satisfaction scores jumped up much higher, new guests based on referrals increased significantly, and we began seeing a marked level of decreasing complaints.”

Angelo Lombardi- COO, La Quinta

THE SOLUTION

Management committed to experience audits and experience designs for both the LaQuinta customer and employee experiences. This took place simultaneously over an 18 month period of time. According to EVP and CMO Julie Cary, “We have some pretty stubborn people here and it can be hard for them to see things in new ways. But EE’s process was very deliberate, holistic, high touch and oriented to results which was perfect for us.”   The work earned La Quinta top ranking for its outstanding customer experience in the 2012 Forrester CX Index with a score of 83, well above the average of the 13 national hotel brands evaluated. It also led to 70% of LQ employees being “highly engaged” with the brand and a full 90% reporting a high level of job satisfaction.   CEO Angelo Lombardi added, “Beyond the market increase in compliments and decrease in complaints, we’re also experiencing a much higher number of new guest staying with us due to referrals. That’s huge because referrals are the ultimate metric.”

AVIS CAR RENTAL

THE CHALLENGE

Avis had declining customer service scores and ranked last in customer satisfaction of the major car rental companies. With EE’s help they applied experience management strategies based on deeper customer feelings and attitudes.

“Experience Engineering awakened us to the experiential voice of customers which we’d never considered. The work has been pivotal to our #1 brand ranking today, and has been a catalyst for change and knowledge transfer throughout Avis.”

Ron Masini- VP Product/ Program Development, AVIS

THE SOLUTION

Following implementation of EE’s Experience Design, Avis’ Newark location won the J.D. Power award for customer satisfaction the next year. Within 18 months management rolled out the Experience Design to locations that accounted for 65% of Avis’ business. IN three years Avis had moved from the bottom to #12 in the rigorous Brand Keys customer loyalty recognition survey of more than 158 global brands in 30 industries.

According to then Avis CEO Bob Salerno, he decided to take the Experience Design system-wide after receiving a letter from a customer that said “If it felt the same at every Avis location as it feels at Newark, I’d rent from Avis every trip.

DELUXE FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC.

THE CHALLENGE

For years Deluxe competed on price alone for manufacturing personalized checks. But as check writing drastically declined, and large accounts with banks were lost due to consolidation, the company sought to add value to its clients as a strategic partner.

THE SOLUTION

In 2004 Deluxe led an effort with leading banks to research, design and measure the “ideal customer experience”. An Experience Audit was conducted and an Experience Design was created and implemented in pilot locations.

Customer satisfaction, loyalty, and employee engagement increased between 10 and 30% in participating branches.

– An increased number of customers indicated they were “completely satisfied” or “extremely likely” to recommend the institution to a friend.

– Participating banks improved share of wallet, adding at least one product or service sold per household.

– Test branches had a 23% improvement in how employees felt about their role within the organization and the business strategy.

PENSKE TRUCKING LEASING AND RENTAL

THE CHALLENGE

Penske Truck Leasing, the largest truck leasing and rental firm in the world, delivers services to both consumer and commercial clients.  They embarked on a major initiative to re-brand and re-design the look and feel of store locations.

“Experience Engineering has given us a fresh lens for everything we do. The Experience Design process they guided us through is now central to strategic initiatives in both B2B & B2C.”

Jim Feenstra- Sr. VP Marketing, Penske

THE SOLUTION

EE applied varied research techniques to understand deeper customer attitudes in both the consumer and commercial markets. Experience Designs were then created and implemented based on those insights. Penske found that a strong emotional connection with customers indeed drove more growth.

In the first  6 months of implementation:

– 1.4% increase in vehicle utilization sending $22 million to the bottom line

– 40% increase in close rate from inquiry to reservation

MEDICA

THE CHALLENGE

Medica, a regional health insurance company, made improving the customer experience a strategic initiative as a hedge against sweeping industry changes due to the Affordable Care Act, as well as uneven customer satisfaction and brand perception scores.

THE SOLUTION

Through a partnership with Experience Engineering, they conducted a comprehensive audit of the current customer experience with emphasis on understanding the strong link to customer emotion. These customer insights were then brought to life in an intentional experience design that included significant changes in call center language and confusing, jargon heavy communications. In the first full year of implementation, phone conversations with Medica’s call center had a “highly satisfied” rate of 4.59 out of 5.0, the best in the company’s history. And Medica’s CAHPS ratings (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) have risen annually for the last five years.