Curiosity may kill the cat, but it's a brand's best friend

Although companies have increasing amounts of customer data, they are not always using it well enough, says NetApp's UKI director Elliot Howard

‘Customer centricity' is one of the major buzz words dominating the customer-service space right now. To me, the customer-centric approaches are not far-reaching enough and brands should be asking themselves a different question: ‘Are we customer curious?'

To truly exercise a customer-centric approach, you have to collect and analyse data on your customers and use it to improve your interactions and business moments with them. By learning more about your customers you can provide a superior service than your competitors and, ultimately, get customers to buy more from you.

However, a lot of the examples of customer centricity in practice do not demonstrate enough empathy and show that brands are certainly not ‘curious' about me as a customer. The data or the method of analysis used clearly do not inform the customer-service approach enough and are not contextually aware of my needs, emotions or state of mind at that specific moment in time or in life.

The business moment loses its power because the organisation has not taken the time to truly consider my needs. Without this understanding you can't build empathy; without empathy you can't build rapport; without rapport you can't build trust - and trust is the foundation of any good relationship.

For example, if I log onto my mobile banking app it asks me, based on data it has collected about me, if I'd like to open an e-savings account. What it should know is that I already have several. To me, that's not ‘customer curious' because it's not providing a service that's personal to me. It is a broad-base fumble in the dark that has irritated me. That creates resentment, not trust.

Modern technologies and the services supported by them, which mobile banking and online retail are, have instigated a psychological shift in the minds of users. I refer to this as the expectation economy. People are loyal to experiences rather than brands, and if an experience does not meet their expectation, the brand is failing to provide good customer service. Additionally, the digital revolution has given us all the ability to switch quickly, so we are more fickle than we were. If you fail to capitalise on the business moments with an experience that is contextual and relevant you will lose the customer.

So, returning to the mobile banking example, what is an experience that would exceed my expectation and be considered customer curious? It's relatively simple. If I transfer money into a different account at a similar time each month (probably after I've been paid), I'd find it useful if that behavioural pattern was observed and automated for me. I could receive an alert asking if I wanted to transfer £X from Account A to Account B, click yes, and it's done. That would be a service that demonstrates customer curiosity.

Christmas curiosity

The Centre of Retail Research estimates that Britons will spend £.4.9bn over the five-week festive Christmas period on internet shopping. There will be obvious peaks in online spending on Black Friday (an estimated £966m), Cyber Monday (£943m), Christmas Day (£728m), Boxing Day (856m) and New Year's Day (£638m).

Given that insight, Christmas is a great time for retailers to get customer curious.
To provide an example of what this looks like, based on data gathered on customers' buying habits around Christmas, a so-called customer-centric retailer would notice that I bought a laptop last Christmas, and target me with a deal on the new model in the range.

However, had a customer-curious approach been adopted, the retailer would know that I didn't need a new laptop because I'd bought one last year. Furthermore, it would know that as a husband and father, I'm likely to be spending money on my family at Christmas, and target products at me based on that information, rather than my previous purchases.

Customer curiosity is about asking questions of your customers so that you can develop a persona for them that is contextually aware. How old are his children and what is he likely to buy them? What has he purchased recently and what would make a complementary gift rather than an unnecessary replacement? What deals and promotions does he prefer and can we target him with those rather than the ones he doesn't respond to?

Data is one of the most powerful assets at the disposal of any business, and in the expectation economy where people are loyal to experiences rather than brands, using data in a way that is intelligent and customer curiosity can provide competitive differentiation and advantage.

Elliot Howard is UKI managing director at NetApp