Oh, the inhumanity of the digital experience.
Consumers accept self-service channels such as the Web, freestanding kiosks and automated voice technology — in place of people — for customer service. But the dehumanizing experience of interacting with technology in these channels has consumers poised for revolt, say analysts at Forrester Research.
“Mainstream consumers won’t tolerate technology hassles. They’ll tune out, give up,” said Christine Overby, Forrester principal analyst. Worse yet, consumers broadcast these mishaps via blogs and YouTube.com videos.
“Digital channels are the enfant terribles of 2006,” said Harley Manning, vice president, research director, Forrester. “It’s time for digital channels to stop embarrassing their parents and start living up to their potential.”
Overby and Manning spoke in Chicago last week at a Forrester conference whose speakers included chief executives from McDonald’s and Neiman Marcus Direct and the presidents of Discover Financial Services, NASCAR and Travelocity.
When going online for customer service, only 29 percent of consumers are satisfied with that channel; when seeking to complete a transaction online, only 50 percent are satisfied. Kiosk-based transactions yield a satisfactory rating from a paltry 18 percent of more than 10,000 consumers polled by Forrester.
More than half (54 percent) of Web sites lack essential content, 60 percent have unclear menus and 79 percent contain content that’s hard to read, according to Forrester. Among kiosks, 67 percent have poor error recovery. Forty-two percent of automated phone systems lack essential content, and 58 percent make it difficult to reach a live person, Manning said.
At Neiman Marcus Direct, consumers influence just how images and information are presented online through A/B testing, said Brendan Hoffman, president and ceo. By creating an “A” version of a Web page and a slightly different “B” version, Neiman Marcus Direct measures how each is received and goes with the one shoppers like best. “A/B testing is going to be a very powerful tool for us,” he said. “We are using it to raise conversion rates.”
Fast-food behemoth McDonald’s used the online channel to “inform and provide a human touch,” said Overby, in reference to a global “casting call” it launched this year. By asking patrons to submit entries that could win them a starring role in product packaging, McDonald’s invited customers to the table. It’s part of a turnaround prompted by a sales slump in 2002, when “we took our eyes off our fries,” ceo Jim Skinner said. (Sales have since rebounded 30 percent and share price tripled.)
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“You can’t push yourself into customers’ lives. They have to pull you in,” Skinner said, noting that 13,000 entries were submitted, including a video of two guys rapping about Chicken McNuggets, from more than 100 countries.
“Today, the digital experience is one in which technology gets in the way” of human benefits, said Forrester’s Manning. Humanizing the experience is not merely a soft benefit; it has a hard return on investment, he said, citing Eddie Bauer’s Web site overhaul. The retailer invested $124,150 for a user-friendly redesign and operating profit rose $5.5 million as a result. “That’s a $44,000 return for every dollar invested in site development,” he said.