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Paul

Creating actionable insight – if you’re still asking ‘so what’, start asking ‘why’

Creating actionable insight is the cornerstone of being a customer-centric organisation. And in principle is sounds quite simple – find something insightful within your data and then take action based on what you found. Easy!

Maybe not… recent research by IPSOS MORI for Verint suggests that while nearly all organisations collect some form of customer-related feedback or insight, most are not leveraging this feedback strategically. Those that are doing something with it seem to be focusing on using it to measure their people/processes rather than to improve customer experiences. Some aren’t even doing that much, including many sports organisations.

The reason for this is starting the process with the wrong question. Too often the starting questions are “what data can we easily get” or “what do we already measure”? As a result, its very hard to then find insightful “so what” answers that can inform relevant action.

Instead the starting question needs to be “why do we need the insight” or “what will we to do with the answers”? Knowing what the insight work needs to answer, and how it will be used, provides direction to the work. It defines what data needs to be captured and from who, and it also identifies who will be responsible for acting on the answers.

So let’s look at the process for creating actionable insights, and where the friction points and blockages might be. Creating actionable insights is a simple 4-step process:

Collect – source, gather and aggregate raw data about your current or potential customers – who they are and what they are saying, thinking, feeling and doing about your sport. To achieve growth you will need to be capturing both current behaviours (what/how/when) and the influences & motivations driving those behaviours (why).

Analyse – crunch the data to find trends, patterns and potential relevance across the different data sources.

Interpret – review the analysis in the context of your organisation/customers/market, to understand what’s happening and why it may be of significance to you. This “so what” step is what turns data into insight, yet its the one often missed out or rushed. However without being clear about the “so what”, organisations cannot then respond successfully.

Respond – take timely action in response to what the insight is telling you. This response can be both internal – improving plans, processes, delivery etc – and/or external – improving the offer to customers or just letting them know you were listening.

This still looks quite simple, or at least straightforward. So where are the challenges? Three I’ve seen recently are:

Starting in the wrong place – projects are being scoped based on what data can be captured, rather than what insights are required. By not asking why the insight is required, the data subsequently captured might be interesting but doesn’t help drive action and growth.

Losing control – the “so what’ interpretation is being completely outsourced along with the data collection, rather than benefiting from the expertise of people across the organisation. As a result it’s much harder to identify “so what does this mean for us”, and misses the opportunity to engage the organisation in creating customer-centric responses.

Missing in action – the outputs of the “insight work” appear in presentations and newsletters, but don’t subsequently spark any considered action. This maybe because the “so what” is missing, or because the staff aren’t engaged with the work or because the reports weren’t created with actions in mind.

Given these challenges, why bother? Simply put, the opportunities for creating and acting upon improved insights are huge (as are the risks of doing nothing). Sport has a massive opportunity to drive sustainable growth through an improved understanding of how to add more value to current and potential participants. And this improved understanding will improve the focus and effectiveness of delivery, which means this growth can come with an improved return on investment.

Thanks to Michiel Lely and Roula Andari at Verint for prompting this post, with their presentation and subsequent discussion at the Directors Club breakfast.

3 tips for being a successful customer centric organisation

The three rules at the heart of customer centric growth for O2 in Slovakia, are equally relevant to developing high performing NGBs.

At this week’s Marketing Week Live, Jonathan Earle from Telefonica O2 shared three rules upon which O2 have built their success in Slovakia. These are:

1) Stand for something
2) Be consistent
3) Trust your people

Given they’ve taken nearly a quarter of the market share on a shoestring budget, and boast very high staff & customer engagement scores, its worth considering how their success could be applied to growing sports participation.

1) Stand for something – be distinctive
What this means: use market and consumer insight to define a clear and distinctive position within the market. Brands that target everybody end up being relevant to nobody, as one size rarely fits all. So instead focus on creating offers and experiences that are aligned to your brand and are relevant to your target market.

What O2 did: O2 choose to shake up the market by being the “fair operator”, and hence don’t make offers that their target customers would think are unfair. They don’t make anyone sign a contract, when they say unlimited there’s no “but…” in the small print, and if they create a more competitive offer for new customers they automatically extend it to existing customers (not when they ask for it, or threaten to leave, but automatically – otherwise its not fair!).

What NGBs could do: standing for something requires understanding the current market for delivering sport and also the wider needs and expectations of target customers. Understanding the customer’s decision making process when they choose sport, and then specific sports within that, is key to defining a position that will be more compelling than the alternatives (which are usually not sports-related). Of course being distinctive and standing for something takes courage. It means choosing not to stand for some other things, and hence not trying to be relevant to everybody. But that’s how growth and customer loyalty is created – by focusing on being the most relevant and compelling choice for your target market.

2) Be consistent – disciplined execution
What this means: Having chosen to stand for something distinctive, maintain this clear water through being very disciplined about communications and delivery. Consistent communications keep reinforcing the key message to stakeholders and customers. Consistent decisions and delivery reinforce the authenticity of the message through the experience of customers. It’s this consistency that creates brand advocates.

What O2 did: A ruthless focus on consistent messages, offers, and in-store experiences has made the brand experience authentic and compelling rather than just a strap line. This includes considering how staff need to be managed and rewarded so that they too feel that O2 is the “fair operator”. Interestingly, in this respect Earle sees their small budget as an advantage, as they can’t afford to be tactical or distracted by unplanned opportunities.

What NGBs could do: the mixed economy of delivery in most sports involves many organisations with different priorities. NGBs need to clearly communicate how their offers add value to their target customers. They also need to be very clear about what aspects of their products and communications are customisable to local needs and what aspects are non-negotiable.

3) Trust your people – give them room to breath

What this means: being customer focused requires agility and responsiveness to customers. This agility comes from empowering staff to take responsibility and make decisions when talking with customers. This agility can be achieved by shifting budget and/or decision-making responsibility locally, and combining it with a consistent approach to communications and measurement. The motto is clearly define expectations and boundaries, then get out of their way.

What O2 did: O2 believe that their people are the experts, and don’t want them bogged down by bureaucracy. So they “treat their people like adults”, giving them clear and consistent direction and then passing down the responsibility for achieving that.

What NGBs could do: many NGBs are good at empowering local staff to make decisions and even to manage budgets. However, in many cases this empowerment is not supported by clear communication of the chosen positioning and/or success measures aren’t consistent and aligned to the overall outcomes.

In summary, one size doesn’t fit all, and therefore every brand needs to stand for something that is relevant and compelling to its chosen target audience. To achieve scale organisations must then be very disciplined in how they execute across all of their touch points. This consistency of experience comes from treating staff the same way that customers are treated, which means they must be trusted to make the right decisions.