Tag: customer experience
For years, organizations have used data to improve operational efficiencies and cost savings. Now they are beginning to use data to optimize or improve nearly every aspect of their organization. When justifying the return on investment for managing data quality, consider these findings from a recent Experian Data Quality survey of U.S. organizations: 23% of customer data is believed to be inaccurate 75% think inaccurate data is undermining their ability to provide an excellent customer experience 79% say it is difficult to predict when and where the next data challenge will arise 77% believe data management is driven by multiple stakeholders in their organization rather than by a single data specialist >>Download: The 2016 global data management benchmark report
Loyalty fraud and the customer experience Criminals continue to amaze me. Not surprise me, but amaze me with their ingenuity. I previously wrote about fraudsters’ primary targets being those where they easily can convert credentials to cash. Since then, a large U.S. retailer’s rewards program was attacked – bilking money from the business and causing consumers confusion and extra work. This attack was a new spin on loyalty fraud. It is yet another example of the impact of not “thinking like a fraudster” when developing a program and process, which a fraudster can exploit. As it embarks on new projects, every organization should consider how it can be exploited by criminals. Too often, the focus is on the customer experience (CX) alone, and many organizations will tolerate fraud losses to improve the CX. In fact, some organization build fraud losses into their budgets and price products accordingly — effectively passing the cost of fraud onto the consumers. Let’s look into how this type of loyalty fraud works. The criminal obtains your login credentials (either through breach, malware, phishing, brute force, etc.) and uses the existing customer profile to purchase goods using the payment method on file for the account. In this type of attack, the motivation isn’t to receive physical goods; instead, it’s to accumulate rewards points — which can then be used or sold. The points (or any other form of digital currency) are instant — on demand, if you will — and much easier to fence. Once the points are credited to the account, the criminal cashes them out either by selling them online to unsuspecting buyers or by walking into a store, purchasing goods and walking right out after paying with the digital currency. A quick check of some underground forums validates the theory that fraudsters are selling retailer points online for a reduced rate — up to 70 percent off. Please don’t be tempted to buy these! The money you spend will no doubt end up doing harm, one way or another. Now, back to the customer experience. Does having lax controls really represent a good customer experience? Is building fraud losses into the cost of your products fair to your customers? The people whose accounts have been hacked most likely are some of your best customers. They now have to deal with returning merchandise they didn’t purchase, making calls to rectify the situation, having their personally identifiable information further compromised and having to pay for the loss. All in all, not a great customer experience. All businesses have a fiduciary responsibility to protect customer data with which they have been entrusted — even if the consumer is a victim of malware, phishing or password reuse. What are you doing to protect your customers? Simple authentication technologies, while nice for the CX, easily can fail if the criminal has access to the login credentials. And fraud is not a single event. There are patterns and surveillance activities that can help to detect fraud at every phase of your loyalty program — from new account opening to account logins and updates to transactions that involve the purchase of goods or the movement of currency. As fraudsters continue to evolve and look for the least-protected targets, loyalty programs have come to the forefront of the battleground. Take the time to understand your vulnerability and how you can be attacked. Then take the necessary steps to protect your most profitable customers — your loyalty program members. If you want to learn more, join us MRC Vegas 16 for our session “Loyalty Fraud; It’s Brand Protection, Not Just Loss Prevention” and hear our industry experts discuss loyalty fraud, why it’s lucrative, and what organizations can do to protect their brand from this grey-area type of fraud.
As thought leaders in every industry make predictions for what 2016 will bring, I’m guessing there will be a few constants. New couples will marry. Some couples, sadly, will divorce. Young and old will move – some into first homes – others downsizing or making moves cross-country for work. And waves of individuals will clamor to the latest devices – a new iPhone7, perhaps. The Apple rumors are already flying. Yes, no big surprises, right? But, do you know what all of these very standard life events have in common? These transitions often result in shifts in consumer data, sometimes making people more difficult to track and contact. New last names, new addresses, new phone numbers. Suddenly, the consumer data that companies and lenders have on file are dated, and when it comes time to reach out to these individuals, it’s a challenge to connect. But that is just the beginning. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is increasing its efforts to register consumer complaints and taking aggressive actions to stop companies from making unsolicited phone calls. And the penalties are steep. Fines per individual infraction can be anywhere from $500 to $1,500. Companies have been delivered hefty penalties in the thousands, and in some cases millions, of dollars, over the past few years. All have questions and are seeking to understand how they must adjust their policies and call practices. Now those multiple attempts to call and find a consumer can cost you – big time. No more “shotgun” approaches to identifying and using phones. It’s simply too risky. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), enforced by the FCC, has been around since 1991, but regulations have been closely scrutinized over the past year since the FCC announced a new ruling last summer to clarify hot topics. In their July paper, they aim to communicate the definition of an “auto-dialer,” consent-to-call rules, how to address the reassignment of cell phone numbers, and the new requirement for “one call” without liability. In short, the Declaratory Ruling has opened the door to even greater liability under the TCPA, leaving companies who place outbound customer calls at-risk for compliance violations. Some are projecting the TCPA rules will continue to become even more expansive in 2016, so companies must really assess their call strategies and put best practices in place to increase right-party contact rates. Suggestions include: Identify landline and cell phones for TCPA compliance with dialer campaigns Focus on right- and wrong-party contact to improve customer service Score phones or apply cut-off scores based on the confidence of the number or match Scrub often for updated or verified information Establish a process to identify ported phones Determine when and how often you dial cell phones Provide consumers user-friendly mechanisms– such as texting “STOP” or “UNSUBSCRIBE” – to opt-out of receiving TCPA-covered communications. Review the policies and practices of third-party vendors to ensure they are not sending communications violating the TCPA With the huge advancements in mobile technology and the ever-changing digital landscape, it’s challenging to keep up, but regulators are cracking down on violations, and a slew of lawyers are ready to file on behalf of unhappy consumers dialed one-too-many times. Beyond a best-practice review, tools and systems are available to identify the right number for those moving and changing consumers. And I’m sure we can all agree, those life events will continue to happen in 2016. Marriages, divorces, moves, new devices. They’re coming. As a result, it’s necessary to track the resulting changes to consumer data. Only then will you have a shot at avoiding negative customer experiences and fines.
Customer Experience during the holiday shopping season During the holidays, consumers transact at a much greater rate than any other time of the year. Many risk-management departments respond by loosening the reins on their decision engines to improve the customer experience — and to ensure that this spike does not trigger a response that would impede a holiday shopper’s desire to grab one more stocking stuffer or a gift for a last-minute guest. As a result, it also is the busy season for fraudsters, and they use this act of goodwill toward your customers to improve their criminal enterprise. Ultimately, you are tasked with providing a great customer experience to your real customers while eliminating any synthetic ones. Recent data breaches resulted in large quantities of personally identifiable information that thieves can use to create synthetic identities being published on the Dark Web. As this data is related to real consumers, it can be difficult for your identity-authentication solution to determine that these identities have been compromised or fabricated, enabling fraudsters to open accounts with your organization. Experian’s Identity Element Network™ can help you determine when synthetic identities are at work within your business. It evaluates nearly 300 data-element combinations to determine if certain elements appear in cyberspace frequently or are being used in combination with data not consistent with your customer’s identity. This proven resource helps you manage fraud across the Customer Life Cycle and hinder the damage that identity thieves cause. Identity Element Network examines a vast attribute repository that grows by more than 2 million transactions each day, revealing up-to-date fraud threats associated with inconsistent or high-risk use of personal identity elements. Our goal is to provide the comfort of knowing that you are transacting with your real customers. Don’t get left in the cold this holiday season — fraudsters are looking for opportunities to take advantage of you and your customers. Contact your Experian account executive to learn how Identity Element Network can help make sure you are not letting fraudsters exploit the customer experience intended for your real customers. Learn more about the delicate balance between customer and criminal by viewing our fraud e-book.
Protecting your customer The impact of fraud on the customer relationship Sadly fraudsters seem to always be one-step ahead of fraud-prevention strategies, causing organizations to play catch-up to the criminals. And as information security tightens and technologies evolve, so does the industrious nature of organized identity and online fraud. It should be no surprise then that fraud risk mitigation and management will continue to be an ongoing issue for organizations. But what continues to drive investment in identity management and online risk tools is the arms race across organizations to deliver superior customer experience and functionality. While the monetary cost of fraud losses can be high and rather detrimental, the impact of lost customers and overall reputational decline due to poor customer experiences can be higher. The key is finding the right balance between identifying and segmenting likely fraudulent customers across the vast majority of legitimate customers and transactions. I want to share a recent interactive eBook we launched which outlines the authentication and identity management balance with a focus on the consumer. We highlight current trends and what organizations should be thinking about and doing to protect their business, institution, or agency and customers. I hope you enjoy this look at the impact of fraud on the customer relationship.
In today's data driven world, decisioning strategies can no longer be one-dimensional and only risk-focused. By employing a multidimensional decisioning approach, companies can deliver the products and services customers need and want.
With more than one-third of customers interacting with a single business in five or more channels and more than 85 percent of consumers using online or mobile to conduct business, omnichannel fraud prevention has become a necessity. Implementing a layered approach to authentication and integrating device intelligence into the process to associate a consumer with a known device are critical components of a fraud mitigation strategy. In addition to providing another layer of validation, verifying a customer through his or her device makes it easier for the customer to interact with the business and is a huge benefit to the overall customer experience. Perspective paper: Protecting the customer experience - The impact of fraud on the customer relationship
By: Kyle Enger, Executive Vice President of Finagraph Small business remains one of the largest and most profitable client segments for banks. They provide low cost deposits, high-quality loans and offer numerous cross-selling opportunities. However, recent reports indicate that a majority of business owners are dissatisfied with their banking relationship. In fact, more than 33 percent are actively shopping for a new relationship. With limited access to credit after the worst of the financial crisis, plus a lack of service and attention, many business owners have lost confidence in banks and their bankers. Before the financial crisis, business owners ranked their banker number three on the list of top trusted advisors. Today bankers have fallen to number seven – below the medical system, the president and religious organizations, as reported in a recent Gallup poll, “Confidence in Institutions.” In order to gain a foothold with existing clients and prospects, here is a roadmap banks can use to build trust and effectively meet the needs to today’s small business client. Put feet on the street. To rebuild trust, banks need to get in front of their clients face to face and begin engaging with them on a deeper level. Even in the digital age, business customers still want to have face-to-face contact with their bank. The only way to effectively do that is to put feet on the street and begin having conversations with clients. Whether it be via Skype, phone calls, text, e-mail or Twitter – having knowledgeable bankers accessible is the first step in creating a trusting relationship. Develop business acumen. Business owners need someone who is aware of their pain points, can offer the correct products according to their financial need, and can provide a long-term plan for growth. In order to do so, banks need to invest in developing the business and relationship acumen of their sales forces to empower them to be trusted advisors. One of the best ways to launch a new class of relationship bankers is to start investing in educational events for both the bankers and the borrowers. This creates an environment of learning, transparency and growth. Leverage technology to enhance client relationships. Commercial and industrial lending is an expensive delivery strategy because it means bankers are constantly working with business owners on a regular basis. This approach can be time-consuming and costly as bankers must monitor inventory, understand financials, and make recommendations to improve the financial health of a business. However, if banks leverage technology to provide bankers with the tools needed to be more effective in their interactions with clients, they can create a winning combination. Some examples of this include providing online chat, an educational forum, and a financial intelligence tool to quickly review financials, provide recommendations and make loan decisions. Authenticate your value proposition. Business owners have choices when it comes to selecting a financial service provider, which is why it is important that every banker has a clearly defined value proposition. A value proposition is more than a generic list of attributes developed from a routine sales training program. It is a way of interacting, responding and collaborating that validates those words and makes a value proposition come to life. Simply claiming to provide the best service means nothing if it takes 48 hours to return phone calls. Words are meaningless without action, and business owners are particularly jaded when it comes to false elevator speeches delivered by bankers. Never stop reaching out. Throughout the lifecycle of a business, its owner uses between 12 and 15 bank products and services, yet the national product per customer ratio averages around 2.5. Simply put, companies are spreading their banking needs across multiple organizations. The primary cause? The banker likely never asked them if they had any additional businesses or needs. As a relationship banker to small businesses, it is your duty to bring the power of the bank to the individual client. By focusing on adding value through superior customer experience and technology, financial institutions will be better positioned to attract new small business banking clients and expand wallet share with existing clients. By implementing these five strategies, you will create closer relationships, stronger loan portfolios and a new generation of relationship bankers. To view the original blog posting, click here. To read more about the collaboration between Experian and Finagraph, click here.
A comprehensive customer-experience strategy can give companies the competitive edge needed in a market where price, products and service can no longer be considered effective differentiators. Capturing customer insight is critical to developing a sound customer experience strategy, yet research shows that while 85 percent of companies collect such feedback, only 15 percent take action on it as part of their strategy. Delivering a consistently successful experience across all channels leads to more customers who buy more, stay longer and cost less to serve. Companies can drive value and loyalty by taking aggressive steps to develop an in-depth understanding of their customers and then plan, design and implement a structured, comprehensive customer experience program. The New Customer Experience – An Experian White Paper
Customer experience strategies for success Sometimes it’s easier to describe something as the opposite of something else. Being “anti-” something can communicate something meaningful. Cultural movements in the past have taken on these monikers: consider the “anti-establishment” or “anti-war” movements. We all need effective anti-virus protection. And there are loads of skin products marketed as “anti-aging”, “anti-wrinkle”, or “anti-blemish.” But when you think about a vision for the customer experience that your company aspires to deliver, this approach of the “anti-X” falls flat. Would you want to aspire to basically “not stink?” Would that inspire you and your team to run through walls to deliver on that grand aspiration? Would it motivate customers to stick with you, buy more of what you sell, and tell others about you? I think not…But it sure seems like many out there indeed do aspire to “not stink.” Sure, there are great companies out there who have a set a high standard for customer experience, placing it at the center of their strategies and their success. Some, like Zappos, started that way from the beginning. Others, like The Ritz-Carlton, realized that they had lost their way and made the commitment to do the hard work of reaching and sustaining excellence. On the other hand, there are hundreds of firms who have a weak commitment to or even understanding of the importance of customer experience to their strategy and performance. Their leaders may give lip service or just pay attention for a few days or hours following the release of reports from leading analysts and firms. They may have posters and slogans that talk about putting the customer first or similar platitudes. These companies probably even have talented and passionate professionals working tirelessly to improve the customer experience in spite of the fact that nobody seems to care much. What these firms lack is a clear customer experience strategy. As nature abhors a vacuum, customers and employees are free to infer or just guess at it. Focusing on customer experience only when a report comes out – and paying special attention only when weak results put the firm near the bottom of the ranking leads people to conclude that all that really matters is to “not stink.” In other words, don’t stand out for being bad…but don’t worry much about being good as it is not important to the company’s strategy or results. I think that this “don’t stink” implicit strategy helps explain a fascinating insight from a Forrester survey in 2013: “80% of executives believe their company is delivering a superior customer experience, yet in 2013 only 8% of companies surveyed received a top grade from their customers.” Many leaders simply have not invested the energy and commitment necessary to define a real customer experience vision that reflects a deep understanding of the role that it plays in the company’s strategy. Beyond setting that vision, there is a big and sustained commitment required to deliver on the vision, measure results, and continuously adjust as customer needs evolve. Like all journeys, a great customer experience starts with one step. Establishing a customer experience strategy is the first one – and “don’t stink” simply stinks as a strategy. Download our recent perspective paper to learn how exceptional customer experience can give companies the competitive edge they need in a market where price, products and services can no longer be a differentiator.
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