Making a Statement: User Experience meets Customer Experience
In 2012 I started working as a Lead User Experience Designer for a South African company that (in my opinion) were way ahead of the curve. They saw the importance of digital transformation, long before it became a trendy topic. The department I worked in sought to transform typically ‘boring’, paper-based documents such as payslips and statements into engaging, interactive digital formats using InfoSlips technology. Ironically, a large part of their core business involved selling printers! They saw that it was only a matter of time before paper became obsolete and decided to take proactive steps to pivot the business model (see our previous post about reactive vs proactive businesses).
“Paper doesn’t work in a digital world” was the tagline that our prospective clients heard us say. We wanted to challenge them to think outside of the box and to find ways of using technology to transform existing processes to benefit their customers and employees. The idea was this would go on to benefit their wider business too.
One of my early projects involved reimagining a water bill for a large utility provider. The challenge was transitioning their existing ‘boring’ document into something that served a greater purpose, something that was more than just a demand for payment. As well as being clear and visually pleasing, the new format had a stronger focus on the company’s social responsibility to reduce excessive water usage. Existing statements simply gave a consumption figure, but the customer had no context to what this meant for them personally. The updated version spelt it out. If you averaged 375 litres of water per day during the billing period, you were consuming the equivalent of a family of three living in a house. Not great news if you’re a single guy living in a flat!
Whilst User Experience (UX) is all about how a user engages with a platform, Customer Experience (CX) is about influencing how a customer perceives and interacts with a business. In the example above, the new format was clearly laid out and visually pleasing with clear calls to action – User Experience. It also encouraged social change and removed barriers between the customer and the company – Customer Experience. A document that was once a bit of an afterthought now had the power to influence.
Just because something has been done in a certain for a while doesn’t mean that it should stay that way. In changing times, all businesses have opportunities to enhance their offering. In my example above, the revised format still provided the customer with a breakdown of their bill, but it went a step further by being far more engaging and useful.
Nearly 10 years later and my focus is within the insurance world where there is so much scope for better UX and CX. If you’re an insurance broker, CX is already in your blood. Great customer experience is what keeps the wheels turning. You can build on this foundation by implementing digital technology.
Customers see great service as being unrestricted access to you and your services, but on their terms. This means removing barriers of entry by providing technology that is easy to use and provides additional value. This could also mean providing 27/7 access to your business outside of usual office hours. Technology allows you to bolster fantastic personal service with the convenience of “self-service” at all hours of the day from anywhere in the world. In recent times, this has become more of an expectation than a “nice to have”. Combining excellent user experience with quality customer experience will have a significant impact on your current and prospective clients as well as your team.
At Nuworks, we provide CX add-ons to our core Insurance Broker Software. Our web-based, self-service customer portals for brokers allows your clients to view and download their insurance documents, track the progress of insurance proposals and register claims. This means you can continue offering a great customer experience, even when your team are tucked up in bed! You can find out more about our CX technology here: