Those are snippets from recent user research. We were testing how well customers understood some documents they’d been sent.

Not everyone is so lost. But more people are more baffled than you might think. We see and hear confusion like that routinely, nearly two years after the Consumer Duty came into effect. To make sense of our products, our customers are reaching for AI. That’s a worry. And it’s a sign that – despite the progress – the job on Consumer Understanding is far from done.

Many firms don’t see the problem, partly because consumer confusion doesn’t show up in quantitative data.

I know product development in FS is hard enough. But the pain isn’t demoralising – it’s energising. The conversation moves quickly on to how we can improve things for them. And it stimulates ideas.

Just plumb in the right tech and you can send clients up-front requests for data. It sounds straightforward. 

But, if you’ve watched user research, you’ll know that it’s easy to get wrong.

Consumers are people, and people are strange. At least, they probably don’t know what you know, and think like you think. If your user stories aren’t based on credible research, your customers might not do what you expect. Here’s an example.

A mortgage broker saw the opportunity to use Open Banking to create a market-leading customer journey. The firm thought consumers would share access to their bank accounts early in their borrowing journey because it would make a slow, painful experience faster and easier. So, it invested in the technology integration needed. 

But, when we tested prototypes, we found that early in the journey, when they were weighing up their options, borrowers were too concerned about privacy and security to connect to their bank accounts. It only made sense much later, when they were committed to applying for a specific loan. At that point, they were open to anything that would get the job done sooner.

By the time this insight emerged, an expensive change program was in full swing. Rather than transforming the customer journey and differentiating the service, it delivered a marginal gain.

In our research, we see people becoming suspicious of data sharing if they don’t understand how that data will be used, stored, and protected, or they don’t understand the benefit of sharing it. Vulnerable customers may be particularly sensitive to requests for data because they fear it will be used against them. 

The obvious solution to poor understanding – transparency – is not a silver bullet.

New burdens

Here are some pain points we’ve seen when testing prototypes of data-capture journeys.

• Consumers can feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they’re asked to share
• Authenticating multiple data sources feels complicated, tiring, and stressful

Up to 50% of UK adults have vulnerabilities such as accessibility needs or low confidence using digital technology that can make these burdens worse.

Undermined relationships and value

The one everyone wants to avoid.

Human advisers add unique value. If you rely too much on digital interactions, you could weaken the  human relationship. And if customers feel like you’re merely transferring the chore onto them, they may question the price tag.

This fear has led to some firms prioritising other ideas. But those firms risk being left behind.

When asked for data, consumers can be anxious about privacy and security, or lack confidence in their own abilities. You might not need to entirely allay those concerns, if the payoff outweighs them.

• Make benefits tangible, using real, specific scenarios. Clearly communicate how sharing data will improve the advice experience or the outcomes they achieve. For instance, you could explain how sharing pension data may lead to a lower tax bill. Another example: “By sharing your bank transaction details, we can assess if there are better rates available in seconds, potentially reducing your monthly repayments.”
• Timing is crucial. Ask too soon, and the value exchange might not be clear, putting people off completely. Ensure you ask for data at the right time and right place in the user journey, to reinforce the value exchange and relevance. The mortgage broker got this wrong.

2. Request data in stages, show value and progress each time

If you ask clients for multiple data sources, consider asking for them in stages. At each stage, show the user some of the value their data is providing.

• Start small, grow gradually. Begin with less sensitive data requests and gradually move to more comprehensive data sharing, as trust builds.
• Show immediate value. After each successful request, give something of use back to the client before moving on. For instance, after asking for access to someone’s bank transactions, show them their average income and expenses, or a breakdown of their expense categories.
• Show progress. Use indicators or other visualisations to show clients how each piece of shared data contributes to a more complete financial picture. Provide positive feedback to encourage continuation.  

3. Be flexible

Don’t enforce strict rules about the data clients need to provide digitally. The same data feels more sensitive to some people than others.

• Offer alternatives. If someone’s not comfortable sharing certain data online, offer them an alternative route. Accept that for some, personal engagement may be necessary.
• Allow partial sharing. Enable clients to choose which accounts or data sources they’re comfortable sharing, rather than an all-or-nothing approach.
• Provide clear opt-outs. Make it easy for clients to understand how they can revoke access to their data at any time, reinforcing their sense of control.

At CXPartners, we believe that user-centred design should be part of the delivery process and not just a front-loaded research activity. If you’re looking for a partner to help you align user-centred design with real-world delivery, we’d love to collaborate.

And shared some of the techniques that we can use to overcome them including;

• Acting out a new idea with role play,
• Writing down your idea to be able to share it,
• To using AI to bring another perspective to your workflow.

It was a brilliant turn out for a chilly January evening with over 90 attendees, another brilliant talk from Andrew Hick at Government Digital Services about how we can make services more accessible (you can find his talk over here) and, loads of brilliant and engaged questions and conversations afterwards. 

Thanks for having us Service Design Bristol, we’ll definitely be at the next one!  

At Central Scotland’s board game night, I had the opportunity to play a rare game from the 1960s called Future. This game was commissioned by Kaiser Aluminum, focused on predicting the likelihood of various events in 1980. Designed to promote environmental consciousness and sustainability in aluminum production and recycling, it provided a fascinating glimpse into the concerns and aspirations of that era.

Playing Future in 2024 was a thought-provoking experience. It sparked interesting discussions amongst players about the predictions made in the 1960s, the intentions of the commissioners and creators, and the purpose of the game. We couldn’t help but reflect on the unintended consequences of decisions and events on society. The game served as a stark reminder of the interconnectedness of our choices and their far-reaching implications.

Three priorities for the future 

To navigate these challenges and the future of customer centricity, three key themes emerge:

Embedding customer centricity more deeply 

Success is no longer just about designing better websites or apps. Instead, we need to help everyone in our organisations understand and serve customers better. This means empowering others to apply the same principles we have for many years, within their own specialist domains and operations. And it means creating value-chains that are customer-centric from top-to-bottom. 

Keeping pace with change 

As technology evolves rapidly, we need to become skilled partners with AI tools, understanding both their possibilities and their limits. This means learning about the material properties of the technology far more deeply. And it means using these new technologies to do what we do far more efficiently and at far greater scale. 

Speculating on future scenarios 

We need to get better at imagining and exploring potential futures. This means using design techniques such as Speculative Design, to show what tomorrow might look like, helping organisations spot both opportunities and risks before they become real. 

What tomorrow’s organisations need to do 

The organisations that thrive in the future will work differently from today. Success will depend on a deeper kind of customer centricity that shapes how the whole organisation thinks and works. 

First, they’ll move beyond having specialist teams responsible for customer experience. Instead, understanding and serving customers well will be woven into everyday work across the organisation. Everyone, from finance teams to technology teams, will understand how their decisions affect customers’ lives. 

Getting started 

Organisations can begin this journey today by: 

• Training teams across different departments and roles in basic customer centricity skills and techniques

• Creating to conditions to run many rapid, safe-to-fail experiments with AI to understand it’s potential, it’s limitations and potential consequences.

• Starting speculative design initiatives, helped by today’s GenAI tools, to bring potential future scenarios to life. 

To enable this, these organisations will help all employees learn customer-centric skills. Running research sessions, analysing customer feedback, testing prototypes and designing better services will be common skills – as natural as using spreadsheets or giving presentations are today. 

Secondly, as AI and associated technologies dramatically speed up how quickly organisations can build and release software, customer-centric practices will need to evolve to stay relevant. When changes can be made and released in minutes rather than months, we’ll need new methods and tools to ensure customer needs and safety still have a role. Traditional approaches to research, testing and design will need to be reinvented for this faster-paced world. 

Finally, successful organisations will become skilled at exploring future scenarios and understanding their consequences before they become reality. This forward-looking approach will help them spot both opportunities and risks early, helping ensure change truly benefits customers. 

At CX Partners, we’re already putting these principles into practice, both in our own work and in how we help organisations adapt. 

Our teams are already:  

• Helping clients spread customer-centric skills across their organisation and throughout their value-chains.  
• Exploring new opportunities, methods and tools enabled by AI, while carefully considering the human and ethical implications.  

• Working with organisations to imagine and prepare for different possible tomorrows. 

If you’d like to learn more about how we could help your organisation prepare for these changes, get in touch with our team today. Contact | CXPartners

If you missed this talk, you can watch ‘The Future of Customer Centricity’ on our YouTube Channel as part of our Customer Centricity Month 2024 playlist, where you can also watch the rest of the talks from the event.

Building a customer centric culture 

Placing the customer at the centre of your decisions, while also considering the needs of colleagues and shareholders, fosters a more enjoyable work environment. This approach helps employees feel they are contributing to a greater purpose, enhancing motivation and engagement beyond just tasks and pay. This is crucial for any business and fundamentally important. 

One reason organisations struggle to become more customer-centric is that they haven’t thoroughly considered how this approach aligns with their purpose, goals, and strategy. While frontline employees may be passionate about providing excellent customer service, they often lack internal support from the organisation. Organisations need to be customer-centric, bringing energy and strategic intent to connect the dots and deliver valuable, useful, and usable services. This focus on customer-centricity ties into the broader concept of culture, which, while intangible, is crucial for success. 

It’s all starts internally… The culture challenge within an organisation 

The panel explored how ingrained patterns of behaviour that have developed over the history of the organisation, shaped by its norms, functions, and the mindsets of its people. These behaviours exist beyond formal processes and posters on walls; they are deep-rooted actions and attitudes. 

These behaviours can either complement a thriving, healthy culture or create a negative environment where there’s a disconnect between stated policies and actual behaviour. The true culture of an organisation is revealed by how people spend their time and the organisation’s money. Are they genuinely focused on customers, or just paying lip service? It’s these deep behaviours and where people’s focus and attention lie that truly define the culture. 

Culture is set by example in your organisation 

If, as business leaders, you observe behaviours in your teams or across your business that are contrary to what you desire, the first place to look is at yourself. Often, your own behaviours are mirrored back to you by your teams.  

People are very perceptive and can sense the disconnect between words and actions, even if they don’t explicitly recognise it. This cognitive dissonance can lead to disengagement. Therefore, it’s crucial for the leadership team to set the right example and be clear about expectations. Consistency in behaviours across the organisation starts from the top and is reinforced by influential people within the company. You can’t simply opt out and say it happens elsewhere; leadership must be proactive in setting and maintaining the desired culture. 

The employee experience is vital to the customer experience 

Our panellists explored the benefit of having better internal conversations, not just with customers through user research, but also with colleagues to understand their needs and pain points. By both groups, we ensure a clear connection between our actions and the happiness of our colleagues, which in turn enhances customer experience. This approach helps colleagues feel more engaged and understand their contribution to the organisation’s success.  

Be curious about your customers 

Be curious about what our customers need, what they expect, and how we can make a difference. I once worked with someone who emphasised the importance of understanding unarticulated customer needs. In complex situations, customers often express desired outcomes rather than their actual needs. The skill lies in dissecting these outcomes to uncover the true needs.  

To effectively drive culture change, it’s crucial to truly listen to people and understand any resistance. Just as we empathise with customers, we need to empathise with our colleagues to understand their perspectives. Often, messages are delivered top-down, but it’s equally important to engage from the bottom-up to sustain culture change. This complementary approach ensures that everyone is on board and that the change is lasting. 

Where to begin with culture change 

1. Identifying customer pain points. 
2. Understand employee pain points. 
3. Combine customer data such as Trustpilot reviews and social media complaints.
4. Gathering and analysing data from colleagues through conversations and surveys to identify common themes and acting on them. 

In conclusion 

It’s important to embed accessible and understandable metrics across the organisation to ensure everyone takes ownership of the data. 

Identify the anchor points: If you can anchor the cultural shift towards customer centricity in the deeply embedded beliefs already present in the organisation, it gives you a significant advantage. This approach allows you to build upon existing ideas and language that people already understand, making the transition smoother and more effective. 

It’s important to listen to colleagues’ pain points and stories, but we must also demonstrate that we’re acting based on their feedback. This helps them believe that real change is happening. When colleagues see that their input leads to improvements, they are more likely to speak up about issues affecting their ability to deliver a good customer experience and contribute to shifting the organisation’s culture. 

If you missed this talk, you can watch ‘Expert panel: Driving Success with a customer centric culture’ on our YouTube Channel as part of our Customer Centricity Month 2024 playlist, where you can also watch the rest of the talks from the event.