Multi-channel

Neurological research provides crucial insight into customer experience from an emotional perspective

London, UK, 19 December 2008 - Foviance, the expert in customer experience, has launched a pioneering new method of measuring customer experience for ecommerce and gaming website visitors. Electroencephalography (EEG) research provides the means to gather detailed information on a user’s emotional relationship to a brand or service.

Neuropsychologists have shown that 85% of decision making happens at a subconscious level. Foviance has also tested and proven emotionally engaging websites to provide higher commercial returns.

EEG involves measuring electrical activity in different parts of the brain in response to certain stimuli. Once the preserve of the clinical lab, Foviance has pioneered the use of EEG in the assessment of user experiences. By recording reactions at different stages of interaction with a website - with emotions ranging from excitement and anticipation through to anxiety and boredom - Foviance can provide detailed and specific site design recommendations that improve customer conversion.

Foviance customers have already started to benefit from EEG. So far, Foviance has analysed the emotional responses of online poker players, measured response to imagery alternatives on a travel site and identify effective merchandising strategies for an online retailer. EEG can be used to assess emotional response to various types of stimuli and Foviance plans to apply the method to understand the multi-channel user experience. For example, it is possible to gauge people’s emotional engagement while on the phone to a call centre.

Marty Carroll, consultancy director, Foviance said: “We recognise that differentiation in user experience for many brands means moving beyond simple efficiency, performance and functionality, towards connecting with consumers emotionally. We are incredibly excited to be bringing this complex neurological science to the marketing industry for the benefit of businesses and consumers.”

EEG on PKR gaming research

PKR is an online poker playing site that uses advanced gaming technology to provide 2.25 million subscribers with personal, involving and highly entertaining poker games. Foviance and PKR used EEG to measure players’ visceral responses to different stages of gameplay and gameplay outcomes. Foviance research revealed that for the novice player, PKR offered much higher levels of emotional engagement compared to competitors’ sites. Foviance was also able to identify the peaks and troughs in concentration, the areas that cause confusion for the novice player and the importance of the tutorial stages in engaging customers. Now PKR is also aware of how high levels of concentration and focus on what is happening in some stages of the game mean that the company can optimise cross-marketing and up-selling opportunities during the game.

Simon Prodger, marketing director at PKR Technologies said: “This method of user research helps us understand the all important emotional experience that customers go through when using our site. This is very important to PKR as we aim to provide the most engaging poker experience online. Foviance’s insight has helped us identify how we can harness and develop the unique aspects of PKR’s engaging and immersive approach to online poker to ensure that our customers enjoy the highest quality experience possible.”

Foviance EEG measures factors ranging from cognitive and visual attention to emotional attraction and engagement, revealing the pattern of visceral activity during an experience. It uses an Apprehension/Excitement index to reveal how people respond to specific incidents and allows for comparison with other everyday activity benchmarks.
The service, developed in tandem with Neuroco is available immediately from Foviance.

Press Coverage

econsultancy: EEG: cracking your clients’ sub-conscious
By Marty Carroll, February 19, 2009

Easss.vox.com: Online poker firm engages in scientific inquiry in order to relaunch their site
By easses.vox.com, January 25, 2009

LobsterPoker: Using science to assess Poker player preferences
By Diana Sterling, January 18, 2009

NetImperitive:  Guest Comment: Winning minds through cutting edge consumer marketing
By Marty Carroll, Foviance, January 12, 2009  

GamblingReview: PKR.com Researhes Brain Reactions To Provide Better Service
By Gambling Review, January 9, 2009

UsabilityNews: Online poker company uses Science to assess Player Preferences
By Joanna Bawa, January 8, 2009

DigitalResponseMedia: EEG research ‘could aid internet marketing’
By Digita Response Media, January 8, 2009

ZeroStrategy: New advance in brand relationship
By Zero Strategy, January 7, 2009

SwissPoker: PKR Getting Inside Your Head
 By Richard Honegger, January 7, 2009

Online-Casinos.com: Getting inside your head
By Online-Casinos, January 6, 2009

GlobalGold: Foviance: Understanding decisions improves business
By: Global Gold, January 6, 2009

BCS: New Method ‘finds brand emotional relationship’
By BCS, January 6, 2009

4flush.com:  Mind-Blowing To Brain Scannin; What’s PKR Poker Up To Now?
By 4 Flush, January 6, 2009

RecentPoker.com: Online poker company uses science to assess player preferences
By RecentPoker.com,  January 6, 2009

RuffPoker.com: Online poker company used science to assess players
By RuffPoker, January 6, 2009

GamingIntelligence: PKR Turns to Neurology to Understand Player Preferences
By Gaming Intelligence, December 23, 2008

DealerSupport Customers’ emotions to be analysed
By Dealer Support, December 23, 2008

NewMediaAge PKR taps into user emotions with Foviance
By Charlotte McEleny, December 18, 2008

For further information:
Melanie Hesketh / Becky Cheers
Prompt Communications for Foviance
+44 208 996 1638 / +44 208 996 1636
foviance@prompt-communications.com

Foviance has just completed some research with call centre consultancy RXP, and its managing director Paul Weald and I presented the findings at the CCF/Customer Strategy Conference. Together we researched the travel industry to establish how well it delivered a multi-channel customer-experience. The research followed a similar piece carried out late last year and early this that focussed on the performance of 25 retailers.

Foviance has already conducted a range of multi-channel research, but this was the first work we have carried out in conjunction with a call centre consultancy. RXP is interesting because it focuses on the experience the call centre provides rather than simply performance metrics. I found that surprising, given the loathing the vast majority of consumers have for call centres. This was reason in itself for us engaging with RXP.

Most call centre consultancies appear to provide expertise in the areas of throughput, call centre staff motivation and operational infrastructure and management. These are all worthy causes but are all supply side and perhaps explain why service in call centres is considered so shoddy. To an extent this was supported anecdotally when I availed myself of a free massage provided to speakers at the conference. The young lady who took on the challenge of un-knotting my shoulders revealed that she finds call centre work fascinating - mainly because she can now see what goes on from both sides of the call. That moment when you are put on hold for some inexplicable reason becomes clear when you see the call centre operative using the self same moment to gather their thoughts and use the stress relief of a quick curse!

What surprised me most about the research was how utterly incompetent 90 percent of the companies we looked at were. Before we even examined whether the multi-channel experience worked - did the experience join up? did the call centre operative have the same view that the online customer did? - we had to get over the basics.

The usability issues were amazing. We found architectural and navigational problems that may not have surprised me seven years ago, but today, after so much education and such improvements in understanding, beggar belief. Some of the functionality failings were also staggering: instant messaging functionality that never got answered; call back technology where no call ever came; email facilities that in one case, nearly nine months later, has still to generate a reply (a major high-street supermarket, before you ask!).

Once we got our teeth into the call centre it was even worse. In quite a few cases I wondered why the organisation was providing a call centre at all. It must have been on someone’s list: “Website? Check. Call centre? Check. Okay, we’re done here.” The service offered no value add to the customer at all. The organisation itself often had even less access to information than the customer. Staff were not trained to up-sell, cross-sell or handle difficult calls. What purpose could any of this serve?

The recurring nightmare that the research revealed time and time again was that organisationally, many call centres, websites, and any other channels for that matter, are on the whole, managed by entirely separate functions. In many cases the channels actually compete with each other and the customer is in no way the centre of attention. If you want to find out more you can download the white papers from either the RXP or the Foviance websites.

As the economy tightens I cannot see how organisations that fail at the basics are going to survive. If spending is tightened, improvements won’t be made and customer loyalty and conversion will suffer. My hope is that this economic slow-down, like many before it, will force organisations to make dramatic changes and that ultimately the customer will benefit.

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com and is republished here with permission.

In my last article I looked at the measurement aspects of understanding multi-channel dynamics. This week I’m going to look at some of the analytical approaches. Having put in place the mechanisms to track cross-channel behaviour, it’s important to explore the observed dynamics of the interaction between the online and offline channels and to understand why some of these behaviours are happening and whether they are desirable or not.

A point of focus for an organisation might be to understand why a customer who starts a transaction online then ends up completing it offline. Many organisations would usually prefer those transaction to be completed online as its cheaper to process the transaction. The reasons why this channel shift occurs could be down to the way that an organisation does business, down to traits of consumer behaviour or because of the complexities of the product.

A while back we worked with a bank to map out the channel dynamics and to try and measure the channel shift from online to offline. This was complicated by the fact that the bank had installed internet terminals into its branches to allow prospective customers to fill in applications for some of the simpler products online but in the branch. The idea was that it would reduce the need for customers to wait until branch personnel were available and that one branch person could help many customers at the same time. Branch personnel would also be freed up to sell more complex and higher value products. However, what the bank found was that the branch personnel would often lure people away from the branch terminals to do the transaction on their own systems. The reason was simple and that was the branch personnel didn’t get commissioned on sales that were made on the terminals in their branches. In order to get the desired behaviour the bank needed to capture the IP addresses of the terminals in the branches, link them to the sales made on the terminals and then allocate those sales back to the branches. In that way the branch personnel were much happier about allowing people to “self serve” in the branch.

Last time I talked about a holiday company serving an older target market. Having set up the measurement tracking capability to look at cross channel behaviour, we set about analysing why channel shift as happening. We looked at the bookings that had been made on the website and compared them against bookings where someone started the process online and then had completed the process in the call centre. Across of the things that we looked at the gender of the person making the booking was the biggest factor. Men were more likely to do their research on the internet and book online. Even if they had ordered a brochure they were more likely to go back online to make the actual booking rather than call the call centre. Women on the other hand we4re far more likely to use the site for research only and to order the brochure but would then call the call centre to make the actual booking. Focus groups confirmed that this was the preferred apporach for women and so in this case channel shift was down to gender differences.

In some cases channel shift might be down to website issues. We conducted a similar piece of analysis for an insurance company looking at channel dynamics on their car insurance products. Once again we assembled the data to look at the bookings that were made online and compared them to those bookings that end up in the call centre. We looked at a number of different characteristics including the type of insurance cover, the car being insured as well as the demographics of the policy holder. In this instance given the breadth of the data we used Chaid analysis to identify those characteristics which were the most important in predicting channel shift. The results were somewhat surprising. Rather than demographics being the most influential factor as I had had suspected, it was actually whether someone had bought a particular optional extra on the policy. If they had, they were far more likely to have completed the transaction in the call centre. Armed with this information, the company went back and reviewed the site processes for buying this particular optional extra on the policy and could see where the process could be improved to help reduce the need for people to call the call centre.

Channel shift may be down to organisational issues or site issues. These issues can be addressed. Other factors may be more ingrained in the way that customers want to do business and so in these cases channel shifting should be embraced as long as it’s recognised accordingly.

This article, written by Neil Mason, was originally published on Clickz.com and is republished here with permission.

There is a generally accepted view that an organisation’s multi-channel customers are its best customers. The theory is that if a customer buys from an organisation over more than one channel, for example in the store, from a catalogue and over the web, then they are more likely to be of higher value than if they just purchase through one or two channels. I can see there is a natural inclination to believe that if a customer does business with an organisation over more than one channel that it is probable that the customer has a higher degree of loyalty and hence value. However, the mathematics of the analysis state that a multi-channel customer is also more likely to be of higher value anyway by the simple virtue of having bought more than once rather than necessarily because they bought across different channels. So understanding the value of multi-channel strategies requires a bit more careful consideration than simply looking at the average customer value.

There is another dimension I think as well to evaluating the impact of multi-channels strategies. In the example above the focus is on the result and the channel in which the transaction occurred. From a customer perspective that is fine but to fully understand how multi-channel strategies are working (or not) it’s also important to understand the dynamics between the channel that the customer was acquired in and the channel in which the transaction takes place. This is particularly important for understanding the role of the online channel in driving offline transactions and there are two important ingredients to achieving this. The first important thing is to have the tracking mechanisms in place to be able see multi-channel behaviour. I admit this can be easier said than done. The second important thing is to understand why multi-channel behaviours are happening the way that they are and then to evaluate whether some of these behaviours are desirable or not.

The type of industry an organisation is in and the type of channels it uses to do business will determine the appropriate methods it can use to track multi-channel behaviour. For example, the use of a specific telephone number on the website for the call centre or using source codes or reference numbers to identify customers. Some of these methods will be more accurate and reliable than others but the initial solution to understanding the multi-channel puzzle is to have at least some mechanisms in place to track behaviours.

The next issue is then to understand the behaviours that are being tracked. It’s likely that first challenge will be to integrate the data from the different channels. Data may need to come from web analytics systems, call centre systems, customer databases and so on. Data will need to be cleaned, integrated and then analysed. This may require some different data analysis tools. The type of analysis you need to do will depend on the type of problem you are trying to solve. Let me give you an example based upon work we have done in the travel industry.

A company sells holidays to an older target market. The main channel historically has been telephone sales through a call centre though the web channel now makes up a significant proportion of their business. The website also allows visitors to download a brochure and it also gives the number for the call centre. Although web site traffic is growing steadily, the conversion rate was not increasing. Increased sales were a function of increased traffic.

The company wanted to increase the conversion rate to get more bookings transacted online as opposed to through the more costly call centre.

The website already had its own special number for the call centre so the number of calls that originated online could be tracked. The next stage was to understand how many of these calls turned into bookings. In this instance the call centre system didn’t allow bookings to be tracked against specific inbound numbers, so for a period of time call centre operatives receiving “web calls” were asked to track how many of them resulted in a sale. In this way a conversion rate could be calculated.

The other aspect was to understand what happened when people ordered a brochure from the website. The approach here was to match the names and addresses of people who had ordered the brochure online and to cross-reference them against bookings received in subsequent months and to look at what channel they had booked through. Although perhaps not perfect it seemed to be good enough. From this analysis we could determine how many of those people who had ordered a brochure online had subsequently booked and which channel they had used to make the booking (via the call centre or via the website).

This analysis allowed us to do two things. First of all we were able to estimate the total value being delivered to the organisation. This was not just the value of the online bookings but also the value of the bookings that came through to the call centre on the special website number and even those who had ordered a brochure from the website and had subsequently booked via the normal call centre number. In this case a significant proportion of the internet channel’s total value to the organisation came from its delivery of business into the offline channels and highlighted that the way that the organisation had been historically measuring the value had been underestimating the true Return on Investment.

The second thing that the analysis allowed us to do was to explore the dynamics of the interaction between the online and offline channels and to understand why some of these behaviours were happening. I’ll go into that in more detail next time. Till then…

By Mark Gristock

Gaming companies have long recognised that user experience is a significant factor in winning and keeping clients. Over the years, every element of the gaming experience - from initial signup through to the latest live betting sports books and 3D casinos - has been thoroughly tested across multiple and diverse audience groups.

The latest development, electroencephalography, or EEG research, reveals how people are responding to specific aspects and periods of the experience, and could instigate the next generation of online and multi-channel gaming. The first time we really started to be aware of the potential of EEG research was with the release of Microsoft’s Halo 3 on the Xbox 360. Within 24 hours of launch, the game had become the biggest entertainment launch in history, garnering an estimated $170 million in sales in the US alone. Research and conversations with the team at Microsoft revealed that the design of Halo 3 had been based around a system of design called MDA - Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics. From the designer’s perspective, the mechanics give rise to dynamic system behaviour, which in turn leads to particular aesthetic experiences. From the player’s perspective, aesthetics set the tone, which is born out in observable dynamics and eventually, operable mechanics.

EEG is a pioneering neuroscience technique. By measuring mind-states, emotions and other sub-conscious responses, it helps us to understand how respondents really think, act and behave. It combines eye-tracking and neurological data to measure sub-conscious reactions and marry them with cognitive responses. By studying, in real-time, variations in the different patterns of electrical activity in the brain, it is possible to gain a very considerable understanding of exactly what is going on inside the mind at any given moment.

When combined with classic qualitative research methods, this approach enables us to explore the otherwise mysterious depths of the subconscious. It is already widely used in the advertising and film worlds, and has been successfully used in packaging, merchandising design and creative and concept work. By combining EEG techniques with the latest eye tracking, we are able to see exactly how opinions are formed and how consumers react to positive and negative outcomes, to exposure to different processes (e.g. registration), and where cross-promotions have the most impact.

What does this mean for the gaming industry? Well, for the first time, we are now able to measure the impact of both individual and combinations of elements on how the customer feels during the gaming process. We can look at, for example, the live betting process and how participants respond to different winning or losing messages. We can start to experiment with new concepts, such as:

• How much does positive or negative reinforcement change the way you view a game?
• How much is satisfaction increased by congratulatory or hard luck messages
• Would additional animations at key stages of game play (e.g. on the bubble, as betting closes) increase emotional engagement with a game or gaming company?

This research technique also allows us to challenge long-standing assumptions. The vast majority of the work that’s been done with registration processes has been focused on simplifying and shortening the time and effort needed to start gambling. But our work in the insurance industry has revealed that there is actually a trade off between providing a smaller amount of information and the amount of trust customers have in a brand and its security. Does this apply to gaming, and what elements would increase brand affinity?

Our workshop at EiG Expo 2008 in Barcelona from 23 to 25 September, will include a practical demonstration of the technology in action, as well as reviewing the findings of our initial EEG research. But what we’re really hoping to achieve is for you to leave the session with renewed vigour and focus on customer experience. These new techniques provide insight and answers that were previously unobtainable - and the information could lead to the biggest step forward in online gaming in years.

Wimbledon might be over for another year, but this year welcomed a few differences. Not only was there a new men’s champion for the first time in five years, there was also a massive improvement in coverage for the working population.

For the first time, tennis fans were able to visit the BBC website and watch free live match streaming of play on a court of their choice from their own desks. The ability to launch a compact pop-out window perfectly catered for the needs of a desk-bound audience needing to work (or at least pretend to work) on other documents whilst keeping an eye on the game. This ability coupled with the option to watch match highlights and previous matches on BBC iPlayer, offered convenience like never before.

The good news for all sports fans is that the growing accessibility of live coverage online is set to continue. Developments in mobile technology and infrastructure will enable more and more users to watch live sport on the move via their mobile phones. Perhaps next Wimbledon, you could watch a nail-biting five-set semi-final between Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal from start to finish without changing your daily habits or missing a single point. You could stream it to your desk at work on the BBC website, and then switch to your mobile on your commute home, before catching the climax on TV. Indeed, with the greatest show on earth, the Beijing Olympics, due to start this month, fans will be eager to be in continual touch with developments as early as possible.

The potential is clear to see. For media organisations, getting content to people wherever they are, regardless of platform, is an attractive proposition. Of course with any new technology it is vital that it is delivered in a way that truly addresses peoples’ needs. In order to drive usage it is necessary to have comprehensive knowledge about the who, what, why, when, where and how of human behaviour:

• Who - refers to the people demanding these applications and those that could be triggered to use them
• What - pertains to particular features or functionality they want
• Why - determines the drivers of use
• When - suggests the most appropriate time for use
• Where - questions the context of use with regard to both physical and social environment
• How - examines the behaviour actually exhibited in using these new offerings.

At Foviance we are proud to be currently working with a number of brands and are employing innovative research methods to help them truly understand how their consumers respond to these new concepts. This is aiding them in their development efforts while providing greater clarity for future strategy.

Customers move between different channels at their convenience. What begins as a shopping trip on the high street could end with a sale closed online. From a customer’s point of view, everything the company does (or fails to do) is part of the experience. If there’s a queue on the phone lines, it could leave customers frustrated with the entire company, even if the experience in-store and online is exceptionally good. The lesson is clear: companies must offer a consistent and satisfying experience across all their channels, , from the customer’s initial interest through to the end of the transaction. At a time when the web provides near-perfect price information and few customers are brand-loyal, companies will be judged and differentiated on the experience they offer.

The web makes it easy to measure customer behaviour, but many web usability testing techniques apply equally to other channels. We helped a consumer electronics company by getting people to unpack deliveries in our lab. It was easy to see how customers would respond to the packaging and instructions and it illuminated part of the customer experience that normally takes place behind closed doors. We’ve helped financial services providers to understand their applications process, by asking customers to apply for mortgages in our lab and then complete the paperwork that would normally arrive a week later. We’ve also conducted research in-store and at the customers’ homes to find out how they use different channels and services and how satisfied they are.

In the past, companies have typically measured performance using operational metrics, such as the length of a call, which reflects its cost. But to improve customer experience, they must instead evaluate the experience customers receive, which could mean checking that service agents follow a consistent script or making sure that deliveries are on time. The key is to find out what influences the customer’s decision to use a particular company or channel, and making sure they are satisfied with the whole process. Having a perfect website won’t mean a thing if the delivery’s late, or the driver leaves muddy footprints in the hallway.