The customer experience of Santander web security

Online fraud is a serious concern with lives conducted through digital channels and little paper trails left to reflect our interactions. As a result of this digitally enabled existence security of web sites and digital data needs to continually develop to remain ahead of the hackers seeking to exploit this environment. Looking at the Santander configuration they have now developed 6 layers of authentication for new customers to ensure they protect their consumers banking details. While this is highly laudable the ancillary support services to their site is extremely poor as any issue that occurs with the site leaves the customer dependent on domestic mail to reset their account.  Advanced authentication is great when you can match it with support services in line with this, email, SMS and intelligent voice as potential options. Falling back on the post to inject major delays in availability is simply not good enough in modern customer experience engagement. Epic fail. 

The customer experience of failed deliveries

Following the privatisation of Royal Mail we can expect to see a shift in the business model for this backbone of UK infrastructure. The company has survived the digital age so far better than many had predicted as futurists plotting the death of the letter as email and instant message services dominated communications. While this digital transformation for many communications has taken place so too has the world of e-commerce with a dependence upon parcel delivery to receive your goods. This upturn in parcel deliveries including the many eBay addicts that have turned a website into a vocation means that while letters have declined parcels have seen an increase helping to position Royal Mail as a desirable business proposition having been floated on the stock exchange. This has lead to ever increasing pressure for parcel services with many smaller firms looking to undercut Royal Mail and take a slice of this action. These smaller firms often using Mum & Pop local people to make the local delivery reliant on these freelance individuals to represent their brand. A necessary evil to make the numbers work and cut costs but these local agents don't rely on every delivery to make their worth and merely dump and run. A recent experience where I was unable to receive the goods saw the tell tale slip left in my door with no address details for the courier service merely a local number that when called was never answered. As a customer therefore leaving me stranded and at their mercy. Where is the online tracking, the customer portal, the 24 hour contact number. None of these just a slip and a hope that one day in the future our paths may cross. Epic......fail. 

The Volvo customer experience

Love them or hate them but Volvo's are hard to ignore (www.volvocars.com/UK ) and have evolved from the boxy estate monoliths that dominated the 80's motorways to mainstream unisex appeal. A classic example of the changing face of Volvo was the product placement in the recent Twilight series of movies that captured media attention and delivered some serious value to shifting perceptions about the customer base for the cars ( http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/06/twilight-fans-root-for-team-volvo/ ). But owning a Volvo is still rooted in the traditional values of safety and reliability. Yes they have sprinkled innovation in the mix and design flare too helping soften the 4x4 haters on some levels but at their heart the cars are dependable and cocoon you in safety. It struggles to feel like a premium brand such as a BMW or Audi but it certainly feels a tier above the mainstream brands. They have enjoyed extremely long product life cycles with cars such as the XC90 lasting over a decade which in modern terms is phenomenal meaning the payback on research and development has been long since achieved making these big buses the classic cash cow for the company. The experience of these cars is one of being cosseted and safe while not setting the world on fire. But when I'm driving down the motorway with the snow falling that is no bad feeling to have. 

Internet TV - changing the TV experience

Television has been a foundation of British culture since its introduction with a basic set of black and white services. The growth of channels and programmes has catapulted since the advent of satellite television where customers could enjoy a huge range of new channels for a subscription fee. The popularity of satellite TV was always curbed by the licensing agreements and costs versus the free (subject to an annual license fee) channels on mainstream services. The world of digital certainly shook up this status quo with analogue services discontinued and freeview channels stepped into the satellite customer space offering a wealth of services without the license costs. All of these step changes have developed the customer experience and provided a much greater wealth of choice for the TV consuming customer. The arrival of Internet TV services over the past few years has seen the largest scale change in customer behaviour in my opinion of all these step changes. We now have the ability with services such as TVcatchup or BBC iPlayer to enjoy any programme we wish at the time we wish and in the environment we wish.  I might choose to take my iPad to the gym and watch the latest episode of Top Gear while on the treadmill. Or download to my device content I wish to watch on the plane knowing I will be without data services. Consuming TV at different times and in different locations than ever before.  We may no longer need to be a nation of couch potatoes as we can get our telly fix wherever we are releasing us from the restrictions of our living rooms. Internet TV certainly is an epic customer experience.  

The customer experience of international App Stores

Since the release of the iPhone in 2007 the application software development approach has exploded and fuelled the rise of the smart phone with other platforms following this model. While iTunes had been in place with Apple since 2001 this application based solution has seen the software industry changed forever as a result. It is this mobile application usage of iTunes that I am looking at today and its usage on iPhones, iPads and iPods.  The Daddy of this being the desktop version is something for another day. The experience of using the App Store for your smart phone unlocked the cloud to the masses and created a new wave of developers with kids in their bedrooms competing with mainstream software houses. For the end consumer this has meant a wealth of choices as the volume of applications has continued to grow requiring intelligent search services to find the most suited apps. The App Store of iTunes has been distributed with local models so there is no global store. You have a local account and can download within that geographical constraint. This makes a lot of sense and permits greater localisation of applications based on geographical needs. Problems arise however as more developers are releasing their applications globally so they are present in all app stores even though as a consumer I can't download these. This is a poor result for a solution that has been a game changer and needs tighter control so apps are only released in the local area where they can be bought and used. Apple needs to step in now and protect this epic customer experience.