When Real & Virtual Worlds Collide

In CX, moments of truth matter.

In FMCG people talk about the first moment of truth. Then Google introduced zero moment of truth (ZMOT).

Brands put so much energy into acquiring customers but often leave loyalty and advocacy to the end. Progressive brands have always understood the importance of customer experience, and have shown that advocacy comes from focusing on subsequent moments of truth.

As you may know, we recently opened an office in NZ to support our trans-Tasman clients, which has also meant increasing our carbon footprint as we regularly fly team members back to visit HQ. We started flying Air NZ (as they have the earliest flight out) and got to experience a brand that has certainly understood moments of truth in all aspects of the CX.

Here’s a simple example:

Air NZ app with a coffee order

The act of ordering a coffee with a long queue at 5 am can be daunting but now:

1. Push a button;
2. Get a notification when it’s ready;
3. Seamless bliss. 

Let’s unpack a couple of things that are going on here. Firstly, there is a deep understanding of the human condition – our desire for things to be kept simple and convenient. Secondly, there is a commercial imperative – driving sales and tracking demand, in real-time. If they can capture the ordering from an app, they’re able to understand the customer’s preferences, track and report on demand in real-time and tell if one of their lounges is having a problem meeting demand.

After being in operation for just 1 year, it had been used to order over 1,000,000 cups of coffee!

So, how did they do it?

It’s quite simple really. As a traveller, you are encouraged to install the app to keep track of your travel schedule. The app helpfully lets you know if there are delays, based on your location it recommends when you should leave for the airport, and once you’re at the airport, it prompts you to order your coffee as you’re completing check-in.

In the background, the app is communicating it’s geographic position, as you approach the lounge beacons activate additional promotional prompts based on the services available in the lounge.

This is just one simple example of how mobile technology & IoT expands the opportunity to create blended online-offline experiences.

We’ve been doing something similar for the last three years with the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Sydney Royal Easter Show event experience

To ensure families got the best value for experience, Mobiddiction undertook extensive Need State and Customer Journey mapping. From this we identified Utility, Relevance, Transaction and Social CRM as the core need states the app needed to deliver against.

What brand and tech teams should consider

Again, planning this experience required a blended skill-set of good old marketing knowledge, and a desire to bend technology in interesting and innovative ways. Having done this a couple of times, here’s our recommendation:

• Understand the real-world environment your brand lives within. Map out where digital interaction could enhance customer experience;
• Use the “see, hear, feel, do” empathy mapping technique at each moment of truth identify how you can leverage technology to create a moving mobile experience;
• Challenge the technology to solve the problem in innovative ways. Don’t let it restrict your thinking;
• Be the customer. Walk in their shoes. Experience their experience to identify new CX opportunities.

Retail is where it’s at!

We think the single biggest gain for this technology exists in the retail customer experience. With online shopping trends shifting rapidly, it’s important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Mobiddiction

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