Customer experience | Methodos group

From Customer Satisfaction to CX

BFF Banking Group

Context

BFF Bank is one of the leading independent specialised financial operators in Europe, focusing on management and transfer without recourse of trade receivables, securities services, and payment services. Customer focus has always been a defining feature of the Bank. BFF is committed to improving the customer experience by listening and developing action plans based on the feedback received.

In 2016, it chose to pursue a path aimed at defining, improving, and consolidating the customer experience of its customers.

Objectives

Bringing customers to the decision-making table and integrating their needs and expectations into the strategy development. That is the goal that BFF Bank pursues each year through a survey - the “Customer Survey” - designed to gauge customers’ perceptions of the initiatives implemented by BFF Bank, both in terms of products and services and in terms of organisation and relations. Thanks to this listening process, the Bank can pinpoint its strengths and areas for improvement across all aspects of the Customer Experience by monitoring their evolution over time and gathering insights that help strengthen the relationship with its key stakeholders.

Contents

We teamed up with BFF Bank to develop a qualitative-quantitative listening model that we submit each year to a selected panel of the Bank’s customers.

The “Customer Survey” results from the combination of two different survey methodologies: on the one hand, participants are involved in a structured interview, whose protocol is progressively refined and adapted to ensure the highest level of detail and gather information on specific topics of interest.

On the other hand, customers fill in a questionnaire to evaluate their satisfaction with the service compared to their expectations. This approach, which was developed specifically for BFF Bank, represents a variation of the SERVQUAL methodology (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1994), one of the most widespread for customer satisfaction analysis.

The 2021 Customer Survey involved 5 countries: Italy, Portugal, Spain, Poland, and Greece. Poland and Greece took part in the survey for the first time.

Results

Nowadays, measuring the customer experience is essential, and even more important is knowing how to translate data into real value for the organisation.

The methodology developed for BFF Bank’s survey combines the depth of the qualitative method with the thoroughness and accuracy of the quantitative one, providing a precise and detailed picture of the current state of relations between the Bank and its stakeholders. The analysis of the results, which are then compared with those of previous surveys, enables monitoring the evolution of the Customer Experience, outlining and identifying potential areas for improvement, considering corrective actions and, more in general, developing projects tailored to the stakeholders’ expectations.

In other words, the Customer Survey is a powerful tool for effectively putting the customer at the centre of BFF strategy, beginning with the analysis of the experience with the organisation. Such an approach allows us to evaluate the efforts made to provide a superior experience and, at the same time, enables forecasting, i.e. making coherent and anticipatory decisions according to the needs and the evolutions of the market.

The client

BFF Banking Group is the largest specialised finance operator in Italy and one of the European leaders in the management and transfer without recourse of trade receivables from public authorities, securities services, and payment services.

The Group has offices located in Italy, Croatia, France, Greece, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Spain.

BEER UNIVERSITY

Heineken

Customer experience

Context

HEINEKEN is one of the market leaders in beer production. Its recent business strategy has brought out the need to also make HEINEKEN the leader in the definition of beer culture and in professional training in the industry, aimed at industry operators (Ho.Re.Ca) and Modern Trade – fundamental assets for the growth of the segment.

Objectives

Developing beer culture and training that is relevant to the product, to HEINEKEN, means building a real Beer University – a place that is accessible to all company stakeholders, both internal and external, aimed specifically at professional distribution partners. The University will go beyond just sales in order to make known the history of the drink, different beer styles, and the production process, focusing on service and the managerial competences that are necessary in such a challenging market. The aim of the HEINEKEN Beer University is to define the company’s capacity to favour learning and communication methods that supply the elements needed to establish what sets a beer apart from a great beer. Product culture, training, and competences for generating business and bringing value to the industry.

Contents

We worked with HEINEKEN to build the mindset that the Beer University teachers must have in order to create a participative mechanism based on listening (not simply relying on the classroom). In parallel, together we created the premises for people – from the company’s sales force to its distributors, to staff in points of sale – to develop a new mindset in regards to beer consumption. That is – to overcome the logic that differentiates beers just by their colour or place of origin, developing a new language for product proposition and the celebration of its characteristics. Moreover, we developed instruments that not only allow the teachers to speak about beer culture, but also to intercept and put into play among each other the needs linked to the scenario, the market, and the client. The training proposed will follow the “Adopt Adapt Ad Hoc”™ methodology, which aims to personalize the learning experience linked to the result in order to create a significant personal touch.

Results

The first readiness phase has been developed. It includes the strategy and vision that underlies the initiative – the principles and guidelines that define it. We have also worked on the preparation of contents following a development path adapted specifically to Trainers.

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