They came, they saw and they went away enlightened – that’s the verdict on the fifth annual European Customer Experience World event.
Held on May 14 and 15 in London, the event offered a chance to dip into a wealth of customer experience expertise with presentations, discussions and case studies representing all sectors.
More than 200 delegates attended to listen and learn and hear from inspiring speakers representing top brands including John Lewis, first direct, LEGO and Pets at Home.
Chair Winifred Robinson, who presents the BBC Radio 4 “You and Yours” programme welcomed guests and led some lively question and answer sessions.
An elongated lunch hour allowed attendees the option to join in with ‘Think Tank’ discussions hosted by sponsors. Delegates were given a choice of afternoon presentations, and then came together again to hear from more motivating speakers.
The event’s theme was ‘Navigating the perfect storm: Customer Experience in the age of new consumers, new channels, new challenges.’
Ryan Cheyne, People Director of Pets at Home, spoke on day one about treating employees and customers as VIPs.
“The event was well organized with lots of networking, and I got some good feedback. There was a good mix of speakers and I particularly enjoyed the presentations from first direct and easyJet,” he told Customer Experience Magazine.
Ryan said he was surprised that there weren’t more retail businesses represented but would certainly recommend the event.
Based in Amsterdam, Lennert de Jong travelled to the conference to share his story of building a hotel business to meet the needs of the modern traveller.
Lennert is Director of Distribution for CitizenM, which currently has four hotels in Amsterdam, Glasgow and London and more in the pipeline. He spoke about the recruitment days, where C.Vs and interviews are banned, and potential staff engage in workshops and role plays to select the right people.
“We are selling guest satisfaction and a night’s sleep. We pay our ambassadors a front desk salary but every month they can make 30 per cent extra purely based on guest satisfaction,” he told the audience.
Alan Williams is a Director of Servicebrand Global Ltd, and led a lunchtime Think Tank session about brand identity.
“It was an informative event with like minded people interested in the topic of Customer Experience,” explained Alan, who was introduced to the event by one of last year’s speakers.
Passenger transport representative Stephen Rhodes, Director of Customer Experience at Centro, described ECEW as a first class event.
“There were some really inspiring messages to help develop our strategy and also plenty of practical tips which will keep us busy here for some time to come. The speakers were top quality – who will forget ‘simplicity is divinity’ from Mark Mullen at first direct or Matthew Kemp from Lebara Mobile with their stories. The pivotal role that our people play in providing excellence in CE was present throughout,” he added.
Andy Street, Managing Director of retail giants John Lewis was the final act of the event and took delegates on a journey back to the nineteenth Century to hear from founder John Spedan Lewis.
With 85,000 staff, 300 shops and a turnover of £9.5 billion the John Lewis and Waitrose stores are currently defying the gloom and following their founder’s vision.
The MD talked about the partnership approach and said radical changes had to be made post 2008 without compromising quality and service.
Andy added: “We are all pulling together for the common advantage – we have a circular business model that means if we look after our partners (staff) they will look after our customers.”
Organised by The Focus Group, the event captured feedback from the delegates during the event using customer engagement experts Rapide.
Yiannis Maos, Digital Marketing Manager at Rapide , said the feedback analysed throughout the day was overwhelmingly positive.
“From a personal perspective it really was informative, insightful and very inspiring. It was one of those events that works on two levels – it is strategic as it gets over what customer experience is all about but it also sends people away with a lot of practical knowledge and top tips. There was a really practical element to the event and having real-time feedback was really powerful and allowed speakers to tailor the content to the audience.”
“Speakers that stood out for me were Mark Mullen of first direct who had a real presence and spoke about putting customer experience at the heart of every single process and product. And the last speaker of the event – Andy Street the Managing Director of John Lewis who gave an inspiring presentation,” added Yiannis.
Focus on… Pets at Home 
Pets at Home is the UK’s leading pet specialist retailer and regularly appears in the Sunday Times’ Top Places to Work lists.
The staff – known as colleagues – are pet lovers and have a passion for what they do – demonstrated by the statistic that 92 per cent of staff have their own pets at home.
Simple but effective values lie at the core of the business, including putting pets before profits, and having fun. Staff turnover has reduced from 55 per cent in 2006, down to 16.5 in 2012, so the group is certainly doing something right.
Pets at Home believe the relationship between colleagues and loyal customers is at the core of the business – “it’s all about the people”. The retailer has launched a Very Important Pet (VIP) loyalty scheme to strengthen the bond.
Feedback at the event captured by Rant & Rave included:
“Has to be one of the best events I have attended. Exceptional presenters, authentic & entertaining. Passion & enthusiasm is everywhere… Makes you want to follow, borrow ideas, and go back to lead your own!”
“Very thought provoking and interesting. First client experience event I have been to, has already given me lots of ideas and the motivation to take them back to the office and implement”.