Customers at WorkSelf-service customers can reduce costs and become co

creators of value.

By: Peter C. Honebein & Roy F. Cammarano

The Do-It-Yourself Shift

THEN.. In the past, customers expected all of the work done for them.

ie: They bag our groceries, and walk the cart out to our cars. It was a part of costumer service.

NOW… Customers find that performing these tasks themselves is faster and more

efficient. It creates a larger sense of control and they find more value in being able to do it on their own.

“The Future Bank”

“Through vision, Access, incentive, and expertise, companies can create a coproduction experiences that ensure customers are co creators of value.”

Benefits & Disadvantages of this ShiftThe Good: Airlines save an estimated…

-$3.52 when a customer buys a ticket online

-$2.70 when a customer conducts a self check-in.

Software companies, banks, and even local cable providers can save more than $9 when customers manage services and receive support with self service websites.

When “Do-it-yourself” costumers invest time in learning your new products, technology, and processes, they tend to come back for more…

The Bad:

If the customer doesn’tunderstand how to use the new technology, they probably wont ever use it.

“An estimated 91% of costumers with a bad experience on a self-service site won’t return.”

Transactional: Like to execute everyday business themselves. Use self check-out at the grocery store, eat at buffets,

Traditional: Favor do-it yourself in terms of home improvement, gardening, financial management, auto repair.

Conventional: Acquire tangible, self-contained products that help them perform tasks independently Ex: A Snow-blower

Intentional: Engage in coproduction experiences to customize goods and services. Ex: Build-A-Bear

Radical: Take coproduction experiences to new extremesEx: A man in California who modified his Toyota Prius’ batteries to achieve 80 miles per gallon.

Roles Customers Play

Customer ExperiencesDefault Experience-

Lack of systematic design. The likelihood that a customer will fail here is high.

Failures result from:

o The experience isn’t written as a script, plan, or process

o The experience hasn’t been tested

o Employee tasks associated with the experience aren’t covered in training

o No one knows who decided why it should work this way???

Designed Experience- Leaders of coproduction experiences take a systematic, multidimensional view of the situation.

o They establish internal cross functional teams

o These teams integrate customer information and experiences into design process

oTheir goal is to truly understand the customer perspective.

Ex: Story of Al Yeganeh

Coproduction-Experience Model Key tactics that can provide insight not only into how to

asses your customers experience, but also how to design them.

Vision: Customers are encouraged to develop a vision of how they would use products

- Articulate goals & actions

- Must balance customer needs and company capabilities

-Feedback is crucial

“The closer the feedback is to performance, the more likely the goal will be achieved.”

Access: Reflects the resources companies supply so that customers can perform.

Consists of eight critical tactics: policies, processes, procedures, people, tools, interface, information, and nuances.

Ex: Subway sandwiches: Its difficult to complain about a sandwich when you directed the design.

“We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire…Give us the tools and we will finish the job” -Winston Churchill

The Incentive:

Incentives can be powerful motivators for convincing customers to try new products or stop bad behavior.

Incentive types:

Recognition rewards

Cash Rewards

Disincentives

The Expertise:

The knowledge/skills customers must retain to execute work required by the coproduction experience

Coproduction-Experience Model Continued

Home Depot Do-It-Yourself

Age of Sophistication

What we know now:o Do it yourself customers are steadily

increasing. o Customers place more value in being a

“Co-creator” of the product or experience they are buying.

o As a result companies adopting this form of service are creating conditions for customers to flourish in.