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Closing the customer communication gap
Mark Henderson highlights the importance of focusing on what customers actually want to achieve when delivering business services
This week saw the reversal of a landmark decision taken back in 2016 that left many surprised at the outcome.
In response to significant public opposition, the decision to revert back to the original Toblerone shape has been met with relief from all corners of the UK.
Joking aside, there is an important lesson here. Business decisions may make sense on paper, but unless they’re genuinely delivering what customers expect then they’re doomed to fail.
Toblerone fundamentally misunderstood the importance of the shape of its chocolate bar to its brand. It also did not consider that its customers would feel cheated when they opened up an identical looking bar to find that a quarter of it was missing.
“There is no point in us directing much-needed resources at the things our customers don’t actually value.”
Organisations can only overcome this by really understanding what matters to their customers – and delivering on this.
This is also true for the housing sector. Our sector has always recognised the importance of our customers’ voices in our decision-making.
There is no point in us directing much-needed resources at the things our customers don’t actually value. There’s even less point if we’re not doing these brilliantly.
To deliver on this, it means getting out of the boardroom and truly understanding who our customers are, what matters to them and what they want to achieve.
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This is why Home Group has conducted research with more than 1,700 of our customers to understand what their aspirations were and the barriers they may be experiencing. This research complements our wider customer engagement, with our customers involved in all aspects of our work – from customer assessments to representation on our board.
No two answers were the same. However, there were some overarching themes in the conversations we were having.
A key priority was improving health and lifestyle, with 45% of our customers identifying this as one of their main aspirations.
The focus here was on increasing independent living. Particularly among our supported customers living with mental health issues or learning disabilities, managing their health was seen as an enabler to becoming more involved in their communities and workplaces.
Tackling debt and financial issues was also a priority, with 64 per cent of supported customers wanting to maximise income and 36 per cent wanting to reduce debt. Again, the focus here was on addressing these issues to have more control over life decisions and be able to live more independently.
Thirty-nine per cent of our customers told us that owning their own home was one of their main aspirations. Previous research has shown that 87% of our customers would like to own their home if possible – so it’s no surprise that we also found it here. The gap suggests that 48 per cent of our customers would like to be homeowners, but see too many barriers to have it as their main aspiration.
One of the most common aspirations was wanting to spend more time with family and friends, with 44 per cent of our customers talking about this. I’m sure this is something most of us can relate to, but I was particularly conscious of how this linked to a nationwide survey which found that 200,000 people have not had a conversation with friends or family for a month.
Between these four main themes there was a great deal of overlap. Our customers told us that they wanted to own their own home in order to give their family security, and wanted to improve their health so they can spend more time with their family.
Forty-eight per cent of our customers felt that there was something preventing them from achieving their aspirations. Managing health conditions or balancing restricted finances is getting in the way of some of our customers spending time with their loved ones.
This isn’t good enough.
“We are determined to deliver the right opportunities and empower our customers to grasp these with both hands.”
Home Group has made it our mission (quite literally!) to deliver an offer that is laser-focused on what our customers have told us they want to achieve. We are determined to deliver the right opportunities and empower our customers to grasp these with both hands.
This means investing in the latest innovative technology that helps people to live independently, while giving their family and friends security that they are safe.
This means supporting our customers with volunteering and expanding our apprenticeship offer to help our customers get the experience and confidence needed to be on a secure pathway back to work – which many identified as a way to increase their financial security.
“Genuine partnerships and genuine conversations have to be at the centre of our approach.”
This means helping people spend more time with their family and friends by looking at what else they’re juggling. It also means thinking about developing intergenerational communities, with proper place-making that directly seeks to eliminate loneliness. It also means thinking about the practical barriers, such as transport connectivity, that prevent customers from easily popping out to see their loved ones.
This means launching our Deposit Builder product, which gives our customers an alternative route to owning their own home, giving them the stability, security and investment for their family that they have told us they want.
Achieving your aspirations is not something that can ever be ‘done to’ you. Rather, it has to be something we ‘do with’ our customers. Genuine partnerships and genuine conversations have to be at the centre of our approach.
Only then can we avoid leaving a Toblerone-sized gap between what our customers need and what we are delivering.
Mark Henderson, chief executive, Home Group
