This document discusses 7 pragmatic initiatives that Futurelab, a CX consultancy, recommends companies take to improve their customer experience programs in 2017. The initiatives include conducting a CX program health check, updating the business case for CX, fine-tuning the voice of the customer program, closing the loop on unhappy customers, transforming company culture around CX, creating customer advocacy moments, and discovering customer promoter personas. The document provides details on the objectives and processes for each initiative. It notes that the initiatives can be implemented within a few months at a reasonable budget and will have an immediate impact through results that can be turned into action.

1. Taking your Customer Experience to a whole new level
FUTURELAB
7 pragmatic initiatives for CX in 2017

2. Yet another “7 things to do”
list for CX beginners?
We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.
No. This is NOT it. Not that we can’t make that list too – on the
contrary, in our more than 10 years’ existence as a CX
consultancy, we have helped ING, Vodafone, Toyota, Weber Grills
and their likes to start their CX programs. But now, we believe, is
time to talk to those who have been around the block.
To you.
You who know that once you’ve reached a certain level of maturity,
things get trickier. You are listening, measuring, and making CX
happen. But chances are, change is slower than you want it.
Continuous improvement. Prioritisation. Buy-in. Culture. These
may be just a few things that are on your daily to-do list. Are you
ready to take things to the next level?
Then we can help.

3. We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.
Pragmatic, impactful initiatives for 2017
Firmer foot on
the ground
1. Check the health of
your CX program
2. Update your
Business Case
3. Fine-tune your
Voice of Customer
program
6. Turn your passive
clients into
passionate
advocates
7. Get to know your
Promoter Personas
and how to really
activate them
Pragmatic, because they can be done within a few months, at
reasonable budget. Impactful, because the results can be immediately
turned into action. For 2017, because there is no time like now.
Big things done
4. Close the loop on
unhappy customers
5. Get the whole company
on board: transform
your people & culture
Making the most
of WoM

4. FUTURELAB
Firm foot on the
ground
How healthy is your Customer Experience
program? Is your case for CX robust, or
does business still have questions? Does
your Voice of Customer program deliver?
The first 3 initiatives will help you to set your
feet firmly on the ground, by:
• Running a health check to identify weak
spots and improvement areas in your CX
program
• Updating your Business case and
addressing questions your colleagues
may have
• Fine-tuning and upgrading your Voice of
Customer program

5. FUTURELAB
1. Customer Experience | Program health check
21/12/2016 5.
75%
49%
22%
32%
73%
Strategy
Governance
Actionability
Technology
People &
Culture
Starting out… …Underway… …Established
Case: Actionability and Technology are showing lowest
scores.
Customer Experience Program
Assessment allows you to quickly and
easily get an idea where the weakest
spots of your program are. You will get
an insight on:
• Strategy
• Governance & Management
• Actionability
• People and Culture
• KPIs and Measurement
• Technology and other enablers

6. FUTURELAB
1. Customer Experience | Program health check
3. Workshop2. Analyse1. Assess
Together with you we
assess where you are
right now in terms of
strategy, governance &
management, VoC,
Culture, KPIs and
Processes, etc.
We match where you
are today and where
you want to be in order
to see where the
biggest areas that need
attention are. Quick
wins alongside with
long-term
improvements will be
made.
Based on where you
are and where you
want to be, we jointly
find out the next steps
during a one-day AS IS
– TO BE workshop.
4. GO
Your team takes
ownership of the
implementation of the
agreed steps and takes
your Customer
Experience to the next
level.

7. FUTURELAB
2. Business Case | Update
If your unhappy customers spend more than
your happy ones, does it mean you would earn
more if you really irritated your customers?
“Happy customers have higher value for the
company”: a mantra easy to learn and
repeat, but often a bit hard to prove.
Sometimes reality is just more complex:
numbers don’t quite add up, segments are
tough to define, prioritisation is unclear... Our
Business Case Update product
concentrates on:
• Getting the people back into the Business
Case: it needs to inspire action
• Making the case specifically for your
company rather than for the whole
industry in general
• Getting deeper understanding of Word of
Mouth and its financial implications
Telecom case, actual 2014 data

8. FUTURELAB
2. Business Case | Update
3. Model2. Analyse1. Research
We will gather data about
your customers on:
• Customer satisfaction
and loyalty
• Claimed and actual
recommendation
behaviour
• Impact of WoM on
decisions, etc.
If this data is not
available, we will help you
get it.
We will then cross-analyse
the gathered data with
your business parameters,
such as:
• Revenue per customer
segment
• Tenure
• Churn
• Cost-to-Serve, etc.
The results of the analysis
will be expressed in a clear
Customer Lifetime Value
formula.
On the basis of this
analysis, we will create a
tailored Word of Mouth
economics model,
reflecting:
• In-company customer
lifetime value
• Potential value gain
and loss, received
from WoM
• Forecast for value
gain or loss through
various customer
scenarios (e.g. growth
/ loss of loyalty
4. USE
We can help you
implement the outcomes
of the model to:
• Prioritising customer
efforts
• Setting up correct
budgets – for a
country, area or even
city
• Managing B2B
customers with an
individual approach

9. FUTURELAB
3. Voice of
Customer |
Calibrate
VoC Calibrate is a rapid audit that brings our
expertise directly into your VoC programme.
We work alongside with your team to find
out what’s working and what’s not.
Listening to your customers is only part of it.
We’ll show you how to build a truly effective,
fully embedded, action-orientated VoC
programme.
In just a couple of weeks, you’ll learn how to
increase the impact of your programme,
improve your tangible results and take the
program to a new level.

10. FUTURELAB
3. Voice of Customer | Calibrate
STRATEGY VALUE DESIGN ACTIONABILITY TECHNOLOGY PEOPLE CULTURE
How is the whole
machine designed?
Are we talking to the
right people in the
right channels?
Are we sticking to the
methodology to
ensure comparability
or results?
Do the results inspire
action?
Are the actions
enabled?
Do we have
priorities? Plans?
Responsibilities?
Does the system let
us do what needs
doing?
Is it connected to
other existing
systems?
Is the usability good?
What can be
improved?
What do we really
want to achieve?
How will we achieve
it?
What is the expected
ROI?
Do we have the right
KPI’s? Roadmap?
What does success
look like?
Have we created
value?
How do we
demonstrate that
value to everyone?
How do we improve
value for the next
step?
Are our people
willing, skilled and
able?
Do they understand
what we are aiming
at?
Are the people
inspired?
Do we use the right
KPI’s?
Do we have
customer-led values
and behaviours?
Is the right behaviour
supported by
leadership?
Is the system driving
change?

11. FUTURELAB
Getting big
things done
Once a CX program is no more a small
initiative, and the business believes your
cause, the importance of getting
implementation underway is paramount,
otherwise momentum is lost. These 2
initiatives will help you keep get the results
you need by:
• Training your people how to close the
loop on unhappy customers
• Helping you to keep the fire burning, by
starting a powerful customer movement
in your company that will transform your
people & culture

12. FUTURELAB
4. Closed Loop | Development and Training
Closing the loop with the unhappy
customers is a cornerstone of any great
CX programme. But the actual execution of
the closed loop is often challenging. Our
Development and Training for the closed
loop execution combines producing
thorough guidelines, as well as developing
behavioural standards, and training your
team members on how to execute:
• The tactical loop (make the unhappy
customer happier)
• The strategic loop (use root cause
analysis to identify the core issue and
correct it on company level)

13. FUTURELAB
4. Closed Loop | Development and Training
Scoping and prioritising of all
Closed Loop activities
Developing detailed
guidelines for actions and
behaviours
Training to motivate for
action, “light the fire” and
get things going

14. FUTURELAB
5. People & Culture
Driving Customer Centric initiatives
through an organisation is not possible
without aligning the efforts with the
human capital.
Our People & Culture Program is aimed
towards nurturing the right behaviours,
and bringing out leadership in your team in
order to maximise the impact of your
initiatives.

15. FUTURELAB
5. People and Culture Programs
Customer
Experience
one person large group
Process + People
Behavioural guidelines, measurements
and action mechanisms at all levels of the
company.
An HR management framework to recruit
and nurture customer focused teams.
An inspirational framework and
programme that allows your people “to
get on with it”.
Internal communication, storytelling,
evaluation and recognition mechanisms to
incite a “customer movement” that propels
itself.

16. FUTURELAB
Making the most
of your WoM
At a time when customers are getting harder
to impress, what can really re-engage your
customers and get them talking? And if they
talk, how can you know that you are
benefiting from it?
Our next 2 products are about harnessing
the power of the Human Media:
• Giving your customers some beautiful
moments they would want to talk about
• Getting to know what types of people
actually love talking about you, and how
you can help make their conversations
better

17. 6. Advocacy
Moments
We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.
When you’re already so focused on making CX
into business as usual, how do you make sure
you can delight your customers
continuously, without fear that competition will
get on your ideas or dropping in profit?
Advocacy Moments is a program for setting
up a process of developing a non-stopping
stream of ideas for those moments that would
make your customers go “Wow!”. Without
breaking the bank.

18. FUTURELAB
6. Advocacy Moments | Program Set up
Immersion Ideation Long-list Aggregation Validation Prioritise and
go
Not all great ideas
come ready-made
and clearly labelled.
We place every
spark of inspiration
we’ve generated onto
the long list.
Somewhere in this
output lie the
beginnings of
Advocacy Moments
that will resonate with
customers and
create passionate
promoters.
Can some ideas be
united?
We start to see how
ideas rub shoulders,
spark off each other,
merge or grow into
bigger, bolder
Advocacy Moments.
Is it connected to
other business
activities?
With a widened team
of industry
specialists, we now
thoroughly filter
hundreds of ideas
against a set of core
brand and business
criteria.
We learn how your
company works,
study your data,
understand the
peculiarities of the
local culture, and get
to talk to the
stakeholders –
including your
customers.
We create the first
list of ideas – with the
help of your team,
our research group,
best cases. We also
create a validation
mechanism, adjusted
to your corporate
culture, assuring
further buy-in.
We know that
nobody can do it all
at once. Now it is
time to select the
cream of the cream.
Together with your
team we develop a
team action plan to
prioritise and address
the opportunities.

19. FUTURELAB
7. Promoter
Persona Discovery
You have probably heard it a few times
already: “Not all promoters are created
equal”. We have made a few steps beyond
just talking about it, and developed a
methodology that allows to identify the
different types, or Personas, amongst your
most passionate customers; understand
what makes their hearts beat faster, and
how to engage with them in the way they
would think appropriate. All that so that you
can finally hear the very desirable “I have
recommended!” instead of theoretical “I
would”.

20. FUTURELAB
7. Promoter Persona | Discovery and Activation
3. Ideate2. Prioritise1. Discover
We look at your existing
data, and maybe get
some extra data too, to
discover what types of
Promoters you have, the
differences and
similarities in their
personalities, what makes
them recommend you;
and their inner motives for
advocacy.
We estimate the value of
your Promoters and the
defined Personas upon
which we create the
business case. We can
use your existing business
case, or develop one for
the purposes.
We use this calculation to
prioritise the Personas that
are likely to yield the best
results in the next steps.
During an Ideation-
session with your team,
we create activities and
cooperation models that
match these Personas.
We will help you build
the best possible pilot
program that match their
interest and plan it in
detail.
4. EXECUTE
Your team is ready now
to launch the pilot
program and run it by
themselves. But we will
still be involved: to
measure the efforts and
output, and jointly
evaluate and improve
the new program.

21. FUTURELAB
Practicalities
Case studies for all the mentioned programs are
available at request.
Approximate start-to-end timings for the programs:
1. Customer Experience Health and Maturity check:
1-2 months, depending on availability of your
people and data
2. Business Case Update: 1-2 months, depending on
data availability
3. VoC Calibrate: up to 1 month, depending on
availability of your people and data
4. Closed Loop Development and Training: 3-9
months, depending on support required
5. People and Culture program: 3-9 months,
depending on the amount of support required
6. Advocacy Moments: 3-6 months, depending on
the desired level of team involvement
7. Promoter Persona Discovery and Activation: 2-4
months depending on the data and your team
availability

22. We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.
Shall we dance?

23. FUTURELAB
We’re just a bunch of bold-thinking, straight-talking, results-
orientated, customer-driven executives. We’ve probably been
through what you’re going through right now. We want to help you do
it better.
6 reasons to choose
We’re successful
We like clear targets and actionable
outcomes. You’ll know exactly what you’re
getting before we even start. And while final
results co-depend on the performance of
your team, we’re proud to say we usually
achieve what we set out to do.
We're straight-to-the-point
Our no-nonsense, low process, small-team
approach gets us straight into the action.
Rather than ‘diagnose and report’ for
months, we leverage any work you've
already done and rapidly formulate 80/20
opinions. Recommendations come fast,
results are tangible and returns are high.
We’re evangelists
Strategies only become reality if people
support them. Our senior advisors are
skilled at building buy-in for Customer
Experience. We help you rally your
customer champions and we build on
the insights, expertise and analysis of
your team. Their ownership of Customer
Experience guarantees success.
We’re specialists
Futurelab and all our consultants focus
exclusively on Customer Experience. It’s
what we know. It’s what we do. Nothing
else.
That means our approach is deeply rooted
in practical experience across a variety of
countries, markets and industries.
We’re scalable
When it comes to Customer Experience,
no one can do it all. We have developed
privileged relationships with a number of
complementary providers who we know
can deliver the quality levels our
customers deserve. If you lack resources,
we can help you scale your efforts to what
ever size you require.
We’re pragmatists
We’re a successful team of partners
and associates from across Europe
and Asia. Most of us have spent 15 to
35 years in corporate life. None of us
are ‘career consultants’. We’re
informal and pragmatic folk, who know
when to be bold, and know when to
step softly.
We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.

24. In addition to our general services, we offer a number of industry-tailored solutions to a select number of committed clients
(regional exclusivities may apply).
Automotive - Retail - Telco - Finance
A way to side-step financial and
advertising market pressures to
make the transformation into
audience-centric information house.
Print publishing
An approach for financial retailers,
insurers and asset managers to
capture the attention of mass-affluent
& high-net-worth customers.
Mass-affluent
finance
A structured approach for
telecommunication firms to embed
the customer perspective in every
aspect of their business.
Telecommunications
Experience and insights from a
dozen countries, to help insurers
navigate changing regulation and
secure future growth.
Insurance
A range of tools and methodologies
to increase performance, sales and
profit at point of sale.
Retail
Delivering consumer insights and
customer experience across all your
purchase and service touch-points.
Automotive
We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.

25. Industry solutions
A way to side-step financial and advertising market
pressures to make the transformation into audience-
centric information house.
Print publishing
An approach for financial retailers, insurers and asset
managers to capture the attention of mass-affluent & high-
net-worth customers.
Mass-(affluent)finance
A structured approach for telecommunication firms to
embed the customer perspective in every aspect of their
business.
Telecommunications
One of the strongest customer strategy teams in EMEA World-class credentials
To make the world a more
customer-friendly place (for fun & profit)
Our Purpose
Why we exist
We make Customer Experience happen,
profitably.
Our Promise
What we deliver
Strategic Programmes
Tactical interventions
• Increase customer value
• Manage multi-channel journey
• Improve employee effectiveness
• Improve commercial impact
• Align departments, processes
and systems around the
customer.
• Develop a customer mind-set
• Transform the organisation
• Challenge the industry
Our Activities
What we do
Strategy Experience Customer VoiceCulture Enablers
Design
Develop customer
programmes based
on current and future
needs.
Implement
Translate ideas into
processes, KPI’s,
trainings, that ensure
implementation.
Accelerate
Enthuse all
stakeholders so
they (pro-)actively
contribute.
Sustain
Ensure continued
momentum and
innovation across
the business.
We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.

26. Interested? Inspired?
Curious? Questions?
We make Customer Experience happen. Profitably.
So let’s have a coffee and talk Customer.
Go to www.futurelab.net or get in touch
with our team for a chat:
Stefan Kolle
sko@futurelab.net