Module 5 week 2

The assignment for this week is to upon the concepts from two of the videos from this module and how they can be useed in my organization.
I have used video one with Steve Walton, Services Marketing, and video two with Maria Åkesson, Resource integration.

Video one,Services Marketing:

In my organixation it´s important to work with all three of the elements of physical evidence: facility exterior, facility interior and other tangibles. 

Since we are working with design and trends the exterior and interior are very important, it needs to be good and follow the style of the company in order to be a part of the brand. Our shops must have some elements and similar parts so that the customers instinctly gets the feeling of the brand. 

For the motivation of the staff I think it´s important that offices and other tangibles is highly important! When the working-environment is something speciel, it gives you that little extra good feeling. 

For other stakeholders, such as retailers I think´s importat that layout of webside, brochyres to use in their shops and the little things around the products are very important for the impression of the brand. It gives that extra glow to good products!

Video two Resource integration:

"Resources is only potential resources until we use them" (Maria Åkesson)

In my organisation we have enormous potential, but do we do the best we can with what we have? I don´t think so. Our shops are good looking and the style is right for the brand. 
My suggestion for improvement applies for the stuff. The  make them aware of the possibilities that we have and use them. I think we can improve many things in the company by just being aware of how much impact every little piece in the servicescape has on our customers. 
Awerness it´s like a map of new trails and areas to discover. So exiting!

Module 5 week 1

First week of a brand new module!

This module is about the physical environment and how that can impact our customers. This module will be interesting since we both have several physical stores and a webshop.
We know that the experience from visiting a beautiful shop has good impact on our customers, they get inspired and feels satisfied with their visit. 

My expectations, as always, is to learn more and get new perspectives. That´s the main reason why I´m taking this course. Can´t wait to get started!

Module 4

Hello!

Last week with this module and I´m working on the last things about my assignment about interaction in customer service, non face to face interaction.
It has been a small challenge to evaluate my own work and look at it in new ways, but very instructive and good for my personal development. I think this assignment has made me more aware of what I do and how the customers experience it. 

We communicate with our customers by phone and e-mail. There are some differences there since one is audio and the other are written communication. When talking in th ephone the voice is the most important thing I think. If you say the right things with a angry tone no one will think you have god service, even if you said the right facts. 
When e-mailing with a customer clarity is the most important thing since when you can´t read the other persons voice, there are a greater risk for missunderstandings. 

Talk to you more in the webinar!

Malin

Module 4 Week 2

Hi everyone!

The assignment for this week is to reflect on concepts from the videos related to my organisation. 

I have choosen to use the first video interactions in service encounters with Per Echeverri for analysing the organizatin I´m working in. 

As I written about before, we have severals shops in Sweden where stuff from our organization meets customers every day. It´s interesting to study whats happens in the meeting between these two and the different social roles they are taking without thinking much about it. 

Can we by being aware of this, improve our relations to the customers and fulfill their expectations?
Yes I think we can. Knowledge about our self is a tool for development and progress. 

My thought is that we can, by being aware, give the staff the knowledge and support they need to perform as good as possible in the role as salesperson in the store.
We do have good staff, but we can always be better, aim for higher goals and give a little bit better service. It all depends on the resources giving to the staff to do their job, good resources increases the changes of good results! 

Module 4 Week 1

Hello everyone!

New week and new module!
I will write some about my expectations for this module and the benefits of it for my organization. 

I hope to be more aware about how I and my colleagues act infront of customers, and how we can improve our actions in order to get the customers a better experience from visting any of our stores. 
Being aware of what can be improved gives us something to work with. Nobody is perfect, we can always work with our selfs and become a little bit better than before. 
Aiming for best possible service for our customers requiers us to constantly look at our own behaviour. Not negativly and disparaging but with a positiv setting on change and development. 

Se you next week in webinars!

Module 3 week 4

Topic this week is: how can I improve my organization regarding customer satisfatction/experience using the principles of persuation?

I think we could work more with our stuff, using their experpertise and great personalities! By encouraging the staff to give compliments to the customers we can make us of the principle liking. 

When a customer likes the brand he or she will hopefully get inspired by visiting our shops, webside, instagram and such. We hope they will buy more when they see what others are wearing and what looks god together. 

I´m writing in the assignment about Cathrine, one of the founders, designers and now also CEO, how we can us her as a professional and inspiraton in the marketing by letting her choose a few items and mark them on the webside and in stores as "Cathrines choice". She is a true inspiration and if you are a brandloyal customer you will definatly know who she is. 

Using the same idea we can mark products with, for example "top of the week" and "our favorite".

Module 3 week 3

Hello everyone!

This weeks task is to write about and analyze two advertisments that is not from my own organization. I have chosen to look at Efva Attling, because it´s a company in the are similar the my organization, I think it will be interesting to analyze a company in the same business. The second company is Willys, a swedish food chain that I weekly buy food from. 

Efva Attling

I will start by looking into Efva Attlings advertising. The adds are gorgeous, it is usually a nature theme with elements from nature as background. Because of the theme and style on the jewllery you can always tell it´s a Attling-add, even with not seeing the brand-name. 

When looking at Dr Cialdini´s 6 shortcuts there is nr 5, liking, that I think that match the advertising od Attling. Evfa Attling is a true inspiration and her personality goes through the whole company. You want to be as classy and styslih as her and the brand, then you buy the products. This is associated with nr 3 in the model, Authority. The brand gives us a opportunity to be part of all of this by buying a jewellry. 

The products are quite pricy and with a high price comes expectations of quality. According to The expectancy Disconfirmation Model Attling has to live up the these high expectations by making sure the jewellry and service are the best. Otherwise the customers will feel some dissatisfaction and reevaluate the brand.
But high expectations will make the customers satisfeid even if they are not fulfilled (video with Tore module 2). So maybe a high price and a cool brand can make us more satisfied than shopping at H&M?

Willys

So the second company to analyze is Willys "Sweden´s cheapest bag of groceries". This is a store I visit almost every week: I like the products and most of all, the prices! Willys has, according to me, been able to provide products that I can find in other food-stores but for a lower price. They also have a their own line of products in every Willys-store, a serie of cheaper products but with okey quality, a good alternative when you want to spend money on other things than food. 

I think it´s nr. 4, Consistency that is the one of the Dr. Cialdini´s 6 shortcuts that I can apply on Willys. As a customer you are being able to sign up and become a Willy´s customer with some even lower prices on different products each week. By signing up and and get something good out of it we have commited to be a loyal customer. When being in the store knowing you have better prices as some items makes me look for them and sometimes buy them even if I didn´t need it. I feel like I´m smart and economic by doing my grocery-shopping at Willys!

Since the prices are lower than many other food-companys, we might not have the same high expectations of the products as we use to have? We are looking for cheap groceries and that is what we get. Our expectations are being fulfilled according to The Expectancy Disconfirmations Model. 

Module 3 week 2

Hello everone!

I´m now in Singapore and will be here for two months, it´s fantastic and so extremly hot. Now to the assignment for the week. I will reflect on the principles of persuation and relate to my organization. 

To make it easier for you to read I will go through them one by one. 

1, Reciprocity= the best example I can think of is when we give goodie-bags on events. In the goodiebags we use to but one product, a catalog and a rebate check to use on your next purchase. 

I also think I can apply this on occasions when a customer gets that extra service in one of the shops. By giving that extra time and service the customer will get something extra than just a "normal" visit in the store. 

2, Scarcity= Hm this is a tricky one in our business. When a product is in the catalog they get angry if we run out of the item, of course. And when it´s on sale they buy it because it´s cheap I think, not because it´s less of it left. 
Maybe if we had some products that we launched as limited edition that would work? 

3, Authority= The importance of having good stuff! Knowledgeable och well-informed staff is our key to satisfied customers, and probably everone elses to. In every shop there are a manager to help the others working there with quastions and solving problems. If there is a problem with a customers the managers can with hers/his authority often solve the problem faster than a "regular employed". The authority of the word "I will bring my boss" is incredible. 

4, Consistency= In every store we have a book where customers can write their emai.-adress if they want to have VIP-offers and information. I think this is the closest we come to consistency.

5, Liking=This is the most important for us I think! Customers like our products, are being recemended and recommend to others, can identify with other customers and the brand. So interesting! 

6, Consensus= People seems to buy a jewellry if we tell them it´s a classic or bought by many others. And of course the jewellries that we are wearing. 

I could write much more but it would take you so time to read so I stop here. This is so interesting and it will be a pleasure reading your blogs!

Module 3, week 1

Hello everyone!

New week and most of all new module! I´m so excited after watching the videos.
As I wrote earlier, I´m attending this course to widen my perspectives, and learning about Dr Cialdini´s 6 shortcuts sure does. This is so interesting and I can´t wait for learning more!

After looking at the videos I sat and thought about the steps and how I react myself in similar situations, it´s almost scary how well it matches how I react and act in the daily life.

Module 2 week 4

So first of all. in last weeks blogpost I mixed the theories from this course and another course I´m taking. So sorry if I confused anyone...

For this week I will reflect on the short- and long term effects of customer experiences.

Looking at my own situation I would say it depends if it´s new customer or someone who has been a customer for years. For a firsttime customer to get bad experince will influence the whole picture of the brand, the same experience for a brand-loyal customer would hopefully not do as much damage.

To be able to get brand-loyal customers we have to give them god experinces for a long period of time.

Let´s say we are having a problem with our products and can´t deliver on time. First time happening the customer will probably get a little bit irritable but not to bad if we inform and appologize. But if our problems continues and a customer experince this two or three times, we will no longer have that person as a loyal customer.

Can we make our customers happy or unhappy?
Yes of course we can. Once again it´s about expectations and our ability to fulfill them.

Module 2 week 3

Have the module lived up to my expectations so far? 

I would say yes. I´m learning a lot of new things during this course, not only about custumer experience but also things like Tweetchat and online webinars are totally new for me. 

In blogpost 1 I´m writing about how I want to have a "eye-opener". So far the most interessting according to me has been the theory Moments of Truth. 

When thinking of my personal- and professional life I realised how every part matters and even the shortest contact with the business contributes to my feelings about the brand. 

For my self it´s important with professional and good service. I have two equal food-stores nearby. Actually one is cleaner and is located i little bit closer. But, the staff makes me feel like I´m in the way. Never a hello or a smile just stonefaces and sighs. Not good enough for me who want be as happy when walking out of the store as I was walking in. 

The face to face interaction between customer and staff are so important for the good value of the customer, and I honestly think we can do better at my job. 

It´s fascinating how SAS turned the company from bottom to the top, that´s something we can learn and think about working with customers!

As I have written before our customers have different expectations depending where they live. Looking at the model Value added by relationship I think we have to act a little bit diffrent to fulfill our customers experiences.
In the bigger cities a afterwork with good offers would be appreciated, people could walk by on their way home. On the countryside people just don´t walk by. They most likely have taken the car to work and would propably be happier with a discount to use when they want. 

In addition of advertisments and social media we are using e-mail. The advantage of this is that we can adapt the information and message to each stores customers. We can add value to the customer based on what their expectations are.

I´m really looking forward to learn about customers satisfaction, it´s only getting more interesting the more you learn!

Module 2 week 2

Hello blog,

This week´s assignment is to reflect of the two sides of satisfaction.

I´m working in a company in the jewelrybusiness, or now more lifestyle actually, The company has grown enormous during the last couple of years and the range has been extended to clothes, shoes and extended interior assortment.

This blogpsot will focus on the private customers. The people that shop in our stores and in the webshop.

In the jewellrybusiness there a constant balans between quality-price, trends- our own style and also buildning the brand with stores, packaging, staff, webpage and so on. It is a fast business! At least four new collections every year, fairs several times per year. It is important to always remember the customers in this rapid carousel.

Within each group of customers, and undergruop, the The Expectancy Disconfirmation Model can be used. There are diffrences between the customers in stores and customers online.
The customers that shop in the webshop expect fast delivery and that the productdescription and pictures matches the real product. Logitistic are the most important here for shorten the delivery time as much as we can.
I have noticed that the customers in the countryside are looking more for the personal contact and buildning a relation with the staff. They want to be remembered by name and do a lot more small talking compared to customers in the cities where knowledge and service are more important.
In shops the staff are the most importent component to influence the customers and get them satisfied. Exept from the obvious that they should be nice and knowledgeable we also have to look for our different customers expectations. On the countryside it´s more important to have the same persons working as long as possible for them to get a change to bulit a relation to the regulars.

I´m already learning from this course. New perspectives and more knowledge will hopefully improve my chances of doing a god job. The customers are so important, we have to do what ever we can do get them as satisfied as possible.

Module 2, Week 1- Expectations of the module

New week, new challenges and hopefully knowledge about our customers.
I have looked at the uploaded films and read articles, just as tricky as always with scientific articles ;)

I hope that after the module have gained new perspectives and ways of thinking of customers and their meeting with the company. I´m taking this curse as a "eye-opener", there is always two sides of everything and with the knowledge about customer experience, I hope to be able to improve and customize the company´s behaviour  for a great meeting for both customers and the employees. I cross my fingers for a lovely win-win situation.

Looking forward seeing you on friday!

Mening with this blog

Hi,

My name in Malin Hegart, living in Stockholm and I have created this blog for the course Understanding Custimer Experience, fall-15 at the University of Karlstad,

I have studied two years at the University of Skövde, POL-programmet (HR and economic) but have now decided to move to Stockholm and reading distance courses in the fall, one of them at the University of Karlstad.

My main interest is entrepreneurship, how to develop in idea get the staff motivated and create a workenvironment that is healthy for both the company and people working in it.
Outside work and studies I appreciate spending time with frinds, the archipelago, gardening and good food.