Samuel Švec

"Even a bank can be loved." That's the slogan of the brand we'll be discussing in this podcast. Customer experience is what sets Air Bank apart from the competition. It's no coincidence that according to KPMG's ranking, Air Bank is in the top position, and this is reflected in the growing number of customers.

In  21, Michal Blažej talks to Peter Šmíd, the Head of Market Research, about how the research team functions at Air Bank, what metrics they use to measure CX, and why the devil is in the details in qualitative surveys.

We chose Air Bank because, among financial institutions in the Czech Republic, you are virtually a love brand. I'd like to ask how you perceive the customer in practice and how it functions internally. And perhaps, Petr, what makes Air Bank different from your previous experiences?

Internal functioning is crucial because here when you need something, some help, to push a project, you don't feel any resistance. Colleagues always try to accommodate you. They know that when you come up with something, you definitely didn't make it up for your own pleasure, but it makes sense, there's a procedure behind it, and it will be good for the clients.

It's also very open here. We have flexible office space, and anyone can sit where they want. This means that even the CEO can sit at your desk, and it's normal. Every month we have regular meetings for all employees, explaining what's happening, why it's happening, and what will happen next, which then prevents any doubts.

You work in a Research Team, and I'm interested in your organizational placement and how you interact with other departments.

We are quite independent and, in those four years, a rather wandering unit. Originally, we were under marketing, then we moved under CRM, and we even considered being under the product team, but we realized it doesn't really matter where we are because we have to operate independently.

Currently, we're under CRM, and it has significant advantages because we have access to resources and client contacts. CRM communicates directly with clients, so when we want to reach out to clients with some research, we are right at the source, and it's the smoothest process from creating a questionnaire to delivering it. But as I said, it's essentially the same because we serve the entire bank.

How large is the Research Team?

There are three of us, and we handle quite a significant amount of projects. I just looked at the statistics for October, and we've already completed around 180 projects. So, by the end of the year, we'll certainly complete 200 projects, all of which go through that process.

First, you talk to someone about what's needed. Then you look for a quick solution, and you have to process and evaluate it well. So these are not one-time, quick tasks; we somehow have to manage all of this as a team. Additionally, some of these projects, around 5 to 10, are larger and long-term ones.

How did you manage to make the customer perspective mean anything at all? And what are the specific types of activities you perform? Research can go in various directions. What are you actually working on?

When I started, there wasn't so much research happening. However, after some time, when you show that the information you bring truly accelerates decision-making, improves a process, enhances a product, and is genuinely beneficial, it quickly spreads from one team to another.

Now, we've reached a capacity limit where we're starting to think about prioritization because there are so many requests piling up, and the three of us are getting overwhelmed. But when you explain that this project will be done next month and you have good reasons for it, it's perfectly fine. It's about communication.

As for the scope, we cover all research fields. From satisfaction surveys to employee research, and product development, which means we're involved in all stages of product development. From testing of initial concepts to final testing. We're also in traditional marketing research, which means we conduct ad tests and communication tests.

"We prepare the scenario and conduct the entire interview ourselves. This has added value because we can involve colleagues who are relevant to the topic."

Now we're looking at how it works at the branches. We conduct customer journey mapping across various products, feedback, image research, branding research, and UX research. But, of course, not everyone does everything. My colleague Tereza mainly handles UX research and testing. My colleague Honza is responsible for various innovation directions, and monitors the market, what the competition is doing, and what the world is doing. My area is more focused on satisfaction research, feedback, branding research, and PR research.

How is it possible that you manage to handle such a workload?

We've cut out everything unnecessary. For example, we don't create presentations, we only write summaries of what we found and recommend, which saves hours of work. There are, of course, projects that require presentations, but those are minimal.

We also do most activities ourselves, which may seem like more work, but it's the opposite. Collaboration with an agency often significantly prolongs the entire research process. We can create questionnaires ourselves, and collect and analyze the data ourselves. This brings us from hours to days within the assignment and the final result.

We often use guerrilla methodologies in research, where we involve the customer in the project within hours. But when there's a two-week research project, that becomes quite a significant blocker. How do you handle this?

For qualitative research, recruiting respondents is really the most challenging part. We leave that to agencies we've vetted. Then, we prepare the scenarios and conduct the entire interview ourselves. This has added value because we can involve colleagues who are directly related to the topic. If it's about loans, we invite colleagues who are responsible for loans because they are experts in that area.

This really builds trust in the research. From my experience, whenever we show someone a presentation or maybe even a recording, it never has the same strong effect as when the person sits right there.

It can also be dangerous because the product manager can form an opinion. They don't know that the previous client said something different, so the final truth from the research must come from us. Also, information don't get lost between the lines. If an agency produced it, no matter how good they are, they're still not experts in banking.

I'm also interested in more specific examples. Could you highlight a successful project where the company benefitted from your research and turned it into specific value for the customer?

I'd probably start with the staggered payment, that we introduced in January as our new product. It's been about two to three years since we started thinking about it. We investigated whether people would even want such a service, and we were surprised that the interest was really high.

Originally it was supposed to be a completely free service, but clients themselves in interviews said it's not entirely right because it's still some sort of a loan, and everyone should think at least a little before spreading their payment. So, a hygiene fee of 50 crowns for the instalment was introduced, which is a one-time payment at the beginning, and then it's interest-free.

"We don't exactly love NPS, but it's a verified metric that works quite well in expressing the relationship with clients."

Although any fees at Air Bank are perceived as a negative thing because we are primarily a fee-free bank, in this case, it's a hygiene factor. Clients understand why it's there, and it's still a very good deal when you can retrospectively split a payment you made a month ago.

It doesn't work exactly like a loan; it's more about managing the cash flow. When you suddenly run out of money at the end of the month, and you can see that last month you paid 10,000 for something, you can get that 10,000 back into your account by just clicking on it. And you only start repaying it from the next month, effectively extending your cash flow for the following months.

So the insight from the customers was that they didn't want it for free, right?

Offering it for free would have led to situations where people would spread even their basic expenses. It's really meant for extraordinary expenses. And the 50 crowns at least make you think about it a bit.

The entire process illustrates your work well. In the background, you do trend hunting, where you see Clarna. You conduct some concept testing and then incorporate it into the development plan. And at all these points, you, as the research team, represent the customer.

My colleague is responsible for trend hunting, and he has developed a method for tracking trends across all industries. We look at what's happening globally and how it's approaching the Czech Republic. When something new comes up in China or the United States, it will be here in a year or two.

Then we show it to the product teams and other people who should focus on it. So they can plan their capacities because there comes a moment when the innovation is so close that you already don't have the time to develop it. Of course, all banks monitor innovations and what's happening, but you must plan your capacities to keep up. For example, when Apple Pay was introduced, there was a race to be the first. Of course, clients are also excited when they are first and can show others how it works.

I'd like to focus a bit more on quick research. You already mentioned the accuracy and credibility of your results. How do you evaluate at such speed whether something might need more time? And how are you sure when it's sufficient?

This, of course, varies from case to case. We have relatively frequent meetings with other teams to know what they are planning. We spread awareness about how long things take. You can't create a customer journey in a week, and you can't complete significant product development in 14 days. We plan it together with the product team to be synced.

We've managed to set up communication so that whenever something starts in product development, marketing, or communication, we are there at the beginning so that we can assess whether it's even necessary to conduct research. If you have better, existing data, it's good to know about it at the beginning, so that you don't do the same work unnecessarily.

"NPS is still just a number; the main work lies in the comments people write to us"

Then we identify the questions that need to be answered, and there's no other way to answer them than by conducting research. We spend the most time on preparation. Once the research is well set up, you can finish it relatively quickly. It's been really useful to have detailed discussions with product teams and communication to clarify what the actual goal is and how the research will be used.

Previously, the requests used to come as: "We need to find out how much people like this product." And we researched how much people liked the product. But the actual goal was how it sells, which is a slightly different question. So, we dedicate most of our time to the initial phase, where we clarify what the research should actually achieve. In the end, no one examines which method we use or how we process it because we know that what we do, we do well, quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

There is quite a lot of pressure on us because when we conduct research, it is relatively quickly implemented. For instance, if we say that about seven percent of people will be interested in a product, but two months later, when it's launched, only one percent is interested, colleagues start asking what was the problem. Whether the target audience was wrong, the research was flawed, or the communication was off. But when you're here, it's assumed that you know how to do your job. What you experienced at the beginning of your career when they were asking you why you asked that question instead of another, that, fortunately, no longer happens here.

So, it requires a fair amount of seniority. When a team of three needs to deliver value quickly, experience must be present. We talked about trends. What are the things that you measure in the long term, and at which you look at through your metrics?

First, there's the conceptual perspective where we look at the past, present, and future. In the past, we focus on feedback. This means that we regularly ask our clients how they rate our services, how satisfied they are with us, and what would they improve.

Then we monitor current things, such as brand tracking, where we track how well we are known to both clients and non-clients and the entire representative population. And, of course, we look into the future at new trends and concept testing.

In terms of metrics, we don't have many. The main and only metric for us is NPS (Net Promoter Score). Not because we love NPS, but because it's a metric we can use to compare with others. It's a verified metric that works well in expressing the relationship with clients.

"We collect feedback from 100,000 people a month."

For Air Bank, it's crucial in client acquisition, how people get to us. Almost everyone asks their acquaintances which bank is good and which one to turn to when they need a new product. Our clients must know that if someone asks them, they can say, "Yes, I'm so satisfied with Air Bank that I'll gladly recommend it without hesitation, and with clear conscience."

When is NPS a relevant metric for you?

It's the only metric we track within the measurement of satisfaction surveys. But it's still just a number. It's nice to have a goal and increase it every year, however, the main work lies in the comments from customers that accompany this number."

We approach about one-twelfth of our client base, which means around 100,000 people monthly, with feedback, and every month, we receive thousands of textual responses and justifications for why a person is so satisfied or dissatisfied. This is the most significant treasure we work with. We genuinely read all the comments and categorize them according to the product and team so that everyone has up-to-date numbers every month, knowing what to improve and correct.

It also helps us to see how these topics evolve over time. Some topics emerge suddenly, grow, and continue to grow until resolved. Then there are long-term topics, and when they are fixed, they gradually disappear from the comments, which is the goal. There are also seasonal topics. So, it's an excellent tool for tracking the mood of our clients. What, and when a particular action suits them, like for example discounted rates for foreign currency payments during vacation season.

Do you really read all those comments manually?

So far, we have processed them manually. I'm not saying we won't use technology in the future, but the added value of enriching ourselves with the context of what clients are saying, and how they're saying it, is significant for us. Perhaps certain models can reveal what clients may want, like more ATMs or branches, but what's missing is how they discuss it, whether they are very upset, and so on. So, the quality is still lacking.

Where do you think research at Air Bank will be in a few years?

Here, we can actually do whatever we want if it makes sense. When you come up with an idea that you want to start researching and implementing, and you know why you want to do it, no one will say no.

Even the feedback on NPS wasn't here, and some people were concerned about how it affects clients when we would contact so many of them every month. Whether it would bother them or not. But it turned out that it works; people are happy to respond, and it makes sense. They even respond happily multiple times because besides we ask them questions, we have to show them that we're doing something with their responses.

Things that need to be addressed are dealt with immediately, so we sometimes call customers back, as it also functions somewhat like a complaint department. Every year, we send them a list of things that have changed based on their feedback. Sometimes it's visible, sometimes less, but something always happens. When clients know this, it motivates them to respond, so we have a significant response rate, and you can see how they elaborate on it.

We also organize various informational and entertaining events for colleagues to spread the knowledge we acquire, and we try to connect everyone. We're trying to find an optimal balance in information delivery so that we don't overwhelm them but, at the same time, reach as many people as possible. We're still looking for it and experimenting with different methods, frequencies, and formats to get the information to people. The path forward is more about spreading this knowledge than seeking for new information.

The last question I ask every guest: What is the biggest design challenge you would like to solve in your life?

It smells a bit like a UX question, but I would aim it more broadly. What bothers me in today's world is how diversity, originality, and uniqueness are getting lost due to efficiency and costs, and everything is becoming more and more similar. So, for me, the challenge is to bring back diversity, originality, and uniqueness to any service. So the client knows why they use Air Bank. That it's a bit different, a bit better, a bit more interesting, and more user-friendly. That would be my wish, for it to be more diverse, and for us to be an example of that diversity.

That's a beautiful challenge in this late capitalist world, where everything is a commodity, and everything is also uniform. Analytical work is directing everything towards universal equality. And for that, we must involve creative work as well.

Research probably contributes to it as well because when it's used poorly, you naturally end up with an average of everything, and everything looks the same. Averaging is hell, so research needs to be used smartly and correctly so that the results contribute to that diversity, and don't flatten everything into one grey box.

Yes, and those extremes can be inspiring.

Exactly, and that's usually where trends begin.


Listen to the whole interview with Petr Šmíd in Slovak:

Minimum Viable Podcast is brought to you every two months by the design studio Lighting Beetle*, which focuses on creating an exceptional customer experience.

Design is all around us. Minimum Viable Podcast explores design with a small “d” – the one that looks for solutions to people's problems. In it, together with our guests, we address topics that are related to design, but we normally do not associate with it. Thanks to the Zeldeo production studio and our production manager Mojmír Procházka for the cooperation.

We are looking forward to every listen, follow, share, and suggestion for improvement. You can send us your tips for interesting personalities with whom we can talk about design to podcast@lbstudio.sk.

Enjoy!

Minimum Viable Podcast #21: CX in Banking

In this podcast, we often talk about how to transform an organization to prioritize the customer. However, we rarely have representatives from small to medium-sized companies. In our recent survey on the state of CX in Slovakia, it was confirmed that the size of the company doesn't matter. Everyone can be successful.


In the 20th episode of the Minimum Viable Podcast, Michal Blažej discusses building Customer Experience in small organizations with Lucia Čišková, Managing Director of Business Lease Slovakia.

Minimum Viable Podcast is brought to you by the CX design studio Lighting Beetle*. It's usually recorded in the Slovak language, however, you can read an English transcription of this episode below. For more content in English, including case studies and handouts, visit our Journal.

Are you interested in the level of Customer Experience of your organization? Find out in few seconds by answering these 6 questions.

What does Business Lease do?


Business Lease has been providing services for corporate mobility in Slovakia for 25 years. For the past five years, we've also been dealing with mobility for individuals, which includes operational leasing services. Besides that, we offer additional services like short-term rentals under the Biznis Rent brand. We also manage vehicle fleets for clients who don't have their entire fleet under operational leasing but want to use operational leasing services. Additionally, we've expanded into selling used vehicles after operational leasing, which we market under the Cars & Care brand.


How does Business Lease differ from the competition?


We keep the customer at the center of attention. Our vision is to "be the most customer-oriented company in the mobility management segment."


In simple terms, we want to be among the best and most successful companies in Slovakia. To break it down, being the best means being a hero in service quality and then in the approach of our people.


You Are a multinational company. Is the corporate vision defined for the entire group?

Yes. I'm very pleased that this vision came from the top and wasn't just defined locally in Slovakia. In 2018/2019, there was a beautiful alignment and what I wanted to implement in Slovakia was supported by our leadership. Business Lease's main value is care. Operational leasing services are similar everywhere. We need a key differentiator that will propel us forward and we achieve that by our approach to customers. My vision was driven by the desire to make a big leap in finances and satisfaction among both employees and customers. I wanted to double the results, so I started looking for a way to achieve this goal.

Companies often ask themselves how to differentiate, and Customer Experience is one of the possibilities. However, you combined CX with business results, which usually happens later in a company's development. You managed to do it in one step. You mentioned the results. What have you achieved?


In five years, we've managed to increase our fleet by 38%, our profitability from 1.7 to 5.2 million, our NPS score from 41 points to 64, handling complaints decreased from 13 days to 3.7 days, and we moved our Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score from 70 to 86 points.


Regarding the employees, we've rapidly decreased previously high fluctuation, and nowadays we keep it under 5%, which means a stable and content team. In terms of the willingness of our employees to recommend Business Lease as an employer, we've moved from 67 to 76.5.


It's interesting that customer experience is often more about employee satisfaction. You mentioned several internal KPIs and then financial indicators, which is challenging to connect. How do they influence each other?


It's simple. Increasing the quality of services and the approach of employees causes higher customer satisfaction and higher sales. It turns out that 30% of new customers come based on word of mouth and the good name of Business Lease. This allows us to cut marketing expenses.


So the answer is loyalty and satisfaction of existing customers.


With current customers, we measure the so-called repeat rate. This is our ability to renew the vehicle fleet for a given client. We've increased this from 48% to 62%. Of course, we also have customer churn. We measure churn rate on a monthly basis because we know that acquiring a new customer is much more expensive than retaining an existing one and we want to keep this under control.


I assume that you monitor financial indicators every day. How often do you check the other data?


In 2018 we wanted to get the company results under control and we found out we weren't achieving what we wanted. So, we introduced these so-called mid-month meetings where the entire middle management sits and they are trying to find out where we're falling behind while still having two more weeks until the end of the month to deliver the expected results


Regarding the customer experience, it's measured in various ways. It can't always be done on a monthly, or more frequent basis, but we collect feedback continuously.


Likewise, Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) probably can't be measured on a weekly basis, right?


It's measured twice a year.


What was the journey to implementing a better Customer Experience like?


At the very beginning, we needed to stabilize the team. To have clarity about the vision, mission, values, and culture. We wouldn't have achieved these results in life if we had chaos at home. It took six to eight months of intensive work with the team.


We conducted a major employee survey, based on which we began making changes on a monthly basis. Also moving people to the right positions was also one of the problems. Then we defined the culture we wanted to have at Business Lease so that everyone feels comfortable here.


Imagine about 19-20 bullet points. Openness, open communication, active listening, feedback, and so on.. What was written had to be understood as well. This took from 6 to 8 months.

"We would have never achieved the results if we had chaos at home."

Then we could move on to the second phase. With Jan Urig, we had a two-day workshop, and he asked us which company was close to our hearts. I mentioned e-obuv because I love that within 48 hours I can have any shoes delivered and I can immediately try them on.


We had "Care" as our differentiator, but we didn't know what that meant. How would Business Lease differentiate itself? Then we got acquainted with the customer journey. For me, it was very shocking to find out that our process diagram was vertical. We described everything using our terminology, from our perspective, it was all about "us, us, us." The customer wasn't mentioned at all.


Jan showed us the customer journey horizontally. Everything was defined from the customer's perspective, which was a big difference. The second point was starting to work on it. The third point was how we address problems in the company.


The problem was that four of us, wise heads, sat down, we understood what it was about, we defined it, we implemented it, and we found that the customer still wasn't satisfied. Design thinking is about empathy with the customer. So, we started with mapping customer journeys. We did this through personal interviews with our customers. We put in a lot of effort, and prepared our questions.


So, we have the customer journey of our client, our driver, our Cars & Care customer who buys a used car after operational leasing. We also don't forget about the employees. We have the employee's customer journey as well. It needs regular refreshes, so we update it every year or two based on the feedback we collect through qualitative or quantitative surveys.


Have you identified what your opportunities for improvement are? Or how did opportunities for improvement compare to the customer journey you designed with customers? How did you prioritize among those various initiatives?


You need to distinguish between initiatives for a "quick fix”, "mid-term", and "long-term". You can't do everything, although I have this characteristic of wanting to do everything at once. The customer journey helped us identify where we have room for improvement. It repeatedly showed us that we thought differently.


We thought that our customers really cared about the delivery of a new vehicle, that it was a crucial moment for them. The opposite is true. Of course, they are very excited, but it's not crucial for the customer at all. What's crucial is, for example, the duration they stay with us. They don't want full service only on the day of delivering the car; they want it throughout the entire period. They need to drive, and we need to take care of service, tire service, and continuously improve our services.


Next is the termination of operational leasing. Is that also a source of concern? How does operational leasing end? Customers told us that returning their car is a very emotionally challenging experience for them too. We've marked this as "Red Point."


CX is about emotions. What emotional experience do the customers have at every point of contact with Business Lease. And the question arises here, how to deal with it?


We started doing projects - Rapid Deployment Units (SWAT). This way, we started transforming Red Points into Green Points with very nice results. To this day, we've completed 15 of such projects.


What does a SWAT project look like, and how does it differ from the others?


For the implementation of CX, onboarding all employees is crucial. Our employees themselves defined they want to put the customer first. We knew about Red Points and started addressing them through SWAT projects. The project consists of four to six people. It takes about six to 8 weeks and has a clearly defined goal. People volunteered for these projects. All areas of the company are represented in the project to cover the entire customer journey. Marketing and communication are also essential. I would highlight two projects that were successful.


Imagine that you have 7,500 cars, that's 7,500 drivers who use your services across Slovakia. We provide services through our partner service network, which is quite extensive. It's crucial that the Customer Experience is what the customer expects and that services work the same way everywhere. Therefore, it was essential to do two things.

"We thought that our customers really cared about the delivery of a new vehicle, that it was a crucial moment for them. However, the opposite is true."

First, unify the quality of services. With us, you get pick-up service, you get a replacement vehicle when yours stays in service for more than 24 hours. When the repair is over 150 euros, we wash your car. We had parameters we needed to standardize across Slovakia.


It was a big challenge to change all the contracts, and it also took us some time. However, we succeeded. Then there was the question of how to get customers into the right services. That's when we implemented a call center line, which we had to teach our customers to call. Today, about 78% or even 80% of our customers call this line, which guides them to repair shops where we have a consistent level of quality.


This SWAT project took longer than eight weeks. What was the time limit you set there? What was the output of this project after eight weeks, for example?


We implemented a call center line and we communicated the information about it through our website, through various documents, we handed over the car with information about the call center, etc. Until then, customers went everywhere, and it happened that they didn't get a pick-up or replacement vehicle.


After every service visit, we also measure the experience. In satisfaction surveys, we saw a clear jump. Previously, we scored around 78 points, and now it's over 90, but we still want to go further.


SWAT projects are intended to bring dynamics to large companies' overloaded processes. The significant value for the company is that it's not burdened by a two-year planned project.


The great advantage of Business Lease is that we have fifty employees, and we can implement changes quickly. We also have a clear vision from our group. The Business Lease Group operates in five countries, so we can implement changes as a group.


We don't have two-year projects here, except perhaps for digital transformation. The vision comes from above, but we have a lot of freedom in how we provide our services. We know our market, we know our customers, so we have a lot of flexibility in this regard.


I would like to go into more detail about the transformation within the organization. How did you manage to get employees on board? Was it part of your corporate strategy?


We introduced a different way of handling complaints through "customer feedback coffee sessions." Employees said they wanted to address customers and they made them their priority. They saw that satisfaction was declining. They named it themselves, and we created a tool.


Twice a week, people from various areas have 15 to 20-minute meetings where they discuss problems and immediately look for solutions.

Creating rituals while giving people the freedom to change things is crucial. Indeed, influencing the Customer Experience effectively cannot happen without a transformation of the culture, which was your first step.


Emphasizing the vision is also important, repeating it constantly, and returning to it. It wouldn't work without goals either. Suddenly, our goals weren't just financial results, the fleet, and profit. Employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction had the same weight. The whole team had the same goals, which were equally important to everyone.


I'll ask about the education of other people, not just management. Have they gone through any training or education there?


Know-how regarding customer experience is very scarce in Slovakia. We have Palo Mikolaj, who is certified. So, he brought knowledge, which I see as an important element in the company's development and growth. I started studying as well, but it's going slowly because I'm always so interested that I want to implement it into the company immediately.


I really appreciate companies that are in Slovakia and focus on CX because they helped us with customer journeys and interviews. We didn't have this know-how. We didn't train people; we simply involved them in activities.

"Knowledge about customer experience in Slovakia is very poor."

When we conducted qualitative interviews with our customers, we didn't do it by hiring a company to do the interviews and provide us with results. We had our employees conduct the interviews with external experts as observers and supervisors. It's best to learn by doing.


CX is about emotions, and those emotions come from our employees. To create a bond with the customer, we need to define six emotional drivers and use them. For example, when a customer says they trust us, or that we fix something for them, or that we keep promises, we try to motivate with it among various positions in the company so that employees know what they can influence and enhance.


Training and knowledge of the methodology are good, but the design of the customer experience is largely about common sense. You've tackled it very well by involving employees directly into real projects. Finally, I have two more questions. What are your challenges? What are your personal challenges?


We would like to expand our service portfolio. We want to introduce a fixed operational leasing product, including all possible costs like inflation fluctuations, interest rates, or the possibility that you might damage the car at the end. We want to launch it in January. This whole idea came from customer feedback.


The second service is called "Go Better," where we adapt feedback from customers. We toyed with the idea of how customers could become carbon-neutral. This Go Better program will enable them to do so. It's about first measuring their current carbon footprint, providing an analysis, followed by driver training for eco-friendly driving.


We have a digital tool for this that we'll implement in cars, which can measure your driving style and provide feedback. Finally, we have a clear process for how we can reduce emissions. In the long term, it's about service quality, and the approach of our people. I constantly keep this in mind and want to keep working on it. So, implementing these emotional drivers into the company and assigning them to specific roles is essential to me. But what I haven't mentioned yet is that on the 7th of August, we implemented a completely new digital system, an ERP system. We digitalized everything.


It's a significant step for us because it allows us to support future growth. With this system, we can easily absorb thousands of more cars. That's important, and that's where we're heading because achieving that five million revenue in one year is one thing, but when it happens for five consecutive years or even more, I'll be satisfied. That's my long-term goal, to truly have those five million consistently.


I'm curious about your design challenge in life that you'd like to solve.


The automation of the entire customer journey in terms of processes from the customer's perspective. So, today, there's a lot relying on the human factor. From our services to handling insurance claims, and more. On the other hand, only the human factor can provide emotion, however, I see a massive opportunity for digitalization and automation in that process. I wish it all went smoothly and automatically, systemically, from start to finish. In the end, the customer will say that they've never experienced anything better, not just because the process went smoothly and systematically, but because it frees our hands for even more humanity. Personalized service. When we manage to harmonize this, customers will be extremely satisfied and will say they've never experienced anything better than Business Lease.


So, you're from the group that sees automation positively because it will give you more time for relationships and interactions. I don't know if you have data from your segment. I recently read agency data from agencies that were able to implement automation, mainly using Artificial Intelligence. In this case, their gross margins increased by 70%. So, automation could also help you achieve your long-term goal.


Listen to the whole interview with Lucia Čišková in Slovak:

Minimum Viable Podcast is brought to you every two months by the design studio Lighting Beetle*, which focuses on creating an exceptional customer experience.

Design is all around us. Minimum Viable Podcast explores design with a small “d” – the one that looks for solutions to people's problems. In it, together with our guests, we address topics that are related to design, but we normally do not associate with it. Thanks to the Zeldeo production studio and our production manager Mojmír Procházka for the cooperation.

We are looking forward to every listen, follow, share, and suggestion for improvement. You can send us your tips for interesting personalities with whom we can talk about design to podcast@lbstudio.sk.

Enjoy!

Minimum Viable Podcast #20: On CX in Small Organizations

Michaela Koklesová

Customer insights are not just data; they are a holistic understanding of customers that goes beyond demographics. The real challenge is turning this knowledge into products and services that truly matter.

Watch a recording of an evening dedicated to CX insights that drive business from the beautiful premises of Opero in Prague. On Wednesday 20 September, experts from EY Doberman and Lighting Beetle* revealed strategies for creating products and services that resonate with new as well as loyal customers.

Whether you're a business leader, a product lead or just a fan of systematic approach to customer experience design, this edition of Lighting Talks* dedicated to CX insights that drive business is just right for you. The recordings are placed below each speaker annotation:


Two lightning talks


Anton Schubert: The Shift from Product to Service


Anton Schubert, Innovation Lead at EY Doberman, will take us on a journey from the birth of Service Design in the 90’s to the present era. He will touch on the impact of digitalization and the effects of a new generation of customers who have moved away from the concept of ownership to sharing and subscription.

As the world continues to digitalize, the opportunity to build loyal customers through a digital service ecosystem increases at an unprecedented rate. Anton will share his thoughts on how companies should build their service ecosystem, and what key things to keep in mind when doing so.





About Anton Schubert
Anton is a design industry veteran with more than 25 years experience, working globally with brands such as VW, Samsung, Prada, Lufthansa, Ford, Vodafone, Allianz, Nestle and P&G amongst many others.

Anton has built and led successful design teams in Helsinki, Stockholm and London with Futurice, Vincit and Gofore. Currently Innovation Lead at EY Doberman, the focus of Anton's work is to develop strong purpose driven brands, service innovation, design led culture change and sustainable business transformation.


Michal Blažej: Potent customer insights that drive business


Michal Blažej, Managing Director of Lighting Beetle*, shares his experience in designing services that make life easier for millions of people. The principles are all well known – the process must be co-creative, user-centric, holistic. But there is one principle, not much talked about, which makes an idea potent. Learn why not all insights are created equal, and how to get to those that have the potential to redefine the relationship between your brand and the customer.






About Lighting Beetle*
Customer Experience studio that drives your business. A team of 70 experienced professionals who love to guide clients like Škoda, European Patent Office, Slovak National Gallery or Orange on their journeys to better market positions, design processes and client centric transformation. We create digital products and design services that make the lives of millions of people easier.


‌About the series

Lighting Talks* are a series of hybrid meetups organized by a CX studio Lighting Beetle*. The events cover topics from UX design, data analytics, engineering, customer experience, product management and more. The events are a fit for anyone who understands the value of a quality customer experience that drives businesses and is on a lookout for inspirations.

From agencies to corporates, from freelancers to managers – each time you can gather insights in two lightning talks and/or a panel tailored to a specific topic related to customer experience or digital product design. In person at our office in Bratislava, Slovakia, or from anywhere in an online stream. Records will be available shortly after each event on our Youtube channel.

Video: Lighting Talks* on Impactful Services

Viktor Šmidák

Minimum Viable Podcast #19: Customer Experience Maturity

Inquisitive mind? Subscribe for LB* Insight – stories that make you think.


Subscribe on LinkedIn



In the latest episode of our Minimum Viable Podcast we talked with Eva Šípková from Alza, one of the largest online retailers in Central Europe. Eva is the Head of Customer Experience and if you speak Slovak or Czech language, we highly recommend listening to the interview or reading the transcript on our website. If not, here’s the most important thought!

One of the topics we talked about was finding the common ground between CX and stakeholders / managers in each department. Eva’s approach is simple: "There are some things that helped me. First is the realization that it isn’t our website, logistics nor our developers that bring in cash. It is the customers."


Find common ground

Once everyone acknowledges and aligns with this crucial fact, the next step becomes much easier to navigate. Eva suggests allowing stakeholders and departments to identify a metric connected to customer satisfaction that holds relevance for them. By doing so, they take ownership of that metric and become responsible for achieving it while you gain a clear objective that can be measured and tracked.

Wondering what that looks like in real life? "Let’s say we have a finance department. They argue they shouldn’t be involved in the CX initiative since they have limited direct customer contact.

We thought hard about this and came up with a Money delay index metric. It represents the time it takes for money to reach the customer. Let’s say you’re returning something to an Alza box (note: self-service boxes for picking up / returning orders). The moment you close the box, you should have the money in your bank account.

But here comes the finance department and claims it’s not possible. They have to check the product is undamaged, the packaging is complete, which bank the customer used…"


Put yourself in their shoes

The best way to fight this resistance is through finding an overlap between their challenges and challenges of their customers. If you can prove that changing the process can fix the problem of both sides, they will see the value.

In this case, Eva reminded them it’s also in their interest to transfer the money to the customer faster. "In fact, our finance specialists don’t want pending payments. It creates problems for them too. In the end we made fantastic progress reducing the time it takes to receive the money to hours."

This is a great example of two seemingly unrelated things coming together for the greater good. By allowing stakeholders to select their own relevant metrics, you create a sense of ownership and enable them to contribute to the overall CX objectives.


Stars (and stakeholders) need to allign

Whether your company already started or is just embarking on its own CX journey, remember to seek out ambassadors, involve stakeholders in metric selection and foster a shared understanding of the value of customer experience design.

From our experience, it is a great practice to align all stakeholders on the design problem even before we jump to research and development. It allows us to come up with solutions that are better and more easily accepted across any organization. Check our Idea validation canvas and try it yourself at your next alignment with a resistant stakeholder.


Did you find this interesting? It's from our LB* Insights newsletter. Give it a try.

Resistant stakeholders? Use metrics they already rely on

Minimum Viable Podcast #18: CX in Complex Environment

Alžbeta Ivanovičová

Inquisitive mind? Subscribe to our LB* Insights newsletter. No fluff, just stories to make you think.

The basis of creating good products and services is a creative process called Product Discovery, also known as product exploration or discovery. The goal of the Discovery process is to deliver a working product or part of it to users as soon as possible, with the most tangible evidence that the product team will achieve the originally intended goal, and with the knowledge that the solution is technically feasible.

To make this happen, the product team seeks answers to the following questions:

 1. Will users want to use it?
 2. Will it bring business results to the company?
 3. Is it technically feasible?
 4. Will the interested parties support this solution?


How to start with exploration

In order to even start with Product Discovery, you need to have a lot of ideas at hand. Don’t be afraid of them, ideas are friends. Friends that need to be collected and categorized.

Ideas can come out of user interviews or research, your customer service or sales department. The insights of colleagues from the "first line" (branch employees) or other teams are also fantastic resources. Last but not least, you can also do data analysis and find patterns.

You can also find tips on where to look for opportunities in this article on exploration.

FOR DOWNLOAD: Product Discovery Guide


Prioritizing ideas

No matter where you get your ideas (opportunities, problems) from, it's good practice to store them in the Discovery backlog. You then have to choose the ones with the greatest potential. I recommend that you standardize the format by answering the following questions:

 * [What] What do we want to solve? What key problem or opportunity does the proposed idea address?
 * [Who] Who does it concern? Who is the target group in this case?
 * [Why] How will we know that we have solved the problem? What exactly do we expect and how could we measure it?

The selection of ideas or their prioritization can be done with the help of one of the prioritization techniques such as PIE, RICE, MoSCoW, etc. If more stakeholders are involved in decision making, the Bull’s Eye Diagram works well.

The prioritized ideas are then validated by the product team. They find out if these ideas make sense in terms of feasibility, demand and business performance, so you can decide which ideas make sense to invest in.

In Lighting Beetle*, we use the so-called Idea validation, but you may also be familiar with Business Problem Statement or Opportunity Canvas.


10 principles of Product Discovery

Before you start with the actual discovery, remember these 10 principles of the Product Discovery phase. I compiled them based on observation and research of successful and less successful exploration teams. They are inspired by the principles of exploration from SVPG from Marty Cagan's diary entries.

1. Customers don't tell us what they want. (As my colleague Michal Blažej says, you don't want the customer to design for you.)

2. The most important thing is to create value for the customer.

3. The goal is to validate ideas as soon as possible and as cheaply as possible.

4. We need to test ideas with real customers.

5. Development is hard, but UX is usually harder and even more crucial.

6. Functionality, design and technology are closely interconnected.

7. Technical feasibility must be verified during the Discovery phase.

8. Prototypes are a great tool in exploration.

9. During the Discovery phase, it is essential to involve all important stakeholders.

10. Most of our ideas won't work, and those that do need to be iterated.

These 10 principles should be the mantra of the product team in a Discovery phase, where a product manager, a UX researcher, an interaction designer and a data analyst should primarily be involved.

This team is tasked with constantly researching user behavior and trying to change it to generate results. For example, if Spotify users spend more time listening to music, their Spotify Premium retention will increase. The team's main goal is to eliminate the risk that the Product Delivery phase will be proposed a solution which will not work or perform as expected later on.

Do you want to find out if you need a product team and who should be in it? Read my previous article about building product teams and their impact on a company's customer experience level.

Looking for concrete steps to launch your product? Read our Product Discovery Guide first. It will walk you through a 7-step process that maximizes your chances for success.


Did you find this interesting? It's from our LB* Insights newsletter. Give it a try.

10 Commandments of Product Discovery

Minimum Viable Podcast #17: Exploration


Creating seamless and engaging experiences is just as important in commercial business as it is in cultural institutions. But how can museums and galleries stay relevant or even exciting in the era of quickly bored visitors?

Join us for an evening at the newly reconstructed national gallery dedicated to the customer experience in culture, featuring experts from the Slovak National Gallery, MUSEUM BOOSTER and Lighting Beetle*. On Wednesday, 29 March 2023, our speakers will share insights and strategies for attracting all kinds of visitors – be it seasoned art goers or brand new visitors.

Whether you work in the cultural sector or are simply interested in the intersection of culture and technology, come and join us – ONLINE or IN PERSON – for the new edition of Lighting Talks*, a series of hybrid meetups organized by our CX studio Lighting Beetle* devoted to all things UX and CX.

The event will be conducted in the English language.

The seats are sold out. You can join us online, the live stream starts at 6 p.m.


Event details

Topic: Lighting Talks* on CX in culture
Date: Wednesday, 29 March 2023, 6 p.m.
Speakers: Slovak National Gallery, MUSEUM BOOSTER, Lighting Beetle* – annotations follow the registration form
Language: All talks will be conducted in the English language
Venue: ONLINE or IN PERSON at the Slovak National Gallery theatre in Bratislava, Slovakia, entrance from the Riečna street
Admission: Free, registration required – please, register below







Registration to this event was closed.










Three lightning talks:


The new SNG: Layers of Digital Experience


Michal Čudrnák, Head of Digital Collections and Services together with Katarína Vass, UX Researcher at Slovak National Gallery will guide you through their way of shaping the visitor's experience: before, during, and post-visit mixing digital, sound-based and haptic layers. All with the importance of inclusivity and accessibility in their minds.

About Slovak National Gallery
Considered one of the most important cultural institutions in Slovakia, Slovak National Gallery has been recognized for its innovative approach to presenting art. The gallery is known for raising cultural standards and embracing new technologies in its exhibitions, using a myriad of digital tools, smart chatbots, or augmented reality, to create immersive new experiences for visitors.


The Future of Museums


You can also hear Sofia Widmann, Founder & CEO of MUSEUM BOOSTER, sharing techniques and insights that help museums and galleries all over the world implement new digital strategies and boost the visitor experience plus their loyalty.

About MUSEUM BOOSTER
Research & consultancy group MUSEUM BOOSTER from Vienna, Austria helps museums and galleries with digital transformation, innovation, and museum boosting. Their long list of clients includes Centre Pompidou in Paris, MUMOK and MAK in Vienna, or Guggenheim in Bilbao to name a few.


A gallery or a website? A space you want to lose yourself in


Pavol Pružinec, Creative Director, and David Chmela, Art Director at Lighting Beetle* will let you peek inside the newly redesigned the website of Slovak National Gallery with an unusual concept: it encourages you to lose yourself in the content. Why is that a good thing? Come and hear it for yourself.

About Lighting Beetle*
Customer Experience studio that drives your business. A team of experienced professionals who love to guide clients on their journeys to better market positions, design processes, brand strategies, or tech stacks. We create digital products and design services that make the lives of millions of people easier.


Evening agenda

5:30 p.m. – Door opens for guests in the Slovak National Gallery
6:00 p.m. – Welcome and introduction (online stream starts)
6:10 p.m. – Talk by SNG: Michal Čudrnák & Katarína Vass + Q&A
6:45 p.m. – Talk by Lighting Beetle*: Pavol Pružinec & Dávid Chmela + Q&A
7:10 p.m. – Talk by Museum Booster: Sofia Widmann + Q&A
7:40 p.m. – Drinks, finger food & networking for guests in the venue (online stream ends)
9:00 p.m. – Event ends, Slovak National Gallery closes for the night


About the series

Lighting Talks* are a series of hybrid meetups organized by a CX studio Lighting Beetle*. The events cover topic from UX design, data analytics, engineering, customer experience, product management and more. The events are a fit for anyone who understands the value of a quality customer experience that drives businesses and is on a lookout for inspirations.

From agencies to corporates, from freelancers to managers – each time you can gather insights in two lightning talks and/or a panel tailored to a specific topic related to customer experience or digital product design. In person at our office in Bratislava, Slovakia, or from anywhere in an online stream. Records will be available shortly after each event on our Youtube channel.

Get inspired!

All Stories

Podcasts

Events

Tools

Newsletter

Minimum Viable Podcast #21: CX in Banking

Minimum Viable Podcast #20: On CX in Small Organizations

Video: Lighting Talks* on Impactful Services

Minimum Viable Podcast #19: Customer Experience Maturity

Resistant stakeholders? Use metrics they already rely on

Minimum Viable Podcast #18: CX in Complex Environment

10 Commandments of Product Discovery

Minimum Viable Podcast #17: Exploration

Lighting Talks* on CX in culture

Minimum Viable Podcast #16: Customer Experience in Culture

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

Your journey
starts here

Get inspired!

All Stories

Podcasts

Events

Tools

Newsletter

Minimum Viable Podcast #21: CX in Banking

Minimum Viable Podcast #20: On CX in Small Organizations

Video: Lighting Talks* on Impactful Services

Minimum Viable Podcast #19: Customer Experience Maturity

Resistant stakeholders? Use metrics they already rely on

Minimum Viable Podcast #18: CX in Complex Environment

10 Commandments of Product Discovery

Minimum Viable Podcast #17: Exploration

Lighting Talks* on CX in culture

Minimum Viable Podcast #16: Customer Experience in Culture

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

‌‌

Your journey starts here

Your journey
starts here