Hi Renan, tell us about yourself and your background.
I grew up in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, where I completed my first levels of education, including two technical studies and three language courses, in addition to my normal college studies. After moving to Europe, I studied International Business Administration in the Netherlands and in Turkey, including a final course in the University of Seoul in South Korea. Upon graduating with a double cum laude bachelor’s degree, Eaton immediately hired me for their market intelligence team in EMEA, where I progressed later into the field of Customer Experience Management.
How did you start working in the customer experience space?
My time in the market intelligence team was my first focus on customer intelligence. In this position, my main responsibilities were to collect knowledge about our customer database and roll-out the VoC programs for customer satisfaction. Later on, the organization developed my role into the Customer Experience Management field, with a clear framework for understanding our customers, assessing their feedback, and setting-up a continuous improvement process based on the input from our customers.
Can you tell us a little bit about your current role?
The first focus of my team was the creation of a comprehensive list of persona documents and a full Voice of Customer system (including transactional and relational programs). Recently, I was promoted to the head of the team, where we will start focusing on the buyer journey (path of customers for purchasing our products) and a comprehensive understanding of our customer journey (full end-to-end overview of the interactions with our customers and appropriate measurement on the main touchpoints).
How can companies better listen and understand their customer base?
One of the main pitfalls I see on the VoC programs of other companies is the lack of customer-centricity with implementing those programs. Customers should have the opportunity to provide their input or feedback at the time that better suits them and via the platform they are more confident and familiar with.
What are some companies that you think are doing an excellent job at customer experience, and why?
DHL is one of the examples that I learned and try to follow. They have also a comprehensive system for VoC, including a close-the-loop process where each response is followed-up by someone in the organization, including the participation of higher leadership.
Another great example is CustomerGauge, the same company that provides us with the software for our VoC program. They do not only provide the tools but also work closely with each customer to help develop their CX programs, from survey feedback, through the close-the-loop process, until the capability of Account Experience. Their way of working with us (among other customers) has always been an inspiration for the CX programs we implement at Eaton.
Many companies are currently undergoing digital transformation processes – what are your tips on a successful digital transformation?
Everyone wants to have more value with less effort. Digital transformation is here to aid us with this move, while improving the experience of our customer in every aspect of the relationship. The secret is to adapt fast and not be afraid of bold moves. The pace of technology development has never been this fast and challenging. Companies that struggle to move forward and adapt will be termed by customers as “old-fashioned” and start losing confidence from customers.
What are some CX solutions or tools that you’re keeping your eyes on right now?
We have a great tool for collecting VoC and for managing CX in our company. The main improvement we will be doing soon is moving our operation to a new CRM tool. The new tool is expected to help us leverage the size of our business, the complexity of our route-to-market, while also better consolidating our customers based across the globe.
For the future, we are planning to expand the usage of our current CX tool into a new functionality (recently launched) called AX. This has the capability to go beyond individual customer experience, looking more on the level of account experience.
What is your favorite CX metric?
Despite of the few pitfalls already detected in the NPS, it is still by far my favorite metric. This question allows us to create short surveys with only one metric question, taking less time from our customers but providing enough input for the organization to work with. The NPS is also widely known in our industry and makes the adoption of the CX program easier at all levels of our organization.
