By Lauren Mattison, Director, Journey Management

At Prudential, understanding the core wants and needs of our customers across different life stages is not just a goal — it’s a commitment. To do that, traditional methods like surveys and customer interviews remain invaluable, but there’s a wealth of insight hidden in unconventional channels such as social media monitoring, participation from attendees at company events, and even engaging with employees or their loved ones. By integrating these conventional and unconventional approaches, businesses can achieve a more cohesive view of their customers, thereby making better-informed decisions and driving higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Let’s look at how Prudential’s uses a combination of approaches to gain a deeper understanding of our customers.

Surveys and Questionnaires: Measures customer satisfaction and loyalty

Within Prudential’s Customer Experience group, we have an entire Voice of the Customer (VOC) team that designs surveys that are precise, clear, and user-friendly. They closely monitor the responses and identify the trends and areas for improvement, segmenting responses for deeper insights and shared with the businesses. Regularly surveying customers helps track changes in satisfaction and identify points of conflict warranting further analysis, creating a comprehensive approach to understanding and connecting with customers.

User Testing: Provides a lens into customer preferences

At Prudential, our User Experience Research (UXR) team leverages user testing as a critical tool to assess both existing and new customer experiences. By observing real users interact with our digital products and services, the team gathers valuable feedback to uncover recurring patterns and themes, which help highlight pain points and areas of success. Through this analysis, the UXR team can identify issues such as confusing navigation or unclear calls to action, refining these elements to enhance overall usability. Additionally, user testing offers deep insights into customer preferences and expectations, often revealing needs that other research methods may miss. By recognizing these insights, Prudential is better equipped to create products and services that are not only functional but also intuitive, enjoyable, and aligned with what customers truly want.

Social Media Monitoring: Understanding customer sentiments

Examining customer reviews and feedback on social media offers Prudential insights into the sentiments and desires of our customers that we might not get from traditional surveys or focus groups. Sentiment analysis can help you understand the emotional context of customer comments, whether they are positive, negative, or neutral. Additionally, measuring content engagement through metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and clicks provides concrete data on what resonates with your audience. This information can guide content creation and marketing efforts, ensuring you deliver content that your customers find valuable and engaging. In a world that is increasingly digital, using social media analytics is not just a choice; it is a necessity for businesses that seek to remain pertinent and meet the ever-changing demands of their customers.

Focus Groups and Workshops: Connecting with proxy customers at events and conferences can offer valuable insights

Many companies rely on traditional methods to gather customer insights, but there are often hidden caches of valuable information in unexpected places, such as company events, employee connections, and industry gatherings. Through structured activities like focus groups, workshops, and live feedback sessions, these avenues provide unique opportunities to gather insights and gain a deeper understanding of human preferences and needs, often extending beyond a specific product or service.

At Prudential, the Journey Management team achieved this by piloting a half-day event called Bring Your Loved to Work, that involved reaching out to employees to volunteer their family members and friends to gain their views and perspectives regarding financial services as well as their financial futures. Participants spanned three different life stages: prework, work, and retirement. The common thread among all the participants, regardless of life stage, generation, and demographics, was the wish for financial literacy to be more widely discussed and encouraged before entering the workforce. By collecting feedback from these indirect users (a majority did not own a Prudential product), we uncovered fresh perspectives and found areas for improvement that might otherwise go unnoticed. The insights gained from the event are currently being translated into how we develop and refine our products and services.

Blending methods for a complete customer perspective

Achieving a 360-degree balanced view of customers requires a flexible approach that integrates multiple types of research methods. By tapping into various sources — like surveys, social media monitoring, company events, employee networks, and conferences — businesses can enrich their customer insights and build well-rounded strategies. This comprehensive approach ensures better-informed decision-making, enhances product development, and improves customer satisfaction, ultimately fueling business growth and success as well as providing a competitive edge in a constantly changing business environment.

Getting to Know Customers Better was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Driving Innovation with Customer Obsession: Highlights from Align CX Conference 2024

By: Caryn Gallis, Director, Strategic Initiatives & Evan Tyerman, Director, DesignOps

Just over a month after the Align CX Conference, the excitement and innovation continue to resonate. The 4th Annual Align CX Conference, held on Oct 1–2, was a powerhouse of ideas and strategies, organized by Prudential’s Customer Experience team. It brought together CX thought leaders from within Prudential and the broader industry, aimed at advancing customer experience (CX) to new heights.

Key Highlights

• Dynamic Exhibits and Workshops: The CX Expo featured 30 exhibitors and workshops, showcasing Prudential’s digital products and engaging attendees in hands-on sessions. These experiences left participants buzzing with new ideas and practical skills.
• AI and Creativity: Taryn Southern’s session, “Unleash Creativity & Bold Storytelling with AI,” explored how AI can enhance creative storytelling and customer engagement, emphasizing innovation in CX strategies.
• Brand Legacy and Future: Richard Parkinson highlighted Prudential’s 150-year legacy and future brand campaigns. His engaging presentation included exciting announcements and audience interaction.
• Customer Obsession: Caroline Feeney’s fireside chat emphasized the importance of relentless pursuit of customer obsession, a passion deeply ingrained in Prudential’s culture.

Actionable Insights

The conference underscored the necessity of personalized experiences, data-driven strategies, and AI integration. Central themes included:

• Personalization: Using data to tailor customer interactions, ensuring relevance and engagement at every touchpoint.
• Employee Empowerment: Providing employees with the latest tools and training to deliver exceptional service.
• AI Integration: Leveraging AI to automate routine tasks, enhance customer support, and predict customer needs.

Looking Ahead

The future of CX is set to be shaped by advanced technology and strategic innovation. AI will enable hyper-personalized customer journeys, while automation will streamline processes, freeing up human resources for more strategic tasks. The Align CX Conference was a celebration of progress and passion in CX. By harnessing AI and staying attuned to customer needs, businesses can create extraordinary customer experiences. The insights from this conference will guide us in leading the charge in customer experience excellence.

Driving Innovation with Customer Obsession: Highlights from Align CX Conference 2024 was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How Prudential helped align my passions to my career

By: Bianca Alexandre, USB Leadership Development Program Associate

Creative From Birth

As a young girl, I was always very creative. I loved arts and crafts, coming up with new and innovative ideas and had a strong passion for technology. At one point, I envisioned becoming a software engineer at Apple. In high school, I completed a coding program, but soon realized that coding was not for me. It felt tedious, and the fear of everything crashing if I made a mistake was overwhelming. I knew I needed a career path that resonated with my personality traits and skills.

One of my defining traits has always been a deep concern for others, which earned me the nickname “the therapist friend”. My career journey at Prudential started in high school, through a summer program Prudential sponsored called, Girls Who Code. After completing the program, for the following five summers I interned with several businesses across Prudential, gaining experience in areas such as cloud technology, cyber security, project, and product management. I remember when I first heard about Customer Experience (CX), it was like a light bulb went off.

CX combined my passions for technology, creativity, and thinking about people and their experiences.

Learning the CX Ropes

My first experience in CX was during one of my internships with Prudential, where I worked on a team focused on improving the call center experience. I loved product testing because it gave me the chance to see what it would be like for the customer and make notes as well as suggestions on how to enhance the overall experience. Unlike coding, CX felt natural and engaging.

Currently, I am part of the U.S. Businesses Leadership Development Program at Prudential, where I have been able to explore different career opportunities through an 18-month program made up of three 6-month rotations, across Prudential’s U.S. Businesses. During my second rotation, I got to work in the center of CX by supporting the Journey Management team. Journey Management seeks to ensure that the behavioral needs, wants, motivators and barriers of our customers are considered as it relates to their end-to-end experience within all phases of their journey.

This role taught me the importance of creating a business strategy that is customer centric. Customers are the heart of everything we do at Prudential, and they are critical to how the business runs. I also learned about the importance of root-cause problem analysis, which involves asking important “why” questions that relate to the customer’s overall experience. For example, if a customer were to say, “Prudential is old and outdated,” It’s important to investigate whether outdated processes, like using fax machines, are contributing to this perception. The goal then becomes finding ways to modernize such processes.

Aligning My Passions to My Career

Discovering how your passions align with your career aspirations is crucial. At one point, I thought I had it all figured out and I was determined to be a software engineer. But as I continued discovering myself and recognizing my strengths, I was able to discover another career path that was better suited for my personality and overall interests. We spend a lot of time at work, so you need to make sure you pick a career that you truly enjoy doing because when it comes naturally, you will find success comes easier. I found that working in CX not only enhanced my performance but also boosted my overall enthusiasm and engagement in new projects.

3 Tips When Starting Your Career Journey

If you are just starting your career journey, it’s important to keep these 3 things top of mind:

• Think deeply about your passions, aside from your career. What is it that you love to do?
• Speak to people and do your research. I first learned about UX through a mentor, which eventually led to me discovering CX.
• If your career doesn’t start off with what you’re truly passionate about, don’t lose hope. Use it as a learning opportunity and keep discovering what makes your heart sing!

POV: My Journey into the World of CX was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Can we still maintain a human touch in a today’s digital world?

By Jason Rish, Manager, Journey Management

We’ve all been there; fully immersed in a frustrating digital experience that’s not quite up to par. We’ve attempted to interact with that pesky digital chatbot to no avail, only to end up picking up the phone to call customer service anyway. We’re stuck, ready to admit defeat as we wait to be connected with a service rep.

Then the true aggravation sets in — there’s no human on the other end of the line. Instead, we’re greeted by an IVR (interactive voice response) recording, and the message is redirecting us to the digital experience. You know, the one that failed us only minutes ago and led to the aforementioned phone call.

What a mess! You’re probably then thinking things would be different if you ran the company.

Today it seems almost every company is creating their own digital experiences. And why wouldn’t they? It’s what we expect as customers: information at our fingertips, instant responses. But has human interaction become a long-lost art in the meantime?

According to research conducted by Deloitte, there has been a significant increase in technology investments over the last eight years. From 2016 to 2024, companies have continued to increase their funding from 3.28% in 2016 to an estimated 5.84% in 2024, of total revenue. While we recognize that the future of customer interaction is moving toward omnichannel experiences, it is critical that we continue to understand our customers’ expectations and take their feedback into account along the way.

Digital isn’t always the preferred option
Based on the findings of BAIN and Prudential’s Journey Management team; we know that getting assistance is a pivotal moment that matters for our customers. When they need assistance or get stuck within a digital experience, we can’t assume digital is the only avenue in which we should be providing service. Our customers expect help in a multitude of ways; sure, maybe digital covers the vast majority, but customers expect help in other ways too. In a survey conducted by LIMRA, 56% of respondents expect to resolve urgent issues through a phone call — preferably for some, with a human at the other end of the line.

Given the tight labor market and cost of staffing a contact center, companies must be focused on improving AI and technology which will in turn allow reps to be more productive and provide customers with a personalized interaction; something that is an expectation today.

Imagine this scenario
You are trying to complete an online transaction but hit a roadblock. Now imagine having immediate access to assistance, either on the phone or within the digital experience. I recently found myself in this exact scenario when attempting to update the funding for my 3-year-old daughter’s 529 account but got stuck when trying to link an automatic deduction from my paycheck. Reluctantly, I clicked the ‘Get Help’ button. I followed a few simple steps and was connected to a live agent over the phone (which I personally chose due to the sensitivity of this transaction). The agent asked me insightful questions to understand what I needed help with. Although I could not complete my request based on my original approach, he offered me solutions that actually worked for me! And not only did he provide me with solutions, but he also guided me through the setup process, step-by-step. By the end of the call, I was pleasantly surprised by the terrific service I was provided. World Class, I would call it. How much of that do we see these days?

In our CX Practice at Prudential, we collect our customers’ feedback from Medallia, conduct company and industry research and integrate this data with behavioral analysis and synthesis of SME interviews to get our personas. We use these personas during our Ideal State workshops because they help us, as a business, understand who our customers are, as well as their wants, needs and challenges while ideating on solutions to improve the current experience.

So next time you have a fantastic experience with Prudential, you can be sure that the interactions and journeys you went through, were planned and well thought out using a blend of art and science, while keeping you — the customer — top of mind.

The Digital Customer Service Takeover was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As discussed in the previous article on What is Document Accessibility, ensuring a document is accessible is important for many reasons. Accessible documents increase inclusivity, comply with regulations, and improve user experience, but how do we know if a document is accessible?

By: Aoife Murphy, Prudential ADA Strategy & Experience Team

How to test if a document is accessible

There are two main methods of testing documents for accessibility. These are automated and manual testing. Both methods have their strengths and limitations. A combination of automated and manual checks should be used to fully test a document’s accessibility. This helps bring it to technical standards such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), a standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium, or PDF/UA (PDF Universal Accessibility), a standard developed by the PDF Association.

Manual testing involves going through a document manually, often using assistive technology. Automated testing refers to using a software application, referred to as an ‘automated accessibility checker’, which is often integrated into a document creation program. Automated checkers catch basic errors that are easier for a computer to detect, while manual testing catches more complex accessibility barriers.

Manual Accessibility Testing

Manual testing involves a person evaluating a document’s accessibility. This involves methods such as using assistive technologies, visually inspecting the document, and manually reviewing results of any automated checks.

It is crucial to include manual testing as automated checkers cannot ensure that a document is easily understood, especially in areas such as alternative-text, color contrast, or structure. There are some tests for accessibility which can only be done manually, such as checking color contrast. To ensure testing is done properly, it should also involve Assistive Technology (AT). Even if automated checks have been done, manual testing needs to be carried out to ensure that automated checkers have correctly identified issues, and that the fixes have been implemented correctly.

Strengths of Manual Document Testing

• Contextual Understanding — Manual checks take context into account when checking documents, such as identifying text in images. It resolves the issue of false-positives or false-negatives found in automated checks as manual testers have the context that automated checkers lack.
• User-Centered Approach — Checking manually involves considering the nuances of how different users experience a document, providing insights that improve the document’s usability for everyone.
• Catches Outliers — Manual checks can spot and account for unusual document content or design.
• Provides detailed feedback — After a manual test is completed, the tester can provide detailed feedback specific to each document after every test.

Limitations

• Skilled Talent — Manual testing requires skilled testers with specialized knowledge such as assistive technology expertise.
• Time and Tooling — The complexities that manual testing covers can be more time-consuming than automated testing as it is more thorough. Assistive Technologies used in testing also need to be obtained and testers may need training to use them.

Automated Checkers

Automated checkers, or ‘built-in’ accessibility checkers are software tools integrated into applications that help identify and address accessibility issues in digital content for a user to resolve. Running an automated checker, which covers some but not all accessibility issues, is a quick way to find out if a document may not be accessible, but it is not a substitute for manual testing.

Strengths of Automated Document Testing

• Rapid scans — Automated scans are extremely quick, saving time and effort in flagging common accessibility issues.
• Consistency — Automation uses set processes in its checks, meaning each check is done the same way every time.
• Detailed reports — Automated checkers provide reports listing which errors have been discovered. These reports are useful in monitoring and measuring compliance.

Limitations

• Limited context — Automated tests cannot assess subjective or contextual issues.
• False positives/False negatives — Without the contextual understanding of a manual checker, errors can incorrectly pass automated checker despite still being errors. Conversely, some things can be flagged as errors despite being accessible.
• Technical focus — Although excellent at technical error detection, automated testing is unable to prioritize a user’s experience over the testing criteria it is programmed with.

Document Format

Document file formats can significantly impact accessibility, as they determine how information is encoded and presented to users. Each document creation tool uses a different file format and may or may not include an integrated automated accessibility checker. Examples of different formats include:

Microsoft Word and PowerPoint
Both PowerPoint and Word’s accessibility checker can be found in the toolbar. The Accessibility pane will show any accessibility issues that the checker can find. These come up as ‘errors’, ‘warnings’ or ‘tips’, depending on how serious the issue is. This checker provides recommended actions to take to resolve the issues.

Adobe Acrobat Pro
The Adobe Acrobat Pro accessibility checker can be found in the ‘Tools’ panel. It provides an Accessibility Report which goes through all the potential defects it has checked and what the results are. Adobe Acrobat’s accessibility checker is based on PDF/UA (PDF/Universal Accessibility), a technical standard for PDF accessibility.

Conclusion

Automated and manual document testing are two methods that can help you achieve document compliance. Both automated and manual testing have their merits and it is best to use a combination of both to create documents with greater accessibility. Key to this is understanding the strengths and limitations of both automated and manual testing for documents, as well as the differences between the checkers provided by different content authoring tools such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat.

Stay tuned for the next article which will discuss key elements of an accessible document.

Is this accessible? Checking for Document Accessibility was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How social media has impacted the buying behaviors and purchasing patterns of today’s consumers.

By: Nimra Muhammed, Manager, Journey Management

It’s as simple as the click of a button; that’s the strategy brands are using to entice today’s consumers to make purchases online. By now, you’re probably aware of the rapidly changing digital marketplace, where companies like Amazon have historically dominated the one-click purchase experience. But Amazon is not alone in changing the buying behaviors of consumers — social media and digital marketing has also played a key role in shaping the way consumers make digital purchases.

Bankrate’s recent social media survey found that 48% of users have made impulse purchases because of something they saw on social media. Of this group, 60% were Gen Zers, who were more likely to be active on social media than their peers across other generations. Social media impulses are costing consumers nearly $754 per year. So, what impact does social media truly have when it comes to skewing buying patterns and behaviors? It’s safe to say, quite a bit.

Let’s start with the basics.
We know there are 4.9 billion people using social media across the world — that’s an average footprint of 6 to 7 social platforms each month. Much like you and me, we come across products and services by means of push content from brands, influencers, and other content creators and the influence on our buying behaviors is undeniable. Word of mouth and social recommendations go a long way, especially with so many of our everyday purchases being made entirely online — and all it takes is the click of a few buttons. With 80% of consumers’ buying decisions stemming through online influences, social media marketing levels the playing field for consumers and brands alike. It also uncovers the unique relationship that has transformed the digital marketplace; social platforms have taken on the role of the modern-day brick-and-mortar and strategically placed influencers act in place of salespeople that once liaised between products and customers.

Social media has become such a powerful tool for communicating, entertaining, and information sharing and its influence shapes the way we perceive and accept information, regardless of the medium. It extends beyond personal interactions, too; digital influences shape the way we discover new trends, products, and services.

When it comes to social media’s influence of consumer decisions, five emerging trends come to mind:

1. FOMO: The ultimate fear of missing out. This powerful psychological trigger is amplified through streamed content. Whether it’s scooping up the latest Stanley cups at Target or buying a PlayStation 5, the viral popularity of these trends makes followers want nothing more than to “fit in.” From limited time offers, to flash sales, and seasonal must-haves, this heightened sense of exclusivity and urgency is the epitome of trend-based culture — and the overwhelming fear that we’re not quite “in.” Sure, we may see the Stanley cups on sale by the time the 2024 holiday season rolls around, but in this moment, this viral tumbler has been the latest fad originated from just a few simple posts made online — and the Stanley brand reaps all the benefits that an uncontrolled TikTok trend provides. It’s free digital marketing; who doesn’t love that
2. Discovering New Products & Trends: With the use of hashtags, influencers, and video reels, any consumer with a smartphone now can access a host of new products and the latest fashion trends, must-have technology, or the trendiest cars. Behaviorally, people tend to buy from those they know, trust, and like and it’s these content creators behind the brands (and screens) that build the personal connections. About one third of U.S. adults (32%) say they use a smartphone to buy things online, at least on a weekly basis. And many of those purchases stemmed from social media thanks to product promotions, tutorials, and curated content. Haven’t we all read through a few reviews before making a purchase? We want to evaluate and assess our options before fully engaging with a product, don’t we? In Journey Management, we consider these action steps as phases of an individual’s ideal state experience. We start with awareness of the latest trend, followed by a personal assessment via social media posts before engaging with an online vendor to ultimately complete the purchase. These assessments of trends stem from an increased level of trust and loyalty. Expectedly, 77% of businesses now use social media to reach their customers. Talk about influence! Social platforms have significantly impacted the way businesses market and through buyer behaviors. It’s opened new avenues for prospective buyers to conduct research, purchase, and interact with brands and it’s become instrumental in shaping behavior, influencing purchasing decisions, and driving engagement.
3. Power of Influencers: What exactly is an influencer, and can you be one too? At Prudential, an “influencer” is one of our five customer cohorts within the financial industry. This may be a regulatory institution, such as the FTC or SEC, that influences the way an individual, an institution, or an intermediary operate. In the social media realm, an influencer has the power to affect the buying habits of others. As of 2022, influencer marketing has grown into a $4.41 billion industry. Think of it this way: as brands adapt to this marketplace, social media users spike. Fifty percent of Millennials place their faith in social media influencer’s product recommendations — more weight than any celebrity marketing ever had.
4. User Generated Content Creates Authenticity: Real experiences from people just like us sends across a powerful message. 3 in 10 adult social media users say they have purchased something after seeing a post about it on social media. It creates a sense of trust and community in which individuals see products or services being tried by those that may fit their demographics. However, not only are some users following brands and content creators for purchasing opportunities, but they also look to these accounts to be more informed on their buying decisions. As a form of client testimonials, social media guides the way individuals may evaluate making a purchase.
5. Engaging with Brands & Customer Service: The impact of social media may vary based on the medium, platform, or content though it’s evident that the line of communication is direct and instant. This isn’t new though; Facebook introduced a “buy” button on ads back in 2014. Much like Facebook, by simply opening an app we open up a world of possibilities for product discovery and brand exploration. Similarly, Instagram introduced a shopping feature allowing people to link and simply shop for products based on photos or videos they’ve seen across the platform — how innovative! Taking a look at our own brand, we see Prudential Financial ads appearing on TikTok or our own Prudential Brazil having a TikTok account that now captures a new audience of Millennial and Gen Z interaction in a new region — well beyond TV commercials and paper correspondence.

Strong influences can change individuals’ attitudes, perceptions and behaviors pushing toward a purchase. Impulsive purchasing behaviors are much like the fear of missing out. As marketers, we understand that we need to adapt and be where our target audiences are — online. But do we truly recognize how social media usage plays a role in a consumer’s buying process?

Think about it this way: 7 in 10 Americans use social media today and that may be a vast majority of our customers and potential customers all online.

Surprisingly, it’s not just Gen Z who sees the impact of social media on their buying behaviors. Fifty-eight percent of Millennials strongly agree or agree that their purchasing decisions are often influenced by social media advertising. Because these platforms allow users to read reviews, compare prices, and gain insights into the features and benefits of certain products and services that they otherwise would not have known, consumers can make more informed decisions.

How we’re applying this knowledge at Prudential

As we analyze in our Journey Management practice, to truly be in the mindset of the customer, we must understand not only the benefits but the challenges and pain points that may come with the impact of social media on purchasing habits for the individual cohort. For brands, their reputation is on the line. A few negative comments can lead to the spread of cancel culture — where individuals ban or avoid brands due to negative feedback or a flaw in the way a brand was reputed online. Eighty-one percent of individuals report that social media increases accountability for businesses. Though online presence opens a direct line of communication between brands and consumers, consumers have grown to be easily molded by what they see online. There is a growing need for brand reputation management, strong relationships with customers, and new marketing strategies to remain competitive in today’s digital marketplace.

Next time you’re scrolling social media and see an ad or curated content, consider how that social media platform has become instrumental in shaping your own assessment of products, engagement with brands, and evaluation in making that purchase. Our marketing motto of ‘amplifying the impact’ highlights the impact of buying behaviors amplified through social media content and digital marketing. Swayed by online influencer endorsements, human interaction can lead to greater customer loyalty and changes in a consumer’s appetite for the next trend. Of those 145 minutes the average social media user spends scrolling per day, reflect about the vast access brands now have to reach you, their potential target audience, by a simple swipe, click, or scroll.

Social media made me do it. was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

How experience design, as an extension of our human obsession with perfecting tools and technologies, helps us to survive and thrive in our evolving world.

By Dave Ebert, VP of UX Design

It’s Saturday morning. It’s cold, it’s early, and I’m at Lowe’s, looking for a very specific section of PVC pipe to finish a project that started without proper planning (imagine that). It’s not for a lack of caffeine that I can’t find it because the sales/support dude with his super special Lowe’s gadget also can’t seem to locate it. As he is calling for backup, I hear the Pixies serenading us with “Where is my mind” through the speakers above and my own mind wanders, imagining how Lowe’s designed their interfaces, plural, because what the floor clerk is using looks and feels very different from what I am using or what I suspect a B2B customer like my friend John’s plumbing company would use if ordering stock parts in bulk. I am brought back to earth to magically see the clerk discover the PVC pipe I need, rescuing it from the wrong bin and rewarding me for my time and patience. I float to the checkout as the Pixies drift away, and I decide to write this article.

Let’s go back to the beginning to really get a sense of why I think this is an important case to crack. And by the beginning let’s choose maybe 1998 or so, the early days of the Internet (capital I, please) when agencies knew that this digital thing was a thing, but were truly not quite sure what to do with it, other than trying to find a way to fend off upstarts like Sapient, Verint, and Razorfish. In those early days, no one (including us, the ones who were Digital (capital D), knew quite what to do out there on the frontier lines of putting a site together. True story: I was once part of a pitch team that had to prep for MasterCard and Visa within one week of each client. We had Visa first, and later that week when MasterCard came in, we asked what they wanted and they said “Whatever you told Visa.” How very Hertz/Avis. But the reason that anecdote matters is that they just wanted us to design (lowercase d) something, anything, and go out there with a thing because they had to have a dot.com in their business model because it was 1998 and everyone else did. The core idea we pitched to both credit card giants was the ability for customers to pay their statements online. They scoffed, and sought better ideas, ones that included making logos bigger.

That was when my Spidey Sense started tingling that there was a future majesty to what being digital could mean, even if it seemed boring to some.

I saw a world where people could conduct their affairs on their own time, as mundane as they might be, but that needed to be completed nevertheless, but that empowered them and put the controls in their hands. Where maybe the work wasn’t always a Flash banner but a simple way for me to view which terminal I was landing in and how close that was to the baggage claim. And even though I was only a lowly Junior Project Manager at that time, I knew that there was probably a better way to define what was meant by “Design” (capital D). Those early failures between companies and consultants led to the much more robust and collaborative model we enjoy today which includes primary and secondary research, journey mapping, voice of the customer (and other) data inputs, technology assessments, and product roadmaps.

In my mind, to really understand what lurks behind the investment organizations are making in much more intentional ways, I think we need to go much further back than 1998. Further back than Mad Men. Further back than Henry Ford and P.T. Barnum, and all the way to cave dwellers, because it’s in those caves that we see proof that humankind has always been obsessed with documenting the known to attempt to solve for and understand the unknown. Cave paintings, and hear me out, are the earliest known depictions of user flows and schematics. Nope, I am serious. In those drawings, human beings are trying to make sense out of the unknown by filtering it through artistic, semantic, and procedural lenses, sketching a crude depiction of an event, a transaction or process. For them, that transaction was “I went hunting and while I was hunting I realized that oh my goodness I should have brought more weapons with me because 12 bison and one me are not great odds and also water buffalo are big so maybe next time I prepare better.” Those drawings offer primitive humans a wall of data, of sorts, from which to glean meaning and adapt and evolve.

So is our process, our quest for meaning in a complex world, and the nature of what we are actually here to solve that much different? Our tools certainly are, and our ability to communicate and render meaning and optionality are as well, but at our core we are driven by the same base instinct. From the moment our partners in Journey Management begin contemplating the wants and needs of our customers, or the examination and organization of data from Voice of the Customer and UX Research studies, to translating those inputs into an experience — is all that same craving to create meaning and improve our station. That thirst for curiosity is truly the differentiator for what makes for world-class, memorable experiences.

I’d argue that if we again hit rewind, this same quest for meaning may have been the agent and the difference between life or death for those cave dwellers.

Admittedly, the act of enabling the floor clerk at Lowe’s to discern the correct version of the PVC pipe I needed by empowering them with a mobile app that can advise on not just the intended aisle and bin location of said pipe but the potential locations for where that pipe may have been incorrectly stored is not necessarily a matter of life and death. But the fact that we don’t have to worry about those stampedes and can turn our attention to the nuances of experience design is proof positive that we have evolved in terms of what we expect from the world around us, and from the technology and tools that serve us. There is absolute and inherent value in experience design, through which we are able to focus our creative and intellectual pursuits into improving the lives of our customers, clients, and advisors with every digital touchpoint.

Where is my mind? was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

by Jason Kapel & Aaron Wuollet

Like the village criers of olden times, Customer Experience (CX) professionals have spent years begging colleagues and leaders to listen to what our customers have to say, to care about the customer voice, and to incorporate customer perception into the design of processes, products, and experiences.

At Prudential, the Voice of the Customer (VOC) team pushes out reports of customer insights with hopes employees read them. Push reporting is often the first step toward embracing a customer-obsessed culture. But it’s only the first step. The top-down approach of push reporting doesn’t go very far unless employees embrace a culture of customer obsession and ask themselves, “what do our customers say?”

The allure of push reporting is its relative ease of implementation and maintenance. And asking the VOC team to generate yet another report is simple enough. But if a report isn’t used or read or doesn’t contain enough detail to inform a meaningful decision, it’s useless.

Fortunately, employees want to learn more about our customers (here at Prudential, thousands of employees have attended our VOC quarterly update calls). They want to use customer feedback to improve their output. They ask for training on how to access and interpret customer feedback. They hunger for the data and insights the VOC team provides. They’ve come to see the benefits in improved services and processes. But even more, they’ve come to see that truly understanding the customer is an asset to their own professional development.

It’s hard to evolve beyond a push mindset. The VOC team is constantly trying to find new ways to share data and insights. Employees feel overwhelmed, overworked, overfocused. They resist more meetings and reports. And it’s hard to dig through the data themselves. Nevertheless, a “pull” mindset, where employees are empowered and encouraged to self-service customer feedback, is key to continuous improvement. How can we encourage this shift? How can we provide the tools needed to unlock the mysteries contained in the mountains of customer data?

First, here’s an example that illustrates the difference between push and pull for a website designer:

Push: Bullet point from quarterly report

“The Ease of Doing Business score for the Website X survey dropped three points last quarter, customers cited frustration around the login process, site performance, and difficulty with navigation.”

Designer response: Good to know, but how can I improve the navigation on the pages I am responsible for? Where do I start?

Pull: Steps for self-service in survey platform for a web designer who creates/updates forms found online

· Several customers mentioned that it was difficult to find a certain form on the website, and that it was confusing to fill out.

· I see about ten people a week mention difficulty finding the form.

· I added a link on the homepage that goes right to the form.

· Since the link was added I only see about one comment per week.

· I found several comments that indicated difficulty with question seven, and that it was unclear what information was needed.

· We re-worded question seven and uploaded the new form.

· Since then, we have not seen a comment specific to question seven.

Though not limited to a single site or form, the site survey indicates that the percentage of customers who said they accomplished their task has improved since my team implemented the navigation and form changes.

Tools — Accessible, User-Friendly, Actionable

Getting to the data is not difficult but does take some time and effort and know how of the systems involved. Fortunately, it doesn’t need an analyst to derive valuable insights. It takes some effort, but any average designer can do it.

First, though, they need the right tools for self-service research: tools that are easy to use, fit the way people want to work, are easily assessable, and reliable. At Prudential, our survey platform includes dashboards that show score trending, comment review, keyword search, text analytics, and more. It also has mobile apps, including one that shows a simple view of several customer comments every day, which can be filtered to show feedback on a specific area/journey/business.

We need to make people aware that these tools exist. We need to provide access to as many people as possible and get them excited about what they can do with it. “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t apply to VOC tools. We need to promote these tools, share them with associates and teams. At Prudential, every VOC team member has seen coworkers’ eyes light up as they realize the information that is available to them and how it can improve their work.

Therefore, we need to train them to properly use the tools. This includes how to avoid some of the data traps. We do this through weekly open hour sessions, team meeting presentations, and more. Like everyone, our team is busy, but we know the value of sharing and teaching the use of the survey platform.

An AI-Enabled Future

Today’s tools are good, intuitive, and effective. But while living in the present, we are preparing for the future. And that future is exciting. Today’s tools continue to evolve and could look very different very soon (2024, fingers crossed). AI promises to be a game changer, especially for analyzing free-form customer comments to derive themes and trends.

What if our customer survey platform were replaced by a simple search bar on an Intranet site, powered by AI, available to all our partners? Then searching for insights becomes conversational, asking questions and follow-up questions of the data, providing insights, sample comments, and visuals upon request, and of course removes almost any barriers partners would have from self-servicing their own insights.

It’s an exciting prospect for the near future, and the one we hope to help build for Prudential. Until then, the more employees are willing to dive into the data, find relevant insights, and act on those findings, the better things will be. It takes all of us to improve Customer Experience. Some might say it takes a village.

Embrace the Pull and Right-Size the Push in the Evolving Landscape of Customer Feedback was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This is the first article in a series on Accessible Documents that will cover the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of making documents accessible to people with disabilities.

By: Aoife Murphy, Prudential ADA Strategy & Experience Team

What is document accessibility?

Document accessibility is the practice of making documents understandable and usable for people with disabilities so that they are accessible to as many people as possible.

There are many accessibility features in programs such as Adobe Acrobat, Word, and PowerPoint, as well as other things creators can do to make a document more accessible.

Who uses accessible documents?

People with permanent disabilities
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) reports that 27% of adults in the United States have some type of disability. That’s 1 in 4 people! Documents are a vital part of modern life. It is now common for government documents, financial and educational materials, as well as workplace documents to be digital. This means that making these documents accessible is crucial in allowing people with disabilities to fully engage in society.

Accessibility is also an important investment in the future. According to the U.S Census Bureau, by 2030, 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 years and older. Disabilities are shown to increase with age, growing to over 45% for those over age 75. This is incredibly important in a world where there is a huge push to move things to the digital space.

People with temporary disabilities
Temporary disabilities can range from physical injuries and infections to mental health conditions that impact a person for a limited time. This can pose challenges for people who rely on digital documents for work, education, finance, communication, and other essential activities. Accessibility can help with this. For example, if a document is accessible, voice commands could be used by someone recovering from repetitive strain injury to navigate a document while resting their injured hand.

Everyone else
There is a phenomenon where accessibility features initially intended for people with disabilities end up benefiting the broader population, this is called the curb-cut effect. Digital documents that have accessibility features benefit everyone, not just those with disabilities.

These features enhance the overall usability of documents by improving comprehension, reducing strain, and improving the user experience. Alt-text is helpful for users with slow internet speeds or data limits; plain language removes jargon and makes information clearer for everyone; structured documents are easier to understand and skim through for information. Accessibility is a key part of usability for everyone.

What are the benefits and importance of document accessibility?

People with disabilities may not be able to read or use digital documents that are not accessible. Making documents accessible provides equal access to information, reduces barriers, and allows for people with disabilities to have greater participation in daily activities. As mentioned above in the curb-cut effect, it can also improve usability for people without disabilities.

The National Federation of the Blind conducted a survey of over 250 blind and low-vision assistive technology users in the U.S. This survey found that participants encountered PDFs between 5 and 20 times every day, and up to 100 times per week. 67% of these PDFs were inaccessible, being partially or entirely unreadable. With digital documents now such an important part of everyday life, document accessibility is more crucial than ever.

Assistive technology

Assistive Technology, often shortened to AT, is any piece of equipment, software, or product system used by individuals with disabilities to assist and support with functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible.

Assistive technology includes a wide range of tools and solutions that can help people with disabilities perform daily tasks and take part in education and employment. It plays a crucial role in promoting inclusion, independence, and empowerment for people of all abilities. However, a document needs to be made accessible so that assistive technology can allow users to navigate and interact with it correctly.

Here are some examples of assistive technology used for digital documents:

Screen reader
A screen reader is software that allows someone who is blind or visually impaired to access and navigate digital content on a computer screen. Text, images, and other screen elements are converted into speech or braille. This way users can understand and interact with digital information.

Refreshable Braille Display
A Refreshable Braille Display is an electro-mechanical device that turns digital content into touchable braille letters. In braille, letters and numbers use different patterns of raised dots.

Refreshable Braille Displays provide information from a computer screen by electronically raising and lowering different combinations of pins in braille cells. This allows a blind or low-vision user to access and read digital information with their sense of touch.

Voice recognition
Voice recognition has become a common piece of technology. However, it has its roots in assistive technology.

Voice recognition provides people with disabilities with an alternative way to interact with digital devices and access information. When using voice recognition, users do not need a keyboard or mouse to navigate a document, using just their voice instead.

Screen magnifier
A screen magnifier is software that enlarges text and graphics on a screen, acting like a virtual magnifying glass. This is especially helpful for users with low vision, allowing them to clearly understand and use digital documents.

Conclusion

In the modern world, digital documents are part of everyday life. With the projection for the number of older adults to outweigh children for the first time in history by 2034, inclusion and accessibility will become even more important. Accessible documents ensure that everyone can freely use and navigate them regardless of whether you are using assistive technology or simply benefiting from an improved experience.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series which will cover how to tell if a document is accessible.

1 in 4 adults depend on it: What is document accessibility? was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

By: Shannon Jump (Manager, Journey Management)

My father-in-law got his first smartphone a couple years ago. He’s 72 from England, and I’m pretty sure he thinks a text message is a summons to call you from his landline, because that’s exactly what he’ll do every time you text him. “If I wanted to write a message,” he’ll say, “I’d send you an email.” Of course, he’d write said email from his desktop computer, not from the aforementioned smartphone, but at least it’s a few steps up from pen and paper.

When it comes to modern technology, he’s simply not a fan. “It’s too impersonal. It makes us lazy. It’s a scam, I don’t trust it.” All fair arguments, Mr. Jump. Technology — smart phones especially — has changed the world and change of that magnitude can be scary. Kids these days (I can’t believe I just used that term) have never known a world where the answer to everything wasn’t at their fingertips 24/7; where consumer data in all its many forms wasn’t the main ingredient in designing customer experiences. For my father-in-law, that’s death-con five on the creepy scale. Don’t even get me started on his concerns with AI…

As a Millennial myself, I’ve witnessed the rise of the internet and the birth of text messaging. Hopping online once meant suffering through the horrendous sounds of dial-up internet, and if you were lucky enough to have dual landlines and a split phone jack, you were keeping up with the Joneses. Today we complain when a website takes a second to load. We want things right here, right now. The world sure has changed, hasn’t it? We poke fun at ourselves all the time, reflecting on the way things used to be. We say things like, “back in my day…” and roll our eyes at the current generations who can’t fathom having grown up without Wi-Fi and electronic devices. Some of these changes in technology happened gradually enough that we had time to adapt and lean into them but sometimes I wonder if the collective, “we,” truly understands the impact technology has had on customer experience.

CX isn’t just digital

We hear ‘CX’ (customer experience) and many of us think of digital experiences. We do our shopping online, stream our favorite shows and movies (in many cases, without commercial ads), and take part in virtual events from the comfort of our own living rooms. We don’t often need to be in person to conduct business or even to sign our names on legal documents anymore.

These days, our sights are always set on the next big thing in technology. How can we make digital tools easier to use and how can we build them more efficiently, faster than our competitors? It’s like that famous line in Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” That’s what we do now; we build new experiences, most often in the digital landscape, and we do it on an iterative scale — we do it agile. We attract customers based on what we build, and we keep them based on how we service them within that experience. We see CX in the digital space every day, in many different forms, and we put a heavy emphasis on mobile platforms — thanks to that smartphone that’s always in our hands — because as customers, most often the mobile experience is our first source of truth.

We pick up our smartphones an average of 144 times per day. One hundred and forty-four times! We use them constantly; we depend on them to the nth degree. But think about this: everything you do on your smartphone is a customer experience. Every. Single. Thing. From a CX perspective, that’s a lot of influence in one single device.

Research tells us that mobile tools are how companies stay relevant, how they compete in their respective markets, that they’re what people want. So together we’ve developed tools like chat bots and virtual assistants and innovative elements like one-click purchase experiences (thank you, Amazon). We have apps for everything. All these things are great, sure; they reduce overhead costs, increase speed to market, and get us — as the impatient consumers that we are — what we need a heck of a lot quicker. But were they meant to replace the human elements of CX, or to complement them?

Because CX isn’t just digital. CX is every aspect of a brand, and that includes customer service. That includes people and how we feel as we engage with each other.

Welcome to the plot twist

When I started drafting this article, I figured this would be a good spot for the plot twist; the turning point where I’d tell you that we can’t just build for the future, that we have to build for the now, too. This was where the proverbial generational divide I mentioned in my catchy headline would come into play. I’d remind you about my father-in-law and how he doesn’t want to conduct business on his mobile phone, how he barely knows how to use it. I was going to ask you to keep him and others like him in mind as you build customer experiences, as you imagine the future of your companies. I thought that’s what this whole article was going to be about; caring for those who came before us, making sure that when we think about CX, we think about the needs of older generations, too. I was going to tell you that we can’t lose sight of today’s customers while we build for tomorrow. That we have to think about these experiences on a human level, and that means we can’t just solve for digital.

But then I thought about it some more, and I realized it’s not even about generations and caring for our Baby Boomers or the top end of Gen Xers who might prefer working with humans over machines. It’s about caring for all of us, for all generations.

It’s thinking back on the good ‘ole days and remembering how we used to interact with each other on a daily basis. How we used to put our phones down to talk to one another and write in complete sentences and have patience with customer service reps. It’s making sure our children and the next generation of children have the necessary people skills to navigate life and business and relationships. That they don’t suffer from social anxiety when they jump the nest and go out into the real world. Because today’s CX? Today’s CX makes it so easy for us not to do that. We rely on modern technology and apps and machines to do those things for us so much that our human-based experiences are suffering.

Unplug for a bit

I personally make it a point to unplug sometimes, to silence notifications or turn off my phone. Sometimes I even leave home without it (gasp!). And that’s something I think we should all do more often. Trust me, it’s not as scary as it sounds. I unplug in other ways, too, and would challenge you to give these things a try:

· Don’t reach for your phone when you’re left alone in a room. Admit it, it’s the first thing most of us do the second we’re on our own in a public space. While waiting at the doctor’s office, the dentist, or even when our date scampers off to the restroom. Be okay with being alone.

· Live in the moment. Take a few extra minutes to say hello to people — and then surprise them by saying more than that. Ask how they’re doing, how their kids are. Do some networking, or simply have a verbal conversation instead of texting.

· Choose registers with real live people at them. Don’t wrestle with the self-checkout machine at the grocery store. Take the pressure off yourself and let the cashier do their thing instead.

My point is this: As much as we may not want to admit it, this DIY way of life isn’t one size fits all — we still need each other. Advanced technology has given us countless opportunities to improve efficiencies; it’s simplified a lot of mundane, everyday tasks with a direct impact to our bottom line, and that’s all great — yay us! But we can’t lose sight of the old way — the human way — of working in the meantime.

Customer experience extends well beyond digital tools

It’s about how we feel as we engage with these tools, with companies, their employees, and with each other. It’s about human emotions like empathy and making meaningful connections — even if they’re face-to-face. Customer experience still needs to exist at the human level, and there are ways to make sure people-driven interactions co-exist within our digital landscapes.

Prudential’s Journey Management team utilizes practices like journey mapping and behavioral science to better understand our customers. We develop personas and provide human-based insights to our designers and development teams as they build experiences for our customers. But we provide optionality, too. We let our customers choose their own path, be it self-service tools, face-to-face interactions with our experienced advisors, or a mix of hybrid engagement. We meet customers where they are and incorporate human interaction into our practices to match their individual needs. Why? Because we live in an experience economy and people buy the experience as well as the product itself. And we’re looking to build lifelong relationships with our customers.

So how do we get there?

How do we ensure the integrity of the human elements remain intact as CX continues to evolve? I won’t claim to have all the answers, but I’m happy to share a handful of our insights with you.

· Empathy for the win; genuine connections go a long way.

· Experience economy; the customer experience needs to be top of mind to build long-lasting relationships.

· Data-driven engagement; use consumer data to stay connected with customers and drive meaningful engagement.

· Support still matters beyond the purchase journey. Sometimes that’s in the form of customer service reps, sometimes it’s through tools like chat bots or virtual assistants.

· Keep it simple; customers often need to engage on the go. Platforms should be intuitive and easy to use.

Back to basics

While digital tools have become a way of life and AI (Artificial Intelligence) is about to take over the world, we can’t miss the mark on human interaction. If the concept of personalization means I want companies to know me, understand me, and anticipate my needs — essentially using empathy to understand my values and creating experiences that align with them — there needs to be a human behind that empathy for it to be sincere. And sometimes personalization means using humans instead of tech, not just putting the human elements behind technology. That might mean a phone call from one of our advisors instead of a chatbot, and that’s okay. Digital is great, and it’s necessary to survive in today’s modern world, but for some customers, we simply need to get back to basics.

I like to think I’m pretty good at adapting to modern tech (my 19-year-old would probably tell you otherwise), but something tells me I’ll be in my father-in-law’s shoes before I know it. And when that time comes, I hope humans will still be around to tie them for me.

CX and (What I Thought Was) the Generational Divide was originally published in Customer Experience @Prudential on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.