This research takes the form of an online survey. A random sample of 30,000 people was selected and all respondents were asked a series of questions. The survey began on May 21, 2008 and ended on June 1, 2008. A total of 2,416 valid responses were collected.

The guiding principles and the tools for design, execution and analysis of this research are based on the U.S. patent-pending Branded Customer Experience Management Method and the Customer Experience Research Method.

The entire credit card experience is broken down into 5 stages and 25 touch-points / sub-processes / attributes from an experience-centric perspective in a natural time sequence. It covered 16 key credit card issuing banks in Mainland China.

Respondents were asked to rate their willingness to use again and their willingness to refer the key credit card issuing banks. The average loyalty and NPS scores of each bank were linked and mapped. (Number 2 denotes China Merchants Bank with the highest NPS and Loyalty Scores.)

Loyalty-NPS Quadrant——Credit Card Experience

Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction level at each stage. The average satisfaction scores for each stage were linked and mapped to form the emotion curves for the respondents. We have shown the emotion curves of the top six banks by largest number of respondents.

Emotion Curves By Stages——Credit Card Experience
Respondents were asked to rate their satisfaction level at each sub-process. The average satisfaction scores of each sub-process were linked and mapped to form the emotion curves for the respondents. We have shown the emotion curves of the top six banks by largest number of respondents. (S1~S25 denote the 25 touch-points / sub-processes / attributes of the credit card experience.)

Emotion Curves By Touch-Points——Credit Card Experience

With only 2,000+ survey data and the possibility of demographic / geographic biases of the sampling population, we do not intend to make conclusions about the actual performance of the key credit card issuing banks in Mainland China. Instead, based on the X-VOC data from the credit card experience, we would like to advance our learning about assessing, designing and delivering an effective customer experience and adapt that learning by applying it across industries.

Identify Moments Of Truth (MOT). Some touch-points are more important than the others to customers. How do you uncover them? Don’t just ask customers. For example, when our survey respondents were asked what they liked and disliked most about the entire credit card experience, ‘bonus points and gifts’ was stated as the dominant factor (18.8% for like and 19.4% for dislike). But the implied importance generated by regression analysis tells the opposite——the CIW (Customer Importance Weighting) of that stage (gift redemption experience) is the lowest. This may explain why China Merchants Bank generates pain peaks for customers on gift redemption experience, but is still rated number one across all core metrics (satisfaction, differentiation, NPS and loyalty). However, the bank’s current moments of truth: S16 and S17 are not the most ideal ones; the bank might consider focusing on the last stage (service experience) and the corresponding sub-processes S20~25. Your target X-MOT should always be those touch-points / sub-processes / attributes with high CIW, i.e. highly important to your customers.

Maximize Pleasure-Pain Gap (PPG). Companies need to maximize the difference between the pleasure peaks and the pain peaks, in order to release resource constraints and to deliver an effective and branded experience. You are probably worrying pain peaks may irritate your customers and drive them away. Trying to improve and excel in all aspects is the conventional wisdom and an ineffective way to deliver customer experience. Consider China Merchants Bank again, it got the largest PPG (Pleasure-Pain Gap) among all banks, but it creates the most favorable (and effective) credit card experience. The pain peaks help to release limited resources and reallocate them to further strengthen the pleasure peaks, so that the bank can stand out from the competition. But it doesn’t mean maximizing PPG automatically equals effective experience. The pre-requisites are: the pleasure peaks should possess high CIW and high BIW (Branded Importance Weighting), i.e. satisfying the most critical needs of customers and at the same time delivering target brand values; the pain peaks should possess low BIW to avoid the delivery of an un-branded experience by not fulfilling brand promise; and no pain peaks are allowed to fall into the unacceptable levels of target customers. After these pre-requisites are met, maximizing PPG = effective and branded experience. Delivering effective results does not require a perfect experience!

Design Target Brand Experience. When we broke down the aggregate data by demographic segments, we found that China Merchants Bank has a much better ER (Experience Rating) in the below 30 age group than in 30+, much stronger in female than in the male segment. What does this tell us? A bank can dominate specific segments by delivering an effective and branded experience to them. Step one: assess your customers by segments but not in total, as the averages will be misleading. This is way beyond an assessment exercise; it’s strategic. It could assist you in selecting your target segments, determining brand values and optimizing resource allocation among multiple touch-points. Step two: prioritize your expected results among enhancing customer satisfaction, brand differentiation and repeat sales. Every touch-point / sub-process / attribute has a different quantifiable impact on Service (satisfaction), Marketing (differentiation) and Sales (repeat purchases and referrals). Your target brand experience will be entirely different if you are in acquisition, growth, or retention mode. The results generated by the X-VOC assessment will help you to make an effective decision at different modes, for different functions, to different target segments.