–UK’s largest independent co-operative society receives 2017 Best Business Award
BIRMINGHAM, UK (9 May 2017) — InMoment, the leading cloud-based customer experience (CX) intelligence platform, is honoured to announced that client Midcounties Co-operative, the UK’s largest independent co-operative society, has been recognised for putting its customers first, winning the Customer Focus award at the 2017 Best Business Awards.
Midcounties Co-operative was recognised for its Customer First programme, which it launched in 2016 to help the company harness customer insights. The programme aimed to move the business away from the traditional model of being operationally-led to placing the customer at the heart of the decision making.
The award recognised Midcounties for its dedication to improving the customer experience, which began with the creation of a specialist team. The business hired an Insights Manager and a Customer Experience Coordinator to ensure that business decisions always consider the voice of the customer and to use customer experience data to bridge the gap between insights and tangible action in stores.
Midcounties Co-operative’s customer listening programme is powered by InMoment, which has been working with the Co-operative for over a year. This award recognises the retailer’s use of advanced technologies to collect, analyse, and take meaningful action on customer feedback through its Talk to Us web platform. Midcounties collected over 25,000 responses in the first 12 months alone, including a large amount of qualitative comments. The insights and recommendations surfaced from this data resulted in a markedly improved customer satisfaction metric.
As part of the retailer’s continued commitment to building authentic relationships with its customers, Midcounties uses programme intelligence to drive strategic and tactical action at both the local and central levels that impact every step of the customer journey. Furthermore, by pinpointing areas for improvement—as well as examples of exceptional experience delivery—Midcounties created and implemented a new set of standards and a revamped customer experience training programme for its colleagues.
Thanks to sophisticated analytics and smart actioning, The Midcounties Co-operative has been able to create a shopping experience that both reflects customer expectations and supports strong business performance. Since the programme launched, the business has seen a five percent year-to-date increase in its Customer Loyalty Index and a 6.6 percent increase in overall satisfaction to 75.
Phil Ponsonby, Chief Executive Officer – Trading for Midcounties, commented: “Traditionally, decisions were at times more process-driven and based on operational factors than the needs and wants of the customer. To provide the best possible shopping experience, become a customer-centric business, and learn how to consistently meet customer expectations, we needed to place customer insights at the heart of our decision-making.”
Melody Aguero, Marketing & Insights Manager for Midcounties said: “We’re proud to have won the Best Customer Focus Award and look forward to sharing it with all of our colleagues who work so hard each and every day to put our customers first. Our partnership with InMoment allows us to listen to and respond to what our customers are saying in a way we never could before. We can now shape the future of our business on a sure foundation of customer intelligence.”
James Bolle, Head of Client Services EMEA at InMoment, added: “The Midcounties Co-operative has taken significant steps to deliver the best possible shopping experience for its customers and this recognition is a testament to that dedication.”
The Best Business Awards highlights and rewards business excellence across the private and public sectors.
About InMoment
InMoment™ is a cloud-based customer experience (CX) intelligence platform, arming brands with compelling customer insights to drive high-value business decisions and relationships with both customers and employees. InMoment’s industry-leading analytics power a full suite of Voice of Customer (VoC), Voice of Employee (VoE), Employee Engagement and Social Reviews & Advocacy solutions. InMoment also provides strategic guidance, support, and related services to more than 350 brands across 95 countries. For more information, visit https://inmoment.com.