Introduction to ECEW 2012

European Customer Experience World returns for its fourth year, taking place at the Hilton, Terminal 5, Heathrow, London on the 22nd - 23rd May (with an optional workshop on the 24th). Maggie Wheeler, Director of the Focus Group, explains why this year's event is entitled 'Delivering on your promise' and what to look forward to.

"We've named this year's event 'Delivering on your promise' as this phrase encapsulates what Customer Experience (CE) represents. When one looks at organisations who are highly CE-focused, what they have in common is the desire to visibly, tangibly, deliver on their promise to their customers, and to communicate with them openly and honestly."

"Successful CE works by turning customers into brand advocates. It provides the all-important Return on Investment because customers who feel that they have had their promises met not only provide repeat business, but also communicate to others and encourage them to use the brand in question. This way, organisations providing great CE get not just retention, but growth."

"So, on that theme, ECEW 2012 looks at the following issues:

- The consequence of failure: Dave Carroll, the 'broken guitar man', shows how delivery of poor CE combined with the power of Social Media can produce a story that will travel the globe and be read by millions. Failure to deliver on their promise cost United Airlines, who in a David and Goliath battle were outwitted by one man's persistence combined with YouTube and Social Media;

- Making the CE strategy permeate your organisation: Virgin Atlantic deliver a keynote speech on how CE requires buy-in from the entire organisation, and how CE strategy is turned into practical outputs, combining Employee Engagement with a corporate vision to deliver against promises, grow the business and also - as expected from a Virgin brand - have fun and inject some signature touches to shape the customer's experience;

- Voice of the Customer (VoC) insights and challenges. "Voice of the Customer" is a key concept in CE, and we have Professor Alan Wilson delivering the last research on VoC, sessions from the BSI describing the evolution of VoC, and Confirmit talking about using the VoC to drive change. VoC is important as without it - how can an organisation know what customer perceptions are, and what implicit promises they may have broken or be expected to act upon ?"

"To fulfil our promise of trying to pack as much content into ECEW as possible, each afternoon features 3 stream sessions on the topics of Employee Engagement, Financial Benefits and Social Media. We're aware that every delegate arrives at ECEW with their own set of priorities. For some, it might be how to justify CE to the Board - so the Financial Benefits sessions will prove invaluable. The LV story details how a brand changed image and went from the 12th to 4th largest insurer in the process. Other contributors to this Stream include British Gas, Vodafone, Yodel and Royal Mail."

"Other delegates may have issues with the internal transformations required to deliver CE. The Employee Engagement streams feature companies such as Marks and Spencer, Ford and Lloyds detailing how they have motivated their workforce to deliver change; as well as a look at the issues of engaging with Generation Y employees from Nixon McInnes, whose innovative workplace practises provide a look into the future of Engagement."

"Lastly and by no means least - Social Media. SM and CE are seemingly interlinked, with the power of Social Media to make - or break - your brand. We've got speakers from innocent, TomTom, Forrester Research and others detailing how to use Social Media to make connections, turn customers into brand advocates, create virtual communities and how to combine Social Media with traditional channels to present a unified and consistent message."

"Our final promise is that despite the wealth of information on offer, the proceedings will be as interactive as possible. For the first time, the Chair of the event is someone outside the CE industry, but who has a wealth of experience in interviewing and summarising issues. Gillian Joseph, Sky news presenter and award-winning journalist, will be interviewing the speakers and leading the Q & A sessions each day, making sure that delegates can address topics and get the answers they need to promote CE within their organisation."

"We're looking forward to ECEW 2012 - and promise you that it will provide enough 'take aways' to keep you and your colleagues busy promoting and delivering CE until next year's event !"