Here’s a great example of the small things in a customer experience that end up costing serious money. They’d cost very little to fix. Sent with love as the clients at M&S Money and first drect are top people and their past experiences have been excellent – but they threw away the sales benefit of all that great history at the crucial point.
I have travel insurance with M&S Money so I received a renewal notice by post. It feels a bit steep having gone up 50% in 2 years. But I haven’t got time to muck about. I’m going skiing so I need to act. I also need to get buildings and contents sorted before I go. And I have a quote in my hand from NFU for 2 of my cars that needs renewing before I go, so I may see what they can do on that before I make another call.
The M&S Money renewal notice is 6 pages of paper, much of it not relevant to me at this point. Some of it about Axa who underwrite. But nowhere does it say how to renew automatically online. Nowhere does it remind me that they did a great job on a claim last year – a fact I forgot until later. The number to ring is there on page 2 so I ring it.
The number is obviously the same number as for new sales as it tells you get the best price, 20% lower, by going on line. So I select option 3 for that, thinking it was a strange way of getting online. It just sends you to oblivion. I just checked the number again but its closed and advises you still to go online to get a best quote (despite the fact the website is down).
So I go online obviously seeing no end of googled prompts to go somewhere other than the M&S Money site. I get a price which is 8% lower, not 20% lower. Hmmmm.
Since the price is steep and not the 20% lower, I do a quick check before buying from the M&S site. Meerkats brand awareness is in mind…… so I “go compare” at their site. Its very fast and I get a list within a minute. I don’t recognise any of the brands but they are a good 50% lower in cost for the same headline benefits. I check out the site of the most likely one, Multitrip, since there are no creds on the Meerkats site. It shows its underwritten by Axa – the same as M&SMoney. I remember at this point that it was Axa who did a great job on the M&S claim. It has a detailed list of benefits and features which seem comprehensive. I check the 6 page letter and it doesn’t have a list.
I then check the quote on the Multitrip site – its fast and lower again than on Comparethemarket so I buy it direct from Multitrip. Job done. Note how the brand trust has travelled from M&S to Axa to Multitrip.
Meanwhile NFU phone and I renew the cars without getting an alternative quote from M&S Money. Or anyone. Why not? They’ve always been lowest on any quote Ive got by a country mile on old Land Rovers. The souped up Mini is reasonable at £400 ish and so I know Its not worth chasing a quote. NFU has no functionality on line.
Now for the home and contents. I go back to the M&S Money site to get a quote and get the attached quote screen – the service is not available. So I ring the number given. Eventually I get to choose an option 5, yes 5th of 6, to get a quote. And what a wall of recorded messages I hit. I went from amused to fed up to giving “fed up” feedback on the IVR when I eventually got through. And then guess what – the agent’s system is down too, so I’d wasted all that time listening to messages for no use at all. The poor agent got more feedback about updating sites with relevant messages. And how I wasnt going to get a quote from M&S Money later, no thanks.
Now people at first direct may be laughing…. but don’t. I got transferred through to insurance sales after a routine transaction earlier in the week from a train. I would have asked for travel, car and home quotes. But the recorded “business prevention” message was so long that I just told the agent I didn’t have time for this that the message had so turned me off that I didnt want any quotes.
OK this stuff is hard to get right. But its not rocket science. Its attention to detail. Its inexpensive to fix. As one client said this week – “the brand IS the customer experience”.
