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How to turn travellers’ dreams into bookings, the Gini way

<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530856/gini_solution_desktop_71b52f975a.jpg" alt="gini-solution-desktop.jpeg" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530856/thumbnail_gini_solution_desktop_71b52f975a.jpg 245w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530857/small_gini_solution_desktop_71b52f975a.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530857/medium_gini_solution_desktop_71b52f975a.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530857/large_gini_solution_desktop_71b52f975a.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">In many sectors, in our relentless move towards 'frictionless experiences', we've unintentionally created a homogeneous internet - a soulless place of cookie-cutter interfaces, where if we removed logos from screens, our audiences would be hard pushed to differentiate between brands.&nbsp;This is certainly true within the travel industry, where the journey and components within it are almost identical.There are, of course, arguments for the benefit of this, including Jakob Nielsen's law; “Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.”This law of familiarity encourages the use of well-known patterns in designing user interfaces to provide users with confidence in interacting with the interface.In principle, we agree, but the idea has been misinterpreted and applied in ways that have prevented innovation and stifled creativity, ultimately removing the critical brand layer from experiences.My own experience in booking holidays online is hours and hours of searching, spread over weeks, too many opened tabs, moving between platforms and not really remembering what I've found or where.But even worse than this, something that should be a wonderful and exciting experience is actually impersonal, stressful, lonely, and confusing.&nbsp;An experience that appears to be shared by others with recent Nielsen research highlighting that travellers spent an average of 53 days visiting 28 different websites over a period of 76 online sessions.I have the mindset that my holiday begins as soon as I jump aboard my transportation. But why shouldn't this start right at the point I start to think about and look for a holiday?&nbsp;It is reasons like these that drove us to ask questions about what the booking experience should be, which is when Gini was born.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530855/gini_challenge_desktop_9549e2e708.jpg" alt="gini-challenge-desktop.jpeg" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530856/thumbnail_gini_challenge_desktop_9549e2e708.jpg 245w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530857/small_gini_challenge_desktop_9549e2e708.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530857/medium_gini_challenge_desktop_9549e2e708.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1659530856/large_gini_challenge_desktop_9549e2e708.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw"><a href="https://freestyle.agency/work/giniconcept">→ Read more about Gini and the insights that lead to its creation.</a>Our research found that, in the travel booking journey, people are most excited at the point they can picture themselves there. Which gave us a starting point of asking how technology might get people to imagine themselves there earlier in their journey, and use that emotion to achieve a booking conversion.Whilst <a href="https://freestyle.agency/blog/could-gini-ever-come-to-life">Gini is technically possible today</a>, it is a huge change for any ambitious brand that wishes to explore its commercial potential. So how could you move towards a Gini-like approach over time?<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Small bets, small steps</h2><h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Validation</h3>The next stage in implementing a Gini-like approach is validating the concept and its components. We'd start by mapping the assumptions and evidence we have, to create a list of things we need to prove to reduce risk.&nbsp;This will mean gathering evidence through a series of small real-world, real user tests, to answer our assumptions across three categories;<ul><li>Desirability - Do people want our solution?&nbsp;</li><li>Viability - Is our solution financially advantageous?</li><li>Feasibility - Can we deliver our solution?&nbsp;</li></ul>These tests would take many forms, likely including the creation of prototypes of varying fidelity. But the test should always be:<ul><li>Real scenarios - always aim to be as near to real scenarios as possible.&nbsp;</li><li>Real people - where we are confirming customer assumptions we always test with real people.</li><li>Data-driven - always seek test formats that provide clear data.</li><li>Focused - always focused on answering specific questions.</li><li>Fast-paced - always have a sense of urgency.</li></ul>One of our favourite examples of this kind of simple validation testing is from Deliveroo.&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://resources.freestyle.agency/globalassets/5-blog-our-thoughts/2022/how-to-turn-travellers-dreams-into-bookings-the-gini-way/were-not-there-yet-deliveroo.png" alt="we're not there yet deliveroo.png"><figcaption>How Deliveroo validates location-based demand</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;When you land on Deliveroo’s website it asks you for your location, if your location isn’t covered, you are directed to the “We’re not there yet” messaging that has been used since Deliveroo’s earliest days. This is still live and allows Deliveroo to validate demand in geographical areas, before investing in them.&nbsp;<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Routes forward</h3>Once you’ve validated the specifics of the solution, you have many options in how you move forward, including but not limited to:<ul><li>Build, launch and scale a new solution - Starting with an MVP, run your new solution in tandem with your current, until you are confident to switch. This approach was something BMW used in launching a new version of bmw.com, having let the new run in tandem with the old for some time on a separate domain.&nbsp;</li><li>Create a new or sub-brand - launch the new solution under an entirely new brand, creating a self-disruptive competitor to your existing business. Or, launch a sub-brand, which may focus on a new/different market, e.g. TUI’s First Choice.&nbsp;</li><li>Incremental roadmap - build out a roadmap and start to implement the features on your existing platform over time, incrementally moving towards the full solution.</li></ul><h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Why should travel brands look to implement a Gini-type approach?</h2>Travel in general is an emotional experience. But pivotal points in the travel experience have always been the dreaming and planning phases.Gini represents an approach to translating dreaming into planning, - a step closer to the booking stage, beyond marketing campaigns and inspiring videos. For customers, Gini is a route to take those dreams and translate emotion into inspiration, by being an active participant in the process of creating a truly customised, inspiring vision for a holiday.For your business, Gini is a route to engaging customers much earlier in their journey, getting them to commit their perfect getaway and their spend to businesses who can promise to fulfill their dream - an experience like no other. &nbsp;Liked this thinking? See <a href="https://freestyle.agency/work/giniconcept">Gini's full story.</a> <img src="https://resources.freestyle.agency/globalassets/line.jpg" alt="line.jpg"><img class="image_resized" style="width:186.664px;" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E03AQF0Jzx8WSPZtA/profile-displayphoto-shrink_800_800/0/1657615081467?e=1666224000&amp;v=beta&amp;t=JyFRqi3Pfs1ufsHSj6546bcIzP5XKNZ7Mq1qr05SE_I" alt="Profile photo of Ritchie Brett">Author: Ritchie Brett, Strategy Director at FreestyleRitchie works with brands to make sure they stay relevant in a time of enormous competition and disruption. He has over a decade of product strategy experience, creating innovative products and services across a range of sectors including healthcare, financial services, FMCG, government, automotive, entertainment, food &amp; beverage, education and charity.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritchie-brett/">Connect on LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;At Freestyle, we partner with organisations to help them evolve their business and customer experiences for the future, by building venturing capability and creating new products and services.If you're ready to have a chat about how we can help you innovate, drop us a line: <a href="mailto:hello@freestyle.agency">hello@freestyle.agency</a>

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Why you need a slush fund and how to start budgeting for one

Why you need a slush fund

<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Forecasting for the unknown</h2>It’s easy… It’s not just smart, it’s also prudent. The threat of new competitors, rapidly changing consumer behaviour, and new technologies are cropping up every month. To truly retain and grow your market share, and be at the front of customers' minds, you need to have a culture and team mindset of learning by experimentation.Budgeting for this activity will unlock creative thinking between your teams, allowing unexpected opportunities to surface. This type of slush fund is more than rainy day money, it’s a commitment to staying relevant and agile.<blockquote>“Innovation is not just ideas”</blockquote>The very nature of innovation is that of exploration. You're willingly stepping into the unknown with the optimistic outlook of finding the next big thing. Following the right approach can indeed get you profound ideas, however when they are left to be just ideas, there is little commercial value.People often misinterpret innovation as just ideas.And that is one of the issues with recognising the value of a slush fund… People often misinterpret innovation. Innovation is not just about ideas, true innovation is finding value in those ideas through collaboration that demonstrates visible change. Budgeting for just idea generation alone can be relatively predictable, however accommodating for experimentation and exploring value in those ideas is where traditional budget setting falls short.<a href="https://www.habito.com/">Habito</a>, the four-year-old digital mortgage broker has stormed the industry, by creating a product and customer experience that fixes all the fundamental things wrong with the convoluted process of buying and selling your house. Their mission of “setting people free from the hell of mortgages” will relate to many of us I’m sure, however for so long we came to just accept that’s just the way mortgages are.By seeing the opportunity, Habito went about innovating the lengthy and painful process of finding and applying for mortgages. However with such a large, unpredictable challenge in front of them, they needed to get out there to learn and fail fast. This commitment to learn and fail fast has allowed them to build a product around a unique proposition that resonates so closely within our lives. Listening to customer reactions to the product and proposition has allowed them to adapt quickly to changing scenarios along the way, resulting in a more refined product in recent months that now has the feeling of “finally a product that fixes this awful process...”<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Ideas with legs must be given wings</h2>Finding true value is the tough part of ideas. With so many variables, creating true value out of a new idea cannot be easily predicted from a budgeting perspective. So an iterative mindset can really support the concept of “learning as an outcome”. Businesses need to harness the mindset of progression by learning, above speed and overnight success.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Invest into learning as an outcome</h2>By embracing learning and exploring as an outcome and a clear indicator for your teams' commitment to innovation, you are also accepting the fact that those solutions off the back of learning exercises are not fixed assets. No longer can you launch a product and leave it untouched. Predictions will only take you so far. Measuring and learning as a feedback loop must be incorporated into the product's lifecycle to keep it relevant and front of mind with your customers.<blockquote>"Solutions are not fixed assets."</blockquote><h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Think more like Walt Disney</h2>There are plenty of frameworks to help with idea generation. Walt Disney was a big advocate of them as a method of team collaboration, problem solving and idea generation. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_method">Disney Method</a> used a process broken up in three chunks: the dreamer, the realist, and the spoiler (or critic). This way, nothing stopped the dreamer from dreaming. Nothing squashed the dreamer’s ideas prematurely. To relate it back to our case, nothing stopped innovation from happening.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">What if?</h2>When it comes to discussing a slush fund with your colleagues, I think a great starter is to ask the ‘what if’ question to your team. Try taking one of the rules that governs your industry, and ask the ‘what if’ question with an open mindset. This is how Habito aimed so high with their ambitions to improve the mortgage system.Setting aside your slush fund will allow this type of idea and value generation to build momentum, and push your business to challenge the norm, and stay present. Your team won’t be afraid to think of truly innovative ideas "because they require funding".<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">An island of its own</h2> Lastly, budgeting for a ‘launch, learn and optimise’ way of working can be relatively straightforward by setting aside an exploring (or slush!) fund. A fund like this sits separate to marketing, product, operations, offering the essential breathing room required to explore new possibilities of finding value in ideas. It allows for experimentation, real learning and the testing of hypotheses.In the end, slush funds allow you to explore the ‘what if’. It gives creativity breathing room to thrive, to solve complex problems and enables you to be more competitive in the market by staying agile.&nbsp; <img src="https://resources.freestyle.agency/globalassets/line.jpg" alt="line.jpg"><img class="image_resized" style="width:25%;" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E03AQH9Usmd-KDVRw/profile-displayphoto-shrink_800_800/0/1652453588614?e=1666224000&amp;v=beta&amp;t=rv8oAoOsl67AJRyEF3TdcqC4a_2zvX2BalNqFVUKGEY" alt="Profile photo of Tom Downing">Author: Tom Downing, Strategy Director at FreestyleTom is the go-to expert for businesses to evolve their customer experience offering with emerging technology. He’s an advocate for businesses pushing the boundaries of how they go about communicating to their audiences exploring new innovative technology with a creative view, to bring a more meaningful emotive experience to the customer.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkdowning/">Connect on LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;At Freestyle, we partner with organisations to help them evolve their business and customer experiences for the future, by building venturing capability and creating new products and services.If you're ready to have a chat about how we can help you innovate, drop us a line: <a href="mailto:hello@freestyle.agency">hello@freestyle.agency</a>

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Experience and recall: tapping into your customers’ thinking

You don’t anyone else to highlight once again how 2020 is unprecedented, difficult and exhausting. By this point you’ve heard all about building resilience, agility and putting your customers first.But I wanted to introduce to you a different angle for the latter, one that hopefully will re-ground and refresh your thinking and your efforts in engaging with your audience. For reference, I go into a lot more detail about all of this in <a href="https://cxm.co.uk/the-power-of-moments-in-creating-memorable-customer-experiences/">my article for Customer Experience Magazine</a>, The Power of Moments in Creating Memorable Customer Experiences.Let me start with a question, and my favourite of the two theories I’ll touch on.Why has The Magic Castle Hotel in L.A. become a top-rated hotel on TripAdvisor despite having dated furnishings and a small swimming pool?The answer, at a tactical level, is that it offered a ‘popsicle hotline’, unlimited free of charge snacks, a board game and DVD menu, and pop-up magicians to entertain the customers at breakfast. At a strategic level, the hotel offers exceptional service, and introduced moments of delight, resulting in their customers leaving with positive happy memories.And that there, is where the first psychology theory of this article comes into play.<figure class="image"><img src="https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/oyster/1180/09/90/c4/bd/pool--v9044516.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Image courtesy of TripAdvisor</figcaption></figure><h2 style="margin-left:0px;">The mother of recall: Peak end theory</h2>When it comes to judging an experience, we recall it from how we felt at its peak, the most intense point, and at its end. Known as peak end theory, this allows brands to create ‘peaks’ of positivity, sometimes even from a negative experience, which will be the stand-out that they will be remembered for.<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666771/Peak_End_Theory_e26e2f3bd1.png" alt="Peak End Theory.png" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666771/thumbnail_Peak_End_Theory_e26e2f3bd1.png 217w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666773/small_Peak_End_Theory_e26e2f3bd1.png 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666773/medium_Peak_End_Theory_e26e2f3bd1.png 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666772/large_Peak_End_Theory_e26e2f3bd1.png 1000w," sizes="100vw"><figcaption>Peak End Theory</figcaption></figure><blockquote>"The key to getting this one right in your customer experience journey, is to start with a level playing field."</blockquote>If as a customer you receive good customer service all the way through an experience it will leave you feeling happy, but not necessarily something you’ll remember. If, however, there is a moment or two during the experience where you feel your expectations were exceeded – and it was unexpected – this will promote a longer-lasting memory and will encourage you to show loyalty to that brand.The key to getting this one right in your customer experience journey, is to start with a level playing field. Create an efficient and seamless customer journey which meets the customers expectations. Then introduce elements of surprise or additional value at certain touchpoints which are unexpected, instigating a positive reaction. Keep true to your brand values and that’s a top notch formula for memorable customer experience. And of course, this leads me into my second point today.<h2>Emotions influence our decisions&nbsp;</h2>95 percent of buying decisions take place in the subconscious mind, according to Harvard Professor Gerald Zaltman. The theory here is, that by creating an emotive reaction from your customer, you can unconsciously influence them to buy into your product or service. Designing with emotion in mind, means that emotions have to become an important driver when creating a memorable customer experience.<blockquote>"Emotions have to become an important driver when creating a memorable customer experience."</blockquote>Therefore, we should aim to incorporate moments of delight, pleasure or surprise into our customer journey, to give more weight to emotion-led decisions, to ultimately encourage a more spontaneous, subconscious decision-making process.<blockquote><img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmdY4_WUMAAEm71?format=jpg&amp;name=large" alt="">Gosh it's hot today! Luckily I am right next to the Popsicle hotline at <a href="https://twitter.com/magiccastlehot?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@magiccastlehot</a> to cool down <a href="https://t.co/r6uYJQqC9w">pic.twitter.com/r6uYJQqC9w</a>— George B Sloth (@GeorgeBSloth) <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeBSloth/status/749665609751728128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2016</a></blockquote><h2>In the world of product...</h2>In our world, you can apply the same two principles to product design to influence consumer behaviours. When applying this principle to technologies, it’s all about creating ‘the hook’ comprised of four elements: trigger, action, reward and investment. It is this which makes pattern-forming technologies successful. With nearly half of all of our decisions based on habit rather than conscious decisions, this is how and why we can become ‘hooked’ to our favourite platforms and apps.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">In the end, there are only a few points to remember:</h2>1. Experiences that have positive peaks are more memorable than purely frictionless ones 2. Emotion will always play a factor when choosing where to put our money, and 3. Both of those principles can and should be applied within the constraints of your own brand values.&nbsp; <img src="https://resources.freestyle.agency/globalassets/line.jpg" alt="line.jpg"><img class="image_resized" style="width:25%;" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E03AQH9Usmd-KDVRw/profile-displayphoto-shrink_800_800/0/1652453588614?e=1666224000&amp;v=beta&amp;t=rv8oAoOsl67AJRyEF3TdcqC4a_2zvX2BalNqFVUKGEY" alt="Profile photo of Tom Downing">Author: Tom Downing, Strategy Director at FreestyleTom is the go-to expert for businesses to evolve their customer experience offering with emerging technology. He’s an advocate for businesses pushing the boundaries of how they go about communicating to their audiences exploring new innovative technology with a creative view, to bring a more meaningful emotive experience to the customer.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkdowning/">Connect on LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;At Freestyle, we partner with organisations to help them evolve their business and customer experiences for the future, by building venturing capability and creating new products and services.If you're ready to have a chat about how we can help you innovate, drop us a line: <a href="mailto:hello@freestyle.agency">hello@freestyle.agency</a>

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Your existing customer experiences should be the priority

Why your existing customer experiences should be the priority

But this can be damaging for your organisation in both the short and long term. Because bad experiences attached to heightened negative emotions can be unforgettable.In this unprecedented time, we’re out of routine, breaking behavioural habits and listening to updates and activity surrounding COVID-19. Some of us find ourselves more time-rich than we have been in a very long time (not those of us with children of course).In short, we’re paying attention.Not only that, but we’re also hard-wired to respond and behave as our emotional state dictates. The strongest amongst these are the heightened negative emotions which many of us are seeing and experiencing right now. Whether it’s finances, children’s education, or the wellbeing of friends and family, we certainly know what it feels like for our brain to step into a reactive, critical and emotional frame of mind. And this matters.&nbsp;<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Human behaviours are not grounded in logic</h2>Your customers have been experiencing poor interactions left, right and centre since we've all started feeling the impact of COVID-19. This isn’t us pointing fingers, this is the truth. Long wait times, uncertain digital user journeys to find information or make cancellations are going to be speaking volumes about your organisation. Now, of course, people do realise why this is happening and that businesses are feeling their way through this uncertain time just as much as individuals are. Logically, we all understand. But the key thing to note here is that human behaviours are not grounded in logic.<blockquote>“The human brain is built to shortcut to critical thinking.”</blockquote>A huge majority of the beliefs we hold and the decisions we make are grounded and led by emotion (over 90% depending on which behavioural science reference you use). And you guessed it, one of the strongest of these is fear. It’s why we see panic buying in the shops. It’s why we might feel an urge to pick up a couple more packets of pasta if someone else reaches out to pick up more than us off the shelf, just as we’re looking to get some too. Our brains are literally built to shortcut to critical thinking. The context we’re in primes our behaviours and a negative emotional state of mind is right up there.So… We’re paying attention, primed with negative emotional context and thinking critically. Enter - our next brand experience.<h2>After context comes experience</h2>Given the current situation, many brand experiences customers are having right now are with customer service teams to find out information surrounding their options, cancellations and refunds. So many companies make changes and cancellations difficult, awkward and sometimes hidden. Whilst this might feel like a tempting thing to do to reduce your loss of business, now more than ever, it’s a big and memorable turn-off. Here’s one example we’ve seen where it was surprisingly taken one step further.Ryanair, along with many airlines, began cancelling flights as countries around the world stopped non-essential travel. But two hours before a cancelled flight was scheduled to take off, this happened.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660232414/Ryanair_1_fc96e480b1.jpg" alt="Ryanair 1.jpeg" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660232415/thumbnail_Ryanair_1_fc96e480b1.jpg 72w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660232416/small_Ryanair_1_fc96e480b1.jpg 231w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660232416/medium_Ryanair_1_fc96e480b1.jpg 347w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660232415/large_Ryanair_1_fc96e480b1.jpg 462w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Was this done because of money? Did Ryanair send the reverse flight cancellation notice less than 2 hours before take-off because if it remained cancelled, customers could change the flight free of charge? It doesn’t even matter. What matters is what Ryanair’s customers believe and I’ll let you work that one out for yourself. What also matters is the heightened emotional frame of mind we’re in right now. So you can bet they’ll moan about it to friends and family, tell their social media communities and do what they can to avoid using Ryanair again.<blockquote>“When it comes to recalling an experience, what we remember most is the emotional peak.”</blockquote>Because when it comes to recalling an experience, we don’t remember the overall sum of how good it was or the mean average of how satisfied we were from beginning to end. What we remember most is the emotional peak, be that good or bad. And deliberately acting to take your customers’ money in a time of global economic and health crisis - that would be peak… …you know.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">"Sorry, not sorry"</h2>We know that poor experiences now will be remembered later. We’re not just talking about the blatantly unethical experiences, we’re talking about hours spent waiting in response to a query. We’re talking about horribly complicated journeys to find out cancellation terms &amp; conditions. We’re talking about policies that say no refunds if you cancel - sorry, not sorry. Yes, businesses are facing difficulty and uncertainty, but bad user experiences are going to amplify this. Your customers aren’t going to simply take a forgive and forget approach to poor experience after a poor experience at a time when they’re primed by negative emotion which drives critical thinking.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">How Airbnb did it</h2>Let’s consider a good example of what to do, this time from Airbnb. In a seamless experience that greatly surpassed my expectation, I cancelled my upcoming Airbnb trips for full refunds quicker than my partner made me a coffee. When I clicked into My Trips in the app to view my booking, there was a notification waiting for me right at the top. It succinctly explained that COVID-19 affected the area my booking was is in and that I was entitled to a full refund as per Airbnb's Extenuating Circumstances Policy. Not only was this information proactively shown in a relevant way for my trip, but the user journey to cancel was easy. It involved two or three clicks and a pre-populated note to the host, referencing COVID-19. It was so speedy and simple that I didn’t even stop to think about taking a screengrab to show it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3E5D/production/_109556951_airbnb.png" alt="Airbnb image source bbc.co.uk"></figure>&nbsp;Whether it’s a seamless cancellation experience, a chatbot that navigates people through FAQs reducing customer service calls, intuitive search or AI language recognition to prioritise emails by urgency, these experiences need to serve your customers.&nbsp;<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">If you can't offer refunds...</h2>Of course, not every business can afford to give all customers refunds and survive to the end of the week. This doesn’t have to mean the end. Here’s an example of how to manage the situation from Much Better Adventures, a company that organises small group adventure holidays with local guides around the world.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://resources.freestyle.agency/globalassets/corona-content/img_5279.jpg" alt="IMG_5279.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;Much Better Adventures is offering for the trip to be postponed until you can decide on a suitable date. They’ll hold this for life and as a customer, I won’t need to pay any more. Not only was the user journey a simple one, but the proposition exceeded my expectation (I thought I would at least need to select a new date). Following this positive peak that has exceeded my expectation, I will now not only remember it but continue to be a loyal customer for future holidays. There are also other ways business are tailoring their experiences, including pay it forwards incentives, honest and empathetic communications and more.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">The time to show you're customer-centric is during a crisis</h2>This is the time to deliver digital experiences in a human, customer-centric way - it’s about doing what is best for the customers that are coming to you right now. Having rigid cancellation clauses, not answering queries or prioritising for future customers once this all dies down isn’t doing what’s best. So don’t think that making it hard to cancel bookings/orders in the short term is going to help you in the long term. It won’t.The digital experiences that your customers have over the next days, weeks and months are important. None of us wants to see ongoing frustrations and negativity, so let's prioritise wisely and look after your customers.&nbsp;This resource is part of our Adapt to COVID-19 content series.&nbsp;<img src="https://resources.freestyle.agency/globalassets/line.jpg" alt="line.jpg"><img class="image_resized" style="width:25%;" src="https://media-exp1.licdn.com/dms/image/C4E03AQH6atDxWBleyg/profile-displayphoto-shrink_800_800/0/1653557589495?e=1666224000&amp;v=beta&amp;t=Bp5IM_VqDicA8oqtYr0VXxgkWwDNE0je7iaFIlzx4fI" alt="Profile photo of Rebecca Hemming">Author: Rebecca Hemming, UX Strategist at FreestyleWinner of the Young (under 30) Tech Talent 2020, Rebecca is skilled in distilling business and audience insight into strategic activity that drives results and pushes the boundaries of UX. She’s worked with a variety of consumer and B2B brands, including Calor, Homebase, Informa, Mammoet and CIMSPA. She is passionate about inspiring young people and has mentored a number of students, including the Millennial Mentoring Programme which culminated on stage at SXSW.<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-hemming/">Connect on LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;At Freestyle, we partner with organisations to help them evolve their business and customer experiences for the future, by building venturing capability and creating new products and services.If you're ready to have a chat about how we can help you innovate, drop us a line: <a href="mailto:hello@freestyle.agency">hello@freestyle.agency</a>

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Three things you need to move at speed during a crisis

It’s time to consolidate your understanding of COVID-19’s long and short term impacts on your business. It’s time to find ways to make progress and move forwards, possibly into uncharted or under-explored territories. It’s time to make sure your business is able to support its employees, customers and stakeholders by seizing opportunities and mitigating losses wherever possible.You’ve probably heard this famous proverb before.‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’But what if you want both?How do you go far, fast?&nbsp;In short, you do go together, but you go as one - unified and streamlined. In this article, I’ll explain how taking your time, making yourself multidimensional and sharing your truths will help you do this. Neglecting to put these ‘first things first’ and ensure your organisations’ readiness to tackle complexity will inevitably result in long delays later down the line, <a href="https://resources.freestyle.agency/blog/decision-paralysis-heres-how-you-optimise-decision-making-during-uncertain-times/">decision paralysis</a> and loss of momentum, all with damaging results to your business’ performance in this time of crisis.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Start by giving yourself thinking time</h2>In times of uncertainty, fear can create a psychological sense of urgency that only leads to rushed decision making. But in order to move quickly, making decisions and taking action efficiently, it’s important to first re-examine your initial reactions.<blockquote>"Now is not the time for reaction to media headlines"</blockquote>Now is the time for action, not reaction to media headlines. Actions should be based on relevant data, expert-led discussion, and considered judgements. Taking the time upfront to slow down and reconsider our immediate responses gives us the opportunity to perform ‘deliberate reasoning’ (referred to as the mind’s ‘System 2’&nbsp;by<a href="https://www.marketingsociety.com/think-piece/system-1-and-system-2-thinking"> Kahneman</a>).Without this thorough data collection and assessment protocol, your organisation won’t be equipped to take efficient, unified action and make legitimate progress.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Be as complex as the challenge</h2>In the 1960s Ross Ashby identified the ‘<a href="https://www.businessballs.com/strategy-innovation/ashbys-law-of-requisite-variety/#ashby's-law">Law of Requisite Variety</a>’ which states that “only variety can destroy variety”. Although this law was first conceived in relation to biological systems it is relevant to all systems, including those which operate in businesses. In our current context, this law means that we have to step up to battle complexity with complexity. And the way to do this is by building a diverse team to face all the facets of the complex challenge. Those leading their businesses through COVID-19 must be as multidimensional as the challenge ahead of them.<blockquote>"Without the ‘requisite variety’ in your team, you limit your capacity for problem-solving and solutions implementation."</blockquote>You can only face complexity with diversity by utilising a wider and deeper variety of people in your decision making and action planning processes. You’ll need to assemble those who have the collective comprehension, skills and experience to match the challenge ahead. Without the ‘requisite variety’ in your team, you’ll begin with a limited understanding of the challenge, which will, in turn, limit your capacity for problem-solving and solutions implementation.Take into consideration the diversity of demographics, personalities, attitudes, thinking and influencing styles amongst your working team. Your strength, and ultimately success, will be in your ability to assemble this variety of differences, of people, into one unit. With this in place, you’ll be equipped to cover every angle of the challenge, discovering and overcome problems quickly and avoiding the risk of further hurdles at a later stage.<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">Share your truths to secure support</h2>In organisations where teams and specialisms are widely distributed, it can be challenging to achieve mass buy-in. But in order to move businesses forward quickly with unified and streamlined action, shared understanding of the challenge itself as well as the objective in play, is critical.<blockquote>"Without shared understanding, you’re likely to face resistance."</blockquote>While you must take action quickly, without the necessary buy-in, leaders and influencers will not be able to adequately explain the plan of an action to their teams. Without shared understanding, individuals and teams are liable to act upon their own narratives and motivations, often moving in disparate directions. Without shared understanding, you’re likely to face resistance, passive or active, which will only slow down your rate of progress.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666771/Framework_599b84d3a6.png" alt="Framework.png" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666771/thumbnail_Framework_599b84d3a6.png 217w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666773/small_Framework_599b84d3a6.png 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666772/medium_Framework_599b84d3a6.png 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/freestyle/image/upload/v1660666772/large_Framework_599b84d3a6.png 1000w," sizes="100vw">In order to achieve shared understanding, different areas of the business have to understand each other. In order to understand a person or a team, you need to listen to their stories. In order to understand a person or a team, you need to hear their frustrations and fears as well as their hopes.By creating a trusting, inclusive atmosphere where teams listen and are heard you’ll be able to build a shared language and a shared understanding for the whole organisation. You’ll be able to build a foundation for problem-solving and creating solutions - quickly!<h2 style="margin-left:0px;">A five-step framework for unified action</h2>1. Break up the challenge into focus areas (e.g business continuity, finance, customer service, HR, safety, innovation)2. Find a wide variety of people&nbsp;to feed into decision making. Look inside your organisation but also at your partners, industry experts and advisory communities.3. Gather the relevant people to their focus area(s) and collaborate (remotely of course!) to work through discussion and debate on each focus area.4. Repeat the process of discussion and debate regularly and challenge potential solutions. This could even be a daily endeavour.5. Use an overarching plan to pull together the individual plans you create for each focus area. Use this to communicate interdependencies and targets for continued progress.&nbsp;No business is immune to the impact of COVID-19 and now, more than ever, organisations need to move quickly to identify appropriate strategies and implement quality, sustainable, solutions. The organisations that achieve this will be the success stories that are celebrated when the world moves on from this crisis.It is possible to move quickly upon challenges, through complexity, and even in times of crisis. It is possible to create and execute solutions at pace. But only if you take the time to set your organisation up for success. Only if you approach the situation with a diverse team. And only if you create a shared understanding for everyone to move upon.&nbsp;This resource is part of our Adapt to COVID-19 content series.&nbsp; <img src="https://resources.freestyle.agency/globalassets/line.jpg" alt="line.jpg">At Freestyle, we partner with organisations to help them evolve their business and customer experiences for the future, by building venturing capability and creating new products and services.If you're ready to have a chat about how we can help you innovate, drop us a line: <a href="mailto:hello@freestyle.agency">hello@freestyle.agency</a>

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Three things you need to move at speed during a crisis