AMSTERDAM, November 28, 2013
Karian Inpijn is responsible for developing strategic policy around customer contact for VGZ, Bewuzt, IZA and IZZ, among others. VGZ recently launched a completely renewed website. A conversation about website optimization, customer journeys, a/b testing, putting the customer first, getting people on board and a competitive market: "You must offer customers what they're entitled to."
VGZ favorite
VGZ was recently number one in the research that WUA! conducts annually into online orientation towards health insurance. The list below features more brands that Inpijn is responsible for, but VGZ is at number 1, coming from position 3 in 2012 and position 8 in 2011. The brand made progress not only in ranking, but also in score. In 2011 the score was still unsatisfactory, in 2012 a cautious 5.8 was recorded. This year VGZ leads the list with a Web Performance score of 6.3.
Web performance score
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Number 1: VGZ.nl - 6.3
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2: Independer.nl - 6.1
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3: CZ.nl - 6.1
Karian Inpijn, you're number 1. What's your first reaction?
Inpijn: "We're very proud, we had a goal and winning is confirmation of the great step we've made towards and for our customers with a large number of optimizations. In 2009 we didn't even make the list! We focused heavily on customer research for the new website because we see that very important insights emerge from that."
What important changes have you implemented and how?
"We implemented many important changes in diverse segments. We first put the customer at the center, then we made changes in usability, content, product offering, brand experience. But we also looked at our performance and our business processes."
"Mapping the customer journey was an important part. What happens at the front end of the website and what happens at the back end: how 'available' is our information, can we display it? If you've written the right content, how can the customer absorb it? We often and gladly listen to customer feedback, for example via a button on the website; that's very direct. We also listen on social media to what our customer thinks."
"We have various customer panels, also online. We try to present things to them monthly, many people voluntarily participate. We conduct usability research throughout the year, sometimes we do the website, other times we go deeper into the 'My environment'. We want to give the customer personalized information there regarding their healthcare costs. From generic to personal situation."
Listening, Inpijn believes, is one thing, converting to improvement is another. Going from insight to actual changes and improvements to the website was still difficult two years ago. VGZ now succeeds better from a multichannel approach.
Is thinking from the customer perspective difficult for you?
"No. What we did was look at how we want to deploy our channels from a customer contact strategy. Online is part of a multichannel strategy. We look at the customer who seeks the online channel during their journey. Because: during that journey a customer must also be able to find the telephony channel when personal contact around care is relevant. Two years ago we got permission from the board of directors for this strategy, support is incredibly necessary to be successful."
The market for health insurance seems to be becoming increasingly competitive. Is that correct?
"Yes. The market has become very competitive. But it's not a winner takes all market. Certainly not when you look at the number of players and present brands. Everyone takes a small piece of the market, and every year that piece changes by between 7 and 8 percent. There's increasingly more attention on our side for loyalty. New customers is one thing, second is customer retention. The website is strongly focused on customer loyalty. What we find important is good service towards the customer. You must offer customers what they're entitled to."
How do you optimize?
"Optimization is a continuous process of the past 2 years. I think we use all the tools we can use to optimize. Qualitative research, web analytics, a/b testing. During a campaign period an a/b test has a completely different purpose. It's much more about conversion then. It depends on the time of year, what the market demands and what the customer demands. Our customer contact strategy is dynamic, and we want to keep it that way. It's a living plan."
And mobile and tablets?
"In the mix of channels it was a very logical choice to create a responsive website. That's really embraced by the customer, we see that reflected in visits. Of course it's logical that there's still a lot of work to do, but mobile visits have doubled this year. Since the launch of the new site we further see that mobile time on site is increasing."
Your organization is relatively large and everyone seems to have opinions about the website. What are the best practices, what's the most important learning point in such a large website project?
"You must make the change together and with the customer. It's a large chain, we have a large part of the market and we have many employees. There's quite some time, attention and effort in creating support and enthusiasm. We had to get through that, and we succeeded. Furthermore, we cleaned up a third of the content. Not everyone was equally happy about that. You then have to fall back on your communication and your content strategy. Regroup, say goodbye to less relevant matters, back to the core."
"The biggest success factor is the focus on the combination of channels. Furthermore: you really need a group of employees who are driven and enthusiastic to be successful. So look for it in employees in such a large project: it's ultimately the people who must make the difference towards your customer."
