Kindred Group was awarded bronze in the ‘Best Use of Insight and Feedback’ category in the UK Customer Experience Awards 2021. "Collaboration was clearly at the heart of this initiative, which has delivered some great results,” said the judges. We interviewed Anna Kiss, Digital Analyst and Pamela Smit, Customer Experience Analyst, to learn more.
Congratulations, what does this recognition mean for Kindred and to you as a team?
It’s a great achievement! The great thing about the UK CX Awards is that it’s not gambling industry-specific: this Bronze Award is proof that we are delivering an award-winning customer experience not only compared to our sector, but to other industries in the UK.
What was the winning project?
Our entry was about the optimisation of probably the most sensitive user journey we have, which is customer verification. This was a year-long, continuous project, and we were working on it together with the whole Experience team.
Why do you think we were successful in this category and what was the judges’ feedback?
We were very well organised. This was a well-established project, with clear achievements, and we put a lot of effort into measuring, testing, and iterating all elements of it. We had clear Key Performance Indicators and a clear understanding of the optimisation points. We also put a lot of effort into creating a presentation that didn't fall short in telling the story of our successes.
Verification is a demanding subject to present, simply because it’s so complex: it’s an area of regulations, data protection and multiple touchpoints, with a lot of specifics that vary market to market, user case to user case. You have to be in it to truly understand it, which is why it was challenging to simplify it in a 15-minute presentation while delivering a clear message – but clearly, we’ve done it!
The feedback from the judges was very positive:
"Collaboration was clearly at the heart of this initiative, which has delivered some great results. I loved that the team are already looking at other personalisation projects to further enhance the customer experience, demonstrating the continuous improvement mindset across the business. Great presentation, visuals, and delivery. Overall, a very well delivered presentation with good energy. It looked like some really good business benefits have been delivered, and an improvement of the customer journey."
Is there something unique about customer experience when it comes to gambling compared to some other industries? What are the challenges in CX in gambling?
There are a lot of differences! Firstly, gambling tends to have an unfavourable perception, which is something we must work against - both in a competition, like the UK CX Awards, and when thinking about optimisation for customers. It’s very important to be as clear and transparent as possible, especially in a journey that handles sensitive customer data, such as verification. There is also the fact that gambling is a very heavily regulated industry, which means that often, we have to work with very firm barriers and deliver regulatory requirements in an easiest to understand and less disruptive way. We always keep our customers’ best interests at heart.
Any last comments?
I think what really made this project successful is the amazing cross-team collaboration that we had within the ‘Be In Control’ Experience. We also have strong female leads in the Experience! The Awards competition was extremely homogenous, and we were the only female presenters in our category – this contributes to feeling proud for taking home an award!
About UK Customer Experience Awards 2021:
Awards International is the world’s premier awards event organisation and the team behind 12 awards programmes across the world. Awards International programmes have been awarded the outstanding Trust Mark from the Independent Awards Standards Council. The UK CX Awards is a yearly competition, with multiple Award categories.
