InPost. A business that understands the customer - how do the best do it?

The slogan "customer-centricity" operates in the narrative of many companies. On a daily basis, as service users or buyers, we can verify its credibility simply by trying to get our business done quickly and pleasantly. And while it still seems that customer focus is just a marketing buzzword, we have excellent examples in the Polish market that contradict this belief.

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In line with the trend we've been observing for the past few years, Hycom is placing special emphasis on 4 key business values in its relationship with customers:

reducing customer service costs

increasing revenue from the re-sale of services and products

increasing customer loyalty

improving the customer experience and thereby increasing the number of promoters

The need to optimize processes, shorten the customer path and thus costs, requires multifaceted thinking and action. It's also no secret that customers themselves can help us do this when they prefer to serve themselves, without having to contact a customer service office or show up there in person. Hence, more and more companies are choosing to allow users to manage their own affairs.

One of the best examples illustrating the effectiveness of this approach is InPost, which is constantly investing in technology, including mobile apps and parcel machines. This reduces customer service costs, but also increases the convenience of parcel delivery.

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This would not have been successful without careful listening to the voice of customers. What has strongly influenced the positive perception of the brand is, first of all, the elimination of all impractical processes that make life difficult for customers, such as the need to print labels or carry the parcel to a remote point open at designated times, often overlapping with the customer's working hours. In addition, process automation has eliminated the need for the customer to contact the courier, and the mobile app offers notifications about the status of the shipment and additional options (such as extended pickup times).

Increasing resale revenue has also been solved in the two mobile apps, where one can shop from almost any category with favorable discounts and free parcel delivery. In addition, a good move was the introduction of a gamification element in the 2024 mobile apps and a contest (with attractive prizes, such as an apartment in Warsaw or an electric car). As InPost points out, this contributed to a 22% year-on-year increase in the number of parcels delivered.

Analyzing InPost's approach to self-service solutions, it's easy to see that behind the victory of Poland's most important logistics services player is adherence to four key principles in building Customer Experience.

Identify and optimize business needs

Without clearly defined business objectives, it is difficult to achieve success. Each of them requires a different approach to customer experience design, because you need to act differently when hotline traffic is generated by misunderstanding an invoice, and differently when customers make complaints. If, on the other hand, the business problem is to increase customer traffic in the application, you need to think not only about its visual side, its intuitiveness in navigation, but, above all, whether it helps solve customers' problems and responds to their needs.

Conversely, optimizing the customer experience (CX) for business goals is the art of balancing the needs of the customer with the needs and capabilities of the company. Finding this balance has a good chance of translating into concrete results, not just financial ones.

Hear and understand your customers

It may be said that this is a truism, because it's not from today that it's worth knowing your customers. Nevertheless, still many companies stop at the stage of corridor research among their own employees, who are "tainted by the product and brand". Especially in the case of a self-service application, it is important to show it to the average users who are expected to use it on a daily basis. It is worth focusing not only on loud complaints or praise, because often the most valuable insights are hidden in subtle comments or customer behavior. On top of that, data collected from multiple touchpoints, serving different teams within a company, exacerbates silos. What's needed is a tool that combines the information and a human being who can take a bird's eye view of it and combine it into a cohesive picture about the company and its customers. Data analysis should go beyond simple statistics. Let's look for patterns, trends and anomalies. Let's use advanced techniques, such as machine learning, to predict future customer behavior. But let's remember that data is just a starting point - the real value lies in the ability to turn these insights into concrete business actions.

Check customer satisfaction levels

Regular customer satisfaction surveys are not just about collecting ratings, but more importantly about understanding user needs and expectations. It's worth going beyond standard surveys measuring NPS and delving into detailed feedback. It is crucial not only to collect feedback, but also to be able to learn from it and make real changes. It's worth keeping in mind that feedback from a dissatisfied customer can be a catalyst for significant improvements in your offering.

Personalize the experience

In the era of big data and artificial intelligence, personalization is becoming not so much a luxury as a necessity. Customers expect a company to understand them and anticipate their needs. However, true personalization is more than just algorithms - it is the ability to adapt to the customer's context and emotions. It's worth remembering that excessive personalization can be perceived as invasive. The key is to strike a balance between tailoring the offer and respecting customer privacy.

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As InPost's example shows, true customer-centricity is not a one-time stunt or a trendy marketing slogan. It's a long-term strategy that requires systematic action and commitment from the entire organization. Understanding that when designing self-service it is extremely important to have the voice of the customer, to be attentive to their needs and to measure their reactions to the changes being made. Taking care of the implementation of each of the above-mentioned stages allows you to achieve a competitive advantage.