Editorial
I’ve spent the last 15 years of my career strategizing on how businesses can build great digital experiences that provide business value, meet audience needs and create operational efficiencies.
But as a consumer, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been wowed by an exceptional digital customer experience.
Last week was one of those times, thanks to Lego.
My Customer Challenge
A disclaimer: I do not work for, consult for or own Lego stock (though I am now seriously considering it).
I do however have a son and daughter who are obsessed with all things Lego, as you can see below, and I am a huge fan of the product.
My experience began when my son’s latest large project arrived from Amazon, a 300 plus page massive Lego fortress.
He dove in immediately and noticed it was missing some crucial pieces. After searching high and low, I decided we needed to order some replacement bricks — and this is where I started to appreciate the Lego digital experience.
Lesson #1: Optimize for SEO
Not only did it get me started, the number one position under the ad was Lego’s site for “Bricks & Pieces.”
Think of the online ad dollars that’s saving Lego.
Landing in the top position does not happen by mistake. Lego has clearly analyzed and optimized its website content, keywords and search terms to match what customers look for, resulting in its prime placement in organic search.
Where does your company rank for common search terms for your products or services?
Lesson #2: Remove Friction
When I think of great online ordering experiences it's hard to beat Amazon.
Lego gives Amazon a run for its money.
Clicking on the Bricks & Pieces page link brought me to a page that requested the Lego “Set Number.” I typed in the number and was amazed to see every brick in the set presented visually, with a convenient “Add to bag” button next to each. Magic!
Every step of the order process was broken down into a visual chevron with steps, removing any ambiguity, concern or confusion a customer might feel about their process.
The key takeaway here? Invest in user experience. Limit information and steps wherever possible to reduce abandonment and improve the online ordering experience.
Lesson #3: Provide Instant Updates
After placing my order for replacement bricks, I received an instant email with an apology from Lego.
This proactive response kept me for following up via phone call or email — and saved Lego the customer service hours such contact requires.
A day later I received a shipping update, including an inventory of all of the parts. Lego kept me informed of the process, and made every email personalized and fun with Lego figures.
Lesson #4: Know, Engage and Respond to Customers - Where They Are
Some companies actively hide their support contact information. Lego actively promotes it, going so far as to include a gauge with its response time — talk about transparency!
I decided to test out how Lego would do on Twitter for customer service. Soon after I contacted them, their reps liked my tweet and responded with a personalized response (see below).
Beyond Twitter, I also looked in on Lego's Facebook presence and was impressed with the various Lego pages, and content being shared across its brands including its 11.5 million fans (and counting).
Learning Opportunities
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Key lesson here, meet users in their media. Lego offers a multichannel customer support and marketing experience that is well branded and connected.
Lesson #5 Offer Your Customers a Community to Listen, Learn, Engage
As a strategist that builds communities for a living I wanted to see what Lego was doing here.
A quick Google search offered not one, but two online communities, one focused on supporting the various lego franchises and products, and the other on customer-driven product ideation.
Between its external social media channels and online communities, it's clear Lego cares deeply about understanding, supporting, engaging and enabling fans to connect with Lego and one another to share and inspire. The impressive volume of posts, ideas and interactions in their communities would make many community managers envious. The user experience is also extremely well branded and aligns well with its corporate and franchises standards.
Lesson #6 Mobile, Mobile, Mobile
Cater to desktop, tablets and smartphone users by offering mobile responsive experience and apps that engage your customers on their chosen device. All of Lego’s sites offer a great mobile experience that works across my iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Lego has also built separate apps for its various product brands. My son is a super fan of Ninjago and Nexo Knights, so we have those apps on my iPhone and his iPad.
The Nexo Knights Apps integration with the TV show and Lego sets is impressive. You simply point your iPhone or iPad camera at a badge to add it to your apps collection, and then unlock levels and features — a really cool example of an omnichannel gamification experience that's quite addictive.
If you haven’t already invested in mobile experience, it's time. Think of yourself as a consumer. We live in a multi-screen world and consume more and more digital experiences through our mobile devices. Don’t offer a substandard experience to your customers, invest in a mobile first approach.
Lesson #7 Ask for Feedback (But Don’t Be Pushy)
Lego does a really good job of subtly asking for input and feedback throughout its sites, including product reviews and asking how to improve your experience. If you close that feedback window it doesn’t keep popping up — unlike other sites.
Lego is clearly a customer obsessed company. From sharing its customer support experience gauge to its social media presence and community platforms, Lego openly solicits and responds to feedback.
Lego isn't just going through the motions here. Can you say the same for your company?
Lego's Not Playing Around with its Omnichannel Experience
Lego offers a number of lessons that you can apply to your own digital experience. Here is a company that knows its customers and has optimized it's brand and digital presence to nurture, engage and build advocacy at all levels. At no time in my interactions or analysis did I feel a disconnect in my customer journey.
From in store retail, to mobile, social, community, website, commerce and support Lego makes delivering a great omnichannel experience look easy. But trust me that it isn't.
What Lego delivers doesn't happen without a solid investment of time and resources in listening, learning and understanding customer journeys to build a digital strategy, processes and platforms to support its vision. Kudos to its leadership, digital team, employees, agencies, consultants and partners in creating a truly differentiated customer experience.
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