How can we improve the Customer Journey for the Nespresso brand?
To investigate the possibilities, it was important to understand the Nespresso vision, gain insight into their business processes, and map out the current customer journeys.
The Research Process
Nespresso Vision
To understand the value proposition of Nespresso, you first have to understand the vision that drives Nespresso.
Nespresso wants to increase consumer pleasure and provide the ultimate coffee drinking experience to the customer. They do this by enabling anyone to create the perfect cup of coffee, with the perfect flavor, every time.
Personas and Customer Journeys
We focused on analyzing the way Nespresso communicates with the customer and how they approach the different characteristics of their customers and their coffee. We did this by making three different personas who represent three different coffee flavors, each with different characteristics. To analyze the behavior and experiences around consuming Nespresso, we also made three customer journeys.
Mr. Decaffeinato
41 years old
Single
Artist/Painter
Wants to enjoy the taste of coffee on a Sunday morning
Mrs. Volluto
34 years old
Married
Stay at home Mom
Enjoys a light cup of coffee every now and then
Mr. Ristretto
27 years old
Single
Office Job
Has a cup of coffee every morning to start the day strong
We decided that Decaffeinato fits best with either people who like the more gentle flavor of coffee without the kick from the dose of caffeine or people who are allergic to caffeine. Therefor we decided to make Mr. Decaffeinato a person who appreciates the pure, light taste of coffee, without consuming caffeine to disturb his creativity, because he is an artist for a living. The customer journey below shows the process of buying new cups.
Volluto is a coffee flavor which is a bit more gentle and fruity, not to intense, with some tones of sweetness. These flavors fit with a more feminine character and fit well with people who want to enjoy a cup of coffee to relax and to relief stress from a busy day, without it being too intense. That’s why Mrs. Volluto is a person who is married and a full-time mom of two kids. She likes to enjoy a nice and light cup of coffee every now and then to retreat from her daily activities. The customer journey below focuses on the process of making a cup of Nespresso coffee.
Ristretto is a more intense, robust and masculine flavor. It fits with young, somewhat ambitious men who appreciate the pure, strong and intense flavors of coffee. The coffee is perfect for giving an energy boost in the morning before going to work. That’s why Mr. Ristretto is a young, single office desk employee who aspires to become a manager and therefor makes long hours at work. He likes to enjoy a strong, great tasting cup of coffee in the morning to wake him up and to boost his performance at work. The customer journey shown below highlights the overall activity in a day of the life of Mr. Ristretto.
Commercial Market & Strategy
Unique Approach
This difference between Nespresso and others is partly created by the new technology with cups, but mainly by their unique market strategy. Instead of focusing on people buying and drinking coffee, they aim to create an exclusive experience around it that makes the customers feel special; Nespresso provides a great espresso experience at home with a constant quality but also makes the entire experience with Nespresso one that isn’t forgotten easily. The relatively high price and limited amount of distribution channels of Nespresso is very important in the strategy of making it exclusive, along with extraordinary 24/7 service and a special Nespresso Club only for costumers. Because of these services, customers are very loyal to the brand.
Competition
Nespresso has several direct competitors varying from more authentic ways of making coffee (such as filter coffee and machines that use fresh coffee beans) to easy and fast ways of making coffee (such as Senseo and instant coffee). Despite this, Nespresso manages to stand out from all the other products, creating their own market.
Strong Cycles
Drinking good coffee is not the only aspect Nespresso focuses on. Their strategy consists of many cycles that are always of perfect and constant quality; their system always works. These different cycles are present between Nespresso and the customer, Nespresso and their business partners, and between the customers via the Nespresso Club as illustrated.
Strengths
One of the smartest moves of Nespresso was to protect their products with strong patents. These patents keep the copycats away and help to keep Nespresso unique. Other companies such as Douwe Egberts, Illy, Kannis en Gunnik and many others therefore have to come up with their own concepts. Some of these past concepts turned out to be real successes, but all very different from what Nespresso is bringing their customers today.
Threats
At the end of 2012, Nespresso lost some of their patents on their special capsules. This gave other companies the opportunity to make capsules too and to profit off the success of Nespresso. This loss has several consequences for Nespresso and could bring a shift in the market. A threat for Nespresso could be their loss of exclusivity. Another aspect is the quality in coffee as Nespresso is known for its constant perfect quality coffee, but with competitors offering similar coffee for the Nespresso system, a price war could erupt.
Opportunities
Despite the apparent disadvantages and threats, the loss of patents also create opportunities. For example; when the price of the capsules drops and it becomes available to a large part of society, there will be an increase in the amount of machines sold (Nespresso still owns the rights on the machines). Another big opportunity is the enormous client data base that has developed throughout the years, as this data could be used in many ways. Nespresso has a very good market position and is therefore in the perfect position to come with new innovations. Where other companies will be focusing on copying capsules, Nespresso has the opportunity to come with new ideas.
Ecolaboration
Another aspect that is very important to Nespresso and her customers is care for the environment. That’s why Nespresso started the Ecolaboration program. This program gives local coffee farmers the opportunity to get a fair price for their coffee which enables them to grow sustainable coffee. To accomplish this Nespresso provides them with new technologies, training and long term support. Nespresso also finds it very important that they not only provide the customer with exquisite coffee, but also that the used cups get recycled properly. This is done by partnering up with local recycling companies around the world. Nespresso shares information with them on how to recycle aluminum, which provides these companies with the possibility to recycle garbage other than Nespresso cups better.