It has certainly been an unusual year, but here at JRNI, we have so much to be grateful for - and our journey in 2020 wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing customers, partners, colleagues, friends, and families! In a year where we brought our offices into our homes and saw our customers adapt to serve their customers like never before, we are truly thankful for everything you did this year!
While things definitely looked different for us in 2020, and it took some time to adjust to our new co-workers (just kidding, they’re PAWsome), we never lost sight of our mission: to help our customers deliver exceptional experiences. In a COVID-19 world, that meant ensuring our customers had a variety of ways to engage with their customers through unique, personalized experiences that provide human-to-human connection. Even if that meant virtually, building strong and meaningful customer relationships was more important than ever this year.
And with that - a lot happened (and changed) in 2020… so let’s take a look at our year in review!
The pandemic hit: adapting to remote business
As COVID-19 rapidly changed our daily lives, employees in all four of our offices around the world - London, Boston, Manchester, NH, and Sydney - packed up and started working remotely. The transition to remote was happening everywhere - and we knew how crucial it was to deliver a solution that allowed our customers to provide remote experiences. We pivoted quickly, and released remote appointments to meet this vital need.
Remote appointments provide businesses the ability to conduct seamless phone and video appointments - giving customers a way to stay connected while also staying safe. From wedding dress consultations to opening a new bank account, the options for remote appointments are endless.
Shortly after the introduction of remote appointments, we launched our full suite of COVID-19 solutions with features to help businesses thrive during COVID-19, including virtual queuing, and virtual events. These features enabled our customers to provide safe and convenient options for their customers - giving them peace of mind during this uncertain time. The onset of the pandemic was the first of many changes this year, and there are likely many more changes coming in the near future. That’s why we will continue to address the ever-evolving needs of our customers and adapt quickly to ensure their success - no matter what comes next!
We released JRNI Analytics
Something we’ve always believed in is the power of data. We know the importance of being able to analyze and measure the success of the one-to-one and one-to-many experiences our customers provide. That’s why we were so excited to introduce JRNI Analytics earlier this year! JRNI Analytics gives customers an easy way to measure ROI, optimize workflow, identify business trends, and improve the customer and staff experience.
With JRNI Analytics, businesses can understand and improve the value of the unique experiences they’re giving their customers - helping them optimize their XRM strategy for continued success.
You can learn more about JRNI Analytics by watching our on-demand webinar, “The analytics of experiences”.
Our world began to reopen
As retail stores and bank branches began to reopen, there were many safety concerns and safety measures to consider!
We knew this was going to be a huge undertaking, so we shared many resources on best practices, including blog posts, webinars, eBooks, and more to help guide our customers during this crucial time. And while many stores and branches have been open again for quite some time, this information will continue to be useful as we navigate into the future - both during and after the pandemic:
- Give your customers a sign (blog)
- How to manage an increase in foot traffic (blog)
- Selling behind a mask: connecting while social distancing (blog)
- Single virtual queues vs. multiple virtual queues: Which is right for your business (blog)
- Capacity management: safety in lower numbers (blog)
Banking tips
- A banking guide - the dos and don’ts of reopening branches (blog)
- 4 things banks and credit unions need to do now to thrive during COVID-19 (webinar)
- Getting back to banking (eBook)
Retail tips
- A guide to retail traffic solutions for stores (blog)
- The retail recovery: how to thrive in COVID-19 (webinar)
- Restarting retail (eBook)
A reopening success story
As one retailer was ramping up to reopen, they knew they needed a solution to manage capacity and provide a seamless and safe experience for their customers. Monkhouse Schoolwear chose JRNI Appointments to safely reopen during COVID-19. Within weeks, JRNI was implemented and helped them manage capacity and flatten the peak curve to keep both customers and staff safe.
Additionally, Monkhouse Schoolwear saw an improvement in the customer experience after implementing JRNI. Monkhouse conducted a customer service ranking survey (net promoter score) during this period and achieved an average score of 90+. This is one of many success stories coming from our amazing customers during this unusual time!
We shared our journey to experiences
A lot has changed over the past twelve years at JRNI. While we started as a solution for appointment scheduling (and still are), we’ve become so much more than that! Having seen many changes in consumer behavior over the years, it became clear to us that appointments were no longer just about appointments. Consumers didn’t want to simply buy a product or a service anymore. They wanted something that they couldn’t get anywhere else - a truly unique, personalized experience. That’s where our experiential relationship management (XRM) platform comes in: helping our customers schedule and manage personalized experiences at scale!
Our CEO, John Federman, shared the full story of our journey to experiences earlier this year!
New research
In 2020, we released our fourth annual research report for the retail industry, as well as a commissioned study from Forrester Consulting to measure the ROI of our platform. Here’s what we found:
Retail
Our retail research revealed a lot about what consumers want both during and after COVID-19. Here are some of our findings:
- 58% of consumers say they’ve shopped online either for the first time or made purchases in new categories for the first time
- 47% of consumers say that the human touch is an integral part of their shopping experience
- 67% of US and 60% of UK consumers say that given the choice, they would prefer to pre-book an appointment to visit a store, rather than waiting in line
- 57% of consumers say they are more likely to book an appointment to visit a store than they were prior to COVID-19
You can learn more by downloading the full research report here: “Rewriting the rules of retail engagement”.
The Total Economic Impact™ of JRNI
Earlier this year, we commissioned Forrester Consulting to measure the ROI of JRNI at a $3B revenue company with over 200 locations. Here are some of the results:
- 143% ROI
- $3.1 million in increased profits from appointments
- 1,676 hours saved per year
- 8x the average order value from appointments versus walk-ins
You can learn more by downloading the full commissioned study here: The Total Economic Impact™ of JRNI.
Virtual culture
While we couldn’t be together in person for the majority of the year, it didn’t stop us from having fun and making some wonderful JRNI memories!
From sharing funny GIFs on Slack to weekly Zoom check-ins, the JRNI team stayed connected through it all. We celebrated several JRNI-versaries and had many virtual events throughout the year, from celebrating Pride with a virtual cook/bake off and educational presentations to celebrating the holidays with a virtual pub.
And well it was certainly an unusual year, we kept Zooming along and working hard to help our customers deliver exceptional experiences! We can’t wait for what’s to come in 2021! And if you want to keep up with what we’re doing in 2021, then follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Cheers!
Pssst... we're hiring! Want to #jointhejrni? Then be sure to check out our open job opportunities!
