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The How-tos of Customer Experience
Author: Jeannie Walters
July 31, 2008
“Enough, already!” We UNDERSTAND that Customer Experience matters for all sorts of reasons. Now, please, somebody tell us what to do first!”
We recently met with a smart group of corporate executives at a large, successful company. They’ve been exploring all sorts of ways to improve their customer experience. They have dedicated team members, full-time research personnel and investment in strategic planning around CE.
Like many of the executives we work with, they have a clear understanding of why customer experience matters. They get what it influences – retention, cross-sales, loyalty and business success. They also understand when it’s important – attention right now will influence factors in the future. What they’re missing is the HOW.
Part of the how is brutal, unflinching honesty which can hurt. So for all you fearless executives looking to make an impact NOW with customer experience, here’s my advice. I recently wrote an article about the 5 keys to a Successful Customer Experience, which although I have never seen your business, I’ll take from and make some recommendations for you. The assumptions I’m making are:
• You want long-term, profitable and loyal customers who refer other customers to you
• You have a product or service that can be seen as a commodity – and usually is
• Your brand promise, while nice in advertising campaigns, isn’t lived throughout your organization
• Your customers would describe you in all sorts of ways – anywhere from a necessary evil to just plain evil
• When asked about your company, a person on the street may come up with a well-known jingle or slogan, but not much about your actual customer experience
Just to review, the 5 Keys of Customer Experience are:
1. Know Your Best Customers
2. Review Your Customer Communications
3. Listen to All Customers
4. Create Happy and Customer-Centric Employees
5. Reflect Your Brand Values
Ok, so that’s all great, but what should you do first?
Here’s the one thing I would recommend you do today. Now. Right now.
Listen to your customers. Listen to your competitors’ customers. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
There are ample ways to do this.
1. Provide feedback mechanisms. Everywhere a customer looks, they should see you asking. Not asking “are you satisfied”, but “please tell us what you think.” Question customers about employee behavior, not just transactions. “Did someone greet you?” is a better question than “Did you feel welcome?” Then get ready to act on that feedback – quickly. Don’t get bogged down in big ideas with cross-company committees. When you hear a good idea – act on it.
2. Eavesdrop on call center calls for the sole purpose of listening as a customer. How would you feel? How would you answer those questions? Did the company representative do whatever he or she could to make the call exceptional?
3. Watch social media. Customers talk. Do some searches, join the groups and pay attention. You can even ask the group directly for feedback. Trust me, they’ll tell you.
Armed with this knowledge, you can conquer the world. Don’t get bogged down with years of research to tell you about things in the past. Act now and act fast.
There is a time and place for research, committees and long-term solutions. We love companies who look long-term. But we have seen way too many companies drown in their own bureaucracy before taking just one baby step to improve. Don’t let that be your company.
p.s. Need help with step 1 or step 101? Email me at Jeannie.walters@voxinc.com and let’s talk.
That’s a Wrap
Author: Jeannie Walters
July 21, 2008
In celebration of World Usability Day, I kicked off my Woman v. Machine last November 8th. Since then I’ve spent the past nine months testing and exploring the self-service world. My Woman v. Machine experiment has taken me to exotic locales such as the Jewel supermarket check-out counter, the White Hen deli and the American Airlines kiosk. This has certainly been an interesting and eye-opening experience. So what have I learned about this industry? What are the pros and cons of self-service? Will or can machines really replace human beings? Here are my thoughts, recommendations and predictions.
The Pros
There’s no doubt the convenience factor of self-service machines is huge. While I don’t consider myself anti-social, for some things it really is nice to just go up to a machine, punch in a couple orders and get my money, pay for my gas or print my boarding pass. These are self-service machines I’ve used for years and feel comfortable and familiar with. I enjoy the sense of control and self sufficiency I get from using kiosks to perform these tasks and I like knowing what to expect – the process is consistent and nearly second nature. From a business perspective I can see that using kiosks for these types of tasks saves money. After all, does it really make sense to pay someone to punch my name into a machine and hand me a boarding pass when I can easily and quickly do it myself?
The Cons
If only every machine were so easy and intuitive to use. The truth is, self-service works a lot better for some things than others and some machine experiences are designed a whole lot better than others. Take the White Hen deli kiosk. Initially, it is confusing and frustrating to the user. The design was poor - I wasn’t sure what to click, what was going to end up on my sandwich, or what to do after my order was “complete.” I watched other customers stumble through the process and look equally confused, so I knew it wasn’t just me. The fact is poorly designed self-service machines, or self service machines employed in ways we’re not familiar with, can really be frustrating. After all, if something isn’t clear I can’t ask the machine a question. Most machines don’t have a “help” option and, because these machines are designed to replace human beings, there’s rarely anyone within earshot to help you troubleshoot. When I encounter a problem with one of these machines I feel completely helpless and angry. After all, this cold and impersonal little machine is staring me down, not allowing me to do what I need to do, but also not giving me any help or options.
Recommendations
Whether you love them or hate them, self service machines are here to stay. Businesses realize the cost saving advantages these machines offer and plan to expand their use in a variety of ways and industries. Given my experiences, I have a few recommendations for improvements.
1. First, incorporate “help” options into the process. Either trigger the help option to notify an actual human being or, when appropriate, give the customer a phone number to call. At the very least, help links as part of the application or helpful instructions close by should be part of the design. Nothing turns a customer off more than apathy. Not providing a way to answer questions or to provide assistance is a major negative of the self service industry.
2. Second, make these machines more intuitive. Employ better design by limiting the number of clicks and use of graphics and pictures unless they actually serve a purpose – otherwise they only confuse users. Also, provide clear directions and indicators as to “what to do next.”.
3. Third, make these machines more personal and human-like – ironic I know. Have them say or spell hello, thank you and goodbye. In some cases it may be nice or make sense to incorporate more human-like qualities such as voice activation and give customers more language options. I live in Chicago where there is a large Polish-speaking population, but the only language options I’ve ever seen are English and Spanish.
And the Jeannie Factors
1. Cleanliness – Provide hand sanitizer and screen wipes and please make sure these machines get cleaned - preferably every day.
2. Feeling Secure – Make sure areas around these machines are well-lit and have an alarm option to signal for help when something goes wrong. In many cases, users are asked to provide personal information, insert a credit card and/or collect cash. It’s easy to feel vulnerable.
3. Convenience – Make sure the number and location of these machines meets the needs and expectations of your customer-base.
4. Environmental Factors – Provide better signage and clear directions for usage. Also, consider the actual physical space around the kiosks. In some cases, it feels as if they were shoved into a floor plan without thought to personal space, line queuing or guiding the user to the next physical space–like the checkout counter or security line.
What’s next? …
So where is this industry headed? As more businesses realize the cost-saving benefits of self-service, we’re sure to see more and more choosing to employ machines over employees. Soon customers will be seeing self-service kiosks at their favorite fast food establishments and retail stores. Kiosks also provide more opportunity for tie-in purchases for consumers, such as buying auto insurance at a car dealership or paying your utility bill where you buy light bulbs. Retail is full of ways to leverage these types of connections. Buying golf clubs at the local sporting goods store? Arrange your tee time and pay your greens fee at the handy kiosk nearby. Buying some hair products at the local beauty supply store? Don’t forget to schedule a haircut at your favorite salon via the kiosk in the aisle. The security limitations at airports create even more opportunities. Being able to use a kiosk to order toiletries upon arrival would make security lines a bit easier.
Stay tuned, we’re sure to see a lot of new and innovative uses for self-service machines as we continue on the voyage of becoming a self-service nation.
