Are You Examining Your Customer Experience From All Angles?

Today’s customer is hyper-sensitive and not overly loyal. With 43% of consumers reporting a poor customer service experience prevents them from making a repeat purchase, there is little margin for error in the modern marketplace. 

Some elements of customer experience are obvious, such as first impressions, online presence and purchase transactions. However, others may not be so apparent. 

Let’s explore some of those drivers of experience so you can examine critical moments in your customer journey. 

Processes

The Savannah Bananas are thriving. The founder and owner, Jesse Cole, has been very up front about wanting to control everything about the brand. While much of it is good business, I do wonder if the ticketing process has become too cumbersome. Customers can enter one ticket lottery for the year. If they are caught making multiple entries in the same year, their entries are deleted. Further, customers can either win the right to purchase tickets outright in the lottery or go into a secondary group should the first group decline their tickets, but they have a very limited time to claim and purchase their tickets. What happens if you can’t make the game after you’ve purchased the tickets? Cole and company control the resale market as well. While demand is still extremely high for tickets across the nation, what’s the long-term impact on the brand of this process? When the path is winding, long, overly controlling and confusing, customers can lose energy and trust in your brand. Do you have unnecessary steps in your processes? Can the customer see and feel those steps? Do those steps add to potential errors or delays? Could steps be eliminated to make the experience more seamless?

Handoffs

Disney Parks and Resorts are still the golden standard in their respective industries. I’ve booked student and leadership team development trips to Walt Disney World for nearly 20 years through Disney Group Travel, yet I still don’t have a great understanding of the handoffs from one cast member to another for that group booking and planning process. A simple flow chart graphic with names, titles, contact information and roles would instantly solve that problem. How many times do you hand the customer off from one associate to another? Are the handoffs clear to them? Do they understand the timing and role of each person involved? 

Paths (Decisions)

I’ve loved Southwest Airlines for decades because of the simplicity of its system. Coupled with highly engaged, friendly and fun employees, Southwest really showed the LUV to its customers while keeping things as simple as possible. The new Southwest isn’t so simple. There are many decisions to be made regarding fare type, luggage, seat choices, boarding group and even loyalty program and points levels. While people love choice, those decisions need to be intuitive, limited and simple. Otherwise, you overwhelm and frustrate your customer. Are your paths straightforward and fairly limited in scope? Do you effectively communicate the options? Are there clear delineations that fit various customer types?  

Consider how your processes, handoffs and paths impact your customer experience. Are there steps that are in place for the convenience of the company and employees? Do they create unnecessary frustration, confusion and delays? It’s more important now than ever before to streamline and provide clarity around your customer touchpoints and journey to provide a positive experience.