If you’re thinking “you lost me at ‘economist’” then we are kindred spirits. It’s not my thing. But he was powerful in his predictions, and I’ve been thinking about the discussion ever since. I admit, when he first began speaking about 2011 and the future, I was growing uncomfortable. What about NOW? What about TODAY?

But his focus was on beyond. What happens beyond Chicago, beyond the United States, beyond 2011, beyond this economic turmoil in which we’ve been immersed.
It’s so tempting to think short-term. So many organizations are focused on the immediate realities of our world today. Even the “unsinkable” companies of past generations are looking at how to make the next payroll; how to pay off the latest debt; how to cut the costs FAST.

When it comes to customer experience, it’s easy to fall into short-term thinking. Here are some examples:

• Promotion without strategy – customers can smell desperation and often exploit it. Know your limits and understand your desired pay-off before promoting something too quickly. (KFC!)
• Talking without listening – Executives who decide what to say to customers without talking to them first will have a hard time appealing to them. (MotrinMoms learned this the hard way.)
• Sacrificing current, loyal customers for the sake of acquiring new customers – AT&T recently retreated on their original iPhone policy in response to the outcry from current customers.
• Finally – this one is a personal favorite – treating social media as the end-all of customer communications. Social media is a fabulous tool, as I discuss here, but it’s just that – a tool. It’s part of a larger strategy of connecting with customers in powerful ways to naturally create loyalty and retention. If there is no larger strategy at work, social media will be a way to possibly connect with a segment of customers, and that’s only if it’s executed well. If not, it’s just another tool being underutilized.

So, as hard as it is, I believe we all have to start looking at beyond. Take a minute, map out where you want to go with your experience strategy, and then take the steps to get there. I feel better already.

So I’ve been thinking about tyranny lately.

It’s typical for a tyrant to host “fair and free” elections, and then simply adjust the results to proclaim victory. Hello, Iran.

This got me thinking…how many companies are actually tyrants when it comes to how they treat their customers?

According to Wikipedia, a tyrant, in the classic sense, is a harsh and cruel ruler who places his or her own interests or the interests of a small group over the best interests of the general population which the tyrant governs or controls. How is this different from those companies that exhibit the following behavior when dealing with their customers?

1.       Your Mine Until I Say You’re Not Mine

Cell phone companies are easy to pick on in this category. They require customers to sign up for contracts for coverage which are impossible to get out of without big fees. Often, the contracts for coverage outlast the phones themselves. The customer has to choose between 3 totally undesirable options:

·         Buy a new phone at a huge cost and play out the remainder of the contract.

·         Extend the contract so the phone is reasonably priced, but only by committing to more time with a company that doesn’t care.

·         Leave the carrier for another with big fees for leaving and no rewards for loyalty.

This is essentially a big ol’ “Screw You; We Got You” to the customer.

2.       Now That You’re Mine, I Need to Find a Better Model (of YOU)

Just like Henry in England grew tired of his wives and looked to upgrade, companies seem to think if they hang on to you, they can treat the next customer better and you won’t care. The latest example of this is the new iPhone debacle. Current AT&T customers will pay (a lot) more than those who just walk in the door.  The Twitterverse has been abuzz with this fact – causing major customer dissatisfaction…even petitions circulating around.

3.       We Can Change Expectations. Customers Will Have To Deal With It.

It seems some companies are interested in finding loopholes – or worse – just changing the rules of engagement without warning or concern for customers.  Retail is particularly notorious for this type of behavior.  For example, a store proudly displays a banner announcing “Double Coupons All Week!” and then doesn’t display the fine print there is a limit of 3 or 5. So the very customer who made a special trip to the store for the double coupons feels deceived that only 3 of her 10 were doubled. 

Should we even talk about the airlines? How many expectations have they changed in the last few years? No wonder customers are miserable.

Unfortunately, I believe that tyranny as part of the customer experience is the norm more than the exception. The irony is that those companies who decide to be above the tyranny are the ones who are building loyalty, creating great customer experiences, and showing results to prove it.

Yes, Southwest Airlines recently lost their long streak of consecutive profitable quarters. Compared to the other airlines, Southwest has consistently outperformed them. Southwest has made a business of treating people well – and exceeding expectations.

Zappos is also a company known for their unbelievable customer service. Their liberal return policy – up to 365 days after purchase – is just one reason many customers shop with them.

There are ways to serve the company’s leadership and stockholders without sacrificing customers.  So I say…END TYRANNY NOW!

And yet some companies are innovating right now. Here’s a sampling of how some of them are working on the customer experience (and action you can take) TODAY.

1. Take one small step. A client of ours is focusing on their e-commerce strategy. With limited resources, they are making small changes to their e-commerce process to ensure customers have a better, faster checkout process. This has led to improved conversion, cross-sell and up-sell numbers via the web site.

2. Unite! One organization asked us to come in and rally the troops around customer experience. Summer is their big season, so we are helping every person at the organization - from the CEO to the janitorial staff - understand their place within the customer experience. It’s helped them create a common language and improve their own service standards.

3. Focus on the future. One client in a very hard-hit industry is creating a 3-year plan to get ready for the future. Dabbling in new ways to connect with customers, testing theories, and gathering feedback, they’re able to set the stage for success instead of stagnate where they are.

4. Communicate. Many industries have been hit hard, resulting in difficult times for customers and employees. The focus right now for a client in such an industry is on engaging their employees to deliver a superior customer experience. How? By implementing ways to stay connected through dialogue and communication that’s honest, compelling and relevant. They’re asking employees to celebrate each other and their little victories in new ways.  Engagement is up and customers are remaining loyal, even through bad news cycles.

These aren’t costly, cumbersome projects. These are lean and flexible in response to the times we’re in. Anything you can take away here to get started? Let me know.

This morning I saw a charge I didn’t recognize, so I called Bank of America and spoke to an extremely helpful fraud claims rep.  She immediately identified the claim with no help from me.  “Are you calling about the $14.95 charge on April 21^st?”

Yep!

She told me some things that shocked me. 

(1)    It’s not technically fraud.  YES - I didn’t authorize the charge.  But, what most likely happened was that I bought something from Company A that sold my credit card number to Company B who started charging me monthly for a service that I knew nothing about.  And, I technically authorized the charge by doing business with Company A.

(2)    She gets calls reporting these kinds of charges every single day.

(3)    She told me that if I called the company and asked for a refund of all charges, they would immediately give them to me because, “They know you didn’t ask for their services.”

(4)    She advised me to ask them which company gave them my credit card information so that I can be cautious when dealing with that company in the future.  This kind of charge happened to her once, and it was Best Buy that sold her card number. 

(5)    All this is legal.

So, I called the company, told them I wanted all my money back and no future charges.  They folded immediately and gave me the refund.  They told me it was YourCableStore.com that gave them my number.  (I bought a stereo headphone adapter from them a month ago.)  And they sent me an oddly delightful cancellation confirmation email:

The irony of this situation is that even though my “membership experience” was based on what I feel are duplicitous practices, it was much easier to resolve the situation with them than it was to cancel my AOL membership, or my 24 Hour Fitness membership.  And, at least their exit communication was well written and even gave me the opportunity to provide them with “comments or suggestions.”  (I remember my AOL confirmation email as essentially saying, “You are dead to us.”)

The real losers in this scenario are the companies that are getting my business honestly with their right hand and quietly scamming me with their left.  What kind of customer relationship does that build?  Will I ever buy from YourCableStore.com?  No way.  And now even Best Buy is even looking fishy to me, because my friend at BofA warned me.

Happy Customer Loyalty Month!

Through serendipity and a great friend of mine, I lucked into a chance to attend the first two practice rounds of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia last week. If you’re a golfer, I don’t have to tell you that that is an opportunity you don’t check your calendar for; you just go. If you’re not a golfer, well, congratulations.

The Masters is a special tournament, and Augusta National is a special place. You get that sense of history and tradition on television, but to go there is to truly feel the “experience” in the best sense of the word.

There are no corporate logos at the Masters, no sponsor signs on the course, no corporate tents, no ads in the course guidebook you’re handed (for free) on your way in. If you’re hungry, you can buy an egg salad sandwich for $1.50, a Coke for a buck. It’s like, as you step on the course, you’ve walked back in time about 25 years.

The course itself is immaculate, with thousands of blooming azaleas, dogwoods, 150 year-old elms, and Magnolias everywhere on the course and around the low-key plantation-style clubhouse.

Given the prestige and the rich tradition of the tournament, they have no trouble selling tickets, which they cap for both practice rounds and the tournament. There’s a lottery to grab the practice round passes, and they closed the waiting list for actual tournament passes in 2000 (9 years ago!), and still haven’t needed to open it back up.

So it makes me wonder. As we talk about customer experience, and what companies should focus on to create a memorable, positive one, what can we learn from Augusta National and the Masters. I think it’s two things.

First: Commit. At Augusta, they are committed to providing both players and spectators with the very best, traditional golf tournament in the country. To do that, they say no to quick money from additional sponsors, they leave money on the table by not increasing passes to an exorbitant amount, and they keep the number of spectators to a manageable number (again, bypassing more quick money) so everyone can move around and see their favorite players on the most famous holes. At the same time, they spare no expense in preparing and maintaining an immaculate course, tweaking it each year to make it challenging for the players, but retaining all the memorable aspects of individual holes, creating a sense of nostalgia.

Second: It All Matters. At Augusta, when you buy a sandwich, it’s wrapped in green plastic. The reason is so that, should you commit the cardinal sin of dropping it on the hallowed ground, it won’t be a distraction to the players or patrons, as it will blend into the background. That’s just one of the countless details that the members of Augusta National take into account to assure that each year, the tournament experience delivered is top shelf. They understand that the experience is made up of everything. It’s not just which players are entered, or the tee setups, or the traffic patterns to enter the course. It’s those things certainly, but it’s everything else as well.

As you think about your customer experience, do you understand what your company is really trying to accomplish? Are you willing to commit to the vision of your customer experience? And then, do you take into account all aspects of the experience, and how each might impact the customer’s perception of the experience?

If not, you have some work to do.

Follow Bill on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bill1vox

April is Customer Loyalty Month!

Here at Vox, we talk a great deal about how simple improvements to the customer experience can increase customer loyalty and therefore profitability.  Giving people a personal touch is often the key in creating the kind of relationships that will win a loyal customer.

What simple things do you do to keep your customers coming back for more? 

How do you build relationships with them? 

How do you repair relationships that may be on rocky ground?

Leave a comment with your tips on building customer loyalty!

Now, read the article about 10,000 young Moldovans that mobilized using Twitter as their media center of choice to protest against Moldova’s Communist leadership on Tuesday. 

Does it surprise you that there are thousands of politically active Moldovans on Twitter?  Maybe not, but it surprised me.  I think I have some assumptions about what kind of person uses Twitter.  The truth is that people from almost every walk of life are tweeting away.

Social Media has become a permanent fixture in the way people communicate with each other.  The sites evolve and formats change, but there is a flexible, seemingly-uncontrollable communication mechanism out there, and if you don’t learn to tap into it, you are wasting an opportunity. 

Read more about Social Media HERE.

According to an article on Chicagobreakingnews.com, “Fifty new computer tourism “kiosks” will be installed throughout O’Hare International Airport” to replace recently laid-off greeters. 

The article emphasizes the economic benefits to the new system.  While it is a sure way to save on expenses, there are other customer issues to explore.

Possible CE Benefits

•          Since these kiosk computers can store an enormous amount of information, customers are more likely to get accurate, up-to-date information
•          Many customers (like me) prefer to use self-help technology than speak to humans (notice the popularity of the grocery store self-check-out)
•          Airports could potentially track the kind of information accessed by users and use that information to create better and more user-friendly communications

Questions to Consider

•          Can these kiosks replace the translation services that greeters formerly provided?  What languages will be offered?
•          How frequently will the information be updated?  Will they use the data gathered to improve future communication?
•          What are the contingencies in case of an emergency situation?
•          What about the environmental design?  Are these kiosks easy to find and use?
•          What if someone requires help or gets stuck?  Is there some personal backup?

Kiosks also pose many concerns that directly affect the customer experience (as Vox President, Jeannie Walters outlines in her Woman vs Machine Blog Series). How clean are they? How secure do users feel?  Where are they located within the building?

The bottom line is that providing more information in a new way can be great, but you can’t just put up a kiosk and assume that everything will be fine.

Follow Peggy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/entrop

Irrational creatures as we are, we don’t remember or recognize the whole of every situation.  When evaluating experiences, we as customers tend to remember just the end result.  This is referred to as the Peak-End Rule.  Our CEO, Bill Cusick, dives into that and other customer experience concepts at length in his upcoming book: All Customers Are Irrational. Understanding What They Think, What They Feel, and What Keeps Them Coming Back.  (We’re very excited about it!)

Case in point: my recent experience with the Park District. While I’m a fan of their camps, swim lessons and programs for little ones, their registration process is abysmal.  So, while I may be an elated customer at the end of a particularly well-coached season of T-ball, I start the whole process over and remember why I don’t trust the “front office” experience. This registration process is enough to caution friends about.

Here’s a snapshot of what the registration process is like for one harried and frantic mom (me):

Step One: Try to remember my online registration information, which is not intuitive or easy.

Step Two: Go through entire online registration process, which is not user-friendly or focused in any way. It is also difficult to determine success until well past payment.

Step Three: Curse the lost 20 minutes of registration since for some reason it was UNSUCCESSFUL!

Step Four: Find the phone number on the printed catalog (since it’s not easy to find on the site).

Step Five: Call the number to discuss the situation with someone at the office. She informs me there is nothing they can do since they can’t see anything on their end.  I’ll just have to wait and see.

Step Six: Miss the camp lottery deadline since “wait and see” resulted in no new information.

Step Seven: Find out I need to re-register completely and have missed the deadline.  Every second counts to get in a remaining spot, or on the waiting list.

Step Eight: Discover the online system is down - AGAIN - and have no option but to fill out the form and fax to the number.

Step Nine: Receive confirmation and realize my registration numbers were not entered correctly. So filling out the days/times along with the program numbers was a moot point - the data entry was only concerned with the program numbers and mistyped my 7 as a 1.

Step Ten: Call the number and explain the situation, only to find out the class is full and there is a long waiting list. Settle for a much less desirable time and become #5 on the waiting list for the original class.

Part of my frustration with the process is the lack of empathy or understanding for my frustration. I have tried to follow the rules, only to become victim to their available tools not working.  The lack of customer-focus in the beginning of the process sets up a frustrated customer from the start.

What could they do to solve this?

1. Understand the typical customer. Develop personas so those dealing directly with customers understand where they’re coming from and what their situations are. Most moms like me are focused on getting our kids involved in great activities and making time to do this in between work, family, school, friends, etc. We’re busy. The #1 factor for us as customers is convenience.
2. Walk through high-stress processes, like a time-sensitive registration, so those supporting the process can really get it. If something isn’t working, find alternatives!
3. Make the online experience user-friendly and intuitive. Small changes could make a big difference. It’s time to call an outside resource (like Vox) who can help prioritize which changes will have the best impacts.
4. Finally, ask customers to help! Get customers involved with web testing, phone support scripting and advisory boards.  Your customers want to help!

The bookends of any situation are critical in helping us define them. Let’s hope the camp sessions will end on a high of awesome proportions. This will inevitably help me look back and forget (some) of the registration nonsense.

Phew! It’s only March and I’m already exhausted from summer swim classes!

Moral of the story: EVERY interaction defines your customer experience. How well do you know yours?

Follow Jeannie on Twitter at  www.twitter.com/jeanniecw