When a company truly cares for its customers … customers know it. They can feel it. You can’t fake it. You can’t collect surveys and never take action or never thank customers for their input. That isn’t genuine.

Let me tell you about one company with sincere customer empathy.

I recently visited an office of Intuit outside Dallas. I was struck by how much their culture and orientation is to really walk in their customers’ shoes. Their empathy entails, “Taking on our customers’ pain and making it our own until we can find a resolution.”

Talk is cheap and many companies claim they care about customers. Intuit truly does.

They are using many of the best practices of customer experience such as:

• Intuit has a closed loop on customer feedback. That means they call customers within 24-48 hours if they gave a low Net Promoter Score. Every customer! I got to listen in on one of these calls. And when they call customers who experienced an issue, they listen, they care, they empathize and they find ways to restore the customer and resolve issues (even if it means connecting with others inside the organization that will help the customer).
• Intuit uses ethnographic research to understand what their customers’ lives are like. They go into offices and homes and spend a day – or even a week with customers! And who goes to do that “research?” It’s the people who designed the product the customer is using (or at least someone who has direct impact and can make changes based on customer learning). Awesome! Intuit knows surveys are one type of customer feedback, but to bring the empathy and emotion to life, you need to sit down with customers face to face. I love this approach!
• Intuit cares about employees. This is genuine too. They know that happy employees help generate happy customers. Their employee care seems to know no bounds. Intuit offers its employees $600 a year to spend on wellness – like a gym membership, hiring a personal trainer or some other benefit. Employees also get 32 hours a year of paid time to volunteer with non-profits. Plus, they celebrate successes of employees with a Wall of Fame. Literally a wall for innovative employee (their photo and their idea is posted prominently in the office corridors) plus a celebration dinner. The list goes on from here.

(If you are a CXPA member I encourage you to get online and check out the content I’ll be posting from my visit – see the CX Tools section.)

When Intuit is asked if they ever make decisions based on financials alone, they said no. They know that short term decisions don’t build long-term growth. Customers must be considered in addition to operational and financial considerations. In fact, Intuit realizes that a slower economy is the perfect time to invest in customer experience and stand out from the pack. That means you’re ahead of others as the economy recovers. Smart!

To clarify that headline, it is mostly Amazon Prime that has ruined me for life. I love buying online: it saves time, gas, and money. And I love it when online orders are delivered quickly. That’s what Amazon Prime offers – every order arrives in 2 days (sometimes in even less time!).

How did this ruin me? I want online purchases from other companies to be just as fast. Do other companies offer their own version of Prime? No, it doesn’t look like it. Can’t customers (like me) just wait for packages or pay more for premium shipping? They can, but they don’t want to.

I bring up this point because your direct and indirect competitors might be “teaching” your customers to have new or different expectations. Are you keeping tabs? Could you offer your own version of Amazon Prime (or an idea that is different from the rest of your industry but something customers might/do love)? Perhaps.

Here’s the impact of the expectations set by other companies – even those outside your marketplace or industry. When an Amazon Prime customer orders from other company websites, his experience might look something like this.

1) The customer’s patience about when the order will be shipped and delivered is lower. That was my experience when I ordered a laptop from Costco.com. The laptop was made in China and then shipped from there. It took 20 days from order date until it arrived. That is already a long time and I’m sorry to say that Costco didn’t send any updates at all between my initial order and delivery. (I’m a huge advocate of Costco and they let me down.) Painful! I checked in online every few days to see my order status. That is an experience that says, “Don’t order from us again.” If it wasn’t for their return policy, which gives the customer a grace period three times longer than any other retailer on laptops, I wouldn’t order there again.

Another of my favorite companies has what I perceive as slow delivery – LLBean.com. Even though I know their products are traveling 3,000 miles to reach me, regular delivery arrives about a week later. Even that feels like an eternity when 1-2 day delivery is the norm for Amazon Prime. But I’m a New Englander and LL Bean is in my blood. So I put up with the delay.

2) The customer consciously or subconsciously begins to compare the delivery time of all online purchases to amazon. Amazon’s website has remarkable ease of use / usability, which is something that customers now expect from every site they visit. So if you’re website isn’t easy to you and your shipping is slower than a few days – customers begin to have a negative experience with your company right from the start.

Thanks to Amazon Prime, there are very few other e-commerce companies that I would keep buying from given the shipping delays. Yes, perhaps that seems unreasonable, but customers aren’t always reasonable – you know that!

I hope this blog inspires you to think about something new you can create to help customers fall in love with you. It’s what Jeanne Bliss would call a “Customer Magnet” – what pulls customers to you? (Read her blog on that topic.)

Today, my laptop prompted me to install a new version of Java. I usually go ahead and just do it – you need Java. I was starting my day and going through email when I saw the prompt to install the downloaded Java update. Problem is, they wanted me to install the Ask.com toolbar on my browser and make Ask.com my default search engine. Um, no.

Here’s the trade off in the customer experience.

First part:

• If customers notice the pre-checked box to install this new toolbar they can choose to uncheck the box. But why do they have to? It’s a crazy big assumption that customers would want this. Those who notice it and realize it is really not something they want (the majority of those who notice it) will be frustrated at the extra step. Even a tiny check box slows you down.
• If customers don’t notice the pre-checked box and later see a new toolbar just appear in their browser and now have their entry page be ask.com, they’re going to feel irritated.

Second part:

• Is Java making money off this offering from Ask.com? Is there a benefit to them that outweighs the two aforementioned options that annoy customers?

One of the biggest reason companies struggle to deliver the best customer experience is because they aren’t working across departments. Perhaps the sales department wants one thing and marketing wants another thing. It’s likely they don’t know what the other group is doing and how and where it’s impacting the customer experience. That makes customer experience success impossible.

For example, at Java, the marketing folks might have made a partnership with Ask.com that they want to leverage. They are getting something in return. But is anyone measuring the downside of how this partnership is being offered (the pre-checked box) and what it is doing to customer perception of their brand?

Thinking through the full customer experience means walking in your customers’ shoes. Go ahead try and download that new java with the Ask.com toolbar and default page to your web browser. Now how long does it take to remove those? Why do this to customers?

What stories can you tell like this? Share your stories in the comment section below.

(You can read part 1 on knowing your customer here.)

I recently called the 1-800 number on my American Express card to inform them I’d be traveling out of the country. I wanted to be sure that overseas charges wouldn’t be flagged as suspicious. I depend on this credit card and didn’t want the company to think my credit card number had been stolen.

To my surprise, they delivered some good news – I never have to call and tell them when I’m traveling. They told me they know their customers may travel out of country and they are always monitoring card use. They went on to say that they will make sure there are no issues anywhere and anytime I travel.

When you think of Amex, it makes sense to assume their customers are travelers – for business or personal reasons. This is a reasonable assumption since their customers pay an annual fee to have the card and thus may be more likely to afford travel. (My Amex card is actually fee-free because I’m a Costco member – I love Costco!) This tells me that Amex really knows their customers and what would make their lives easier. Eliminating the need for customers to call in to notify Amex about travel plans is a nice time saver.

I’m a BIG proponent of the strategy: “Make your customer’s life easier.” When a company thinks from that perspective, they can make smarter investments that earn customer loyalty.

Here’s an interesting related statistic from a recent Oracle report – 82% of people describe [customer] experiences as taking too much effort. HELLO!! Talk about an opportunity for your company to stand out and earn more customer love.

Wouldn’t you love a company that made your life easier? I would. “Make customers’ lives easier” is a great mantra to use when considering every aspect of your business operations.

When a company has a policy that requires all new customers be put on auto-renew at the time of purchase (based on annual use/ contract) they are telling customers: “We do what’s best for us, so there!”

I am mad at the magazine Real Simple because they are following this practice. Their online subscription form forces you into auto renew. I imagine you’d have to call them to get off that program. That is just unkind to customers. Why assume customers want to continue a relationship with you year after year? Yes, I know magazines are in a dying print medium and need recurring revenue, but trapping customers doesn’t create value in the long term. Instead, this practice creates backlash for those who want out or don’t want a never-ending relationship (like me).

Auto renew is also a common tactic for software products. Kudos to Norton Internet Security for offering a kinder alternative. When I recently needed to renew my Norton Internet Security, they at least gave me the opportunity to un-check the box that indicates you want to auto-renew. I’m glad they allow customers to opt out (even though I’m sure many customers could miss that nuance).

Customers want flexibility; can you find one that doesn’t? You are required to allow customers to opt out of your email newsletters, it should apply here too. I say this because angering customers only ends up lowering customer value and creates negative word of mouth. When you consider boxing customers in like this, please consider the long-term damage. For example, if Norton had boxed me in, I would have chosen a competitive product – there are plenty available. And in fact, I still haven’t subscribed to Real Simple because I’m mad about their approach. Maybe I won’t subscribe at all.

Think long-term about customer value – believe it or not, customers are a scarce resource! You don’t want to scare them away for good.

I’m impressed! I got a call from the Hyatt Harborside Boston (photo is the view of the Boston skyline from this hotel) after I filled out a feedback survey about a recent visit. It’s quite rare for a customer to hear back from a company after they complete a survey. While this is a best practice activity, it is not as common as it should be.

The term for this action is often called “closed loop” – it means closing the loop back with customers who provide feedback.

I’m a fan of any company that can make this part of their customer listening or survey strategy.

Thinking about listening, you need:

1. A listening strategy – where/ how do you listen to customers and at what points during their interactions with your company? Make sure you are listening at the most important parts of the customer experience.
2. All surveys need to be well-written so that the responses are actionable and the survey length doesn’t put off customers.
3. Survey results need to be reviewed. Listen to what customers share with you.
4. Follow up with customers to learn more about their feedback – if they are willing to be contacted. This is an opportunity to apologize for any issues or disruptions the customer experienced.
5. Let customers know how their feedback informed your business actions or decision making. If you change a product, improve your service delivery or even just make invoices easier to read based on customer feedback – tell customers you listened and responded.

Let’s get back to the Hyatt story. The front desk manager called me to apologize for issues I had during my stay – there were room issues, noise issues and comments about disrepair of some areas of the hotel. Not only did he say sorry and listen to my further comments, he did something I didn’t expect. He offered to refund one night of my stay. That might be because I’m a regular customer – I’m not sure.

At the end of our call, I asked him what their policy was like for contacting customers to follow up on surveys. (I’m always curious.) He explained that customers who had issues during their stay and were willing to be contacted about their comments, receive a call within 48 hours. Plus, they have a mechanism that if the front desk doesn’t call the customer in this time frame, the hotel manager is notified. Smart. A bit of checks and balances and accountability can help with follow through.

It may not sound like fun to call unhappy customers, but what you can learn and what you can do to repair the relationship is incredibly valuable. I’m sure you’ve heard that a customer who incurs a problem with your company and then has it corrected has a greater chance of becoming an advocate for your company. I told the Hyatt that I’d be blogging about this because I was so impressed with their listening and the genuine caring attitude expressed on the call.

Create more loyal customers by calling them and just listening. You don’t have to say much, just apologize and let them talk. That’s all. This shows you care and shows you honor the customer and the time they took to answer your survey.

Take a look at your listening strategy. How can you include follow up and “close the loop” with customers?

At long last, I have discovered a company that knows how to use Groupon to their advantage. Too many businesses have fallen into the trap of getting “new customers” via Groupon at the expense of losing out on revenue from the discount and then perhaps never seeing those customers again.

Want to know a good way to use Groupon to your advantage? Then you will appreciate looking at The Body Shop strategy.

At the end of year, The Body Shop knows many people are looking to buy and give gifts. And many of those shoppers want a good deal – they want to give a nice gift and get a deal if they can. I’m one of those people. My mom always would buy gifts at the after-Christmas sales for the next holiday or birthday. That’s good ol’ New England thrift!

But I digress. The Body Shop is smart. They use the holiday time to put out Groupons that must be redeemed by December 20. You pay $10 for a $20 Groupon to The Body Shop. That’s a good deal. Those who buy the Groupon then go into store pick up a few items and voila they have some great gifts (for men and women, by the way).

Sure, The Body Shop doesn’t make much if you only spend $20 at the store, but here’s what I’ve observed:

• The staff is trained to be very helpful to Groupon holders – they embrace the shopper, instead of treating them with distain, as often happens with many companies who use Groupon.
• They have priced bundles and deals inside the store to compel the shopper to spend at least $30-$40 to get an even better deal – who can resist? (That entices the shopper to increase his final purchase amount.)
• An additional benefit for The Body Shop: They get shoppers to come into the store and look around and sample their merchandise. The shopper may not be a Body Shop regular (me, again!) but likes their products and knows they are good gifts. While the shopper is there, they may buy something for themself or at least think about returning to the store another time (for a sale that they don’t have to split with Groupon).
• Then there is the gift recipient. The person who receives the gift the shopper bought at The Body Shop uses the product and may enjoy it enough to go back to The Body Shop and buy more or buy something else.

I think this strategy is pure marketing genius. It makes the shopper / gift giver happy and it entices future purchases from the shopper and the gift recipient. What’s better than that?!

I’m grateful to see this thoughtful strategy in place.

Way to go Body Shop — great products made without testing on animals and a smart marketing strategy!

Want to give your customer a great experience? Then get to know them – and, crucially, remember something about them.

The same principle holds true for the success of any social and professional relationship.

This cardinal rule becomes even more crucial when a customer has a problem and needs help.

Unfortunately, there are too many times that customers in distress have to keep telling you who they are. No doubt, you’ve had the experience of calling a customer service line and had to repeat your account number to several different reps when your call gets transferred. That happened to me recently with Time Warner cable and also a credit card company. They want you to first input your account number into the phone system and then repeat it to every rep you speak with. For customers this is like hitting a brick wall. The message it sends is you don’t really want to help them. That’s already the vibe of the “your call is really important to us” type message they hear while waiting for an agent. Customers know that if their call was really important, you would invest more in customer service staff to answer calls faster.

Here’s another example of not knowing your customer. I needed to call to double check whether a service had been disconnected for my recently deceased mom (because she was billed for it after cancelling). Being the web wizard I am, I submitted my inquiry via email (so I didn’t have to call the company during business hours). I filled in the online form and stated my issue. The following day, a sales person from the company called me. The sales rep began launching into a scripted speech about the great deals they had and I had to stop them before they went much further to tell them that my mom had passed on. I explained that I had been trying to check on whether her service has been cancelled. They clearly hadn’t bothered to read the online form I’d submitted. An awful instance of not knowing your customers. Worse, the person I spoke to didn’t care that my mom had passed on – poor form from a health services company!

Customers want you to honor their time and act like a partner. “Know me, know my life,” is what they want. I’m sure many businesses can take more steps to make it easier for customers to do business with them and get support.

Here’s a timely update and good example of that: JetBlue is waiving all their rebooking fees for those with travel impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Now, that is knowing the life of your customer!

Yes, there are ‘reasons’ like safety, regulations and other reasons that you need to confirm that customers are who they say there are. But I’d like to suggest you look at the steps and the effort it takes to get help from your company. Acting like you know a customer shows you value the customer and thus their investment in your company! Don’t take that for granted. You know it’s easier to keep a customer than replace one.

Map out your support and service experiences. Then act like a customer and call your service line and see what it takes to get help in a time of distress.

If you would give that experience a thumbs down, how do you think they feel?

Imagine walking into a hotel room that looks updated and smells fresh and clean. Who doesn’t like that? It’s a rare thing, but that was my experience at the Hampton Inn in Daly City, California. I’d say it was recently renovated, but they had “little touches” that I want to tell you about.

You see this little sticky note? It was on the headboard of the bed. It made me smile. Sure, I love sticky notes, but I LOVE this idea. This sticky note tells customers the “little thing” Hampton Inn did to make sure the room was fresh and clean.

Also, the not so “little thing” of good service was evident at this hotel too. The front desk treated me like a valued guest. For example, they were very friendly, offered to call and schedule a taxi service for me and wanted to know if I needed other help.

Ask yourself: how you can tell your customers about the little things you do to make sure they have a good experience? What do you do to make sure their purchase goes well? To make sure it’s accurate? To make sure it arrives in perfect condition? To make sure it won’t fail? What can you tell them and how can you tell them? This hotel was creative in putting a sticky note in the room right where I’d see it (vs. putting messages on the website or other marketing materials in the room for example).

Consider this key question regardless of your business type or industry – including those in business to business (B2B) companies. Making customers smile can earn you positive word of mouth (like this blog) and have a bottom line impact. Quite simply, I would love to return this hotel next time I’m in San Francisco.

We’ve all been through an experience where a salesperson pressures you into giving them a “10” on a survey. This is the classic car dealership approach. And now AT&T stores are doing it too.

A few weeks ago I went into an AT&T store to get a new phone. My experience was just fine until the end; I was walked to the door by the salesperson who asked me to give him a great rating on his service. That left me with an icky feeling.

When you tie metric goals to reward or recognition, employees naturally want to perform and score well. However, you know some may try to “game the system” – car dealers aren’t the only ones. My point here is not to say employees are bad people. Many people live under the constant pressures to maximize income to help pay for bills at home, put children through school, pay off loans or whatever else.

I’ve have firsthand experience of the pitfalls of employees chasing numbers. When I ran an internal call center, employees were recognized for keeping calls at 2 minutes or less in talk time. Guess what? Employees hung up on customers at the 2 minute mark. That’s why I was hired, to focus on building customer relationships, not chase internal numbers that created customer angst and lowered customer and business value.

All this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use surveys or have metric goals or incent employees to deliver the best service. You should. But, be wise about what metrics you choose and how you tie in reward or recognition. Be wary of metrics that can be gamed at the expense of the customer!