Are You Aligned on Your Customer Experience?

The next time you are in a meeting with colleagues or heads of the other departments in your company, try this fun exercise!

Have everyone around the table take a minute and jot down the three words that come to their minds that best describe your company’s customer experience. Now share!

The customer experience is built across every touch point that spans the entire customer lifecycle. Yet in most cases, organizations are functionally aligned with each focusing on delivering a great experience from their area. Sounds like a recipe for success, right?

But what if the first two examples from the staff are “ease of onboarding” and “no hassle service”? Are these two definitions in alignment with each other? Certainly they both stand alone as good goals to have for your customer experience.

So then I sign up for your service, put in a user name and password, and immediately begin using the product. How easy was that! But then the first time I have a question and call for support, I spend the first 10 minutes of my call giving my name, where I’m located, what industry I’m in, the size of my company, etc. to the Customer Support rep. In this scenario, the delivery on one definition of the optimal customer experience torpedoed the other.

Innovation of products and services is all well and good, but first be clear on the customer experience you intend to deliver. Alignment across your management team is a critical first step!

Let The Domino's Fall

What’s the value of accepting feedback if you don’t do anything with it?

The local Domino’s Pizza franchise owner in my area took the time to send me coupons with a personalized message on the back:

“Hi, I’m Hank XXXX and I am the local owner of your Domino’s Pizza. At Domino’s Pizza we strive to be the best quality pizza with the best service & delivery. If we are not living up these expectations or you have any suggestions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call me at 5xx-5xx-2xx7 and I’d be happy to personally listen and help if needed.”

Well, after the debacle I had trying to order two pizzas for delivery from one of Hank’s stores, I decided to give Hank a call. Wasn’t surprised when I got Hank’s voicemail (it was after 6pm), and I took the time to clearly articulate what a terrible experience it was trying to order delivery from his store. I left my name, phone number, and the date and time I called.

That was two days ago and I haven’t heard word one from Hank….

Isn’t it funny how Domino’s listened to their customers talk about how awful their pizza was, then took that feedback and made significant changes to their product. And I’ll be the first to tell everyone reading this that the new pizza is good, really good! But unfortunately, feedback only goes so far with Domino’s owners like Hank. He’s betting that his new and improved product will keep his customers coming back.

Well you know what, this one won’t be!