We’ve heard the saying that customer loyalty no longer exists. Well, I disagree. Today’s customer is loyal to experiences and not necessarily to businesses. If a business delivers a unique and superior customer experience that aligns with the customer’s value expectations, then, guess what? The customer will be happy and will keep returning…for as long as the experience remains on point.
Customers however, are prepared to be forgiving when the ball is dropped, especially if a business is known for its grandeur in correcting its errors and experience transgressions. One of the most powerful opinion shapers in the customer’s mind, is his or her service recovery experience, with a business. Here are two scenarios that can be used as case studies, when standardizing experience recovery in this country and the wider Caribbean region.
One of the most powerful opinion shapers in the customer’s mind, is his or her service recovery experience, with a business.
Let’s say that you have returned to a supermarket with a bag of potatoes, and you explain to the first frontline employee whom you meet, that you bought the potatoes an hour before and on arriving home, you discovered that half of the potatoes were rotten. You request a refund, while handing over the bill. How delightful would it be if the employee apologizes, takes a quick look at the bill, agrees to the refund and offers to give you another bag of potatoes free of charge, plus a small hamper for your trouble?
Picture another scenario at a restaurant, where the meal that you ordered was unappealing, you were extremely disappointed and opted to send it back to the kitchen. In this case, the meal was presented exactly as it had been described on the menu. You accept fully, that you made the selection and therefore, would have had to bear the full responsibility for the risk associated with your choice. But how would you react if the server, decided on-spot, to execute a spectacular save of the day, by offering to replace your meal with another, complete with dessert, free of charge, plus a voucher for a complimentary meal during your next visit?
Chances are, that in both cases, you would be thrilled, and the specific experience will be imprinted as a core memory of either the supermarket’s, or the restaurant’s approach to making customers smile. There would be three reasons for your elation.
Let me point out here, that, going the “extra” mile for the customer, is no longer an act of distinction.
Firstly, in both cases, the employees resolved your issues on-spot, in one case, with a simple validation of your bill, without requiring upline authorization and in another, with an immediate meal replacement. Secondly, the two employees not only felt, but acted on their sense of empathy for your situation and thirdly, there was not only compensation, but reparation for any distress caused by each incident. In one case, reparation for hunger pangs and having to revisit the supermarket and in the other case, disappointment in anticipation of a delightful gastronomic experience.
Let me point out here, that, going the “extra” mile for the customer, is no longer an act of distinction. Going the distance is the new differentiator, as we’ve seen, where recovery encounters need to pair compensation with reparation and be executed on-spot, by the first responder.
By the way, these are not fictitious scenarios, they do happen. They can be found in those businesses that are serious about pairing behavioural science, customer pleasing actions, situational intelligence and ultimately, brand experience ambassadors, who understand how to drive experience loyalty.
Compensation is about equal value, whilst reparation is about extra value.
When curating the customer experience in a situation where the ball is dropped during a transaction or interaction, compensation is no longer sufficient to maintain a healthy customer relationship. The business will need to make reparation. Compensation is about equal value, whilst reparation is about extra value. Generally, compensation delivers equal value for money spent by the customer, reparation, on the other hand, delivers the extra value to cover the extended aftereffects of the ball dropping. These would include the deep disappointments, the change of plans occasioned by the situation and the emotional distress felt by the customers. We know the feelings of deflation, when we have our hearts set on a particular outcome, only to have the experience go south.
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a new generation of customers out there. They are loyal to experiences, not necessarily business brands. Apart from service recovery situations, day to day situations should be marked by meticulous over delivery on customer experiences.
A funny thing happens when a business becomes more and more meticulous about delivering a distinctive customer experience. It starts to attract discerning customers, who will become less and less price sensitive and more and more brand experience sensitive.
A funny thing happens when a business becomes more and more meticulous about delivering a distinctive customer experience. It starts to attract discerning customers, who will become less and less price sensitive and more and more brand experience sensitive.
That’s the kind of customer who goes the distance with a business.