Today I'm bringing you this brilliant piece of customer service which fits nicely into my analogy of the journey of customer service being like a story. This part is the epilogue.
You may have seen this circling the internet.
"I think renaming tiger bread giraffe bread is a brilliant idea.."
Left - Lily's letter, Right - Chris King, Customer Manager at Sainsburys' reply
3 and a half year old Lily Robinson took issue with Sainsbury's naming of the Tiger Bread as it simply does not look like a tiger - more like a giraffe.
With the help of her parents she sent a letter to the branch of Sainsbury's in Holborn, London to register her thoughts. I'm sure the reply she got shocked her parents and maybe even her!
Through the post came a reply from Chris King (aged 27 and three quarters), Customer Manager at the store with a clearly well thought out and engaging reply with a sly £3 gift card attached to it.
Mr King needs a promotion, or a pay raise! He has done so many things right here:
Fully engaged with the customer by
using language they used
referring specifically to the original letter
empathised with the customer
stating his age, with the fraction, in his sign off - just like Lily did
Replied in good time to the original letter
Sought to bring back the customer with a small gift
Attaching the £3 gift card is a great way to encourage the family back and, aside from the brilliant and engaging letter, is a great way to keep the families business and all of the people they tells business for a very long time. All of this under the clear banner of Sainsbury's. "What brilliant, thoughtful staff they employ - I can trust them."
The internet businesses have bitten a massive chunk out of shops on the highstreet, but with engagement like this, shops can really turn their fortunes around. This is personal. It's private. It's a human being interacting with another human being. It's not a customer enquiry form with a reply 2 days later from a generic "serviceteam@bigfacelesscompany.org".
I've taken a lot from Mr King's example here. Good job, mate!
Amalgamation of the customer experience is a vital part of businesses in the 21st Century. This is everything from buying right through to after-sales support and is a big part of my consultation process.
a·mal·ga·mate/əˈmalgəˌmāt/
Verb:
Combine or unite to form one organization or structure: "he amalgamated his company with another".
I'm really big on amalgamation in business right now. Despite the ".com" boom there are still companies out there with websites which bare no resemblance to their business. More pertinently now, there are businesses out there with either an atrocious social presence which also bares no resemblance to their website or business, or even no presence at all.
There are businesses with fantastic e-mail based customer service but terrible telephone, or even face to face customer service. Their customer service strategy is not amalgamated. As a consequence of this, customers will begin to understand that one particular element of the company are bad. Then 2 things happen:
The customer gives up with that line of communication.
The money you've put into supplying the customer with these avenues of communication gets wasted because the customer simply doesn't want to deal via that method.
Taking a wider view of amalgamation outside of just the customer service space, we have business amalgamation. Chains of shops are generally successful because the customer knows what to expect when they're in there. Go to a Starbucks in London and you'll find the same experience in New York or Paris. Customers look for that reassurance between businesses - that the quality they expect wont change between premises.
These shops are successful partly because they build customer experience into their strategy.
So how do we do that? Think of your business as a story. Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end with a good amount of back story to settle the reader in. Some might even have an epilogue. Let's not forget as well that the most important perspective to view this in is that of your customer. So how does this apply to your business?
The beginning - The customer hears about your business, sees your advert, walks past your shop, clicks on your website.
The middle - They're in your shop/business/place of work. They're browsing, experiencing, seeing if the shop fits.
The end - They decide whether to buy or not
The epilogue - Ongoing service and support post sale
Every step of the story should be enforcing one thing, not X number of things. That "one thing" should be decided by you. Is it trust? Is it safety? Is it "awesome"? Is it "the future"? Once you've made your decision you need to look at every step of the customer journey and, perhaps with a friend who's removed from the business in as many ways as possible, then run some ideas by them.
If you decide that you want your thing to be Cleanliness then you need to look at each stage of the customer journey. What are the sensations surrounding cleanliness? Are those sensations echoed in your advertising, shop frontage, social media pages, web pages, establishment? How would you describe cleanliness? Are those adjectives defined in your customer journey?
Don't forget, as is the title of the series, this is all about an experience. Encourage your customers to think on your wave length by stage managing your business. Uniforms are a way of amalgamation, but why stop there? Why even go there in the first place? Would uniforms be a way to get across your thing? Uniforms represent efficiency, consistency, pride, commitment as well as being a great reminder to your customers that they're dealing with your brand, not a gaggle of employees. Be careful though. A uniform removes the individuality of the wearer. Your whole company and brand will get sucked into their bad customer service - so make sure they are well trained and share your company mantra.
Some brands thrive on the individuality of their businesses premises. A great example of this would be entertainment venues. But they are amalgamated under a different banner - Uniqueness. Each night club may look unique and may attract entirely different customers but underneath their goal will be to build the customers trust that the brand will deliver quality entertainment. Amalgamation doesn't mean stripping your business of individuality.
At every stage where your company deals with the public there should be consistency with the utmost care. Every time you speak, the company speaks. Make sure that when the company speaks it's always in one voice.
I'm going to cover this post in 2 sections: Music and Sound.
1. Music
Most businesses think they've got their sound down; that the music they play in their shops, gyms, restaurants, taxis, hold buttons is simply good music.
Good is what you think the music is. Your opinion of the quality of the music, in this situation, isn't the most important thing here. What is - Does the music represent your business? Does it encourage the atmosphere you want? What mood does the music invoke?
Where businesses fall down is deciding on the music based on what they think their customers will want to listen to, guessing their personal taste. There are 2 reasons for this:
The owners are not likely to include genres he/she dislike in the list of options. There are many reasons for this way of thinking, but if one is making the conscious decision not to play "classical" music, for example, because of a personal dislike for the genre then that decision has purely been made for the business owner, not the customer. Let's not forget, hopefully you'll be concentrating on running your business, not what music happens to be on in the background, right?
It seems so brutally, frustratingly obvious, but not all customers enjoy being stereotyped. One particular annoyance of mine is walking into a shop which, for the entire duration of my stay, blasts out rap. I'm sure others think exactly the same about other genres too, specifically the more "fringe" genres. So if you're going to play music, make sure there's a wide variety or at least some variation as you may be turning away customers who don't "fit the mould".
What I'd ask business owners to do is think purely about the psychological state the music they play puts their customers into. Should they be feeling happy, reflective, relaxed... aggressive, pumped up?
Play music with swearing and you set a precedent that swearing openly is OK. Whether or not you agree with swearing is irrelevant. You're setting that precedent that it is. Your customers will be placed in a psychological state which makes them think, as swearing is acceptable here, I can swear. Then your worry should be who at - your staff, other customers? This effectively creates a very steep slope into escalation which no one wants.
To give you a quick example of selecting music to induce a mood, in my time on this earth I've known club owners and DJ's in London and, of all the music these difference places put on, they all had a similar idea for the bigger nights - cheesy music. Why? Because it's fun, happy, feel good so there's less of a chance that there'll be trouble.
2. Sound
Moving away from music, another almost untouched on part of sound in a shop is sound. Just sound. Ambient sound. The video above made me chuckle and exemplifies my point exactly. I'll explain why in a moment.
Ambient sound is so important. It's a constant reminder that something is going on around you, that you're part of something. The same restaurant can feel depressing and lifeless in silence but when it's busy it feels like the place to be. This is partly visual and partly sound. I'd suggest that sound, however, is equally as important as it's a constant reminder that you are somewhere that other people want to be. Your being there is affirmed, other people being there confirms that it's a good place to be.
I sometimes find myself in clothes shops which are quieter than a graveyard. This problem is made worse because the clothes suck up the sound. I often don't go back to those places. Shopping is supposed to be fun and exciting, right?! I'm enriching my life with these new objects right?! Then the shop should make me feel like it's the place to buy enriching things.
So let's look at that music shop in the video. Consider what the customer wants - probably an opportunity to hear an electric guitar and amplifier in as ideal a place as possible. This shop is not that ideal place. There is so much other noise going on in that shop that it would be impossible to make a solid decision on whether the amp or guitar sounds great. This means less sales and more time wasters.
Conclusion
(I felt compelled to mark the conclusion because of the length of the post)
Your focus is to put things in your business which enrich your customers experience of being in your shop/restaurant/gym/taxi/gallery etc. Focusing on what you want to hear is the worst place to start. Consider what your customers will need to reassure them that your place is the place they want to be. Maybe it's through loud dance music from a live DJ. Maybe it's piping through ambient noise from a train station. Maybe it's talk radio. Maybe it's an interesting lecture. Maybe it's adverts, reviews, discussions about the products you sell from your customers or professionals.
It can be anything. Play with it. Get creative. People respond to creativity. I would definitely remember a clothing shop I walked into which sounded like a busy train station and I would definitely tell my friends about it...
Now, this isn't an advert for TripAdvisor (TA).. If you click on the image it will take you to the BBC News website where they've filmed a short piece demonstrating the effectiveness and power of TA.
Interviewing 2 Hotel owners on opposing sides, followed by an interview with the CEO of TA, Steve Kaufer, the feeling a business owner should be left with is a mixture of fear, awe and excitement.
Fear - for the fact that one damning review could have an immediate damaging effect on your business
Awe - at the power and reach these websites have. The influence they hold.
Excitement - to know that this is free marketing, free advertising, free community making...
Ending with an insightful interview, a very interesting statistic from the TA website struck me - "The average review is extremely positive", with Mr Kaufer explaining the average is 4 out of 5 stars. The tendency in conversation is always to assume that people only ever write reviews when they've had a negative experience and that seems to be the case on some websites - let's not forget that writing a review is very different to telling the owner. Telling the owner usually means the customer wants something in return - compensation for a bad meal, a discount for positive feedback perhaps...But looking at TA specifically, the ethos it has is to make sure that the "travellers get their expectations met."
With that frame of mind, the idea that your customer is helping other people, just like them, make sure they make the right decision - not based solely on whether it was good or bad, but on the experience as a whole.
There is no doubt that the resource is fantastic for the customer, but for the business it presents a problem - management.
A couple who own a B&B in Hastings, Medieval Lodge, were interviewed, complaining that their business had been ruined by a single review... I don't think this is the case... The average person will look at a sea of reviews for a product or service, weigh up the cons people talk about against the pros others mention. If there's more pro, then go for it. By that fairly normal measurement, this place should be doing quite well. But then I found it...
janet999hastings, Owner at Medieval Lodge Bed & Breakfast, responded to this review
22 November 2010
provide you can then put on a review on all our GENUINE customers will be very shocked at seeing this review because it is widely known what a hight service we actually provide from the minute a customer walks through the door to departure we make sure they want for nothing,some have even offered us more money stating we simply dont charge enough.if you look at the GENUINE reviews underneath some have stayed sept,oct and november which is after this person have stayed we work hard for our reviews so when some one trys to damage your reputation you worked so hard for by putting on a melicious review it makes us sad to think there are people out there that simply have nothing better to do.you see in the review it states the room was cluttered,we would like to know what with because the only thing that is in the rooms is ...
Oh... dear... It goes on too... From the owner of the establishment comes a terribly written, accusatory rant about how the persons opinion, their customers opinion, is wrong and how they're not genuine. TA has methods of reporting false reviews, but the review this is a reply to certainly doesn't read false and is still there. This is not the only occasion this happens, but I'll leave you to scroll through them if you want.
The true colours of the establishment are shown... "If you don't like it, you're wrong and we will drive you into the ground until you submit.." - that should be their moto.
They've got half the idea, but are just doing it wrong.
Keeping a hand in the trusted review sites is a must. Responding to bad reviews is essential to show that you actually care about people, their happiness and your business. Bear in mind that every reply from you is a public act. You're not replying to an individual, you're replying to everyone who reads that review. You're trying to allay future customers fears that this isn't a common occurrence, or that if it is you're grateful for their feedback which you will correct immediately. Do not write a reply at 3am just so you can sleep easier that night. Write a reply, post it in a day or two.
1 bad review doesn't kill a business. 1 bad reply from the business owner does.
This marks the start of my "Customer experience" series, exploring the ways customers experience your business.
Smell is an overwhelmingly overlooked part of the customer experience in shops and business, yet it is one of our senses which, among other things, indicates to us when something is safe, nice, to be trusted or tells us to stay away, don't eat/drink..
This story starts with a wander down Oxford Street, London, searching for shoes in the January sale melee...
I was made powerfully aware of the importance of enticement not just by sight, but by smell. I don't know about you, but I've always been subconsciously aware of the smell in H&M (a clothing retailer) on the high street. Every time I walk past it, without even looking, I know I'm outside or in the vicinity of H&M.
The smell of that shop, whilst not disgusting or vile, is specific, odd and therefore memorable. So when I walked past there this January I thought "Oh it's H&M, their jeans are good value and well coloured*.." I don't particularly like the smell of it actually but it is very strongly linked in my mind with that particular shop. The only shop in the world I remember for its smell... That is extraordinarily powerful.
It takes from the idea of the sweet shop when you were a kid, if you ever went to them. That distinct heady chocolatey smell combined with the sugar and sour smell of those gelatinous sweets. Then knowing that soon all of these treats, or at least some, will be mine.. or yours.. but hopefully mine.
Take that a step further. The thrill of buying, clothes which I like and like on me, combined with that smell positively reinforces my association with that smell and because that smell is the shop to me I have a rounded sensual positive association with the shop.
It's really quite beautiful. So why are other shops not doing this? Or are they...? That is the beauty of this experience enriching device. The power of an association may not be as clear as the H&M example, but here are some others:
A home interior shop with a delicious and relaxing scent - I feel relaxed in my own home. This shop represents the way I feel at home. These objects will continue to strengthen my relaxtion
A doctors surgery with a lemony scent - Lemon has strong ties with cleanliness and wellness
A clothing shop with a night club/restauranty/meadowy smell - dependent on your target market inducing smell-memories may transport your audience to a mental place where they are already wearing your clothes
Supermarkets - The great frontier...
To work with a super market to trial this theory would be brilliant. Veg and meat sections smelling earthy, fruit and salad smelling fruity, fish smelling of the sea, bakery smelling wholly of freshly baked bread, frozen smelling of an icey sea breeze, booze section smelling of a sophisticated fragrance... How much better an experience would that be?!
So consider your business - your shop fronts, shop interior, meeting rooms, offices... Piping music is a done thing, but smell - not nearly done enough!
As a caveat to this post, smell is quite a high risk when you get to particularly fragrant areas. Old lady clothes shops are renowned for this... So what ever you do, trial out the smell first!
*As my twitter followers and friends will attest to, I do like a nice brightly shaded jean...
