What? There’s No Such Thing As Unicorns?
Just when you thought you and your business are the next best thing to sliced bread and that your universe of customers will love you until the end of time—-Bain & Company, one of the world’s leading management consulting firms, conducted a survey with stats to remind you that there are no such things as Unicorns. What is that stat you ask? Some 80% of companies believe they deliver “superior” customer experiences. That’s impressive—until you read the rest of the survey which concludes that only 8% of consumers believe those very same companies actually deliver “superior” experiences.
So why so much disparity between what a business believes to be true and what a customer believes to be true? I think the answer is 2-fold. The first answer is poor feedback measures (or usually none at all) and less than stellar customer engagement. A business that does not prioritize and value customer feedback as the ultimate lead measure and the key driver of present and future success is living a fantasy in today’s customer empowered world. In the words of Guy Arnold, Author of Great Or Poor, “There is no room for complacency … you need proactive paranoia!”
The second answer is that most business are unable to concisely tell the story of the emotional journey they want their customers to enjoy. A large number of businesses think they know what the customer experience really looks or FEELs like from their customer’s point of view. They also believe that they’re addressing the emotional needs of their customers at every step along the along the way. But, “thinking” and “believing” are far removed from actually knowing.
One thing is absolutely certain. The more enjoyable the customer journey, the more extraordinary they’ll think the experience.
Imagine The Customer Journey As A Story
I believe that business owners and entrepreneurs are creative souls. As such, you can utilize your imaginative spirit to think of the customer experience delivery process as a creative process—the same creative process used in story telling but with your customer as the lead character on an emotional journey that has a very distinct beginning, middle and end.
Through your story, describe the 5-star interaction they’ll have with your business down to the most minute detail—-from first contact, through the planning or prep process, through the actual delivery completion of your product or service—–that all leads to a happily ever after ending.
Writing it out will allow you to imagine it in a way that gives you a very clear mental picture of how service excellence should be experienced by your customers and how you want them to FEEL throughout each step of the process. And then share that story with everyone on your staff so they can visualize that experience themselves. Ask them to add to the story using what they’ve learned through their interactions with your customers. There are no limits as to how much “WOW!” you can add to the experience—especially if it provides an extraordinary benefit to your business—-and, to the people you serve.
My GoDaddy Customer Journey Story.
Although most consumers would never consciously notice, GoDaddy is one of the greatest examples of a company that openly conveys the story of the emotional journey they want their customers to experience.
GoDaddy knows that I’m just one of countless humans who look at anything having to do with the internet, web sites, domains, email and servers as being stuff that requires technical expertise. They also know that there are people like me who find all of that technical stuff to be intimidating and something to be feared. They also know that if I’m forced to deal with those technical things I want the easiest, least complex path to accomplish them.
So, last year when I was building a new website and had to change servers, I went to the GoDaddy website and it spoke to me. Although GoDaddy deals in technical stuff, there’s nothing about their homepage that is technical. As a matter of fact, they produce fun videos and articles about technical stuff—immediately removing a great deal of any fear I have. It’s a welcoming experience that makes me FEEL comfortable & secure knowing that I’m not going to be judged for my lack of technical expertise.
GoDaddy provides 3, easy ways to contact them—by chat, email or phone. But, if I must contact GoDaddy, its usually because I’m experiencing a problem I can’t solve on my own—which also means I’m probably stressed out. So, email and chat aren’t going to cut it. I’m that guy who still picks up the phone to call. There’s another reason I do that—so I can also hear the calm, cheery, welcoming voice of the recorded, outgoing GoDaddy greeting that says “We love helping our customers.”
Every time I hear how they love helping their customers—I FEEL like they’re talking to me, personally. I also FEEL a sense of relief because I know that everything is going to be OK and I FEEL confident that whatever issue I’m having will be resolved. Even though I’ve not even spoken to a live person yet, I already FEEL like they’ve wrapped me up in a warm, fuzzy blanket of “got your back.”
And, if there’s going to be long wait to talk to someone, they offer to call me back within a set amount of time because they respect my time. Regardless, when I finally speak to a GoDaddy rep who probably has more technical expertise in the tip of their little finger than I do in my entire body, they never make me FEEL like an idiot. They talk to me one human being to another. They respect my fear and make me FEEL at ease by addressing it in a calm tone. They’re never condescending or rush me off the phone and they have never left an issue unresolved. They make me FEEL valued, special, important and as though the experience was designed solely with me in mind—-and it’s hard to argue otherwise.
It’s difficult to believe that any part of the GoDaddy customer journey is organic. I’m guessing it is all the result of a well written, detailed story of the emotions GoDaddy wants their customers to FEEL with every interaction. And, there’s no way the results of the experience would be successful unless there is a buy-in from every employee in every department and every pay grade from upper management down. And trust me, as someone who has called GoDaddy dozens of times, I can tell you the experience is always consistent.
“The easiest way to make your customer’s journey easy is to remove all obstacles from their path.”
What Is Your Business’s Customer Journey Story?
So, what’s the story of your customer’s emotional journey with your business? How do you want them to FEEL from their first contact and then during and at the completion of the sales process? What emotions do you want to touch during their time with your business? How do you want them to FEEL during and after their purchase or at the completion of the service you provided? No doubt you can script the happiest of all endings to your story but if you actually deliver you’ll be rewarded with a strong, trusting, long-term personal relationships dominated by FEELings of undying loyalty. The best ending for your business, though, is a large number of customers who will tell others that you don’t just claim to provide an extraordinary customer experience—you deliver.
Please share your customer journey thoughts, stories and experiences in the comments.
Ron Ruth | Keynote Speaker, Customer Experience Design Consultant & Coach, Founder of the #Inspiramaginativity Institute.
Book Ron to speak at your upcoming event or to provide a special, Customer Experience training session for your team – email [email protected] or call (816) 224-4487.
“Ron is a fun and informative presenter who engages audiences with demonstrations of #Inspiramaginativity—a blending of inspiration, imagination and creativity— and a powerful tool for sparking innovative solutions to the greatest business challenges and for transforming satisfied customers into loyal, raving fans.” – Rick Brewer, WeddingBusinessMarketing.com