The airline boarding pass is one of those classic examples of customer communications gone wrong.  It’s something used by every traveler on every trip, yet airlines seem to be in a competition to create the most cryptic, perplexing boarding document.

As is the case with most customer communications, complexity comes with a cost.  When travelers (particularly novice ones) can’t easily and correctly interpret boarding pass information, bad things happen.  They go to the wrong gate.  They arrive late for boarding.  They misplace their second-leg boarding pass.  In short, this complexity triggers frustration for the consumer and cost for the company.

So Delta decided to do something about it, rolling out a simplified boarding pass.  And while this airline isn’t yet a poster child for customer experience excellence, they do deserve credit for making this particular touchpoint a little less confusing for their customers.

Delta’s Old Boarding Pass

Delta’s New Boarding Pass

The rationale behind their redesign is outlined in a recent Wall Street Journal article (“Rethinking the Lowly Boarding Pass”).  The approach Delta took reflects several best practices for customer communications improvement:

1.  Pay attention to design details.

If you want to create customer communications that are simple, engaging and refreshing – focus on more than just content development.  The first impression your communication makes on a customer will come from its visual appeal, not its content.  Delta rightfully paid close attention to visual cues in their boarding pass redesign, obsessing over things like typography, font sizes, headings and white space.

2.  Look at the world through your customer’s eyes.

The best communications are designed with the primary user in mind.  In this case, that’s not your Legal department, your Compliance specialist, or your marketing staff.  It’s your customer.  Before putting pen to paper, Delta first considered how customers interacted with boarding passes.  That helped inform the design objectives – such as eliminating multiple boarding documents (because travelers misplace them) and accentuating the destination city (because travelers already know what city they’re leaving from).

3.  Design with your employees in mind, too.

While customers may be the primary constituency served by a communication piece, employees are often a secondary audience.  That’s because when customers have a question about a document, they’re likely to ask one of your employees for assistance.  So make it easy for your staff to locate the information they need off the document, in order to better serve your customer.  For Delta’s boarding pass, this meant displaying the passenger’s first name first and last name last, making it easier for employees to spot that information and address customers by name.

When it comes to creating a great brand experience, customer communications rarely get the respect they deserve.  Things like boarding passes, bills, statements, contracts, and product instructions represent high-frequency customer touchpoints for many businesses – yet they are often treated as boring, administrative documents.

What impression do your customer communications leave on people?  Do they inspire confidence in your company?  Do they reaffirm the purchase decision?  Do they reflect positively on your brand?

If not, then it’s time for you to get on board with customer communications that are simple, clear and engaging.

If there’s something consumers associate with ERs, it’s long wait times and crowded quarters.  But as reported in The New York Times this week (“For The Elderly, Emergency Rooms of Their Own“), some hospitals are applying the concept of customer segmentation to create more customized and appealing ER experiences.

The article describes the advent of “Geriatric Emergency Rooms” – urgent-care facilities with a design, layout and patient care approach that’s tailored to the needs of the elderly.

One of the hospitals featured, Mount Sinai in New York City, has seen patient satisfaction scores for its Geriatric ER go “off the scoreboard.”  Given that healthcare organizations typically bring up the rear in customer experience rankings, how is Mount Sinai achieving such remarkable results?

The answer is that they’re applying some time-tested customer experience management principles – albeit in a venue that rarely demonstrates any real customer orientation.  Here are just a few of the strategies the hospital is employing:

·         Personalize the experience.  This is a about a lot more than just calling patients by name!  Personalization also involves architecting the experience in a way that aligns with the needs and interests of the target consumer (in this case, an elderly ER patient).  For Mount Sinai, that means a facility with things like non-skid floors and hand rails along the walls – accoutrements that are especially relevant to this audience.

·         Preempt service failure.  In this context, service failure is when, for example, the ER patient loses their footing and suffers a new injury – while in the ER!  Or the patient becomes confused, disoriented and difficult to manage.  The hospital has considered where and how things are most likely to go wrong for these elderly patients, and preempts many of these issues through environmental design and staff training.

·         Be accessible.  Mount Sinai has an iPad in each room of the Geriatric ER, so patients can contact a nurse – and have a face-to-face video chat – when they need something or have a concern.  Presuming these iPads are easy for the patients to operate, they not only provide good accessibility to the ER staff, but do so in a warmer, more personalized way than is possible with a two-way intercom.

While there are probably elements of these Geriatric ERs that would benefit patients of all ages, it’s still an encouraging first step. 

Rarely do you see healthcare providers evaluating their patient experience through a customer lens, and then taking action to enhance it.  For those that do, it’s a real prescription for success.

The casino argues that the new policy will help keep its front-line service “fresh.”

Or… maybe not.  This is such an awful idea, on so many levels, I’m not quite sure where to start.

·         It smacks of coping behavior.  Managers are notoriously bad at having difficult performance-related conversations with employees, choosing instead to turn a blind eye to below-average performers.  But with employee term limits, managers can ignore these problems and – alas! – they resolve themselves when the employee must re-apply for his/her job.

·         It discounts the value of institutional experience.  Provided you manage performance appropriately, there’s a benefit to having long-tenured employees interact with your customers.  They know your company’s products and services like the back of their hand, and it often shows in the quality of the experience they deliver to your patrons.  By practically encouraging turnover with this policy, the casino may keep its front-line ranks fresh, but it’ll spoil the service they deliver.

·         It undermines employee satisfaction and loyalty.  Happy, satisfied, loyal employees help to create happy, satisfied, loyal customers.  I can’t imagine how any employee would ever view a term limit policy as a signal that their employer cares about them and their career development.  It does completely the opposite.  It removes any incentive people might have to view the employer-employee relationship in a positive light.  I mean, seriously – you’re telling me that even if I’m a star performer I need to reapply for my job in [x] years?  Why on Earth should I then be loyal to you?  And just imagine how that attitude will seep into employees’ interactions with customers.

These casino executives need to role-reverse to really grasp what kind of workplace environment they’re creating.

Imagine if all the Atlantic City casinos agreed that, when a front-line employee completed four years on the job, the individual became a free agent and would automatically receive employment offers from any other interested casino.

I doubt the casino execs would enjoy operating in that kind of environment. They’d probably grouse about how pointless it is to be truly invested in the success of any employee, because the free agency rules would make it so easy for them to jump ship.

Now turn the tables.  Why would a term-limited employee be vested in the success of their employer?

If these employee term limits end up constraining anything, it will be this casino’s success. They’re gambling with their future.

That was the central question behind Watermark Consulting’s very first Customer Experience Stock Performance Analysis, conducted back in 2009 and described in the article “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Return On Customer Experience.”

Each year since, we’ve refreshed the analysis with the latest data, watching to see if customer experience Leaders would continue to outperform customer experience Laggards. Now it’s time to reveal this year’s results…

The Methodology
For those unfamiliar with our earlier studies, here’s how the analysis works:

We look at the cumulative stock returns for the Top 10 and Bottom 10 publicly traded companies in Forrester Research’s annual Customer Experience Index ranking (Watermark defines these two groups as the Leaders and Laggards, respectively).

We compare the total return from investing in an equally-weighted, annually readjusted portfolio of customer experience Leaders to that for customer experience Laggards and the broader market (as reflected by the S&P 500 index).

The Results
For the five-year period from 2007-2011, the customer experience Leader portfolio outperformed the broader stock market, generating cumulative total returns that were 27% better than the S&P 500 Index and 128% better than the customer experience Laggard portfolio.

This pecking order of performance held true even on an annual basis.  In all but one of the five years, the Leader portfolio outperformed the index, which in turn outperformed the Laggard portfolio.

The Conclusion

The pattern evident from this analysis has been remarkably consistent.  For five years running now, we see that companies which bring great customer experiences to the marketplace are being rewarded – by consumers and investors.

The customer experience Leaders are clearly enjoying the many benefits of consumer loyalty.  They see higher revenues from better retention, greater wallet share, lower price sensitivity and positive word-of-mouth.  They see lower expenses from reduced acquisition costs, fewer complaints, and the less intense service requirements of happy, satisfied, long-term clients.

And the customer experience Laggards?  They erode business value by creating experiences that are rife with friction – stoking customer frustration, increasing attrition, generating negative word-of-mouth and driving up operating expenses.

Yet many business leaders still don’t get it.  They pay lip service to the customer experience, but continue to harbor skepticism about the value of differentiating oneself along that axis.

For evidence of this, look no further than the many corporate debacles of 2011, where the misguided judgments of high-profile companies like Bank of America, Verizon Wireless and Netflix made it seem like CEOs were collaborating on a book titled “How Exactly Not To Do Things.”

Perhaps now, with half a decade of supporting data under our belts, the skeptics will reevaluate their position.

Of course, while they ruminate on that, lots of other companies (maybe even some of their competitors) will continue to take this strategy to the bank.

That’s my conclusion after reading Lloyd’s of London’s newly released 2011 Risk Index report, which ranks the top concerns of companies around the world based on a survey of over 500 C-suite and Board level executives.

So what was the #1 business concern cited by these folks?  [Hint:  It wasn’t “volcanic eruption,” which came in at the bottom of the list.]

It was “loss of customers” – an understandably scary prospect for any business, but also an eminently manageable risk.

In contrast to many other types of risks that can literally come out of nowhere, the drivers behind customer attrition can be diagnosed and addressed with pretty good precision.  And it’s an exercise worth investing in, because the payoff can be considerable.

Customer retention (or, more accurately, customer loyalty) can be a very powerful growth driver, particularly in challenging economic circumstances.  As numerous studies have shown, a mere five percentage point improvement in customer retention can potentially double a company’s profits.

So, if you’re worried about losing customers (or if you’re just looking to prime the growth engine), what can you do?  Here are a few tips to start with:

·         Investigate customer defections.  While it’s bad when a customer leaves your business for a competitor, what’s even worse is failing to learn anything from that exit.  Departing customers have a valuable perspective to share.  Whether you solicit that perspective yourself or obtain it through a third-party – just be sure to get it.  You’ll learn volumes about what frustrates your customers and triggers their defection.

·         Open the feedback spigot.  Don’t wait until customers attrite.  Take their temperature while they’re still with you.  Survey them periodically (preferably using a measure of loyalty, rather than one of satisfaction).  Find out what they’re saying to your front-line staff.  Listen to their chatter on social media.  If there’s trouble brewing, customers will rarely take the time to tell you – so be sure to ask and listen before it’s too late.

·         Act on what you learn.  When you identify triggers of customer defection, it needs to be more than an academic exercise.  If you don’t do anything with the intelligence gained, then you might as well have never questioned customers in the first place!  Find the themes in the feedback and translate those into specific, time-bound remedial actions that are owned by a single individual.

·         Communicate.  If you’ve made changes to your business based on what you learned from current or former customers, don’t keep it a secret.  Tell customers (particularly at-risk ones) about it.  It may help get the relationship back on stronger footing, as people see that you’re making a genuine effort to address customer concerns and eliminate sources of frustration.

As the Lloyd’s study illustrates – if you’re worried about losing customers, you’re not alone.  But you can do something about it. 

If you have a customer retention problem, or fear one may be looming, the solution is right before your eyes, in the form of your very own customers – those who have recently left and those who are still with you. 

Listen to them, learn from them, and then act.

With a nod to Clement C. Moore’s “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” Watermark Consulting Founder Jon Picoult wishes you Happy Holidays with this unconventional take on what ails businesses today:

*     *     *

‘Twas the night before earnings release, at the office.

Everybody was stirring…  especially Horace.

As Chief Accountant, with numbers he’d trained

But looking at these figures, his spirits waned.

Sales were down; expenses were climbing,

And it wasn’t just due to the seasonal timing.

Something awful was happening behind the scenes.

That was clear, even to the guy who counted beans.

So he summoned his staff about what to do next:

“We need answers to share with the corporate execs!”

They dug into the numbers, and analyzed trends,

And began to see things through a shiny new lens.

The executives gathered, though it was Christmas Eve.

“What’s the purpose of this?” asked the CEO, aggrieved.

“Well,” Horace replied, his voice cracking with fear.

“I’ve got something, sir, that I think you should hear.”

“There’s a lot to explain, but I’ll try to make it snappy.

I’ve reviewed our financials and they won’t make you happy.

Those great retention numbers we saw in the fall?

Well, turns out our customers weren’t loyal after all.”

“They were waiting around for a better provider.

As soon as one came, they switched their supplier.

There’s a new firm that’s doing something astounding,

And some of their tactics are truly confounding.”

“Like what?” scoffed the CEO.  “We can’t be upstaged.

We’ve bought Super Bowl time.  Made a Facebook page.

How can some other firm possibly strike us

When we’ve got six ‘Friends’ who say that they ‘Like’ us?”

Horace took a deep breath and met the chief’s gaze.

“Their customers seem to have nothing but praise.

When a client calls, for example, humans answer the phone.

They don’t have to listen to some automated drone.”

The Service VP raised his chin, in a snit.

“For the record,” he said, “I don’t buy this one bit.

Our voice response system is very helpful.”

Horace grinned.  “Maybe, if you get past the eighth menu level.”

The Marketing VP then entered the fray.

“I know what’ll keep this competitor at bay.

We’ll expand our products! Add bells and whistles, too!

I guarantee this little upstart won’t know what to do.”

“That isn’t the answer,” Horace said, perplexed.

“This upstart knows customers dread what’s complex.

Their product suite’s lean in a deliberate attempt

To avoid the confusion that breeds discontent.”

“But we’ve got the best salespeople,” their VP declared.

I promise you, in this fight, no expense will be spared!”

Horace sighed.  “But our people are paid on commission.

And consumers these days view that with suspicion.”

“There’s more,” Horace said, to the ol’ CEO,

“There’s another big problem compounding our woe.

Employees are frustrated; turnover’s on the rise.

Folks just aren’t happy, is what I surmise.”

The CEO shrugged in silent disbelief.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “What’s the staff’s beef?”

Horace measured his words, tried to hide his smirk.

Everyone knew this wasn’t a good place to work.

“Well, sir, it’s complicated and it’s not just one thing.

But it’s all lowered morale, which now hangs by a string.

We tell them we want quality, yet measure them on quickness.

That conflict creates stress, so they call out with sickness.

We implore them to exceed our customers’ expectations,

Yet give them poor systems requiring manual machinations.

And on top of it all, they’ve got supervisors who don’t listen.

Focused less on their people, on more on their own mission.

Just as the CEO rose to make his case,

There was a noise from the boardroom fireplace.

The execs stood in awe as a black boot appeared.

And heard from above the clatter of reindeer.

It was Santa himself who stepped forth for a turn.

“When,” he cried, “will you bozos ever learn?

I’ve worked with you for years, but I’m sorry to say.

The way you treat customers…  is driving me away!

Your quality’s suffered, and the fees are too numerous.

To think you’ll get loyalty is really quite humorous.

The elves give me an earful, day in and day out.

Say we can do better with our North Pole clout.

So I’m putting you on notice: get this shop in order,

Otherwise I’ll move the work south of the border.

And if you don’t think all of these problems phase us,

Just watch me forge a larger agreement with Bezos.”

As he stepped into the fireplace, Santa gave them a wink.

“You simply must pull yourselves back from the brink.

Think you know your business? I’ll throw you a curve.

No matter what you’re selling, your business is to serve.”

Occupy Wall Street seems to have overlooked some prominent members of the so-called 1%.

In its crusade against corporate greed and wealth inequality, the Occupy movement has largely focused on big financial institutions and rich businesspeople.

People love to hate these companies and their moguls — for what’s perceived as their relentless pursuit of profit, their never-ending avarice, their disregard for the middle class and their extravagant lifestyles.

But when the protesters fanned out across Manhattan, why didn’t they also stop at NBA headquarters? It would have been convenient — the NBA’s offices are located right on Fifth Avenue, just steps away from Occupy’s chosen targets.

After all, the NBA has been embroiled in an ugly labor dispute between players and owners about how to distribute $4 billion in annual revenue. This past weekend, these millionaires and billionaires finally figured out how to divide their ridiculously huge pie — while middle-class parents struggle to make ends meet, let alone figure out how to pay for decent seats at an NBA game.

But let’s not stop at the NBA. Occupy reflects frustration with people and institutions who enjoy oversized paychecks for work that — compared with how most of us earn a daily wage — doesn’t seem to warrant it.

So why isn’t anyone occupying Hollywood, or Yankee Stadium, or Kim Kardashian’s house? Leading actors make tens of millions of dollars for a film shoot that can last less than a year. Top athletes pull down even more for paid endorsements and a playing season measured in months. And then, of course, there are reality show stars such as Kardashian, who reportedly earns $10,000 per sponsored Tweet, in addition to millions from endorsements, appearances and the occasional low-key televised wedding.

Where is the outrage toward these 1%-ers who sport hourly wages that can make some bank CEOs look like welfare cases?

On first blush, it seems as though there is a double standard at work here. In reality, there is just one standard — but it’s applied in a somewhat irrational way. Right or wrong, the value we assign to things is influenced as much by emotional considerations (how it makes us feel) as it is by rational ones (whether it’s a fair price).

Highly paid celebrities, sports figures and best-selling authors stir our emotions. They entertain us, inspire us, move us — so instead of focusing on how much money they earn, we look past that and instead just enjoy how they make us feel. Even Kardashian and her reality show ilk capitalize on this dynamic, instilling in their audience feelings of voyeurism and aspiration (or, in my case, fear for humanity).

Business leaders can learn something from these members of the 1% who manage to cultivate adoration instead of condemnation. People’s perception of the value you deliver, and their tolerance for the rewards you reap, is inevitably colored by how you make them feel. If consumers don’t understand your business and don’t see how it enriches their lives (are you listening, Wall Street?), they’ll be more inclined to scrutinize the profits and compensation you earn.

Businesses can be beloved, even when they generate huge profits and create great wealth for their executives. Just look at Apple, Google, Disney, or Johnson & Johnson. Nobody is occupying these companies’ headquarters, even though these firms make a lot of money.

What’s different about these companies is that they create value for consumers that resonates with both the head and the heart. They infuse their business with purpose and meaning that transcends profit. They focus on feelings, not just fees.

And while that might sound pithy and trite, it is a formula that has enabled prominent members of the 1% — and even some of the world’s most profitable companies — to avoid public wrath.

 In their quest to deliver a warm, personalized customer experience, some companies cut corners and end up tarnishing their brand instead of enhancing it.

Take, for example, this information folder from a division of the world’s fourth largest bank.  It’s given to customers who open a new account, and contains all the associated paperwork.

Looks OK from a distance – but what’s the white sticky note that’s slapped onto the folder, a bit askew?  Let’s take a closer peek:

How sweet…  It’s a note telling me that this information packet was “Prepared especially for you, our valued customer(s).”

What a remarkable example of customer experience customization!  It must have taken years of R&D (and hundreds of laser printer adhesive labels) to develop this.

The message is so precise, so insightful – it almost felt like they were looking through my soul(except for the fact they couldn’t tell if I was singular or plural).

Here’s the lesson:  When it comes to personalizing the customer experience, it’s better to be generic than clumsy.

By defacing an otherwise elegant communications piece, and conveying a message of personalization in the most inauthentic manner, this little sticker contradicts pretty much everything the bank is trying to promote about its brand. 

In a word, it makes this global financial behemoth look amateurish, which is probably the last thing they were hoping for.

Lots of businesses, large and small, have jumped on the Net Promoter Score (NPS) bandwagon as a means to gauge and improve their customer loyalty.  They embed the Net Promoter “ultimate question” into customer surveys (how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague) and – voila! – they wait for the raving fans to shower them with love.

And then they keep waiting…  and waiting…  and waiting…  baffled as to why their Net Promoter score doesn’t budge.

It’s a conundrum that’s all too common.  Companies embrace Net Promoter as a measurement elixir to cure all ills, and then are disappointed with the outcome.

Now don’t get me wrong — I think Net Promoter is a very valuable business tool on a variety of levels.  But here’s the catch:  the most important component of a successful Net Promoter program has nothing to do with Net Promoter.  No matter what loyalty metric you favor – success revolves not around the score, but rather, what you do with it.

While it’s nice to know that a customer is likely to recommend your business, that information is essentially meaningless unless you understand the rationale behind the score.  The same holds true for dissatisfied customers:  getting a low rating is bad; not knowing why you got that rating is much, much worse.

Which brings us to the key element that separates successful customer feedback programs from failed ones:  Presuming you’ve structured your customer surveys so you not only have a score, but also the rationale for it – then what do you do?

If your answer resembles something like “file it” or “pass it onto another department” – then thanks for playing and enjoy your extended stay in the land of mediocrity.

The better answer is to actually do something meaningful with the information. 

Distill the key themes from the survey results.  Pinpoint the top three reasons people cite for being brand advocates, and the top three reasons they cite for being brand terrorists.  And then act on it.  Do everything in your power to institutionalize the business practices that create fans, and fix those that create detractors.

Calculating an NPS score, or any type of customer rating, is easy.  Teasing out insights from the score and using them to drive change – that’s more difficult, but far more energizing for your business. 

Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.

*     *     *

10.  Respond to customer requests like a zombie.

Are your responses to customer inquiries heavily scripted like they came out of some low-budget horror movie?  Might your customers feel like no matter what they say, they get form letters and teleprompter-like messages in response?  Remove active listening, critical thinking and personalized problem solving from your front-line and you miss a huge opportunity to impress your customer.  If your front-line personnel perform like zombies, you can guarantee that customers will run from them.

9.  Communicate in gobbledygook (or, on Halloween, goblin-dygook).

Having trouble reading a billing statement?  Or your health insurer’s explanation of benefits?  Or correspondence from your financial institution?  You’re not alone.  Businesspeople are steeped in the practices and language of their respective industries.  As such, they often forget to translate their communications for easy public consumption.  Instead, they convey their messages using jargon, terminology and acronyms that make their customers head for the hills.

8.  Cut expenses and operate with a skeleton staff.

Particularly in times of economic distress, many companies’ first reaction is to slash investments in post-sale operations, since these areas are not viewed as revenue-driving and therefore become easy targets when profits need to be propped up.  But while skeleton staffs might offer some immediate gratification in expense reduction, they also foster negative impressions that could snuff out your company’s true brand.  Bare bones operations translate into long checkout lines, miserable 800-line hold times, overall inattentive service, as well as visibly overworked and irritated employees – characteristics that are hardly the best ingredients for great customer experiences.

7.  Embark on monstrous transformation projects.

Business transformation is overrated.  It’s good to have high aspirations and stretch goals, but you’ve got to eat the elephant one bite at a time.  Big, hairy, audacious projects have a tendency to be ill-defined and nearly impossible to manage.  Plus, most companies suffer from “organizational A.D.D.” and have trouble staying focused on a 3-month project, let alone a 3-year one.  Transformational projects make for good annual report copy, but they often fail to deliver valuable improvements to employees and customers.  (Sometimes, all they deliver is disruption and dissatisfaction.)  Yes, have a long-term vision – but never underestimate the power and efficiency of incremental advances toward that destination.

6.  Never do a post-mortem.

In the whirlwind of daily business activities, people rarely take the time to dissect and diagnose customer annoyances.  Customer complaints present a wonderful opportunity to not just recover gracefully (and perhaps win back a consumer’s loyalty), but to also dig up the root cause of a problem and fix it, once and for all, so it never again rears its ugly head.  What’s even rarer than post-mortems on customer complaints?  Post-mortems on customer compliments.  There’s great value in pinpointing what employee or practice generated customer delight and then figuring out how to replicate that outcome more routinely.  Post-mortems can yield silver bullet-like learnings that forever eradicate customer frustrations or permanently institutionalize loyalty-enhancing business practices.

5.  Create a workplace that sucks the lifeblood out of people.

To create happy, satisfied, and loyal customers, you need happy, satisfied and engaged employees.  Create a work environment where employees don’t feel appreciated, respected or well-equipped to do their jobs – and you’re guaranteed to make their energy and passion go away faster than a vampire at dawn.  And if you don’t think your customers will notice that difference in your staff, then you really are starting to hallucinate.

4.  Don’t tell your customers what’s lurking around the corner.

Creating satisfied, loyal customers is a lot about managing expectations.  People’s frustration (or delight) with a business is closely tied to the expectations they had of that interaction.  Customers don’t like ambiguity or unpleasant surprises.  If you don’t tell them what to expect – how long they’ll be on hold before speaking to a live person, how much paperwork they’ll need to fill out for a mortgage application, what information they’ll need to provide to get an insurance quote, etc. – then they’re more likely to be annoyed when the interaction isn’t as quick, simple or straightforward as they anticipated. 

3.  Give your customers tricks and never treats.

Do customers walk away from dealings with your business feeling good about the interaction?  Do they get what they expected; do they feel like they got a good value?  For lots of businesses, the answer is no.  Customers will rarely tell you that, choosing instead to just vote with their feet (and wallet) and do business elsewhere.  From products that don’t work exactly as expected, to special offers that exclude desirable merchandise, to fine print that can’t even be understood – these are examples of “tricks of the trade” that may draw consumers in momentarily, but certainly won’t create a foundation on which to build loyal customer relationships.  Contrast that with the indelible positive impressions left on customers who experience treats – pleasant surprises and personal touches that they never expected or anticipated.  That’s what legendary service brands are made of.

2.  Avoid ownership and accountability like the plague.

A gruesome ailment has descended upon the business community, eradicating all vestiges of ownership and accountability.  Customer calls are not promptly (if ever) returned.  Commitments are not kept.  Obligations are forgotten.  Here’s a little secret:  customers don’t care if your store is immaculate, if your employees have smiles, if you send them fancy newsletters or any of that fluff if your product doesn’t work as advertised and your people don’t follow through on their promises.  Want to create a brand experience that outshines all others?  Start by nailing these basics and making sure your customers feel cared for.

And the Number One way to spook your customers…

1.  Put scary people on your front line.

Who’s interacting with your customers on a daily basis?  Is your front-line comprised of superheroes who go the extra mile for your customers, or soulless automatons who frighten your customers with their discourtesy, uselessness and utter inability to honor commitments?  No matter how sophisticated your customer relationship management systems are, or how spectacular your retail store looks, or how advanced your customer segmentation strategy is – it means nothing if the people interacting with your customers are not professional, responsible and genuinely helpful.

*     *     *

No right-minded business sets out to spook its customers.  But that’s inevitably the outcome when companies lose sight of what’s important and valuable to the people they serve. 

Are you haunted by the prospect of your customers defecting to a competitor?  Do something about it before your worst nightmares become a reality.  Let these ten tips serve as your guide, and before you know it, you’ll be casting a spell on your customers that’ll have them coming back for more.