It may be easy to deliver great customer experience if you spend
more than your competitors, but the challenge is to deliver a
better overall perceived customer experience within a given budget.
It is possible.
Research in the health sector on how people remember their
experiences suggests that people don't remember every element of
their experience in one continuous and even chain of events. They
are more likely to remember the beginning, the end and some point
in between that is particularly bad or good.
The secret is to break down the customer experience and focus on
the experience points that matter most and have greatest
impact.
For example, in an energy company's call centre, a key metric on
the wall is likely to be the average time spent on a call. The
business, with an eye on cost base, may aim to minimise that
average call time. Yet a detailed analysis of calls might indicate
that certain types of calls have a much greater impact on
satisfaction than others. A day-to-day paying of a bill may have
little positive or negative effect on satisfaction, and can be
minimised in duration without ill effect.
On the other hand, a call about connecting a new electricity
account might be highly related to overall satisfaction. By
investing in this small proportion of total calls, the business may
be able to disproportionately affect the overall experience
remembered by the customer. This provides the opportunity to reduce
investment in the parts of the experience that don't relate to
satisfaction, while over-investing in the parts that matter.
The idea of a 'Moment of Truth' was introduced in a book in the
1970s by Jan Carlzon, who managed Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) at
the time. The thought is that customer satisfaction is built on the
thousands of individual points of contact that employees are
empowered to deliver.
These principles were applied in our work with the Victorian
public hospitals to improve the patient experience in emergency
departments (see the related case study). An analysis of patient
needs indicated that one of the 'moments of truth' was the ability
to quickly find the emergency department and understand the process
and expectations once inside the emergency department waiting room.
An investment in thoughtful way-finding systems was able to
minimise stress, improve efficiency and deliver better perceived
outcomes to patients.
In the case of a service brand in a competitive market, better
design of customer experiences can be used as a differentiator and
driver of long term growth. The habit of firms benchmarking their
service against competitors can lead to a baseline set of industry
'standards' that provide little differentiation. The key is to
identify what really matters in the overall narrative of a
customer's experiences, then focus resources on delivering standout
performance for those specific 'moments of truth'.
This analysis is backed up by everyday experience. Think of the
experiences you have as a customer with your health insurance fund,
your electricity company, your bank or at a car park. Not every
interaction carries the same weight, but some really do matter to
how you perceive that provider and how satisfied you are with your
overall experience.
Combining strong analysis with good intuitive judgment can help
you design and deliver better 'moments of truth' for your own
customers.
For a printable copy with detailed images please download
the attachment.