Customer experience doesn’t just begin and end with a visit to the store, an interaction with a sales representative, and the subsequent purchase of the product. It’s made up of details; lots of details both intentional and unintentional. Our overall customer experience is the quality aggregate of an entire organization.
Let us take the example of Keurig and the Special Edition Keurig Brewer and assume that I was attracted to the product from advertisements I saw on television; a busy person wanting a quick cup of coffee in the morning, turning the machine on, placing a K-cup in the holder, closing the lid and in 60 seconds a flashing light appears signaling my coffee is ready. So the experience begins. I am attracted to the product; I purchase the product, and use the product. My customer experience however does not end, because within a nine-month period I am not enjoying that quick cup of coffee; the machine only drips out a half-cup.
The measure of quality and overall design and assembly of a product can diminish my customer experience. Early on, I was already taking apart the K-Cup Holder Assembly, cleaning the funnel, cleaning the exit needle, and now de-scaling the brewer. Doesn’t it sound like a lot of trouble for a quick cup of coffee in the morning? Even if the product is working right, but there is a flaw in my perception how does this affect my customer experience? The television advertisement intentionally showed me a quick convenient way to have my morning cup of coffee.
Customer service has taken me through the basic steps of testing the machine, and now suggest I do another longer eight-hour descaling although none of my neighbors using the identical water supply have had the problem. Still that’s a lot of work for that quick cup of morning coffee the intentional advertisement wanted me to perceive.
When a consumer’s perception suffers, the quality of the product loses credibility because now the experience doesn’t measure up to what was promised as what was perceived as true. At some point now, my unintentional customer experience kicks in when I tell my friends about all the trouble I have with the coffee maker. It’s not that customer service was rude either; they were helpful, but how have they added to my positive experience and how have they identified my lack of satisfaction? Now I’m responsible for a prolonged process to correct a design flaw? The customer service agent did ask me if I wanted to purchase at an additional cost a specific filter not originally included in the $150+ machine.
Who do you trust to recommend a product? Do you listen to the advertisements on television, the internet, magazines, or do you pay attention to friends and relatives? A business needs to measure all details and see which ones really make the difference in someone’s total customer experience. I am sorry to report there has been no “wow” experience with Keurig.
photo credit: SadyeBabi
