Shift your perspective, embrace being wrong and practice radical empathy
Businesses can cut costs, keep more customers and win new customers (through word of mouth/mouse) if they focus on the customer experience. That means designing customer experiences that fit customer needs and expectations and which make their lives easier and richer (not just in the money sense). To do that all the people in the organisation (Tops, Middles, Bottoms) have to shift their perspective, embrace bring wrong and practice radical empathy. What am I talking about? All is explained/demonstrated beautifully in the following three TED talks: the first is about shifting your perspective; the second on embracing being wrong; and third on radical empathy. I hope you enjoy and learn from them.
RavKK: Shake up your story
Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong
Sam Richards: A radical experiment in empathy
You may be wondering why these practices are necessary and if I am correct in asserting that customer experience design can cut operating costs and protect revenues by keeping customers coming back. Allow me to share two recent experience with you and give life to what I am saying.
Software4Students.co.uk – they made me work and created work for themselves
On the 10th of Sept I finally gave in and decided to update the software on my children’s computers so that it was the same as what they are using in school. I placed the order with SoftwareForStudents.co.uk and was happy to do so because the price is reasonable and they promise to despatch it within 24 hours. I received a package this Wednesday and on opening it I found only Office 2010 discs. That was a both a concern and a disappointment because I had placed an order for Windows 7 and Office 2010: one order, two items.
I emailed the company straight away – pointing out that the issue. Immediately I got an automated email that told me that the issue would be looked into. Four days later I received the following email:
“Hi,
Thank you for contacting Software4Students! Please note the products you have ordered have been dispatched separately.
The status dispatched applies to orders that have been validated and approved as per software manufacturers requirements. Orders are dispatched the following working day. Most customers receive their orders within 3 to 5 working days. However, due to varying factors out of our control, there may be occasions when deliveries are delayed. We are confident that delivery will be made shortly and appreciate your patience.
Should your software not arrive after 21 days from the order date please notify us by email.
If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
Customer Support Team “
Lets just take a look at what has happened here and the consequences:
- I place one order for two items and they despatch them separately – the company has doubled its postage costs.
- Because I was not informed that they were sent separately I became worried. And hunted around for the contact number (on their website) and then emailed the support team. There is just work and concern that I can do without – it is simply a ‘cost’ that the company has put on to me.
- Software4Students.co.uk incurred costs in dealing with failure demand (demand the company brings upon itself by failing to do right by the customer) because someone in the Customer Support Team had to read my email and then write a response back.
Now look at the email response itself because it is a window into the mind/culture of the company:
- They have my name and they do not use it to address me even though research shows that your names are dear to us.
- The email provides only one piece of useful information – that the products have been despatched separately;
- There are absolutely no commitments on when I will get my order – just vague words around what might happen – and what I can count on them for;
- It ends with the line that says if your order does not arrive after 21 days then contact us by email.
It is all about the company – about Software4Students. They simply do not care about me – the customer – and my situation, my needs, my perspective. Will I continue buying from them? That depends on what alternatives are open to me and the cost of those alternatives.
Memorybits.co.uk – they make me put in extra work and increase their costs
I placed an order for 4 memory cards (for cameras) and 4 USB flash drives handed over my credit card details including putting in my pin (‘Verified by Visa’) and received a confirmation of my order on Sunday 11th Sept. So all they had to do was to deliver the goods right? I thought the same. The next day I received the following email:
“Dear Customer
We have received your order, unfortunately due to our security procedures we require confirmation of your details before we can dispatch your order.
Please email our verification help desk on [email protected] to verify your details.
Department opening hours are 09.00 to 17.30 Monday to Friday
Kind Regards
The MemoryBits Customer Service Team”
This email did not create value for me so I sent the following email: “I have received an email from you stating that you need me to confirm my details for security reasons. Here is the order I placed – please fulfil it or cancel it and refund my money. Thank you.” Almost immediately I got an email response back: “Thank you for your email we can confirm that you order is being processed”. Which left me wondering: “Why did they write the email in the first email? If there was a genuine security issue then how was it cleared by me writing and telling the company to fulfil the order or refund my money?” Why did they waste my time? And why did they create work for themselves.
And the next day (Wednesday) I got two emails (received at the same time) confirming that my order had been despatched and was on its way to me via first class post. The following day, I got the same two emails again which left me wondering what is happening here? It did not inspire confidence in MemoryBits.
When the order arrived I was expecting to issues a flash drive to each of my children for their schoolwork. Yet, the tiny package contained only one USB flash drive. Which left me wondering: “Where is the rest of my order? And why did they just send me this one flash drive? Have they made a mistake / misread my order?” As I had been through the Software4Students experience I decided to check my email confirmation and this is what I found: “Please note that for our own processing reasons, your order may be split into more than one package. If this happens you will not have to pay any additional shipping charges, and you will receive a dispatch email for each package.”
What can we learn here:
- MemoryBits has a process in place that can and does result in multiple deliveries for a single order – thus increasing picking and postage costs.
- I suspect it then invites emails and telephone calls from customers wanting to know where the rest of the order is.
- It fails customer expectations because when we order multiple items – especially small ones – on one order many of us expect to get them in one delivery.
- Furthermore, multiple deliveries set up multiple failures – what if no-one had been at home? Then I would have had to make multiple trips to the local post office depot to collect my stuff.
- You can lose customers by creating work / hassle for your customers – I will not be buying from MemoryBits again.
And finally
One practice I have failed to mention is that of Gratitude – not taking people (and circumstances) for granted. Let me practice gratitude right now. I thank you for reading what I write. I thank you for writing to me and encouraging me to continue writing. I thank you for educating me. And I thank you for letting me into your world by commenting on what I write and thus entering into a conversation with me. I wish you well and look forward to our next conversation.
