What is the missing piece of the Customer Experience puzzle?
Is it customer service? Hardly, it seems that it is rather old-fashioned to say customer service when the speaker is talking about customer service. No, the in-term is customer experience. Is it marketing? No, whilst it has taken a back seat many authors do recognise the importance of marketing communications (brand, advertising, direct marketing….) on the customer experience. Is it the website? No, many of us get the need to design websites so that they are attractive, usable and useful and thus contribute to the Customer Experience. So what is the missing piece of the Customer Experience puzzle?
The ‘product’ is the missing piece
Just imagine that you head to the hairdresser and everything is perfect: the name, the location, the ‘store’, the welcome that you receive, the pricing, the staff that serve you….Yet your hair does not turn out the way that you expected? What impact does that have on your entire Customer Experience? Turns it negative right? In this case the ‘product’ has failed to meet your expectations and that one failure has turned what had been a positive experience into a negative.
The product is the missing piece. Nintendo turned around its fortunes and claimed the number 1 slot when it launched the Nintendo Wii. Dyson did the same thing for vacuum cleaners. And of course Apple with the ipod, the iphone and now the ipad. The product is the reason that the buyer searches you out and becomes a customer. If you have the right product then the customer will put up with all kinds of interaction hassles to buy that product of you – and come back to buy accessories.
Why do I say that the product is the missing piece of the Customer Experience puzzle? Because it simply is not mentioned in Customer Experience speeches, articles and conversations. The assumption seems to be that Customer Experience = Interaction Assessment and Design. The need to pay attention to the product was brought home to me this week because two products failed to meet my expectations in a big way. Allow me to share those with you.
A headset that is uncomfortable on the head
I needed a headset and was in a hurry to buy one so I did not do any research. Instead I popped into a store and picked the first one that looked like it would do the job at a reasonable price. The headset was well presented. And I was delighted that some thought had gone into the packaging – making it easy for me to open up the packaging without having to get a chainsaw to cut through the plastic packaging that is all too common for some electronic products.
The surprise came when I put on the headset – it simply is not comfortable and does not fit around my head. After about ten minutes of using it I took the headset off because it pinched by head – I could feel it pressing into my skull. I would call that a major design flaw: a headset that cannot be worn because it is uncomfortable. Being scientifically trained I decided to see what other users had to say about the product. I found it on Amazon and sure enough there were people complaining about the fit/comfort about the headphone. Will I buy any other product from Creative? Unlikely.
Twinings Earl Grey tea – new coke / classic coke?
I am a tea drinker and the tea that I drink the most is Earl Grey and as my wife is the one that does the shopping she buys Twinings Earl Grey tea. I have got used to it and I like it. Except that now I don’t like it at all. Let me explain.
Twinings have changed the Earl Grey formula – to my palate it simply does not taste the same. So I did some research and found that I am not the only one: “Twinings changes its Earl Grey tea formula and customers revolt”. Digging into it deeper it appears that Twinings have changed the formula for the UK but will stick with the “classic” formula for all export markets. And due to the customer reaction Twinings will allow customers to buy directly from them via their website. Here is the Twinings statement and customer comments on that statement – worth reading the customer comments to see how much the product matters. Personally, I have asked my wife not to buy Twinings Earl Grey anymore – I will give other brands a go.
Conclusion
The product is the centre-piece of the customer experience in the sense that if you get this wrong then it does not matter what else you get right. You can add all the customer experience wrapping that you want but if the product is weak then you are fighting a losing battle because the flaws in the product noticed and shared with the world – like I am doing right now. I will never buy a Creative product again: if they can’t make a simple headset what can they make?
If you have a winning product with a loyal customer base then think twice before changing that product. In the customer age ‘products’ belong as much to customers as they do to the companies that make them. Changing these products without involving the customer base (co-creation, new product development) is asking for trouble. Customers like to be in control and they do not like to have things taken away from them. I wonder how many letters, emails and calls Twinings is receiving from customers?
Make sure that you think deeply about the ‘product’ and your customer’s experience around the product. There is no surer way to build an empire than to create a ‘must-have’ product and then promote this through the right marketing and advertising.
