{"id":1008716,"date":"2022-01-05T20:12:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T04:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevedigioia.com\/blog\/?p=6528"},"modified":"2022-01-05T20:13:55","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T04:13:55","slug":"7-customer-expectations-and-why-i-shouldnt-have-to-ask-for-a-napkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/7-customer-expectations-and-why-i-shouldnt-have-to-ask-for-a-napkin\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Customer Expectations and Why I Shouldn\u2019t Have to Ask for a Napkin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We all speak about expectations, <strong>customer expectations<\/strong>. They can be reasonable or extreme, and sometimes achievable or bizarre. But usually, they are appropriate. As a customer, I expect a basic minimum such as:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>The product or service should work as expected.<\/li>\r\n<li>The product or service should be reasonably priced and in line with similar products.<\/li>\r\n<li>The product or service should be safe to use.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>These are the absolute minimums I expect and what a vendor should provide.<\/p>\r\n<p>According to Deloitte, in their paper, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/content\/dam\/Deloitte\/us\/Documents\/process-and-operations\/us-cons-the-true-value-of-customer-experiences.pdf\"><strong><span>The True Value of Customer Experiences<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p><em>\u201cCreating an effective customer experience is about more than just ensuring your customers receive the products and services they desire in a timely and efficient manner. It\u2019s also about creating touchpoints with real people who can organically evangelize and grow your brand through their social media and offline interactions with friends and family.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>They are so right. It\u2019s about the \u201cexperience\u201d, and I\u2019ve written about this many times. <strong>But a positive experience also comes with expectations that the business must meet \u2013 and even surpass.<\/strong> And customers have other expectations from their service provider. For example:<\/p>\r\n<h2><span><div class=\"su-heading su-heading-style-default su-heading-align-center\" id><p>7 Customer Expectations<\/p><\/div><\/span><\/h2>\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>\r\n<h4>Get a Straw with a Drink<\/h4>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>A customer would always assume that they\u2019d get a straw with their non-alcoholic drink, especially at the drive-thru window. And most, if not all, fast food business always gets this right. When they hand you the drink you get the straw too. It\u2019s <strong>expected<\/strong>. But now, many restaurants want you to ask for a straw. What about anticipating the customer\u2019s needs?<\/p>\r\n<ol start=\"2\">\r\n<li>\r\n<h4>Napkins Come With a Takeout Order<\/h4>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>This one should be as obvious as getting a straw with a drink but sadly, it doesn\u2019t happen as a rule. How many times have you grabbed your food bag from the drive-thru window and driven away only to find out that it\u2019s missing napkins? This drives me crazy. Isn\u2019t a napkin a basic need when ordering and eating food? You\u2019d think every drive-thru understood this, but NO, they don\u2019t. Why in the world do I need to ask for a napkin?&nbsp; I <strong>expect<\/strong> it to be in the bag.<\/p>\r\n<p>Apparently, the cost of napkins has risen so high that saving a penny or two is more important to the business than allowing their customers to wipe the ketchup from their lips. Would they ever leave out the spoon with a takeout soup order? Hmmm\u2026<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>RELATED POST:<\/strong> <em>I shouldn\u2019t have to ask for a napkin, that\u2019s a pet peeve for me. Here are 5 past posts talking about some other pet peeves of mine. <a href=\"http:\/\/stevedigioia.com\/blog\/category\/pet-peeves\/\"  rel=\"noopener\"><strong><span>Click here to read them.<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\r\n<ol start=\"3\">\r\n<li>\r\n<h4>Serve All Food Together<\/h4>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>It seems like the food industry is getting a bad rap here, but I think it\u2019s justified. Here\u2019s why. A group of 6 people enters a restaurant for a relaxing meal. All goes well except for when the food comes out. Only 5 meals get delivered. The server says that the last meal will be out shortly, so you wait. Or do you?<\/p>\r\n<p>Should the 5 customers start eating or be polite, and following dining etiquette, wait until the last meal is served? How long will the wait be? Won\u2019t their food get cold and potentially less appetizing? Or should they start eating in the hope the last meal will come out soon? But will it? What if it doesn\u2019t?<\/p>\r\n<p>Any kitchen that cannot cook and deliver 6 good meals at the same time has problems. But their problems shouldn\u2019t get passed on to the customer. The restaurant\u2019s failure must not create an uncomfortable situation for their guests who <strong>expect<\/strong> all their meals to be served at the same time. This is not an unreasonable expectation.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>RELATED POST: <a href=\"https:\/\/stevedigioia.com\/blog\/what-happened-to-the-dining-experience-we-used-to-receive\/\"  rel=\"noopener\"><span>What Happened To The Dining Experience We Used To Receive?<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\r\n<ol start=\"4\">\r\n<li>\r\n<h4>Get a Receipt With Purchase<\/h4>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>The latest thing I\u2019ve noticed is gas station attendants asking you if \u201cyou want a receipt?\u201d Sure, many people don\u2019t want them. But why does every other business automatically give them to you? The supermarket does. The dry cleaner and shoe store do too. So why not the gas station? Is it because the receipt is only needed if you want to return an item? Maybe. But what about those who use it to track expenses or balance their accounts? Don\u2019t they count? Don\u2019t they have similar <strong>expectations<\/strong>?<\/p>\r\n<ol start=\"5\">\r\n<li>\r\n<h4>My Food is Not Squished in a Container or Bag<\/h4>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>On your way home from work you stop by the supermarket to pick up a few things: milk, sliced bread, eggs, and maybe a box of your favorite cookies too. While you\u2019re swiping your credit card in the machine, the cashier is bagging your items. You say thanks, grab your bag, and head home only to find out that the milk is laying on top of your bread! Shouldn\u2019t I <strong>expect<\/strong> that the bread is placed on TOP of the less fragile items, or in a separate bag? Am I asking for too much?<\/p>\r\n<ol start=\"6\">\r\n<li>\r\n<h4>Consistent Operating Hours<\/h4>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>This tends to be a problem with some smaller, privately run businesses. If \u201cbusiness is slow\u201d, they close early in the hopes of saving a few payroll dollars by sending their employees home early. Or it allows them to be home for dinner with their family. Sure, being home for dinner is a noble cause but what about their customers who <strong>expected<\/strong> the store to be open for their shopping needs. Especially those who drove a distance to shop after they checked on the store\u2019s advertised operating hours.<\/p>\r\n<ol start=\"7\">\r\n<li>\r\n<h4>Product Instructions That Aren\u2019t Tiny<\/h4>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p>Remember when I mentioned that the product or service should work as expected? Well, how in the world can I figure out how it works when I can\u2019t read the instructions because they\u2019re printed in the smallest possible font that only a grasshopper could read? I <strong>expect<\/strong> the directions to be printed so I can read them without having to dig out my trusty magnifying glass. This is so frustrating. (OK, please don\u2019t start with the \u201cyou\u2019re getting old\u201d, jokes).<\/p>\r\n<p>So, I ask you, how many of these situations have you come across? Are you, and me, wrong for <strong>expecting<\/strong> good service AND to get the straw, napkin, and receipt that we\u2019re entitled to? And don\u2019t get me started on the sliced bread!<\/p>\r\n<p>#customerexpectations #serviceexpectations #customerexpectationexamples<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all speak about expectations, customer expectations. They can be reasonable or extreme, and sometimes achievable or bizarre. But usually, they are appropriate. As a customer, I expect a basic minimum such as:<\/p>\n<p>The product or service should work as e&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8027,"featured_media":886227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[128,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8027"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1008716"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1008881,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1008716\/revisions\/1008881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1008716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1008716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1008716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}