When Customers Make Their Own Bad Customer Experience
If you're reading this blog, then the likelihood is quite high that your goal, and your company's goal, is to deliver a consistently outstanding customer experience. A heady goal considering that delivering even a consistently positive customer experience is challenging enough--frontline employees are often a wildcard due to varying levels of training, often misaligned compensation, or simply having a bad day; shipping or inventory issues may arise that make promised deliveries evaporate like morning mist; products may have an unexpected glitch (or a winning season that ends in the basement). The list goes on.
One often overlooked area of customer experience delivery is the customers themselves: Rude customers who expect to be treated politely; low-value customers who demand high-value service levels; customers who insist on low-cost parts, but want high-quality finished goods; customers who ask for advice but don't listen (or read instructions, for that matter), who then blame your service department or the product itself for issues they're having properly using your products. This list goes on, too.
The fact is that sometimes, no matter how much time, resources, investment, and focus you put into creating and operationalizing an ideal customer experience, factors beyond your control--in this case, customers--will impede your ability to achieve that goal. This includes customers' attitude and demeanor, their expectations, their previous experience with your organization and perhaps your competitors, and the like.
What I'd like to know is this: What was your most challenging customer experience issue brought on by a customer (or set of customers)? And, most important, how did you deal with it or turn it around? The best story will appear in the next issue of 1to1 Magazine.
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