The Customer Experience Road Less Traveled

The Biggest Myth in Customer Experience is the Idea of Meeting Expectations

There are two paths that diverge in the corporate woods.  Many companies take the wide first path and are happy with just meeting expectations.  Others consciously take the narrower and tougher road deciding to go ‘above and beyond’ to exceed customer expectations. The second path is the crux of the ‘marketing lagniappe‘ theory.

Seth Godin wrote a tremendous post today entitled ‘Once in a Lifetime’.  He touches on these two paths:

This is perhaps the greatest marketing strategy struggle of our time:

Should your product or service be very good, meet spec and be beyond reproach or…

should it be a remarkable, memorable, over the top, a tell-your-friends event?

The answer isn’t obvious, and many organizations are really conflicted about this.

Delta Airlines isn’t trying to make your day. They’re trying to get you from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, close to on time, less expensive the other guy and hopefully without hassle. That’s a win for them.

On the other hand, when I was growing up, we used to stop in a diner in Deposit, New York to break up the long drive from Buffalo to New York City. This diner had a really engaged staff and always one practical joke or another subtly present. (I still remember the little notice on the bulletin board once, “Henway for sale, $45. Ask cashier.”) It was enough reason to drive three miles out of our way, a few times a year. My guess is that a busy traveler wouldn’t be happy with the extra six minutes it took to eat there.

Most of the consumer businesses (restaurants, services, etc.) and virtually all of the business to business ventures I encounter shoot for the first (meeting spec). They define spec and they work to achieve it. A few, from event organizers to investment advisors, work every single day to create over-the-top remarkable experiences. It’s a lot of work, and it requires passion.

If you ran a spa at a ski resort, which would you shoot for?

Most of the people who come aren’t regulars, and most of them just want a massage, a good one, one that makes the trip a little special. I don’t think most people coming by expect anything more than that.

On the other hand, you could invest in staff and training and services that would be so connected to each other and the guests, so willing to engage and to change people that it might become the sort of transcendent experience that people talk about for months.

But you can’t do both at the same time. That customer who came for the on-spec service isn’t going to be happy with the over the top hoopla. And so you try to compromise and do both, to please everyone. Sorry, but you can’t.

Seth finishes off stating that you can’t be all things to all people.  I agree to an extent.  You definitely need to set out and create a strategy that defines which path you will take.  Don’t get caught in the mushy middle.  That said – I don’t think you need to create the same type of experience for each and every customer.  Don’t treat everyone the same, treat everyone fairly.

In my thinking it boils down to the simple question about meeting expectations.  If all you want to do is meet expectations, then you are setting yourself up for failure.  Again – there is no such thing as meeting expectations.  It’s a myth.  It’s like being on time. No one is ever on time.  You are either late or you are early.  There is no middle ground.

If you are not willing to differentiate yourself by creating valuable experiences or little touches that go ‘above and beyond’ for your customer . . . you will languish in the sea of sameness. Choose your path wisely.

Today’s Lagniappe - Here is good YouTube video interpretation of Robert Frost’s immortal poem by ’stotan88′:

The PURPLE GOLDFISH PROJECT – Click here to see 234 examples of marketing lagniappe.  Over 100 brands have been submitted to the list. Need some thought starters?