Most businesses routinely use formal quality management techniques, including statistical methods, to improve results. In effect, we are using science to improve our outcomes. Many times though, this data-based approach isn't applied to customer service.

Sriram Dasu, co-author of The Customer Service Solution, explains a new paradigm of how to look at customer service. It is probably best summed up by a quote from Antonio Porchia, “I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received.”

When analyzing how to improve customer service encounters, the basic elements that take place within the encounter would need to be scientifically and precisely defined. Start with the word 'Service' - it means different things to different people.

If someone says they had great service at a bank, we still don’t know what was great about it. Normally, it is a combination of things working well together, but without further information and analysis, the term service does not differentiate the actual work required to provide the service and the attitudes of the service providers.

Establishing operational definitions allows careful cause and effect analysis. The book takes an interesting approach by breaking down the service experience into distinct sections, the three Ts: 1) The task to be done, 2) The treatment given to the customer, and 3) The tangible features of the service.

For example, with a car service appointment was the work performed satisfactorily and on time (task)? Was the provider friendly (treatment)? Was the waiting room clean (tangible)?

It was interesting to consider how important perception is in the experience. For example, the perception of time isn't as simple as it would sound. We see promises of speedy service all around us, and companies invest a lot to achieve a low 'average minutes per transaction,' but sometimes the consumer perception isn't entirely based on the time elapsed.

For example, even something as simple as waiting in a line needs to FEEL short as much as it needs to BE short. Researchers have found that empty-time is a big negative, so sometimes experiences are redesigned to occupy a customer's time. At Epcot Center, there are large interactive screens that gamify the queuing experience and warm up shows to help make time fly.

Another aspect of perception involves the concept of social justice - is it a fair waiting game? Banks, airlines and fast-food restaurants often use single corralled winding lines that might look longer, but they force the concept of first come, first served. Using several lines might have made it look shorter, but some customers leave feeling that the process was unjust.

In addition to fairness, there is the issue of control (i.e. how can the consumer control the experience?). Visibility into the process and the expected length of wait gives users some sense of control. Travelers at the Atlanta airport who use "Trak-a-Line" get emails when there is a change in wait times for security screening - making you feel like you have some control. In the Disney example, attractions often show expected wait times, but sometimes you'll notice that you are good at getting to the front of the line just a little faster than expected. The extra, buffer time gives you a feeling of control, and surpasses your expectations.

Most professional retailers (including e-retailers) are using tools to improve service, and we all need to build the mentality of customer service into corporate culture.

Experts also have a few tips that consumers can try on their next supermarket trip:

• Lane 13 is the quickest way out of a store - many people will avoid that lane for superstitious reasons.
• Ironically sometimes the express lanes are the slowest. That one is based on math - if each customer adds 48 seconds to a transaction compared to 2.8 seconds to scan each item, you'll often be better off taking your 12 items elsewhere.

Written in collaboration with Sriram Dasu.