If a customer-facing system has a single purpose, make sure it works

(This post originally appeared on Forbes.com)

On a recent Saturday night, I went bowling with some friends. There was a brand new electronic scoring system that even let us choose a background theme on which to display the scores. The only problem was that the thing couldn’t keep score. On Sunday night, I lost power in my home after a big snowstorm. The power was out for more than 16 hours, and I had no idea if or when it was coming back on, despite signing up for the power company’s text alert system.

What do these two experiences have in common? They both involve a basic service failure of a system that was specifically designed to provide that service. These are some of the most frustrating kinds of experiences for customers because they make us feel that the businesses we’ve entrusted lack coordination or attention to detail, they require us to do extra work, and we’re treated as ancillary passengers along for the bumpy ride.

In the case of the bowling alley, the electronic scoring system is designed to do one thing – keep score. After I rolled a nine and a spare but didn’t receive credit for the spare, I tried to manually fix it, but couldn't. So I walked to the front desk and politely asked for my hard-earned spare. On the next turn, the same thing happened. I again made the walk and got my score changed. Then it happened again. And again. The front desk employee said she would ask maintenance to look at it.

I eventually stopped walking to the front desk to have the scores changed, and we just played out the last game. I suddenly found myself pining for the traditional paper-and-pencil scoring system that never broke down. We never received an apology or any offer of compensation from the bowling alley. Needless to say, we won't be going back.

The electric company tried to leverage technology to improve communications during the power outage. Other utilities like Duke Energy have done a great job of proactively alerting customers on social media to impending storms and potential outages. I was able to report the outage online and see that 382 other people were also freezing in their powerless homes. But the interactive map which showed reported outages in the area didn't show my report, or my neighbor's. I signed up for text alerts and immediately received a confirmation message. And then – silence, for the entire day. No updates whatsoever.

After abandoning my home for more than nine hours for the warmth of a Starbucks and a friend’s house, I returned to find the power had been restored. My outage never appeared on the interactive map, and I never received a text alert saying that the outage was fixed.

A basic service failure of a system that was specifically designed to provide that service: a scoring machine that doesn’t score, and a text alert that doesn’t alert.

These failures are a reflection of business leaders who haven’t truly immersed themselves in the customer experience that their company provides. Did anyone actually test that scoring system or text alert system before deploying it? Have the executives at those companies ever felt the frustration that their customers feel? The customer experience concept of "walking in your customers' shoes" is intended to be taken literally.

If your company offers customers technology solutions, it is imperative that those solutions actually work. They should be constantly tested, with new experience iterations based on real customer feedback. This is essentially table stakes in today’s highly competitive experience economy, and though many people don’t have a choice in electricity providers, they certainly have a choice in bowling centers.

And they likely have a choice when it comes to your business.

Focus on doing the simple things better. If technology and innovation are going to cause more problems than they solve, then don’t waste money implementing sub-par experiences. Every experience that you create must elevate the overall customer experience, not detract from it. Because if you can’t provide an experience that at least meets – if not exceeds – your customers’ expectations, someone else surely will.