Customer Experience (CX): Lessons From Japan

Great customer experience design is about injecting purpose and empathy into everything we do. And the Japanese do it very well. 

The experience I gained working with Japanese and European companies have been different. Though, I had never got an opportunity to visit Japan, but constant interaction with Japanese colleagues enabled me to get an understanding of their work culture and their working methods. To most Japanese work preceded any other priorities in life; family came second. The husband’s esteem to the wife was judged by how late he arrived home from work. A consensus management style, procedure & systems driven, an abundant empathy towards customers, getting into meticulous details of every operation, a value for everyone’s time and a continuous effort towards improvement, have been the pillar stones of their success. 

This summer, I decided to take a 3- day stopover at Tokyo on way to San Francisco (which has since become a ritual every year), being conveyed it is a beautiful country; and to confirm my beliefs of what I learnt about Japan and what made this country so amazing and beautiful that emerged out of destruction after the war and a country that is constantly under the threat of natural calamities. At every step of my interaction with people or process, I observed, took pictures, talked to people and scribbled notes. It is difficult to build a comprehensive story during such a short stay, but positive management principles can be captured by linking to the background information I had possessed about this country. Here are a few experiences that grasped my attention:

1 When Japanese are asked to explain something or present data, they tend to use visual means such as pictures, charts, diagrams, sketches, or graphs. The tourist guide invariably tries to explain through pre-drawn sketches. In restaurants, the menu is displayed in pictorial form at the entrance making it compelling and easily understandable. However, when we are asked to elaborate on something, we tend to just use more words. When it’s oral, it means we may go on and on talking, and if it's on paper that might mean a long string of paragraphs. This tends to be frustrating to Japanese -- and frustrating to us when we discover that they may not have absorbed everything we were saying.

2 Most Japanese men and women wear single colour suits (mostly black) and a white shirt to work. They maintain 3 sets of such suits. One set is given to the laundry each week; the other two sets are rotated during the week. This avoids spending wasteful time in determining what to wear each day. 

3 Japan has a severe crunch for space. I recall, once having invited home a Japanese colleague for dinner, the first remark that he made was their entire flat was the size of our living room. Consequently, in most hotels rooms are small and so are the toilets. Not more than one suitcase can be carried inside a room, otherwise it would obstruct movement space. At times hotel lobby can be on a different floor. Labour is a highly expensive commodity, no bell boys are available. If a guest arrives with multiple number of baggage, the extra bags can be stored at the ‘left luggage’ room. The hotel allows the guest to keep it along with the trolley so that while checking out one has only to cart the trolley and hail a coach or a taxi to their destination.

4 Reverting to hotel rooms, after a hot shower, the mirrors inside the toilets tend to get frosty (especially if toilets are small in size) making it hard to view one’s face. Rather this happens with most hotels that I have stayed with. Japanese hotels have a heating device mounted behind the mirror that helps in warming up an area of appx 2’ x 2’ to prevent the frosting. I wonder if this simple technique has been employed elsewhere in the world. (A very recent stay at a hotel in California proved otherwise).

5 Tickets for over ground or underground train travel are sold at ticket vending machines found at every Tokyo Metro station (in denominations of 170/ 200/ 240/ 280/ 310 yen in 10 yen units). 1 yen = ?0.62. A convenient prepaid transportation card (PASMO) that contains an integrated-circuit (IC) chip allows the user to enter the subway by simply placing the card over a card reader located on the fare gates. The card is rechargeable and can be used over and over. If one falls short of the fare applicable for the distance travelled the excess fare can be paid at the time of checking out of the gate. Refunds, are not given for tickets valued higher than the fare for the distance travelled.

6 The international Tokyo Narita airport handles around 50% of international passengers traffic in Japan and check-in process is automated. The airline kiosk issues a boarding pass, another punches out a luggage tag, then a computer screen shows how to attach it and another where the luggage is to be set on a conveyor. No single human being except at baggage drop or manual check-in counters. The height of the baggage conveyer belt has been designed with the thought that passengers don’t have to lift the baggage while placing on the conveyer belt. 

8 Immigration and customs at Narita is smooth and rapid with least amount of waiting and walking. Consequently, passengers get least tired which leaves them with sufficient time for a thoughtful duty-free shopping. This results in the footfalls to duty free shops high with a good rate of conversion. 

The Japanese indeed care about getting meticulous details to enhance customer experience. Caring about a customer doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor—it just requires creating moments of delight. Those moments, whether a larger gesture, or something smaller as with examples narrated above or such as responding to customer inquiries within an hour on Twitter, stem from a promise. Adopting practices that elevate the customer experience undoubtedly produces a return on investment and provides a steady foundation upon which a brand can continue to grow.