How my detox plan went down the drain.

The Christmas season was fast approaching and like many others, I wanted to get in shape and feel good in my “December body” before the holidays set in. I knew I was certainly going to indulge so I had to detox and lose weight come hell or high water. So I got referrals from my friends on some healthy fruit juices that could help me to detox to start my weight loss journey.

However, what should have been a simple and enjoyable experience of ordering healthy fruit juices turned out to be a huge service experience nightmare; Poor Packaging, bad delivery service and very “dodgy” communication. This is how it all unfolded

I got in touch with this vendor via their social media page to place an order for 28 bottles of juice and agreed with the vendor that I will prefer late afternoon delivery of my juice since I would not be available for the most part of the day. She agreed and we scheduled the delivery for 2:30 pm. Let me acknowledge that the initial interaction went without incident so I was quite happy.

Then comes the day of delivery. I got a call from a dispatch rider at 7:00 am wanting to deliver my juice in the morning. I explained to him I wasn’t available and that I had already agreed with the vendor to deliver it at 2:30 pm. He quickly retorted by saying “oh ok” and hung up.

I went about my rounds and got home in time for the delivery. At 3:30 pm I had still not received my order so I followed up with the delivery guy only to be informed that my delivery has been postponed because I wasn’t available to receive it at 7:00 am. I was in the “Spirit” so I kept my cool and contacted the vendor. This was her response, “Eeehhh I am trying to call the delivery guy but he’s not answering so let me see if it will be possible to deliver on that day.” At that point, I was forced to ask her if she wasn’t the same person I agreed with to deliver the items at 2:30 pm. She mumbled up a few excuses and later said she will revert.

After a few minutes, I got a call from another dispatch, asking for my location (The same information I had already given out to the vendor). ?Not too long after, the dispatch arrived with a “green efiewura suami” maybe I should say “Ghana must go” tied to the back of the motor. For a moment I got stunned. I did not want to believe my drinks were part of the consignments in the “efiewura suami”. Then to my disbelief, he placed the bag on the ground and started untying a huge clothe used to seal the “Ghana must go”. He then attempted to bring out “ewiase y3 sum” (black polythene bag) and said “madam the juice is in this black polythene bag oo but it's torn so you will have to take the “efiewura suami” with you so you unpack the juice.” at this point words failed me, so I quietly carried the “efiewura suami” inside, unpacked and returned the bag as quickly as I could. “Madam, the delivery fee is 40cedis”, he said. I was a bit surprised because nothing had been mentioned about the delivery fee in all my interactions up until this point, however, I obliged him and gave him 30cedis.

Something that was meant to be an exciting commitment to detox and feel good, has all of a sudden gone south. Did the juice fulfill my need of me wanting to detox? No, because the sight of the unkempt nature of the “efiewura suami” took the taste out of my mouth.

Why am I sharing this experience? It is for us to draw some lessons. Every business needs a base of loyal customers to keep the business going. The experience you take your customers through has a bearing on how loyal they would keep to your brand. The secret to customer loyalty is offering immense value at every point of the customer’s journey with your business.

The purchasing stage of the customer’s journey is not the only important stage when dealing with customers. All the other stages are equally important in defining the overall customer experience.

Some questions to ponder over as you look at the totality of your service offering

·??????Do you have your own dispatch or do you often sub-contract?

·??????What goes into your selection of one dispatch over the other?

·??????Do you understand the extent to which the delivery process impacts your business?

·??????How's your product packaged? Does the packaging project what your brand stands for?

·??????Do you take feedback after a customer patronizes your product? What do you do with the feedback you receive?

Always take a look at how your third-party service providers impact your overall service experience.

You may have a great product but if your delivery, packaging, after-sales support and feedback process are not the best, you risk losing out on repeat customers.