No News is No Longer Good News
Jim Tincher, CCXP
Customer Experience Expert, CXPA Board Member, and Best-Selling Author of "Do B2B Better" and "How Hard Is It to Be Your Customer? Using Journey Mapping to Drive Customer-Focused Change"
Domino’s went and spoiled it. And then Amazon made it worse.
It used to be that customers were patient and okay with waiting on your processes. Whether shipping a product, going through underwriting, or applying for a loan, we were okay with waiting in the dark. We didn’t like it. But we accepted that companies put their information into our black box and the results would eventually come out.
And then Domino’s created their pizza tracker. Suddenly, we all had a view of the behind-the-scenes processes that we never knew we wanted. We could see when the sauce went on, when the ingredients were added, and when it came out of the oven. Who cares if the pizza’s mediocre? We just loved the experience!
Then Amazon got into the act, telling us when the product was shipped, and even when it was ten stops away. Even cooler, they told us when it was delivered and took a picture of it.
This changed everything. If Amazon can tell me where my $10 book is, why can’t you tell me where my $10,000 shipment of raw materials is?
Yes, Domino’s and Amazon ruined it for everybody in business. But they also exposed the ability to add more value to your customer experience. When your customer knows that her products are twenty minutes away, she can have the dock cleared and staff ready to accept the delivery, which allows your driver to unload faster. Which is good for you, since now you can do more deliveries.
It’s called “operational transparency,” and it turns out that it’s very good for your customer experience. There was a great article on the topic in Harvard Business Review this spring, including the quote: “When customers are cordoned off from a company’s operation, they are less likely to fully understand and appreciate the value being created. As a result, they are less satisfied, less willing to pay, less trusting, and less loyal to the company over time.”
It’s not just for deliveries. Another quote goes further, “When customers who were transparently being evaluated for a loan were also provided with an easy way to contact a support person with questions throughout the process, the probability they would move forward with the loan, if offered, increased.” It’s not just that a lack of transparency drives customers away – but sharing progress gives them confidence.
Whenever there’s a black box – you take customer information and they must wait while you do something with it – your experience can benefit from operational transparency. One bank found that they didn’t actually need to accelerate their loan process – simply providing transparency gave the customers just as much benefit as accelerating the process, and was far less expensive.
Another bank planned to increase transparency based on the Domino’s pizza tracker. In doing so, they discovered an opportunity to use AI to improve their processes, dramatically decreasing the time it took to process a loan.
Look at your own customer experience. Wherever you require your customers to wait, look to see if you can add operational transparency. It’s an effective way to make it much easier to be your customer.
Director of UX Research at U.S. Bank
5 年I have heard this sentiment from customers in my work across multiple industries. When I was in window and door manufacturing, the builders told us that while product quality and price is important, they were going to recommend/use the brand that reduced their emotional anxiety enable them to better prepare by providing them with transparency into the delivery process. We also hear this in banking, especially with larger loans that require more underwriters and behind-the-scene steps in the process.? I believe that if small business owners knew how much work went into the process of evaluating their credit worthiness, they would be less likely to perceive a credit decline as a personal attack (thus be more likely to return next time they need credit) and be more tolerant of longer timelines for complex credit applications. As the HBR article states:?When people could see the work that was going on behind the scenes, they perceived that more effort went into the delivery of the service. They also believed that the service provider had more expertise and was being more thorough. They appreciated that effort and quality, and they in turn valued the service more.
SVP of Customer Experience & Market Research Consulting: Strategic Leader Passionate about Driving Growth and Transformation through a Focus on Customer Experience and Market Research
5 年I agree, and yet...not 100%. We got the pizza tracker because we didn't trust that the pizza I ordered for 6 was actually going to show up at 6. And if it didn't, I'd have to call. And then they'd say they'd lost the order, or the driver was on the way. We didn't trust. Instead of telling me where my pizza is, if I order it for 6, I get it at 6. Every time. How about instead of asking your customer to clear their docks because your product will be there in 20 minutes, you get it there at the time she wants? At the time when her docks are already clear and she doesn't have to keep other drivers waiting or reschedule things or move her people around? How about instead of giving the customer a window into our operations and the processes we've built to make us as operationally effective as possible, we take a step back and design our processes from the customer back. Then they won't need to see what we're doing, because they know we'll do it and that it will work for them.
Customer Service Specialist at Radicle Health
5 年100% guilty of being a fan of tracking my Dominos order. You know it's not going to make the pizza come any faster, but you just can't stop watching.