Why Recent Customer Service Declines Are Making Employees Even Bigger Brand Assets

Despite the clickbait-y headline, the recent Vox article, “Going Shopping is Dead”— has a point.?

https://www.vox.com/money/23831438/shopping-retail-theft-target-walmart-macys-losses

American consumers I have spoken to in the past year definitely would agree.?

I forgave Vox for the sensationalist headline, because they did their homework. They interviewed American shoppers and asked them about their frustrations with shopping retailers in-person, issues I have heard folks banging the drum about in my qualitative research lately, when asked about in-person shopping and dining.

In their article, here’s what American consumers say were their biggest frustrations with in-person shopping:

1. Lack of staff to check them out
2. Few (if any) employees to help them?
3. Constant shortages of what products or services they originally sought

Don't write-off the above as needy, petulant consumer behavior— it’s not. People do not sound entitled about these issues when they talk to me about them— instead, they sound defeated.?

Here’s a few quotes from the frustrated consumers I have spoken to recently:

“It takes longer than usual. There’s a shortage go employees and would rather order it at home”

“Do you really want to sit in a restaurant for over an hour? You could sit at home on the couch and watch TV”

“I didn’t used to care about service and now, I’m like, it needs to be good. That is what we are paying for. Otherwise, we’ll order in”

Their voices express genuine regret that they can’t get their most basic needs met when in stores or restaurants, as they tell stories about waiting 30 minutes to buy a single item at a drug store, or receiving cold food from restaurant kitchens due to lack of staffing.

You’ve likely experienced it— running into a store “real quick” to get something you need can be a navigational nightmare. Or maybe you went to browse and fell in-love with an item but could not find your size in-stock? Or watched in horror as the queue for one tired employee stretched ever-longer?

It’s clear from the above that people have become somewhat resigned to a dearth of assistance when they go anywhere in-person— and while they genuinely understand the ‘shortages’ of talent out there, when they have such a lonely, lackluster experience— they understandably aren’t enthusiastic about heading back to those businesses anytime soon. ?

For a long time, the narrative has been that e-commerce (and particularly Amazon) have made shopping so gosh darn convenient, people became ‘lazy’ and did not want to visit retailers in-person anymore as a result. But this entirely convenience-driven narrative ignores the noticeable, precipitous decline in customer experience people are facing when they forgo the clicks for a visit.?

It’s sapped any remaining joy out of their experiences in-person at a retailer or restaurant.

Marketing Paradox Mondays #20—The flood of online purchases means people are actually evaluating your brand EVEN MORE on in-person experiences with employees

A 2018 survey found that 75% hoped for MORE human interaction in their shopping experiences in the future, not less. And the same survey found that 64% of consumers said they felt brands had lost touch with the human element of their brand experiences. (PwC)

Especially with such a notable decline in the quality of help offered in-person, customers tell me that employees are now one of the BIGGEST FACTORS they consider in evaluating brands and companies.

They not just judging your in-person experience based on employee interactions— they are actually evaluating your entire brand, product, and service, on their experience with your employees in-store or in-restaurant.?

Here’s a few more quotes illustrating this phenomenon from my research:?

“For me, a huge part of it is looking at the people working here, do they enjoy what they do? Are they engaged and excited, not like, ‘when is my shift gonna end?’”

“I trust brands that take care of their people are higher-quality. That is my general feeling. So when someone really wants to help me in a store, I feel that place is better”

Consumers have increasingly begun to observe the employees they interact with for cues about how good or poor the brand or company is that lies behind the experience. And when they have a great experience with an employee, it can absolutely drive a return at a minimum— and loyalty at a maximum.?

I’m not blind to the fact that in-person retailers are struggling mightily, and that cutting back “human capital” (a truly cold and horrid term) is a quick way to show more profitability. But while I understand that employees are often one of a retailer or restaurant’s biggest expenses, I don’t know if they fully realize the low-quality, 'zero-sh*ts-given' perceptions they create by removing staff from stores.?

While many employers would also cite the most recent Gallup poll citing that only 32% of employees are “engaged” in their jobs— and blame the phenomenon of ‘quiet quitting’ for the lack of service their own staff are offering— it seems more like a convenient crutch to explain away their lack of investment in customer experience.?

If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that so-called ‘weak connections’ are critical to our health and wellbeing— people still want connections with employees of businesses they use.?

And when they have a collaborative experience— not a lonely, self-guided experience— in retailers and restaurants, I have rarely heard anything endear them to a brand MORE.

A case-in-point is beloved brand Trader Joe’s, who recently announced they would resist calls to add self-checkout machines to their stores. To combat the self-checkout rumors, Trader Joe’s President Jon Basalone said on the retailer’s podcast: “We believe in people. We’re not trying to get rid of our crew members for efficiency’s sake.”

Turns out, there’s little data to prove that self-checkouts ARE more efficient, anyway. Besides, from a sheer user experience standpoint, they are often worse.?

So, I give you a tale of two different experiences.?

You are in the grocery store, and there’s a long line at the self-checkout, but to your dismay— the machine won’t scan your barcode. Then, later in the transaction, it “boops” twice, so you have to call a human over to help, with the blood rushing to your head as the people behind you stare daggers into the back of your head.

Now, let’s contrast that frustrated feeling to the upbeat chats people have with their cashiers in the line at Trader Joe’s. Which are usually so folksy and genuine, it all seems like a callback to yesteryear. You get to the checkout and despite the line behind you, have a very pleasant and decently-paced conversation with your cashier, and walk out with a wide smile.?

Which emotional experience of the two illustrated above would you prefer your consumers have in your retail or restaurant setting??

It seems a lot more consumers are having the first experience than the second. According to a recent poll of 1,000 consumers from Raydiant, 67% of consumers have experienced a failure within their self-checkout transactions— showing this more frustrating customer experience happens all too often.

The march toward automation, and de-employing stores might seem inevitable and like a cost-saver upfront, but it has taken a huge toll on consumers, denting their customer experience so much, that their perceptions of the products, services, brands, and businesses they use have also declined quite a bit.?

As shoppers and restaurant-diners yourselves, have you had the experience of making inferences about the quality of a company based on the quality of your employee experience in the store or restaurant?

My guess is that you have (no shade to the beleaguered employees, who are just doing their best). Know you are not alone in this-- many American consumers are out there feeling the same things.