Now showing items tagged customer experience

There is no faster way to kill the customer experience than with confusion. Overcomplicated systems, unnecessary friction and brand inconsistency are some of the fastest ways to erode trust and rapport. With customers looking for integrity in their brands, there are few goals more key to the customer experience than maintaining simplicity and consistency.

Simplicity is one of the most underrated virtues of modern companies. Striving for simplicity does not mean you need to naively ignore the complex realities of life, but rather to aim to make things as simple and streamlined as humanly possible, and once you do, to stay the path.

It feels a bit mercenary to think of care as a currency. And yet, one look at the state of corporate capitalism and it becomes quickly clear that few things set an individual or organisation apart more than sincere, unhurried and attentive care.

We all have our own story of dealing with friction. Hours spent on hold, inefficient systems and arbitrary rules all play a role in making many customer experiences unbearable. The only outcomes of systems such as these are higher costs, confusion and irritation.

For this reason, removing friction and pain points for customers should be at the top of the list of a business’s priorities. Friction relates to the things that make it hard to engage with a business or brand. While flashy slogans and clever advertising can work wonders in drawing customers in, the things that will keep them are well-designed, intuitive systems that make life easier, not harder. As obvious as this may be, businesses all too often neglect this need.

If we have learned anything in the last year, it is that the only certain thing is uncertainty. Businesses have felt this too, with lockdowns, virus variants and financial instability sending consumer confidence plummeting. This is in line with trends that were already at play as a series of scandals, ethical missteps and moral failures in public organisations drove home the undeniable message that businesses and institutions cannot be trusted.

For this reason, building trust should be one of the central priorities for all companies in today’s world. Especially post-pandemic, much of this trust needs to be built through consistency. For all the pivoting we have done during COVID, there is much to be said for the value of consistency in the face of uncertainty.

Nothing turns a customer off more than friction. In fact, nothing turns an employee off more than friction either. If businesses are to remain Indisruptible in the years to come, identifying friction is paramount, so here are 3 key questions to help you find it.

“Our trust in technology has rested in a confidence that the technology will do what it’s supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less.”