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Small changes can make a big difference to customer experience
I paid for a train ticket over the counter yesterday. As I completed the transaction I nearly walked off leaving my Debit card in the PIN machine. As I turned back to the machine to retrieve the card the chap behind the counter said something along the lines of, “That was lucky. We’ve already had three people leave their cards here this morning.”
Three people, this morning, have walked away leaving their card in the machine. Can you imagine arriving for a day in London and realising you’ve left your Debit card somewhere? Pretty stressful huh?
If your customers are suffering – take action
So having already experienced people leaving their cards, would it not be courteous to remind customers to remove their cards after the transaction?
Since Chip & PIN, all organisations have had to invest heavily in installing new equipment to cater to the new technology. However, I can’t help but ask myself if some of this technology either hasn’t been thought through properly, or is not being used properly.
Technology shouldn’t create customer experience issues
If the staff working behind a counter are unable to see the Chip & PIN machine it would be useful for their screen to inform them that the card has not been removed. They can then prompt the customer. Like most ‘simple’ fixes, it becomes less simple to fix once the technology is complete.
If the full customer journey and scenarios are planned and mapped out prior to build, these minor details will be catered for. And if customers are introduced to the project early, to test a prototype, the barriers will be highlight and dealt with before these ‘simple’ issues become costly fixes.
Do you involve customers in your project process early enough?
Related services: Customer Journey Mapping and Usability Evaluation & Testing
March 10th, 2009 at 11:56 am
I learned four primary customer behaviors from a book I’ve recently read entitled Answering the Ultimate Question by Richard Owen and Laura Brooks. The book discusses Repurchase, Increased Purchase, Referral, and Feedback as the four primary customer behaviors that link to growth and profitability.
Check out the book too. I got a read of the summary from http://www.bizsum.com
Very nice post!
September 10th, 2009 at 6:15 am
It is so much easier to write a site, stick it online and hope people can work out how to use it. Cheaper too, however without testing you never know if it works or not.