Through the Eyes of the Customer: Retail Customer Experience

Retail Customer Experience

03/25/2016

Did Disney design the Trader Joe's shopping experience?

The Disney Institute recently published a blog post titled "Exceptional Service Delivery - a Lesson from the Jungle Cruise." The article referenced three key components that are necessary to create a superior customer service experience. Those components are People, Place and Process.

Just before reading that post, I happened to read another one from the Destination CRM that presented the findings of a Timken Group survey of customer experience across different industries. One of the industries that consistently scored high was Supermarkets, and one of the Supermarkets listed was Trader Joe's.

As a frequent Trader Joe's shopper, I decided to test my experience at TJ's against Disney's theory, to see if the experience validated the theory:

Trader Joes Wide Aisles and Farmers Market Feel

The Place
I remember the very first time I entered our Trader Joe's in Portland, Maine - the store felt different from other supermarkets - the aisles were wider and arranged diagonally, rather than the standard vertical, or perpendicular format; the shelving didn't seem as high as in the larger supermarket chains, so everything felt more "open" and this openness caused it to feel like a more social environment. The walls were decorated with murals of local scenery painted by local artists. It felt more like a friendly farmers market than a corporate food chain. From Disney's "Place" criterion, Trader Joe's is very strong.

The People
On one particular shopping trip, I remember asking a woman in the frozen food aisle where I could find roasted almonds. She didn't just give me the easy answer that I was looking for - the aisle number - she stopped what she was doing, and walked me across the store directly to the almonds, and showed me the various roasted varieties they carried. Whenever I check out, I can't help but notice the gregarious nature of the cashiers - they ask a lot of questions - I don't mean the standard, "Did you find everything OK?" that I get at the local Hannaford, but more personalized, helpful questions like the one I was asked when I bought a can of coffee beans: "Do you have a grinder for the beans?" Trader Joe's also nails the "People" factor.

The Process
While most businesses work on carefully orchestrated processes, we customers don't always notice them as such. But on that first visit to Trader Joe's, I noticed the sign at the check out counter that directs me to place my full cart on the same side as cashier, while I wait on the other side. Something TJ's does that other supermarkets don't - is empty your cart for you. That's another nuance to the Trader Joe's experience that makes TJ's an easier place to shop.

So, yes - my Trader Joe's experience validates the Disney Institute's theory that an exceptional delivery of service requires attention, if not uniqueness in the Place where the experience occurs, the People that deliver the service, and the Processes they use to deliver it. Make all three remarkable, and you'll create a customer service experience that will likely draw customers back again and again.

Posted at 08:07 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (2)

03/30/2015

3 Reasons why Fresh Flowers in a Public Restroom are so Special

What's so special about seeing fresh flowers in public restroom?

They're unexpected. We don't expect to see something whose purpose is purely ornamental in a room whose purpose is purely utilitarian.

Flowers in a restroom are contrasting. Restrooms are places where an element universally considered vile is produced; something that's so fowl, it's immediately flushed upon arrival. That's a polar opposite to something considered universally beautiful; something often given as a gift; something whose aroma is so pleasant and admired that it's often reproduced in perfumes and air fresheners.

Flowers in a restroom are pleasant to look at. One cannot say the same for urinals, plungers and trash cans.

It's also these three elements - unexpected (surprising), contrast, and pleasing to the eye - that enhance the customer experience.

Tootsie rolls in a shipping container are unexpected. That's what I remember about unpacking my new telephone headset, from Headsets.com.

EOS Lib Balm is packaged in an egg-shaped container.

The iPod is pleasant to look at. That's what made it remarkably different (and more successful) than the other portable music players of its time.

Unexpected and contrasting make something easy to remember. And pleasing to the eye, or visual appeal makes something desirable in the moment.

If you desire it, and if you remember it, it tends to be a positive experience.

So, perhaps that's what's so special about fresh flowers in a public restroom - they create a positive customer experience.

How can you make your offering more (positively) unexpected?

How can you make it more contrasting to the senses?

How can you make it more visually pleasing?

Posted at 08:10 AM in Customer Experience, Marketing Best Practices, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

01/07/2015

The Problem with "No Problem" and why words matter.

"It's a competitive world. Everything counts in large amounts." - Depeche Mode, 1983

When it comes to the customer experience, everything counts.

Everything you say and do makes the experience better or worse. There are no neutral touch points.

There's a neighborhood bakery that I love to go to; the smell of the fresh-baked breads, the display of all those warm bagels in baskets, and soothing classical music constrasted by the cocophany from the kitchen: It's all part of th experience. Yes, buying bagels can be a pretty cool experience.

But somehow, the excitement was dulled by the guy at the counter where I payed for my bagels. He handed me that warm brown bag, I said "Thank you," and he responeded with "No Problem."

A week earlier, a different cashier had said, "Enjoy your day, and especially those bagels!"

One cashier kept the experience sharp, while another dulled it. One was memorable, while the other was as forgettable as the toll collector on the highway.

The point is this: the words you use matter. They're like the script in a play. The right words, well-chosen, can enrich the customer's overall experience.

Eliminate all trite, cliche phrases from customer-facing dialogue, and replace them with something more creative and relevant to the product or service.

The words you use in delivering the product are every bit a part of the experience as the product or service itself. Use words with a purpose.

If you want your words to improve the customer experience, then "No problem" is a big problem.

What do you say to your customers?

Posted at 08:00 AM in Communication, Customer Experience, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

08/07/2014

Does Rite Aid really tell its employees not to help customers, when on a break?!

I'll admit it - there are times when I don't have enough empathy for some customer-facing employees...

But shouldn't all employees be trained to put their customers' needs first???

Earlier this week, I was looking for an item in a Rite-Aid store in Portland, Maine. I approached a person in a Rite-Aid uniform walking quickly down an aisle, and said, "Excuse me, do you know if you have..."

The woman said - with a straight face - "Can you ask someone else - I'm on break."

My immediate thought: I'd never, ever hire that person for anything. To paraphrase Rite Aid's own mantra, with me, it was personal.

I politely asked her to explain, and she told me that if she were to help me, per company policy, she'd have to clock back in first; it would be easier if I asked someone else.

I later asked some other people that work in hourly positions how they felt about the woman's response. The overwhelming response was, "You need to have some empathy for low-paid hourly workers; they're on their feet for eight hours, and when they finally get a break, they should be allowed to enjoy the few minutes to themselves. If they respond to every customer question, they'll never get to take a break!"

OK, I get that. But how to balance the employee's needs with those of the customer in these situations???

The best answer I can come up with is one that I learned from an hourly employee in a business that's known for customer service: The LL Bean Retail Store in Freeport, Maine.

The Bean's employee told me that whenver an employee goes on break, they're careful to wear a sweater or sweathirt over their green LL Bean shirt. In other words, the employees 'wear a disguise' when they're on break.

The disguise prevents the customer from recognizing the employee as an employee of the store, and therefore, the potentially awkward encounter is avoided.

If you're a manager or employer, it makes sense to teach this approach to employees during the onboarding process; it'll build their confidence in you as a manager that truly cares for your employees, and puts each employee in the right frame of mind to properly handle (or "prevent") these situations before they arise.

Sometimes, the best way to handle an awkward situation is to prevent it from happening.

What do you think?

Posted at 06:06 PM in Best Practices, Customer Service, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

05/27/2014

Manage your reputation, by managing the customers' view.

If you're going to ignore your customers, don't let them see you do it.

The other day, I stopped by my favorite dry cleaner at 6:45pm, to drop off some shirts. I thought they were open until 7pm. When I drove up to the building, the lights were on, and there were two people behind the counter. I parked, grabbed the pile of shirts, and walked up to the front door.

When I pulled on the door handle once, it didn't open. I instinctively tugged at handle a few more times to try and open it, and realized that it was locked. Meanwhile, the two people behind the counter, never looked up from their work. Then I looked at the sign in the window, and saw that they'd actually closed 15 minutes ago. Part frustrated by the inconvenience of arriving too late, and part insulted because I was clearly ignored by the employees inside, I drove away a disgruntled customer.

Now, I realize that if these employees unlocked the doors, and served every customer that arrived a few minutes late, they'd likely never get home to their families. I get that, and fully support an employer's need to keep its employees happy.

But here's something that every employer needs to consider (and act on):

When employees are visible to customers, those employees are "on stage." The actions of the employees - regardless of weather or not those actions directly impact the customer - affect the customer's view and perception of the business and brand.

So here's the point:

Close the curtain when employees are doing "back-stage" work.

For the dry cleaner, this would mean moving the employees to a back office that's not visible to the customer, and turning off the lights in the lobby so that it's clear to the customer that the business is closed, so that frustration and insult never have a change to take root.

Or, if the facilities are such that the employees can't do the work out of view of the customer, then literally drape a curtain in front of the stage - draw shades over the windows so that the customers can't see inside.

Every time a customer comes in contact with your businesses, you're being judged for better of for worse. Take control of the customers' view, and you'll gain greater control over their experience, and your reputation.

Posted at 06:41 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Reputation, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

04/05/2013

The ONE QUESTION Every Business Must Ask, Before Making a Decision

Customers shop at Wal-mart because Wal-mart has low prices, and product in stock. Wal-mart has earned this reputation by steadfastly managing logistics, and especially, costs.

But even doing what you're very good at can hurt you, if you don't measure your decisions against one simple question.

We'll get to that question in a minute...

First, let's turn to an April 3 New York Times article that describes how recent workforce reductions have prevented Wal-mart from getting fresh produce to its store shelves in a timely manner:

"Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and grocer, has cut so many employees that it no longer has enough workers to stock its shelves properly, according to some employees and industry analysts. Internal notes from a March meeting of top Walmart managers show the company grappling with low customer confidence in its produce and poor quality. “Lose Trust,” reads one note, “Don’t have items they are looking for — can’t find it.”

The article further reports declining grocery sales at Wal-mart, and customers complaining about longer wait times at check-out, because fewer cashiers are available to staff all the registers.

Wal-mart has grown to become one of the greatest retail stories in the history of our planet by keeping costs low, and sharing those low costs with the customer through lower prices.

In other words, Wal-mart cost management has enabled them to created a better customer experience. That customer experience has driven customer loyalty, increased sales, company growth and profitability.

But according to Times report, when Wal-mart managed their costs by reducing the number of stocking clerks and cashiers, the customer experience was damaged in two ways:

Less-than-fresh, and absent produce inconvenienced and disappointed customers.
Longer-than-normal wait times at check out further disappointed customers.

The bottom line result to Wal-mart has been lost customers, lost revenue, and lost reputation.

Before a business makes any decision, it must first ask itself one important question:

"How will this decision impact the customer experience?"

If the decision will improve the customer experience, it's probably a good decision to make.

If the decision will harm the customer experience, reconsider. Short term-gains are usually eroded by long-term losses.

Had Wal-mart asked itself that question before making the decision to reduce staff, its a good bet that their tomatoes would be riper, and there'd be more customers buying them.

Posted at 08:00 AM in Best Practices, Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Reputation, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

11/23/2012

Can customer-focused Innovation transform the US Postal Service?

The US Postal Service has been bleeding money for years. It's been supporting an enormous infrastructure of buildings, machinery, vehicles and labor to support its original mission of guaranteed delivery of written communication to anyone living anywhere in the United States.

While the world shifted from communication via post to communication via email, the USPS continued to rely on its core business - delivery of hard-copy communication. Even as revenue declined in proportion to the growing use of email and the Internet, the USPS still had to maintain its expensive fleet.

Consumers and businesses have become accustomed to the immediacy of communication, so it's only natural for desire and demand for immediacty to expand from communication to commerce: The US Postal Service is introducing "Metro-Post."

If I buy it on line today, I want to have it in my hands today.

Back in the dot.com days, companies like Kozmo.com were founded to fill the void: Buy it today, and have it today, because we'll pick it up, and deliver it to you. One of the big problems for well-intentioned companies like Kozmo was that they lacked the infrastructure to "deliver the goods," so new costs were extremely high, in order to maintain operations.

If there's one thing that the USPS has, it's an enormous delivery infrastructure, and one that's virtually paid for. Local delivery is the core competence of the Post Office. And that's why I think this latest idea of the USPS is probably the best new idea it's ever had, in terms of generating more revenue to save itself from extinction:

Current capability meets market need, head-on.
The Post Office will have a relatively low cost to launch this new service: they have the expertise, and they have the equipment. And consumers most definitely have the demand.

And since the capabilities are in place, the USPS is ready to launch, now. And that's true innovation. And that's why I believe the USPS will be successful with this endeavor.

So what’s the point?

If you're looking to innovate to deliver value and generate revenue, you need to cover 3 bases well:

Have Competitive Advantage
Build the innovation around something that you already do well, and have the infrastructure and expertise to perform at a high level, and on a grand scale. This advantage should also be something that you alone have the capability to do well, with the presence of few if any competitors.

Alignment it with Demand
Be sure that what you're offering is something that meets market demand head-on, and that a market is already willing to pay for. You don't want to have to invest resources in selling the market on the idea.

Readiness to Launch
It's been said that only 10% of Innovation is coming up with the idea; 90% is delivering the idea to the market, in the form or a tangible product or service. The USPS vehicles already drive past retail product outlets, and into every local neighborhoods every day, so time to market is virtually immediate.

With this current idea, the USPS has a true competitive advantage over failed predecessors, there's a strong pent-up demand, and time to market is minimal.

Localized same-day delivery service just might be the innovation that transforms the US Postal Service into a vital service provider for the 21st century.

Posted at 10:42 AM in Customer Service, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

09/04/2012

How Packaging, Presentation and Delivery can Change the Customer Experience

My wife and I recenlty had dinner (actually, we had drinks and a bunch of different appetizers) at The Front Porch in .

We've been on this Tuna Tartare kick lately - it all started on a cold winter's night back in January, and ever since then, any time we see it on the menu, we order it. And more than seven months later, and about a dozen orders of Tuna Tartare, the thrill had begun to fade...

Until that night in Ongunquit, every Tuna Tartare was served the same way - on a plate - tastefully arranged, but on a plate. The Front Porch changed all that by surprising us with a completely different presentation - they ditched the plate, and served it in an giant martini glass!

Same tuna, same tartare, but in truly remarkable display!

If you sell a product or service that's similar to your competitor's product, you can still be different; you can still be remarkable; you can still be the one that gets remembered. Don't let the product alone define the experience. How you package, present and deliver the goods can be the difference between mundane and memorable.

What changes can you make to your presentation, packaging and delivery, to make a more memorable experience for your customers?

Posted at 04:54 PM in Customer Experience, Product, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

08/25/2012

Selling Skills for the New Customer Experience

The salesperson’s role is changing, from selling a product to a customer, to selling new ideas to the customer; ideas that will change the customer’s life, or way of doing business, for the better. While there’s normally a product involved, the product is becoming less central to the sales process, and instead, becomes more involved as these newly-accepted ideas are implemented.

Yes, the product is still important. But what matters most to the customer is receiving new ideas, and leadership on how they can make the complex parts of their lives simpler, make their lives easier, and make their lives better. The companies and sales people that can deliver these ideas and provide that thought leadership are the companies and salespeople who’ll succeed in the future.

Let’s look at two examples.

Many of us associate Apple Computer with their innovative, intuitive products. But when you walk into an Apple store, those great products are not the centerpiece. The focal point in every
Apple Store is the “Genius Bar.”

Inside their stores, Apple isn't primarily promoting products. They're selling ideas, expertise and leading customers toward doing things in ways that are simpler and easier to make improvements in their lives. Yes, their customers buy plenty of i-products, but it’s the knowledge, the thought leadership around different ways of doing things that define the Apple stores.

Dieticians in Supermarkets

A recent New York Times article cites Hy-Vee is the only grocery chain in the country that posts a registered dietitian in almost every one of its 235 stores.

“That puts it at the forefront of a phenomenon sweeping the grocery business as it tries both to capitalize on growing consumer awareness of the role food plays in health and wellness and to find new ways to fend off competition from specialty markets like Whole Foods and big-box stores like Walmart.”

In other words, Hy-Vee sees a competitive advantage in offering expert advice beyond the product. These dieticians in the grocery stores are there to help the customer make improvements in their lives, by seeing foods differently and by consuming foods differently. Yes, the customers do leave the store with groceries; the product on the shelf may no longer be the real product that Hy-Vee customers are buying.

Why is this happening? What’s driving it?

Products today are becoming more similar to one another, and more commoditized. Customers today can learn a whole lot about a product through researching it on the Internet, before ever going into the store, or engaging with the company that sells the product. Therefore, the salesperson that’s a “product expert” is less relevant than he or she used to be. To attract customers into a store to make a purchase, a business must provide something beyond the product, or product knowledge.

So, what does this mean to you if you’re business owner, manager or salesperson in a business that sells products similar to those of a competitor? For starters, think about how you can change your approach to selling, and how your product can fit into your customers’ lives in ways that are different from how they currently do things.

Do you and your salespeople focus beyond the product, and think of the challenges that arise, when a customer uses your product?

With groceries, a common challenge is preparing a meal that’s fast, easy and nutritious. The challenge becomes greater, when customers need to plan an entire week’s worth of meals that fit those criteria. Hy-Vee gives their customers direct access to dietary thought leaders and their expertise to lead their customers toward new ways to solving these problems. How can you take the same approach within your business?

Posted at 03:28 PM in Product, Retail Customer Experience, Selling Skills | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

07/27/2012

A little secret that can make a customer experience remarkable and memorable

As I think back on my own customer experiences - the ones that stand out in a good way - the thing that made each of those experiences memorable were often little things that had nothing to do with the core service I was buying.

When I went to Boston's Logan Airport, I was buying the flight. But the thing I remembered, liked, and told other people about, were the electrical outlets at every seat.

When I went into the men's restroom at Baltimore Washington International Airport, I was there for, well, the restroom. But the thing stood out in my mind was the vase of fresh flowers on the sink counter.

When I walked into the Enterprise Car Rental facitiity in Raleigh, North Carolina, I was there to pick up a mid-size automobile. But what I remember most - and it was over six years ago - was the agent coming out from behind the counter, to hand me a bottle of cold water on that hot and humid afternoon.

If you want to be remarkable, be remembered, and generate positive word-of-mouth, think outside the service. Sure, you still have to be spot-on in delivering your service - that's expected. But it's the little things you do - the things that customers were not expeting; those small, simple pleasures that get customers talking.

If you want to be remarkable, think outside your core service.

Posted at 08:00 AM in Customer Experience, Marketing Best Practices, Retail Customer Experience | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Through the Eyes of the Customer

Business Insights through Common Customer Experiences.

Search

Categories