Through the Eyes of the Customer

Four Steps to Segmenting and Delivering the Right Customer Experience

Last week, I checked into the Contemporary Resort at Disney World.

I wasn't the typical customer Disney World; I didn't have children or family with me, and I didn't even pack shorts or a swim suit; I was there for a 3-day business conference, along with a few hundred other guests that would be arriving that day.  And  like most of them, I wanted to check in quickly, get my room key, and head up to my room to answer emails and return phone calls.  

If you've checked into a Disney resort recently, you know they don't provide the common plastic key cards; they give each guest a MagicBand - a plastic bracelet imprinted with Mickey's face and the first name of the guest.  The MagicBand serves as room key, and stores digital accesss to ride s, amusements and charge card for your entire stay.

And they don't just give you the MagicBand in the same simple way that a hotel desk clerk gives you your key; they present your bracelet in an oversized gift box (picture an iPhone box, but ten times larger), and proceed to tell you  all the great vacation-related things that you can do with it; all while you're fidgeting to just get up to your room.

I received the entire song and dance that would thrill a family of four that's excited to be on vacation.  But I wasn't a family of four and I clearly wasn't on vaction.  I was a middle age guy on a business trip without his family, and I just wanted to get to my room.

The Point is this:

Different customer segments have different needs and expectations at different stages of the customer journey.   Follow these four steps to get it right:

1. Segment your customers.
For Disney, this means identify your business customers from your liesure customers.

2. Identify and isolate each step of the customer journey for each segment.
Checking in at the hotel is one of  those stages.

3. Design the right experience at each step, for each customer segment.
For Disney's business customer, this means creating at least two separate key bracelet delivery methods:  a fast and simple delivery for  the business customer, and the more elaborate presentation for the vacationing customer.

4. Deliver the right experience to the right customer.
Train the front desk staff to quickly identify (based on outward appearance, and information from the guest's reservation) the customer type, and to deliver the right experience for that type.   For Disney, this means getting the desk reception to recognize me as a business guest, and therefore give me the bracelt qiuckly, without all  the fanfare, and definitely without that large box!

If a customer experience idon like Disney can overlook something like this, so can the rest of us.  Hence, it would behoove us all to revisit these three steps - Segment, Isolate, Design and Deliver - for our customer base.

What stage of the customer journey should you change, and for which segment?

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Customers see a Negative, show them a Positive.

I love statistics that are useful.

Harvard Business Review recently wrote about a statistic indicating customers care more about a line’s length than how fast it moves.

Personally, I hate lines, and always become anxious when I have to stand in one. But I've also noticed that when there is a sign that says, "Your wait time will be approximately 4 minutes," my anxiety level drops immediately, because I suddenly feel in control again, because I have useful information.

The Point is This:

COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. Anything you can do, to effectively set customer expectations will reduce the risk in the mind of the mind of the customer, and improve their overall experience, and hence their loyalty.

When customers see a long line, it's your job to show them a short wait time.

Whenever there's a visible negative,  it's your job to make visible a positive.