The Demise of Surprise
When I was ten years old, I did a very naughty thing on Easter. I secretly watched my parents hide the Easter eggs. As my cousins and siblings rushed into our backyard with their baskets on the hunt, I calmly went straight to all their hiding spots! I “found” a lot more eggs! But, they had a lot more fun. They squealed and grinned when they found an Easter egg; I was far less enthused. In fact, the Easter egg hunt that year was rather boring for me.
Customer service for many years had more than its share of “squeals and grins.” It was not that long ago a mechanic would repair something he spotted defective when my car was on the rack and fix it without a fee. Today, such generous, unexpected behavior is rare. And, who can forget the attraction of Cracker Jacks with its financially worthless but emotionally priceless “Free Prize Inside.”
What has made customer surprise in such a scarcity? Some can be blamed on expense-cutting in the face of ever-diminishing profit margins. Extras cost…well, extra. Rising customer expectations can be another culprit. But, one subtle perpetrator of customer surprise theft is an organization’s insistence on applying production thinking to customer experience.
The most obvious examples of production thinking are phone scripts. Remember, “Thank you for shopping at J-Mart, next?” or “Would you like fries with that?” Rather than rely on a consistent pattern — always warmly greet, put a smile in your voice, sincerely thank the customer — some organizations require a precise script. Marketers sometimes point to brand consistency as their solid rationale for tight uniformity. However, unless the contact center operator is a world-class thespian, the customer is likely to experience robotics instead of authenticity. The memory made as plain vanilla is essentially no memory at all.
Application of affinity programs is another way the management of processes now trumps the leadership of frontline ambassadors. There was a time the front desk clerk or gate attendant made decisions on room or seat upgrades. Now, the computer, with its programmed rule-based fairness, makes that upgrade decision. In fact, in the airport, frequent flyers watch the monitor to determine if they received an upgrade — there is no connection with a real person. It’s all logical; there is no emotional connection. The customer watches the Easter eggs being hidden!
Today’s customers expect experiences to be sparkly and glittery with a cherry on top. They want niche, craft, small batch, specialized and personalized. Big box retailers are learning what happens when merchandise drives marketing decisions instead of experiences. Store closes are less about changing buyer demographics and e-tailing and more about specialty competitors. Customers want buying experiences to be entertaining at a destination on online laced with squeals, not just deals. Sensory outplays functional; engaging bests efficient.
Meeting the challenge of rising expectations requires rethinking the role of those employees who are face-to-face, ear-to-ear and click-to-click with customers. When service people are asked to pleasantly surprise more customers, they feel less like worker bees and more like fireflies. It means leaders trusting front-line employees to create not just execute. The more they are resourced and freed to be generous and ingenious, the more they bring their high esteem to the service provider-customer co-creation resulting in customers who feel enchanted and eager to tell others.
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