[First published on StartupCentral]
Crafting a customer experience strategy is something you wish you can sketch with a pencil and erase if it doesn’t go the way you wanted it to. And then you fix it. You figure out a better way. You have to reiterate keeping emotions and expectations of your team and your customers in mind. And all this while, continuously ensuring that your product quality is consistent. Quite a fun game, is it not?
Dominos
While ordering a few pizzas from their recently opened outlet in a distant suburb, the hotline directed us towards a certain cellphone number that was unavailable. After talking to 3 different people from 3 nearby outlets, each directing me towards a different phone number belonging to this particular one, I was finally able to place my order over a din of a busy outlet and a phone line that almost got disconnected multiple times.
Was it a bad service experience? Well yes, if we discuss the availability of numbers and management of the overall system. Many numbers, misinformation, irregular network, landlines not answered- and so on.
However, the people I spoke to left a lasting impression. Each and every Dominos employee I happened to speak from over 3 outlets was courteous, listened to my problem and offered an immediate solution. This is not common, not on a busy weekend evening. The lady who finally took my order was proactive, was prompt on clarifying certain issues and went out of the way to ensure that my order was booked. Did she have to care? Nope, but she did. That made all the difference.
Flipkart
It has always been a pleasant experience being their customer thanks to swift booking from all platforms, quick delivery and prompt response on all channels (Twitter included). Recently, they pleasantly surprised by adding a tracking-delivery service which sent me texts to let me know when I’d be receiving the package and a confirmation that the package has been delivered. I was not at my office at that time, Flipkart informed me who received the package as well. They can work on being quicker, prompter and more precise, but taking my perspective as a customer into consideration is a step in the right direction.
Myntra
I went on an adventure and purchased a pair of suede loafer shoes from this e commerce giant a few months back. As expected, the size was not right and the pair looked used. Tried calling the customer service almost immediately but no one received it. I booked an exchange request on their website. A mechanism to pursue online complaints was abysmal; it took ages to log in. Next day, however, I could get through the customer service number and that was a good, efficient conversation. My order was track-able online, their Twitter was helpful with updates as and when required. Exchange was quick, the person called before coming and I fell in love with my new pair of shoes. I won’t shop for shoes from them again (and why spend a week waiting for your order when you can get one from a nearby good store), but their willingness to help me out had me satisfied.
Bru World Café
Though a loyal fan since quite a while, I was in for a rude shock when I investigated how they serve their tea. At Bru World Café, if you order a green tea, they will take a Lipton tea bag, cut it open and pour the contents into a French press. And this is what they will serve you. No fancy long leaves, no connoisseur’s delight. We can’t blame them, they never promised one. I’m not sure if I want to know where their coffee beans are sourced from. Soups are from Knorr, that’s what they’d told me last time. I wish they made their own.
Their service is pleasing through, if you leave out a few things that are often missed by the best. They might not offer to warm your coffee again or might not notice if your glass of water is empty, but there is a willingness to help a customer out, address their weird concerns, answer their keen questions, pay attention to quirky requests, and to smile. They will move tables, find ways to serve you coffee/tea in multiple cups if needed and will help you out if you want to surprise a date. There’s a lot that goes into their training sessions and it pays off. Bru World Café is known to delight its regular customers (provided you tweet and are rich & famous) with gift hampers! This wins them blogs and rave reviews. We can’t blame them, that’s how everyone else does it.
It is always a warm, pleasant experience when at their café. Though, despite everything, the usage of Lipton tea bags is disappointing. No wonder the French press looks empty.
Do you have any interesting experiences with any of these brands? Or something I’ve written about that you don’t agree with? Do write in. Thank you.
Karan Pandhi
Sushrut,
Tu kya hai re, amazing yaar, I’m going to call you once I open up, so as to get a clear cut view about the customer experience, and yes I too plan to add soups, and I bet they won’t be of knorr or any other brand. LOL 😀
It’s seriously amazing to share such experiences. I can say I have had terrible experiences with each and every bank, be it a PSU or a Private one. I have been to banks like SBI, BOB, BOI, Citi, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak, I feel all their employees are only wanting you to follow the rules and not ask questions. They are snob and arrogant.
With Food I have ordered from Fasoos, Dominos, and they have a good delivery, though Fasoos finds it tough to find my home at times, and they call up, where I stay,though I’m just a 5 minutes of walking distance from their store. FYI I live at Vile Parle (W) and all the major brands have a store out here. dominos is as usual great. I had a sad experience with Domino’s a few months back when the order was stale, and the manager did change it, but by then my hunger was dead.
As Sushrut said “why spend a week waiting for your order when you can get one from a nearby good store”. I rarely ever buy from any online portal, except books, or something I don’t find locally. I have bought from Flipkart, they are too good. I had once bought sunglasses from lenskart, but they had delivered me the wrong order, and then I had to wait almost a month to get my new order. The customer care was courteous and polite, my original order had a wayfarer, but the color I wanted were out of stock, then I told them to deliver only once those were available, and I did get it in a month. Still I don’t buy online, I like Pantaloons, or Lifestyle, Levis, and always shop during the Sale. I get good bargains then , ROFL . 😀 😀 😀 😀 .
I have had many other experiences and Sushrut tu kya hai re …. awesome yaar ……… and yay Asha this time I’m the first one to reply on his post …… yay ….. lol just for fun, no offence though ……
But Sushrut you have to taste my stuff. my menu will be up soon, will let you know.
Sushrut Munje
hahahaha thanks a lot matey! I’m looking forward to having some yummy food from your menu! Let me know when. Kick ass.
Prateek Bohra
I have shared similar experiences, One incident with dominos was a serious blow to my belief in online ordering, although when i lodged a complaint at the customer care and the social media they were quick to call me back and resolve my problem. And they were also kind enough to gift me an entire free meal 🙂 Flipkart has been a disappointment to me, the books i have ordered are either of low quality paper or not binded well but the Flipkart packing deserves an applaud, my pendrive was packed in such a tight and hard way that i had to sit with a knife for ten minutes to tear it open( maybe exaggerated it a bit), Another bad experience i shared was with a more popular chinese and thai restaurant of Delhi, “Bercos”, we had a cokcroach in our meal and the managers didnt seem to be apologetic too. We took him by his guts, warned him of calling the media and the police and then he seemed to be a bit sorry for the incident.
With the experiences i have had, one thing i noticed was, people who voice their issues or problems faced are the ones who emerge as satisfied customers in the end because no company wants a negative publicity or tarnished image but people who don’t complain or raise their voices to the unjust treatment they face end up loosing faith in the company/brand/product.
Sarthak Jain
Execllent POST. Though I must say I have frequently faced brands to not pay attention on Customer Service. But then again, may be customer asks for more. There is a balance which has to be struck in a way that you don’t finish your business but keep your customer happy. I think the most Important thing would be to go out of your way if you know you have messed up and have no qualms about apologizing and training the customer staff to be courteous. These things can go a long long way and ironing out other issues.
Sushrut Munje
Thanks Prateek! So would you agree that companies in general refuse to give a damn till customers complain and threaten to make it public? In that case we ought to start demanding better service, right? 🙂
Sushrut Munje
Thanks for replying, Sarthak. How would you define the relationship between a company (startup or not) and a customer?
Prateek Bohra
Yes Sushrut Ji, we ought to raise the bar. I think we should team up and create a platform or a site where people who are treated ill and are otherwise shy and lethargic in fighting with the brands/E-Commerce Giants can voice their issue.. And we, with the power of Internet/Social Media can help them get satisfaction at the end of the day. 🙂
Anaggh Desai
Interesting post. I have had good/bad/worse experiences with brands, have blogged about them also. However, if a brand constantly/consistently screws up the experience over 2-5 times based on my usage I prefer to continue with the brand. Having said that, the problem in India also stems from the fact that the UX UI experience over different platforms is inconsistent, as are expectations of customers, add to this the fact that brands do not listen leads to an broadcast approach most of the time we fall into the chalta hai attitude.
Sushrut Munje
That is one way to go about it. Or we can simply start implementing the change in our organizations. Because quality customer service has the potential to give companies an edge over their competition.
Many people who have been ill treated fight their wars online already, plus we have companies like Akosha. People often stop being shy and lethargic when they are not treated well. Then there are honey badger folks who just don’t care, because they might probably do the same to their clients.
We helping ourselves and demanding service from the people we buy from can be a short & simple way to tackle the issue, along with being the change 🙂
Sushrut Munje
Completely agree with you, Mr. Desai. Your blog posts have helped shape my perspective. Thank you.
Sarthak Jain
Good Question. I often think of this and this is a perennial fight in my company (in a fun way) if the Supplier-Me Relationship is more Important or Me-Customer and what is that runs the company. In a way both are the same if we look from different perspectives because my company plays a supplier in one case and a customer in other. But if we look only from my perspective or my company’s then both supplier and customers are equally important and without either of them my company would go downhill. Anyways I think I am digressing.
Per your question I would say that a company’s relationship with customer is/should be one of the most important relationships for a company and cornerstone of which should be Trust. If you can build trust, a customer will forgive and is more likely to remain loyal in case you mess up(which is bound to happen). Trust will come from Transparency and Honesty. Straightforward interactions (which are rare) build brand/company loyalty. Be Respectful with the customer and make sure he is heard and go out of your way to show sincerity. I think these things go a long way.
Also if it’s a Startup or not is very important because an established company can afford to lose customers / a startup cannot. Sometimes an established company goes beyond a tipping point in losing customers and their business can close so customer retention is very important.
Sushrut Munje
Interesting. What according to you is customer service?
Sarthak Jain
Good Customer Service is the soul of any good business. It’s the single most important thing that makes for customer retention. If a customer is happy and his expectations are met he will come back. The Deals / Discounts can only take you so far but unless you get repeat customers the business doesn’t grow. Because a happy customer spreads good word and thus starts a chain process. I don’t know how many people I have praised about Myntra’s Return Policy to. It’s very smooth and I have never faced any hiccups. I am not so fond of their products which is why I have experienced their Return Policy. But the process of Returns is extremely smooth and that impresses me. Makes me go again and again at their website even though I don’t like so many products. Good Customer Service makes food good business for both parties. It’s a very difficult process and takes one hell lot of time to achieve.
Your one line questions make me feel you don’t quite agree with above ?. Is that so ?
Sushrut Munje
I’m sorry for the late reply Sarthak. Forgive me for giving this impression with my questions, was merely trying to understand what it means to you, your perceptions 🙂 I agree with you. Thank you.
asha chaudhry
sushrut,
whenever i go through any of your old posts, i can’t stop admiring your opening paras. you are very very gifted and talented. keep reading, writing & sharing 🙂
Sushrut Munje
Bear hugs 🙂