One of the best ways of explaining how CX works is by giving real life examples of Customer Experience Excellence. We have found genuine customer stories and shared insights into how these bring to life the Six Pillars in our CX framework.
The Six Pillars are based on creating emotional connections with customers and include Personalisation, Integrity, Empathy, Time & Effort, Expectations and Resolution.
Credit Unions give you a hug, while banks give you an interview
Mark recently tweeted Kimpton Hotel to thank them for the wonderful experience they gave him and his wife.
Mark landed a role in a new company, having left his previous job due to restructuring. The only downside meant having to commute to Chicago, 2,000 miles away from his home in Los Angeles.
Mark is a member of the Kimpton Hotel Karma club and went online to book a stay at the local hotel with his wife, not too far from his home in California.
After making the initial reservation, he received a letter from a member of staff at the hotel. The letter asked about his reason for staying (business or pleasure) and if he had any requirements from the hotel. Mark wrote back to let the hotel know that he would be visiting with his wife for a weekend getaway. He also shared an image of himself and his wife from the last time they visited their hotel.
Upon arriving, they were told that their room had been upgraded. They were given a beautiful room with a view of the Hollywood hills. And to their delight, the image Mark sent was sitting on their bedside table, framed beside a personalised welcoming note. His wife was almost in tears at the gesture! Having been through a difficult few weeks with all the moving around, she could finally relax and put her worries to the side.
Mark said: “Kimpton never ceases to impress me. From goldfish you can “adopt” during your stay, to yoga mats in the closet and a fitness channel on the television. Nearly every property has a signature amenity and you can bet that I will take advantage of every one.”
Insight:
It is widely accepted that exceeding customer expectations is key to customer satisfaction, delight, and loyalty. Accordingly, it is critical for organisations to try to find out in advance what their customers’ expectations are, because a failure to meet or exceed those expectations could lead to dissatisfaction and defection.
Being a Karma Club member at Kimpton, Mark had his expectations for how his experience would play out. Kimpton didn’t just meet these expectations, they exceeded them.
This experience lead to mark writing a note thanking Kimpton on Twitter, to be seen by a number of his large following.
An unexpected delivery
Upon the recommendation of a colleague I decided to give Tesco online shopping a go. I hadn’t given it much thought before and I felt that maybe it was for people who were doing giant amounts of shopping.
After I registered which was simple enough (I couldn’t find my address, but after a two minute phone call it was easily sorted), I started my first online shopping experience. It was so easy to navigate and for me I loved that you can see a picture of the product so you’re sure that’s what you’re getting. The system really works hard to bring it to your attention if you’ve missed an offer e.g. two for one. I thought that was really nice, and you still see very clearly highlighted all the offers that you would see when in-store. With my feet up and a cup of tea in hand, I did my weekly shop. I just wish I’d done it sooner!
While the experience was a really good one, the biggest highlight for me was the delivery men. They arrived within the delivery slot I’d booked and they carried the two crates of shopping into our home and unpacked the shopping before taking the crates away. While doing that, they were full of enthusiasm, giving us a few tips on how this all works, and their energy and helpfulness really impressed us.
I thought this might have been a once-off but every time since, the delivery men have been exactly the same in terms of energy and helpfulness. The odd time when something goes wrong, they’ve bent over backwards to help me. I’ve never had the same drivers but the type of people have been consistent every time.
Expectations is by far the lowest pillar score in the 2015 and 2016 Ireland Customer Experience Report. In Ireland we are terrible at managing and exceeding expectations. We tend to over promise and under deliver. Brands leap ahead with messages that don’t quite match the experience, leading to expectations not being met. HR plays an integral role in customer experience excellence. Hiring the right staff is key – after all, they are the ones who interact with your customers the most, which means they have a direct impact on the brand’s customer experience. Tesco’s approach to hiring a certain type of driver allows them to exceed customer expectations. I would never have expected the delivery men to be more than just men who deliver.
Expectations are always changing and can be difficult to excel in. The Tesco delivery men gave me a far better experience than the regular in-store staff! The in-store staff are very good, but that’s the challenge of expectations and perhaps why Irish brands struggle to achieve good results. I would expect the in-store staff to be good as they are trained regularly and it’s therefore difficult to exceed them. With the delivery staff, my expectations were much lower and were far exceeded.
Hats off to Tesco!
We are always looking for examples of CX Excellence. If you have any yourself please send it on to us and we will feature it in our blog.
If you would like to explore how your company can activate CX excellence, e-mail Michael Killeen to discuss further.