Moments of Truth in the Customer Experience
We've all had them - good and bad. But I bet you remember the negative moments much more clearly than the positive ones. I am fortunate enough to chair the CMA's Integrated Marketing and Customer Experience Council and at our March meeting, we held a roundtable discussion on this very topic. Our informative and entertaining guest 'expert' was Ken Wong. Included in his vast experience and many achievements, Ken is currently a faculty member at Queen's School of Business and was named to the American Marketing Association Hall of Legends in 2006 in the Mentor category. Ken shared his insights with the Council on issues such as defining moments of truth, ownership and accountability, measurability and balancing shareholder vs. consumer value (which he says companies aren't doing well at all).
Ken's insights will be documented and posted on this very site for all to view in the coming weeks. But the event was so informative, that I didn't want to wait to provide at least a couple golden nuggets for fellow CMA members.
Ken outlined something that we all know - marketing makes a promise that the rest of the organization has to keep. Simple enough? Not a chance. If the rest of the organization doesn't understand or buy into the promise, how can we expect them to keep it? And without understanding and empowerment, how can we expect our front line staff to provide positive, a-ha moments of truth that will build loyalty and ensure retention? All too often, we focus on negative moments of truth and how to avoid them. We need to invest more time and resources in ensuring positive moments of truth. Those moments that delight our customers to the point where they talk about their positive experience at this weekend's dinner party.
One idea Ken had was for companies to consider focusing resources ($$) for customer service staff to provide "random acts of kindness" to customers.
Keep an eye on the CMA site for the full transcript of our roundtable on Moments of Truth.
1 Comment
miro slodki said
Ken speaks the truth
MOT's are key decision points for customers
but there are additional factors to consider
On the dark side: they can errupt from everyday occurances as a result of a longer history of 'dissapointments' - the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Therefore we need to be vigilant at all times - not just during problem escalations - because by that time - a lot of damage has already been done
On the other side: they are also the outcome from the 'spontaneous acts of kindness' that don't necessarily have to be worthy of sainthood. The key is to show some compassion and do it on a consistent basis and to the best of your ability. The customer will recognize this.
These two aspects have enormous impact on a brand's loyalty/affinity - as they can create, reinforce or destroy a relationship more quickly and completely than years of marketing.
An important thing to keep in mind is that its all relative. It depends on what our competition is doing, on the customer's expectations of normative service.
One thing to consider in the retail space is the percentage of your full-time and senior store staff that are working during the busy hours. In many cases - these senior ambassadors are at home - because they have earned the right /seniorty to work 'normal' business hours - and leave the inexperienced/part-time staff to cope with us.
Looking forward to reading the full transcript from the session.
For those interested, I have a more complete review of my thoughts on the drivers of brand affinity at my blog
Cheers