Customerspective

Information Overload: Drowning in a Sea of Inspiration

Everyone around me is overwhelmed by information and I am no exception.

My desk is overflowing with invoices, statements, memos, meeting minutes, reports, articles and books. Post-its® decorate my computer at work and at home. Somewhere in there, I have a paper calendar that I stopped updating long ago. I try to concentrate on the electronic part of my life, hoping that my computer's processor will magically sort out this mess for me...

Not a chance! My desktop background is hidden behind an army of icons, shortcuts, gadgets, widgets, and, of course, digital Post-its®. Microsoft Outlook practically attacks me with meeting alarms every time I open it; my inbox now has 86 new emails (not counting the already filtered spam and junk mail) and at least the same amount of old emails that I should answer, but I know I am not. On top of that, I'm stacking up more than a thousand unread feeds from my favorite news websites and blogs.

All my potentially good ideas seem to be adrift in this vast virtual pool of information. They are just there, below the surface, waiting for some essential fact to jumpstart my brain into a feverish state of creativity.

Just within my sight, but still beyond my grasp, I can identify a few good candidates for inspiration:

• Jacob Nielsen’s "Seniors Usability Study" stares at me everyday when I come to the office. Unlike the half-read and overlooked "Intranet Design Annual Report" from 2006, this one still acts as if it could draw me to it by sheer force. 
• Tom Vander Wells post from last week has some compelling links and examples that I believe relate to one of my previous blog posts.
• I am still hoping to read the report "Mouse Rage," released last month by the Social Issues Research Centre and available at Rackspace.com.
  
• I definitely need to know more about Illinois' teen-driving reform act, since it may affect some of my client projects.
  
• And of course, Seth Godin and Scott Adams are still there, sending their everyday drop of wisdom, wit or contradiction to feed my hungry mind.

After all, if I don't read other people's works and opinions, how can I write my own?

If a solution for my problem is available anywhere out there, I haven't found it yet. It is probably in article number 875 in the list of blog posts I will never read, or chapter 11 in the 100th book from my Amazon wish list.

The real problem is that I am already so numb from information overload that I don't realize I have a problem (and I am supposed to evaluate processes and usability in my job!). I have some vague notion that I need to do something about it some day, but the endless list of tight deadlines keeps pushing it down the priority list.

And it all gets worse. One issue of the New York Times now contains more information than a 17th century man or woman would have encountered in a lifetime. In the last 30 years, humanity has produced more information than in the previous 5,000. The world's produced information is increasing at a rate of 30% per year, and it doesn't show any sign of slowing down.

Now you would say, "Yeah, that's pretty interesting, but what does it have to do with customer experience?"

Well, imagine that your customer is most probably suffering from the same predicament. What can you do to make your products or services stand out and emerge above all others?

You will find at least 6,020,000 "answers" to that question in Google.

Now, if you excuse me, my brain just froze and I need to reboot.

Please Don't Touch the Merchandise

In my last post, I told you how much I disliked shopping in stores before the holidays. After the holidays, I had a few gift cards to dispose of, so I reluctantly made the rounds. The stores seemed to be just as crowded as before, probably due to people taking advantage of the post-holiday sales and their days off of work.

I actually gave up and didn’t even try anything on while I was in the mall, but I did browse a few stores on my way out. Sadly, the store that made the largest impression on me did so only because it was full of unhappy little signs. Each sign was a stern command not allowing something—no cell phones, no trying on earrings, no more than three children at a time in the store, no stuffing merchandise into your pockets. Well, ok, the last one wasn’t written exactly that way, but that was the gist of it.

The store clearly had a shoplifting problem, but I doubt that all the mean signs reduced their losses. Frankly, if I were a prickly 15-year-old, they probably would have spurred me to get away with as much merchandise as possible. I am not a security expert, so I don’t know what steps they should be taking to protect themselves, but I can tell you that I didn’t buy anything in that store, nor will I go back there again.

In France, it is the custom to greet the store owner with a formal, "Bonjour, Monsieur" (or Madame or Mademoiselle, as appropriate)--a very friendly and old-fashioned custom. I’ve also read that if a store owner can get a customer to say “Hello” to them and look them in the eye, the likelihood of a theft plummets.

This doesn’t surprise me at all. It just makes me sad that we don’t do more to promote connecting with customers instead of chastising them.

Eye of the Beholder

I recently had an eye exam as it had been two years since my last screening and it seemed like my current prescription might not be correct any longer - too much time spent staring at a computer.

As I suspected, my eyes have changed over the past two years although much to my surprise, they have gotten better - not worse!  While this would normally please me, it has actually caused me to have a bad customer experience that I never would have anticipated.

You see, my wife and I have vision benefits as part of our health plan.  This vision coverage entails the typical benefits, such as an annual screening for free, annual lens replacement, and a "free" new frame every other year (albeit "free" only up to a rather low price point.)

I like my existing eyeglass frames, so I simply want to get a set of new lens at my updated prescription.  When I returned to my eye doctor to drop off my frame so they could create the new lenses and fit them into the frame I figured they'd be able to crank them out in a couple of hours or at most need to keep them for a day.  However, I was informed that for my new lenses to be covered by my vision plan they were required to send them in to an approved lab to do the work, which would take 2 - 3 weeks. 

At this point I asked, "Well, how am I supposed to go 2 - 3 weeks without my glasses? These are my only pair..." I was then told if I needed the lenses done right away they could be created onsite, but only for "simple" lenses with no special treatments - and I would have to pay for them out of pocket.

Were they serious?  Am I the only person that sees the absurdity of this situation? (pun intended)

So, I am now left checking if any 1-hour vision care centers are in my vision plan network... If not, I have to decide whether I want to pay out-of-pocket or be blind for 2 - 3 weeks.  Not quite what I expected from a vision plan.

The point here is not only is my vision plan provider, VSP, not providing a quality customer experience to me, it is also costing itself additional money - should I chose to go with a whole new pair of eyeglasses rather than send in my current frames.  A recommendation would be for VSP to have a different method to handle situations such as mine; maybe in this case having my lenses done at my doctor's office so I'm only without my glasses for a day or that my frames would be over-nighted to the lab, completed within a day, and then over-nighted back to me so I'm only without my glasses a maximum of 3 days.  Either would be a more understandable and acceptable experience in this case.

Motivation to Run

This weekend, I attended a seminar on what I thought was a discussion of financial management.  When I actually arrived, I realized that the “seminar” was a pitch to get people involved in selling financial products.  Given my general level of cynicism, I never would have thought that I would fall for this sort of deceptive marketing approach.  But what really surprised me was my physical reaction to this event.  After patiently sitting through lengthy presentation, I bolted from my seat and quickly left the building.  I was so uncomfortable with this sort of sales strategy that my gut reaction was to literally run away.  To me, telemarketing is the least friendly customer experience sales strategy as it never really considers what the customer’s experience is during the sales presentation.  The feeling of being taken advantage always makes me want to run far, far away.

Bearing down on good experiences

So, the Bears are going to the Superbowl! Woo hoo! Whatta game!

If you are a Chicago sports fan, you will understand the underdying devotion and frustration we have with our ball teams. It does bring the city together when we are on a winning streak.

I’ve noticed it lately when in stores. Instead of the usual grumblings at a checkout counter, there’s idle and hopeful chatter about how the team will do on Sunday. It brings a solidarity and connection between merchants and customers. Too bad this is lost on a day to day basis. We should be happy to connect with each other on any level, not just a winning football team.

That said, on to Miami! Go Bears!

Customer Experience in the Public Sector

Recently I've been interacting with our city and state governments a lot more than usual and it got me thinking about the poor customer, or should I say citizen experience I often have when I visit or call the Secretary of State’s office, a City of Chicago office, or take public transportation. It seems like every public servant has a permanent scowl on their face and I often feel like I’m being a nuisance just because I’m renewing my driver’s license or even asking a simple question.  I know the poor “citizen” support we receive from our government agencies isn’t a surprise to anyone. I guess I’m just venting, but wouldn’t it be great if these institutions put a little more effort into improving the citizen experience? After all, as citizen’s we’re forced to use (and pay for) their services.

Holiday Customer Experiences Remembered

Like many others, I spent a good portion of the recent two weeks shopping. Two customer experiences come to mind that I will certainly remember when I hit the stores next holiday season.

One is a classic example of how going above and beyond pays off. I stopped into a small boutique, where unbeknownst to me I dropped my gloves. One week later I received a package including the glove from the store owner, who had taken the time to get my info from the store's guest book and send it to me. It included a nice note saying that she hoped I received the glove before it became too cold. She also mentioned the merchandise I had purchased. The next week I received the second glove. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the personal attention, and the fact that I didn't have to buy a new pair of gloves only weeks after I purchased a pair. Come next December, not to mention during the months in between, I'll definitely remember that store - Jeweled Souls - when I need to find a store that actually doles out good treatment during the madness that is Christmas shopping.

Then there comes the story of unbelievably bad customer service about my experience at Toys R Us. Maybe the management here just assumes that they'll have lots of business at Christmas no matter how badly they treat customers. I will always remember how I was treated in my mad rush to find a gift on a list of toys I had never heard of. I approached the person dressed in a Toys R Us uniform at the baby registry, because she was the only employee I could find. Before even one word came out of my mouth she said "If you aren't here about the baby registry, I can't help you."

Hmm....Seems like Christmas is just the time that every single employee in a toy store, regardless of what department they are in, should be more than willing to help any customer that comes their way. They should at least be willing to direct me to someone who can lend a helping hand. At any rate, Toys R Us will be number one on my list of places to avoid next holiday season.

The King is Dead! Long Live the King!

I read an interesting piece by John Aiello of The SAVO Group yesterday. Citing a study by the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the CMO Council, John mentioned that salespeople spend approximately 40 percent of their time preparing customer facing materials while leveraging less than 50 percent of the materials created for them by their marketing brethren. Further, a study by Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) finds that 85 percent of a company's brand image is determined by the direct interaction between the sales team and its target buyers.

 John took this and other information and weaved it into a discussion of sales-enablement applications and solutions. I'd like to take a slightly different tack and declare that (traditional) Marketing Is Dead! The BAH statistic points directly to a clear conclusion – the Customer Experience is King! People buy from people. Given their 'druthers most people buy from someone they trust. Trust is not established through pre-packaged support materials, but rather through personal and personalized interactions.

The best salespeople know that long-term relationships are worth more than short-term gain. These salespeople audition clients, trying to find the right match between client needs and what their company can deliver. If there's a better fit elsewhere they're not afraid to say so and move on – knowing that the customer will respect their honesty. This approach demonstrates commitment, and can even lead to customers altering their requirements because of the trust that commitment generates.

Traditional marketing has long been focused on analyzing markets, then creating and distributing content showing the value of the company's offering. The traditional approach is all about mass production and mass consumption –overwhelming the intended recipients with a barrage of value-laden content to move them to buy. The problem with this approach is that it's based on interrupting the customer with the message, and doesn't incorporate any feedback mechanisms allowing the customer to filter what they want to read/hear/see,

 The BAH statistics suggests that most sales people find relatively little value in the sales-support content generated by their marketing peers. In other words, the people closest to and most able to influence the sale don't see value in what should be "sales-aiding" content. The salespeople are, in effect, becoming the customer information filter in self-defense.

In a separate study the CMO found most companies don't systematically engage customers in new product/service development efforts.[1] In other words, most companies build stuff, then try to find people to buy it. This can work for a while, but eventually you'll come up with a dud – and the salesperson on the front line will be stuck trying to repair the damage this new product or service caused to the relationship.

The best marketing comes from actively soliciting customer feedback and using real-life customer experiences to refine and develop the brand message. When a company can show through its actions that it is an engaged partner with its customers, then those customers will reward that company with loyalty, and higher profits. Look at Amica Insurance, Costco, Google, Ritz Carlton, Southwest Airlines, TESCO or USAA. These are all organizations that have differentiated themselves by listening to customers, and then providing a superior customer experience.

We've moved from an industrial to a post-industrial world, from broadcast to narrowcast communications, and where customization, personalization, niche marketing, customer feedback and truly being engaged with the customer in a trusted partnership are the keys to success, Companies that enshrine these values don't need to spend huge sums on demand generation efforts, instead, their customers become their free marketing arm. And their salespeople's job (read "their employees and their customers") get a lot easier.

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[1] According to the CMO's Select & Connect: Strategies for Targeted Acquisition and Retention, nearly 75% of marketers don’t have a customer advisory board or council. Of those that did, only 6% said the board was “very critical” in product innovation.