Customer
Expectations vs. Customer Needs
By Ray Miller – An excerpt from That’s
Customer Focus.
The first rule of stellar service
delivery is:
Service is all about expectations.
You buy a product; you expect it to work
the first time. You go to a discount supplier, you expect the
quality to be less than the high end dealer, but you still expect
what you buy to work, first time every time. When it comes to
products, expectations are pretty clear. People expect a good
quality product based on the price they are willing to pay for it.
When it comes to service, expectations can get a little fuzzy. When
a customer begins a relationship with you he or she already has a
specific set of expectations. These expectations are based on their
perceptions of you, your company and your industry. They are formed
through personal past experience, and the experience of others with
whom the customer interacts.
Consider
the last time you went into a self-service gas station. What did you
expect? Other than the pump to be working, not much else right?
After all - you are doing all the work.
You have the opportunity to Satisfy, Dissatisfy or Impress–and two
of these are bad. Delivering below expectations is obviously bad,
but in the context of creating loyalty, so is simply satisfying
customers, because they are getting nothing more or less than they
expect.
Creating customer value and loyalty comes from consistently
exceeding expectations.
Prof. Benjamin Schneider and Prof. David E. Bowen published an
article called "Understanding Customer Delight and Outrage".
Delight and outrage?
That may sound a bit melodramatic but
this concept is critically important to providing basic customer
service. Consider this hypothetical bell curve measuring the quality
of service delivery in general:
Basically, most service falls into the
median of the curve - the take it or leave it level of service. If
you provide this level of service the customer will be satisfied.
You at least met their expectations. Schneider and Bowen actually
break the bell curve distribution into four levels along a
continuum:
Customer loyalty is the degree to which customers will patronize
your business and your business alone because you've developed or
created an emotional bond with them. You've gone beyond their
expectations and addressed something more innate - their emotional
needs as a consumer. Customers have come to expect fast, friendly
service. They expect to get an answer to their questions. They
expect you'll answer their call promptly and return their messages.
Do those things well and you'll be in the game.
But will you win their loyalty? Not necessarily. If you fail, have
you lost them forever? Again, not necessarily.
Research shows customers are willing to accept some failure in terms
of these expectations. Fail continuously and that's a different
story. This is the "ambivalence" part of the model. Next time they
need your product or service they may, if it's convenient, patronize
your business. But they won't seek out your business purposefully.
To do that, they must be delighted with your service. They must be
so impressed with your service that they become a dedicated
follower.
Schneider and Bowen refer to these customers as "apostles". They
will sing the praises of your business to friends, family and
coworkers.
At the other end of the spectrum it's possible to so utterly offend
the basic needs of your customers that they'll willfully take every
opportunity to sabotage your business. They become a terrorist
according to Benjamin and Bowen. They'll tell every person who'll
listen about the time your business, yada yada yada. Each time,
they're likely to embellish the story.
So what creates such an extreme emotional reaction to service in
some customers? According to Schneider and Bowen these reactions
occur when you surpass the needs of a customer (delight) or you
offend those needs. Not just fail to meet them - you (in the mind of
the customer) intentionally deprived them of those needs.
What are these powerful dynamics?
-
Deprived of equity / justice
-
Lack of respect
-
Deprived of equity / justice
Customers want to be treated fairly. They
want to know that the service and product they receive is as good as
that received by any other customer. Consider a study done by a
consumer advocate group. They asked samples of airline passengers
from numerous airports what they'd paid for their ticket. They found
less than 10% of passengers paid the same price for their ticket
even though they flew from the same city. The results incited
outrage among travelers who saw no justification for paying more,
when they had received the same seating and service.
Equity and justice is even more at issue
when companies resolve customer problems. At times service or
product experience is so bad customers will seek compensation for
their time, effort and inconvenience. A participant in one of our
customer service workshops shared the following:
."I
purchased a large screen TV from one of those
audio-video-electronics mega stores. The first one just did not
work so we had to bring it back. The second one, which we had to
wait two weeks for, had a large crack along the bottom of the
screen. Again, we didn't know until we unpacked it. I'd already
lost a day of work going to pick it up and unpacking it. When I
brought it back they tried to charge me $37.00 because I
returned it without the box. It was destroyed unpacking it. I
was stunned. Even after explaining the circumstances to the
retail associate he made me talk to the store manager who acted
like he was doing me a favor waiving the charge."
Equity and justice means making customers
feel they're getting a comparable service and product at a fair
price. It also means problems are resolved to their satisfaction and
that companies consider the cost of the customer's time and
inconvenience when making amends.
-
Lack of respect
Nothing is more basic and
elementary to effective service than the need for customers to feel
respected. In fact, studies show merely respecting customers does
not distinguish your business or service. That's because customers
expect it. It's when they perceive a lack of respect that things get
volatile.
For example:
Rachael brought her car into a repair shop to get new tires put
on. After looking the vehicle over the mechanic recommended new
brakes. Rachael was puzzled since she hadn't noticed any problem
with the brakes. In fact, she had gotten it inspected just two
months earlier. "Well they don't look 'em over the way we do."
He rattled off some automotive terms to convince her. Rachael
was still hesitant. "Why don't we call your husband," he said.
With that Rachael told him to put the tires back on her vehicle
- she'd be taking her business elsewhere.
Respect means treating
customers the same - regardless of gender, race or age. It means
listening to the customer's problem and responding in an empathic
tone. It means your non-verbal behavior demonstrates concern and
attentiveness.
When it comes to
service, clearly understand what it is your customers want, expect
and need and shape you people and processes to deliver a level of
service which reflects these.
Ray Miller is
Managing Partner of The Training Bank, a Training and
Consulting firm specializing in Customer Focus, Service Improvement,
Leadership and fully customized training solutions. He is also
co-author of the book That’s Customer Focus.
You can get more
information about That’s Customer Focus by visiting
www.thatscustomerfocus.com or
www.thetrainingbank.com
If you would like a
pdf version of this article, please
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