Customer Experience 3.0 is one of several books available on customer service. Nonetheless, a cursory glance through the pages reveals the author’s lucidity as well as depth of knowledge. The book is for the common person, but managers and customer service professionals can get valuable insight and suggestions as well, thanks to the comprehensive writing style peppered with ample numerical examples.
The book has the following chapters: Chapter 1 – Why good service might not result in a great experience; Chapter 2 – More than people: Customer experience = people + process + technology; Chapter 3 – Jump-starting action by quantifying the cost of inaction; Chapter 4 – Do it right the first time (DIRFT); Chapter 5 – Every door open: Assuring multichannel access; Chapter 6 – Always satisfy customers, and sometimes dazzle them; Chapter 7 – Listening passionately to your customers’ unifies voice; Chapter 8 – Taming technology; Chapter 9 – Building a culture of empowerment and connection; and Chapter 10 – Leading the charge to the next level.
It might be pointed out at the onset of this review that each chapter concludes with a “takeaway” section, which might come in handy for the time-challenged reader.
The introductory chapter sets the ball rolling for the rest of the discussion and familiarizes the reader with some fundamental flaws in our perception and understanding of “customer service” versus “customer experience”. While some of these points may be quite obvious to the educated person (few customers actually complain even when they are unhappy, not leaving the customer with unpleasant surprises), others may not be so obvious (it does not take a lot to make a customer happy, no news is not necessarily good news).
The author emphasizes the importance of realizing the differences between customer service and customer experience – basically “service” is only part of the entire “experience”, therefore, it is the latter that companies must focus on.
Some of the anecdotes successfully drive home the author’s point, such as the one about Mailbox app (p. 28). The app became so popular that Mailbox’s server was unable to handle the load. So it started offering its customers a first-come-first-serve policy. Any customer who wanted to download the app was put in a “queue” with a real-time tracker of his/her progress. I personally feel better when I am told what my position is in the queue rather than being put on hold ad infinitum!
The second chapter discusses how to go above and beyond merely keeping the customer “satisfied”. In fact, it is not just about training your customer service personnel but about using technology, logic and intelligence to resolve customer issues. Research shows that companies with high customer service ratings will not allow the problem to arise in the first place. Companies can achieve this by providing unambiguous instructions, transparent marketing messages and emphasizing honesty and ethics in every interaction with their customers. These are some critical components of what the author refers to as DIRFT.
It is also important to note that company head honchos understand the language of dollars and cents more than anything else. As such, if someone can show them the cost of “inaction” rather than trying to proactively resolve customer issues, then it can enhance the company’s bottom line. The author extends the same theme in Chapter 3: Jump-starting Action by Quantifying the Cost of Inaction. Goodman corroborates his views with some eye-catching numbers on page 69.
Chapter 4 elaborates on the topic of DIRFT referred to earlier. The concept is basic, and yet many executives either fail to note its importance or do not know how to implement it. DIRFT has several components, such as design, creating awareness, providing information and so on. Nonetheless, underlying each of these themes are basic strategies that the company needs to follow: develop the appropriate metrics (something cannot be measured cannot be managed either); the company policies and steps must be communicated effectively to the customers (otherwise nothing makes sense); and the company must make an “emotional” connection with its customers. Then only can customer experience personnel truly appreciate the problems and resolve them effectively.
As mentioned earlier, we live in a wired world, and information travels faster than light. Customer service reps, therefore, must keep their fingers on multiple channels (face-to-face, online, telephone, social media). This is precisely what the author emphasizes in the next chapter. However, every business needs to keep in mind that their website must always be maintained/updated on a regular basis, otherwise it is better not to have any web presence. Second, the business must make sure that all channels deliver a consistent and coherent marketing message to the customer. Third, such channels of communication must be available both for marketing as well as for customer service purposes such as handling complaints. And, the company must make it easy for the customer to use the channels.
Chapter 6 is about going above and beyond achieving customer satisfaction. One problem with this approach is that, once managers deliver more than promised, the customer will have the same expectation on his/her next visit as well. The question then becomes: where do you draw the line?
The author also introduces the concept of easy-to-do-business-with (ETDBW) for an organization, but that should be a default feature of any business that wants to be successful. One might also note the frequent mention of the integrated voice response (IVR) technology throughout the book. The importance of intelligent use of IVR can hardly be overemphasized.
While the subject matter of Chapter 7 (Listening Passionately to your Customer’s Unified Voice) is obvious, the discussion basically harps on certain key requirements introduced in earlier chapters, such as metrics, being proactive, monitoring progress and being flexible. In addition, given that social media is ubiquitous customer feedback, business should also be careful as to how they can harness such information and more importantly, utilize it to their benefit.
Chapter 8 warns the reader of potential pitfalls of using technology erroneously. While every company wants to jump on the technology bandwagon, neither is every organization prepared for it, nor is every sophisticated technology required for every business decision. In this regard, the metrics on page 200 present an interesting insight.
Chapter 9 discusses the importance of empowering and connecting emotionally with the employees, aka “internal customers”. But in this discussion too, the role of creating and implementing proper “metrics” assumes importance, and understandably so. The author makes special note about the company executives “walking the talk” – which, regrettably, is missing in many organizations. The right attitude for delivering outstanding customer service results from empathy and proper training. But all said and done, “charity begins at home”. The top executive has a tremendous capability to motivate his/her employees in this regard.
Chapter 10 concludes the author’s views in this book by summarizing several ideas laid out earlier. As Goodman notes, among other issues, it is ironic that whenever there is a budget cut, often it is customer experience that is on the chopping block. While reducing/eliminating customer experience may be one of the easiest ways to scale down expenses, a detailed cost-benefit analysis might prove that taking such drastic measures is counter-productive.
Overall, this is nice and easy book to read, both from the layman and the company executive’s perspectives. While most of the ideas and suggestions are not necessarily novel, the author has done an effective job of buttressing his position by providing numbers. This book may be a good addition to an academic’s or customer service personnel’s library.
