What Really Stops Us Learning From Our Customers?
You can’t read a company manifesto, values doc or strategy without hitting the words customer or client head first what feels like a hundred times.
“Customer Centricity”
“Client Driven”
“Customer Focussed
“Client First”
I sound like I’m frustrated by this.
And maybe I am.
But it’s not because I don’t think customers belong here.
Maybe it’s because I don’t think there should be any differentiation to be won by putting the customer at the heart of what you do.
Yet, it still is.
It’s how challenger banks are winning over the millenial masses.
It’s why I book into an airbnb whenever I travel- not a hotel.
It’s why I feel safer to get in an uber late at night rather than flagging down a cabby.
They focussed on meeting a real customer need. On solving a real pain that existed. On making my experience friction free.
With airbnb I feel like I’m in a real home even when I’m travelling. With uber I can send a friend a tracking link if I’m ever worried my driver has gone off route. Little moments of joy or relief which have been found by putting the customer at the heart and their experience first.
This weekend I had my wallet stolen. And I hit head on three very different customer experiences.
Experience #1
- Realise wallet is stolen
- Open Monzo app
- I already know no-one has tried to withdraw from my card because I haven’t had a transaction notification
- Freeze my card with the touch of a button
- Smile as my virtual card visually crusts over with ice and an option to “defrost” if I find it after all
- Realise card is irretrievably lost the next day so cancel and reorder card in app with one touch of a button.
Experience # 2
- Get home from bar on final night in Prague having had card stolen and unsure if money has been taken out
- Try to cancel card through mobile banking app with my current account.
- Spend 10 minutes on hold to bank with my current account, frustrated and quietly stressing about whether this is included in my overseas call plan
- Get through to call center and asked to confirm a direct debit and amount. The whole point of my direct debits is I don’t have to think about them- I can’t remember exact amount for phone bill- or how my phone companies name shows on my bill.
- So I log into my app while on the phone (awkwardly juggling phone tabs and trying not to accidentally hang up the call in the process — I was not going to hold for another 10 minutes)
- Find transaction on app- realise I’d been sent some birthday money but hadn’t realised so hadn’t said thank you- feel rude and wish they had done it on Monzo so I could have sent a cute and grateful emoji with a thank you note
- Finally get into account
- Answer lots of questions then finally confirm card is cancelled.
- Finally off phone after 17mins 31s. Really hope that isn’t on my bill.
Experience #3
- Go to bed and just as falling asleep realise my business card was in my wallet too
- Breathe a sigh of relief that business card is with another challenger bank
- Login with fingerprint
- Freeze card with one button
- Go to sleep.
It’s not hard to see who lost on experience here.
But more frustratingly, it’s not hard to think this user experience through and make it this easy. To delve into the customer’s real stories and find ways to remove pains at a time of real frustration.
So why aren’t we doing it? Or why are we doing it badly? Or why are we so slow to change the way we act when we do it right?
The lessons aren’t hard to find- so maybe the challenge is we aren’t looking for them in the right way…
I’ll be exploring this more over the next two weeks… digging into why we still get talking to and learning from customers wrong; some practical ways we can easily correct it; and what to do with the good data when we finally uncover it!
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
So what do you think gets in the way of real customer centricity?
