Insights

Measuring every experience is hard. Making insights from the experience is harder. However, this is the only way to continously build trust with the customers and gain their loyalty. Let's first deliberate on what builds trust.

1. Trust is complex, and a time consuming process. If we wish to simplify, intent and action is a 2-parameter approach. Simply having an intent to build trust with customers doesn't suffice unless that intent is converted into an action. Leadership action could be to create a framework and empower customer facing employees to service customers. At one of businesses we implemented a norm of talking to every customer (not not just a sample), and reward employees who took an extra step. The reward was not monetary. The result - our customer retention grew consistently, meaning better EBITDA

2.  Magic of minute details - details that give bliss to the senses. When crafted perfectly the experience is  unparalled. Stitching a shirt with striped fabric is not easy. To give premium look the stripes on the sleeves, chest, pocket, shoulders etc. need to be aligned. It will take more cloth than usual, more time to cut the fabric such that the stripes on the peices align, and more careful stitching aligning the stripes. The shirt will look fabulous but will be more expensive. Do you realise why a corduroy trouser is expensive? The stitching happens one way along the length. The texture changes if you reverse the direction. And if you want a bootcut corduroy, almost 1.5 times the regular fabric length. Delivering good experiences takes time.             Let's hear a Story - Paul, a rich businessman asked an expert to fix his yacht. While fixing, the expert identified a hole on one side of the yacht. He fixed the hole and painted it even though it was not part of the contract. Shortly after that Paul's son took the yaucht with this friends, the man realised that he forgot to ask the expert to fix it. Realising a yatcht with a hole could be life threating, Paul's day was in lonliness, fear, and he kept praying. Later, in the evening his joy was unbound with rainy eyes when the kids came back safely. He saw that the hole in the yacht was fixed. The next morning he received an invoice of $100 from the expert as agreed. Paul sent a cheque of $10,000 to the expert with a note, your services saved my son's life.

3. Handling a "bad experience" situation - A product or a service failing in a certain instance is inevitable. A shirt stitched with great care can result in a poor fit on the chest. Most robust cybersecurity product may become vulnerable for an instant due to a hardware processing failure. It's not sufficient to handle such situations, but to go a step further and use this as an opportunity to strengthen trust. It may result in a short term hit on numbers, while the long-term upside is tremendous. Imagine you go to a french cafeteria and order affogato with a butter croissant. You take the first bite of the croissant and start missing the croissant you use to have in France. Meaning, the croissant you're having misses the layers and tastes like bread. You call the waiter and address your concern. The waiter takes away your plates and comes back with a fresh croissant and a fresh espreeso with milk on the side. Apologises and explains that there is a new person who just joined and maybe didn't realise that the milk has to be served on the side. Your confidence rises. A while later the waiter comes back with a pineapple tart and serves with a smile, complimentary! How will you feel? While going out of the cafeteria, the manager greets you and apologies for the mistake happened earlier. Hands over a coupon and invites you for a wine tasting session which is for members only. Now, even though your experience at the start wasn't great will you come back to this cafe? Would you recommend to your friends?