This continues the series, 9 characteristics of great customer experiences.
The customer feels secure and confident in his or her decisions throughout the process.
People want to feel that they made the right decision. A great customer experience will allow for that, with checkpoints along the way so people feel that they are doing the right thing, even for a small purchase.
I have witnessed too many usability tests where the participant asked me before clicking a button or link, "Am I doing the right thing?"
Because it was a usability test, I couldn’t tell the person yes or no. I could only tell the person to do what he thinks is right. But that obviously wasn’t enough validation. The participant would make a decision, often it was right and the person made it to the next step, passing the "intuititve" test, but the user still felt insecure about what he did. Even after selecting the link, he would still question his decision and sometimes wasn't clear about where the larger experience would guide him. That user may have understood the goals of the site or app, but the new experience made him cautious.
I would think it was the test environment making these participants nervous. And that may very well have been true. But what if there were more to that story?
It didn't really occur to me until later that if someone was that uncertain with an experience, something wasn't quite right with it.
New experiences make people feel uneasy.
I can always identify drivers who don't live in Dallas based on their driving patterns. When they drive, they will stop for no reason. Or switch lanes suddenly. These drivers exhibit a lot of sudden and erratic behavior. They rush not to mess up what the GPS tells them to do, as if there isn’t another intersection to take, a different left turn, or a different way to go that wasn’t so abrupt. They don't know the neighborhoods and are afraid that they will get lost. They are afraid that they are making the wrong decisions.
My other favorite example of where you can tell people feel uneasy is on public transporttation. People walk onto a train where they can go left or right to grab a seat and instead, they choose to go still and block anyone else from entering the train. They aren't feeling confident as to what to do next and where there may be a seat. They don’t realize that blocking the door just isn’t doing anyone any favors. They need instruction where to sit. They want to decide on a direction that will lead them to a definite seat – not risk standing.
It’s fascinating – it happens in almost every city.
How do people make deisions to do something that will change their life?
We make decisions all day long – when we drive somewhere or choose to take a train or decide what to eat. When we are purchasing something to help us do something better or to wear or to use in some way, we are making a decision. And we are making a decision to stay the same or change.
The change can be small, such as deciding to eat something new. You may decide to not make a change and eat what you are used to eating (think a refillable or replacement) or try something new (a new product) or do nothing (go hungry).
Generally, change makes people feel uncomfortable. It’s curious as to why that happens because life is constantly in flux. Nature is constantly moving, shifting and adjusting. But humans can be rigid, expecting the expected, when that isn’t a realistic option.
What inspires people to decide to make a change vs staying the same vs doing nothing? It's different for everyone. However, the inspiration for the decision originates with the decision driver:
- The desire to solve a problem?
- To satisfy a need?
- To physically feel better?
- To satisfy an ego drive?
I'm sure there are more factors that people consider when making a change.
The next key ingredient for change is that people want to feel comfortable with whatever they decide do – something new, stay the same, or do nothing.
How do people feel comfortable with a decision?
There are two factors that determine comfort with a decision: personal risk and the relationship is between the person and the company/salesperson.
1. Risk. Most people don't like assuming personal risk – costs in time or money. This is why sometimes people won’t buy things – it’s a safe decision to not make the change, use a new product, or adopt a new idea if the new item will cost more time or money to do the same thing they do today and not make a change. If a decision will cost money, it's easier not to spend the money. If something will take time to do, that's an easier pill to swallow, but it's still easier to do nothing. Either way, if there isn't clear savings for time or money or an aversion to risk or some type of clear motivator for the change, the person won't buy.
When people assume risk, they are often looking at a comparison between the costs of the new way vs the old way. In business, this is sometimes calculated on spreadsheets. Often for personal purchases, this is calculated in people’s heads, which isn’t an accurate measure of what will actually happen, but people do this anyway.
It’s always worth considering a change when there isn’t much time or money at stake. When an item costs more more or requires significant time to implement – that’s a different story and the case to win is long-term savings – support savings, time savings, associated product savings. Savings does reduce risk, but it needs to be clear to the person.
As an example, why do people spend money on personal trainers? Health can be costly, especially if you are in poor health. We often take our health for granted. But poor health costs include pharmaceuticals, doctor visits, procedures. It costs time to the clinics for the tests, to the drugstore for drugs, etc. In some ways, spending money weekly for a personal trainer, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, working out and the like may cost you time and money NOW, but there is savings for health care costs in the future. You may not need those drugs and tests later. You go to the trainer for long-term savings. It reduces your personal risk.
2. They trust the relationship with the company. The buyer trusts the solution, the vendor, the salesperson (most times, it’s the sales person who won the trust) – the relationship with your company. How do you encourage that to happen?
Stephen Covey has the best analogy, I think, for developing relationships. It's the Emotional Bank Account.
I sometimes use the metaphor of an Emotional Bank Account. Like a financial bank account, you can make deposits and take withdrawals from the account. When you make consistent deposits, out of your integrity and out of your empathy—that means your understanding of what deposits and withdrawals are to other people—those two things—empathy and integrity—that little by little you can restore trust.–Stephen Covey, Restoring Trust Can be an Enormously Positive Adventure
In that article, Stephen Covey was addressing the financial mess in 2008 and referring to restoring trust. However, what if you are starting at ground zero?
The emotional units that Covey speaks of are centered around trust. When we make emotional deposits into someone’s bank account, their fondness, trust, and confidence in us grows. And as a result our relationship develops and grows. If we can keep a positive reserve in our relationships, by making regular deposits, there will be greater tolerance for our mistakes and we’ll enjoy open communication with that person. On the contrary, when we make withdrawals and our balance becomes low or even overdrawn, bitterness, mistrust and discord develops. If we are to salvage the relationship, we must make a conscious effort to make regular deposits.—The Emotional Bank Account, Life Training – Online
Trust is built through actions. You do good deeds, people remember them and memories collect. Over time, as more positive actions that instill trust are done, the person trusts you. This happens during a customer’s experience – if the experiences are positive and help the person trust the company – such as the person can see that the company has nothing to hide and isn't trying to play games – the individual feels confident and comfortable with the company and its experience.
How does this apply to customer relationships and risk:
- If someone feels that they can trust the company and their decision is low-risk, then they may continue in the sales and product process. No change.
- If a company messes up in some way, all of the emotional bank deeds help balance the screw-up. The person may not appreciate the screw-up, but he still trusts the company. The process continues, especially if there is low risk in the deal.
- However, if screw-ups happen too often, the relationship could be in jeopardy and that would ruin the sale and the relationship – even if the customer has already purchased, is using the product, and is an existing customer. He'll stop using the product and make another decision or rever to the previous decision before purchase. Yes, things like this happen.
Risk and relationship are key for a customer to feel secure and confident to stay in the customer lifecycle.
More on this in the context of the customer lifecycle/journey and what that means in Part 2.