Yesterday, I encouraged you to walk through your customer experience to maximize your touchpoints. While looking for touchpoints, keep your eyes pealed for potholes in your customer experience.
I realize that the true antithesis of a touchpoint would be a painpoint but I think that the pothole is a better metaphor. You’re driving along having a pleasant day when — BAM! — you hit a pothole, your car makes a terrible sound, and your once good mood is suddenly in question.
I bring up potholes because I fell in one earlier today at my neighborhood grocery store. While checking out, an item didn’t ring up. “Do you remember how much this cost?” asked the checkout girl. “About $2.” This seemed like a fairly accurate estimate. “How much?” she asks again in apparent disbelief. I answer. She chews on her finger and gets a stocker with whom she jokes before sending him on his mission: the price check.
As each minute (and there were several) trickled by I found that all I could do while in their pothole was question my loyalty. “Why do I still shop here?” “Why don’t they train their team?” Ridiculous stuff but that’s where your mind wanders. The stocker returns. The price: $2.39. I was off by $0.39?!! Do you think the president of this chain would like that $0.39 caused a customer to question their loyalty?
I’m not advocating a policy where customers can name prices (unique though) but potholes like these need to be monitored. Give your staff the leeway to seamlessly patch a pothole like this in your customer experience. In fact, you should encourage them to do so. What surprises me is how many companies have potholes that customers consistently complain about that are left alone. Think of how communities rally against a city when a pothole gets out of control. What if that was an angry mob of your customers?
The point? Potholes are just as important as touchpoints (if not more so — they cause negative impact). Just like you never know which of your touchpoints builds loyalty, you never know which of your potholes your customer could fall in on the wrong day and ruin what you’ve worked so hard to build. With all of this at stake, can you afford to leave any of your potholes un-patched?
Westerblog | A blog about IDEAS+ACTION from Westergaard Advertising
