A Birthday Gift
Recently, my personal calendar flipped to a new year and I turned <data records redacted>. Having signed up for several email promotional lists, the birthday nets several promotions in my inbox. They range from the plain "Happy Birthday" (including one from a hotel I stayed at in Vietnam 7 years ago!) to discounted or free items. One that I actually kinda look forward to each year is the Free Pizza from a place specializing in NY style pizza. It's a chain so not as pure as something you'd find in Manhattan but still really good. I grew up in Austin, Texas so I hold no claim to any pizza review prowess (don't challenge my queso and BBQ rights!) but I really do like a nice flavorful pie with the big slices you have to fold in half to eat. (Chicago...I love you too. This just isn't your blog-turn. No pie disrespect intended.)
The day arrived. I got my free pizza email letting me know I had the usual week to cash it in. We made plans to head out in a couple of days and celebrate my pie day.
The next day, I received another email from the same restaurant. In friendly language, the restaurant let customers know that they'd be closing for a couple of weeks to complete a remodel to create an "even better dining experience". They apologized for the inconvenience and let their customers know of other locations to try...none any closer than 30 miles away. Clearly, they wanted to avoid any customer disappointment by letting them know ahead of time that the restaurant would be closed. No disappointed customers arriving at an unexpectedly closed restaurant.
Yet, the combination of the two delight emails resulted in a disappointment. Essentially my pie-day was a soggy, unbaked mess. I couldn't use the coupon provided.
Let's be honest...this isn't the biggest concern in the world. In reality, I wasn't all that disappointed and really just laughed at the coincidence of the two emails...but then I realized, both of those were created and delivered with the best of customer intentions at heart. Yet the combination of the two created a disappointment experience. What happened?
Good CX requires a Process Protector
Earlier this week, I posted an image about how the combination of Outside In Customer View + Inside Out Process View creates Great Experiences every customer every time. This completely applies to my pizza scenario. Both the birthday marketing and the closure alert were designed to make sure that customers had great experiences. Yet, without (apparently) any process to ensure that all customer communications worked together to create a unified and delightful experience, a disappointment occurred instead.
In this case, having a process that considers all customer communications and how they impact specific customer sets appears to be missing. This gets at the "every customer every time" element. Individually, those emails created good experiences for some of their customers...but fell short for the population receiving time-based promotions at the same time as the closure alert was delivered.
Process protects CX. Now just as easily, I could write a blog about how process without customer focus only creates poor customer experiences faster and more efficiently (perhaps another time). That process protector will ensure that great CX happens repeatedly as part of the normal business operations.
Creating the CX/Process Overlay
Some people espouse process mapping. Some espouse customer journey mapping. Much like a current Reese's commercial, put both the chocolate of customer journey mapping and the peanut butter of process mapping together. Do each separately but then link the two together. Where your customer has low mood points in their journey, understand why that is the case in the process map. Where you see an inefficient element in your process, see how that impacts the customer. Using the combo of the two, you'll be more successful at creating great customer experiences for every customer, every time.
I'll Have My PI(e) Day
This won't keep me from enjoying another pie at the restaurant. Yet, some other CX/process derailments might keep your customers away. Make sure you've linked CX & Process together. Then everyone can have their PI(e). Happy PI day to y'all!
My name is Rick Denton and I solve Customer Experience & Business challenges. With 20+ years of experience, I love to Create Customer Obsessed Cultures, Restore Customer Relationships, Deliver Global Results...and GET THINGS DONE.
I believe the best meals are served outside and require a passport.
Head over to www.ex4cx.com to learn more.