Is 'Customer Satisfaction' passé? 
Customers becoming more discerning - Service aims are evolving 

Of course, today, we Customers are pretty smart! Not only do we know what we want, but we instinctively know what your real feelings and  attitude towards us really are (you can't hide them!)

First, we now expect what was traditionally thought of as 'good' Customer Service:

• deliver on you promises
• get it right first time,
• recover from problems perfectly
• and be courteous and polite

There was a time when you could stand out from the crowd by simply offering even some of these basics. But, as you've probably noticed, nowadays these just keep you on the playing field!

We Customers just expect this from ALL our suppliers - it's basic, isn't it? And, unless your competitors are still giving last century service, you simply cannot rely anymore on 'doing a good job' to differentiate yourself.

That's why the Harvard Business Review, way back in 1995, reported that:

• Satisfied Customers are just as likely to defect as Dissatisfied ones 

I call this 'Customer Fatigue': we just won't stand for it when you get it wrong, but just because it's 'right' doesn't mean we're going to stay.

So, second, we're looking for more from you:

• We want to feel good about our interaction with you
• We want you to give us a reason to stay
• We want to know that you value us, that we are important to you, that you care about us, as people, and care about our lives, and our business, when appropriate
• We want to know that you are going to be there for us when we need you, that we're more than just a transaction to get right for you, more than just a way for you to make money.

This might all sound rather fluffy, but we really do want to have a human relationship with you, as well as a business transaction. This turns out to be true with even the most hardened business people where you'd least expect the human element to be important. There's a simple reason for this: despite appearances and rumours to the contrary, they are human too!

" What became immensely apparent was that, yes, your "entry ticket to the park" was having your basics right..., but, if we were truly going to differentiate ourselves, then what our customers were saying (and what their behaviours were demonstrating in terms of whether they chose us, whether they stayed with us, whether they bought more from us) was actually what made the difference wasn't really the functional stuff, that was the given, what made the difference was whether they felt they'd had a good emotional experience with us as an organisation.  "
Darren Cornish, Director of Customer Experience at Norwich Union

We Customers really care about your attitude towards us!

So, if needing to create a good 'emotional experience' is not already clear and obvious, think about when you've had to call a company yourself, or walk into their foyer or their shop. Ever get hot under the collar, simply by their attitude towards you: curt, perhaps, or unfriendly, condescending, or simply uninterested?

When this happens, how do you feel?

Do you want to rush back to do more business with them, tell all your colleagues about how great they are?

Well, of course not!

At best you feel resignation: "Well, what are you going to do?"

At worst, you'll switch suppliers at the first opportunity. And you'll probably do it silently, without telling them why (after all, it sounds pretty naff to say: "I didn't like the way you talked to me"!)

Conversely, you may well have had the occasional interaction with even a large Call Centre type businesses where you actually felt good about your transaction with them. If you've had that pleasure, think about what it was that pleased you:

• their warm, helpful attitude perhaps, 
• their personable, engaging style 
• or their obvious concern and commitment to make things right for you, as person. 

But now think about all those customer experiences you've had which neither make you feel Good nor Bad - just plain Neutral: no particular feelings either way. These are probably the vast majority of them. Notice how, even though they've probably got everything 'right', it leaves no lasting impression with you.

So, the aim is to get your Customers' experiences out of the Feel Bad zone and even beyond the Feel Neutral zone, and into the Feel Good zone - because that's where all the huge benefits kick in.

You KNOW when you feel great, even if you don't know why!

It may be hard to put your finger on exactly what it is about an interaction that makes you feel good, or even great, as a Customer, but, for sure, you know when it's happened.

And yes, you may well wish to tell you friends and colleagues about it, even recommending the company to them. And certainly you'll probably forgive them for those everyday little errors or mistakes that crop up in any business... because you know they care about YOU!

And for sure (unless it's really an isolated one-off maverick member of staff) it hasn't happened by chance; the business will have spent a lot of time and effort to achieve that simple result: putting someone who actually WANTS to do business with you and relate to you as a person on the end of the phone!

Despite all this being pretty basic, there's no obvious and accepted name or industry term to refer to this ability to personally connect with Customers and make us feel good at a human level. Again, that's why I coined the term Customer Empathy in 1992, when I was the first to recognise its importance and provide objective research and services to help achieve it.

So, whether these companies that actually make you feel good have called it 'Customer Empathy' or something else, they are certainly very well aware of its importance. You can be sure they are taking how they are making their customers feel extremely seriously.

What are you measuring, then?

The chances are that if you're already taking Customer Satisfaction, or even 'Customer Delight' (let alone Customer Empathy) at all seriously, you will have in place measures and targets that encourage it. But they may be working against you.

Take a look at what's being measured (we can do this together, if you like).  For example, are you checking if staff are saying the 'right' words and doing the 'right' thing, or are you checking that, in their own way, they are Caring, say, rather than Indifferent (or even Uncaring, let alone Hostile)?

Clearly, you tend to get what you measure, even when it's at the expense of what you actually want!  The very measures themselves may be self-defeating, in fact they often are.

For example, to be a bit simplistic, suppose you want your staff to be more 'Welcoming'. If you determine that Welcoming staff always 'smile' you may insist that they all smile at the customers, and then you may measure if they do or don't (by watching them, for instance). Well, if you force them to smile they surely will, but will that make us customers feel Welcomed? Probably not! Unless it's really sincere, a forced smile is more likely to turn us off, and we certainly won't feel Welcomed!

Yet, of course, the answer is easy: if you want your staff to be more Welcoming, just ask them to be more 'Welcoming' and stop telling them how to do it. Then just measure how Welcoming they come over, in their own way.  It may sound simple, but it can represent a HUGE shift of focus; that's why it's good to have some help, especially on how to objectively measure things like 'Welcoming'.

And what feedback are you getting from your Customers?

Generally they will be great at telling you what you've got right and wrong, and they will think that if you've got it right that they are Satisfied, or even Very Satisfied. But, as we have seen, that doesn't mean they are going to be more loyal and spend more with you.

And if you try and ask them how they feel, they will find it hard to access their feelings in a clear and consistent way and give you accurate feedback. Yet, the biggest question is: "How do your customers feel about doing business with your company, about interacting with you?"

They probably do know, but they don't really know how to express themselves, and you probably don't know how to ask them, and so you probably don't actually know how well you are doing on this most important of business metrics.

Is it time to fill the gap?

Let's talk!