United Airlines drops out of the Customer Experience Sky

United Airlines have taken the unusual step of turning off their Customer Service feedback line.

They say their research says that they get a better quality interaction when people write to them and are clearer about what has happened and the details because they are writing it down and hence considering what they say.

That may be the case. It's still dumb. Two things they need to do:

• give people a way to vent when they want to. Even if they write to you it will mean many have stewed on it and told many by the time they write to you - if they bother to. The vast majority will just whinge to anyone who will listen.
  
• if cost is an issue (of course it is in this market) then find a more cost effective way to capture the feedback when people are angry. There is certainly a backlash with outsourced and obviously overseas call centres. There are simple, cost effective ways to get the feedback live. Set up a virtual feedback system. Ask (quantitative) questions and at the end ask if they want someone to contact them(quallitative feedback). I can show you how for your business and spend a few cents to do it easily and quickly.
• when you set up a virtual feedback system you can also get pats on the back for a job well done.
  

I don't care how much research they have done. We want to complain and give feedback when we want to. Not on the suppliers timeframe.

It is possible to turn every customer into a mystery shopper. Get great feedback and improve the service and operations of your business.

You can do this without commiting customer experience suicide!

Experiencing the new Cloud

This is a great article on how we will be effected by the 'Cloud'. The Cloud is that virtual computer platform that is causing the death of software as we know it - insert the death of Microsoft's ability to charge for a disc in a box.

No longer will we need to buy a hard copy of software. The program will always be up to date and should be much less expensive. Of course the flip side is you will need to be able to access the cloud by being constantly online. That works for some and not for others.

It may mean that you have to invest in one of the new smart phones - iPhone, Black Berry or Palm Pre.

I would love your comments on how this will effect you.


Iven

Apple product designs are 40 year old rip offs?

Apple is recognised as a leader in industrial design and also the way they design their retail experience.

Did they rip off the designs from Dieter Rams?

Who? Rams designed the highly innovative products for Braun in the 50's and 60's. There is a striking similarity between some of his designs and those churned out by Apple's chief designer Jonathan Ive. Ive has just been voted number one on the worlds 100 most innovative people list by Fast Company (yes I obviously read their stuff as you can see from my posts. They have great info you can get online. Go to Fast Company and get the daily newsletter.

Go here to see the Braun products designed by Rams and the ones Ive came up with. Also have a look at his 10 rules of design. They apply to any business (with some modification for your industry). I have adapted them here for customer experience. I have inserted CX for Customer Xperience (Yes I thought that would be great branding, registered it and then worked out that no one who could spell in English would Google experience without the 'e'. Life lessons!) and modified them a touch with thanks to Rams.

Good CX design is innovative.
Good CX design makes a product, service and customer interaction memorable.
Good CX design is aesthetic.
Good CX design helps us to understand a product and what the brand stands for.
Good CX design is unobtrusive.
Good CX design is honestly communicating what the brand stands for.
Good CX design is durable.
Good CX design is consequent to the last detail from the customers view.
Good CX design is concerned with the customer's environment.
Good CX design is as little design as possible.

So the big question is this. Is Apple ripping off or updating? My view is the latter with inspiration from the former.

What if I asked the question with a different perspective?

If you saw an innovation or a great idea that was outside your own company, or business, would you consider adapting it for your self? Of course you would - proving it was legal and also that morally you were OK that you were not just ripping something off. This is all part of the Makers and breakers in your business.

Some examples.

• Air travel. Breaker. Square plates scream in-flight even if you are in business and first class with a better meal. Maker. Airlines using round plates to make it feel like a restaurant for the bigger bucks. Ansett International (God rest their corporate soul) had in-flight chefs to make it a true a la carte restaurant at 30,000 feet.
• Car Wash Cafes. Breaker. We love having someone else wash the car but hate waiting. Maker. Import and combine that with the coffee culture and you relax with a latte and waiting time is not an issue.
• Westfield Bondi Junction. Breaker. Carrying all the shopping and parcels around the centre. Maker. 'Hands Free Shopping'. If you use valet parking (a major maker) you get the service of having all your parcels waiting for you when you collect your car. Fee $5 - not per shop - for the service. Just notify the shop you are a hands free shopper. How much more would you buy if you didn't have to carry it all?

What can you see from any industry that would help what you do?
What experiences have you had, in any business, that you felt were outstanding that you could import to your business?
What experiences have you been told about, that someone else felt was good enough to spread, that you could incorporate into what you do?

Keep your experience sensors on and active. Other people and businesses can give you ideas and practices that you can incorporate to drive more business to your business.

American Airlines website sucks - till someone fixed it

This is a great story from Fast Company of how simple wins. By trying to make everyone happy with their site AA messed up. Apple has a simple site, so does Google. The both manage to sell heaps from them so simple can, and does work.

The new and old sites are shown in the article. Love the difference. Send this to businesses that have sites that could do with learning this lesson.

Experience is everything.

Iven

Disasters can be great customer experiences

US Airways have shown a great sense of understanding customers by making a huge effort to return the belongings of passengers on their flight that ditched into the Hudson River.

Read the story here
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/hudson-crash-passengers-start-getting-luggage-back-20090520-bffq.html

Two things are very important:

• They didn't have to. The law says belongings only have to be returned when there fatalities. As we know thankfully there were none.
• They gave each passenger $5,000 immediately. Normally this is done by a passenger fund.

US Airways got great maedia for the Pilot 'Sully'. The saving of the passengers and the way they handled the incident at the time. They could have left it there. That would have been easy. Engaging a specialist company to retun the personal items is outstanding.

Well done US Airways.

What can we take from this?

• Every business needs a disaster recovery plan. Naturally airlines have procedures. Do you?
• Disasters can be recovered and made into CX winners.
• Thinking form the customers perspective always pays off.
• The staff will get the same warm, happy feeling as the customers when the company does the extra stuff. It also teaches new staff "That's the way we do it round here"
• Recovery opportunity happen at any point the customers trust is potentially damaged.
  

In summary; Good experiences are, most often, not an accident.