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Contact Vox to learn about how we can help you create a comprehensive Customer Experience that drives bottom-line results dramatically higher.

About five years ago, I started participating in a new tradition on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Buy Nothing Day.

I find it much more relaxing than wrestling over the last cabbage patch doll or being trampled rushing to snatch up a hot deal on the latest video game system.

Won’t you join me? 

It’s official!  The new generation’s brains REALLY ARE wired to better handle the speed of the digital life. (Read the Research)

Problems generated by this change aside (and despite how amazed we can be sometimes with these kids’ feats), the fact is that people’s way of thinking have adapted to instantly process huge amounts of information and make “go/no-go” actions almost unconscious (such as scanning several links in a Google results page and immediately deciding which ones to click and which ones to ignore).

The effect is strikingly similar to something commonly observed on robotic applications and the study of behavior-based artificial Intelligence, where decisions and reactions are based on many different behavior-based processes all working at the same time and linked in particular ways.  This is called Reactive Reasoning, because it involves actions triggered by reacting to the environment rather than deliberation or cognitive assessment. Basically, it is acting without planning.

The practical aspect of knowledge for your business is that users are even less capable now of rationalizing and explaining why they do what they do, deeming satisfaction surveys and traditional customer interviews even more misleading.  This should reinforce a company’s concerns about understanding the subtle factors that can and will affect their users’ online experience and push their strategies towards more customer-centric designs, achieved through real behavioral and cognitive user tests. 

Consumerist.com reports that Metschick sent a Twitter message (Tweet?) to JetBlue saying she needed a wheelchair for her upcoming flight. JetBlue was so connected that before Metschick even picked up the phone, a representative was getting her the wheelchair she needed.

 Metschick wins by having her issue resolved quickly and easily.

JetBlue TRIUMPHS by delighting a loyal customer in a public forum - impressing the rest of us into submission. Niiiiiice.

David Thorne’s account was overdue by $233.95, so he tried to send a crude, yet adorable drawing of a spider in lieu of cash payment. Unfortunately for the infinitely patient customer service representative, Jane Gilles, Mr. Thorne was willing to take his stunt to incredible lengths.

Ms. Gilles handled the entire exchange professionally and with good humor, enduring a total of 14 emails - including a round of revisions on the drawing and a story about traveling back through time.

Personally, I’ve been insulted and treated rudely by CSRs for much, much less. If only more representatives were like Jane Gilles.

For the full interaction, see this blog.

It is just me or the lines between media channels are becoming even blurrier these days?  Don’t mind campaigns that go cross-channel and campaign pieces that can be followed on facebook or twitter, now they can be followed as well on the CUSTOMER ITSELF.

 ”GirlInYourShirt” is offering exactly what the name says but with a twist:  for a whole day she becomes your company’s evangelist and will showcase your company everywhere she goes, online and offline.  All of that for just $75 bucks…

Look here for more details

One of my fave companies, the online shoe retailer Zappos.com, is laying of 8% of their staff: http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2008/11/10/daily4.html .

That’s disheartening, but I’m still impressed with how they operate. They’re giving those laid off hefty severance packages and extension of benefits, and the CEO Tony Hsieh was very open about the move, even discussing it on Twitter.com. You can tell he takes it personally.

Today, Google is launching a new way of doing searches, using the iPhone as a market test.  If it works half as good as it looks like it does in the video above, then a future where we interface computers just by talking is nearby.

A shift like this does not only change how people interact with Google Search but also with all online applications.  Change is everywhere, from how the user gets to your site - to how the information is displayed - to the flow of interactions.

Now, are you ready to rethink your company’s digital strategy and customer experience when that happens?

“Beam us up, Scotty!  We are done here…”

I’d like to contrast two interesting experiences that run along parallel lines, but are actually worlds apart from a customer experience standpoint. Both involve suspicious activity, and both were resolved in wildly different manners.

The Good…

First, there is American Express. I received a call from a friendly Amex rep, telling us that they were concerned that one of our employee accounts was showing suspicious activity and they were concerned it might involve theft of the card number. Together we reviewed the last several purchases, and confirmed it was indeed fraudulent (nobody in our company, for instance, has been to India recently). She immediately took the suspect charges off the account, and told me that, should I see any other questionable items, just let them know and they’ll delete the charges, no questions asked.

American Express canceled the account and told me they would send a card out in one to two business days “if that’s acceptable.” It was. So they alerted me to something that was not their fault, and then they bent over backwards to take care of the situation. I had to do, basically, nothing. Interesting.

The Bad…

Let’s contrast that with an experience I just had with Capital One. They left me a message to call back because of a “security issue,” and left an 800 number. I called their number, and found myself in their “automated” phone system. There were five options, with none of them being “speak to a representative.” After pressing five for “more options,” there were five more options, with none of them being “speak to a representative.” Once again I selected more options, and the fifth choice was talking to a live person.

The amazing point here is that they originally called me. I was minding my own business until they told me to call them. And then they forced me to negotiate through the back alleys of their phone system to talk to them. Finally chatting with a human, she informed me that my “account information had been compromised.” After some probing, it appears somebody managed to tap into their system and walk away with a bunch of account numbers, and mine was on the list. So now, she needed to cancel my card.

“Will you be sending me a new one?” I asked.

“Yes, but you need to stay on the line while I take care of this.”

“And when will I be getting that new card?”

“About seven days.”

I snickered, considering American Express’s performance. There was a two-minute, cold and impersonal disclaimer she needed to read me before I could hang up. I was pissed.

And the Ugly

Over a week later, we realized we could not go online to pay our Capital One bill; the website was denying me access because my old account number was canceled, and I hadn’t yet received a new one. I called, fought through the irritating phone system, and told them the problem. They couldn’t do anything about it.

“Well, where is my card?”

“We’ll need to send you one.”

“That’s what you said last week.”

“We also need to read this to you…” (start of endless disclaimer.)

“You already did that too!” “I hate you people!” (that last part was in my head).

In designing customer experience, the most potent thing you can do is create emotion based on the interaction. It “tags” the experience more powerfully and you remember it. That can be a great thing, as in American Express’s approach. Conversely, you can also create a specific and memorable interaction by attaching to a negative emotion. That’s exactly what Capital One has done here. Yes, I will definitely remember the experience, and tell many others of it. But it was a negative experience, as the emotion I felt was frustration, and a bit of anger.

What’s in your wallet?

I recently spent a weekend visiting friends in Las Vegas, a city I lived in for many years and that I travel to often.  On my return flight, my friend introduced me to a fantastic thing.  McCarran Airport has housed a row of SpeedCheck kiosks since 2006. What makes these machines fantastic is that no matter what airline you are flying on, you can check in and print your boarding pass from one convenient machine!

One caveat of using SpeedCheck is that they provide no option for checking bags.  But I’ve noticed lately is that the vast majority of travelers are carrying on.  Airline fees have prompted people to opt to travel light whenever possible, and these kiosks could make their air travel even easier!

The biggest problem I saw with the kiosks was their “secret” location.  My friend took me to passenger pickup parking then instructed me to walk up the stairs to the second level, cross the bridge and go in the doors to the upper level.  Following these directions, I found myself in a secluded area lined with empty kiosks.  After quickly selecting Southwest Airlines and running my credit card to verify my identity, the machine popped out a neatly printed boarding pass and wished me a pleasant trip. 

I headed toward my gate, taking a moment to peek over the edge to the lower levels where hundreds of passengers were lined up at airline check-in counters or individual airline self-service kiosks.   It struck me as sad that more people didn’t know about the quick and easy upstairs check-in!  I’m glad someone finally taught me the secret handshake.

These machines definitely add a new level to the convenience factor, but as with single-airline check-in kiosks, the overall experience is still lacking.  Bad placement and few help functions create a real disconnect for customers.  With more careful and purposeful execution, they could do a lot to associate McCarran Airport with “easy travel,” which would be an important and profitable connection to make.