Everywhere Customer Experience Issues

Experience Design or Service Design, both requires mindset of HOW customer would behave & WHAT customer would want out of the service /experience. 

These are the major issues everywhere. Service provider neither engages with service designers nor engages with customer experience designers. 

Result: pathetic customer experience, unhappy customer, stressed and frustrated customers & even citizen when it comes to public utilities. 

Be it design, process, experience or communication most business fails miserably. I have a few experiences during last one week. Today I will share one of them.

In Mumbai, Mumbai Central is a station where from out station long distance trains leave. This is also one of the stations for local trains. Therefore many people get down from local trains at Mumbai Central to catch their long distance trains.    

Earlier there was only one bridge and way from local platforms to reach platforms for out station long distance trains. In between there was a ticket window which was also serving people who wanted to buy platform ticket to enter long distance train platforms. 

Since last few years they have built one more bridge , to enter platforms for long distance trains , which is closer from local train bridge than the old bridge. Everyone need not walk long distance to reach the long distance train platforms with their luggage. 

Good thinking. 

Now this new bridge can be used by three kinds of commuters:

- Actual long distance traveller - Need to know on which platform train will arrive to get down on proper platform with luggage

- People accompanying the long distance traveller - Need to buy platform ticket

- People just want to get out of Mumbai Central Station and are not long distance traveler - just need to walk till exit on the other end of the bridge

Now this new bridge does not have sign board indicating on which platform trains will arrive. This is absolute must requirement. 

Ticket window for person wanting to buy platform ticket was quite far & closed. I do not know whether it remains open any time during the day. 

Therefore only people who can use this bridge effectively are people who want to exit the station or want to enter local train platforms through this route.

For first two categories of people in spite of the new bridge there is no option but to travel through old route with their luggage to reach the long distance train platform. 

Therefore so much of investments in bridge just to cater to one class of people out of the three classes which requires this bridge. 

Issue is of design; issue is of applying mind to know who will use this bridge & what people wants while using this bridge. Design & experience mindset both were lacking here. 

No effective use of resources results in public inconvenience.These kinds of service design and customer experience issues are rampant across the industry and public utilities. 

Customer Experience & Social Impact

Customer Experience (CX) Focus , more than a business is in fact a social cause. Surprised? But its true. 

Focusing on better customer experience means making lives of customers easier , making them happy with what they buy/consume. Its at the end peace of mind for them.  It brings trust back in business. 

This cannot happen without focusing on employees engagement & happiness. 

This can save customers from misleading & misguiding advertisement & marketing gimmicks.  

With happier customers & happier employees , CX initiatives spread overall happiness in society. It shifts focus from only profit to profit through happiness. Companies focusing on CX are making money by keeping employees & customers happy. 

Today's corporations otherwise are cause of mass unhappiness with their ONLY share holder driven policies. Only PROFIT at the cost of customers & employees unhappiness , social & ethical erosion in values.  

From whatever angle you look at: CX focus is the only way for sustainable competitive advantage & social betterment. 

Hardware without Compatible Software !! CX Disaster.

Scenario One: 

If you have finest of hardware i.e. laptop, electric cord , socket , mouse  etc but as far as software is concerned you do not have matching software, either its older version or its inadequate, its incompatible & it can't help you to achieve your purpose. 

Scenario Two:

Imagine reverse: You have smarter software but weak hardware. You can achieve your purpose but it takes little longer due to weak hardware. But out put is much superior.  

Out of the two which scenario do you prefer? Ideally both will make it perfect but given a choice between the two, I think the answer is scenario two.

Your enterprise has finest of machines, equipment , furniture & infrastructure. 

But do not have well trained staff, seamless customer friendly processes , customer friendly policies.  

What will happen? You can’t achieve your business results. You can’t make your brand stand out, you can’t make rave fans, you can’t beat someone working with second scenario. You will have to spend more on marketing & advertising but customer retention is an issue. 

We use hardware to get desired results from software. 

Recently I visited a well-known diagnostic center along-with my dad. They have latest equipment, modern furniture / fixtures & clean toilets. 

But patient waiting area was irritatingly noisy due to non maintenance of door closure. Person handling the patient during the process was ill trained to handle senior citizen. For him it was a one more number to tick & getting ready for the next patient. Showing careless hurry to a patient who has gone through MRI (highly disturbing to mind)  and weak at knee was a killer. It was a perfect case of customer experience (CX) disaster. 

They have lost a patient forever. My dad told me not to ever visit this centre and to find a new diagnostic centre. It may be far , it may be costly but not this one close my residence. & he told about his experience to all his friends & relatives.

All enterprise must know where to put its effort and where to invest to get the desired end result. Walk the talk , walk the customer journey. Just putting up finest of hardware is not enough. 

Brand Minus Customer Experience

Nothing !!!! Yes it is nothing. 

Everything that a customer feels, thinks, sees is all CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE (CX). 

M of McDonald represents fun, food, taste, ambiance, service excellence, smiling & helpful employees. M reminds us of all these. Therefore M is not a logo or McDonald is not a brand , but it is all about what M & McDonald represents. 

Whenever next-time you think of designing your logo or planning a branding exercise, if the same is not commensurate with the experience your business is offering to the customer. It will not be a branding exercise. It will be a waste or It will be all negative experiences it can recall.

The 1st step is designing Customer Experience. Branding will follow from Customer Experience. 

Have you designed your CX & walked your Customer Journey to know the brand your entrepreneurial efforts are building  ? 

3 Steps to REJUVENATE Customer Experience

Ok , at our business we have decided to focus on customers and create Customer Experience (CX) that gives us competitive advantage. What next ?  

1) Discover (know the present CX your enterprise offers to your customers) 

- First know your Customer's Journey Maps 

- Know the touch points along the journey

- Walk the Journey Maps to know the present experience 

- Test check Net Promoter Scorecard (NPS) 

- Have customer experience audit by analyzing critical aspects impacting CX 

  (Leadership to Channel Partners, all which incl people, process, product, expectation,

culture, branding & marketing & systems)

2) Design (redesign the CX you would like to offer to to our customer to have un-duplicable competitive edge) 

- Define CX Statement 

- Redesign the experience along the journey through various touch points 

 ( CX Statement minus Discover Stage Status ) 

- Keep human rationality , emotional aspects , senses in mind while redesigning for need, ease & delight. 

3) Deploy (implement enterprise wide redesigned CX) 

- Appoint CCxO (Chief Customer Xperience Officer) 

- Realign all critical aspects impacting CX keeping above two steps in mind

- Launch new journey maps 

- Walk the new Journey (Incl CEO)

Repeat the process !!! Yes its an ongoing process. 

These are the steps. These are the steps to create wow & awe customer experience. These are the steps to create un-duplicable customer experience.  These are the steps to create sustainable competitive advantage. These are the steps to business survival in otherwise commoditised world. 

What is customer experience elasticity of demand of your offerings ?

This principle of economics is used for elasticity of demand for price. Time has come to use the same for better customer experience. 

PED definition is : 

Price elasticity of demand is a measure used in economics to show the responsiveness or elasticity of the quality demanded of a good or service to a change in its price.   

New age definition of importance is:  

Customer Experience elasticity of demand is a measure used in economics to show the responsiveness or elasticity of the quality demanded of a good or service to a change in its customer experience.   

Therefore before you ask for ROI of better customer experience initiatives answer following questions:

What is your advertising & marketing budget ? 

What is the cost of acquiring new customer ? 

What is the potential loss due to losing exiting customers ? 

What is the gain from repeat purchase from existing customers ? 

What is the gain from referral business from existing customers ? 

What is the gain from existing customers (+) WOM across channel ?

What is the loss from existing customers (-) WOM across channel ?

What is the potential market share loss due to competitor taking lead in offering better customer experience ? 

What is the elasticity of demand for better customer experience ? 

What is your better customer experience creation budget for existing customers ? 

What is the gain in to be known as customer experience champion company ? 

Answer these questions before you ask about ROI of customer experience initiatives in your organisation. 

You are EXPOSED !!!

Your company may be working in SILOs but customers see through the company as one entity or brand. This is the reason companies are at greater risk of being exposed. 
Many enterprises may think that only front-end people and front-end outlets are being exposed in front of Customers. 

Customer experiences your enterprise in following ways during their journey. 

Every-time they touch your enterprise you are exposed. 

Touch Points	Exposes (Indicative not conclusive list)
Advertising / Sales Website	Branding, Communication , Product/Service Conceiving Capability
Word Of Mouth	How you have dealt with your previous & existing customers, customer policies posts sales , product & service qualities
Product/Service Display/Demo	Manufacturing , Engineering , Service Capability
Front end people	Training , HR Policies
Back-end Processes	How your business process are designed & aligned to customer needs- like delivery, billing, packaging, queue management, admission process.
Outlet/Website for Transactions	Design & display capability , ease & convenience capability , safety policy, people policy
Company Policies	Return, exchange , store location policy
Product/Service Usage	Manufacturing , Engineering , Service Capability
After Sales Responsiveness	Customer Policy, Company Culture

Whatever the enterprise does at the back-end invariably touches the customer.  

When Mr Zubin Mehta will perform in Kashmir on 7th Sep, in front of the audience, he is aware that they are in front of their audience and their preparation will be in tune with that. There is however no difference be it audience or customer but difference lies with symphony orchestra conductor and business enterprise conductors ie CXOs. 

One is aware and others are not aware that they are in-front of the customers and are exposed to them whatever /where-ever they do. 

Become aware that your enterprise is staging a show in front of your customers & prepare accordingly. Remember author duo - Pine & Gilmore - Work is a theater, every business a stage. 

Extreme Customer Orientation !!

Yes Norwegian Insurance Company Gjensidige decide to become Extreme Customer Orientation company. 

Point is not HOW and WHY. Point is degree of customer focus companies have started to become to differentiate and create superior customer experience. 

Customer Experience (CE) as sustainable competitive advantage is now accepted by many companies. Leaders will always take a lead and grab first movers’ advantage. Followers will have no choice later and will be forced to focus on CE but that will be at the cost of lots of brand damage & first mover advantage. 

By two and half years into the process Gjensidige had been a dramatic rise in their position of Norwegian National Customer Satisfaction Barometer & won two of the biggest customer satisfaction awards for their industry. They have consistently beaten market expectations with their financial results & can prove that they provide their services more efficiently than their peers in Europe & US.   

Even CE is a new Marketing strategy. Without first focusing on customer experience or extreme customer focus, thinking & deciding about marketing campaign is a shallow strategy. 

- Do you map your customer journey ? 

- Do you conduct customer experience audit ? 

- Do you measure your customer experience ? 

- Do you have defined customer experience statement? 

- Do you have deliberate customer experience designed for all touch points? 

- Do you have someone in charge of end to end customer experience ? 

- Do you discuss customer issues in senior management meeting ? 

Extremely customer sensitive companies have started focusing on extreme customer orientation, have you stared focusing on basic customer experience ?  

Customer Experience Lessons from Narendra Modi

Surprising but that is the fact, all organisations can learn quite a few lessons in customer experience from him. 

He visited a college in Delhi & addressed students in a jam packed hall, massive rally in Punjab in June, he addressed massive rally in Hyderabad earlier this month,  he tops popularity chart for the post of PM of a country of our size.  He was not a national leader & still he has built his solid brand across India. Charisma is the word but this charisma is built by experience people are experiencing about him. 

First and foremost he has huge fan base in Gujarat because of work he has done for the people of Gujarat and decisive leadership he has demonstrated.  Many innovative schemes are implemented which have impacted the lives of the citizen in quite a positive way.  

After doing what matters to the citizen of his state he has shown mastery in communication skills. Not only his oratory skill but he has used all traditional as well as modern social media to showcase what he could achieve for the people of his state. We have the concept of bestselling books and not best written books. To convert best written book into bestselling book, book must communicate, readers of the book also must communicate about it. In his case perhaps he is best performing as well as best selling CM & this is only because of communication skills and effective use of mediums. You cannot afford to lack either. 

Now he is making people across the country believe that same kind of growth , faster decision making  , efficient & non corrupt bureaucracy which is on the edge to help, support & execute  & most important decisive leadership is possible. These are the pain points for the people in other states.  

Lessons are as under: 

1) Focus single Mindedly in creating wow !! Customer experience which in his case he has demonstrated by series of innovative measures keeping citizen interest & pain points at heart. All machinery at his disposal have been geared up to help people of the state. This has created millions of fan follower. 

Whether your organisation is single mindedly geared up to offer delightful customer experience ? How many fan following your product/service commands ? 

2) Distinctly communicate to potential customers what have you done for your existing customers and how have you impacted their life for the better.  Use all possible medium to communicate. Allow your FANs to use platform you create to communicate with your future customers. 

What & How are you communicating with your present & potential customers ?  For zappos.com , CEO Tony , message is clear Delivering Happiness, for Narendra Modi message is clear Development. What is your clear message to all your present and potential customers? (This will be more effective if this is otherwise a pain point for them).  

3) Demonstrate that you can address all pain points your potential customers are facing by their loyalty to competing brand. Your existing customer experience creating capabilities coupled with how that experience is addressing known pain points of customers is very important. 

Do you know what are the pain points of your potential customers which you can address ? 

1. Create an experience (change culture, design and execute) 
2. Communicate an experience (your fans will do it)
3. Communicate it is possible for all i.e. for your non customers (use all possible media)
4. Create Confidence that you can do it (all the above three at play at its best can do it) 

Lessons in CE are coming from everywhere, are you willing to look around & listen ? 

ICICI Bank Customer Experience of Utter Frustration

Do you know how much effort it takes for the customers to deal with you ? This is my classic ICICI Bank Credit Card /Call Center experience during last 3 days. 

I wanted to report about fraudulent transactions on my credit card. There were 17 transactions in the time lag of 4 minutes. But it took 50 minutes for me to report it to the bank. 

There is neither emergency contact numbers not call center number on credit card bill so net connectivity is necessary to find their number from website. Even on website there is no separate emergency number. All matters are treated equally. 

There is no proper & complete instructions for emergency handling at cell center number punches. It took 50 minutes for me to reach them and report my issues which incl long queues and line disconnect in between the conversation.  

Call center agent handling emergency has no updated email ID where I have to send my written complaint. I was given an out dated email ID, which was corrected by other agent on the next day. 

Agent handling card loss issues which they classify as emergency and given priority does not know how to deal with emergency. He has asked me to come through normal route after punching so many keys even without knowing my issues. 

There is no system of acknowledgment for the written complaint sent. I was told it will happen in 24 hours. I am in 26th hour and still waiting. I am not sure whether they have received my written complaint which was to be sent within 48 hours. 

I have a feeling of pathetic ( fumbling at every possible instance ) , careless ( don't know which punches stand for what on call center punch menu ), negligent ( don't have updated email ID with emergency team  ) , thoughtless ( don't print customer care or emergency number on 4 page long bill ) & frustration  ( still awaiting for acknowledgement even after so much of communication and scaling up up to the level of MD ) about whole my ICICI bank experience.  

The point I am trying to make is, many a times it takes huge efforts of our customers to deal with our business.  Do you have any customer effort scorecard mechanism in place? Do you periodically ask your customers feedback about experience and efforts they have to put in while dealing with your business?  

It is extremely important especially in B2B scenario where per customer stakes are high. Don’t just focus on sales,  focus on customer experience your business creates , customer efforts it takes to deal with your business & customer emotions your efforts invokes before/during & after sales. 

Envy people about your CUSTOMERS.

Have you made your potential customers envy of your existing customers? 

Yes it is the role of every customer experience professionals. Every company MUST make endeavour to achieve this status.  Once upon a time Onida TV used to have slogan Owners Pride Neighbours Envy. Converting this slogan into reality is exactly what is needed in today's time of commoditisation. 

You customers MUST love, talk about and advocate your offerings. 

When i read the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh & I become member of very happy person group on their site I received gift hamper with one copy the book, t shirt and a pack of wafer from the US.  When I first used Flipkart to buy a book it was very simple and quick - a superior experience. Thereafter I have recommended both the companies to many through this blog as well as in person. One CM is making entire country envy of his state and people want him as PM. This is the power of making others ENVY about what you have to offer to your customers (citizen in this case). 

It is not only about physical appearance & rationality, it is about touching the senses , it is about human emotions. 

Make it a habit to please few of your customers every week - DELIBERATELY (Even if you are a b2b company). Do unexpected, go out of the way, and make them feel special. Words will spread and more & more people would like to be your customer.  Your DELIBERATE habit will make your company talk of the town. 

In this attention deficit world something unique will get the attention. It is far more easier and cheaper than huge Ad spend and marketing gimmicks (which no one believes) .  

How do you think you can make people envy of your customers ? Share your ideas. 

Are you selling what you are making?

Are your brand management and product design teams in sync with the kind of customer experience your company wish to offer ? 

Most of the time it is seen that there is no connect between brand commitment company conveys through all kind of communication , product design team actually creating an experience and customer service team managing the gaps between the two. 

Customer experience design is a deliberate DESIGN & therefore involving CE team in inception of product design , process design , advertising , branding  , marketing and training is CRITICAL.  

When music symphony is orchestrated , every aspect are planned in order to achieve the kind of experience symphony director wish to offer to the audience. Everything is in sync with the expected outcome. 

Offering scintillating customer experience which is truly a competitive advantage requires entire company to behave in sync with expected outcome i.e. experience which company aim to deliver to the customers.  Your branding and marketing team shall not behave which makes people disbelieve your brand.  Unfulfilled brand promises can cause disaster for the brand it self. 

No company can afford to forget words of wisdom of Steve Jobs " You have to start with Customer Experience & work backward for technology, process & people." & even branding & marketing.

Prevention is better than Negative customer Experience

Prevention is better than cure. Yes this is applicable for health as well as for wealth. However it is also applicable in the case of Customer Experience. 

Customer can leave you for bad experience. She can do negative Word Of Mouth (WOM) and takes few more customers away.  Sales & Marketing efforts and cost will go up to get more new customers. However again they will leave you for negative or not so exciting experience. Every-time your sales team gets you new customers, retention is the job of product design which incl customer experience & after sales team. Let your sales team add more customers rather than replacing old with new ones.

Unless there is a built-in element of superior customer experience throughout the chain - product design, display, delivery, usage and soft skills associated at each of the stage, customer will experience bad and not so good experience. They will go and takes someone with them. 

In order to avoid such scenario companies must focus on creating better customer experience while designing the product. Prevent bad experience rather than allowing bad experience to reach customers and damage the brand. reputation.

Prevent bad experiences rather than reacting to bad experiences. Companies can retain customers, gets more by positive WOM , get more referrals. Cost & Pain of treating disease is always more than Cost & Pain of preventive cure. Same rules apply for Customer Experience.

In built better Customer Experience in your product than be sorry. 

IN DEMAND - Script & Crisp Writers

5 days test match to 1 day match to 20:20 this is how game of cricket has evolved during last 30 years.  People cant wait for 5 days to know the result. Rules of the game have remained more or less same but wait for the outcome has reduced from 5 days to 3 hours. 

Attention deficit , impatient & speedy society needs new forms of everything.  

From magazine articles to blog to micro blog (twitter). Whatever is to be conveyed is to be conveyed in short & with speed.

Print to TV to Social Media , modes of communication has changed. People are changing their platforms to know what they want to know. 

From Commodity to goods to services to experiences.  Yes now customer needs and pays premium for experiences.  Needs and way of receiving the same has changed. Commodity providers are many , experience creators are in scanty.   

All communicators i.e. enterprises are the largest class of communicators to their customers and potential customers , must learn to know how the new society behaves , communicates and consume things.  

Movies are creating experiences and spend millions of dollars in communicating the same. 

Script writers ( writing business plans that delight and wow customers )  , directors of experience creation ( executing  wow !! script ) & Crisp communicators ( smart ,quick & innovative ) and are in demand in the new economy. 

Are you selling Burger or Vadapav ?

Burger Vs Vadapav. What is the difference? 

Burger will cost you US $ 1 (Rs.55/-) while Vada Pav will cost less than 5th of US$ 1 (Rs.10/-). 

Burger is a Brand an Vapa Pav a commodity. 

Burger become a brand as it was presented in air conditioned outlet with a happening ambiance , hygienic condition & quality , unlimited time outlet allows you to sit. Perhaps cost-wise Burger may be costing few rupees more , taste-wise Vadapav may scores over Burger.   

In short both offers more or less same quantum of food and taste but price difference is 5 times. This 4 times difference people are paying is for experience not for food.  

Same is applicable to Starbucks Coffee vs Coffee at South Indian Hotels. Price difference is perhaps 10 times. Cost of Coffee itself may be 2 to 3 times more. They are charging 7 times more money for experience. This is called branded experience. 

Many a times professionally person with technically sound knowledge can’t command salary which a person with all round personality can.  

This DIFFERENCE in PRICING use to superior experience which people would LOVE to pay is critical. Critical for every business.  

In B2B or B2C all kind of businesses experience creators can command premium in pricing. You may be manufacturing best of Vadapav but even though you can’t command Burger pricing. You have to convert your Vadapav into BRANDED experience which is more than just meeting the need but meeting the need with ease and delight added.

Even small effort in this journey of customer experience creation will start fetching you better pricing and customer loyalty which all businesses are dying to achieve.     

Time for reality check and finding opportunity to add EXPERIENCES in your business offerings. 

By Design or by Default, Everything is an EXPERIENCE

Everything that happens to customer when they are dealing with any of the touch points of your business its an experience. 

Challenge is to make these experiences memorable and delightful without losing sight of the CORE value proposition. 

Starbucks offer scintillating customer experience but not at the cost of taste of the coffee. However only coffee taste can not create delight and memorability of customer experience. 

Therefore it is the responsibility as well as need of every enterprise to add more delight to the touch points. Customer is going to experience every bit of experience , now if you make it designers its becomes WOW!!! and adds to your competitive advantage or else it will remain one of the many such experiences enterprises offer.  

- Soothing music in the dentist's room can help patient in forgetting her pain

- Serving beverages to visitor's guests in hospital can add huge richness in experience

- Child Specialist Pediatrician set up small kids zone in her dispensary will make         
  it memorable for child patient for life

- Gynecologist offers Parenting Seminar coupon to would be parents can do wonders in 
  customer experience

- One of the CAs was offering car washing services for the clients visiting him

Every small and large businesses and professional firms can think of better and superior ways to add  that EXTRA bit to make the interaction and experience truly memorable.  

By default or by design CUSTOMERs are experiencing. Left to chance it can be miserable and when designed purposefully it can become delightful. Choice is yours. 

Why even SMALL businesses MUST Embrace Customer Experience ?

When we audit customer experience we can fairly make out what will be the operative financial performance of the entity (non operative issues like high debt & mindless advertising  may still work adversely in spite of great customer experience recent example is Kingfisher Airlines) .  

Yes operative financial performance is directly linked to what your customers feel about your customer experience creation capability. 

Companies may go out of the way & spend more to offer superior customer experience but that will not impact operative performance adversely as it will result in word of mouth publicity , more referral business and customer loyalty. 

Manufacturing companies spent millions for efficiency and lean manufacturing but it wont give them competitive advantage unless they are offering superior customer experience. Lean & Six Sigma  projects surround their efforts around what customer wants. Speed delivery via lean approach or defect free products via six sigma approach all are adding to customer experience. Any projects not keeping customer at the center wont yield desired financial performance as things not touching customers wont make them loyal and it even wont give competitive advantage to businesses.  

Focus on customer experience when designing lean , six sigma  and even your next Ad campaign. Financial (operative) results are linked directly to customer experience creation capability of the organisation. 

Smaller businesses struggle for customer as well as profit. Focusing on bettering customer experience , small business entrepreneurs can gain both - profit and customers.  

Experienced can offer the Experience

One of the ways to create culture of superior customer experience is to let your employees experience superior customer experience themselves. You have to change the mindset and self experience is the best teacher. 

When you receive superior service you will be inclined to offer one in your role to your customers. No amount of training can teach and change the mindset what true real life experience can do to a person. 

When you receive respect you would like to give one. What you receive is what you can give. Therefore in order the change the employee mindset which is the biggest challenge, expose them to superior customer experiences.  

Unfortunately most companies neither offer superior employee experience to their employees nor expose them to superior customer experience elsewhere and yet expect employee to offer superior customer experience to their customers !!

Experience is the best teacher & that applies here to. Expose your employees to superior customer experience in some other industry /companies , make them delightful customer experienced to enable them to offer better experience to your customers.  

Incomplete Business Plans & Executions

Yes, How many business plans are discussing about the kind of experience they wish to create for their customers ?  

Business plans contain information on whole world of product differentiation and sales strategy ,  financial ratios and revenue models , market segmentation and team but I have not any seen business plan explaining in details about customer experience and kind of culture team wants to built. 

I read a comment in response to my earlier blog post , " don't spoil customers by offering finest experience. " But I would say some companies are spoiling their talent in order to retain them.  Once habituated to vibrant culture and decent pay , employees find themselves misfit and uncomfortable with other not so great culture. This is the way to retain them from moving away. 

Likewise spoil your customers to retain them. Give them unprecedented and unmatched experience and you get their lifetime loyalty. This requires thinking and creation of culture. This is a huge competitive advantage and MUST find its way into the business plans. 

Design and define customer experience in your business plan and that will set the ball rolling for the culture it will entail. 

KISS is really powerful !!

Simplicity & Ease will push your business. One of the important things in designing customer experience is EASE. Ease of doing business can do wonders. 

Flipkart has achieved that EASE, ATM machines offer EASE. The other day we were at Cream Center and guests waiting management was flawless. It was in order and quick communication was flowing from the people inside about tables available to the person managing waiting guests. 

In many of the on/offline businesses customers have no clue when and whether things will happen as expected. Communication and business processes are not explicit.  They are confusing. People managing are not adding any human angle and just follow what is told to them.  The entire experience becomes confusing , irritating and mechanical. 

Multiple option at coffee shops , insurance products , mobile plans are highly confusing and lack ease and simplicity.  Product design , buying process , usage, communication & marketing all level deserves simplicity. 

When you are out to create better customer experience keep EASE factor in mind  , as it will add to delight and memorability. Customers have many complexity to attend to in their life, therefore EASE & Simplicity is at premium. 

KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid , is really powerful.