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The Bread is Moving - why Customer Experience becomes critical

The is book on the subject of customer experience and service design is free for a limited period.

Praise for the book:

“Customer Experience to Counter VUCA and Disruptive Times:

Retail is changing at a Fast Pace. Consumers are changing faster, thanks to Disruptive Technology and Multiple Screens. And yes, the On Line disruption is Impacting Operating Models of all businesses. How should businesses counter the VUCA situation all around ??

There is No Magic Formulae, Nor any Rocket Science to combat these challenges.

The Author Passionately brings to us , his proposition about Customer Experience (CX).

If Retail is Theatre that consumers need to enjoy- Designing and Delivering CX is the Key.

He explains in detail, with lots of Live Examples, what CX means and how Organisation, whether Retail or Non Retail should go about Defining to Designing and Delivering CX on the ground..

His analysis of various companies reveals that, Customer Centricity is at the heart of Successful Companies. I am sure that, each one of you would have encountered many WOW moments and many more Horrible let downs by Airlines, Telecom and other Companies.

Customer Centric Companies are obsessed with Customers Delight right from their Vision, Mission to their Product ,  Service & CX. The author proposes that every organisation should have a Chief Customer Experience Officer (CCXO ) to delight the customer.

The book is written in a simple to read and ready to execute format. I am sure, you will enjoy reading this book. And without wasting any time, you will start designing your organisations CX....”

• Govind Shrikhande | Customer Care Associate & Managing Director | Shoppers Stop Ltd.

"This book is very apt and timely for Indian market. Especially for hospitals, customer experience is critical and the book tells almost A to Z of it.”

• Joy Chakraborty, COO, Hinduja Hospital

I have read a lot of management books, however this book stands apart especially for Indian businessmen. I am impressed with how simply Sunil Gandhi has explained one of the most important aspects of Customer Experience (CX). Citing Indian examples he drives home the point very clearly and I am sure readers will be able to embark on a CX improvement journey right way.

• Maman Choksi, Director, RE/MAX Gujarat.

Readers Reviews:

By Manoj Papisetty on 28 September 2015

In this book, he collates some of the most useful ways to look at new age businesses and lists down neat, powerful processes with workable frameworks for any business. I am particularly excited about this book in India because of the new startup era we are seeing in the country. It will certainly help the new age startups grow quick, efficient and sustainable.

By Anish Desai on 5 December 2015

Customer Experience Champion Sunil Gandhi, yet again takes the readers of his books through some amazing insights in delivering the value of your product/service. It's a must read for all who believe customer is at the core of the business and the key to turning around business is by focusing on the value chain and the customer. A thorough joy ride!!!!

By Surendra Arora on 2 October 2015

You must have read many such books written on US companies or situations, I admire Sunil for giving a Indian perspective to it. Interesting read for all corporate executives and business person.

By Amazon Customer on 28 September 2015

An excellent and very pertinent viewpoint that has been explained very logically and persistently.

By Gopinath Narayanan - Published on Amazon.com on 8th June 2016

A must read for anyone in the customer experience role. This is a well researched book, with several examples and case studies. Very contemporary, and includes the impact of social media.

Download now on your Kindle. Click here.  

In fact it is not free, it comes with two conditions

• Share this post
• & share your review on Amazon, that’s it.

Welcome to download , its free till 23rd July 2016.

How Service Design influence our happiness?

We have known about the importance of service design and how it can be implemented in solving people problem in previous two posts.

One of the fundamental principles of Service Design is it is Human Cantered. Human be it customer, citizen or patients’ or patients’ relatives.

The largest service provider who touches the maximum humans in any country is the Government (Govt.) of that country.

Governments are the biggest service providers in the world. Everything Govt. does is a service to the citizen. Govt. touches many aspects citizen’s lives. Read more...

How service design approach can reduce waiting time?

Healthcare is the industry where people consume the service out of compulsion. No customer comes there out of their desire or choice. Perhaps customers come here when they are in distress and in delicate health condition. People accompanying the patient are also in the disturbed mind as their loved and dear one is suffering and they are apprehensive about the outcome of the treatment. Continue reading...

Service Design – Why you can’t ignore it?

We all know the premium designers products command in the market. As far as services are concerned most service providers are not designing the service.

Services are about customer services. For new age businesses customer service is the core service. It does not come into play once the goods are sold and when the problem crops up. Be it banking, insurance, healthcare or hotels or any other services, their core business is customer service.  Continue Reading. 

One MUST read book – Today

In the past several years, I have read several books. Some of them were good while some were very good. Some I would say everyone should read and a very few I would say everyone MUST read. One of the MUST read is Seth Godin’s – Linchpin. This book in no unclear term says how to become indispensable. His definition of an art is worth remembering:

Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that create change in another. 

I think art is the ability to change people with your work.  

It further states:

If it’s easy and risk-free, it’s unlikely that it’s art.

I am not talking today about Linchpin, but the MUST book for today is - Continue Reading 

Are you a victim of BAD design?

Most of us are not happy with our public utility services provided by Governments, but we are also not happy with the banking or insurance or hotel or airline or railway or telecom services. Many a times poor services are the reason for our frustration, but also of our changing of service providers.

Imagine an iPhone with poor functionality and some functionality even are even are not working. IPhone is a product, its manufacturers are known for superior customer experience and therefore what they design is for better customer experience, be it product design or service design at Apple stores. Continue Reading

Howrah Bridge & Customer Experience

Role of a bridge is to connect between the two ends.  Role of the business enterprise is to fulfill the customers need. 

Yet Howrah Bridge built by the Britishers is beautiful. Its a monument.Its a viewers delight. However it need not be as long as it connects the two ends. Right??

Theme of my new websites www.sunilgandhi.com is Howrah Bridge which symbolizes delight of an experience while fulfilling the basic need.  

There are many bridges in India fulfilling  the basic need but Howrah bridge is considered as one of the finest bridges in the country. Likewise there are many basic need fulfilling business enterprises in every segments for every customer. But if entrepreneurs want become a legend and monumental in what they are doing adding delight flavour in the  basic element is a must. 

Its easy in case of product design but very difficult and hence competitive advantage for service providers. Welcome to my latest website. 

Defective Products Vs Defective Services

Defective Products Vs Defective Services

1. Defective Products are designed and manufacturing not as per design is called defective products
2. Defects in Defective Products are visible to sellers
3. Defective Products are sold as seconds goods
4. Defective Products are rejected by customers

1. Services are not designed & therefore defective services are not easy to identify
2. Defective Services are being seen & experienced by customers
3. Apparently Defective Services are not seen & experienced by sellers
4. Even defective services are also rejected by customers , however since it is not visible to the sellers , seller wont know the reason for customer defections & complaints
5. Unlike Products , services are dynamic & made available every time customers want it. Therefore probability defective services for un-designed services is far more than defective products which are manufactured en-mass & stored for delivery. 

Therefore it is most critical for service providers to design the service & map customer journey to know the defects in service design. Its difficult & challenging but critical.

Today's Organisations - Weapons of Mass Irritation

Outbound calls , frequent SMSs to market the products, untrained callers all these are making recipient of calls irritable.

On the other hand when we call inbound call centers to solve our problems ; punching of innumerable buttons, repeating the problems to every agents, line disconnect, again repeating the process - huge irritation. 

When customers wish to approach any of the following issues, none can be handled without irritation ; 

1. Complaint Resolution
2. Goods Return
3. After Sales Service
4. Mis-Sell
5. Over-Sell
6. Over- Bill
7. Long Procedures 
8. Complicated Forms & Bills
9. Complex Features
10. Multiple & Unwanted Choices

Most of the activities rolled out by an organisation creates irritation. The main cause if lack of or no customer focus specially no end to end customer focus. No effort to step into the shoes of customer to design customer experience. No effort or mind for service design. No one in charge of end to end customer experience. 

Map the customer journey, design the service, take rigorous customer feedback , read social media reviews, put someone senior enough in charge of end to end customer experience. 

Convert your Customer Irritation quotient into Customer Happiness and you have won the customer for long, his repeat purchase, his higher pocket share, his referral contacts. 

If you are not making your customers HAPPY , you are IRRITATING them. 

Service Design - Most critical but Mostly Ignored

" Design is not HOW it looks but how it works." Steve Jobs.  

Product & service design is an integral part of over all customer experience. However it is easier to find out bad product design from its usage but equally difficult to know bad service design. 

There is a saying that if there is a physical queue / waiting for anything  , it is a bad design. If user is finding it difficult to fill a form it is bad design. 

In every product & service there is an element of design. 

You go to buy a railway ticket or buy a insurance policy, apply for insurance claim, opening a bank account or availing bank loan, buying a house from a real estate company , availing medical treatment at hospitals, buying a movie ticket and watching movie in a theater, roaming in a mall, roads & traffic flow ,  hotel booking, check in/out process everything is a design.  

Now if these intangible services are not deliberately designed keeping customer/users ease , convenience & comfort in  mind, it will happen without deliberate design and is likely to spoil customer experience. 

No part of business or enterprise activities happen automatically. It is not either it is deliberately designed or deliberately not designed but most of the time it is not designed as entrepreneur or service provider is not aware that it has to be deliberately designed. 

All physical aspects are designed by various design experts, however its final flow to the customer i.e. sales process, after sales process, actual service av-ailment process skip the design aspects. It is these gaps in service design creates bad and frustrating customer experience (CX). Hardware & tangible are designed but soft & intangible parts remain un-designed. 

Otherwise how expensive airlines , finest of hotels & hospitals , sophisticated banks & insurance companies and great home builder - real estate companies fails in customer experience miserably? 

In every aspects of intangible service design , CX designers' intervention  can improve customer experience and help solving many problems in Govt services. 

Are you in the business of selling obsolete products & services ?

Customer Experience  (CX) is more and more going to hurt companies offering bad customer experience. 

Forget offering WOW !! customer experience , even to survive better and better CX is critical. 

Those who think this is not applicable to their company soon will find themselves in Oasis, deserted by customers, no customer around the company. Company will be almost out of business.  

During last few days I came to know about two incidences where companies have left public sector banks with which they had long association. In one case it was more than 30 years of association and they left the PSU bank with whom they grew and become big. 

Reason in both cases, long indecisiveness & longer decision making process. Meeting the speed expectations and exceeding the same is great customer experience. Its delightful , its wow !!. 

Bad experience is bad even without cost like long waiting at hospital and restaurants however it becomes worse when it impacts customers' pocket. When indecisiveness costs , it not only painful but it impacts bottom-line. 

This is just about PSU banks but CX by private companies across the sectors is hardly any better. Unless the customer journeys are mapped, expectation gaps are mapped, silo-ed vision is converted into overall end to end vision, someone is put in charge of CX , company cannot comprehensively design customer experience which exceeds expectations and delight customers. 

Product & Services must have built in CX & service design elements in the first place to become viable business proposition. Products & Services without CX & service design elements are obsolete & just surviving on ventilator. 

Are you in the business of selling obsolete products & services ?

Does your enterprise own these new skills?

1. You have used services of design architect to design your office promise
2. You have used services of interior designer to design your office interiors
3. You have used services of graphic designer to design your soft images , logo , stationery 
4. You have used services of industrial designer to design your manufacturing set up
5. You have used services of product designer to design your products even ; 
6. You have used services of fashion designer to design your clothes

Designers are only used by companies & individuals for self use and benefits. However in a era of customer experience where every company is in service business , unless companies uses designing skills of following two class of designers, competitive advantage wont be achieved by use of all other designers. They are ;

1. Customer Experience Designers
2. Service Designers 

To an extent their role over laps but there is a clear cut need for their skills to design what is called excellent , delightful & memorable customer experience. 

Service Designers (SD) actually design the services how that will be delivered. Its about intangible ways in which customer feels WOW !! while availing the services. 

Customer Experience (CX) Design is a large canvas which includes HOW the experience will be created , unfolded at all touch points.  

Forrester Research Consultant , Kerry Bodine has written about interplay of CS & SD in her recent article  HOW DOES SERVICE DESIGN RELATE TO CX AND UX?

CX covers entire customer journey while SD covers each of the touch points separately & how actually services are delivered. Unless proactively designed services & customer experience will be listless , plain, undifferentiated and  many a times frustrating for customers. 

Its time businesses MUST embrace CX & SD skills - In house or outsourced. 

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.