I’ve long believed that CX is a matter of mindset.
Superior CX must be related to mindset, not size: Big guys justify poor CX citing too much volumes; small guys, citing too little resources.
— GTM360 (@GTM360) March 25, 2014
I recently read about how some brands / companies go out of the way to improve CX.
#1. AMAZON INDIA
The Indian subsidiary of the global ecommerce giant offers a liberal returns policy just like it does everywhere else in the world. It’s a reflection of the notion that returns policy is a marketing tool, designed to make the customer loosen their purse strings by assuring them that they can get their money back if their purchase goes bad, no matter whose fault it is.
#2. MEDIUM
A user complained to MEDIUM that they were not able to load the post “Advertising Is Not For Geniuses.” While the complete details of the problem and the solution can be found in the article titled “The Unluckiest Paragraphs: A Tale of CSS and Why Parts of Medium Sometimes Disappear”, suffice to say that the problem was caused by an overzealous ad-blocker installed by the user. MEDIUM didn’t shrug this off as the user’s problem. Instead, its engineering team took the trouble to resolve the problem so that the user had a great experience.
#3. JET BLUE
When a passenger jokingly griped about being unable to stop for coffee during a tight travel connection – something that wasn’t JetBlue’s fault – the gate personnel in the second airport ran to a Starbucks for him. Recounting the incident to Fortune, JetBlue vice president Jamie Perry quipped, “We cannot control the way customers come to us.”
Kudos to @JetBlue for not bickering about whether customer is right or wrong while ensuring superior CX. https://t.co/6l2Ign90Cg
— GTM360 (@GTM360) April 11, 2016
Going by the above examples, I’m inclined to believe that CX rockstars have one thing in common: A mindset that does not assign blame, bicker about who is right or wrong, or find out who is at fault.
(I notice that the CX mindset is the exact opposite of justice, which is indeed about finding out who is right and who is wrong.)
Lest skeptics think that the aforementioned exhibits of CX are not possible everywhere because customers in some countries might game the system, let me narrate an anecdote: A friend bought a handycam in USA, visited UK to get married, used it to videoshoot his wedding, went back to USA after one month, returned the product, and collected full refund! No questions asked!!
This shows that customers game the system everywhere in the world. That hasn’t stopped the Amazons of the world from delivering superior CX with their customer-friendly returns policy wherever they operate. And shouldn’t stop others either – after all, people game a system once or twice, then get bored and move on (to greener pastures!).
Some might think only global giants like Amazon can afford to adopt such CX-enhancing policies.
That’s not the case:
- The above anecdote about my friend and handycam happened in 1995, when Amazon was only two years old and a long way from becoming the global giant that it has today!
- Closer home, we offer a money back guarantee for our SAP Mailing List product. The policy provides comfort to buyers about list quality. In six years of its existence, no one has sought a refund. We’re not exactly known for modesty but even we wouldn’t claim that we’re a global giant!
As for whether CX has ROI, you betcha: “That guy raved about us for weeks”, said Mr. Perry about the passenger who started getting his caffeine fix, thanks to JetBlue’s commitment to delivering superior CX.
For more examples of how CX boosts sales and other metrics, see How CX Drive Sales.