Customer experience, customer centric, these are some of the buzzwords of the moment. But if you take 5 minutes and reflect on your best customer experiences, it is difficult to gather 5 that are really outstanding. Bad customer experiences? We are all able to recount a dozen of them! I have always considered all personal customer experiences as a great tool to learn and improve in retail. Hereunder are my top 5 customer experiences, some in a luxury environment where I expected a high level of service and my expectations were exceeded. Some happened in a “standard” environment where I noticed the brand put up certain efforts to let their customer live something a little special. I tried to cover different industries and sectors to find commonalities across the board.
1. Mandarin Oriental
I was in Las Vegas for work and stayed at the 5-star Mandarin Oriental hotel (now Walford Astoria). The first great thing was that in order to check in you had to go to an upper-floor, the 20th I think. When checking in you could admire the great view on the Strip and its casinos, at night it was even more amazing. The detail that really amazed me and that I still remember years later is that the personnel used to call me by my name in the corridors, even when I never had met them before. I guess they worked with pictures and talkie-walkies, the effect was stunning. The rest of my short stay in the hotel was on par with this exceptional level of attention.
Takeaway : the name of your customer is special, use it as much as possible with him/her. And surprise him or her by going the extra-mile.
2. Singapore Airlines
I flew business class on Singapore Airlines and was not disappointed: the flight attendants were extremely welcoming and polite, calling me by my name (again!), with a very neat presentation. The ladies had a very nice make-up and wore a beautiful traditional dress. The crew attended guests with a large smile and a genuine interest. The food was delicious, with a selection of the best wines I have ever drunk in any plane. Add to that the large screen, the reclining seat that looked like a bed after the flight attendant helped you to put on the sheets. Every single detail of the flight was carefully planned and thought through.
Takeaway: plan your customer journey and go into details. Singapore Airlines staff attend intensive training, including service excellence as can be read here. It is a perfect example where you can measure how training can make a huge difference in customer experience.
3. The St. Regis
It was during a very tough trip, I flew to several cities in Asia and I spent one night in the plane and landed around 3 am in Singapore. I stayed at the St. Regis hotel and I was really taken care of. Beyond the welcome drink and quick luggage service, what I appreciated the most was that the lady at the desk was in a very good mood and genuinely empathetic. It looked surreal to me to be welcomed like that in the middle of the night, especially as I was the only guest around. A small detail that made all the difference!
Takeaway: the retail staff energy level should always be a little higher then the customer’s. That night it was way higher and I sincerely appreciated it because it came together with empathy. I felt this lady put an extra-gear for her customers.
4. Club Med
I spent 10 days in the Palmiye Club Med resort with my family a few years ago. 2 things stroke me during my vacations: the animation team made everything to keep us busy, and the vacations went by very quickly. The second observation is that the team was very good at creating a rapport: they found solutions, they spent time talking with us. One Club Med tradition is that each “GO” or animator has dinner with a different “GM” or guest every day. It creates a great atmosphere and a lot of social exchanges in the club. The final ingredient is the food choice, second to none.
Takeaway: the frequency of interactions has something to do with the quality of the customer experience. It creates familiarity and reinforces trust when coupled with empathy.
5. Decathlon
This experience is in the “everyday” category. I go regularly to my local Decathlon store (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) dedicated to sporting goods. First of all it is always easy to find some help or advice, and the staff is very friendly. I get my tennis racquets strung there and the employee has a talent to share his passion for tennis and give excellent advices on the most relevant strings for the customer’s playing style. The payment process is quick and easy, prices are well positioned, there is plenty of choice. I have done many mystery shopping visits in luxury boutiques and I rarely got this level of service, which is revealing on the customer orientation of certain brands.
Takeaway: hire passionate sales associates, and even in non-luxury stores keep a sufficient number of staff to answer customers’ questions. Or they will leave you to buy online.
My top 5 customer experiences: conclusion
Reflecting on these experiences I have two conclusions. First of all, one question every B to C companies should ask themselves is: what is expected from us? Are we providing that? If not let’s reach this level by setting a clear goal and training everyone in contact with our customers. If yes it is time to go beyond, by being creative and surprising our customers in a good way: an extra-service, high quality human interactions, a personalized touch. The second conclusion is that in each of these 5 situations I got the feeling that the staff was heavily trained to embody a certain idea of service. These great customer experiences were not obtained by chance, there was a strong will from the management to reach a level of service excellence consistency that exists only through training.
What is your best customer experience? Please share it in the comment section hereunder.