I have been thinking about how we can design great customer experience and reflected on a recent issue I have encountered. I realised that, despite good intentions, many organisations tend to develop processes with an implied principle that customers cannot be trusted.
A few month’s ago I received my new portable battery from BatteryBox. I work remotely, often in places with no available power points or where I feel a little uneasy asking to plug my Mac into someone else’s power supply. This device was going to make me truly mobile.
Two weeks in and it stopped working. I contacted support and, three month’s later, they have said they cannot fix it remotely and will replace it. After much to and fro, I asked if they could send me the replacement device with the prepaid return label for the broken box at the same time- their answer was ‘no, as it is not company policy’.
Why do we design customer experience assuming the worst? Their actions have meant they have lost me as a customer for life – and potentially other customers I talk to about my experience.
I wonder how greater customer satisfaction and profitability would be if we took that leap of faith to trust our customers and offer after sales services without the paranoia that they are trying to ‘trick us.