Customer Crossroads

Body language in real life: Susan meets the security guards, and ponders intimidation in customer experience

On a short trip through the shopping concourse at Union Station last week I noticed amazing pink chocolate boxes at Laura Secord. Yes, indeed, they were Sex and the City chocolates! I thought to capture a short video of them for you, dear reader, which is below.

What isn't in the video is that two huge security guards came up behind me and got all serious about "what was I videoing", and made vague references to the need for heightened security in the shopping concourse because of the impending G20 meetings here. They even told me I was not on public property -- how this can be true in a transit hub is beyond me.

Given that I had just finished a book on body language (previous post), I found it fascinating how quickly these guys were able to make my stomach do flip-flops just by standing far too close to me, mere inches from my face. Too close to see their hands, too close to see their feet.

The fact they were wearing bulletproof vests didn't help. And neither one identified themselves, so I still don't know who they were, although at the time I assumed them to be private security guards.

I'm joking about it now, but the truth is, at the time I found this quite distressing, it totally took the fun out of my day. And I didn't feel like buying any SATC chocolates either, although they might have helped my mood. Instead of lingering, I left, happy not to have had these guys pawing my Blackberry.

Having just returned from the Czech Republic, an authoritarian regime until the early 90's, it made me wonder what it must be like to live in a totalitarian state, where intimidation is the rule of the day every day. 

Every day intimidations customers endure

On a more mundane level, when you put yourself in your customer's shoes, it's important to consider what elements of your environment are potentially intimidating. Because intimidation is rarely a desirable element in a customer experience, and it is present more often than you'd suspect.

Older bank branches and hospitals are good examples of environments constructed to be intimidating, to hold up the authority of the institution, and to varying degrees de-personalize the customers/patients. Contrast the feeling in these environments with newer constructions and you will see that this was no accident.

Many pharmacies still put the pharmacist on a raised platform so that they are always standing above you, reinforcing a status difference. Not only that, but you must endure a private discussion in the presence of others -- others waiting in boredom for their own few moments of reluctant self-disclosure.

Once you start looking for these elements in customer environments, you will find them everywhere, in the way the environment is designed, or the way the employees behave.

By contrast, consider the environments that are winning awards and leading business results -- frequently, these organizations have systematically re-thought the power structure signals and elevated the status of the customer. And customers love it.

The video that threatened security of the G20, or something like that

Pets are people, too: how animals humanize spaces

OK, I know this is going to sound odd, but pets are a humanizing influence in public and commercial spaces.

Here's a good example. Passing through LAX recently, I noticed this lovely little dog park. It has a water bowl with a spigot, a small grassy area [OK, artificial turf], and even a fake fire hydrant. It's a nice little spot where pet parents can take their canine for a bio break during travel.

This space is actually nicer than the space designed for human smokers.

I really loved seeing this, I thought it was a brilliant addition on the part of the airport planners. Not travelling with a dog myself, I have no idea how functional something like this really is for a panicked canine that's been tranquilized for air travel. But it seemed like a real effort in the right direction and it made me smile.

Walk in the customer's shoes: What's the view from kid height?

I've heard people tell a story about Walt Disney, that he knelt down to look at Cinderella's Castle as it was being built, so he could see the view from the perspective of his customer. True or not, it's a good story.

I was in a framing and art store recently that had a similar insight. Here's what they have at kid height below their counter: a blackboard and chalk.

A simple thing with great results:
- Kids don't get bored and act up while adults look at art and choose framing, activities that take a lot of time
- No screaming kids means adults are likely to get what they came in for, instead of abandoning the hunt. I expect this improved sales.
- Chalk is not likely to damage anything, even in an art gallery

Many bank branches have small play areas for children. I've also seen play areas in optometrists offices and medical laboratories. It's a small effort to make for kids that has beneficial effects on the adults with them, and can ensure a peaceful environment for other shoppers. What's not to like?

If you have children, or disabled people, or older people in your environments, you might consider walking in their shoes.

Bringing a new experience to consignment clothing: Vespucci

On a recent trip to Calgary, I had the pleasure of visiting a truly different consignment clothing store called Vespucci.

It's different because:
[1] Sheer size -- most consignment stores are tiny. This place is huge. It has it's own building.
[2] Quality, not just quantity -- I didn't see anything junky. There is a sense of a curatorial approach here, where the owner is bringing an aesthetic to the collection, not just taking what is out there
[3] Range of prices -- there aren't many places you can buy a Feraud suit that's gently used. But you can here. I also picked up a nearly new denim jacket for $10.
[4] Great staff. When I started snapping pics with my Blackberry, the owner suggested I check out the view from the balcony. And encouraged me to check out the formal wear while I was up there. Now that's friendly.

This is a store that gives you the thrill of the hunt, like a Winners does, but with much better quality clothing, for the most part.

You can bring a great customer experience to practically anything with some thought and attention.

The waiting area. Chairs match the overall aesthetic.

Main floor view. Fabulous building with skylights adds sense of luxury.

View from the balcony.

Formal wear has its own section. A good idea to prevent grubby little hands from touching the most expensive items. But also adds a boutique feel.

Every category has room to develop an interesting and differentiating experience. Although the owners were concerned about having expanded during a recession, I expect they will do quite well with their approach.

ADDENDUM

Thanks to Adam Lawrence of WorkPlayExperience Blog who let me know that "consignment store" is an unfamiliar term outside North America. A consignment store is a store that sells new or gently used second-hand clothing on behalf of the seller, in return for a commission. Some such stores may actually purchase selected items for their inventory, but most is sold on a contingency basis. In the UK, such a store might be called a "dress agency."  Thanks Adam! Much appreciated!

The New Art Gallery of Ontario connects with visitors in meaningful ways

I wandered through the new Art Gallery of Ontario during one of the members' preview days. As you can see, it's not quite done. But it is gorgeous. I was delighted to see so much additional work in well known collections that has come out of hiding in the basement.

The building, while beautiful, does not try to steal anything from the art or the guests. It's a space that entices you further.

Although I found a few weaknesses with signage, and got seriously lost a few times despite the map, these are eminently fixable challenges. There was some crowding in places, which will hopefully resolve once all the curvaceous staircases are open.

On the other hand, I was delighted to see something seriously cool. The Listen Up signs posted throughout the gallery invite you to call a phone number on your cell-phone to listen to your choice of commentaries. WOW! what a great idea, and pretty well executed. Just think what an impact this will have on gallery goers, who used to march around in lock-step with their audio tour devices at their ears. This new approach allows for browsing -- criss-crossing a room, dipping in an out as you wish in a non-linear fashion. If you only want to listen to a few commentaries, you can.

And you have a choice of commentaries. The commentaries might be about the art itself, or about the artist. They might be from another artist, or from a curator. 

This success is not just the result of a star architect (Frank Gehry). It also reflects a commitment to understanding the relationship visitors had with the gallery, and making a conscious effort to reshape that relationship to be more accessible, and less intimidating. A significant amount of research was involved, over a period of several years.

If my first visit to the new space is any indication, they are on the right track to really raising the experience to a new level.

Are they bored, or are you bored? Managing your merchandising and when you should change things up or leave them alone

I tried to find matches in the grocery store this week. They weren't with kitchen supplies (like rubber gloves and foil liners for the stove). They also weren't with candles. Employees in this massive superstore weren't sure if the store even had them. I came across a couple of store managers. They wanted to know what I needed the matches for. [Hello -- this is a staple item. Fire was one of the first things humankind discovered. We now have portable fire. Surely there should be little doubt about the need for fire sticks from time to time. What else are people supposed to use to light their candles with? Candles that fill a significant section of the store, I might add.]

Finally, I learned that they were in two places: wooden matches were with camping stuff, and paper matches were in the cigar boutique. Things had been moved for seasonal reasons.

You've likely had this experience -- looking for something simple and being unable to find it. [Just for reference, Bisquick is now with pancake mix, not baking supplies and muffin mixes as one might expect.]

Another grocer in my neighborhood regularly reorganizes the produce section. When asked about this one day by another customer, he explained that 'customers like it.' The other shopper was very clear: grocery shopping is a chore, and you want to complete it as efficiently as possible. Moving things around does not add value, it detracts from value and is highly irritating. Other customers clearly agreed with this sentiment.

What's happening here?

I think the staff in the store get bored, so they move things around because they like it. It keeps them engaged. They get bored putting the stuff in the same place.

It has nothing to do with what customers want.

We do need to keep staff engaged, however, so what's the solution?

The tax man's solution

The tax man changes things every year. New taxes, different deduction rules, you name it. But the basics remain highly consistent. Otherwise voluntary completion would never work.

Actual changes to the flow of forms or the layout are driven by larger considerations, such as usability improvements, not by the need for the form designer to have some creative scope.

Situations that call for novelty and situations that don't

If your consumers are just trying to get a job done, don't make it harder for them by changing processes for no good reason. And make changes one at a time, and as infrequently as possible.

Keep things fresh by having features with special displays.  And let staff get as creative as possible with these.

So the produce guy should have a feature table that they change all the time, and get creative with this. but keep the ginger root and the garlic in the same place.

The flip side of this would be places that cry out for novelty. Like the posters in a bus station. If you are a commuter, you have to look at the same stuff twice a day. The more change the better.

Finally, would it kill them to put matches in two places? With the cigars AND with the candles? Hmmm?

Authenticity and the call centre experience

"Your call is important to us."

"We are experiencing higher than normal call volumes."

"Our agents are currently busy handling other enquiries -- please hold and someone will be with you shortly."

"If you know the last name of the person you wish to reach, please use our company directory."

I know you've heard these things too.
They have become the antithesis of authenticity.

I had the ultimate today. I've been trying to reach an educational institution in regard to a client project. [I can't tell you more or I'd have to ... you know the drill]. They publish exactly one phone number and one e-mail address. For students. Except I was trying to reach the marketing department. And I had a name. I was advised they can't put through calls to head office, and suggested I fax my request to customer service so it could be passed on to the right person.

Rarely have I seen an organization so hostile to the outside world. Quite remarkable. [and not in a good way!]

Dining upscale casual and how this has improved the ladiesroom

There is a phenomenon in the dining out category that I would call upscale casual. The food has become much more sophisticated in presentation and seasoning, but it is still approachable. The menus are familiar, often a blend of cuisines, and lacking the stamp of an individual chef, as a bistro would have. These are menus that could be franchised.

The service is very friendly and down-to-earth -- it is identical to what you would encounter in anything from a Hard Rock Cafe to a Kelsey's Roadhouse.

These establishments represent better eating in suburbia and smaller urban centres, something that never used to be available.

The big change is in the decor. Instead of themes like Irish pub, rock'n'roll or country kitchen, with a decor package that varies only in the details from location to location, this new type of casual dining lets the guest be more of the star of the show. The guest is not visiting a theme park, they are visiting a private club.

Wildcraft in Waterloo is a great example of this trend. There are usually lots of high ceilings, dark wood, and better appointments, often leather upholstery.There may be a very visible wine cellar as the feature point in the room, as you see here. These are people who have refined tastes, but still want to be relaxed. They want some of the experience of what we used to call 'fine dining', but without the attitude.

The food is described as "new American comfort food", and the experience is adventurous and independent:

Wildcraft is adventurous and independent. Wildcraft is fun, fresh, natural and dynamic.

The ladiesroom experience

One of the best things about this trend is what it means for the ladiesroom. Others in our party were encouraging those who 'didn't have to go' to 'go anyway', just so they could see the premises.

Going down the stairs beside the wine cellar, you enter into a lounge area. I expect that this is a vibrant place in the evening, with people making calls and making time. What a change from the barren hallway, where you must squeeze past others in order to squeeze into the bathroom. This is a foyer!

Once inside, the club-like appointments continue. More wood, more candles, and high-style design in evidence everywhere. This sink was particularly thoughtful, with a place to hook a handbag.

We don't ever want to be without stimulation, and the additional source of advertising is always welcome. So of course there is now video.

I was impressed. These appointments are much nicer than many private clubs, and rival the appointments in dining rooms that charge three or four times the price of a meal here. Note the full-height cubicle doors, again in wood, in the background of the picture below. This is not a temple to fine food, it is a temple to feeling good, feeling relaxed, and feeling special.

I was glad to have the place almost to myself, and my trusty Razr, seen below.

A family bathroom for a family restaurant

There's a neighborhood in Toronto we call Little India. It's really more Little Pakistan, but whatever. There's an iconic restaurant there called the Lahore Tikka House. It's been under renovation for at least two years, but in the fashion of this culture, they've continued to run the restaurant the whole time, building as resources permit. The staff are delightful, and the food is excellent, plentiful, and inexpensive.

When I last visited, the renovations were really starting to take shape. I was visiting with my parents. My mom, who has baked a few loaves in her day, looked in the window at the bakers making naan in the huge tandoor oven. They invited her in for a closer look. Delightful!

On our way to the ladiesroom (more on that in a minute) I commented on how good the renos were looking, and we got to peek behind the curtain. What a great way to make your customers feel welcome.

The bathroom areas were really nicely appointed, with beaded shoes mounted above the doors, nice tile and roomy entry ways.

Inside, what really caught my interest was the family bathroom. Look how roomy this is, and how it has been built with knowledge of the local market. I loved that they have a step-stool, just like you would have at home, to help the little ones wash their hands.

When I saw the basket of supplies available, I knew this place really values their customers and is trying to be a special destination. There were disposable diapers in various sizes, baby wipes, and baby lotion.

Perhaps there will be a need for frequent re-stocks, but what of it? it's a small price to pay to be clearly superior in every way than every other place in the neighborhood.

They have always paid close attention to cleanliness. When they had their huge outdoor area in the summer, before building the new edifice, there was a roomy outdoor washing station with sinks and hand-towels. A great idea for a place with a lot of finger food, and families.

On your next trip to Toronto, ask your cabbie to take you by -- most likely, he won't even need directions, since it is so well known. And let me know if the men's room is just as nice, or even nicer.

Shaping Customer Visits: McKinsey reports on bank branches

According to McKinsey, banks worldwide are spending a lot of money refurbishing bank branches and not getting a lot of return on their spending. Why? Because they have focused on the aesthetics of the environment and ignored the customer experience.

They probably thought they were addressing the customer experience, but they were only addressing the environment. And even there, it seems there was too little focus on designing an environment that SHAPES the customer experience, rather than just LOOKS NICE.

"However, banks have done little to shape customer visits. The challenge includes meeting or exceeding customers’ service expectations to increase trust and loyalty, uncovering latent purchasing demand, and converting those leads to actual sales later."

McKinsey suggests focusing more on lower-cost tactical initiatives -- which could include things like making the lineup experience more informative and entertaining, having more interactive events, etc.  All of this they suggest putting into the context of clear objectives. [How can we disagree with someone who wants clear objectives?]

So all those executives listened to the stuff about good design, they just didn't put it into a strategic context. You should try to avoid making the same mistake. Great upholstery does not equal a great experience. Thinking clearly about customer needs, wants, behaviors and processes might take you to some places where you can get real improvement. But it's definitely going to be about more than the wallcoverings.

Find the article:
It's well worth reading, if you happen to have a subscription lying around somewhere. Here's the link: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Financial_Services/Banking/Bank_branches_that_meet_customer_needs

But you do need a subscription.

Carrefour's cool shopping carts

Seen in a Carrefour in Barcelona, this little cart really captured my interest. You can pick it up and carry it with one handle, or roll it along with another one. It's roomy, but it's low, so it doesn't get in the way of seeing the shelves. And it doesn't get heavy, so you don't stop browsing.

How can we make information more accessible to customers?

This is interesting on so many levels...

DiggExpose has combined -- what the cool kids call a mash-up -- Snap's web page image previews with Digg's tracking of what's being tagged online. 
The site lets you choose which type of information display you would like. For each display, as you move your cursor around, the display responds. It's very intuitive. Here are a few screen shots of the options...

This one is my favorite -- it's a giant loop you can very quickly scan

  This one is the default, a cluster.

Tile view ...

This rolodex style view reminds me of something available in Windows 3.0 that was also very intuitive.

Snap, the people providing the previews, have invited all their users to Digg the site. And on the Snap blog, commenters have started riffing on applications they would like Snap to develop along these lines.

This would all just be so much blah, blah, really, except for these things:

• Customers will use your product in unexpected ways, especially if it is digital. You can learn from this if you pay attention. Because some of it will reflect improvements. Some of it will reflect new market opportunities you hadn't thought about before. There might be alliances just waiting for your call.
  

• The notion of managing information feeds in a non-linear way is very appealing. It puts much more control in the hands of the recipient. It's not just a feed anymore, it's a buffet that you can quickly scan for the most appealing morsels.

Imagine being able to look around in a content heavy site in this manner. Something such as a bank web site, or investment information site. Even a hospital site, or a government site. I'd love to be able to access a catalog shopping site this way.

The existing navigation would be there, but there might also be a page where you can just sort through the images.

• The designer created several options for using the images.  A cluster, which is fine if you just want to see what's happening in the Digg world. The tiles, for those who like their world to be a little more organized. And the loop and line for scanners.

Questions you should be asking:

1. How are our customers 'mashing' what we provide with something else to make it better suited to their needs. And does this suggest a new product, service, alliance, or market?
2. How can we give customers more control over accessing information from us? Especially online. Can we let them choose the display format? What about copying this brilliant thing, and putting a Snap image search on our content heavy site? We might even get some amazing PR from that.
3. Do we have easy ways for customers to help us create our product or service? Can they post their ideas on our blog or bulletin board? Is there anywhere on our site that you INVITE people to tell us their ideas?
4. How can we use images or graphics to help our customers navigate the experience better -- whether it is signage, or wiring instructions, are we making the information maximally accessible in the shortest possible time? Or are we still stuck on text?
5. When was the last time we launched something and people smiled with delight, charmed that we were working so hard to make things better for them?
   

Optimum Mess: should staff decorate the store for spring?

I was thinking about messiness while I was working out yesterday. My little neighborhood gym is a branch of a huge franchise. But it feels very local. Part of what makes it that way is the constant changes in decor, hand-made by the staff.

Right now, the staff has a food bank drive on, and are building a mountain of food in the middle of the gym. If you bring in a bag, you get your name on a paper grocery bag on the wall. [Naturally, I wanted to be up on the big board, so did my duty as I saw it]. They are weighing the food as it comes in, and tracking the total weight on a huge, colorful chart on one wall, with giant painted flowers marking the big milestones of the group effort.

It's the antithesis of a managed environment, but it works.

Perfect Mess

I was reading this morning an article about the perfect level of messiness. Eric Abrahamson, author of the "The Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder", says:

"If you devote all your time to organizing, you won’t get anything done. If you don’t spend any time organizing, the resultant mess bogs you down completely. When you find the ‘sweet spot’ between messiness and order, then you have a perfect mess."

Abrahamson extends this idea to over and under organizing at all levels of organization activity. Too tight a strategy or budget doesn't allow for useful messiness, and takes too much effort to maintain anyway.

I think we should also extend this idea to customer environments.

The kind of "slightly messy" environment I described above feels friendly and local. It's in the context of the reliable national chain. You get the best of both worlds.

I used to be a regional manager of a group of retail bank branches. I was on a mission to clean up the merchandising of the branches, and wanted to put an end to too much mess that was interfering with a clean and orderly customer environment. You couldn't have your collection of crystal animals beside your teller wicket. You could only have one family photo in your office, not a dozen. Every local charity could not put a collection box by your reception desk.

It was a positive change, on balance, but you have to be careful about going too far. If you go too far, what you have is a sterile environment, which is how most bank branches feel to me today.  There is no personality there.

There are no painted tulips stuck to the counters in the spring. There is no mountain of donated teddy-bears just before Christmas. In short, no local flavor, and no feeling of personal connection with real people.

The effort to create a consistent environment has created consistent sterility, not consistent warmth and ambiance.

We need to help people find the right balance.

Environment Opportunities: help your customers go green

If they haven't started yet, soon -- very soon -- I think your customers will be looking to you to show some forward motion towards improving the environment. Or at least damaging it less.

For some companies, this means new product opportunities, perhaps along the lines of this solar battery charger (discovered via LifeHacker).

Others will need to radically redesign and reduce packaging.

Most will need to find better ways to do things (process innovation) that cause less damage to the environment. And then they'll need to tell customers what they are doing. This one is going to be hard work, but frankly essential to the future of your brand. [Assuming the larger issue doesn't warm your heart.]

To find resources to get started, it looks like the Pew Centre for Global Climate Change might have some useful resources. One item in particular was flagged in the March 2007 Harvard Business Review: Getting Ahead of the Curve: Corporate Strategies That Address Climate Change, by Andrew Hoffman. Download it free, here. Bronwyn Fryer, who reviewed the report for HBR, nails the challenge when she says,

"God help you if you're running a corporation. Faced with the inevitability of more and more climate-based regulatory constraints upon companies, business leaders need to do far more than propose a 'Ride Your Bike to Work' day."

Resources:

Harvard Business Review, March 2007, book review by Bronwyn Fryer

Pew Centre on Global Climate Change, Pew Research describes themselves as a "nonpartisan ''fact tank' that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take positions on policy issues."

Line up management: watch your layout

The airport provides some good examples of managing large numbers of people -- either well or badly, depending on where you are.

Check out the photo above. This guy's whole job is to make sure you don't get in the wrong line-up.

When the self-serve boarding pass machines were installed, the idea was that you would just walk right up to the counter, present your ID, and then give them your luggage. But massive staff reductions have made that design concept a distant dream. Now you need to schlep yourself and your bags back and forth through a giant line-up. The line-up is so long, that it is actually in two parts, not unlike at a movie theatre on the first day of a blockbuster release. [But without the anticipation and excitement of a movie, of course.]

Here's a closer look at this fun situation:

I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the luggage chute for you. Because after you do all this lining up, the agent doesn't take your bags. He or she puts a baggage tag on them and checks your ID. Then you have to hump your bags over to a SINGLE conveyor. A giant clump of people was pushing and shoving to get their skis, snowboards, etc. into this single conveyor window. A situation designed to accommodate one person at a time. 

By this point I was starting to laugh out loud. I told the agent I didn't think there was much benefit to the customer for taking the time to check in online. He told me pretty soon I would have to print and tag my own bags. 'Fine, no problem', I said. 'But will I have to line up for the priviledge????'

What useful things can we extract from this long story, hmmm?

Observation #1:  There is very little evidence that things stay the same for long. So why would you cement these machines into the floor so that you can't move them without a major renovation?  Good environments have a certain amount of flexibility built in.

Observation #2: This layout assumed there would not be line-ups ever. How dumb is that?

Observation #3: It should be obvious where you are supposed to be. If it isn't, either the process flow, the layout, or the signage are wrong. In this case, all three. So now you have a senior staff member spending his day directing traffic, and people are still confused. [And great for staff morale, I'll bet]

Here's a good example of a signage problem:

When you have to have a lot of signs telling people not to do something, you have a design issue. Wouldn't it make sense to do one of the following things:

1. design the carousel so you can't sit on it, or
2. design the carousel so you can sit on it safely, or
3. provide more seating
4. Or a combination of all of the above

When I came into the baggage hall, there were several empty carousels. But three large aircraft all had their luggage on this one. No doubt this makes some sense from the standpoint of the baggage handlers. But none from the standpoint of the customer. Not an impressive situation for an airport that only just opened.

When you travel with a researcher or experience consultant, you don't have a normal journey. We spend the whole time trying to figure out how to fix the process without spending a fortune. [My Mom, who was waiting in line with me, thought I was getting upset. I said, "No, I'm just trying to figure out how to fix it, should anyone ever offer me the opportunity".]

There must be airports that do these things well. If you have examples, please share!