A recent Bain & Company study revealed that while 80% of executives believed they delivered outstanding value and a superior customer experience only 8% of their customers agreed.
It’s a revealing finding.
My explanation for the result is a simple one… customers think in terms of their entire experience (or collection of experiences) with a company but the vast majority of businesses still think in terms of customer service. This is especially true of our industry.
Owners and managers focus on customer service… learning and using member’s names… answering the phone before three rings… smiling over the phone… wearing name tags…
The problem is that 90% of customer service occurs around the front desk but 90% of customer experiences occur away from the front desk… on the health club floor… in the locker room… in the group exercise room…
So even when the customer service is 100% right (warm greeting, card swipe, efficient purchase…) at the front desk you have only accounted for 10%, or less, of their experience. If the remainder of their experience is waiting for equipment, being intimidated by other members, not knowing what to do when equipment is out of order, forgetting exercise technique, feeling out of place… it is impossible for even the very best customer service to compensate.
Customer experience is so much more than customer service.
If you need a good reason to think in terms of customer experiences and not customer service… its how your customers think!
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