Have you got PPI? Do you think you might have had PPI? I’ve lost count of the times that some click-bait ad has popped up to ask me that question or, on some occasions, I’ve had to take a phone call from someone aggressively selling me PPI claims services I don’t need. Well, now the Financial Conduct Authority has got in on the act and enrolled none other than the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an advert to urge people to get their claims in before 29th August 2019.
Superior examples
Mattress-buying – a hotbed of intrigue (pun intended)
Who can you trust these days? In an era of ‘fake news’ and everyone’s opinions masquerading as facts, it’s a relevant question. I just read a great Fast Company article on the dodgy world of mattress-recommendation sites and it made me think
Ryanair has a customer-centric approach, but it’s not what you think
I recently co-wrote a report on customer-centric strategy for NextTen – more on that later – that included Ryanair as a (positive) case study. The recent problems with pilot scheduling might cause me to make a hasty edit – but I think not: Ryanair is thoroughly customer-focused, but their low-cost approach illustrates the challenges of maintaining such a strategy when things go wrong. In fact, pursuing this strategy appears to be more likely to cause these problems.
Shaving is boring? Not when you’re customer-obsessive
The avid reader of these posts (and whoever you are, you’re keeping a low profile) may have noticed the odd, obscure music reference creeping in to the titles. I think this week I’ve found the most obscure one and you’ll have to read to the end to find out what it is. (Cheap trick, I know, but it’s slightly better than calling this post Five Reasons Why Shaving Is Not Boring.)
Tales from the sharp end #3
When great service is good enough – but could be even better
I’ve just had a great service experience with BT and now that more than 10 years have passed since I was responsible for their customer service strategy, I’m not blowing my own trumpet to praise them. It made me realise that when you get a great service it’s sometimes unremarkable. In this case, having a better understanding of customer outcomes could have moved it from great to outstanding.
Tales from the sharp end #2: IKEA, memory and the peak-end rule
Last week I committed on Twitter to revisit IKEA’s customer experience. There’s nothing like encouragement to get you going so as IKEA’s twitter channel quite liked the idea, here goes…
The UK’s Wimbledon winner
I’m writing this towards the end of the fortnight where my area of SW London experiences a quantum leap in busy-ness as the streets are thronged with people heading for the Wimbledon tournament at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club. As I write, the UK has reverted to its default state of no title contenders despite Johanna Konta’s spirited efforts and Andy Murray’s struggles with injury. However, there is a British winner
Hello and welcome
It seems only right that since my last piece was on the on the importance of saying goodbye, I should deal with the even more important area of a good welcome. Feeling like you are a valued customer from the moment you enter anyone’s premises – and that includes online premises – taps into a deep emotional need and it’s a bit of a mystery to me why organisations don’t pay more attention to it.
I experienced a brilliant welcome when I visited a National Trust property
Tales from the sharp end #1: M&S Food
Starting an occasional series in which I report back from the front line of customer experience. As well as an obsession with the minutiae of customer experience I have an obsession with keeping things as simple as possible (but no simpler as Einstein once put it) and so a recent experience with M&S Food reminded me, once again, how introducing even a small amount of complexity into a transaction can result in a poor customer experience, despite the heroic efforts of front line staff…
My week in CX #10
There’s only so much pizza a man can take in the interests of customer experience and so this week my Pizza Express odyssey comes to a (satisfactory) conclusion. In other news, my local arts centre makes me yearn for a bit of NPS and decide to call time on the weekly reports.