This might be a peculiar request given our current stay-at-home situation; but think about the last time you came away from a retail store, or restaurant, or some sort of customer service engagement, or even a website for that matter thinking: “Wow! That was really a great experience!”

Still thinking?

OK, you’ve got one now? Great!

Were you more likely to want to do business with them again because of your experience?

Did you happen to mention your experience to anyone else; or even recommend that business or service to someone as a result?

What was it about that experience that made it so great? And, why don’t all of us have great experiences more often? 

I can tell you, it’s not for lack of measuring and monitoring customer service, satisfaction and loyalty – that’s for sure.

According to a recent report by Fortune Business Insights, the global customer experience management industry size was estimated to be $6.28B in 2018 and is projected to be a whopping $24B by 2026. WOW!

Over the years, as the customer experience management and measurement industry has gotten more data-rich and analytically sophisticated, consulting firms have gotten really good at deconstructing the customer service activities that ladder up to receiving a high Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Overall Satisfaction (O-Sat) Rating. And some firms who adopt these programs have unfortunately become more fixated on the pursuit of the score over the spirit and intent of their customer experience management program – which is actually providing a great customer experience. I call this sucking the soul out of customer service and customer experience.

The thing is, go back to that great customer experience example I asked you to come up with. You have to admit it. A great customer experience did make a difference. Right?

And as the global economy is just beginning to absorb the reality of the Coronavirus pandemic, it is absolutely imperative for brands to double down on their customers, and commit to providing great, memorable customer experiences and building lasting (loyal) relationships.

According to Bain (the creators of NPS), “the advantages of customer loyalty are more pronounced in a[n economic] downturn. Loyal customers cost less to serve. They typically concentrate more spending with companies they trust. Their referrals to friends can lay the foundation for growth when the economy rebounds.” – Chew & Markey (2009) Bain & Co.

As someone who oversaw the measurement of customer loyalty and satisfaction during the great recession for a well-known global brand, I can confirm Bain’s assertions. But creating loyal customers doesn’t come as a result of training employees to check off a minimum of five out of seven “critical service activities” when they are helping a customer.

You know what I mean…

• Greet each customer within ten seconds of them entering the store
• Look them in the Eyes and Smile when Speaking with them
• Mention the current in-store sale (promotion)
• Ask them if you can help them find something
• Take them to where the item is in the store
• Ask them if there anything else you can help them find
• Ask them if they’re a member of our loyalty program
• Thank them for their business, etc…

Remember, the more of these you do, the higher your score.

And you want to have a high score – don’t you?

Look, doing the above might produce a high(er) NPS or O-Sat score, but it is highly unlikely to create loyalty if your employees are just going through the motions. Loyalty is an emotional outcome; it is the result of your brand repeatedly doing many things (product, price/value, service, experience, marketing, etc.) right over time. Loyalty is earned by consistently and reliably meeting and exceeding your customers’ needs.

Let me unpack this a bit:

A number of years ago when I was in the process of tuning up a global retailer’s customer satisfaction measurement program, I uncovered a perceived associate behavior, or activity that was frankly off the charts in terms of correlating highly with ticket size, overall satisfaction, likelihood to return and likelihood to recommend.

In the statistics world, the strength of this variable was considered “a message from God.” There was no doubt whatsoever that if a store associate was perceived as having done this behavior, that it mattered – a lot!

We’d found the holy grail!

“The store associate went above and beyond.”

Yep – that’s it!

They just went above and beyond.

The problem however was trying to explain what that actually meant – and perhaps more importantly, how to train associates in the art and science of “going above and beyond.”

“Hey Jeremy, the next time you’re with a customer make sure that you are going above and beyond.”

Yeah… right.

As we repeatedly worked on unpacking this mystical activity through qualitative research, we kept hearing things like:

“It just seemed like they actually cared about helping me”

“What I wanted wasn’t in the store, but they called another store and found it for me”

“They made me feel like they valued my business”

“I felt like they were really trying to help me out”

“They were just so helpful.”

And there it is…

When people actually care about helping their customers, and their customers feel appreciated, it matters!

If your goal is having a lot of loyal customers (and in my opinion, it should at least be one of your goals), just know that this won’t happen by instructing people to memorize a list and having them perform at least five out of the seven service activities whenever they engage with your customers.

To create loyal customers and to become more resilient during periods of economic uncertainty, you have to foster and promote an authentic customer-centric culture with the goal of serving and delighting your customers each and every time they engage with your brand.

You need to care.

You have to care.

There is no substitute for caring.

Then you need to surround yourself with people who care as much as you do.

Caring is infectious – the more you care, the more your organization will care.

And finally, you need to empower your team do what they do best.

That is, Going Above and Beyond to take care of your brand’s customers.