MC: 0:00

Experience Action. Let's stop just talking about customer experience, employee experience and the experience of leaders. Let's turn ideas into action. Your host, Jeannie Walters, is an award-winning customer experience expert, international keynote speaker and founder of Experience Investigators, a strategic consulting firm helping companies increase sales and customer retention through elevated customer experiences. Ready Set Action.

Jeannie Walters: 0:31

It's the Experience Action Podcast. You have questions? I hope I have the answers. Let's get started.

Listener Question: 0:40

Hello Jeannie, this is Shawn. We received this question via email. How can businesses effectively set and manage customer expectations in a fast changing environment?

Jeannie Walters: 0:51

Well thank you for sending in this question. For those of you who didn't know, you can feel free to reach out to me on either voicemail at askjeannievip through email, through our contact form on our experienceinvestigatorscom website or, however you like, carrier pigeon, whatever, we're here for you. So the question about how we can set expectations and manage customer expectations is so important today because we do live in a very fast-paced environment, don't we? What that means for customer experience is that if we can't really make sure that we're setting the right expectations, then we can't guarantee that we're delivering on those expectations and, of course, we're looking to exceed those expectations. So the only way we can do that is when we really understand what are the expectations that our customers have. So a lot of this comes down to building trust. When we build enough trust with expectations, when we tell our customers that we're going to keep our promises, they're going to trust us next time. They're going to have enough in that emotional bank so that when things go wrong because, let's face it, they might, they will then we are able to have a trusted relationship to build on to recover from those mishaps. That's why sometimes we can build more loyalty based on service recovery, because we're gaining and rebuilding trust in a bigger way. So let's talk specifically about building trust to show that we're prepared for change and that we are prioritizing our customers, no matter what. I'm going to give you three ideas here Now the the first one is, if you haven't already thought about this make transparency your default setting, and what I mean by that is customers don't necessarily expect perfection, but they do expect and, frankly, deserve honesty.

Jeannie Walters: 3:00

So when there are things that maybe we know are happening, we need to proactively communicate to customers. Sometimes that even means saying this is happening and we're looking at how to fix it and we don't really know how yet. Sometimes it's saying we're working on this, here is the expectation. And sometimes it's saying we heard you. In a newsletter a couple of weeks ago and, if you haven't already, sign up for the Weekly Win at our website but I like to send out examples in there. There was an example of a supplement organization and they made a change to the flavoring of one of their products. Now, they did this simply because it didn't have a flavor before, and they got excited and made it lemon zest or something, and their customers responded very loudly that they actually preferred the unflavored. So, instead of just making the switch or acting like nothing happened, they sent out a very honest communication saying we heard you. Now, this is a great way to build trust. This is a great way to be transparent and help customers understand that you know what if we understand their expectations, we are willing to do what it takes to meet them. So don't be afraid of transparency. It can be your secret weapon here when understanding your customer expectations. Sometimes supply chains get disrupted, sometimes deliveries are late. We need to be honest. So if you are thinking about this from that mindset, strategy, discipline approach that we talk about, then I would encourage you to think about transparency as a way to build trust before something happens, before a problem arises. A simple heads up can turn a potential complaint into a moment of appreciation. All right.

Jeannie Walters: 4:57

Number two, let's revisit and reset expectations continuously. You are absolutely right. We live in a very fast-paced world. That means expectations are going to change, maybe weekly, daily, even hourly and they don't change just on our relationship with the customer. They change on how the customer is interacting with the world at large. So what that means is if the big guys out there start changing things, start getting faster for customers, start responding with more and more promotions. We have to pay attention to that, because our company, no matter what industry you're in, is competing with the rest of the world your customer lives in. So pay attention to macro trends, like what happens when the market is disrupted, pay attention to things like weather. Pay attention to things like generational aspects. All of that will help you reset those expectations for your customers consistently.

Jeannie Walters: 6:03

This is not a one-time activity. In fact, nothing we do is. Customer experience and the journey that your customers are on. That is a living, breathing exercise. We have to be sure that we are part of their journey, not trying to dictate what the journey should be for them. So, in fast-moving environments, we have to revisit the promises we've made. Are we still able to meet them? Are they realistic?

Jeannie Walters: 6:32

When we talk about developing a customer experience mission statement, one of the questions that we challenge is is this realistic? It is really easy to get aspirational in the promises that we make our customers, and if you're too aspirational, then you're never going to be able to meet that promise. So let's get realistic about this. Let's make sure that we are revisiting and resetting those promises and expectations. What do customers really want today? Make sure that you're aligned with those ideas. This is where we really want to look at things in that disciplined approach, in that mindset, strategy, discipline. Including things like, you know what, let's look at the customer-facing touch points. Let's make sure that we're looking at them regularly, not just when we want to change something, not just when we have a new process, but on a regular basis. What is it really like for customers today? That's how you can understand. Are the expectations where they should be? Are we delivering on our promises and what can we do to get a little bit better today? Number three, the big word.

Jeannie Walters: 7:41

We want to use empathy to guide our communication. I would say empathy and compassion, because change is hard and if we are constantly changing or if the world is constantly changing, that can feel very chaotic. Some people really resist change. So if you are resetting expectations, if you are doing things differently because of what you're seeing, it's very important to take your customers along with you at their pace, not at our pace. So we want to make sure they still have choices. We don't want to push them into a channel that they don't want to be a part of. We want to make sure that we use empathy to turn communication about these changes into something that can build that trust and relationship. That means we want to turn transactional updates of this is what's changing, this is how we're setting expectations, into a relationship strengthening moment.

Jeannie Walters: 8:39

So, when you are communicating about changes, lead with empathy. Acknowledge how the change may impact them, explain the why, why is this happening and what are we doing to support them in the change. Now, if you are thinking about your customer experience in the ways of mindset strategy discipline, you can start incorporating these things into a regular way of doing business. This cannot be something you think about once in a while or ad hoc. This is about a bigger customer experience strategy. So make sure that if people are pushing back, if your customers are asking questions making you think, wow, that sounds like we didn't live up to a promise we made, that could very well be about the expectations changing. So make sure, as you update your processes, as you interact with customers and lead with empathy, that you are communicating not just to them, but with them. We want to make sure that we are constantly listening, learning and acting, and we want to make sure that we're orchestrating all of this in a way that makes sense for both our organization, our employees who serve them and our customers at large.

Jeannie Walters: 10:02

Customers do not expect us to control the world. They do not expect us to be perfect. They do not expect us to always, always, always, even live up to every single promise we make and I know that's hard to hear. We want to live up to all those promises, but when we can't, we want to treat it like any other relationship we have and start rebuilding that trust, being transparent, making sure that that is our default, that they understand that we're going to be honest and truthful with them, that we're going to revisit those expectations and reset them based on the world we live in today, and that we're going to use empathy to guide the communication both to and with them. So, I encourage you to think about what are the expectations that your customers have, and if you can't answer that very clearly, it's time to do a little homework. It's time to think about are we actually setting the right expectations so that we can not only live up to them, but exceed them in the world we live in today?

Jeannie Walters: 11:07

Thank you for this fantastic, fantastic question and for those of you who haven't yet, I encourage you check out your own customer experience journey by taking our CXI Compass. You can find that at cxicompasscom or on our website at experienceinvestigatorscom. It is a free tool to help you understand where to prioritize in your customer experience strategy. I encourage you to check that out and let us know if we can go over those results with you to give you more guidance and ideas. Thank you so much for being here at the Experience Action Podcast. I can't wait to talk to you again. See you soon. To learn more about our strategic approach to experience. Check out free resources at experienceinvestigatorscom where you can sign up for our newsletter, our Year of CX program and more, and please follow me, Jeannie Walters, on LinkedIn.