The Customer Experience Hierarchy
Today we explore the question: how do you turn a regular customer journey into a standout customer experience?
May I introduce you to the SSS Pyramid?
Let's start at the bottom and work our way up.
1 — MAKE IT SOLID
MAke sure they have what they need
These are the basics! Make sure they have what they need (confirmation emails, access to your course), make sure they don't have what they don't need (promo emails to something they've already bought), and generally make sure everything is working as it should.
And when (not if!) tech glitches happen, then it's exceptional customer service that preserves the trust and goodwill your customers have placed in you.
The absence of errant bugs or moments of confusion = reassurance that they're in good hands and taken care of.
2 — Make it Smooth.
Reduce the Friction
Now that everything is in place, are there ways to make the experience nice and smooth and intuitive?
Think: Quality of life changes.
Is there an easy way for students to find the link to submit a question or attend a coaching call? Or must they hunt through their emails to find where you mentioned it that one time?
Are subscriptions easy to cancel? Are workbooks usable? Can clients quickly find all your past deliverables or documents? Is navigating through your platforms clear and straightforward?
When they think it, can they do it? Or do they have to jump through hoops?
Low threshold is key!
"The surprise about great service experiences is that they are mostly forgettable and occasionally remarkable."
- The Power of Moments, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Make it Solid and Make it Smooth are doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the "mostly forgettable" part of the experience. We're making things invisible on purpose.
But what about the remarkable part of the experience? The moments that create an impact?
3 — Make it SPARKLE
Make ‘em smile
If someone sends me a gift, it doesn’t even matter what the gift is. I’m always super touched???
An unexpected bonus they didn’t know they were getting access to.
A personalized video greeting as soon as they purchase your course (with you saying their name and everything — %FIRSTNAME% whomst’ve!).
A celebration when someone reaches a milestone (like a Starbucks card for launching, because they’ll need the coffee!).
A photo of a duck for no reason in their client Google Drive folder.
These are the special touches. The surprise and delight. The ones that aren’t necessary — which is exactly why they’re the moments they’ll remember.
Psst. There’s lots more than “surprise and delight” to talk about when it comes to creating moments and experiences that leave a lasting impression. Here is a good place to start!
One last thing —
When we talk about building a customer experience, we mean building for people. And when we talk about building for people, we mean building for people in all their complexity.
"I am large. I contain multitudes." - Walt Whitman
Which means taking into account:
Joy and laughter
The excitement of diving in
Peace of mind
What you have bandwidth for and what you don't
The human condition
Systems need to be built for the people using them. Best practices don't mean anything without the context of whose practice it is.
