The Buying Experience from the Customer’s Viewpoint

Most business owners have not been a customer of their business. What that means is they have not gone through the buying process to purchase a product or service to see what that experience is like from the customer’s point of view. It’s a good idea to do that every so often for two reasons.

First, you get to see if any hiccups need fixing. Second, when you do have a customer who has a challenging experience, you can tell them that part of your process is to go through the customer’s journey a few times a year and you will consider their concerns when that exercise is next scheduled.

Here are two experiences I went through as a customer (or potential customer) follows by some marketing tips on how the experience could be improved.

1. The Non-Advertising Media Kit

I reached out to a business-focused magazine and asked for their media kit. The only way to make the request was through an online form, which I completed.

Someone from the magazine replied within the hour, which was great, but his question was not so great. “Jennifer, I am just wondering if I can ask the nature of your request.”

The point of requiring people to fill out forms on your website is so you can track them, so to not know what the purpose of my inquiry was seemed strange. However, as I scrolled down in the email, the fields of the form were included, which clearly indicated I was requesting the advertising media kit. Now, I’m dealing with an employee who is unfamiliar with how to respond to inquiries.

I replied back and said I was looking for the advertising media kit because I had a book that I wanted to promote to a business audience and their business-focused magazine seemed to be a good fit.

The individual replied that he was engaging his manager for help.

Now, in my years of consulting, I have probably requested advertising rates a thousand times. In almost every instance, the person provides the rates right away and then promotes any sales or offers additional incentives to keep the momentum going. When someone comes to you for advertising, you tend to be very responsive to that kind of request.

The fact that was not happening here made me wonder what was going on. Why would a business that sells advertising not want to give someone information about advertising when they request it? This was now three communications and still no information.

The next day, another person emailed me and said that they don’t sell traditional advertising but wondered if we could have a chat about what might be available.  I deleted the email. This was the fourth point of communication with this company and they still had not answered my question.

Marketing Tip

Answer your customer’s inquiry as efficiently as possible. If you need to get back to them, make sure that when you do, it is with the information they are looking for.

2. Take Out Trip Up

I was with some friends and we ordered take out from a restaurant. Since the restaurant was close, we opted to pick up the meal. The order was placed, payment was made and we were given a timeframe within which to pick up the order.

We opted to wait until the later end of the timeframe, and then arrived at the restaurant. There were a few people in line so my one friend went into the restaurant and waited her turn. About 10 minutes later, she came out to the car with no food. She said the restaurant had not seen the order come in through the ordering app and had nothing prepared. It would be another 15 minutes.

Given where we were, and that we had paid and the process for a refund and finding food now an hour later would be more tedious, we opted to wait. Finally, our food arrived and home we went. The restaurant didn’t even offer any kind of voucher for another visit or something extra for our inconvenience. Instead of 20 minutes, we were 70 minutes from the time we ordered until we picked up our food.

Now, the food was good, but the experience was terrible. However, two decisions were made that evening. First, the restaurant is busy enough so we can try something else next time and second, we are never using that particular ordering app again.

Marketing Tips

First, if you are going to allow ordering through apps, you need to have a process in place where you receive those orders in a timely manner. If that doesn’t happen, you need to use a different app.

Second, if a customer has a negative experience following the ordering instructions that you created, you should offer some recognition of their poor experience. They did what you asked, but it did not work through no fault of the customer, so the service responsibility is on you.

Third, the app also lost a customer that day, and probably didn’t even know about the bad experience. If you are someone in the middle of a transaction, have your own follow-up process to ensure that you are connecting with customers who will use your app appropriately. In this case, that might be tracking how long it took the restaurant to view the order, or sending a feedback request when the transaction is completed.

Your Customer Face Time Is Limited

Two great features of digital communications like email and online ordering are the convenience and speed they offer. However, it also limits your face time with the customer. When you only have the customer’s attention for a short period of time, be sure to make the most of it. The more difficult you make the initial communication, the less likely you will have future communication and the result of that can be a loss of sales.

More Resources

For a desk reference in good marketing, pick up a copy of Forward Thinking for Your Business. You can order today at Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or contact Jennifer directly. If you need to book consulting time with Jennifer, email her at [email protected] or call 613-312-7824.