Meet Customer Expectations Before You Try to Exceed Them
April 21, 2022
Want to improve your customer retention and increase profit margins? Make sure you meet customer expectations before you invest in exceeding them.
A friend recently took her dog to a new veterinarian. After the first visit, they gave her a bottle of wine to welcome her to the “family.” She was delighted.
A few months later she scheduled another appointment. She and her dog (who isn’t fond of car travel) arrived on time but were told the vet wasn’t in the office that day and they’d have to reschedule. Apparently, a “glitch” resulted in her not getting notice of the change. She was dissatisfied, very dissatisfied.
The memory of the $10 bottle of wine disappeared; she decided to find another vet.
Satisfiers and dissatisfiers
Marketing scholars analyzed what are statistically identified as satisfier and dissatisfier attributes of customer experience.
Satisfier attributes are “nice to have” features that tend to be pleasing to the senses. For example, a doctor’s waiting area that has a modern interior design with free drinks is a satisfier.
Dissatisfier attributes are basic, must-have aspects that are central to the utility of the product or service. An inaccurate diagnosis from the doctor is a dissatisfier attribute. The key is to know that dissatisfier attributes have a much stronger impact on customer experience than satisfiers.
For example, my wife went to a new restaurant with friends. The place had a hip, happening vibe with great music and ambiance.
But both the food and service were poor. They waited forever to get served mediocre food and watery drinks. The staff made two mistakes — on orders for three people.
I asked if she’d like to go back with me. She preferred to go elsewhere.
Meet customer expectations before you try to exceed them
Theoretically, delighting customers with above-average performance and pleasing extras should improve retention and profits.
Because of this, many businesses focus their customer service initiatives on the principle of customer delight, setting the goal of “exceeding expectations.”
But studies show that a constant focus on customer delight is unrealistic and unprofitable. There are a couple of reasons for this.
The first is that this approach is difficult to sustain. It requires a constant investment in extras that delight customers. But as you do this, expectations increase. In time, you can’t get ROI because what it takes to exceed expectations erodes profit margins.
The second is that customers are primarily looking for value that comes from consistent performance. It’s more important to avoid poor performance with dissatistifer attributes than to excel with satisfiers. If you blow delivery of your main offer, a delightful bonus won’t save you.
This means when you plan and implement your customer service strategy, focus on getting your core service right first. Identify and remedy below-average performance with dissatisfier attributes. This will prevent dramatic declines in customer satisfaction that delightful extras can’t counter.
When you’re as consistent at core services as possible, use delighters to give yourself a competitive advantage.
I went to get my oil changed and when I was paying, realized I forgot the coupon I had for $10 off. I was upset with myself because I knew it said I needed the coupon to get the deal.
The service was fast and while they mentioned some other work to consider, they weren’t pushy about upselling me a bunch of extra service. When I paid, I mentioned the missing coupon.
The clerk smiled and pulled an extra one out of the drawer. It wasn’t the same deal — this saved me $15.
They asked when I wanted to get a notification for my next oil change. Without hesitation, I gave her my email and told her I’ll be back in three months.