Customer experience is a key differentiator for businesses today, perhaps THE key differentiator when products and services are similar. Customers expect more than just a product or service - they want a seamless, convenient, and even enjoyable interaction with the brand.
Sometimes, though, companies make changes to their customer experience that may benefit them more than their customers. These changes can backfire and damage customer loyalty, satisfaction, and retention.
Airline customer experience varies dramatically between airlines.
Three examples of customer experience changes and, in particular, offering self-service options, show three different approaches. I wanted to call them “good, bad, and ugly” but really they are “bad, good, and unknown.”
Bad: Frontier Airlines Eliminates Voice Customer Service
Frontier Airlines has ceased offering customer service via phone.
Now, customers who need to make changes or solve problems can’t call the airline and speak to an agent. Customers must get service via an app, social media channels or WhatsApp.
No doubt this will save the airline money and still offer satisfactory service to digitally-savvy customers with straightforward problems. Customers who are in complex or urgent situations, though, might well prefer to speak with a human on a voice call. Customers unfamiliar with online chat platforms might also find it frustrating.
Who asked for this?
It’s fair to say that the number of customers requesting this change was zero. All of the benefits from eliminating one channel of communication and forcing customers to use another one accrue to the company.
The arrival of customer service interactions using ChatGPT-style conversational AI may eventually make chat interactions efficient and personalized, delivering “better-than-human” service. But we aren’t there yet, and Frontier’s cavalier attitude toward customer experience is no doubt a big part of why they ranked second-last among U.S. airlines in the latest ACSI report.
Frontier did achieve one top ranking in 2022: most customer complaints.
A negative statistic like this justifies improving customer service options, not limiting them. Often complaints arise not from a simple flight delay or misrouted suitcase, but from the airline’s poor handling of the situation. Better customer service regardless of channel will calm unhappy customers and reduce complaints.
Good: Checkout Choice at Whole Foods
One store that seems to strike a balance with a self-service option is Whole Foods. In my closest store, at busy times they have multiple cashier-staffed checkout lines and a self-checkout area. Both feature near-frictionless Amazon One checkout, and both methods get plenty of usage.
Unlike some retailers that seem to deliberately understaff their cashier lanes, the balance, at least in this outlet, seems about right. The cashier lines are rarely long, but customers with a small number of straightforward items choose the easy self-checkout scanners.
Whole Foods is, of course, part of Amazon.com, a company that understands that customers prefer choice. For both product delivery and return processing, Amazon offers multiple channels that allow customers to pick the method that is most convenient for them.
Unknown: Alaska Airlines Removes Airport Kiosks
Alaska Airlines will soon remove airport kiosks. They want to encourage passengers to use their smartphones for boarding passes, and hope that travelers without checked luggage will proceed directly to security and their gate.
This move seems perplexing at first glance. Alaska Airlines was the top-ranked line for customer satisfaction in the ACSI study, ahead of the four major U.S. carriers. It’s doubtful that customers were clamoring for the elimination of the check-in kiosks, so why would Alaska remove them?
It seems that Alaska customers often arrive at the airport without a mobile or printed boarding pass, leading to congestion in the ticketing area. Training customers to complete their check-in and have their boarding pass ready will let most proceed directly to security and their gate - a better experience than waiting to access a kiosk. Travelers needing to check bags will have streamlined bag tag stations in the ticketing area.
This move isn’t without some risk of impairing customer experience. Forcing a change rather than letting an organic transition evolve may annoy customers at first, even if their ultimate experience is better. Travelers without smartphones or who are experiencing issues like low battery or local service problems may have to stand in line for a boarding pass.
Alaska clearly prioritizes customer experience, though, so they apparently believe that swift removal of the kiosks will be less painful than a gradual organic transition.
How to Change Customer Experience
Operational changes, new technologies, and other factors can lead to changes in customer experience. Some changes may be made expressly to improve customer experience, while others may occur as a side effect of other projects.
Before you make any changes to your customer experience, ask yourself a few questions:
- Will this change benefit your customers?
- How will this change be perceived by customers?
- Will any customer segments be negatively impacted?
- How will you communicate this change to your customers?
These questions will help you avoid making changes that harm your customer experience and, ultimately, your business. Occasionally a change must be made despite a negative impact on customer experience – these require extreme caution and ample communication.
