What does a fashion retailer, a mobile operator and a short break company have in common? Absolutely nothing...it would seem.
However Tesco Mobile, Next and Center Parcs have all increased in the 2014 UK Customer Satisfaction Index and therefore share perhaps the most vital element of brand identity - an awareness of the importance of customer experience. This however was not a general trend from the results of the UKCSI which saw an overall drop in customer satisfaction, a drop credited to an increase in consumer expectancy.
According to the UK Customer Satisfaction Index poll, it is those in the youngest age group that are most unsatisfied with customer experience, a fact which should not be ignored. Many of the youngest consumers in the market today have grown up in a world where Social Media is an ever present role in their lives, and therefore they're used to and more ready than ever to share their views. Plus with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram a single tap away, their expectations aren't created merely by their own experiences but also by those of everyone around them. The student trying a pulled pork burger in England may have never left Europe, but that doesn't mean he's not comparing it to the pulled pork trend in New York filling his Instagram. Suddenly the customer experience in an independent cafe in Leeds is judged alongside the singing waiters of a New York burger giant. As Social Media makes the world a smaller place it simultaneously increases the world of expectations.
An advocate of catering to these increased expectations is Rant & Rave client Homeserve. UK Customer Satisfaction Index named them as one of the most improved organisations working together to listen to what their customers are really saying and responding appropriately. Their efforts to capture and learn from the feedback around their brand is clearly tangible in their improvements in this poll compared to last year, and the comparisons shouldn't end there.
I had lunch in a cafe yesterday and was happy with the experience, from the food, to the speed and efficiency of the staff and in particular the friendly server who helped make me feel like an important and valued customer. So why, when I go to my Specsavers appointment tomorrow, should I not expect to experience the same level of customer satisfaction as a loyal and paying customer? They're totally different industries so how can we compare them? Modern customer experience is making the incomparable comparable. In a world where you can book a flight, buy a dress and check the weather on the other side of the world all in five minutes using your phone, comparable customer service is no longer restricted to certain services. Humans, unlike computers don't categorise their experiences according to industry and tradition, they compare it to yesterday, to their neighbour, to the last person they were served by - regardless of whether or not this comparison is being drawn to a call centre, a website or a shop. This is exactly the principle Rant & Rave capture in their Sentiment Engine, using Natural Language Processing, because why should emotion be categorised into tick boxes, and why should experience be categorised into industries?
Is it accurate that we expect good service from John Lewis, but our expectations of experience at Iceland is considerably lower? I don't believe this is true anymore. Factors such as cost and circumstance are becoming less relevant, budget airlines working solely through the internet shouldn't care about their customer any less than high-end retailers interacting face to face with consumers every day. Expectations are changing, and customer experience (as Rant & Rave is demonstrating) needs to change alongside it.
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