My
article in Market Express -
Is customer the real king?, Author: Anvita Bajpai on August 1, 2013
As
a working-professional, I have always kept in mind or I have always
been reminded of the fact that ‘Customer is King’.
In
services industry, people (who serve) are important and process is
the way to avoid human error. Understanding market and customer
requirement is important in product development as well. A business,
at the end of the day, has to sell a product or service. This
requires extensive market research, understanding customer
requirements, development of world class product or service, and also
a lot of effort goes in marketing and sales. Across industries,
customer facing roles are appealing. Hence, sales and marketing teams
have most well dressed and groomed people. After all, it’s all
about impression. A customer experiences a product or service only
after being influenced by the representatives of the company.
In
marketing, typically one is taught that among all styles of marketing
the best one is through ‘word of mouth’. If someone says good
things about a product or service, customer goes about buying it –
or at least strongly considers it. That is why the feature of writing
reviews and giving ratings is also developed for e-commerce websites.
It shows – one cares for ‘what people say’. A customer, until
has his own experiences, cares about experiences of others. Many
customers go by brand. The brand is again built based on quality
served for a significant duration of time.
In
my blog ‘Technology
startup – basic how to‘
– I have mentioned 25 areas that are important to run a business.
However, the focus remains on understanding the market, doing the
best job, managing finances, people, marketing, sales and legal stuff
etc. But what about after-sales?
Yes!
companies do provide after-sales service also. There is an option of
writing feedback in case of services, and warranty or guarantee for
products. That means they care for customer’s opinion or
experiences and if something goes wrong with product, they fix it for
him, or give replacement. In certain situations, they even take the
product back and give a credit-note so that customer can buy
something else from them. In case of software products, free updates
come to help the customer even without asking.
The
cycle seems to be complete and the customer is assumed to be the king.
However,
if one reads between the lines, then everything is just money driven.
If there is so much of hype about marketing, then it revolves around
the simple fact that it helps make customer buy, and brings money in
return. Product or service creation is important as it is the one to
be sold. But once sold, even the best companies, start to cut corners
in defining customer experience after sales as it doesn’t bring
money to them.
However,
business owner still do fear ‘word of mouth’ publicity factors or
‘negative reviews’, for that they weigh their customers. If
return/credit-note/replacement works along with a “sorry” note,
its fine, otherwise they try to cool the customer down by a
compensation. Some risk is taken here as well, and so a few negative
experiences are shared by customers. It does impact the business.
However, numbers are analyzed and focus is put on the area that is
most profitable. Hence, in real, for a business ‘money’ is the
king, and ‘customer’ enjoys the feeling of being a king as long
as he is holding the real king.
Recently,
when my iPad stopped working on one fine day – within 6 months from
purchase – and I was guided to a service center to figure out the
hardware issue and replacement as a solution for the same. The bad
design for customer experience noticed was that it had to be shipped
from Singapore and cannot be immediately picked from the imagine
store located on the floor above the service center at Forum mall,
Bangalore. As a customer, my happiness factor is only that I am
receiving a new device after a few days – where I don’t have an
option to choose a new color also. What about the intuitive design
and human-emotional-fear-ease-comfort factors?
I
may no longer feel proud on the mention of the popular cartoon ‘three
apples that have changed the world‘.
But it does tell me, “Boss! Since you don’t pay for device
anymore, we don’t pay attention to your particular experience. We
give a new device to you being bounded by guarantee, and also, so
that you use it and buy new apps etc” – I read between the lines.
A
similar experience with Citibank. Citi, who have been providing best
online banking experience for years now, make the customer go through
the pain of divorce in case of account closure – with long queue
and manual process, even balance amount has no way to be received
through electronic means.
I
remember the parting song played while leaving from Jai Mahal Palace
(by Taj), in Jaipur, Rajasthan. That is an example of after-sales
service and making the customer loyal without a loyalty card, or
creating a case for ‘word of mouth’ marketing.
However,
mostly this is not the case. Customer faces a problem, and made to
speak with customer care executives. There is a concern on customer
leaving after unsatisfying response after these calls – more in
certain sectors – for example, telecommunication. There is a demand
for products to solve these kinds of problems as well, but focus is
always more on getting the business – getting the money, the real
king.
Comments
Post a Comment