BUSINESS BASICS NUMBER 5
Designed with the customer in mind. That is a business basic that tragically is often forgotten. Most of the time when we are designing something, we might be more focused on the technology of what we are doing or what the tangential business goals are or–dare we say it–saving the company money at the expense of the customer experience. All the time we are doing that, we are not thinking about how our design affects the customer. If the design is bad, so too will be the customer experience. From a business standpoint, that is a sacrifice we cannot afford to make.
We don’t have to look too far to see examples of bad customer experiences due to poor design. My two most frustrating examples of bad customer experience by design range from the mundane nitty-gritty of the public restroom to the refined nuances of corporate Web sites. Here we go:
1—Public Restrooms.
The most frustrating thing to me about using a public restroom is drying my hands after washing them. I do not care what all the so-called experts say about sanitation and cleanliness, blowing hot air on my hands while damaging my hearing from the jet engine blower is never a pleasant or efficient experience to me. Please give me paper towels!
Ah, paper towels. Now that is where things really deteriorate. Did you ever notice the one-inch handle on a lever you have to push down almost two feet to dispense about six inches of paper towel? So here you are, pumping on this stupid lever up and down about six times just to obtain a useable piece of paper towel. And of course, along the way, your wet fingers slip off that little lever for complimentary injuries to your hand and forearm as they crash into the adjoining stainless steel housing and frame.
Now remember, someone specifically designed this mechanism! This boggles my mind. Can you imagine the designer and the engineer planning this?
“ So how can we design this paper-towel dispenser to create as much work, frustration, and inefficiency for the customer as possible? We certainly don’t want to make this dispenser easy to use! ”
This is the epitome of bad customer experience by design.
2—Corporate Web Sites.
The most frustrating thing to me about some corporate Web sites involves the simplest matter: seeking an address or a phone number. I cannot count the times I have visited a corporate Web site with no other purpose than to obtain a simple phone number, email, or physical address. That is when the maddening search begins. Some Web sites do not even have a page or link labeled “contact” so now you are really up the creek. Equally amazing is when you do find a contact page or its equivalent, you click on it, and it takes you to a confusing labyrinth involving an automated internal message or chat system. You still do not have a phone number, email, or address. (And yes, of course I realize that as skilled businesspeople, we are pretty good at doing the online sleuthing to capture those phone numbers, emails, and addresses when we must. However, my point is that average consumers should never be subjected to these wild goose chases.)
Again remember, someone specifically designed this Web site! Can you imagine the Web designer and the marketing manager discussing the dirty deed?
“ Let’s be sure to tell the customer all about who we are and all our wonderful products and services, but remember: we must never give the customer an easy way to call, email, or visit us. Before we publish, let’s make sure we double check the entire Web site for any kind of a phone number, email, or physical location so we can remove them. ”
This too, is bad customer experience by design.
Our Responsibility
We can rant and rave about this all day especially because we are all customers. Nonetheless, as businesspeople, we must learn from it. Reflect on how your business designs its customer experience. If your design is contributing to excellent customer experience, then may you live long and prosper, and you will have many happy customers. On the other hand, if your design is looking more like my two examples above, then some serious redesign should be your top priority. The time to begin is now.
Customer experience, whether good or bad, is always by design.
