In my recent blog “In Customer experience, first impressions matter” I shared my experience as a customer and how important first impressions can be in a customer’s experience. I mentioned that once I got home I realized I had bought the wrong item and would have to return to the store to exchange it with the correct product. Well, I did return to the store the following day. Here’s how it went.
Hubby waited for me in the car, as I said I would only be a minute. A simple exchange. Shouldn’t take very long. A fast swap out. Trading the wrong item for the right one.
Customer experience is the holistic perception a customer has of a business. And as is the case with most experiences, feelings matter. Already feeling edgy considering my initial experience, I proceeded to the vitamin display and plucked the proper vitamins, and made my way to the cashier to request an exchange. A customer was being served in front of me, so I waited my turn. The cashier greeted me with a smile, and I explained my situation and shared that I wanted to simply exchange this – holding my previous purchase (prenatal vitamins) in my left hand – for these – proper vitamins in my right hand. She replied, “Oh you’ll have to go to the desk over there for returns, sorry about that” and pointed to a desk over to the side of the store near the entrance. It’s funny because I noticed that desk when I walked in because it resembled a control station, circular in shape and surrounded by plexiglass. So, I made my way over and stood in line (again) behind the same woman I noticed being served at the control station when I first entered the store. This might take a while.
And it did. While waiting in line I became a silent witness to what I would describe as the most painful refund transaction I have ever witnessed. The customer was getting a refund, but from what I could gather, wanted the refund amount (which was less than one dollar), to be added to her points card offered by the store. The customer representative tried at least three times to complete the transaction on the machine, and with overt frustration explained that the system was not working properly, and then proceeded to another open cashier counter to attempt to complete this transaction leaving the control station vacant. My attention was now drawn to the new location of this transaction, and once again the painful-to-watch transaction continued. Finally, the customer service representative exclaimed, “Sorry, it won’t allow me to put the 67 cents back on your points card, so I’ll have to refund you with coins.” Yes, you read that correctly, 67 cents.
What the actual heck?
Meanwhile, I’m still waiting in line, but with a free front-row seat to a real-time customer experience nightmare. Seeing me standing there, another employee entered the control station and offered his help. I explained my situation and thought it would be rather simple. I give him the purchased vitamins with the receipt in exchange for the correct vitamins which were the same price.
It was not simple.
What followed were many clicks and clacks on the keyboard, some printing of paper, some shuffling of paper, more clicks and clacks to search and edit inventory quantity in the database, an overt exhale of frustrated breath, and then the passing of a pen to sign the paper, and voila I was finally free to go with correct vitamins in hand.
Meanwhile, I received a text message from my hubby still waiting in the car, “Should I send in a search party?”
Yes, friends. I think the whole process took 18 minutes. Eighteen minutes for a simple exchange of a product of similar value with a receipt. A transaction that simple, should never be that time-consuming or difficult.
I felt so many emotions walking away from the store. Discouraged, frustrated, and with an underlying feeling of sadness for the business and the people working inside the business. It was a broken system.
As businesses, any process that intersects with customers which is confusing and time-consuming, and that appears to be unnecessary are not only hindering the business’s success, they are potentially causing irreparable damage to their business and brand.
Businesses must do all they can to minimize (or eliminate) any friction in the customer’s journey. It is imperative to fix any process that has the potential for a negative customer experience. For many businesses, the refund/exchange process is a common point of potential friction, often because the customer’s expectations and the business’s processes are not aligned. Customers today want (actually expect) a seamless return process. Businesses that make this step difficult by adding many layers that require customers to do what is perceived as beyond necessary and cumbersome, will walk away from the business with a bad taste and in some situations spit the words, “never again”.
And ‘never again’ are two words a business never wants to hear.
Running a business is hard. There is so much to think about. To focus on and do. But the reality is all that hard work in building a business is slowly chipped away when the customer experience is bad. And it can happen slowly and quietly with one customer at a time, and likely more rapidly and noisily when a customer has to jump through hoops to handle a simple transaction.
As businesses, we can’t blame it on a system. We chose that system. The systems, the processes, and the policies are all a reflection of the business. Customers don’t care what system you use, or where you place the blame. It will always come back to the business. And it’s the business’s job to make it easy to do business.
If your system or process or policy is preventing you from providing a smooth customer transaction, it is time to update or change your system. It is time to reimagine it. A system that prevents you from serving your customer in the best possible way, is no longer serving you. Your business deserves better. You deserve better. Your employees and customers deserve better too.
The goal is to leave your customers wanting to return and tell others about you for all the right reasons.
As a Customer Experience Guide (and lifelong CX enthusiast), I share this story not to criticize this business but to share a lived experience in the hope that a business may find this story and it helps in some way. Big or small. Because I do believe wholeheartedly that your business matters. If you own a business or work in a business, I encourage you to find and fix friction points. Because your business matters. And your customers do too.
Thriving together,
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