Why Customer Experience is like a 24-roll package of toilet paper

What does it feel like to have a 24-roll package of toilet paper or a freezer full of frozen vegetables right now?  It feels like winning the lottery.  Sure, the products themselves meet needs, but there’s more to it than that.  Why do some people hoard six months worth of food and paper products when at this very moment, they only need one roll of toilet paper and one package of frozen vegetables?  It’s because it feels better to know you have them.  We all feel more secure when not only are our current needs being met, but our future needs are taken care of as well.  We are calmer, more relaxed, and we can breathe easier knowing that we won’t need to worry about those needs now or later.  We are confident when we know that the product will work as advertised, won’t give us problems, and that we have enough.

Customer Experience is a perception – it’s a customer believing that, not only is your product going to solve their needs, but that your business genuinely cares about them and their happiness.  CX isn’t marketing; it’s about the experience your customers have with your business and your products.  It’s a sense that you will fulfill their needs and wants, both now and in the future. It’s a feeling of security that they will have consistent experiences with the quality of your product as well as the quality of the customer service of your organization.

At this point in time, any package of toilet paper or frozen vegetables will do, but brands will matter after this present crisis is over.  Individual businesses are obviously currently struggling themselves but customers will remember your words and actions when they again have choices.  They will ask – did you take care of me?  Did you take care of my loved ones?  Did you give grandma a hard time when she tried to fill a prescription?  Did you understand that a customer had a young child struggling with schoolwork sitting next to them at the kitchen table during the customer service call?  Do your customers feel that you were looking out for them in their time of need?  Like a friend who stands by us in tough times, “now I know who my real friends are,” customers will remember how you made them feel when they needed help the most.  Did you have “senior only” hours to lessen the danger for the more at-risk populations?  Did you waive fees?  Did you understand and empathize with the new daily struggles of your customers?  Did you treat them as a person who matters? With respect, humanity, kindness, compassion and empathy?  

Did you take advantage of them and the situation like those who are hoarding thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer in their garages and then selling at a markup?  Or were you more like the grocery store worker who, in a loud voice, announced a new delivery of packaged meat as if he was Santa Claus on Christmas morning?  He seemed to thrive on the happy faces of his customers, thrilled that he had the power to make their day, all while asking customers if there was anything else he could help them with.  Customers will remember.

When this current crisis is over and people have more choices of what to buy and where to buy it, why would they choose your business and products?  What can you do to make it easier for customers to choose you?  How can you prove to your customers, like the feeling of having a fridge full of food, that they are safe, secure and taken care of?  What do your customers need from you to be sure that your products will work as advertised, and that not only are their current needs being met, but also their future ones?  What can you do for your customers to equal the sigh of relief at seeing a package of frozen green beans on the shelf?  How can you be a 24-roll package of toilet paper?