Customer Satisfaction

Customer service is graduating in India. Things have changed in last couple of years in the service industry and levels for customer satisfaction are rising. Many of my friends have studied Management of Services and few hundreds of them will learn this subject in the next semester. Undoubtedly this is one of the wonderful subject to study. The kind of insight one can develop about customer satisfaction is phenomenal. What can offer a customer delight and what can put off the customer is very subjective yet can be generalized to some extent. One of the challenges that the service providers face is managing sudden spurt in demand, may be sporadic demand. In other words I will call it as keeping the waiting customer in good mood till the service is delivered. This can range from helping the customers track their consignment to managing queues in supermarkets. The usual approaches like advance booking, off peak hours, online ordering and store pick up, which are practiced, are valid but something more needs to be done. People and process both have a major role in future to accomplish this.

Many a times when I call the customer service over the telephone, very often I listen to most uninteresting messages while I am on hold. If these promotional messages are mundane or are not of any interest for me then the wait becomes irritating, more so when it’s my paid call. This irritation has impact on the final outcome. Similarly waiting at the checkout in a supermarket can also be extremely irritating. At times I may finish shopping in ten minutes but has to wait for twenty minutes for payment. While waiting in restaurants the ‘wait’ can kill my appetite. If I am with my four year old granddaughter she might lose her interest, and I might lose my temper. Many times I decide to grow my hairs to shoulder length while waiting in the salon and going through old magazines garnished with shredded hairs of multiple customers, that I confuse with commas or capital I at times. These waits are mostly boring and managing these well can help to retain the customers. One of the most irritating wait is in doctor’s clinic. I have yet to see a doctor who has kept his appointment. Sitting for your turn and watching anatomical charts, disease charts and gloomy faces of patients makes me more sick. This waiting is most painful, more painful than going through the old magazines that the doctor brought from his home or bought from Raddiwala. Even though there is a technological advancement, banks still have the rush, more so during the first few days of the month or after the weekends or bank holidays. Waiting to get your own money from the bank is not a pleasant experience.

There are many more painful waits and I can continue for couple pages more. The bottom line is how to make these waits pleasant. Music is one answer, but again what kind of music. This is again is subjective. TV monitors, may be a way out. One of the Honda service centers in New Jersey have multiple TV monitors mounted at some distance from each other in the waiting area. One can choose the channel one likes. The subjectivity is taken care off to some extent. The service center also offer free snacks, juices, soft drinks, tea and coffee. The wait becomes bearable. Tata Motors service center in Navi Mumbai offers tea in 50 ml thin plastic cups, in a gloomy environment, while the one on the bypass in Pune has better ambience and better quality of hot beverages. (Importance of physical environment!). It’s a good attempt but the imitating American design doesn’t help. The social stratification and other disparities annul this Tata attempt. Acceptability to sit next to a Sumo driver for an owner of Aria and have a cup of coffee in a 100 ml disposable paper cup is difficult in Indian society. There has to be separate area for elites to overcome this hindrance.

America has a solution for my wait in salons. There are many salons that offer me web check in. I log on to the website of the desired salon and check in on available time slot. Accordingly I leave my home and arrive at the salon to directly get in to the barber’s chair. There is a sadistic pleasure to see the waiting customers when I walk in.

Young customer in waiting

Many of the American restaurants offer drawing book and set of crayons to children accompanying the parents, to keep them busy till food is served. Indian restaurants (in USA) are busy in making money and ignore these young customers. McD offers a toy on some kid’s menu, in most of the countries where they serve. Offering free refills to customers buying a soft drink is very common in American fast food joints. To manage waiting, PF Chang’s Chinese Bistro gives a hand held gadget when the customers arrive at the counter and if they have to wait for the table.

I was waiting....

With the gadget in hand the customer is free to move around or have drink in the bar or even go back to their parked car. The gadget will flash light and buzz when the table is ready. In few places in Navi Mumbai the restaurants have kept few rides, like rocking horse or Mary go round or toy car for children and that also keeps their parents busy too. A restaurant is Navi Mumbai that is closed now was having paper table-mats with puzzles, riddles and anecdotes. Customers would keep themselves busy solving the puzzles or riddles till food was served.

Technology has helped Domino’s. The online order placed with Domino’s can be tracked till the delivery. This Domino’s tracker keeps me updated right from the moment I place the order till the pizza is delivered. I can open multiple windows on my laptop or tablet, work or listen to music or watch youtube and also check the status of my order. Waiting for the pizza becomes comfortable.

My order on Domino's Tracker

Most of the banks in USA offer free tea or coffee. Customers can pick up K-cup (premix in a sealed disposable cup) of their choice pour hot water and enjoy the beverage. Keeping chocolates or candies in a jar is again common. Some more enterprising entities keep a box of cookies also. Thus one can munch a cookie, sip a hot beverage while waiting to transact the business and walk out with candies when they are through.   

Self-checkout at supermarkets is another option that is available in the USA. But if there is a queue for this then again we are back to square one. Such checkouts however are supervised by an employee who can offer help in case of any difficulty. The human involvement is welcome and at times necessary to for assistance or malpractices by unscrupulous customers.

Fortunately the problem of waiting and the boredom associated with it has been reduced to a large extent by the current technology. The smartphones have come to the rescue. FB, WhatsApp, loaded games or online games offer some respite to the waiting customers. The least use of a cell phone in USA is for talking. The cell phone is used for almost everything except talking (incoming is not free in USA). A step to please customers that has been adapted by service providers is to offer free WiFi. Supermarkets, malls, restaurants, airports, train stations, you name it, all these provide free internet access. The customers are taking care of themselves so the service providers have some respite. However in this fast changing world, this is not the end, but just a beginning for offering newer avenues for customer satisfaction. Customers are going to be more demanding.

In the service industry a pleasant experience is must before and after the customer transacts the business. The pre and post production experience has a lasting impact to retain and attract customers. This is possible with involvement of “people” in pre-production and delivery of the service. Automation, IVR can never offer that human touch which can create a magic in customer satisfaction. The greatest requirement of one of the Ps of services mix, “People”, is at these two stages. Manage these well and you are on the right track. Technology has its limitations.

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