Tailor The Experience
As usual, Seth Godin really understands how things should be – especially when it comes to the customer experience. His suggestion: tailor the customer service experience based on prior actions. Seth calls them states.
The point Seth makes is that one size does fit all when it comes to software and the way people use it. People will want to see different things and will probably need and use different things. So, why not tailor the experience to what they will likely need?
The best applications do this without you even noticing. All you notice is that it works well. They will let you override their “intelligence” (or lack thereof) if the program ends up removing something you actually do want or adding something you don’t, but in general, if your application can “get it” and change its around accordingly, you are really helping the customer experience.
It is also important to keep in mind that things don’t always have to be removed completely. They can just be:
- made less prominent
- hidden under another layer of menus
- be made smaller (smaller font, more subtle colors, etc.)
They’re still there – the program just knows you aren’t using them and changes accordingly.
Other things that companies like to do is (keep in mind – these are all done automatically):
- have more help documentation and tips show for new users or for features that users haven’t used much.
- point users towards parts of the application they haven’t used before.
- provide additional deals and incentives for addons that users might find useful in the software.
- show the features and such that users use the most right on the front page or main screen (often called the dashboard).
Think about it. Do I need to see that I have a balance of $0 every time I login or just when there actually is a balance, or maybe 5 days before and after the billing period? Like Glen said on Friday, why can’t the ATM address us by name and remember our language preference?
It is all thinking like that. Neither the concept nor the implementation are really complicated. It is just one of those areas of the customer experience that makes a lot of sense once you start thinking about it and is really useful once you start doing it. However, you have to think about it and you have to invest the time and money into making it happen.
Seth also mentions a pretty funny story about a company that used to steal their ideas. So, they tailored the user experience just for them. However, instead of helpful tips and hints, they put up fake announcements and the like. Clever!
When it comes to tailoring the experience, where do you think you have room to improve? What are you already doing?
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