Customer Experiences, Causes, and Outcomes

Customer Experiences, Causes, And Outcomes Many of the qualitative findings of this research are in keeping with basic common sense when it comes to customer service. The customer's own attitude and emotional/psychological state or "frame of mind" prior to the delivery of customer service seems to have a significant impact on determining the overall outcome of the customer experience as well as the reaction of the customer to staff comments or interactions.

Specifically, a negative outlook or mood on the part of the customer is shown to increase the potential for a negative customer experience and outcome with a fair degree of reliability, while a positive mood or frame of mind at best contributes to an indifferent perception and assessment of the overall customer experience.

That is, the customer being in a bad mood will lead to a negative customer experience, all else being equal, while the customer being in a good mood will not have the same degree of effect in a positive direction. This means that a customer's bad mood can be disastrous in terms of creating a negative experience, while a customer's positive mood does not actually assist in the customer experience.

Factors that appear to be highly influential in creating positive customer experiences all appear to be directly related to the service provided rather than internal customer elements; the level of staff knowledge and courtesy, the pricing level and explanations, and other similar areas of traditional customer service and consumer selection are all mechanisms by which a positive customer experience can be created, according to this research. The qualitative findings are somewhat more nebulous, though here are trends that can be identified in this area, as well.

Though the results to many earlier items are simplistic "yes" and "no" answers, these items reinforce the findings from the qualitative research that was conducted. Early items on the quantitative instrument identify staff greetings, friendliness, and positivity as heavily noticed features by customers, and it logically follows that when these elements are present the customer experience is more generally positive.

The same is true of staff personalization and their asking of questions to better understand the situation the customer is facing, both of which are fairly highly responded to by customers. Also of significant importance in the findings of the quantitative portion of this research is the fact that a lack of knowledge and effectiveness as well as certain other shortcomings on the part of initial customer-staff interactions are highly recognized by customers and will almost certainly lead to initially negative experiences.

The simple fact of needing to speak to a second staff member was ranked as a highly negative occurrence/aspects of the customer experience, meaning that even if a second staff member was able to effectively handle whatever issue the customer was having the likelihood of a positive overall experience was quite slim.

Product elements such as contracts, the availability of alternative plans, and pricing also had an impact on the overall experience that the customer has, however these do not appear to be as directly influential when it comes to the quality of the experience. The findings of this part of the research suggest that the personal elements of the interaction that takes place between customers and staff are the most decisive factors in determining the overall quality of the experience on the part of the customer.

Recommendations Based on the findings of the qualitative portion of the analysis, it is recommended that the customer's mood be ascertained and noted at the outset of the customer's contact and the commencement of the customer-staff interaction as a means of determining how best to proceed with the interaction and deliver a positive overall customer experience.

If the staff member notes a negative mood on the part of the customer in terms of tone of voice, speech patterns and word choice, or through other elements of the customer's interaction with the staff member, the staff member should adopt specific tones intended to soothe or otherwise improve customer mood.

This can only be accomplished t a certain degree, and it is not expected that a staff member will be able to move a customer's mood from fully negative (which could be caused by any number of events in the customer's life) to fully positive, however any correction in the customer's mood that the staff members makes can lead to a significant shift in the overall experience of the customer; if the degree of negativity in the initial customer mood can be lessened even slightly then the customer experience can much more easily be made positive.

After this, or if the customer initially exhibits a positive mood, then the most important factor in terms of creating a positive experience is the level of friendliness, knowledge, and helpfulness the staff presents to customers. For this reason, it is recommended that staff be properly trained not only with the latest and most relevant information regarding the actual products and services being offered and the problems that customers might encounter, but also in manners of speech that convey a sense of friendliness and of competence and knowledge.

This will allow for the creation of a more positive overall experience. The quantitative data and findings in this research also yield some direct and practical recommendations that identify means of creating more positive customer experiences through staff training and development. Again, this data matches the qualitative data in calling for more training and development in terms of creating.