Something somewhere might just not be right. If this is happening with your organisation’s customer experience design, here is some advice on how to deal with the issue.
When it comes to customer experience, often there are cases where many good intentions have turned out badly. When that happens, leaders sometimes start defending the initial intentions of the design. At the same time, they completely ignore the current reality, which is far from rosy.
If the solution isn’t working, fix it
In truth, sometimes a reworking of your customer experience design may be much needed. An article on the business2community.com website tells the following story of a process which was designed in order to streamline B2B customer billing. It did not go well at all. Maybe you will recognise a similar pattern in your own organisation.
- The invoicing team identified the problem correctly: for customers it was difficult to understand the complex bills being distributed to them.
- Nonetheless, customers were used to getting such lengthy, detailed invoices.
- Then all of a sudden they received a one-page bill with cryptic acronyms.
- The invoicing team's solution was incorrect. Using acronyms in order to shorten the invoices did not eliminate the problems customers had understanding bills.
- The acronyms were created by an internal team which even field-tested them with several customers.
- Focus groups and some surveys led the team to believe this was the right solution.
However, after introduction of the solution, several thousand invoices were sent out. There was a lack of communication accompanying the change, which led to a massive increase in service calls. That in turn caused frustration. Obviously, a better solution to the identified problem was needed.
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