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Customer Service VS. Customer Experience

When you are in the business of evaluating customer services levels for your clients, you tend to notice the details. Walk into an ice cream store with your kids or grandkids and you are automatically in tune with the “vibe” of the store. Is there music playing? How easy/hard is it to figure out the menu options? Were you greeted when you walked in the door? How clean was the store? Were you thanked for business? All of these things play either a subconscious or conscious role in your experience.

I remember when an ice cream store chain stopped their mystery shopping service in lieu of social media reviews. Big mistake for a variety of reasons, but the lure of getting “free” customer reviews was enough for them to give it a try. They are not alone. There is actually a term for this. The “Review Economy”has created a dent in customer research. In fact many companies use it in lieu of customer satisfaction surveys.

A year later, I went in to one of the locations as a customer with my family. I witnessed a noticeable difference right away. I was never greeted. I placed my order after waiting in line and there was no upsell or cross sell at the register. Not a huge issue for an ice cream shop, right? When we found a place to sit however, I noticed how the floor beneath the table was very dirty and dusty. The table itself needed to be cleaned better from the previous guest. All things that as a major ice cream brand, it is hard to recover from. I will never go back to the store again after that visit. I will not share my findings in social media. I am the silent, unhappy customer.

Customer Service & Customer Experience: What’s the difference?

Customer service and customer experience are related but distinct concepts. Customer service refers to the support and assistance provided by a company to its customers before, during, and after a purchase. It includes the various ways in which a company interacts with its customers, such as answering questions, providing technical support, handling complaints, and resolving issues.

Customer experience, on the other hand, encompasses the entire customer journey, including all of the interactions and touchpoints a customer has with a company, from initial awareness and consideration, to purchase and post-purchase. It’s about creating a positive and seamless experience for customers across all channels and touchpoints, and ensuring that they feel valued, understood, and appreciated.

Customer Service is Part of the Customer Experience

While customer service is a critical component of the overall customer experience, it’s just one part of it. A company that provides excellent customer service can still fall short in terms of creating a positive and memorable customer experience. To truly excel in customer experience, companies need to focus on creating a customer-centric culture, understanding and anticipating customer needs, and delivering consistent and personalized experiences across all channels and touchpoints.

Forbes recently published a great article titled, “No Help is Better than Bad Help: Focusing on the Customer Experience.” They offered some great practical tips on how to provide a better customer experience. The one tip that stood out to me was to understand your customers.

Understand Your Customers

“Having a thorough understanding of the type of customers who walk through your door also aids in creating a positive customer experience. Know them, and figure out how to tailor their experiences to their needs. Being in tune with the customer goes a long way in creating an experience worth remembering.”

This for me sums up in part why a business still needs mystery shopping and customer satisfaction surveys. You can’t get this type of understanding from a social media review unless you can unmask the author behind the post. I am in favor of online reviews, but you need all of it to really understand how to develop, train and execute a good customer experience process.

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Customer Satisfaction Surveys: Are They Still Relevant?

You may wonder that in the age of online reviews, does a business really need to conduct customer satisfaction surveys. Between Google Reviews, Yelp, and Social Media Reviews, many companies have ditched the surveys.

Conducting customer satisfaction surveys is an effective way to understand your customers’ perceptions and experiences with your product or service. It goes way beyond an online review and when done correctly, can provide you with deeper customer insights.

Steps in Creating an Effective Customer Satisfaction Survey

  1. Define your objectives: The first step is to determine the purpose of the survey. What do you want to achieve? Are you looking to identify areas where you can improve your product or service, or are you simply looking to gauge overall satisfaction? Having a clear objective will help you create effective survey questions and analyze the results.
  2. Determine the survey method: You can conduct surveys through various methods, including email, phone, online surveys, or in-person surveys. Choose the method that best suits your audience and budget.
  3. Create effective survey questions: Your survey questions should be clear, concise, and relevant to your objectives. Avoid leading questions that may influence the response. Use a mix of open-ended and close-ended questions to gather both quantitative and qualitative data.
  4. Test the survey: Before sending out the survey, test it with a small group of customers to ensure that the questions are clear, and the survey is easy to complete.
  5. Send out the survey: Once you have finalized the survey, it’s time to send it out to your target audience. Make sure to communicate the purpose of the survey and the expected timeframe for completion.
  6. Analyze the results: Once you have collected the responses, analyze the data to identify trends and patterns. Look for areas where you can make improvements and areas where you are performing well.
  7. Share the results: Share the results with your team and stakeholders to keep everyone informed about the customer satisfaction levels. Use the insights gained from the survey to make informed decisions about product or service improvements.
  8. Take action: Finally, take action on the feedback received. Implement changes based on the feedback to improve customer satisfaction levels and retain customer loyalty.

Over the last 25 years, we have conducted a variety of customer satisfaction surveys for our clients. Contact us if you would like to learn more.

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Going from Zero -100 Overnight for Meal Kit Food Delivery

The meal kit industry was launched in Sweden by Kicki Theander and it was called Middagsfrid back in 2007. In 2012, Blue Apron, Hello Fresh and Plated debuted in the US. Home Chef began in 2013. By 2015, meal kit food delivery services hit 1 Billion dollars. There are now over 150 meal kit options for consumers to try.

By 2018, many were speculating on the future of the meal kit delivery industry. The space became much more crowded and the novelty wore off. Many felt as though having the service was great in that it reduced food waste. Packaging was not ideal as it produced too much paper and plastic. In a nutshell, it was doomed to fail and many speculated it would.

NPD group food analyst Darren Seifer says there are two main reasons customers abandon their meal kit subscriptions, and the first is that they’re too expensive once the initial coupon or sign-up promos run out. Second is that people want more spontaneity when deciding what they want for dinner.

The Market Grows

Grandview Research published a study, Meal Kit Delivery Services Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Offering (Heat & Eat, Cook & Eat), By Service (Single, Multiple), By Platform (Online, Offline), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2020 – 2027.

They report:

Multiple kit delivery services are expected to register the fastest CAGR of 13.0% from 2020 to 2027. With inflating lifestyle, it’s common to have families with working parents who face time crunch in cooking. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report published in April 2019, among married couples in 2018, 48.8% of families had both employed husbands as well as the wife. Similarly, among married couples with children, 63% of families had both employed husband and wife. This trend is expected to expand the scope of meal kit delivery services in families.

COVID Pandemic

Once the pandemic hit in March of 2020, the meal kit companies exploded. When consumers were unable to get the food they wanted at their local grocery store, meal kits subscriptions became an option. They created a fun, DIY activity that the entire family could do together. Many people who didn’t even know how to cook, all of a sudden were tasked with this chore at the end of a long day full of Zoom meetings and virtual learning for the kids. It made sense.

Some of the companies were not able to keep up with the demand. I personally tried three subscriptions, Home Chef, Hello Fresh and Gobble. Out of the three, Home Chef was my favorite. I needed to give it up however, because of the issues in delivery. I started with Tuesday delivery and then week after week it wouldn’t come until Wednesday. That was not a huge issue, but when it did come, it came almost at room temperature. The ice packs were 3/4 of the way thawed. When I called, they assured me they would look into the issue with the delivery company and get back to me. They never did and I cancelled. Hello Fresh’s portion size was small and over priced in my opinion. Gobble was packaged the best. They also offered extras like cookies and even breakfast options. I didn’t care for the meal options however.

The Struggle is Real

Today I read an article in LinkedIn about the struggles Blue Apron had during the Pandemic.

The meal-kit delivery company saw customers drop off by 7.5% during the third quarter as it struggled to meet an earlier surge in demand. While it’s expanding fulfillment centers and paring menu options to simplify production lines, those changes won’t be completed until next year. 

An employee’s viewpoint was shared on the post:

Friends,

The past 6 months were the most stressful months of my entire life.

On March 19th, my work at Blue Apron completely changed overnight. Thousands of customers coast to coast flocked to Blue Apron in a time when their local grocery stores sold out of food, everyone was locked down, and Blue Apron was their only option. Given the overwhelming demand, that meant I worked a lot overtime on nights and weekends. I probably worked 6 weeks with no days off, no weekends, nothing. To be honest, it’s been the duty of a lifetime. I’m proud of my work, and I’m really lucky to be able to continue this work to today.

What do you think? Can meal kit subscription companies make it in the long run? Customer service will be key.

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