The Customer Revolt / Two CX Legendary Brands Struggling
The Customer Revolt / Two CX Legendary Brands Struggling / In Search of Greatness / Undercover Customer
A weakening economy exposes companies with lousy customer service
What do the following companies have in common: TGI Fridays, Red Lobster, JOANN Fabric, Spirit Airlines, Big Lots, Hooters, and Forever 21? These are just some companies that have all filed for bankruptcy in the last few months. Do you know what else they have in common? None of them were known for good customer service.
The Customer Revolt
Customers are tired of the customer service recession and are not taking it anymore. They have had to deal with shrinkflation, trickflation, tipflation, and inflation has caused the experience gap, where customers are paying more and getting less. This has resulted in a customer revolt, where consumers collude in a phenomenon known as “underconsumption,” a popular trend with Gen Z and Millennials. “No Buy 2025” and the Feb. 28 “Economic Blackout” day called for by The People’s Union USA, a movement advocating “economic resistance, government accountability, and corporate reform.”
*Related – “Shrinkflation”: Learning to Recognize And Navigate The Customer Service Recession
Two Customer Experience Legends Falling from Grace
For over 40 years, Starbucks and Southwest Airlines dominated their industries because of what made their brands unique to all their competitors: the customer experience they consistently delivered.
Losing sight of what made them great
Starbucks offered the “third place” for customers to have an escape, for as long as they wanted, from work and home. Customers get their drinks any way they like, literally over 170,000 ways. The baristas would write customers’ names on the cups along with lovely messages. In the last several years, it has become obsessed with implementing online and to-go ordering strategies, mainly through its mobile app, reducing its in-store seating, and reducing its menu offerings. Sales and customer count have dramatically declined.
*Related – The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience 2.0
Southwest Airlines has historically been recognized as the most profitable U.S. airline. What made them unique? Open seating, free checked bags, no rescheduling or cancellation fees, and the nicest crew in the airline industry. Recently, they have moved away from many of those things and are experiencing backlash, announcing they will no longer be offering open seating and free checked bags
Are you really looking at your customer experience from your customer’s viewpoint?
Several years ago, during one of my annual checkups at the dentist’s office, I realized the disconnect between what employees see and what our customers do. In each exam room, they had a TV playing, which I assumed was for the patient. However, they the news on. Watching/hearing the news for over 30 minutes does not create the escape I think it was intended to do. As I got my teeth checked and cleaned, I was reclined only to stare at the ceiling; some tiles were dated and stained. I realized the staff probably never looks up to see what the patients see.
Undercover Customer
It is critical to literally be our own customers at every touch point. Call your own business, wait on hold, order or schedule on our website, try to navigate your website, leave a message and send an email, and see how long we wait for a response.
In Search of Greatness
I’m not sure if you saw Timothée Chalamet’s acceptance speech last month at the 31st Annual SAG Awards, but I loved what he said.
“I know the classiest thing would be to downplay the effort that went into this role and how much this means to me, but the truth is this was five and a half years of my life. I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan..I cannot downplay the significance of this award…but the truth is, I am really in pursuit of greatness. I know that people don’t talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats. I’m inspired by the greats…I’m as inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis and Marlon Brando and Viola Davis as I am by Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps, and I want to be up there. So I’m deeply grateful to that. This doesn’t signify that, but it’s a little more fuel, it’s a little more ammo to keep going. Thank you so much.”
I love that this young man put it out there. I don’t think people dream big enough to speak publicly about it, and it should be encouraged.
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Podcast #196: Navigating Price vs. Quality in Services
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