A Day In The Life Of Your Customer
By Lisa Duran, Customer Experience Consultant for The DiJulius Group
“If only they knew what my REAL life was like they would…”
Finish the rest of that sentence for your life. For me, I would say, “If they only knew what my real life was like they would…
- Be more efficient, I have a zillion things going on at one time.
- Be more patient when I have lost my dry cleaning ticket, my parking ticket etc.
- Have more empathy that I had to juggle work and school schedules to get there because I am a wife, a mom, a business owner, an employee, a school concession stand volunteer, the only one that takes care of the dogs.
- Not be mad that I’m late because frankly I’m just a mess.
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I am still amazed at the businesses that I have frequented for years that still don’t know anything about me. Granted I’m busy and sometimes I just want to run in and run out, but understanding that about me would be amazing! Saying something like, “Hi Lisa, I got your glasses ready, I know you’re probably running to the airport to a catch a plane somewhere so I’ve already bagged them up”. WOW! Now that would be a world-class experience.
What would your teams do differently if they really knew what a day in the life of their customer looked like?
An effective tool that we introduce and help create at the DiJulius group is The Day in the Life. The Day in the Life using video or pictures actually walks through real life examples of your customer’s day. What did our Customers have to go through in order to visit us today? Did they have to get a baby sitter? Did they have to take time off work? Did they have to plan their day around their visit to us? What struggles do they have? Are they fighting an illness, struggling financially, taking care of kids and aging parents? What are they celebrating and how does our product or service enhance that?
If I am a company like Best Buy, my video might show some scenarios such as:
- The teenager excited to get his Best Buy gift card so he can buy his wireless headphones to wear as he trains for the state track meet (something he’s been training to qualify for 3 years).
- The couple with their new adopted baby buying their first house and needing to buy a washer and dryer.
- The newly promoted manager who couldn’t wait to buy her new computer so she can change the world.
- The older gentleman buying a bigger TV so his wife who is losing her sight can enjoy TV while she can.
- The young man joining the Army needing to upgrade his phone for more data to keep in touch with family back home, especially his mom who has had a difficult time after the passing of dad.
This is a powerful tool for organizations to help their teams feel a great sense of purpose. They actually have a visual of how THEY can impact the lives of their customers. It’s also a great tool for onboarding new team members to demonstrate what is really important.
“People who feel good about themselves produce good results.” Ken Blanchard
During the Service Vision Workshop in our Customer Experience Executive Academy, we help our clients script their stories, which many turn into 3-5 minute videos. You can script your own. Ask your team what scenario ideas they have. I promise they will give you some really impactful ones. Start creating your storyboard using video or pictures. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just realistic. Have employees portray customers or ask some of your best customers to walk out the actual scenario. In both videos and pictures, you can use text bubbles to communicate the back-story.
I have seen clients create videos and picture presentations that are so moving there is not a dry eye in the house. One of my favorite Day in the Life of a Customer videos is Chick-fil-A’s “Every life has a story.. if we only bother to read it”.
If we only knew what the day in life of our customer really looked like we would __________
Now it’s your turn. Fill in the blank.
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