A HOUSE DIVIDEDTwo Perspectives on Managing the Customer Experience

Ryan Freitas | ryan@adaptivepath.com

“Ideas from Neighboring Fields.”

“I stick with subjects I'm passionate about and avoid any article or subject where I'd have to adopt the pose of ‘expert’ or ‘authority’.”

- Tony Bourdain

Before they ever get on a flight, Virgin America’s customers have encountere multiple systems within the airline’s “Back Stage.”

Flight Search

ReservationsDatabase

Loyalty Systems CRM

Ticketing

“Line of Visibility”

The customer experience is built on the intensity, variability and appropriateness of the service encounter.

THE “FRONT STAGE” PERSPECTIVETHE “BACK STAGE” PERSPECTIVE

The customer experience is built on the quality, consistency and timeliness of the product or service when the customer receives it.

A HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE

“It is essential to consider the entire network of services that comprise the back and front stages as complementary parts of a service system.”

- Glushko & Tabas

Everything you need to know about managing the customer experience can be learned from the restaurant industry.

MANAGING EXPERIENCEMy “high concept pitch.”

“Back Stage” = The Kitchen

THE KITCHEN’S PRIORITIES

“Quality”

Did your meal taste good? Was your food fresh? Well seasoned? The right temperature?

“Consistency”

You order the porkchop every time. Did they cook it the same way the always have?

“Timeliness”

Did the kitchen time your meal correctly? Did you wait too long for a course? Did you feel rushed?

“Front Stage” = The Dining Room

THE DINING ROOM’S PRIORITIES

“Intensity”

Was your server responsive to your table? Were they overbearing, or invisible?

“Variability”

Did you get the feeling that your server had the freedom to treat you as a special guest?

“Appropriateness”

How well did the level of service match up with your expectations?

HIGH VARIABILITY

LOW VARIABILITY

HIG

H IN

TEN

SITY

LOW

INTE

NSI

TY

15% tip“Y’know. Tobe polite.”

20% tip“Maybe they

remember me.”

25%+ tip“They loveme here.”

18% tip“They were quite

attentive.”

MANAGING EXPERIENCEThe stakes we’re playing at.

£4.3 Billion

27 March, 2008

1 2 3

WHAT DOES CASCADING FAILURE LOOK LIKE?

WHAT THREE DAYS CAN COST

30,000 bags separated from owners500 flights cancelled£16m in losses to British Airways

"Terminal 5 is like a Formula 1 car that has two-star petrol in it. It is a perfect storm of poor infrastructure and over-optimistic assumptions."

- Mike Platt, Hogg Robinson Group

“@*&%$!”

MANAGING EXPERIENCEWhat any good chef would tell you.

MANAGING EXPERIENCEFrom the Back of the House

ORCHESTRATE DELIVERY

Structure your offering to make efficient use of the resources you have available.

An essential element of menu design is ensuring no single station will end up being overloaded every night.

“getting hit”

“getting slammed/crushed”

“in the weeds/dans la merde”

Be Prepared!

OPTIMIZE FOR CONSISTENCY

Studies have found that customers prefer predictable service to variable service of higher intensity.

In the dining experience, “variability is the enemy.” Consistency is essential, from the dish’s fire time to its plating.

Longevity

MANAGING EXPERIENCEFrom the Front of the House

Keep an eye on the output of backend systems to predict macro- and micro-trends in production.

PAY ATTENTION TO PATTERNS

“I know what’s up in the kitchen based on how fast the food is coming out... and I disregard everything else.”

USE WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

A comped drink or dessert, or a visit from the General Manager can defuse a bad situation quickly.

What happens in the kitchen is out of the hands of the service staff. This can impact their ability to meet the needs of customers.

SERVICE RECOVERY PARADOX

This means that a good recovery can turn angry and frustrated customers into loyal customers. In fact it can create even more goodwill than if things had gone smoothly in the first place.”

“With a highly effective service recovery, a service or product failure offers a chance to achieve higher satisfaction ratings from customers than if the failure had never happened.

http://tinyurl.com/4lzzob- Bernhard Schindlholzer

netflix envelopes

RECORD EVERYTHING, AND SHARE IT

They also have a second system of manager “logs.” Any detail that could contribute to better service the next night is kept there.

Top restaurants have databases of the usual data: your reservation history, table size, visit frequency, average check amount.

WHY SHARE WIDELY?

Having vital customer data stored in the head of a single employee, no matter how senior, is untenable.

The restaurant industry has personnel with shifting weekly schedules. It also has a shockingly low employee retention rate.

MANAGING EXPERIENCEFrom the Both Sides of the House

Velcro!

COORDINATE ACTIVITY TO DISTRIBUTE LOAD

Forget “C.Y.A.” - figure out how to cover everybody’s collective ass.

Restaurants structure service times and promos to ensure a steady number of customers throughout the night.

KNOW WHERE TO DRAW YOUR LINE

If it makes sense to move elements of production forward, consider it as a means to build a compelling experience.

Restaurants experiment with the elements of the dining experience that are hidden from their customers.

The Open Kitchen

VW’s“Glass Factory”

MANAGING EXPERIENCEIn Conclusion.

NO MAGIC BULLET, NO MOMENT OF TRUTH

“A service outcome is never the result of a single encounter between a service provider and service consumer. Instead, it emerges from the service system of back and front stage services.”

- Glushko & Tabas

“Our bright and glorious future.”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Ryan Freitas | ryan@adaptivepath.com