Compelling customer conversations

I recently walked into a store of one of my favourite coffee chains and noticed they were launching a new coffee.

The promotional material on the tables showed a picture of the new coffee and it looked good.

So, I thought I’d try one.

This is the conversation I had when I was served at the counter (not word for word);

ASSISTANT: Hello, what can I get for you?

ME: I’d like to try one of your new coffees please.

ASSISTANT: Sure, would you like anything else?

ME: Yes please, may I have a croissant.

ASSISTANT: Will that be all?

ME: Yes thanks.

I picked up my coffee from the end of the counter, found an empty seat in a good spot and sat down to drink it – it was good.

I started to wonder; how did this new coffee come about? Was the idea from an employee? Is it doing well and will it stay on the menu?

I then realised what a massive opportunity the brand had missed to emotionally engage me with the product, their new coffee.

Sure, the quality was good and probably I’d tell someone if I was asked but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so.

Why not?

What was missing was an emotional engagement to the new product.

What was needed was a ‘compelling customer conversation’ through a good story.

To explain what I mean, let me replay the ‘moment of truth’ I would have  loved to experience;

BARRISTER: Hello, what can I get for you?

ME: I’d like to try one of your new coffees please.

BARRISTER: Of course – thanks for giving it a go – have you had one yet?

ME: No, not yet – what’s it like?

BARRISTER: You’ll love it – since we’ve launched it customers up and down the country have really taken to it. It was by a stroke of luck it came about – you’ll never guess how it was invented?

ME: Really? How?

The conversation continues…

If the interaction had taken a route similar to the one described above I’d have picked up my coffee and long after I’d found my seat and started to drink it, I’d still be thinking about the story and how it seemed to make the coffee taste so much richer.

The power of the story told by the Barrister, through a ‘compelling customer conversation’, would create a deeper emotional connection to the new product – I’d fall in love with it and unprompted tell anyone who’d listen about how amazing it is.

The danger in our fast-moving world is customer mediocrity and there’s no excuse.

In such rational times , brands that enable their people to have ‘compelling conversations with customers’ will not only create a rich experience for customers but will also stand out among their competition.

The next time I visit a store of the same chain, I’m going to ask about the new coffee – maybe, just maybe there’s a story waiting to be heard?

Filed under: The Customer Interface, Customer experience

Can employees be trusted to interact with customers online?

I believe employees should be trusted to interact with customers online.

Employees interact with customers in retail stores,  call centers and with friends and family at the pub – why then shouldn’t organisations allow employees to interact fully with customers online?  Toby Ward’s post on Twitter about the State of the Internet –  clearly shows that a lot of intelligent people spend time online, so why not pull back the corporate veil?

As an advocate of giving employees the space to interact with customers online you can imagine my disappointment when I found out a Vodafone employee had uploaded an obscene post on the official VodafoneUK Twitter site today.

It was such a random post, followers thought the Vodafone Twitter account had been hacked!

On a personal note, I know the guys in the web relations team at Vodafone and they were gutted this afternoon.

They’ve worked so hard to build a good online reputation for Vodafone and to have someone try to unravel their efforts is a real shame.

Their speed and genuine care about apologising to customers was impressive – they’re a real credit to the brand.

Ok, I accept I’m biased towards Vodafone but I’m sure customers would be forgiving and won’t let one person ruin the hard work of so many?

To see if this was the case,  I thought I’d scan some of the Vodafone followers who’d been contacted on Twitter to see how they responded to the apology and although this isn’t a thorough analysis I found some interesting tweets;

Claire was impressed with the quick response from Vodafone

Emma said ‘no worries’

Adam was pleased to see the human side of a corporate brand (that’s interesting!)

Jordan was thankful for letting him know what had happened and thought it was embarrassing for Vodafone

Rhys didn’t want Vodafone to worry about apologising to him and didn’t want the brands reputation being damaged

The followers posts I read accepted the apology and understood it wasn’t the ‘brand’ speaking but a single renegade voice.

Vodafone is pioneering the ‘employee/customer’ online interaction – it’s bold and brave and I truly believe it’s the way of the future.

I hope this incident doesn’t stop more organisations from doing the same.

If you want to read some articles on the story there’s already a lot of online coverage from the likes of Melcrum, cNet, New Media Age, Guardian and The Register.

Filed under: The Customer Interface, employee communication, trust, vodafone