Are We Going "App-Happy"?
I read once “somewhere” that apparently 80% of a business’ users will look to access its services or products on their mobile (read smartphone) device. Small wonder then that the development of apps has grown exponentially over the past years.
There are apps, however, and there are apps.
Rather like those department stores that promise to sell us (almost) anything and everything apps are now doing the same job. As I go through life, I find more organisations, businesses and such like who “have an app for that”. Sooner or later, I suspect that even our tiny little six-person business will be forced to pay someone to develop an app for us (we don’t have the expertise to do it ourselves).
What I've found in a number of cases though is that when interacting with an app, firstly I risk tapping in the wrong place with my (some might call them large) fingers. Many apps also seem to require at least two levels of security. These are usually a username and/or password and/or One Time Password (OTP) sent to the user. Often the OTP is sent to their mobile phone number. That’s great if that user doesn’t travel outside their country or keeps their SIM in their mobile device even when travelling (incurring the sometimes outrageous data costs that this entails). Luckily, smartphone manufacturers have found a partial way around this through using facial recognition (although there are still some suppliers with whom I deal who insist on sending an OTP to my phone).
My real question is: how many apps can we truly deal with? In the end, I suspect that people will stop dealing with certain suppliers if they don’t buy their products regularly or if they’re just fed up with so many apps on their phones.
My personal experience is that, as I’ve aged, I prefer (and indeed need to!) access apps or services from a larger screen, such as a tablet or desktop computer. For young people with good eyesight and slim, nimble fingers, the mobile phone is great. For others it may be a curse.
Worse still are organisations who insist on transacting only through their app (they don’t even have a website). Again, if they’re interacting with the younger generation this shouldn’t be a problem but I wonder whether they’ll start to lose business as customers advance in years. No doubt there'll be others to take their place.
In the end, I suspect the decision will boil down to “Do I really value this product, service or supplier and, if so, is it worth continuing using their particular app?”
Only time will tell. Meanwhile, if we as businesses want to develop our own app, how are we going to make sure that it will be as “user-friendly” as possible?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Productivity, Selling, Strategy
When is “Good Enough” “Good Enough”?
I’ve had the privilege of watching several entrepreneurs building their businesses over the years. What interests me most is their approach to what we might call “getting it right“.
For some, “perfection” is the only standard. For others, “good enough” will do and they then refine the product or service.
Both have their pros and cons. “Perfection” means that a lot of work will go into producing a product or service that genuinely meets customer needs. Inevitably, a number of elements have to be combined to make this happen: concept, assembly (if it concerns an actual product), delivery to customer and after sales service.
The downside is that getting to that final stage of perfection can take an awfully long time and delay product or service launches.
In some cases, perfection must be mandatory. We see this in buildings, automobiles, aircraft, bridges where if the product fails, a considerable number of lives can be lost.
On the other hand, especially in the IT industry, “good enough” will do. A programme or service can be launched and then, as customer feedback filters back, it can be “tweaked” to refine the product or service until it meets needs.
In some cases, “good enough” may be preferable both to take the market lead and to make sure that the product can be scaled or changed as needed. A very simple example would be the Apple Watch. Apple were by no means the first in the smart watch market, but when they entered some years after competitors such as Pebble and Samsung, they brought a totally superior product to the table. They’ve continued refining it as well (although battery life still seems to be their main hurdle).
For every entrepreneur among us, deciding when “good enough” is “good enough” and when to strive for perfection is very much a personal and business decision. For example, can Ford afford to aim for perfection every time? When should it do so? Power and transmission (engines) and safety issues such as indicators, lights, airbags, brakes and seatbelts need to be perfect. However, “small” refinements like tone of dashboard colour may mean they miss taking the market lead by getting the product out there faster, earning some money, and then improving it based on feedback. Look at every iteration of the same model every year – does the basic design change? Of course!
My personal view is that it depends on circumstances. If one has the resources and time available to achieve perfection, why not? In a fast-changing business and competitive landscape, being “second past the post’ may be the difference between success and failure. It will be for each and every business owner to decide for themselves.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling, Strategy
Hard Customer Service Facts?
I spotted an infographic developed by Rapid Answers that listed five key points that we need to think about during our interactions with our customers.
Fact number one: more than 60% of consumers are influenced by other consumers’ comments. How often have I looked up reviews on Amazon or other sites before making a purchase? How often have you? The 60% figure also looks very precise and nicely rounded – wonder how they got that.
Fact number two: repeat customers spend 67% more and are more profitable. I can’t comment on the 67% figure (again, it seems very precise) but it is fair to say that repeat customers generally will spend more than those who come only once. It’s logical.
Fact 3: 40% of organisations cite “complexity” as the greatest barrier to improving “multi-channel customer experience” - whatever that is. Again, without knowing on which survey the 40% figure is based I can’t comment on its accuracy. There’s no denying, however, that we live in an increasingly complex world and consumers don’t like complexity when accessing services (I’m one of them!).
Fact 4: 78% of consumers have bailed on (abandoned) a transaction because of a poor service experience. Again, can’t comment on the 78% figure but personal experience tells me that bailing on a transaction because of poor service happens. I’ve done it myself. Not only will people abandon the transaction, but they’re also likely to go online and tell millions about it.
Finally, it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. Another way of putting this is that it takes a long time to build trust but very little time to lose it. I have no hard data on how many positive experiences it takes to make up for a bad one, but I can say that one has to work a lot harder to build and then maintain that bond of trust. If, though, one does make a mistake after building up a substantial or sufficient “emotional credit balance”, customers can be a lot more forgiving than if we constantly provide poor experiences.
The long and short of this seems to be that organisations that genuinely focus on great customer experience will be the ones who succeeded where their competitors don’t. Their prices may be higher, their product range may be more limited, but they will still get the business because of their "service experience". In short, we need to focus on:
- Attitude and service to generate positive comments on our services/products.
- “Bringing them back for more”.
- How easily we can deliver our product/service and how easy is it for customers to obtain it.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Selling, Strategy
