Customer experience excellence: you find it in the most unexpected places

Ask any customer management practitioner to name the brands that are true leaders in customer experience excellence and the response generally will include a roll of honour of the usual suspects: Amazon; First Direct; a new addition: Olympic and Paralympic Games Makers. One organisation that you won’t find at the top of the ‘most admired customer experience’ league is Her Majesty’s Police. Perhaps that should change.

Not long ago I contacted the police 101 non-emergency number. Dialling 101 from anywhere in England and Wales allows citizens to make contact with their local police force, in my case the Thames Valley Police. My experience was a master class in customer experience essentials:

The first voice I heard was that of Chief Constable Sara Thornton, delivering a recorded call opening message. My first impression: that the leader of this organisation was committed to delivering a good experience to her customers, even those with very basic enquiries. I was asked to choose one of three options, each of which was clearly described: I was left in no doubt which button to press.

The second voice asked how they could help. The police representative took time to listen to my story and understand what I needed from her. Occasionally she asked for clarification but initially at least, she allowed me to feel in control of the conversation. She provided answers to my questions and took a note of information that she needed for her records. More importantly she empathised, and gave me the impression that her organisation was there to support me. Finally, she gave me a reference number and let me know I could contact them again if I needed further assistance.

What does this experience tell us?

• Find a way of demonstrating to your customers that delivering a great customer experience is important to everyone in your organisation, including the chief executive or chief constable.
• Interactive voice response (IVR) can be useful and even welcome if the list of options is short and it leads to a more relevant conversation.
• Start with your customer’s agenda: you will want to capture information about them, but let them talk first.
• Take time to listen to your customers, to find out how they feel and what they really need from you: a longer conversation may be more efficient than average handle time statistics might suggest.
• Once your customer feels comfortable talking with you, they will be more prepared to give you the information you need to drive your future relationship.
• At the end of every interaction, confirm the next steps, and what the customer can expect to happen next.

A simple, straightforward, excellent experience that reminded me of some of the customer experience fundamentals.

I guess you could call it Customer Experience 101.