A service failure reveals surprising customer service trends

On the Friday before Christmas my wife, Sally, headed to Newark Liberty airport for what she thought would be an uneventful flight home to San Diego. What followed instead was a string of bizarre delays lasting nearly nine hours that could only be caused by a company as inept as United Airlines.

Throughout the day, Sally texted me frequent updates on her flight status. I captured her messages in a blog post that turned out to be my most read post of the year.

Sally finally made it home safely. As she recounted her ordeal over a late dinner that night I realized that her experience reflected a few surprising customer service trends. Perhaps most surprising of all is that Sally intends to remain a loyal United Airlines customer (more on that later).

Trend 1: Communication is more important than the problem
Research posted by Rob Markey on the Net Promoter System blog just one day prior to Sally’s trip suggested that the way airlines handled a flight delay had a larger impact on customer perception than the delay itself. More specifically, passengers were much more understanding when the pilot provided frequent, clear, and empathetic updates.

This is exactly what happened on Sally’s flight. The pilot and the rest of the flight crew were absolutely terrific and the passengers generally remained calm as a result.

Trend 2: Anticipatory Customer Service
In his book, High Tech, High-Touch Customer Service, Micah Solomon describes the concept of anticipatory customer service where companies predict customer needs and proactively address them. Anticipating a customer’s needs gives companies an opportunity to provide unexpectedly good service or fix a problem before it gets even worse.

By the time Sally’s flight landed, the passengers on her plane had received an email from United Airlines apologizing for the delay and offering their choice of travel credit or frequent flyer miles as compensation. Sally has experienced her share of challenges in the past trying to get a response from the United Airlines customer service department, so it was a pleasant surprise to receive a proactive resolution.

Trend 3: Not all customers are equal
A day prior to Sally’s trip, Adam Toporek wrote a post on his CustomersThatStick blog explaining how all customers should expect excellent treatment, but they can’t all be VIPs. In the real world, Toporek explains, some customers will receive better treatment and service than others and deservedly so.

Sally certainly had some advantages over other passengers on her flight from Newark. She was relatively comfortable in her first class seat with plenty of legroom, a power outlet to keep her computer and phone charged, and attentive service from the flight attendants. Sally also knew from comparing notes with other passengers that she received a higher compensation offer in her email from United than the people sitting next to her.

Sally received better treatment than her fellow passengers because she is Premier 1k frequent flyer member. To earn this status, she had to fly more than 100,000 miles on United Airlines in 2012. This frequent flyer level comes with perks like complimentary first class upgrades, but Sally had to spend many hours and many flights sitting in coach to get there.

Final Trend: Why Sally is still loyal to United Airlines
Last November, Bruce Temkin shared new research that reveals some companies’ customers are more loyal than their customer experience ratings suggest they deserve. United Airlines was 19th on Temkin’s top 20 list. One of the explanations offered by Temkin was that people may be more loyal to a company than reasonable when there aren’t a lot of acceptable alternatives.

This is exactly why Sally will continue flying United almost exclusively. United Airlines offers a flight schedule that best meets her overall business travel needs in terms of cost and convenience. Her frequent flyer status also ensures she spends less time waiting in airport check-in and security lines and receives frequent seat upgrades. Looking at the big picture, Sally would have to spend more money and travel with less convenience to avoid flying United Airlines.

One Final Note
United Airlines might pat themselves on the back for earning Sally’s continued loyalty. What they may not realize is they still lost a customer that day – me.

I flew enough miles on United Airlines last year to earn their Premier Silver status. I plan on traveling a lot more this year and that status would have come in handy. However, unlike Sally, I have several good alternatives that make it easy to say I won’t be buying a ticket on United Airlines anytime soon.

The Circle of Influence exercise

Some customers are extremely difficult to work with. They routinely leave you frustrated, frazzled, and flummoxed despite your best efforts to please. Keep in mind you'll have two options the next time you encounter the same person:

Option #1: Handle things exactly the same way. (Prepare to be frustrated once again.)

Option #2: Expand your Circle of Influence to try and get a better result.

How the Circle of Influence concept works:

Draw a circle on a piece of paper. Imagine that everything inside of the circle are things you can directly control, such as how you respond to a difficult customer. Now, imagine everything outside the circle are things you can't control, such as what your customer had for breakfast (Angry Man Cereal, perhaps?).

You can expand your Circle of Influence by doing two things:

1. Stop worrying about things you can't control. (Easier said than done, I know.)
2. Experiment with changing your own behavior to see if you get a better result.

Tell the truth

It may be tempting to exaggerate or bend the facts a little to make a customer feel better when there is a problem. Unfortunately, this tactic often makes things worse in the long run when the customer discovers you gave them inaccurate information.

A better way to handle difficult situations is to tell customers the truth. And then tell them what you plan to do about it.

Here's an example:

My colleague, George, once had to tell 800 airline passengers that their flights were all cancelled due to an ice storm. It was a Sunday and flights weren't scheduled to resume until Wednesday.

George knew the only option was to tell the truth, even though people would be upset with the news. He stood in front of the crowd, announced the flight delay, and then explained his plan to get everyone reaccommodated as quickly as possible.

Passengers weren't thrilled, but at least they now had the information they needed to make informed decisions about their travel.

Relative understanding

An easy way to deliver truly empathetic customer service is to imagine your customer is a close relative.

• You'd be sure to give a close relative your best advice.
• You'd demonstrate patience, understanding, and caring for a close relative, even if they were tough to deal with.
• You'd use your expertise to ensure your close relative had a great experience and didn't encounter any problems.

Using this technique can make demonstrating empathy, ahem, relatively easy.

Thanks to my colleague Wendi Brick, and my Mom (a close relative), who both suggested this technique.

Take it personally

You often hear that the key to helping an angry and upset customer is to avoid taking it personally. I couldn't disagree more! The more personally you take it, the more likely you are to help.

Imagine you encounter an angry customer. If you refuse to take it personally, you might come across as an uncaring, policy-enforcing robot.

Take it personally, however, and you start handling the situation as though the customer is a good friend in need. You see through their anger and empathize with their situation. The empathy you feel for the customer compels you to go the extra mile to find solutions. Your genuine desire to make it happen prompts you to check back with the customer until the problem is resolved and he or she is happy once again.

Express empathy

Many customer service issues can be solved quickly at little or no cost by simply expressing empathy. The challenge is empathy requires two things from customer service providers. First, we must have a relatable experience that is similar to what our customer is going through. Second, we must have the presence of mind to demonstrate that we acknowledge and understand how our customer is feeling.

Here are a few ways you can express empathy:

• Tell the customer directly that you know how it feels to be in their situation.
• Make an empathetic statement such as, "I can understand why you'd be frustrated."
• Pay careful attention to your tone of voice. A warm and soothing tone conveys empathy, but a short, monotone delivery can signal to the customer that you don't care.

Bonus tip: Remember, the purpose of using empathy is to make your customer feel acknowledged and valuable. Avoid shifting the focus from them to you, but telling them your story (unless they ask) or making a comment that suggests you are even worse off than they are.

Complaints are contagious - stop 'em!

We've all been tempted to complain about a difficult customer. Perhaps they were unreasonable, a bit light on brains, or just plain mean. Whatever the reason, we should remember that those of us who don't remember our history are doomed to repeat it.

Let's say you encounter a grumpy customer who just can't be satisfied. Afterwards, you complain about it to a co-worker. This conversation makes you feel better because it validates how smart you are, how dumb the customer was, and the unfairness of it all. Unfortunately, that conversation will stick with you the next time you work with a similar customer and you'll be unlikely to get a better result.

Here's another version of the same story. Let's say you encounter a grumpy customer who just can't be satisfied. Afterwards, you tell a co-worker about how frustrated you were by the situation. Together, you confirm that you did a good job but also brainstorm a few ways you can get better results in the future. The next time you work with a similar customer you get a better result because of what you learned from the last experience.

Bend a few rules

The greatest customer service lessons come from customers themselves. One of my favorites is a customer who said to me, "Sometimes you have to bend a few rules to make it happen."

So true!

I had just given him a laundry list of reasons why I couldn't get his order produced and shipped by the time he wanted it. He and I both knew it was a one day job that was going to take two weeks because of my company's rigid policies and inefficient processes. My customer's comment stopped me in my tracks and made me realize I didn't add any value to the relationship if I couldn't help my customer achieve his goals.

Needless to say, I bent a few rules to make sure the customer was happy and didn't take his business elsewhere. It's a good lesson for all of us: bend (but don't break) the rules when it's necessary to do the right thing and save your customer's business.

Beware of icebergs!

It's tempting to write off service-failures as one-time problems, especially if you found a way to make that customer happy again. What if it wasn't a one-time problem, but the result of a flaw in your service delivery system? The problem could be repeated many more times and many more customers could become angry before it gets solved.

Customer service professionals should always be wary of "icebergs" - what you see above the surface is nothing compared to the big, mean problem under the surface.

Here are some simple questions to help you check for icebergs when you encounter a service problem:

• Can the same problem exist in other places? 
• What caused the problem?
• Who else is affected?

Quoting policy without making your customer angry

Customers often bristle at the word "policy" because it is usually used to tell customers they can't do something they want to do. Artful customer service reps sidestep any potential anger by helping customers understand the benefits. 

Here are a few options you can choose rather than stating "It's our policy":

• Safety. Some policies are designed with safety in mind. Explain to your customer that you want them to be safe.
• Efficiency. Policies are sometimes put in place so you can service customers more efficiently. Tell your customer how she will receive better service by doing it your way.
• Fairness. A few policies are put in place to make things fair for all customers. If this is the case, try to help your customer understand the bigger picture.