The question of “why.” We encounter it in many areas of life, but it is also the key to a genuine customer experience.
Companies often ask themselves, “What do our customers want?” It’s an obvious and important question. But even if they can answer it, the crucial context is often missing. The better question is: “Why do our customers want that in the first place?” Once a company understands what motivates its customers, it can strategically tailor its products and communication to their needs with lasting added value.
Here’s an example to illustrate this point: Nobody wants a drill. But why do people buy drills? They want to put a hole in the wall to hang a shelf to tidy up their home.
When developing new products and designing appropriate communication measures, a company that sells drills should therefore focus on the motivations behind the purchase in order to create an optimal customer experience.
Even when problems and negative experiences arise, the “why” is crucial, not just the “what.” If, for example, customers are dissatisfied with long waiting times, the company knows what aspect it needs to improve, but it does not yet have a starting point for how this improvement can be achieved. If the problems are not viewed superficially, but rather in terms of their root causes, it might become apparent that internal coordination in the prioritization and processing of support requests needs to be optimized, resulting in above-average waiting times. Once the cause is known, targeted work can be done to improve the customer experience.
At TEMA-Q, this is precisely our approach: in-depth analysis of the customer experience. In telephone interviews, our experienced interviewers ask specific questions to identify not only symptoms but also causes. In coding, we also consistently focus on the “why” behind what is said, not just the obvious.
If you want to create a great customer experience, you have to ask more than just “what.” The “why” and the courage to look beyond the symptoms are crucial.
Take a look at our LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/company/tema-q/ to gain exciting insights into the world of customer and employee experience in the future.
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Christensen et al., Competing Against Luck, 2016
Ohno, Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production. Productivity Press, 1988