Mark Binns

The quality of an experience is relative to one’s expectations of an interaction. For example, if I go to a standard travelling 3-ring circus expecting the usual show, but get a Cirque Du Soleil performance, I might be blown away and have an exceptional customer experience. But rather, if I go to a Cirque show and have been to Cirque three times before, the experience is likely to meet my expectations or seems less exceptional than in the previous example. But, why does this matter?

It matters because it is import to decide what your optimal market position is before measuring how you are performing against it. There is no point in mapping and measuring a customer experience if the customer is looking for an experience from our brand that we aren’t trying to deliver. Getting a 3 out of 10 on ‘personal greeting’ isn’t necessarily bad, and might be completely irrelevant, if your goal is to automate your ticketing process and deliver a streamlined and fast (but not personal)...

The financial crisis continues to accelerate according to my Yahoo! Finance homepage. Every kind of company is failing, or at least feeling the pinch in a big way. And worst of all, the word ‘bailout’ has become the mother of all clichés in the business world. Everyone is asking for a government bailout from GM down to Larry Flynt. But ask not what your Country can do for you, right? So, I have a better idea. Why not ask your customers for a bailout using Obama as a role model?

It has been widely written that Obama has united a nation, and given new hope to all. His customers are the citizens of the United States; his success, I would argue, is strongly based on his ability to deliver an exceptional customer experience. His customers have created an emotional bond with his persona. Other politicians had great ideas, plans and skills, but it was the experience of being part of the Obama revolution that put him over the top. I don’t remember a single word of the first Obama...