Improving customer and employee experience from the first impression
What is the first impression potential customers (or potential employees) get of your company, and where does such an impression come from?
- The company sign outside your premises
- Social media activity and presence
- The ease (or not!) of using your website (or finding you via a Google search)
- How your employees talk about you
- Google, Facebook or Glassdoor reviews
- Your company vehicles on the road
- Word of mouth from previous customers
The answer is: any of the above, and more.
“From the customer’s point of view, if they can see it, smell it, touch it, taste it, hear it, feel it, sense it, hold it, carry it, use it, step on it, step over it, or step in it……it becomes a part of the customer experience!”.
Cyril Gates, ex. BBC.
Personal experience and brand perception
First impressions are a HUGE part of the customer experience. How many companies have you interacted with for the first time – by seeing, hearing or experiencing something representing them – and made a snap judgement (correct or otherwise) based on that impression? Did you then find that all your other interactions with or thoughts about that company were flavoured by that first experience?
It takes a lot of work from a business to override a wrong first impression.
Have a look at the two signs below. As you do, NOTICE the perceptions and stories you automatically create in your mind about the hotel behind the sign.
Do you think: run down, upmarket, adventurous, fanciful, seedy, classy, expensive, cheap, dirty, clean…? You get the drift! How would these initial impressions influence your decision to book a stay?
As Cyril Gates states in his quote, you see, hear, smell, touch or taste something and your brain creates a perception about the company. That perception is based on your own inbuilt filters, such as your personal values and ethics, your past memories and experiences and your thoughts and beliefs. And these filters can come from all stages of your life, right through from your childhood and upbringing.
What this means is that, even though there will likely be some common thoughts about these two hotel signs, each person’s interpretation will be slightly different. Small variances in perception will be in play because we all have our own values, memories, experiences, thoughts and beliefs that make us unique human beings. Ultimately, each person creates a different story in their mind’s eye.
So, as a business, how do you then manage a customer’s first impression if everyone creates a different perception?
Top-down or bottom-up approaches
When managing customer experience within a business, there are two approaches you can start with:
- Top-down: A senior leader(s) has responsibility for customer experience and sets a clear strategy and direction from the top down, influenced by in-depth customer research about what matters most. This leader then brings their people with them while they improve the experience, encouraging buy-in and ownership from the team.
- Bottom-up: Make small changes on the front-line that quickly start to positively affect customer experience. Buy-in can then be gained so that the whole team is involved in creating a customer experience strategy and wider action plan for consistency across the business.
Either approach can work effectively, and each approach has its pros and cons. What works for you will depend on your business, leadership and structure, but I’d suggest that if you’re unsure, start bottom-up. Light some ‘wildfires’ in small pockets/teams and create some tangible changes and actions. Then start to evidence how a focus on the customer experience is worthwhile.
Notice, acknowledge and do
One very easy and low-cost ‘wildfire’ activity that allows you to review first impressions is ‘clue-spotting’. Simply take photos of what your customer, visitor or potential new employee sees. Spot the clues you’re giving off by actively looking for them.
Step 1: Grab a camera/phone. Go outside your building/business and take a photo of the outside areas, the signage, the boundary, the path to the building, the entrance, the reception, the waiting area, the canteen, the toilet facilities, etc. Basically, anywhere that people go that may create ‘an impression’.
Step 2: Now print those pictures out on A4, pin them to a wall (ideally in a logical order) and look at them. And I mean really look at them. Get others to look at them too. What are you noticing? Litter? Tatty/no/unclear signage? Broken fences? Empty reception? Toilets as a cleaning cabinet? Broken kitchen equipment/chairs?
Step 3: Whenever you notice something, good or bad, you should acknowledge it by circling things, sticking post-it notes on the pictures with improvement ideas, and so on. Then go and do it: fix the issue.
Involve your team
Tell your team what you’re doing from the start. Get others involved! It’s a fun (but serious) activity that should involve as many people as reasonably possible. Each group can take an area and clue-spot it, and you can then even switch it around to get multiple impressions of the same area.
Once you’ve done the ‘physical photographs’ activity, think about other first impressions. For example, how could you view/review your website through the eyes of a customer? How could you analyse what people are saying about you and use the feedback to make improvements?
I’d love to hear from you if you do have a go at ‘clue-spotting’ with your team. What did you find out and what did you fix? I’d also love to hear if you want to know more about other Customer Experience tools and techniques that will help your business grow. Feel free to get in touch: Heather@theharrisonnetwork.co.uk.
Author: Heather Grisedale, Experience & Engagement Lead
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