From time to time, we feature guest posts from our member network. This post comes to us from Jenna Heller, who resides in New Zealand.
CEB research has repeatedly shown that when customers describe their experience as effortless, they are more likely to be loyal to that business.
But what is effortless anyway? Is an effortless experience just about the process you have to follow to get something done?
Think about the things that you describe as feeling effortless. Did they always feel effortless to you? For example, if you drive a car, does it feel effortless to you now? It all depends on whether you’re just learning or if you have a few years of driving experience under your (seat)belt.
When you first learned to drive, it was probably rather effort-full. You needed to learn how to push the gas pedal, engage the clutch, brake to slow down, use your indicators, look in the rear and side mirrors, and pay attention to other drivers, traffic lights, kids on bikes, and pedestrians!
Chances are that when you were first learning to drive and for at least the first few months, you experienced a heightened heart-rate every time you prepared to drive anywhere. After a few months, though, it begins to feel easier and within a year or two, driving might even be described as effortless by you.
Does that mean that it IS effortless, though? Interesting thought, isn’t it?
There’s a cheeky Contrex Water ad that demonstrates how effort is in the eyes of the individual. Effortless truly has more to do with a person’s perception of effort than the actual effort exerted.
Creating a process that is effortless is vitally important – the easier you make the process, the less someone else in your organisation has to disguise that effort or the less effort a customer has to exert to achieve their desired outcome.
But even the most effortless process still requires effort so, how do you manage that effort perception amongst customers?
Share this question with your customer-interacting teams: Assuming that we can’t change any of our processes, what can we do (or stop doing) that will create a customer experience that feels effortless to our customers?
Related CEB Customer Contact Research