“Expectations and promises” may sound like the title of a country song, but here I’m talking about a key part of a customer journey. When businesses market themselves and their products, they create expectations or promises, which they then have to live up to. Here’s a very recent real life example:

My wife’s car insurance was due for renewal and, as her current insurer wanted to increase the price from £250 to £350, we shopped around on some comparison sites. The best quote on Go Compare was from Right Choice Insurance Brokers with a saving of £130, so we opted for that and clicked the link to their website. On their site we checked the policy details and entered our credit card information, only to get a message saying they phoned every customer to check all the information was correct before taking payment.

The phone rang immediately – looks like good customer service I thought. But then they spent 15 minutes on the phone asking exactly the same questions we had already answered and then said the quote would be increased by £50 due to changes we had made. When I asked what changes, they couldn’t answer, so we cancelled the application – only to be told that they had already taken the payment and it would take a week to process a refund. When I pointed out what their website message said, again they had no answer.

So, I think they have designed a process that looks initially like a good experience for a customer, but what they actually do is attract enquiries with (false) low prices then use the contact with the customer to increase the price hoping that customers will just get fed up with the length of time it is taking and buy.

Interestingly, on review sites their service rating is only 3.1/5 (it will be lower when I post my review) so although their tactic may work in the short term, I don’t see a long term future for their business.

OK, that’s my rant over, but the important point is that to have a successful long term business you need to build trust with your customers. That means being honest with them and keeping your promises. Any business that tries to mislead or fool its customers may have short term success but won’t last long. Check what promises you make to your customers and make sure you can keep them!

Nigel Greenwood

I've spent 30 years improving the customer experience for large corporates and SMEs and set up Simply Customer in 2014. We map and redesign customer journeys to highlight where businesses can improve converting leads to sales, turning one off purchasers into loyal customers who refer others, and minimising queries and complaints.

We've improved lead to sale conversion by up to 200%, improved customer retention by up to 80%, reduced complaints by 50% and increased profits by up to 30%, all with small, simple changes that can be delivered immediately.

We also help businesses to grow rapidly through regular customer feedback, analysis and recommendations.

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