The Customer Experience

Such is the marvel of modern technology that I am writing this post from the 4th floor of John Lewis in Liverpool.

I have just purchased my wife's Christmas gift (which is in itself quite an achievement!) and I thought that I would take advantage of the gift wrap service that they offer (a great invention for someone like me!).

On the wall here on the 4th floor, are some great pointers about some of the personal services that John Lewis offer - such as an appointment with one of their trained fashion advisors. A great service but to be honest - the 4th floor is not the place to advertise this. The personal touch is incredibly important and something that the internet is trying hard to implement.

That aside, I am sat here waiting for my gift to be wrapped. I was greeted professionally and with courtesy. I was asked who the gift was for and the lady offered me some helpful advice. We chose the paper and ribbon, and off she went to wrap it. I sat down to wait.

A young lady walked in a minute or so later and she was greeted by another member of the team. She obviously wanted to have some gifts wrapped and was subsequently told that there was a 45 minute wait as they had a lot of gifts to wrap at the moment.

What had changed in the few minutes that I was there? I didn't see an surge in gifts wanting to be wrapped. We were just treated by two very different people. Both were friendly and pleasant - one just got on and did the job, the other put it off.

Of course, there can be reasons for this - but what I saw as a customer was conflicting messages. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for the customer who came moments after me or whether I should feel privileged to be treated with such a special service.

As I sat here and ponder the situation - I am left with one conclusion -- keep the customer experience the same for all customers and make sure that the staff all tell the same message.