Here's what a customer expects from the customer service experience, whether you operate a spa, a bank, a hotel, a law firm, a coffee shop, a restaurant: In addition to the product or service that the customer is technically paying for, they’re also hoping for:
• Recognition: a sense that the business knows who they are (especially when they’re a returning customer) and finds their individuality memorable, at least in some small way
–and–
• Appreciation—a feeling that the brand’s representatives appreciate them as a customer who’s chosen to spend your time and hard-earned (or hard-borrowed) money with them.
In light of these customer desires, I suspect you can figure out what’s wrong with the following interaction–the greeting, as heard until recently, at the Delta Sky Club:
Welcome to Delta Sky Club, Mr. [a momentary pause while she reads the passenger’s name off his airline ticket or membership card] Johnson. It’s nice to see you again. Thank you for being a Diamond Medallion member with us. I’ll just need a form of identification from you.
Do you see the problem here? Delta’s gatekeeper first pretended to remember who Mr. Johnson is, then blew the entire charade by acknowledging they didn’t know him from Adam and needed to see his ID to prove he wasn’t dressing up as an imitation Mr. Johnson for the dubious pleasure of flying every day of the week.
Phooey.
Now, this disjointed routine was never exclusive to Delta. The same demand for ID continues to happen every day at the United Club, American Airline’s Admiral’s Club, even at the American Express Centurion clubs (which is especially ironic and icky, considering Amex frowns on its own merchants asking for ID from customers themselves).
Unlike these other ID-abusers, Delta, has taken it upon itself to fix the situation. As of last month, the nice attendee at the desk will welcome you after your long flight, scan your boarding pass, and welcome you by name into the club. Finit.
Airline lounges are an important extension of an airline’s brand. Although only a small percentage of the overall passenger population make use of them, that percentage is much higher among the all-important frequent business travel segment, the small percentage of passengers who purchase a highly disproportionate number of the seats on almost any flight flown.
This frequent business travel segment is a lucrative and, for the most part, a very lonely bunch. (“Do you fly a lot?” I asked my seatmate yesterday. “Not as much as I used to,” she told me, “only 3 or 4 times a week.”) Membership-only airport lounges, operated by one’s favorite airlines, bring some order to the craziness of their air-warriorhood by giving them a homelike (or home-officelike, at any rate) environment that is more or less similar from airport to airport and that they can count on as a place to work or decompress.
Any time you can give one of these lonely travelers a sense of recognition, you’re going to win their gratitude and their continued business. And any time that illusion of home, of belonging, is broken, you’re breaking a precious bond with your most lucrative customer base.
The same principle holds true for the customer experience at a hair stylist, a lunch counter, a credit union, an accounting firm, or a restaurant (in the case of a restaurant, of course you won't ask for ID, but you're making the same mistake–and then some–if you allow your hostess to say to an arriving guest, before she says another word, "Do you have a reservation?")
With every interaction, you have the opportunity to strengthen or weaken your customer’s sense of belonging.
Make the right customer experience choice at your business. If Delta can figure this out, you can too.
Micah Solomon is a customer experience consultant, customer service speaker, trainer, and bestselling author.
