Journey mapping for better customer service
I love my car. Mostly because it gets me places, but also because it’s beautifully designed. I’m not referring to just the aesthetics, mind you, I mean that the design of every function is so well thought out. I have never had to search for a button, or read the manual to understand how to use the console. And it’s clear that in designing these features, a lot of consideration went into designing a system that keeps your eyes on the road, and not looking for a function.
There are indicators to tell you when there’s something behind you when you’re in reverse, when there’s something in your blindspot, and the windshield wipers come on automatically when it starts to rain.
Text messages are delivered to your console screen. But if the car is moving, there is no option of reading it — you can only play it out loud in a robotic voice that says ‘laughing out loud’ when reading ‘lol’.
My favourite feature is the 3 simple knobs for climate control, which are a throwback to my old beloved car. These are totally underrated unless you compare to other cars more complicated systems.
All these examples to say kudos to Mazda. Great product.
But why isn’t their service experience designed with the same level of attention?
I recently had to take my car in to get my first annual service. I waited for an hour and a half while they serviced my car. Kind of long, but hey, this was an annual service, and it cost a lot more than the usual oil change, and I got a cool report at the end that said everything was in tip top shape. They mentioned as I was leaving that there was a recall on my vehicle, and they would have to order a part for it, so I would have to come in again to get that fixed.
The part comes in. I make an appointment. It will be “half an hour, give or take” says the guy, so I say, ok, I’ll wait here. I then sat in the waiting room, where I watched my car unmoved for the next 50 minutes. (Coincidentally, there were two people napping in the waiting room. How long had they been waiting for their cars?)
Ten minutes later, I see my car come back out. Are you kidding? It was a 10 minute fix, and I’ve been waiting an hour? Eager to get back to living my life, I mention to the service desk that I’ve been waiting an hour, twice as long as they said I would. With blank stares, they tell me they’re backed up, and it would still be another 15 to 20 minutes. So I tell them that I just saw my car come out, and I don’t think this amount of wait for a fix that took 10 minutes is acceptable. What was the point of making an appointment? Why didn’t you tell me you were backed up when I got here? And while I’m here, could you have checked for recalls when I made my first service appointment so that I wouldn’t have to come in again and wait over an hour for a small 10 minute fix? Why would I be motivated to return to this dealership? And do you even care that I’m frustrated???
Long story short, they offered to wash my car and vacuum the inside, which I declined, because the entire point of the conversation was that I would like to do other things with my time than wait in their dealership.
Sure, maybe this is just the way of the world. You have a new-ish car, with a warranty that requires you to go to a dealership for service. So take a seat. And wait.
But if a company cares so much about design (with an in depth section on their website about their design language) why is it that they don’t care about service design?
Instead of just vowing to take my service dollars elsewhere, I sketched out ways to improve this experience through journey maps.
Here is my frustrating experience in the form of a journey map:
I came up with 3 ways that they could have improved my experience with minimal effort on their part:
Option 1:
Since I’m making a service appointment ahead of time, what if the staff took a minute to check for recalls, and order the parts required before my appointment? Then my extended wait time would be more understandable, since they are working on several things at a single appointment.
Option 2:
Assuming they knew that service was backed up when I arrived, they could let me know, and offer me their shuttle service so I could go home, go shopping, or do anything else besides wait in a dealership.
Option 3:
Let’s say they didn’t know about the delay when I arrived, they could let me know about it when it becomes apparent, and offer me the shuttle mid-appointment. The simple act of setting expectations is underestimated. Keep me informed of the progress — if I know how much time there is left to wait, I could decide if I want to continue waiting there, or go and run some errands instead. And the frustration of thinking my car would be ready “any minute now” goes away.
How easy was that? Think about your last frustrating service experience. You probably muttered to yourself, “if only they did x, this wouldn’t have been frustrating.” And it’s not just about isolated experiences — the fact is that customers will share their experiences with others. In fact, a study by American Express found that Americans will tell more people about bad experiences than good ones.
“Americans say they tell an average of nine people about good experiences, and nearly twice as many (16 people) about poor ones — making every individual service interaction important for businesses.”
So it only makes sense that businesses start to pay attention to service design. Companies should be incorporating this into their strategy, putting themselves in the position of their customers, and designing an experience to match their brand goals. Because in the end, my perception of your brand is made up from my experience with your product and your service.
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*Update — June 19, 2017: I got a call from Markham Mazda, the dealership I was writing about. They apologized for the poor experience, and asked if they could use this article as a tool to train their staff. I appreciate that they are making an effort to improve their service!
