How a simple human gesture can improve your customer experience and grow your business.

I recently got back from a one-month trip to the USA, the world capital of Customer Service, during which I rented a car for 3 weeks. I came across a particular rental company through a 3rd-party website, and mainly decided to go with it because of its overall offer.

Car rental isn’t exactly an enjoyable experience for me. I remain anxious from the moment I put in my order online till the instant I give the car back, since a lot could go wrong — as happened this time around as well:

• Renting a specific car, only to get no guarantee about its availability and potentially receiving something completely different. (I got lucky there this time.)
• Receiving a car with less options included than what was booked and paid for,
• Facing mechanical issues and getting flashing error alerts on the dashboard while crossing through an empty desert,
• The rental company not having a sufficiently resourceful mobile app that could enrich my car experience and cater to my concerns,
• And most importantly, all the stress that comes with driving through a foreign country in a car that does not belong to you — even though insurance was covering everything.

When dropping off the car, I was quite concerned about the mechanical issues that had popped up throughout the trip and if I should have handled them myself. I’m not a mechanic or an engineering buff; I won’t just roll up my sleeves on the side of the road and get to work. I’m also not buying the car to take over its maintenance and deal with all this headache. I’m simply renting a fun car for a road trip. That is all I cared about. Honestly, I just wanted to hand back the car and be told that all was good.

I was greeted there by a friendly agent to whom I mentioned all of the above issues. His direct reply? “I’m very sorry to hear that sir. These are minor issues that you shouldn’t have to worry about in the first place. You should only care about enjoying your car.” How could I have known what’s minor and what’s worth worrying about?!

This friendly answer immediately killed all my unease and turned the mood around in the room.“You should only care about enjoying your car” was all this company needed to become my first choice the next time I’m renting a car. If only they had made this sentiment clear from the get-go!

User and Customer Experience as we know them today are but a natural evolution of customer service in the information age. With a plethora of business competitors and alternatives made so easily accessible through the internet these days, companies need to step up to make sure that they can attract new customers, provide all the value they can to them, and convert them into returning customers.

While crafting a holistic User / Customer Experience is a core factor for business success, one should not overlook the essence of it all:

• understanding your customers’ goals
  In my case recreational driving
• catering to their needs,
  In my case reaching my destination safely and on time, while avoiding any unnecessary headache,
• and reassuring them about their concerns
  In my case the overall health of the car and me not being liable for what was happening.

If No BS were to work this company, we would seriously consider placing “You should only care about enjoying your car” front and center, and communicating it visibly at every customer touchpoint — be it the website, the app, the pick-up station, the company employees, and heck even inside the car! We would also consider aligning the whole digital experience around this sentiment, by making it extremely easy to communicate with the company and get support and reassurance at any time.

In short, despite some shortcomings and negative instances I’d experienced throughout the trip, it only took one simple verbal statement to change my perception of this experience and to convert me into a returning customer.

No BS is an innovation studio that uses the Design Sprint to help companies solve real challenges, design meaningful products & services, and develop solid UX strategies. We have run Sprints and designed products + services for startups and companies operating in Health Tech, Food Tech, Mobility, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Logistics, Insurance, Mindfulness, Fitness, Local Commerce, and Enterprise Software.

More info on nobsstudio.com!