Linking customer service to user experience
Serving users is ‘our pleasure’
What Chick-fil-A teaches us about good UX design
It’s 11:55 in the afternoon and I’m anxiously counting down the seconds until I can put my work on hold and grab some lunch! My stomach growls and suddenly the day-old deli sandwich I packed myself, doesn’t seem too inviting. “Oooh maybe I’ll treat myself to some takeout today,” I think in my head, “ but where can I go that almost guarantees a great experience with quality, quick service? I do have to be back before my 1:00 meeting.”
I got it, Chick-fil-A!
Chick-fil-A’s reputation most definitely proceeds itself. For those of you who have never been to Chick-fil-A (perhaps you’re located outside the southern United States — I think that’s the only acceptable excuse), think of it as the fine-dining of fast food: great experience, excellent taste. I’m never surprised when I hear my peers talking about the wicked fast drive-through or radiant smiles they received during their visit. Chick-fil-A prides itself on maintaining excellent customer service, always ensuring a positive interaction and attitude, and it is, in fact, their pleasure.
There is a lot we can learn from Chick-fil-A’s core values and strategies, but today I want to focus on how we can apply them to great UX design!
We are here to serve
Chick-fil-A aims to keep its operators, team members, and customers at the heart of their work, ensuring outstanding employee care and customer service.
The employees are trained on a simple four-part model, each part playing an integral role in achieving their goal.
- Make eye contact.
- Smile and strive to get a smile in return.
- Engage personally — give a compliment or ask about the customer’s day
- End on a positive note — “My pleasure” or “Have a great rest of your day.”
Chick-fil-A employees are also given the authority to offer a complimentary food item in an attempt to lift a customer’s spirit. For example, if a customer reveals they were recently laid off from their job, the employee is encouraged to offer them a meal “on the house” as an effort to bring good luck into their day.
Now, I am not advocating for you to go dump all your life problems on a Chick-fil-A employee to score a free meal. But Chick-fil-A’s dedicated drive for optimism and service reminds us of how imperative and beneficial it is to bring that mentality into other areas of our lives.
As a UX design team member, our number one goal is to essentially serve our users and create the best possible experiences for them. Although we may not actually be making eye contact with users, their first impression of an interface is imperative. The UI needs to be organized, clear, and appealing to the eye. Additionally, we want our users to smile (even if it’s only an internal smile because they were able to achieve their goal without any frustrations). To achieve this, the interface needs to be straightforward and contain microcopy that is simple and friendly.
Just like how Chick-fil-A wants to personally engage with their customers, we want each interaction with our users to be personal and engaging. This means using proper inclusivity and accessibility guidelines to ensure each user is accounted for and can meet their needs. Lastly, we always want the user’s interaction to end on a positive note, alleviating all possible pain points and sending them off to a great rest of their day.
We’re better together
Chick-fil-A members achieve their best work through teamwork and collaboration. According to the website, “[They’re] an inclusive culture that leverages the strengths of [their] diverse talent to innovate and maximize [their] care for operators, team members and customers.” UX designers also need to keep teamwork and collaboration at the top of their toolbox. UX design (UXD) teams are often composed of members filled with different backgrounds and experiences. Each member provides a unique perspective that helps contribute to a greater whole. The more ideas that are brought to the table, the more feedback you are able to receive, and the more feedback you receive, inevitably leads to greater innovation. It’s the oldest saying in the book:
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
-Helen Keller
We’re purpose-driven
The Chick-fil-A family begins each day with the mindset of achieving their purpose. They connect “[their] work and daily activities to [their] business strategy, supporting each other’s efforts to be good stewards who create positive impacts on all who come.”
Sound familiar? UX designers also want to create a positive impact on all who come. It is our job to ensure that each user’s experience is engaging, effective, and painless. Each day needs to be seen as an opportunity to brainstorm, develop, and test new strategies which can help eliminate user pain points.
We pursue what’s next
“We find energy in adapting and reinventing how we do things, from the way we work to how we care for others”. Chick-fil-A is always looking to adapt and reinvent the wheel. They constantly anticipate areas for growth and have teams dedicated towards innovation and development. They even have a “drive-thru innovation team” that, in my opinion, other fast-food chains could definitely learn a note or two from.
Being able to adapt, re-invent, and think ahead is another crucial element of good UX design. As designers, we want to anticipate user pain points before users reach them, so we can develop strategies and provide solutions as quickly as possible. Since technologies are constantly evolving, UX teams need to stay on their toes, always ready to launch updates and rework interfaces when needed.
Sauce on top
According to QSR magazine, Chick-fil-A’s average franchise revenue is the highest in all of America, often hovering around 4.2 million. Don’t get me wrong — I’m a huge fan of the classic chicken sandwich, two pickles, and Polynesian sauce, but I think it’s pretty safe to say we can chalk this statistic up to the quality customer service and values that span across all franchises. After all, considering the abundance of fast-food options, customers are more likely to return to a place that offers delicious food and a great experience. It would be a shame if you spent your lunch break sitting frustrated in a drive-thru just for you to return home with the incorrect order.
I like to think of UX design as the tech industries behind the scenes customer service. Designers must strive to create positive, engaging interactions with their users to alleviate frustrations and make the rest of their day better. The best user experiences often go unnoticed, but they begin with the designers’ goal to serve, collaborate, be purpose-driven, and anticipate. Our users are our priority, just like Chick-fil-A’s customers are theirs. So as we continue to build this industry, let’s take notes from Chick-fil-A and let’s remember why we joined UX in the first place: to make a difference and help make the lives of our users easier. It begins with us, it begins with great UX!
Now, go grab yourself a chicken sandwich, with two pickles and Polynesian sauce. You deserve it!.
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