Stop Trying to Delight your Customers.

Many folks have been fed a fairy-tale, a giant whopper in fact. They’ve been sold the idea that they should constantly “delight the customer”. They are crushed under the weight of expectation and ultimately, disappointment. It’s sad, almost cruel, and entirely unnecessary.

Delight is to lifetime customer value, what peanut butter is to parrots. Not connected. Not relevant. Not even remotely sensible. I submit, that strategy-wise, the concept of “delight” is actually, laughable.

Yet keynote speakers and industry players, many supposed “CX Experts” repeat on it like a cheap curry. If you apply just a smidgen of critical thought though, you realize very quickly that it’s not sustainable, not economic, and almost impossible to achieve repeatedly at a neurological level anyway.

Let’s unpack that in reverse and start with the humans in the equation: your customers.

Customers and Wooden Clowns

Ever been to a local fair, and tried to lob a ball down the wooden throat of a swivelling clown, his mouth wide open, whilst he stares off with that far away unseeing look? His demeanour is all…