You learn more from talking with angry customers

UX Review1 Customer Anger

You Learn More from Talking with Angry Customers:

Transforming Customer Anger into Profit

Darren Kall

KALL Consultingcustomer and user experience design and strategy

1-hour version: 8Feb2012

@darrenkall

#angrycustomer #ux

2© Kall Consulting 2012 --- +1 937-648-4966 --- darrenkall@kallconsulting.com

KALL Consultingcustomer and user experience design and strategy

Insight

ResearchInnovation

DesignImpact

Evaluation

M&A UXMerger & Acquisition User Experience

PI UXProduct Integration User Experience

Strategic UXStrategic UX Management

Sec UXSecurityUser Experience

Product UXDesign & Improve Product UX

Darren Kall - Bio

HumanEngineeringLabPartners

KALL ConsultingCustomer and User Experience Design and Strategy

Sad Truth

Many companies ignore customers• Angry• Happy• Content• Etc.

“We’re OK”

They think: “We’re OK. We have: • Good Business People• Good Sales and Marketing People• Good Customer Engagement

People• Good User Experience (UX)

People• Customer Advisory Boards• Voice of the Customer Initiatives• Etc.”

“We’re OK”

They think: “We’re OK. We have: • Good Business People• Good Sales and Marketing People• Good Customer Engagement

People• Good User Experience (UX)

People• Customer Advisory Boards• Voice of the Customer Initiatives• Etc.”

Humility

Even the best customer-centric businesses may ignore or shut down angry customers.

8© Kall Consulting 2012 --- Proprietary and Confidential --- +1 937-648-4966 --- darrenkall@kallconsulting.com

Conventional Wisdom

Handle Angry Customers

Conventional Wisdom

Deal with Angry Customers

Conventional Wisdom

Calm Down Angry Customers

Conventional Wisdom

Diffuse Angry Customers10

Conventional Wisdom

Appease Angry Customers

Shhhh!

The big secret:

You learn more from talking with angry customers.

Examples

Three Companies that Learned to talk with Angry Customers

Domino’s

Not Since Graduate School

Domino’s

New crust, new sauce, new cheese

Domino’s

New crust, new sauce, new cheese

14.3% Increase

Microsoft

Blue Screen of Death

Microsoft

Windows 7 was my idea.

Microsoft

Windows 7 was my idea.

234% Increase

Toyota

I Own Two Toyotas

My New UX Hero: James Lentz Head of Toyota Motor Sales USA

“We lost sight of our customers.”

“Complaint investigations focused too narrowly on technical without considering HOW consumers USED their vehicles.”

Recovering

Only One Technique

Insight

ResearchInnovation

DesignImpact

Evaluation

INSIGHTCustomer InsightUser ResearchIdeationWorkflowTask flowActivity CyclesPain pointsTouch pointsJourney mapEtc.

INNOVATIONDesignUser-friendlyInteraction designInformation ArchTransformationSpecificationDesign guidelinesLook and FeelDevelopment Etc.

IMPACTUsability testingA/B testingCustomer validationBeta testingAnalyticsEvaluationMeasurementsIterationsEtc.

Send us to your screamers ™

Strategy

Send us to your screamers™How-to: 10,000 ft View

1. Talk with your screamers2. Listen3. No, really LISTEN (deeply)4. Fix something that matters to

customers5. Test with users 6. Follow through

Why both?

Process and Case Study

Because telling you how great something is in theory just isn’t enough

Background

Case Study

• Multinational client – 13 countries• Sales nose diving in 12 countries• Complaints rising• Customers switching

Feature War

When we arrived …Three different groups

with three different new feature lists

Step 1.

Talk with your screamers

Process• “Send us to your

screamers” ™– Ex-customers– Enraged customers

• Rules:– I’m not there to win

them back– I’m not there to “fix”

the issue– I’m not there to

negotiate discounts– I’m there to learn

Case Study• 1:1 interviews with 5

customer companies• Moderated interviews

with ~30 customers, employees, and executives

Step 2.

Listen

Process• Your ego will get in the

way• If you think you’re

right – you’re not listening

• Apologize and get over it so you can listen

Case Study• User group meeting

with 100 out of the top 500 angriest customers in angriest country

• User group meetings with smaller groups in other countries

Step 3.

No, really LISTEN (deeply)

Process• Conversations to get their

perspective• Ethnographic user research

to understand their workflow, pain points, etc.

• Build persona profiles to understand deeply their motivations, skills, etc.

• Root cause analysis to understand how you anger them

Case Study• Total > 600 customer

touch-points• Persona segments,

workflow maps• Root cause chart

– Problem, Root Cause, Solutions

• Analytics• Sales, Marketing, Customer

Support, Account Management, etc.

Root-cause Charting

Step 4.

Fix something that matters to customers

Process• Don’t pick things because

they are easy– Easy for them does not

mean easy for you– This will likely be hard

work• Don’t pick just one thing

– It is about solving the problem

– Short-term, medium-term, long-term

– Empower all employees to talk with customers

Case Study• Short term changes

– Good faith, cheap changes• Middle term changes

– Improvements• Long term changes

– Converted 60% of 10 month release to just fixing things that mattered to customers

– Used some of the three original new feature lists

Step 5.

Test with users

Process• Test products with

representative users before they are released

• Find user issues in the test and fix them before release

• Only 62% of products are tested with users before release

• Another view: 38% of products are being tested on paying customers!

Case Study• Concept validation in 13

countries• Usability studies on

prototypes• Found minor issues and

fixed them• Found market differences

and customized

Step 6.

Follow through

Process• Don’t just say it • Do what you told

customers you would do

Case Study• Made most of the changes• Informed customers which

ones NOT doing• Existing customers turned

around and stuck with company

• Sales picked up again in all but one market

• Adopted as new process

The End

Conclusion

• I now eat Domino’s Pizza after 26 years• I love Microsoft Windows 7• I will buy another Toyota

Because they have learned to listen to angry customers

Thank You

Darren Kall• darrenkall@kallconsulting.com• http://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenkall• @darrenkall• +1 (937) 648-4966

We’re glad to help your company become more customer and user-centric.

Photo CreditsName Link

Yeller http://www.freerecycling.ca/computerrepair/index.php

Cardboard Dominos http://www.queerinmysoup.com/2009/12/dominos-1-large-1-topping-cardboard.html

Dominos ad http://www.dominos.com/

BSODhttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_T0aJhHFtRNs/TH5S4jtj4FI/AAAAAAAAAG0/WFGk1GLli_8/s1600/windows_xp_bsod.png

Win7 My idea http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2009/windows-7-and-1-billion-ideas/

Prius wreckhttp://image.superchevy.com/f/chevy-news/unexpected-acceleration-problems-with-toyota-prius/17736526/wrecked-prius.jpg

James Lentz http://www.2space.net/news/article/262020-1267012808/

Sad sandwich http://www.thewvsr.com/adsvsreality.htm

Feature list one http://gambit.mit.edu/updates/assets_c/2009/10/Feature_List-1590.php

Feature list two http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2007/11/early-windows-7-feature-list-leaked-to-the-public.ars

Feature list three http://myyearwithoutclothesshopping.com/mystory/pack-it-baby/

Company logos Various company websites

You learn more from talking with angry customers

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