Customers Want To Know What Is Going On

SNAP Question MarkI took my car to the car wash the other day. It was one of those large, full service places. You select the service level you want then give your keys to the attendant. You go into the building, pay the cashier, then wait for your car to come through the building and out the other end — totally clean.

This all takes a few minutes. As the customer, I want to know what is going on with my car. I want to know the status of things on an on-going basis. The people who built the car wash know this.

There is a wall that separates the customers from the track where my car is being cleaned. There are windows in this wall, and I can see my car slowly being moved along the track. I also see small neon signs light up clearly indicating what service is being done to the car. This completely lets me know the status of things as my car moves down the track and is cleaned.

I had been driving through mud, so the undercarriage of the car was caked with thick, red mud. As I looked through one of the windows, I saw one of the neon signs light up proclaiming “Undercarriage Blast”. Just what I wanted to know.

While there are any number of things our customers want to know, one of the key things the customer wants and needs to know is that status of things. This is where you specifically mention the status of where things are right now, today. This might be the status of an order that has been placed. The status of wait times. The status of a process or the status of findings.

I paid my fifteen dollars and was a very satisfied customer. In large part, my satisfaction was driven by my ability to see and know the status of the cleaning as it took place. I did not have to wait five minutes to see a clean car. I was able to see the status of the cleaning as it took place. I was able to know the status of things “right now”. It was as real time as it gets.

Since the undercarriage cleaning was a key need for me — I had even discussed it with the attendant when selecting the service — seeing the neon sign light up telling me the undercarriage blast was underway also told me the status of something that was important to me.

Knowing the status was a key part of my satisfaction as a customer. I know I will definitely return when I need my car washed again.

When you are a customer, is knowing the status of something important to you?

Do you think knowing the status is important to your customers?

Can you find time to let your customers know the status that is important to them?

There is a very easy way to communicate status to your customers. Use SNAP. Download a free information guide here.


 

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