{"id":127076,"date":"2021-12-13T23:30:17","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T07:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/?p=127076"},"modified":"2021-12-13T23:30:17","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T07:30:17","slug":"tuesday-morning-cx-thoughts-raising-the-bar-the-wrong-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/tuesday-morning-cx-thoughts-raising-the-bar-the-wrong-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Raising the Bar (The Wrong Way) – Tuesday CX Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customer Experience is all about the Perceived Promise\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

A few months ago I was asked to participate in a round of discussions surrounding a new project for one of our clients. As the project was described, the approach seemed simple and the plan seemed pretty straightforward. We had all agreed that we would move forward with it as soon as we got all the paperwork in order.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then came the difficult part.<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the paperwork, we had to make some additional concessions. These changes would cost us a little extra, but we opted to absorb those costs for the greater good of the relationship. The next iteration of the agreement came back with a few more changes that would cost us additional money. When we pushed back that we would have to charge for this round of scope creep, it was the client\u2019s turn to push back, saying we should absorb these costs as a \u2018partner\u2019 in this relationship. We acquiesced to this second set of changes, signed documents, and started on the project. Then the third set of requirements came in that completely altered what we were expecting to accomplish. With the agreement already in place, we were told they wouldn\u2019t be able to do anything about the cost until next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The important part of this lesson is that we were still wrong – at least in the eyes of our client – and that is what matters most. While we perceived them to be raising the bar on us, they were under the impression that we kept raising the bar on them. What we define as \u201cscope creep\u201d was not even in the consideration set of our client, so they understood it to be something we were adding on for the sake of padding our top line.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Communicating the correct offer<\/b><\/h2>\n

This kind of interaction happens thousands – or even hundreds of thousands – of times each day. Not to me or our company specifically, but I would guess it happens regularly with any company that has customers. It is not necessarily down out of any malicious intent by either the customer or the company – rather it is in the communication path.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Marketing pushes ideas into the marketplace, potential customers see some sort of need that they decide to research more, then hearing more information about the product, feel it is the right product for them. Then the product gets into their hands – and they begin to see the shortcomings versus their expectations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about the many ways this happens:<\/span><\/p>\n