Skizzomat Illustration
Summary.
Most companies aim for exceptional customer service, but too few are attentive to the subtle discrimination by frontline employees that can alienate customers, lead to lawsuits, or even cause lasting brand damage by going viral. This article presents research about the way bias occurs in the provision of core products and services (“exchanges”), the furnishing of help that exceeds the minimum required (“extras”), and the manner in which service is delivered (“etiquette”). By breaking customer service into these three dimensions, the authors offer a framework for identifying and addressing frontline bias in your own organization. They recommend talking to your customers, examining available data, and running experiments to get a better sense of what biases exist among your customer service workers. Armed with that information, you might try to mitigate prejudiced behavior by broadening employees’ exposure to people of diverse backgrounds, giving them standard procedures to follow when they interact with customers, and encouraging a sense of responsibility to act fairly.
Companies go out of their way to provide exceptional customer service, and for good reason: Time and again, research has shown that it “greases the wheel” for future interactions. Zappos thus encourages service reps to build a connection with each customer, no matter how lengthy the phone conversation. At the Ritz-Carlton, any employee can spend up to $2,000 to solve a customer issue or improve a guest’s experience. Similarly, every employee at Alaska Airlines is empowered to dole out miles, money, and restaurant vouchers to resolve passengers’ complaints.