Redefining Quality To Succeed in the Customer Experience World
The concept of zero physical defects has expired and no longer applies. Customer satisfaction with even the simplest product now requires communication.
The self-sealing package of cheese slices requires labelling saying “Open here” and “Snap shut here.” Lacking such labels can result in low product satisfaction and returns. Quality can argue that marketing, labelling, distribution and service are not part of quality, BUT, they are part of customer experience.
The session will make most quality professionals very uncomfortable because suggest that traditional quality skills are no longer sufficient to earn a seat at the executive table. Skills in social science, customer education and survey research are now needed to be successful. Successful Quality Professionals are redefining quality to include not only manufacturing quality but the end-to-end customer journey, including marketing, sales, onboarding, delivery, service, renewal, and Voice of the Customer.
The three challenges in this re-definition (being addressed in an upcoming Quality Progress article in February 2023) are:1.Other functions don’t want Quality involved - Marketing and sales especially dislike the quality function. However, reengineering these functions is critical because incorrect customer expectations are often created by them. Onboarding customers is a critical but often missing part of the customer journey. Hughes Communications found better onboarding increased satisfaction with system performance by 40%.2.Defining standards and metrics is much more difficult – The product is a subset of the experience which includes sales, delivery, onboarding and use. The same product can have multiple uses and be used by customers of different technical knowledge – think of the same cell phone being used by a 19 year old and a 65 year old (with apologies to those with grey hair.) Further, CCMC’s 2021 National Delight Study identified over a dozen experiences that can go beyond complete satisfaction to delight (which has huge payoff – see below). Companies like Apple, Tesla, Intuit, USAA and Chick-fil-A have intentionally engineered delight into their products and experiences.
Quality should be part of this play or it becomes almost irrelevant. Satisfaction is different for different segments and perfect quality is not the top rating, it is delight.3.Quantifying impacts and payoffs go far beyond cost savings – The critical payoffs are no longer cost savings but enhanced loyalty, delight, margin and word of mouth. For instance, a delighted customer will often pay 30% more for the same product (margin) as well as spreading positive word of mouth that acquires new customers at twice the rate of a completely satisfied customer. Quality must be expert in measuring and managing each of these payoffs.
In this session, Mr. Goodman will
• Redefine the causes of customer dissatisfaction and introduce the results of the 2021 National Delight study which defines experiences and behaviors Quality must now start to address including Marketing Quality.
• Redefine quality and the appropriate metrics – for example, perfect physical quality may only be satisfactory or sometimes only somewhat satisfactory because facets of the experience are missing. Starbucks' coffee quality includes not only the coffee but the dog treats provided to the pet.
•Suggest how quality should be measured and
• How to quantify the payoffs of an enhanced experience that the CFO and CMO will accept and invest in. Short case studies from manufacturing, services, non-profit and two government agencies will be discussed.
