Who Were They Designing It For?
I
am regularly amazed by brand new facilities that
are obviously user-unfriendly. Huge investments of time
and money...but who are they designing it for?!
A new airport in the Middle East is an impressive and
expensive building. It’s huge, packed with stainless
steel and halogen lights and lots of fancy gold.
But it takes six escalators, two moving sidewalks and
3,446 steps (I counted) to get from the aircraft door
to the taxi door at curbside. And no baggage trolleys
are provided.
What were the architects thinking about? Size? Grandeur?
Physical exercise? Who were they designing it for?!
A sparkling new hotel opened in a major capital city.
There is no clear signage directing guests from the
ballrooms to the restrooms. The few signs that do exist
are etched in muted gold on dark marble pillars.
More obvious signage was considered inappropriate for
such elegant decor. Very stylish, very chic. But who
were they designing it for?!
I received a business card with a realtor’s mailing
address printed in four-point type. That’s very
tiny print (less than half the size of these letters!)
Graphic designers love tiny type. It’s so trendy,
hip and cool. But it’s certainly not easy to read.
Who – and – what is a business card for?
I had to argue with the graphics company to print all
the contact information in 14 point type on my stationery.
(That’s bigger than these letters.) They said
it was ‘too big, not nice, not sophisticated’.
I said it had to be big to remain legible, even as ‘a
fax of a fax’.
Try it with your stationery right now.
Fax a copy of your stationery to a friend, and ask her
to fax it back to you. Now you have ‘a fax of
a fax’. It happens a lot in business.
Now look closely at your contact information. If you
have a 5, 6, 8 or 9 in your telephone number, is that
number still easy to read? If the letter ‘i’
or ‘l’ appears in your mailing address,
is it easy to distinguish those letters?
Who designed your stationery? Who approved your stationery?
Who is your stationery really for?
At a new airline lounge in Hong Kong, a partition of
colorful glass hangs from the ceiling. My luggage lightly
brushed against it as I walked inside. The entire partition
shook and several panels came undone.
A staff member hurried over and began carefully reassembling
the panels. (Thank goodness nothing broke.) I felt was
embarrassed and apologized profusely.
‘Don’t worry,’ she replied calmly.
‘This happens all the time.’
An airport lounge is a heavy traffic area. People are
always moving in and out. What were the interior designers
thinking? Who were they designing it for?!
Key
Learning Point
It's easy to get
caught up in designing new things that are `cool' or `elegant'
or `hot'. But if you don't keep your customer in mind
throughout, you could end up with an investment that's
`not'.
Action Steps
Review your physical
surroundings, points of customer interaction, your product,
packaging and procedures.
Find something that could be clearer, more helpful or
more `customer-friendly'. And once you find it, fix it.
Next Article in Customer Service Contact >>
The Holidays Are Here
First Article in Customer Service Culture >>
Top Ten Tips To Build a Superior Service Culture
Did you appreciate this customer service training article?
Get more like this at no charge. Subscribe now to the UP Your Service! newsletter.
YOU MAY USE THIS CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING ARTICLE IN YOUR FREE NEWSLETTER OR YOUR WEB SITE
as long as you include this complete statement:
Copyright, Ron Kaufman. Used with permission.
Ron Kaufman is an internationally acclaimed customer service training educator for quality service.
He is author of the bestselling series "UP Your Service!" and founder of
"UP Your Service College".
To enjoy more customer service training articles,
visit www.RonKaufman.com and www.UpYourService.com
FOR COMMERCIAL USE of this article in a paid newsletter, publication, or training program, please refer to our Terms of Use.
|
