Blog homeI just went to my local store to buy some beer in readiness for the England VS South Africa rugby game later this evening…. as normal, I purchased alcohol-free beer.
The Tesco staff (one of the largest chains of supermarkets in the UK) are fairly well trained - and before they let me buy my beer - they always ask me whether I really intended to buy alcohol free. They have a couple of strategies to ask me….. here are their last 3 questions I have been asked:
- “You know the other day we had someone come back to our shop and he was upset because after two cases he wasn’t feeling any effect…..”
- “My son purchased this the other day and didn’t notice - he had to go back from the party and go and get some more beer.
- Are you over 18? (which incidentally I obviously am)….. to which I have to point out that it is alcohol free beer.
They have never let me buy my beer without being asked some question or other.
The clever part is that they manage to phrase the question in such a way (through telling a story about someone else or making a joke) that they are NOT saying “stupid customer - are you sure you have brought the right beer?”. This non-confrontational approach works quite well with me.
How does this relate to ecommerce and web design?
This is a regular design problem on travel websites where booking mistakes can both be costly to fix - and traumatic for customers when travel plans are upset.
How do you double check with the customer that they really did mean to leave a day between, for example the flight arriving at a destination and their first night’s accommodation (common when a flight goes across timezones and users are confusing departure date and arrival date)? Do you point it out and risk annoying the customer to confirm something that they have already chosen? Do you let them book it - and let your local staff sort it out when the customer gets there?
As a big fan of the reality tv show Airline (which covers the experiences of airport check in staff for Southwest airlines in the US and EasyJet in the UK) - I have seen first hand how online booking errors cause major frustration and trauma with customers.
Of course, your definition of error is probably different to mine. I would say that letting two 12 year old children on a flight booking - without getting an adult travelling with them (which is required I believe) - is a design error on the website.
You can’t blame direct customers for not knowing all the terms & conditions for all sorts of edge case trips. When checkin staff then turn around and say “but you could have read this on the website when you booked” I wave my arms at the TV screen and say “but its not the customer’s fault…. it is the web designer’s”….
So - a call to all travel web designers - I don’t mind being asked whether I have purchased alcohol free beer (I really could have made a mistake). I also don’t mind being informed that there is a day between flight arrival and my first nights accommodation….. but when you do ask me - don’t make me sound like I am an idiot who has made a mistake - ask me in a nice, non blame, manner…. everyone will appreciate you for it.
(Yes - daytime TV and alcohol free beer - I really ought to get out more)
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Hi Alex,
Nice post, simple lessons can be learned anywhere, and you probably learn many more lessons drinking non-alcoholic beer
. Your blog has recently been featured on http://travolution.blogspot.com/ as one of the more influential travel blogs on the internet, and I would agree. You should include some of your posts in Stephen Joyce and Jens Thraenhart’s Tips from the T-List book.
Go to http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2007/09/celebrating-t-list-in-print.html to submit.
Hope to see your work included.
Good post alex. We run an ecommerce operation and manage sites for others, and try very hard to return continuously to the customer experience and ensure every step of their journey through our sites makes logical sense and provides what they want and at the stages we think they will want to see/read it. But non-alcoholic beer? Alex, some of us know you in an offline context. I’m guessing your on vacation at the moment and this is a stand in posting on your behalf…
Oh dear - Saturday night…. and Tesco person said to me “Are you sure you really want alcohol free?”
Forget all I said about Tesco staff being well trained - but at least they asked me I suppose… (and yes this is an example of how to make the customer feel like an idiot….)