The Customer's Need for Speed

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Top Takeaways:

• Time is the only inelastic resource. Time is the only thing everyone shares equally, regardless of who they are. We all have 1440 minutes a day, and there’s nothing we can do to get more.
• If you are slower than your customers expect and anticipate, they will feel like you are stealing time from them. And if you are faster than your customers expect and anticipate, they feel like you have given them the gift of time.
• The concept of “The Right Now” means the optimal amount of elapsed time in every customer interaction throughout the entire journey. “The Right Now” is slightly faster than customers expect.
• Jay Baer shares some important customer experience findings from his research, The Time to Win:
  • There is a correlation between responsiveness and revenue. Two-thirds of customers say that speed is as important as the price. Customers are willing to pay more if it’s faster.
  • Customers would pay up to 50% more if they never had to wait. For example, customers pay more for Disney’s Fast Pass/ Lightning Lane to skip the line at Disneyland.
  • 53% of American consumers have chosen a business that responded to them first, even if they were not the least expensive.
  • Gen Z is the most patient generation. Baby Boomers are the least patient generation.
• Plus, Jay shares strategies to create better speed for our customers. Tune in!

Quotes:

“Speed is the most important component of customer experience and the only one that never pauses or goes backward. Customers’ expectations for speed and responsiveness escalate every year without fail.”

“Speed equals caring. Most customers believe that if it takes somebody a while to get back to you before they have your money, they might take longer once they have your money.”

“If you’re not consistently the first to respond to customers, it doesn’t matter how good you are or how much you charge, you are losing business.”

“The pandemic has permanently changed our society. It forced us to come face to face with our own mortality, and as a result, we care more about how we spend our time than we did two years ago. Wasting your customers’ time is a mistake that you have to stop making.”

About:

Jay Baer is a customer experience and marketing expert.  He is the author of six best-selling books, including, Youtility, Hug Your Haters, and Talk Triggers. His new study, The Time to Win, measures the impact of speed and responsiveness to customer experience and loyalty.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions and more:

1. Why do customers care about speed and responsiveness?
2. How did consumer behavior change during the pandemic?
3. How fast do customers expect businesses to be?
4. Does the speed of customer service affect revenue?
5. How can businesses create better speed for their customers?