Does your website let customers pick options that you know aren’t available? To get the most out of your website, it should automate the validation of customers’ selections.

Validate Inputs

My wife and I have been trying for months to get reservations at a local restaurant, Fonda San Miguel. Their website offers an online reservation system. I tried to schedule a lunch reservation and the system told me it had been accepted without issue. I later received a phone call from the restaurant telling me that they aren’t open for lunch.

Why was I able to request a reservation for a time that they aren’t open? Their reservation form had an open text field for entering reservation times:

Leverage the automation possible with your website to set proper expectations with customers.

Prevent Selections

At work, my team maintains a suite of online product configuration tools called Advisors. Since our products are complicated, it is easier to prevent customers from making mistakes than try to explain afterward why a selection isn’t compatible. In our Advisors, we gray out incompatible selections so we don’t have to bark at you when they don’t work.

Don’t let customers make selections that you know are bad. As the old adage says, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Ask at the Right Time

I was recently looking for some office supplies on the Office Depot website. When I added the product to cart, the site asked me for my zip code. When I entered that number, the site claimed that the product wasn’t available. So why did it let me add to cart in the first place?

Customers expect online stores to be location agnostic. Even if my local store doesn’t have the product, you should be able to ship it to me from your big warehouse. This perception is especially true of larger national chains, like Office Depot.

If you have local stores or dependencies, ask for the zip code up front. Lowes.com does this to show you store availability.

You Can Be Perfect

You can build your website to prevent errors from happening. Only allow customers to pick products or selections that are valid choices. If prevention doesn’t work, use the automation to your advantage and alert customers immediately that something is amiss.

picture by iBjorn

How many times have you run to the grocery store to buy milk? Where is that milk always located? At the back of the store.

Why is that? Most likely, the grocery store wants you to walk past lots of other items that may catch your eye and that you’ll hopefully purchase.

Business Centric

The placement of milk in the grocery store is a very intentional act. The placement originates from the store’s perspective, wants, and needs. It may lead to more impulse buys but it can also aggravate customers who are frustrated at the long trek to the back of the store.

Customer Centric

The last time I was at the local Walgreens (which has really become a pharmacy/convenience store), I noticed they had moved several shelves of cold medicine up to the front of the store.

Since many people come to Walgreens when they have colds and all they need is the medicine, the store decided to make that purchase as easy as possible. Some customers may not fall for too many impulse buys but they do have a better experience. The added bonus is that the store doesn’t have a bunch of sick people wandering its aisles.

This customer centric approach to product placement produces a positive experience with customers that will encourage repeat business.

Is your company approaching sales from the customer’s needs and perspective or the other way around?

I went to my local Border’s bookstore to find a book for my wife. I had the title on a piece of paper and as I walked into the store, I saw a computer I could use to find my book and see if it was in stock. As I walked toward the computer, a store employee approached me and asked what book I was looking for. She knew the book and then proceeded to walk me across the store and located the book on the shelf for me.

All of this was done in less time than it would have taken me to look up the book myself on the computer, orient myself to the store, and locate the book.

Automation vs. Manual

Your company probably has automated tools to help customers. Are they always the fastest way? Sometimes your employees, with their experience, are a better point of service than your computers.

I’m not suggesting you get rid of your computers or website. Just don’t use technology as a crutch to avoid direct contact with your customers.

Personal interactions with customers will enable you to build relationships with customers. When customers want convenience or you are busy serving other customers, computers or your website can step in to help with your customer service. But keep in mind that they can’t replace those personal customer interactions, which can be critical to a positive experience.

My wife and I recently celebrated our anniversary with a getaway to the Lost Pines resort and spa. We scheduled a massage at the spa weeks ahead of our visit. We’d never been to a full-service spa before and so arrived ignorant of the whole process.

When we got to the spa, we realized that we should have planned to spend the whole day there. The simple act of paying for a massage entitled us to use the spa for many other services. We, being ignorant to that fact, had not scheduled enough time to enjoy the entire experience. Although we enjoyed our time there, we felt a little frustrated that we didn’t get the most out of our trip.

Your customers may be likewise frustrated if you don’t fully explain the situation to them. Fortunately, you can take a few steps to make sure your customers derive all the expected benefits from your product.

Pre-Sale

Part of your marketing is to sell the experience of using your product. Don’t forget to include the extra benefits your customers will receive because they purchased your product.

At the point of sale

Once your customers buy your product or service, empower them with knowledge. Give them instructions, how-to guides, tutorials, guidelines, etc. This will dispel any ignorance and enable your customers to enjoy their purchase.

Reminders

If your customers pay for something in advance, as the date approaches, be sure to remind them what their experience will be like. This not only builds excitement but helps the customer arrive with the proper expectations.

Upon Arrival

Don’t assume your customers know what they are doing. When they come to pick up your product or use your service, offer them assistance, describe the process, and help them through it. Some customers are too proud to ask for help but will gladly take it if offered. Those that already know won’t be offended by your straightforward explanations.