Dave and Busters customers expect their experience to say “Let’s get ready to have a blast!”
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Recently, I went to a sports bar with friends to watch a hockey game. People were cheering and clapping. Employees fueled the energy by how they interacted with the “fans.” The environment and employee behavior contributed to the excitement and “roar of the crowd.”
The following night, I went to an upscale restaurant with the same friends. We weren’t loud. Compared to the night before, we were reserved, but we still had a fantastic time. We were the same people. Our moods hadn’t changed. Our goal was to have a nice evening out. Yet we were acting very differently from just 24 hours earlier. What changed? It wasn’t us. The answer is simple: the restaurant’s ambiance and upscale customer service changed our behavior.
Customer Behavior Design is how I describe the intentional creation of an environment and experience that influences how customers behave and treat employees. It starts with the physical environment and is supported by how employees treat customers.
The Ritz-Carlton is an upscale hotel. The lobby is beautiful with expensive furnishings. Its motto is: We’re ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. If I had to describe the typical experience at a Ritz-Carlton, it’s friendly and refined.
Let’s compare that to Dave & Buster’s, a high-energy entertainment venue that combines food, games and sports. Don’t expect fans to politely clap for their favorite teams. They will be loudly cheering while drinking pitchers of beer, enjoying delicious burgers, nachos, pizza and more. Its mission and core values include employees with an encouraging, “You Got It!” and four words that sum up what they are all about: Fun to Our Core.
Both brands have deliberately designed totally different experiences. The Ritz is refined. Dave and Buster’s is about excitement. Neither is better than the other. Both brands are intentional about how they want their customers to behave. The look, feel, and how customers are served and treated are intentional to the experience they want their customers to have and how they want them to behave.
Colleen Lonsberry writes in CMS Wire about how the first five minutes define how customers treat you. One of her main points sums up the concept of Customer Behavior Design. Customers mirror the environment the brand creates. She writes, “… customers (their behavior) rise and fall to meet the expectations set by the brand.”
A guest walks into the Ritz-Carlton. They are greeted by name, welcomed into a beautiful lobby and immediately are made to feel, as the motto says, like a lady or a gentleman.
A guest walks into Dave and Busters, and the experience appears to be the opposite, but in the best possible way. There are bright lights, loud sounds, big TV screens, casually dressed employees, and this welcome experience says, “Let’s get ready to have a blast!”
In Customer Behavior Design, you’re creating the first experience to set the tone for what’s to follow, an expectation that the customer has of your business, and an expectation of how you want your customer to act.
We can substitute the word “good” with any other word that describes the behavior we want our customer to demonstrate. In addition to the environment and ambiance, the employees have an important role to play in Customer Behavior Design.
The opposite effect also holds true. If employees are rude, you can expect customers to respond appropriately. In other words:
The culture of an organization is as much a part of Customer Experience Design as the physical environment or employee behavior. When a company demonstrates negativity in the form of chaos or friction (such as a bad customer service experience), customers don’t just mirror it. They amplify it. They go from calm to upset, or from friendly to angry. Bad service doesn’t beget bad service. Instead, it causes a reaction. Bad customer service and a poorly designed experience beget angry customers.
So, how do you start with Customer Behavior Design? Start with the end in mind by asking this simple question: What behavior do I want my customers to demonstrate? Then work backward. Consider the physical environment, the color of the walls, the lighting, the music customers listen to while on hold, and any other experiences customers might notice, either consciously or subconsciously, when doing business with you. And most importantly, do your employees’ actions mirror that environment?
All those contribute to the experience you want your customers to have and how you want and expect them to behave. Customers don’t just react to your experience. They reflect it.
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