

How to Apply Concepts from The Effortless Experience What should matter is that customers have an effortless and seamless way to solve the issues that arise. Combined with other factors like channel switching, indifferent or plain terrible agents and long resolution times, this makes for experiences that are often full of effort for the customer – and focusing on customer satisfaction doesn’t often solve that effort. The Effortless Experience insists that the hassle that customers are put through is enough to drive down customer loyalty.

And if the customer ends up contacting you, they want a smooth and effortless interaction. In fact, Forrester research has shown that self-service has overtaken other channelsfor service, showing that customers generally want to solve problems for themselves. The writers insist that you should work on the premise that customers do not want to contact you at all. The fact that the customer has needed to have a conversation with you increases the likelihood that they will actually perceive the encounter as a negative experience, because of the effort spent dealing with the issue in the first place. The book’s main point is that delighting customers in conversation will not create a positive experience. The Effortless Experience maintains that in CX, we are often measuring the wrong thing – and we should not focus primarily on customer satisfaction. This book, on the other hand, is in direct contradiction to almost all of the teachings from “Lessons from the Mouse.” Whereas the former promotes exceptional, proactive customer service and creating an unforgettable experience, the Effortless Experience emphasizes simplicity over everything else. It also makes it easier to deal with disgruntled customers when they’re approached with empathy and interest. For individuals or agents who are feeling like customer questions are mundane or shallow, approaching customers with the mindset that they are dignified and interesting helps to dispel this. It’s also a great antidote for anyone feeling cynical about their work with customers. “Lessons from the Mouse” is more inclined to help companies whose main CX aim is to exceed customer expectations. How to Apply Concepts from Lessons from the Mouse This also prevents answering seemingly stupid questions with a sarcastic or condescending tone.

According to Lessons from the Mouse, when customer care agents develop this mindset, they take on every interaction as a chance to share with an interesting person, and as a result, the customer experience is improved. It is a simple idea that never fails to work.
