Don’t let bad policies be the silent killer of your brand

As consumers, we’ve all been there. You return to a familiar customer journey to find that a return policy has been updated, an additional verification step added, or a support resource changed. The world is evolving quickly these days and brands need to keep up with the times while remaining profitable and managing risk. But when company policies aren’t developed or implemented with the customer journey in mind, it can spell trouble.

Take Spirit Airlines’ recent dress code faux pas for example. The airline is no stranger to customer backlash, having seen a number of PR blunders resulting from negative customer experiences over the years. Just last month, three female passengers and an infant were removed from a Spirit Airlines flight because their crop tops were deemed inappropriate by a flight attendant. In the video, which caused outrage on social media, the flight attendant can be heard explaining that Spirit is a “family friendly” airline and requesting that the passengers “cover up” during the trip.

It’s unclear if Spirit Airlines even has an official passenger dress code, or if poor internal guidance on how employees should uphold brand standards is to blame. In either case, it’s a classic example of company policies derailing the customer journey.

Other policy changes might not grab headlines, but everyday customer experiences with unnecessary friction are arguably just as damaging in the long run. Many companies have jumped on the bandwagon of burying their customer support number deep on their website or removing it completely. This is a known source of irritation for customers. And while it’s less likely to result in a PR crisis, it’s still bad for business.

Little annoyances along the customer journey erode brand sentiment, slowly undermining brand advocacy and possibly prompting customers to take their business elsewhere. In these instances, the negative impact to the bottom line is slow and gradual. By the time the pain point is identified – if ever – the damage is done.

Bad policies can be the silent killers of a brand, though it doesn’t have to be this way. Company policies are one of the few tools that organizations have to directly influence customer (and employee) behavior across the customer journey. They can be highly impactful if used correctly.

CX leaders can help their organizations evolve with the times, without alienating customers. A few simple interventions can make a world of difference.

1. “Spring clean” your customer journey

We all know how rejuvenating it can be to dust off the cobwebs and recycle what you no longer need. The same concept can be applied to policies and processes that impact the customer journey. A comprehensive assessment of customer-facing policies provides an opportunity to eliminate anything that is outdated or contradicts the customer experience strategy.

CX consultant and founder of AdvancingCX, Wai Au, noted that when he started a previous role as a CX leader for an organization, he advocated to put the call center phone number back on the company’s landing page.

“Our customer service team used to bury the 1-800 number several layers deep in our website and in tiny font to keep call volumes low. Happy to report that it is now front and center on the home page,” says Au.

When was the last time your organization stared down the rules and regulations that govern customer experiences? If you can’t answer that question or it’s been a while, then perhaps a bit of spring cleaning is in order.

2. Vet new policies

A one-off review of customer policies is a great way to root out bad governance, but it’s a reactive approach. Ideally, CX leaders want to ensure that any new rules and regulations safeguard the needs of the company, without undermining customer-centricity.

One way to do this is to establish checks and balances that prompt an assessment of how changes to governance, or the operating model, might impact customers. A quick approval step with a customer impact scorecard can be simple, yet highly effective at preventing bad policies from upending the customer journey.

For example, if a department leader proposes a more stringent return policy, a well-designed impact scorecard would shed light on the scope and scale of the negative impact to operations or profitability that prompted the change. It would also highlight the number of affected customers and how this might influence their sentiment or behavior. Bringing these factors to light makes it easier for leaders to weigh the pros and cons.

All too often decisions are made with only the company’s perspective in mind, but this lack of foresight is exactly how bad policies sneak in under the radar.  

3. Track the impact

When new policies are added or removed from the customer journey, CX leaders can track the impact to the business and to customers.

Even if leaders do their best to vet changes to the journey and try to anticipate how customers will respond, outcomes don’t always go according to plan. If new processes, messaging or rules are designed to nudge customers towards a particular behavior, make sure that’s what is actually happening, and there isn’t adverse fallout. 

Impact analysis can also be a powerful way to demonstrate when policies that are known sources of irritation to customers, or aren’t actually yielding the business results that executives had hoped for.

Wai Au reflects that when his organization tracked the impact of their decision to reinstate the call center number on their website, there were “no significant changes in call volume by putting it front and center”. The intention of making the number harder to find was to reduce call volumes, but this wasn’t what panned out.

What the team did note was an improvement in customer sentiment after the change. “By hiding the phone number, it only made the customers angrier.” And Wai’s team was able to decrease call volumes over time by enhancing the customer journey through better self-service options, offering chat options and improving products, among other things.

Ironically, the same company policies that are designed to protect customers or profits can do more harm than good.

Well-intentioned employees can unwittingly throw barbs into the customer journey, but there is much that CX teams can do to correct – and prevent – customer fallout. With time and consistent implementation, these approaches can help businesses thrive through customer-centricity.

Quick links

• Transforming CX at Zurich Insurance Group
• Turning products into experiences and bringing brands to life
• 5 trends shaping the future of customer experience