We live in the Amazon Prime generation where you don’t have to wait for anything – from same day delivery and groceries to your door, 即时收看你最喜欢的电视节目的下一集. 你可以疯狂地点餐，疯狂地看电视，几乎没有什么能阻止你. This has built a culture of instant gratification and expectation of immediacy. There is, however, a price to pay for all of this and that is the sacrifice of human involvement in many business-to-customer relationships. 随着我们越来越自动化和数字化, 人类过去所扮演的角色正日益被机器人所取代, 使互动失去人性. 当标准事务完全完成时，这是很好的, 我们生活在一个不完美而混乱的世界, 这通常会导致并发症, 延误或失望. 当这种情况发生时, without an adroit and intelligent person in place to carefully manage the situation and bring to satisfactory resolution, 与品牌的关系可能会受到影响, 有时到了无法修复的地步.
Online shopping exploded during the Covid period as businesses found ways to continue to trade, 购物者用砖块代替了点击. 在大流行后的世界, 电子商务的受欢迎程度有增无减, 但它现在面临着供应链困难的新挑战. 2022年的节日就是一个很好的例子, having been plagued by strangled supply lines and the increased weight of demand upon an already fragile global distribution infrastructure. Ordering last-minute was a white-knuckle experience as to whether you would receive your order in time or be left frustrated, disappointed, and item-less. Many consumers experienced relentless order-anxiety throughout the month of December that was compounded further by strike actions and port congestion. Naturally, 许多消费者感到委屈和不满, and the relationship they had previously enjoyed with retailers and brands has been seriously jeopardized or damaged.
Much of this, however, 可以通过考虑来更好地管理吗, 持续和诚实的沟通, 这表明了对客户的同情. It’s no great revelation that people are averse to being kept in the dark, fobbed off, or lied to. What they want is transparency; to know where they stand at all times, 该公司正在努力工作，以实现所做的承诺, 不要提供不切实际的、无法实现的交货日期.
即使没有消息要传达, simple updates such as “we are working on getting your goods to you” or “you’ve not been forgotten” go a very long way in maintaining the health of the relationship with the customer.
The public largely understand the challenges that brands are facing in regard to order fulfilment at present and are widely sympathetic. 只要他们觉得消息灵通, 控制和尊重, 许多顾客会原谅一个延误的包裹, wrong item, 或者小账户错误. 诚实在商业中是一种强有力的货币.
Some businesses are avoiding uncomfortable conversations or addressing issues head on because they’re either hoping the challenges will go away, 他们没有答案, 或者他们不知道如何正确地将问题传达给客户. 进行困难的对话对任何人来说都不容易, 但是，把头埋在沙子里只会加剧问题，而不是解决问题. 人们通常都是理性的. 先发制人可以节省时间、压力和金钱.
To address this, firstly, it is important for a business to acknowledge that there is a problem to begin with – whether it is in the supply chain, 在配送物流方面, 或者任何其他领域的成就. 这需要适当地与客户沟通, with an apology and a promise that you are working hard to resolve the issue as soon as possible. 提前思考，积极应对形势, businesses can protect their relationship with the customer and head off any complaints before they arise. They can also boost their reputation if they handle these situations the right way, 足够频繁.
例如，一个简短的便条说:抱歉，你们的送货晚了. 下订单我们给你5%的折扣，以表示我们的歉意” or “我们送你一份免费的礼物，让你知道你有多重要” can go along way to win customers over when delivering unexpected news or fallen short of customer expectations.
在这样的动荡时期, understanding what good customer experience is and then tirelessly working to deliver it at every level of the company has become crucial. Organisations should put themselves in their customer’s shoes and look at the entire customer journey through their eyes. 这将有助于建立更深层次的同理心, as well as highlighting areas of potential frustration that can be avoided or fixed. Everyone in the business should be encouraged to consider how easy it is to do business with you and identify where pain points exist and how they can be resolved to the benefit of the customer. 包括线上和线下旅行, 从最初的点击到购买后的评论, 应该被严格审查, and bumps, 障碍或缺点应该被拆解和消除, 所以客户体验从头到尾都是无缝的.
虽然每个情况都是独特的, there are some guidelines for best practice when it comes to managing custom expectations during times of constricted supply lines:
- 确保你的沟通渠道功能齐全, teams have been appropriately briefed on how to handle concerns and complaints, 所有的信息都是一致的. You also want to ensure you’re communicating in the way your customer wants to hear from you, 而且他们已经表明他们更喜欢电子邮件, text, phone etc…).
- 保持多种沟通渠道，如电子邮件, SMS, 社交媒体更新或网站聊天框. 适用于店内或现场, ensure team members are fully trained and equipped to handle challenging situations (both in the moment and afterwards). 如果你人手不够，那就准备好纸笔和反馈站.
- Ensure a crisis communications and operations strategy is in place and that all customer-facing team members are comfortable and confident using it.
- 在圣诞节等可能堵塞的日期之前做好准备. You could incentivise ordering in good time by offering discounts for early delivery.
- Ensure your stock system operates effectively and either prevents customers from ordering items that are out of stock or flags up internally when numbers are hitting a critical level so that your internal team can react.
- 这是确保你非常了解你的市场的时候. Create digital prompts on your website or other sales channels that might suggest an alternative product that is available to ship immediately and will meet customer need.
- 如果你卖的是实物, 你可能很清楚什么时候会出现典型的堵塞(季节性), work schedules, 特殊节假日等……). Having a range of freight suppliers to ensure your transportation system is robust is essential and makes your businesses far more resilient than relying on one freight carrier.
- Update your website or your socials constantly to ensure the latest and most accurate information is available to the public.
When something unexpectedly goes wrong, acknowledge it and take responsibility!
