Pain, memory, and great service
No one ever gets admitted to the hospital because everything is going alright with them. Similarly, most people don’t call technical support when the computer system is behaving superbly. Behavioral economists Daniel Kahneman and Dan Ariely have some interesting insights into how we can provide better service.
Pain, memory, and great service
In his TED talk entitled “The riddle of experience vs memory,” behavioral economics founder Daniel Kahneman illustrates how our “experiencing selves” and our “remembering selves” perceive happiness differently.
Kahneman describes how in one case a painful medical procedure is perceived as much more painful, even though it lasts only a short time. A similar procedure conducted for a longer duration, might still be painful, but not as much when it is looked back upon afterward.
Click here to watch the embedded video, if you are unable to see it.
Watching this video reminded me of Dan Ariely‘s talk, ”Are we in control of our decisions?” In this TED talk Ariely mentions how his experience as a burn victim in a hospital led him to study intensity of pain over time. He concluded that if his nurses removed his bandages slowly, giving him breaks, the overall experience of pain he had would have been better.
Click here to watch the embedded video, if you are unable to see it.
Providing better service
In my job I support our implementation of Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft CRM. When our clients sign contracts to do business with us, they understand – or at least we try to help to – that this is not a short-term relationship. The experience of supporting the software is arduous at times, both for the client and for us who support it.
Maybe there is something to be said about letting the process go for a longer time than shorter. Even while enduring the painful process of change and ramping up and all the assorted technical issues that may arise. The end result, the memory of the experience may be one where the client will say, “Sure, we had some issues, but they were able to help us sort them out, and we’re the better for it.”
This goes to overall brand experience as well. What are our clients reminded of when they think of our company, its products and services, and our service as well?
At our recent users conference, one of our clients mentioned that an employee of one of their clients has been bringing them business. Each time he’s gone to work for a different company, he’s recommended our client to do his company’s payroll because of the great service he’s received over the years. I could hear the pride in our client as she mentioned this to me.
Your turn
Does this make sense? I’m writing this relatively quick, and I’m not sure if what I mean to say is coming across that well. Feel free to build upon this in the comments.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize Winner: Happiness Can Be Bought For About $60,000 Per Year (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
- May I argue with Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman? (trueslant.com)
- Lazy, Hazy, Crazy: The 10 Laws of Behavioral Cloudonomics (gigaom.com)
Tags: Behavioral economics, customer service, Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Dynamics GP, mscrm
