CXProblems restaurateurs face with respect to customer satisfaction

What common problems do restaurateurs face with respect to services provided to a customer and customer satisfaction?

If one draws a continuum with Products like Commodities on one side and Coaching/Teaching on the other, Restaurant service probably fits at the center.

Unlike most services, the consumption happens right then and there and in the supplier’s premise. Shelf life is very less and customer requirement is diverse.

You will have the Buyer, Consumer, Decision Maker and Influencer all together sitting in the same desk.

I feel the waiter’s job is the most difficult one in this world.

Restaurant is all about Moment of Truth.

Coming to your question, it actually depends on the restaurant, its product and service quality.

• Handling irrated customers
• Ensuring Food Quality
• Waiting Time Reduction
• Communicating issues between waiters and customers

Above 4 areas may be issuers that bother an owner when it comes to Customer Satisfaction!

• My first suggestion is that ensure your product is robust, so it doesn’t generate complaints or support mails.
• Understand the Customer Journey and find out what can possibly go wrong.
• Classify what can go wrong into following groups:
  • Life threatening to customers
  • Results in Customer being non-compliant
  • Renders the product unfit for use
  • Partial malfunction
  • Noticeable loss of performance
  • Minor performance loss (unnoticeable)
  • Minor nuisance
• If there are too many items in first 4 categories, you better plan for 24×7 support
• Build strong help and FAQ features through videos & text Q&A in your website.
• In spite of all the above, you are bound to encounter a reasonably healthy rate of support requests :-(… That’s life.
• I don’t know what kind of product or service you are into, if its time-sensitive or offers critical services, etc then 24X7 support is a good idea even if the volume is low. But if its not that sensitive and doesn’t impact your customer’s daily life in a big way, then even if your product/service is paid (& highly paid), customers will be ok with reasonable responsiveness.
• So its nothing to do with your volumes, its to do with the criticality of your service.
• My personal suggestion is that give an personalized email id (not support@…) but (Someone’sName@….). Give phone line and set up a good voice mail message.
• Also clearly mention the expected response time for resolution.
• Set up a filter in your email box to catch keywords like “URGENT”, “CRITICAL”, and route them to a separate folder.
• Check that folder first thing in the morning as you get up 🙂

This has been working for 5 years for me! Good Luck

In order to win you must be prepared to lose something. And leave one or two cards showing.

– Van Morrison

Take away for CX Professionals

Customer retention is about creating a winwin scenario.