Human Factors

I’ve always been a big fan of libraries. I was a member of a “reading club” when I went to primary school, and my mom used to take me to the branch of Stadtbibliothek Essen in our suburb until I had read all books in their children’s and teenager’s section. Luckily I was then old enough to take the tram into town by myself, to get more reading matter whenever I needed to.

On our second day living in New Zealand I joined Wellington City Library, and I’ve been a regular visitor since. I love books and DVDs, I love the people and the atmosphere and I think they’re doing a lot of things right when it comes to delivering a positive customer experience. But today, they topped everything they’ve ever done so far, at least for me personally. It seems like they’ve tailored their offering just for me! But let me explain…

On the weekend I sent out the following tweet:

I got a few responses and started fighting the fruit flies with apple cider vinegar and lemongrass oil – the situation inside the house is now well under control. But I really do need to improve conditions for my compost bin. And as if the library knew I  needed some advice, today they sent this tweet:

And from there they made it very easy for me to follow up on the seminar: one click on the link brought me to their events calendar.

And another click on the ical icon automatically transferred it into my calendar on my Mac and my iPhone. Couldn’t be any easier – I wish more service providers would make processes so easy for me…

One thing I didn’t consider when I started working in the field of user experience was the impact it would have on my private life. The more I learn, the more I notice when others do it wrong and I get annoyed when I’m affected. It started off with me moaning about unusable websites I had to deal with, and since I had a first look into Service Design, I have the feeling there’s room for improvement in almost everything I experience throughout the day. Doctor’s visit, physiotherapy, gyms to chose from – you name it and I have many ideas how to make it a better experience for the customer/client/member. But on the weekend I had a perfect experience while…. shoe shopping.

Unlike most women I’m not a big clothes or shoe shopper. I could even go as far as to say that I absolutely dislike it. My body has some common weaknesses, that the clothes industry doesn’t seem to be willing to cater for. One aspect of this is having calves that don’t seem to fit into any boots. I do have a pair of brown boots I got at least eight years ago, that I love with a passion, but I can’t get that particular brand in New Zealand. And I had a pair of black boots, which I have never really liked, that needed to be replaced.

When I went boots shopping on Saturday I didn’t really expect to be successful. I thought it would be another one of the tours around Wellington’s shoe shops, with intrusive sales girls, trying to talk me into buying something I would look ridiculous in. But this time it was very different… My first stop for the day was Kumfs on Willis Street. And it turned out to be the last one as well, since I got what I wanted, and left the store smiling happily.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the store, was that it was clean and tidy. The colour scheme is pretty neutral and there are inspiring words like “beautiful”, “charming”, “warm”, “exceptional” painted all over the wall. Despite not having much room in the small shop they had a reasonably good choice of shoes and boots available. Two salesladies were present; they noticed me when I entered, but left me alone browsing for the first little while. That’s one thing I really like – there’s nothing worse for me than having someone breathing down my neck before I was even have an overview of what’s on offer. It almost seemed like a miracle that the first pair I picked up had some kind of stretchy material at the back, so it would offer enough room for my calves.

As soon as I had this Hmmm-I-would-love-to-try-them-in-my-size-look on my face, one of the saleswomen approached me and offered help. She got me my size, and half a size smaller to find the best fit. The boots were awesome and I don’t think I’ve ever bought such expensive shoes within a few minutes of entering a shop before. At the check-out I was offered a free membership at the Kumfs Club, which allows me to return my boots within 30 days if they don’t work out for me as well as some other benefits, which are not quite so important for me. Although it took some time for me to fill out the form, they allowed me to join before the purchase, so I could take advantage of the benefits with this first buy. They gave me a huge fabric bag (“yay” for not using plastic bags) which has the same inspirational words on it as I saw on the wall before. A very happy me left the shop.

But the experience did not end there. When I unpacked my new boots at home I found a Thank You note for choosing Kumfs, some care tips for my boots and a feedback form in the box. I must say, I was deeply impressed. Since then I have had a brief look at their website, and even that seems to be ok. They are even on Facebook. In their About Us section they state: “Kumfs is a family owned business that operates with passion and dedication. Part of the our vision is to have pride in the quality of our work, provide the best customer service and to always delight our customers.”

All I can say is: yes, it works. At least for me.

Update:
Wow, less than 24 hours after publishing this blog post I got an email from Kumfs, telling me they love it and asking for permission to share it with their Facebook Fans. Not only do they know how to create a brilliant customer experience in their shops, they also “get” social media. Couldn’t more companies I engage with be like this?