Trader Joe's: Creating a "Bell Ringing" Customer Experience
As a Trader Joe’s enthusiast, I must admit that I often create excuses to visit the grocery store. I am an unabashed fan, an average-Joe among an eclectic group of hipsters, hippies, and ultra-marathoners with whom I share solidarity while admiring arugula and scrutinizing avocados. Visiting Trader Joe’s is not just about buying food, it is a customer experience so significant that it can inspire its patrons to write about it.
If you’ve never been to Trader Joe’s, let me share a typical experience with you. On a recent early morning visit to TJ’s, I was greeted by KC and the Sunshine Band playing at an energetic volume. I moved through the store in rhythm with the employees stocking the shelves and we greeted each other in a familiar way like friends do. As I approached the coffee section a “crew member” tossed me a bag of coffee. “Here, have a fresh one!” “Thanks”, I said. “No problem brother, have a great day!” The exchange felt natural and sincere.
While at the register, the checker mentioned that he thought the cantaloupes were excellent, an impulse item I added that wasn’t on my shopping list. Then, while holding the fruit up, he noted that it didn’t appear to be completely ripe and asked if I wanted another. I accepted his offer, he rang one of the famous TJ bells twice, and another crew member appeared from nearby and intently listened as the checker explained his request. Thirty seconds later the crew member returned with two cantaloupes, both perfectly ripened, for me to choose from. They celebrated a job well done by exchanging high fives, and I celebrated too!
What is a Customer Experience?
A great customer experience (CX) is easy to identify when you’re on the receiving end. However, when you’re trying to create an incredible CX, it can be more difficult to define what the key components for a rich, positive CX are.
According to the folks who provide Hotjar, a behavior analytics service, CX is a “customer’s holistic perception of their experience with your business or brand.” It is the “result of every interaction a customer has with your business, from navigating the website to talking to customer service and receiving the product/service.”
Because so many things businesses do are open and available to the public, it is impossible for businesses to do anything that won’t impact CX in some way. That’s why it is important for business leaders to be intentional about their actions and communications.
3 Imperatives for Meaningful Customer Experiences
A couple friends of mine own a successful technology company that provides customized software solutions for other businesses. Their business is known for excellent software packages, but their customers love working with them. I sat down with them recently over coffee and asked about their thoughts on CX, and three things struck me about their philosophy that are valuable and worth sharing.
Business Imperative
CX is a business imperative with significant importance placed on customers having a “positive, valuable” experience. I state this with respect, I would describe business owners with great customer experiences as obsessive when it comes to CX and they work hard to establish and sustain clear, transparent lines of communication with customers. As work commences on a project consider establishing a Slack channel used by team members from both the service provider and customer to foster effective communications. Conduct monthly CX meetings to review data collected to measure CX and develop ways to improve. Ultimately, the business leaders are responsible for the CX program.
Be Intentional
After high importance is established for CX and tied to business success, be intentional. Intentional is a fashionably popular word these days, every business leader wants to wear it. Many businesses approach CX deliberately, but few do so intentionally. Deliberate refers to something done carefully, with great thought. When something is done intentionally, it means that a greater purpose or outcome is desired. While writing this I received an e-blast that appeared to be carefully crafted, but the message was not valuable to me, so I deleted it. Sending the e-mail to me was a deliberate act, but was their intent to have me delete it before reading it completely? This disconnect of tactics and strategy is all too common in business communications. A common intent for CX programs is to create a customer for life. Intentional CX programs don’t just request feedback from customers at the end of a project, customer experience, or sale. Businesses with world-class CX personally speak with their customers, ask questions and stimulate value throughout the customer experience and implement improvements in real time.
Customer Life Cycle
When does a customer experience begin and end? While a project life cycle or shopping experience has a defined beginning and end, CX is different. CX begins the first time a customer encounters the brand even if the customer doesn’t consciously recognize it or the business isn’t aware of it. Too often businesses believe CX begins the first time a customer contacts them. Customers and prospects often encounter brands and form opinions long before revealing themselves to the business, or the opinion they form causes them to never reveal themselves. All business communications must be deliberate and intentional knowing that you are being observed and evaluated at any time by anyone. Consider getting all your employees involved in communicating the value of your business by contributing content to your website, digital newsletters and social media networks. Employees who aren’t comfortable writing can participate in community relations activities. While there is a beginning to every CX, your intent ought to be that CX never ends. You can do this by delivering helpful content and by investing in your community, and letting everyone know.
Assessing Your Customer Experience
If you don’t recognize the three imperatives in your own business, it might be time to assess the customer experience you are delivering. Assemble key stakeholders in your business, but also include some smart minds who aren’t so wedded to the business that they cannot be objectively honest. Most importantly, as a business leader, you must give them the authority to be constructively critical. If you haven’t created an environment in which employees can be honest with you, it will be rough going at first—hang in there. Ask yourself the following:
Is customer experience a priority? Is it being measured and do we discuss ways to make it better?
Have we created a customer experience that is intentional? What outcomes do you have?
How have we defined the beginning and end of our customer’s experience?
I don’t know the secret ingredients for the Trader Joe’s customer experience recipe. I do know that the value they deliver goes well beyond a few bags of good food. And I am willing to bet that CX is a priority for the entire business, it is intentional, and it is done to create customers for life.
If you’re wondering what those bells mean, they are intended to communicate to the crew. One ring announces that another register needs to be opened, two rings is that a customer or cashier has a question or needs assistance, and three rings is summoning a manager to a front register. I’m not sure why TJ’s chooses to use bells rather than a public address system, perhaps so the music is not interrupted. That’s the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh uh-huh!
At Mungadai, we love talking to folks who are working hard to grow their businesses. If you want more from your business or would like to energize your marketing communications with fresh ideas, please contact us. Perhaps you’d like to create a Trader Joe’s cult-like following of customers. The coffee’s on us!