How can Expectation Management Drastically Improve Customer Satisfaction?

Customers expectation management is undoubtedly one of the areas that every company with many customers should pay attention to. Still, of course, it is essential how we approach the process. Companies usually use the classic approach of measuring satisfaction in the form of surveys and other similar methods, where the level of satisfaction is usually not measured in real-time, but when a few hours or even a few days have passed since buying or ordering the service.

At easy.bi, we always tackle projects to optimise them to the maximum and at the same time find less common paths and approaches that are significantly different. The reward for this research path, development and upgrading is huge, as we design custom-made solutions for our clients that help them bring the business to the next level.

I want to explain an example of how we tackled optimisation for one of our clients. We have established a partnership with a successful German start-up company engaged in smart food delivery. They operate on the principle of opening franchises and have started to grow very quickly. As a result, the volume of orders began to increase, so they sought our help to help them simplify processes as much as possible. We designed the entire concept for them and, in the next step, developed a prototype application for smart order acceptance, delivery optimisation and much more.

How the application works and what makes it stand out

It turned out that their primary work process is very similar to many others – they received a large number of orders. They delivered the ordered food to the surrounding area with the help of delivery staff. One of our goals was to optimise this process as much as possible. We designed the application to tell the delivery person which food packages to take on the next ride and what order to deliver them to individual locations. The app suggests the most optimal routes and, in general, makes sure that even the last person in the line to whom the delivery person delivers food still receives a fresh and high-quality meal.

Dispatchers who monitor the entire process also have comprehensive and realistic information on how deliveries occur and when a driver will return. All processes are automated, and no one has to deal with orders directly. The delivery staff also doesn’t have to make difficult decisions or choose the best routes in their opinion. They leave the planning of the optimal delivery process to technology.

Managing customer expectations in practice

Given the vision and values of our client, in addition to optimising and simplifying their process, we also set a goal to upgrade delivery in a way that will significantly increase the satisfaction of their customers.

We decided to include so-called geo-fancing technology. It works by creating a virtual fence around a selected delivery address to give feedback to the application. Therefore, the system closely monitors how and when the driver approaches the delivery address and, consequently, enables very advanced informing of customers about how their delivery is progressing.

We started from the awareness that for someone hungrily waiting for delivery, 15 minutes can be very long. The person usually looks at her watch and waits, as she has no feedback on when the order will arrive. With our approach, we managed to establish a proactive way of notification, which, after a certain time, sends the customer a friendly reminder of where the driver is and when the delivery will be made. In the last 5 minutes, the customer is already informed that the food delivery person will be with her soon, so he can prepare the means of payment and looks forward to the delivery, as he can accurately predict the timeline.

Before anyone asks about their order, they already get the information

Many companies already have ways for a customer to follow the driver on their own or get information on where their package/delivery is located, but this is not a proactive approach. In easy.bi, we have changed the initial logic and set ourselves the goal that the customer does not need to do anything. With just the right amount of information that the customer receives automatically, the whole optimised process helps to manage their expectations as much as possible and, consequently, ensures high satisfaction. Even before the customer starts to wonder where his order is, his phone rings with a message, for example: your driver is only 5 minutes away.

We also receive feedback upon delivery

I mentioned at the beginning that the classic approach to measuring customer satisfaction is mostly taken in the form of a survey after a certain time, but we wanted to get feedback at the only time when we can actually get the most genuine response – on delivery. If a customer reports that he had been satisfied, this is excellent feedback, and we no longer have to ask him anything. In case a person expresses her dissatisfaction, it is also not necessary to upset her further. During the review of the whole process (which is traceable), we have a vast amount of information from which we can understand the reason for her dissatisfaction and eliminate it accordingly.

This way we have actually managed to optimise all business levels – from the ordering and delivery processes themselves to customer satisfaction management.

Do you also want us to write a success story together?

I am looking forward to your contact!