Customer Expectations Drive Customer Satisfaction

Have you ever watched a movie you didn’t think you’d like but then really enjoyed it? Did you then tell a friend with similar tastes to watch the movie because you really enjoyed it, only for them to come back saying they thought it was just fine or didn’t like it at all?

Have you loved using a tool at one company that was clunky and didn’t work well, then moved to another using the same tool and loved it?

What do these two things have in common? Both tell a story of missing, meeting, or exceeding expectations. The best experiences happen when expectations are exceeded; the worst experiences when expectations are missed. Do you know what your customers expect, or just what they “need”?

Corporations are always talking about meeting customer needs, but I rarely hear how they’re setting customer expectations. There are signals, like labeling a new feature as Beta, that tell customers to lower their expectations, but often company marketing says some form of “this is the next best thing since sliced bread” or “we have everything you could ever want to [watch/listen/read/whatever]“, setting customer expectations high in order to convince them to join or buy. But is the product meeting or exceeding that expectation? To be honest, probably not; but, still, the marketing team wonders why people churn before the free trial ends.

A challenge for you: next time you ask “what does the customer need?”, pause and change the question to “what does the customer expect?”.