..When self-service fails
A study of human development over the years always turns up very interesting observations. One of such trends is the seemingly cyclical way in which life evolves. It is of particular interest to note that at the very beginning of civilisation, people did everything all on their own. People needed food so they planted their own crops. People needed clothing so they sewed their own clothes. People needed places to lay their head so they built their own houses. There was very little to no need for any professionals.
Then came industrialisation, and all its corollaries. Then just like that, people needed others to plant their food, sew their clothes and build their houses. Professionals had to be paid to do almost everything for others. The idea behind all this was to give people more time to indulge in things they wanted to. If you were paying someone to do all that you used to do, you were going to have time to do other things.
It is therefore interesting to note that as a people we are going full circle back to the days when we used to do things on our own. Enter the era of the DIY! Do It Yourself! From the mid-twentieth century all the way to the present day, consumers have gradually been edging towards a tendency to do things on the own. Of course, it is not a full-scale reversal to the days gone by. There are definitely some things that would still call for the professionals.
But by and large, one can see this trend towards DIY all around us. Global giants such as IKEA have made large fortunes out of this trend. With just a few simple tools, a man who has never seen a hammer before can put together a beautiful piece of furniture from a crate of pieces of wood.
In my experience, the concept of DIY has to do more with products. When it comes to services, the related phenomenon is Self Service. As with DIY products, Self Service also involves the customer taking an active role in the purchase and enjoyment of the service. For instance, at a self-service fuel station, it will be the customer getting out of the vehicle, opening the fuel tank, pulling the nozzle from the pump and then filling the tank of the vehicle.
The opposite of the Self Service will be the full-service option, where the entire process described previously will be fully handled by an attendant. In the full-service option, the attendant might even check the tire pressure and the level of water or coolant in the vehicle. There are supermarkets where customers check out themselves without the help of cashier. As a matter of fact, the use of ATMs and public washing machines are all forms of self service.
Some have even argued that the self-service or DIY options places customers as competitors to the professionals. A customer who fuels her own vehicle’s tank is competing with the attendant who would have done that job. Customers at a self-service table at a restaurant are actually competing against the waiters and waitresses who would have been responsible for serving customers.
It has been noted that there is a growing preference for self-service among customers. Whether out of necessity or as a means of reducing expenditure, it seems individuals are now more than ever more open to trying their hands in the process of bringing them whatever final product or servicing they are paying for.
As empowering to the customer as DIY and Self Service are, it is important to realise that things do not always go as planned. When it comes to service, things might sometimes go sideways. When a problem arises, the natural thing to do is to look for a solution. In a case where the customer plays just a minimal role in the service delivery process, it is natural that the customer service professional handles the process of finding the solution to the problem.
However, a new problem arises when the product or service failure occurs during a DIY or Self Service process. In that case, it rests with the customer to fix the problem. If the product or service in question happens to be one that is easy to deal with, there will not be too much of a problem. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. On many occasions, the customer fails attempting to fix the problem. This might be due to the level of sophistication needed to fix the problem—a level which might be way higher than the level of expertise needed at the initial stages to put the product or service together. It is one thing to put a simple piece of furniture together following the procedures in a manual. It is however a totally different ballgame when there is a problem that needs the services of an expert professional carpenter.
It is generally understood that when customers experience some sort of product or service failure, the way and manner in which a solution is found goes a long way to determine how the customer evaluates the brand in question or the organisation behind the product or service. If all the onus lies on the company in question, then it is a straightforward evaluation for the customer. Any delays or mishaps in the process of the recovery can be placed on the footsteps of the company. However, the customer’s evaluation of the service recovery is not that straightforward during a DIY or self-service recovery, when it involves that same customer playing a direct and active role in the recovery attempt. It becomes akin to an individual being a referee and a player in the same game. Or one person playing judge, jury, prosecutor or attorney in the same case.
One would have thought that this particular challenge will make self-service and DIY options not very attractive to customers. But the reality is different. Studies after studies show that the self-service economy keeps growing. The only explanation then must be that there are some positives associated with customers getting directly involved in the process of providing the products and services for the customer’s own enjoyment.
Of the many attractions that self-service and DIY hold, one particularly stands out. This particular phenomenon was captured in a study published in the July 2022 edition of the Journal of Service Research. The study was titled Service Provider to the Rescue: How Firm Recovery of Do-It-Yourself Service Failure Turns Consumers from Competitors to Satisfied Customers. According to the study, when customers experience difficulty in attempting to solve DIY or self-service failure, they gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of what it takes to get things done. As the customer struggles to solve the problem, he or she not only learns the things that work and those that do not work, the customer also begins to appreciate the ability of the skilled professional. Therefore when the product or service is eventually successfully recovered, it is met with greater satisfaction by the customer.
The researchers however added a caveat. According to them, this particular phenomenon was more observable in certain types of customers. These were customers with a growth mind-set as opposed to those with a fixed mind-set. This is because those with the growth mind-set are able to learn from failure. Therefore these types of customers are those who better appreciate what customer service professionals go through to get service problems solved. The mind-sets of individuals and how it affects their outlook to life is well-captured in Carol Dweck’s bestselling book titled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
The appreciation that customers feel when a DIY service failure is resolved can also be used to explain the concept of the Service Recovery Paradox—that idea that customers who have had problems that are solved well ending up being more loyal to the business than those customers who have not had any problems at all. By going through the process of trying to solve the problem on their own, struggling to do that and then getting the problem resolved by a customer service professional, the customer falls more in the love with the brand in question. This experience will be something that will be alien to customers who have had no problems at all.
The ongoing discussions have a number of interesting corollaries, with implications for both customers and businesses. For customers, it is important that they recognise and appreciate what goes into providing the products and service that many take for granted. A better appreciation of the skills and ability of the service professional should translate into customers being a lot more understanding of these professionals. This will then translate into a better relationship between the business and the customer going forward.
For businesses, it is important that those who interface with customers are given the very best of training. The ability of a customer-handling professional should not be doubted by customers at any point in time. Also in training customer service professionals, it is important that they understand the psyche of the various categories of customers. A customer-interfacing professional must be able to detect if a particular customer has a growth or fixed mind-set and treat the one accordingly.
Today’s and tomorrow’s customers will place demands on organisations that will require different skillsets than what is currently available. The successful businesses of today and tomorrow are those that are able to give customers what they want without compromising what the business stands for. They are those that will allow customers to DIY but will also be available to help when things go wrong.
