Viewing The Customer Journey Through A New Lense

What would he see or think if you brought in Dr. Indiana Jones to help you better understand your customers? Or, better still, if Margaret Mead or Ruth Benedict was your customer anthropology coach?

At the core, anthropology is the study of humanity. Social or cultural anthropologists seek to understand how a culture, tribe, family or clan link together through language, myths, mores, beliefs, rituals, and symbols. What is it that makes the Cochiti, Samoans, Kurds, Navy Seals, Hell’s Angels, Hatfield’s or McCoy’s a linked clique beyond their common history or shared place?

Customers have many similarities; they also have major differences. Their sense of sameness comes through a similar reading of signals and symbols with common interpretation. Their differences lie in their varied reactions to the factors that make them alike. Today’s Wired and Dangerous customers want what they want, when and how they want it. They expect to interact with providers over multiple channels and expect frictionless transactions. How do they feel about their journey with your organization?

We enjoy checking into a hotel via the front desk, complete with its capacity to influence our room choice and amenities. We have colleagues in the same geography doing the same role who would bypass check-in conversations to get straight to the hotel room. And, their extrovert or introvert personality is far from the segmentation factor at work.

What if you carefully watched your customers in action with an eye to see them anew as a social clan? What are the artifacts customers rely on to signal them through their service experience? What role does the style or tone of signage play in influencing what your customers see and feel? Put on your Indiana Jones hat and see your customers for the first time.