Apple Reminds Us That Great Customer Experiences Involve Great Goodbyes

Just as one will never know whether the genesis of Apple’s iMessage "glitch" involved calculated, malicious intent, one will never know whether the company’s newly introduced resolution stems from altruism. In fact, considering the barrage of scrutiny Apple has long faced from users, critics and even legal plaintiffs, odds strongly favor that the decision was not made with purity of heart.

Nonetheless, as of this past week, the process of switching from an iPhone to a competitive product is considerably easier than it once was. An antidote to the poison of having one’s text messages trapped—and thus inaccessible—on the iMessage server even after one switches away from the iPhone, a self-service tool now simplifies the process. From this point forward, customers neither have to fear switching nor deal with undue stress when they do.

Customers will also be spared the misdirected, unproductive battles with cellular providers that once plagued the transition process. Since Apple is accepting accountability for the issue and arming customers with a clear solution, it is assuring that their inability to receive texts is neither attributable to the new phone nor directly solvable by the new provider.

Undeniable beneficial to those looking to switch, the enhancements, collectively, weaken Apple’s short-term marketplace leverage. In facing less inhibition to switch and less cause for buyer’s remorse when they do, customers are less attached to Apple. In a sense, Apple’s new approach could effectively serve to hand customers to the competition.

So would say one without a true appreciation for the customer experience. So would say one who evaluates customer value purely based on the magnitude of his most recent bill.

One who recognizes the customer experience not as an isolated transaction or even an isolated series of transactions but as an endless, perpetually-evolving relationship would interpret Apple’s move as a customer-centric one. Like any truly customer-centric organization, Apple is thinking about optimizing the experience at all touch points and in all phases of the customer journey.

Today’s customers are empowered not only to switch based on the experiences they receive but empowered to voice their displeasure to the masses. Calculated efforts to prevent switching will not often succeed. And in the rare cases in which they do, they will ignite customer frustration to a point at which it erupts on social media. The customer will still seek the first exit opportunity he can find and countless potential customers will be discouraged from entering the prison the brand labels a customer experience.

Those who recognize that they are never out of opportunities to satisfy or dissatisfy a customer, however, render themselves immune to that scenario. Sure, customers will leave, but they will not do so with additional ire related to the exit. A customer impressed by the exit experience, moreover, might develop new respect for the brand. That respect could come into play if the customer ever considers returning down the road.

Every interaction between brand and customer functions as a potential moment of truth. At some point, one such moment will define whether a customer chooses to initiate, maintain or cease his relationship with a brand. Since few brand-customer relationships are literally limited to a single transaction, a successful "moment of truth" presents an opportunity for value in far excess of the most recent invoice. An unsuccessful one can cause a business to lose far more than one sale—even before the customer shares his ill-will with other prospective buyers.

By no means should businesses concede that customers will leave. By no means should businesses mistake the opportunities created by a severance as proof that lost business is somehow a positive outcome. At all turns, customer retention must be the priority.

That retention, however, must be a direct function of loyalty, which is itself a direct function of a quality customer experience. Instead of attempting to force a customer to stay, businesses should focus on removing any factor that would compel a customer to leave.

That becomes a call to improve the quality of the experience at all touch points and at all moments of the customer lifecycle. It also, naturally, becomes a call to assure that relationships with interactions with prospective customers who say "no" or former customers who say "bye" are as productive, customer-centric and valuable as possible.

Delivering on that call at all possible moments of truth will assure the business is always getting closer to the customer—and thus always closer to the moment at which the great experience will transform into a lucrative brand-customer relationship.