Customer Experience Patterns Podcast

Whatever happened to Enron, WorldCom, ArthurAnderson or ValuJet? Hint: Loss of Trust

Thanks to my talented colleague Emily Tolmer for the cover art. Thanks to my friends at Moon Island for the music.

Hi everyone. Here's the second edition of the loose threads, missing threads mini podcast episode for the CX patterns podcast.

This week, I wanted to circle back on trust. A couple of additional things to share first, a loose thread, something I want to revisit from last week's episode, that was maybe not quite right. And I want to go back to the equation for trust, because I don't think that I mentioned clearly enough that it connects to what your brand is promising and what you are promising your customers about your experience. So for example, Think about Southwest airlines, they do not offer assigned seats on their flights. But that is not a betrayal of their customer's trust because Southwest never promised, assigned seats. It's customers have chosen the airline, knowing that they won't get to choose their seat. That's part of the equation for keeping ticket prices low. Conversely, if I fly in one of the mainline carriers, let's say Delta, for example. And I choose my seat as I book my flight. But then Delta moves me to another seat without my consent, or I get on the plane and another passenger has decided to sit in my seat. And if Delta didn't do anything about it. Either of those scenarios would be a breach of trust. The upshot of this is that you want to think about what promises you are making both implicit and explicit. And that if you don't uphold those promises, it will be a betrayal of customer trust. And now a missing thread something I didn't mention in the podcast last week. Loss of trust with your customers. Is such a bad outcome that it can lead to brand death. I think Enron Arthur Anderson, WorldCom value jet. I'm sure you can think of a few others. If you remember those brand names at all. It's in part because of their notorious betrayal of customer trust. So to put a fine point on it. The absence of trust means a company cannot 📍 exist. That's it for now. I'll be back in a week with a full CX patterns episode.

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