One thing changes everything and is common to every company and individual. It can destroy the most powerful relationship. On the other hand, if developed and leveraged, that thing has the potential to create success and prosperity in every business dimension. That thing is your customers’ experience of doing business with you. Every such event is a moment of truth to win or lose.

It is 35 years since the term ‘Moments of Truth’ was popularized by Jan Carlzon, the famed CEO of SAS Airlines who wrote a book of the same name highlighting the findings and efforts he had made to turn around the ailing airline. On the day of publication, this was good advice for an era where the main focus being placed on the customer’s experience when person-to-person getting in touch with a company. Jan Carlzon defines moments of truth as:

• Every single point of contact between one of your customers and one of your employees is a moment of truth, an opportunity to either enhance or detract from the experience of doing business with your company¹.

These touchpoints, where the customer interacts with you, are critical because they are where the customer decides to expand, continue, or dismiss the relationship. Carlzon’s insight is much alive while moments of truth proliferate into new media and applications.

An ever-larger part of a company’s customer touchpoints happens without any direct human contact. The strength of these touchpoints increasingly depends on your apps and their self-service capabilities. Apps are taking office of customer touchpoints and creating new ones. Therefore, taking the Moments of Truth concept to heart is necessary when buying and designing apps aimed to maximize the value of the experience you offer customers.

From a customer view, satisfaction comes from comparing the actual benefit of the business contact with the anticipated benefit before making the connection. Customers will increasingly often not tolerate complex, hard-to-use applications generating answers such as “I’m really sorry, I didn’t know about your order”.

Moments of truth taken to heart is more than a notion. It is the ground for a movement where customers are put first, where the understanding of technology is to better satisfy customers, make people happier, and grow business. Leading business apps in the cloud are critical enablers for future business success.

Studies show that 89 percent of consumers rather began doing business with a competitor following a poor vendor experience. Eightysix percent said they were willing to pay more for a better experience. Survey also states that 90 percent expect more extensive customer collaboration in the coming years. Non-physical online touchpoints will represent all this growth.

Figure: Why Satisfying Customers Pays off

Rising customer expectations will continue to push businesses to improve the experience across all domains. Excellence in one field or function is no longer enough; customers expect the same experience in service centers as they do when shopping online or seek for product information. Digital channels are becoming increasingly important – in fact, it is already the most important way to sell products, spare parts, and services for many businesses. It melts together and shapes the customer's perception of your company. How you look and respond online is more and more often what you are!

01. jan. 2022
Peter Björkman