Understanding Customer Experience

This is a short reflection of the two sides of satisfaction: perception of quality and emotional reactions. Perception of quality: According to professor Margareta Friman expected quality and satisfaction are connected. For example: if there is an expectation of high quality, like a 5-star restaurant, it usually also leads to high satisfaction. Also expectation of low quality usually leads to lower satisfaction, according to Tore Pedersen. In our restaurant we have a challenge. Previously, there used to be another restaurant in the same location. This restaurant didn’t have a reputation of high quality. So when we opened a new restaurant in the same location, unfortunately low expectations on quality kept following us. Guests visiting the restaurant are all happily surprised to receive high quality service and food. They say that they did not expect high quality from us, mostly because of the old restaurants reputation. Still we have difficulties to persuade new guests to vi...

I wonder what lies behind customer decision making? What makes us feel satisfied or dissatisfied in customer experience? I have learned that there is a lot of psychology behind decision making in general, which is also applicable in customer experience. Our previous experiences play a large role when defining customer satisfaction. But also other people's experiences are important, especially if I lack personal experience. I will use a restaurant owned by my family as an example when I analyze theories and my own learning experience in the coming modules of this course. I'm hoping to learn how I can use social psychology as a tool to improve customer experience in the restaurant, and further more how to use satisfied customers as the best ambassadeurs for our business. I would also like to learn tools how to turn a customer from dissatisfied to satisfied- what can we do to make an unhappy customer into a happy one?

My name is Anu Majkvist. I'm an entrepreneur and networking nerd. I have started and owned different comapnies, in different areas, mostly within B2B. My full-time job today is running my firm Eldstaden- where I coach and speak about entrepreneurship and career development. I coach mostly business owners, start-ups, executives and employee-groups. My whole life I have worked in service, from grocery store, cleaning lady and shop assistant  to waitress, bar tender and croupier. Later I have worked as HR-manager, market developer, KAM, consultant etc. I offer courses in customer service and relationship marketing. I love customer service and I'm very interested in what makes a happy, an loyal, customer. My academic background is a BBA degree from Göteborg University School of Economy and business administration. Further I've studied work and organizational psychology, gender studies and innovation. Currently besides the course on understanding customer experience, I...

Hi! I've created this blog as a part of a university course I'm attenting, Understanding Customer Experience. Here I'll be wrirting my thought on the area of what makes a customer tick (good and bad!). Maybe I'll be inspired to keep on writing even after the end of the course!