Good Design Is Good Customer Service
Imagine this scene: you have just spent the last eight hours traveling across country on your least favorite airline. You missed your connection, your rental car reservation was canceled because you arrived late. and now you are standing in front of the hotel check-in desk in the wee hours of the morning anticipating another problem. But instead, the counter help is attentive and caring. They let you know that while food services are closed for the night, each room has a built-in mini refrigerator from which you can at least choose some cookies and milk. In-room coffee is available for the morning, with fresh milk delivered to your room, complimentary.
You are given a room on the second floor because, as it is explained, "We always give out the closest rooms last as we know at this hour, the last thing you want is a long walk to your room." You go to your room, and upon entering it, the light automatically switches on, with the help of a motion sensor. This is a welcomed touch seeing how you are loaded down with a suitcase, portfolio, etc. Plus it makes the room a little more like home, rather than your cell for the night. You arrange for a wake-up call through the hotel's efficient and easy-to-operate telephone system, and drop off for a few precious hours of sleep.
The story I've just described is mostly fantasy. Unfortunately, in most cases arriving at your hotel destination after a series of unsettling travel mishaps will only confirm your opinion that traveling is no longer any fun. The happy ending portion of this dream trip, however, is completely feasible to achieve. All we need is for designers and hotel managers to work together to determine what business travelers need, and how to make their trips a little more humane. The same could be achieved for vacationers, families and honeymooners, with the help of a little forethought and intelligent engineering.
The travel industry isn't alone in its mistreatment of guests. Retailers more often than not concern themselves with image and making a statement about their beliefs or causes, rather than catering to the needs of their customers. All too often shoppers are greeted by sales assistants who know little or nothing about the products they sell. Left to their own, customers are led on a merry chase through the store's maze of aisles in the quest of desired merchandise.
Once again designers and store planners must assume responsibility to make stores "shoppable." They must endeavor to consider the human factor of how customers would be expected to circulate through the facility, not just the traffic pattern merchants would want them to walk. Cutting off corners at intersections, walking through one department to get to a highly desirable display in another department, even missing entire sections of a store because of a lack of visual interest is a fact of life in how potential customers walk through stores.
As one who endeavors to visit all sorts of interesting commercial spaces for inspiration for my work, it is continually baffling to me how many venues operate without considering how they will function at maximum occupancy. All too frequently it seems that the operator is shocked at the popularity of its attraction and is scrambling to accommodate increased traffic.
It would seem only natural that any smart business would preplan where to direct overflow visitor parking so no one misses a scheduled start time, calm nerves during a long wait and provide enough amenities to the satisfaction and comfort of everybody in the place. Planners of today's commercial spaces must be encouraged to consider the care of guests and customers in less than ideal situations.
A recent Wall Street Journal article described an advertising executive from Miami, FL, who stays at a chic Sunset Blvd. hotel because the staffs' arrogant attitude fits his desire to stay at a hotel which is special. The executive puts up with situations such as having to ask permission from the hotel to meet clients at the bar. When they wander out into the lobby to use the men's room, he has to fight with a security guard to get them back in. The rationale for putting up with this behavior is, "They dare to be rude because they know this place is hot and trendy." He also pays a premium, $200 to $300 a night, to be treated like excess baggage.
An obvious lack of consideration for customers also can be evidenced in many higher end, designer retail boutiques. This past summer, Vogue magazine did an article on retail design that focused on stores such as Calvin Klein, Armani, Valentino, Gucci. In the article, the term minimalism was thrown around as the current trend of designers who specialize in stores. A single article of clothing is laid out on a cold slab of marble like a piece of art, and accessories enshrined like precious museum pieces are typical of these designer store presentation styles.
Stores which occupy this stratosphere spend a great deal of time developing architectural signatures rather than concerning themselves with making the customer feel comfortable. Indeed many of the featured sites act as if they are private clubs which only the elite or affluent are encouraged to enter. Indeed, travel along retail boulevards like Rodeo Dr. in Los Angeles, CA, and you'll quickly notice that the majority of traffic on the street is made up of tourists who want to see how the famous live. Do a little shopping bag research and you'll note that no one on the street is buying. Within this type of atmosphere, few browsers would expect to be able to use a bathroom, make a telephone call or have a sales consultant really act concerned with their needs if you didn't look like one of the store's target customers.
Luxury hotels like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons Hotels recruit heavily from hotel schools, and then train extensively to acquaint bellmen and others with the needs of guests. Supporting the human element, these hotels continue to add amenities the traveler is looking for, whether business or pleasure has put them on the road. Extension phones in the bathroom, in-room fax machines, video room service and check out procedures, and video games for the kids are becoming the norm.
Discounters like Target Stores are continually adding services to win customers over in this highly competitive arena. In-store locations of customer services phones, price scanners, childbirth registry and paper towel dispensers for emergency clean-ups are dispersed liberally throughout the stores. Even the traditional bridal registry service has been updated with a system in which the bridal couple is given a radio frequency scanner to swipe the bar code of desired wedding gifts. This information is downloaded to a central, national database available across the United States.
In order to successfully enhance any environment with guest amenities and customer services which will be used and appreciated by those visitors, I've devised the following simple rules:
• Understand the process by which a facility is used. The old saying, Don't complain until you've walked a mile in my shoes, applies here. Have you ever tried to find a specific item, make a purchase, stood in the cash register line or tried to use the store's charge card? You learn a lot about what is needed by walking in through the front door. Similarly, what is it like to enter an office building, a hospital or another commercial building for the first time without knowing ahead of time where you're going?
• Consider the target guest.
Any successful business venture has probably already established a mission statement, promise of satisfaction or code of ethics. Parallel to that statement, understanding the profile of the desired customer will tell you about the services he or she will need because of physical limitations or the level of prestige that should be projected through services rendered.
• Consider the age of the visitor throughout the life of the facility.
Buildings and their interiors, like people, have personalities and lifecycles which often reflect the lifestyles of their occupants. Stores, services and hotels that cater to youth probably will have more success in offering streamlined amenities that can be quickly delivered and disposed of when used. Stand up snack bars, video monitors that continually deliver news or videos in brief clips, drop-off stations for any completed transaction which allows you to leapfrog a waiting line are examples of these express services.
While a more relaxed and comfortable environment is desired for older visitors, there also is a desire not to appear their age. Physical limitations must be considered to eliminate restrictions to entry, access to all areas of the facility and the ability to visually comprehend what is happening in the space. The audio level and acoustics of every facility that caters to an older population must be given serious consideration.
More facilities also need to consider "family-sized" restrooms. Designers are beginning to incorporate these amenities as reflecting the range of age of the visitors: an elderly gentleman can help his disabled wife use the restroom or a father can help his young son.
• Incorporate amenities and guest attractions that highlight the best of the clients' business.
Good design of customer service also is an excellent way of communicating the quality and personality of your clients' business. Complimentary expresso says something about a men's store that sells European designer suits. Similarly, if a facility caters to and encourages the entire family to visit, a cafeteria that uses the in-house or sponsor's product line communicates the durability and practicality which can be expected of that company.
To get some clue as to the type of services your client should offer, try defining a detailed personality profile of the company as an individual. Then, if that individual really existed, how would he want to entertain and greet visitors to his home. Now consider how to affordably offer that service to a large numbers of visitors. Conversely, you could establish a defined personality profile of the target customer, and determine how the customer would want to be treated.
• Establish predetermined traffic patterns that shorten the walk between two points; a longer walk is optional.
Studies show that the majority of people in America have an overwhelming tendency to turn right when first entering a room. If you believe this, the placement of important services and features within any interior should follow that direction. In Asian cultures, the principles of Feng Shui dictates the way people travel through a space. Whatever is the prevailing tendency, go with it and plan the traffic pattern and sequence of the space to so it has a logical unfolding of the story the interior is attempting to communicate.
• Incorporate wayfinding graphics liberally.
How many times have you followed the waiter's directions to the restroom and ended up in the kitchen? Or have you ever gotten lost in a store? In America, the best signed stores are probably supermarkets. While you still may not be able to always find the popcorn aisle right away, you probably can negotiate yourself to the snack department and you're halfway home.
This same consideration also should be given to all interior spaces. In most public buildings, telephones are located near or adjacent to the restrooms. Security services, lost and found, gift shops, food and drink vendors, etc. are not given predictable locations, but rather left at the mercy of the space planning skills of the designer. Therefore, retaining the services of an experienced graphic designer who can help guide the visitor through the space to the services they desire or need is imperative. A simple test of the legibility also should be accomplished. Remember that the same test must be run in daylight and nighttime configurations.
• Use technology to reintroduce personalization.
Personalization means treating the customer with greater care and to the satisfaction of individual needs, not to be confused with increasing the number of bodies on the sales floor. An example of this philosophy is evidenced by the increased ATM usage, where customers can get immediate answers to the most often asked questions about their accounts.
With the advent of increasingly effective databases, retailers are getting to know more about their most frequent shoppers. Gathering information from credit card transactions, alteration tickets, address cards and informal inquiries by friendly sales associates, you can learn more about what customers want and need in products and services. An interesting opportunity exists whereby the "best customer" of any facility can be treated like one of the family, simply by punching up his history on a laptop computer connected to the organization's resource data bank. The human factor returns into play by how the greeter, armed with this information, services the customer.
All designers of commercial interior spaces need to intensify their thinking as to how to increase the user's comfort and enjoyment of a facility. It may be too self-serving to only consider the finish materials as an intangible window dressing on a building that just doesn't work for its intended purchase or for the target visitors for whom it was planned. We are not serving our clients or our industry by accomplishing design that doesn't meet or exceed those expectations.
On another level, the increased competition and sameness of the way facilities work puts the interior designer into a conspicuous and desirable role to redefine a new way in which stores, restaurants, museums, banks and other public or private buildings work to service their occupants and visitors. Accomplish these challenges and we will begin to heighten our profession's position as providers of good design of good customer service.
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