Effectiveness of holistic mental model confrontation in driving

A R T I C L E S

Service Clues and CustomerAssessment of the Service Experience:Lessons from MarketingLeonard L. Berry, Eileen A. Wall, and Lewis P. Carbone*

Executive OverviewBecause customers’ assessment of services is based on performances rather than objects, they rely on thenumerous clues that are embedded in performance when choosing services and evaluating service experi-ences. Indeed, it is often small clues that influence a customer’s overall perception of an experience.Customers form perceptions based on the technical performance of the service (functional clues), thetangibles associated with the service (mechanic clues), and the behavior and appearance of serviceproviders (humanic clues). Functional, mechanic, and humanic clues play specific roles in creating thecustomer’s service experience, influencing both rational and emotional perceptions of service quality.Clearly and consistently designing and orchestrating clues is a critical management responsibility; busi-nesses need to be “clue conscious” and add “clue management” to their job descriptions.

Introduction

In the provision of services it truly is the “littlethings” that count. While many managers focuson achieving fundamental goals in the delivery

of services, it may be that greater attention to thedetails would result in greater customer satisfac-tion. Customers generally expect service compa-nies to know their business and to keep their coreservice promises. However, small clues can signalthe service is exceptional and have a dispropor-tionately larger effect on how a customer assessestheir entire service experience—and, therefore,which services they choose to utilize again. How acustomer feels about a night’s stay at a hotel, forexample, is not only related to basic expectations,such as having their reservations honored, theirrooms clean, and their room service delivered on

time, but also to subtle clues such as the threadcount of the sheets, the mood and decor of theroom, and the attitude of the desk clerk.

The purpose of this article is to explore howclue management can impact customer satisfac-tion for service organizations, to suggest the spe-cific roles that different types of clues play increating the total experience, and to argue thatmanagers need to add the critical responsibility of“clue manager” to their job descriptions.

ChoosingandUsing Services

In choosing and using services, customers seemore and process more information than man-agers and service providers often realize. Cus-

tomers frequently behave like detectives in theway they process and organize “clues” embedded

Leonard L. Berry is Distinguished Professor of Marketing and M.B. Zale Chair in Retailing and Marketing Leadership in the Mays BusinessSchool at Texas A&M University. Contact: [email protected] A. Wall is Assistant Professor of Marketing at the School of Business and Administration, St. Mary’s University. Contact:[email protected] P. Carbone is founder and CEO of ExperienceEngineering. Contact: [email protected].

2006 43Berry, Wall and Carbone

in the service experience into a set of feelings.They process these clues and feelings when decid-ing whether or not to buy a service and whileevaluating the service during and after use. Themore important, variable, complex, and personalthe service, the more detective work customers arelikely to do as they sense experience clues. Hos-pital patients, for example, can be expected to bequite detective-like if they are alert. Few serviceexperiences are more important, variable, com-plex, and personal than being hospitalized, andpatients are likely to be eager for any evidence ofthe hospital’s competence and caring.

Services are performances rather than objects;purchasing services means no shoes to try on, nofruit to inspect, no chairs to compare. The primarysource of value creation for a service is perfor-mance for the purchaser. When customers buyservices, they do not assume ownership or posses-sion. They buy airline transportation, car rental,hotel, restaurant, and other services during a trip,but they bring little if anything tangible homewith them as a result of these purchases.

In general, services present many more cus-tomer “touch points,” or discrete sub-experiences,than do manufactured goods. By “sub-experience,”we are referring to a specific experience that ispart of the customer’s overall experience with anorganization. Purchasers of goods usually don’tvisit the factory where the goods are made. Con-versely, purchasers of services often visit the placewhere services are created and interact with thepeople creating the service, such as hair stylists,salespeople, and dentists. Contrast the narrow ex-perience a consumer has in experiencing a wristwatch or a banana or a fax machine versus aconsumer’s broad, multi-faceted experience duringan airline trip. The airline trip puts the traveler inat least three service “factories”: the departureairport, the airplane, and the arrival airport.Within each of these factories, the traveler expe-riences facilities, equipment, amenities, variousservice providers, and other customers. The air-line trip involves a complex set of sub-experiencesover a period of hours, with many opportunitiesfor the traveler to be pleased, disappointed, frus-trated, or infuriated (Berry & Lampo 2004). In

short, an airline trip involves a torrent of serviceexperience clues—clues that need to be managed.

Three Typesof Clues

In interacting with organizations, customers con-sciously and unconsciously filter experienceclues and organize them into a set of impres-

sions, some more rational or calculative and oth-ers more emotional. What is an experience clue?It is anything in the service experience the cus-tomer perceives by its presence—or absence. Ifthe customer can see, hear, taste, or smell it, itis a clue. For example, everything on a restau-rant table potentially communicates a clue tocustomers, including the appearance and con-tents of the menu; the table covering used, ifany; the use of paper or cloth napkins and theirtexture; the cleanliness of the table, and, ofcourse, the presentation and taste of the food.The wait staff’s dress, demeanor, and language,as well as how they position themselves by thetable, are experience clues. Specific clues carrymessages; the clues and messages converge tocreate the customer’s total service experience.Clues tell a service story in the most powerful ofways, and it is better to tell a consistent, cohe-sive, compelling story than an inconsistent, dis-jointed, uninteresting one. Successful organiza-tions noted for excellent service, such asStarbucks, Mayo Clinic, Federal Express, andTarget, tell their stories well through purpose-ful, systematic clue management. By definition,a good customer experience is good customerservice; the experience is the service.

Clues generally fall into three main categories(Haeckel et al. 2003): functional clues, mechanicclues, and humanic clues.

Functional Clues

Functional clues concern the technical quality ofthe offering. Functional clues are the “what” ofthe service experience, revealing the reliabilityand competence of the service. Anything thatindicates or suggests the technical quality of theservice—its presence or absence—is a functionalclue. Does the key issued at the front desk openthe hotel room door? Does the television set work?

44 MayAcademy of Management Perspectives

Was the wake-up call made as promised? Is theroom service order correct?

Mechanic Clues

Mechanic clues come from actual objects or en-vironments and include sights, smells, sounds,tastes, and textures. Whereas functional cluesconcern the reliability of the service, mechanicclues concern the sensory presentation of the ser-vice. The wide aisles, signature red color scheme,and numerous check-out counters serve as me-chanic clues in Target stores.

Humanic Clues

Humanic clues emerge from the behavior andappearance of service providers—choice of words,tone of voice, level of enthusiasm, body language,neatness, and appropriate dress. The typicallyfriendly manner of Southwest Airlines flight at-tendants as they interact with passengers and theirdistinctive uniform of a polo shirt and khaki slacksillustrate humanic clues. Humanic and mechanicclues are the “how” of the service experience,revealing much about an organization’s commit-ment to understanding and satisfying customerneeds and wants.

The distinction among functional, mechanic,and humanic clues can be subtle. For example,a retail salesperson who answers a customer’squestion about when an out-of-stock item willbe available is producing both functional andhumanic clues. The accuracy of the informationis a functional clue. The salesperson’s choice ofwords and body language are humanic clues.One salesperson may answer the question disin-terestedly, and another may answer enthusiasti-cally. A customer’s emotional response to thediffering humanic clues is likely to be quitedifferent even if the information is accurate inboth cases.

Subtleties aside, managers who wish to im-prove their customers’ service experience musteffectively manage the clues that comprise theexperience. Different clues play different rolesand can vary in importance, as we shall see.However, it is a rare company that can delivertruly excellent service and be sub-par in any of

the clue categories: functional, mechanic, andhumanic.

ConceptualBasis for ExperienceClues

Clues create the service experience by influenc-ing customers’ thoughts, feelings, and behav-ior. The important influence of affect or feel-

ings is well documented in behavioral sciencesresearch. This research shows that affect or moodinfluences how people think and act (Poon2001).1 Research shows, for example, that a pos-itive mood seems to help people recall positivematerial from memory. This is because when peo-ple are in a particular feeling state, they try tomaintain that state. Consequently, memories thatare congruent with that feeling are more accessi-ble and more likely to come to mind (Isen 1987).This pattern does not hold for negative moods,however. It is thought that people try to improvea negative mood by avoiding recall of negativememories (Poon 2001). Mood also influences peo-ple’s evaluations. For example, one study foundthat cartoons were rated as funnier by subjectswho were smiling than subjects who were frown-ing (Laird 1974).

Mood or affective states also influence the in-formation processing strategy individuals arelikely to adopt. People in a good mood are morelikely to use quicker mental short-cuts in decision-making, while people in a sad mood are morelikely to use a thorough decision-making strategy(Schwarz 2000; Schwarz & Clore 1996). Researchshows that we use our moods as a source of infor-mation. Evaluative judgments involve people im-plicitly asking themselves, “How do I feel aboutthis?” (Schwarz & Clore 2003). Positive moodsincrease the likelihood of many positive behav-iors. Positive moods seem to make someone morehelpful and may also promote cooperative behav-ior in conflict resolution situations (Isen & Levin1972; George 1998; Ford 1995; Baron 1997). Forexample, a study of dyadic negotiations found thatpositive mood subjects were less likely to display

1 Mood is defined as a subtle, low-intensity, transient backgroundfeeling state that influences thought and action. Mood has been usedinterchangeably with affect in the psychology literature and will be usedsimilarly in this paper.


hostility or break off negotiations and more likelyto see the point of view of others and adopt aproblem-solving approach to the negotiations(Carnevale & Isen 1986). Customers’ moods mayhave particular impact on how they think and actin service encounters because of the interpersonalnature of these encounters (Gardner 1985). Thus,it seems critical that firms seek to manage expe-rience clues in ways that positively influence cus-tomers’ moods.

One opportunity to positively affect customers’moods is with the tangible elements of the serviceexperience—mechanic clues. Environmental psy-chology and marketing research confirm the in-fluence of mechanic clues on customers. At itsfoundation, environmental psychology draws fromthe stimulus-organism-response (SOR) paradigmin psychology (Spangenberg et al. 1996). In anenvironmental psychology context, the physicalenvironment or stimulus (S) (i.e., mechanicclues) causes an evaluation by a person or organ-ism (O), which results in a response (R) (Mehra-bian & Russell 1974). Consequently, environ-mental psychologists have examined the physicalenvironment’s influence on people’s thoughts,feelings, and behaviors, and they have found thethree to be complex and interrelated. In a widelystudied model, Mehrabian and Russell proposedthat the three basic emotional states of pleasure,arousal, and dominance mediate behavior in anenvironment. Pleasure refers to the degree towhich a person feels good, happy, or satisfied inthe situation; arousal refers to the degree to whicha person feels excited or stimulated; and domi-nance refers to the extent to which the individualfeels in control of the situation. These emotionsare associated with behavioral responses, whichare categorized as either approach or avoidancebehaviors. Approach behaviors are positive be-haviors directed at a particular place, such as adesire to stay, explore, or affiliate. Avoidance be-haviors reflect the opposite. Thus, the environ-ment can trigger feelings that either encouragesomeone to stay in an environment or to leave it(Mehrabian & Russell 1974).

Research in marketing confirms the influenceof the environment on customers. Donovan andRossiter, for example, tested the Mehrabian-Rus-

sell model in a retail setting and found that thepleasure and arousal dimensions of the model arestrong predictors of in-store behavioral intentions.In this study, pleasure was a determinant of ap-proach behavior in the store, while arousal wasfound to increase customer time spent in the storeand willingness to interact with sales associates.The dominance element of the model was notfound to relate well to in-store behavior (Dono-van & Rossiter 1982). Researchers in marketinghave also focused on the effects of specific ambi-ent factors or clues, such as lighting, music, orscent. For example, in studies of the effects ofmusic in retail and restaurant environments, Mil-liman found that volume and tempo influencedthe amount of time customers spent in the serviceenvironment and how much money they spent(Milliman 1986; Milliman 1982).

CluesPlayDifferentRoles

Functional, mechanic, and humanic clues playspecific roles in creating the customer’s serviceexperience. As Figure 1 shows, functional clues

primarily influence customers’ cognitive or calcu-lative perceptions of service quality. Mechanicand humanic clues primarily influence customers’emotional or affective perceptions. Figure 1 de-picts this relationship. Managers should recognizethat technical competence in service performanceis not enough if they aspire to build a reputationfor superior service and build preference for theircompany. How the service is performed is impor-tant to customers too, because it influences theemotional perceptions of quality.

Figure1Clue InfluencesonCustomerPerceptions


The best service companies manage the emo-tional components of the customer service expe-rience with as much rigor as they bring to thefunctional components. Firms compete best whenthey combine functional and emotional benefitsin their market offer. The clue categories or clus-ters of sub-experiences are synergistic rather thanadditive; when properly melded, the total cus-tomer experience is greater than the parts. Thedifferent roles the three clue categories play war-rant a closer look.

Functional Clues:MeetingCustomerExpectations

Functional clues support the core of any ser-vice because they address the problem thatbrings the customer to the market. Customers

buy solutions—an accurate, on-time tax return;correct diagnosis and treatment of their backpain—that depend on functionality. Nothingtrumps performing the service right the firsttime. In an award-winning study on why cus-tomers leave one service supplier for another,Keaveney found that 44 percent of the sampleswitched (in part or solely) because of a coreservice failure, e.g., a service mistake or billingerror. Core service failure was the most fre-quently mentioned reason for switching (Keav-eney 1995).

In a series of service quality studies across 13different services, customers rated reliability as themost important dimension in meeting their ex-pectations in every case. The researchers definedreliability as “the ability to perform the promisedservice dependably and accurately” (Berry et al.1994). This research stream consistently showedthat companies received the most favorable ser-vice quality scores from customers reporting norecent service problems with them, the next bestset of scores from customers who had a problemthat was resolved satisfactorily, and, by far, theworst scores from customers who had a problemthat was not resolved satisfactorily (Berry et al.1994).

Knowing what functional clues will comprisethe evaluation of the core service and managingthem well is fundamental to meeting customers’

service expectations. Hampton Inn paved itsway into the upscale discount segment of themotel market with an innovative unconditionalservice guarantee. If the guest encounters a ser-vice failure during the visit—a plumbing, airconditioning, or noise problem, for example—and the problem cannot be rectified to theguest’s satisfaction, the night’s stay is free. It wasand is a powerful value proposition signifyingthe company’s confidence in its core service andits willingness to stand behind the service. Re-search revealed that 84 percent of the guestswho had a problem and invoked the guaranteeindicated they would definitely return to Hamp-ton Inn. Only 32 percent of guests who had aproblem but did not invoke the guaranteeplanned to return. The company’s chief finan-cial officer has concluded that Hampton Innmakes $7 for every $1 of payout.2

The Hampton Inn case is instructive because itillustrates that the clue management startingpoint for any company is to build and preserve thecustomer’s confidence in its competence. A custom-er’s confidence in the core service is the founda-tion for competing in any market. After all, howmany customers will be interested in buying aservice they consider unreliable if they have achoice? Hampton Inn’s service guarantee is astrong functional clue that encourages customersdissatisfied with any aspect of the service to com-plain. Valid customer complaints provide espe-cially valuable feedback because they give the firmthe opportunity to recover some or all of thecustomer’s confidence in the service while reveal-ing to management where the service system isbreaking down.

As important as strong functional clues are tocompeting effectively, they alone are insufficientbecause functionality usually does not exceed cus-tomers’ service expectations. Customers generallyexpect service companies to know their businessand to keep their core service promises. Thus,

2 This information comes from a presentation by John Goodman,president of TARP, a service quality research company. Goodman’s pre-sentation entitled “Quantifying the Output of the Voice of the CustomerProcess to Drive Quality and Six Sigma Project Priorities” was given at theAmerican Society for Quality Service Quality Conference, September 13,2004 in San Antonio, Texas.


customers are unlikely to be surprised when theservice is performed competently. Exceeding cus-tomers’ service expectations requires exceedingtheir basic expectations. An accurate bank state-ment and hot water in the hotel’s shower do notevoke surprise. They do not make customers say,“Wow, this is a great experience.” The other twoclue categories pack much more emotional punchin differentiating one company’s service from an-other’s.

Mechanic Clues:Influencing First Impressions, Expectations,

andValueCreation

Mechanic clues come from inanimate objectsand offer a physical representation of theintangible service. The customer who is con-

sidering retaining an attorney cannot directly seethe attorney’s competence but can see mechanicclues such as diplomas and awards hanging on theoffice wall. These and other mechanic clues canserve as influential surrogate evidence reassuringthe customer that the attorney is a good one.

A reality of services consumption is that cus-tomers buy the service before they fully experienceit. A potentially important role of mechanic cluesis to make a positive first impression that willinfluence customers’ choice of service supplier.Customers usually experience mechanic clues tosome degree before experiencing the other types ofclues and even before making a purchase decision,such as selecting a restaurant after peering in thewindows and seeing tablecloths on the tables.

Facility design, equipment, furnishings, dis-plays, signs, colors, textures, sounds, and lighting,among other sensory clues, paint a visual pictureof the service, communicating to customers with-out a single word being spoken. This idea of me-chanic clues painting a service picture is consis-tent with the work of Zaltman, who suggests thatmetaphor, or representation of one thing in termsof another, is fundamental to thought. His re-search method, Zaltman Metaphor ElicitationTechnique or ZMET�, is designed to reveal men-tal models that drive customer thought and be-havior and has been used to provide richer datathan traditional marketing research techniques.

Zaltman argues that traditional techniques focusmostly on the rational side of decision making. Hesuggests that emotions are interrelated with rea-soning processes so the two systems jointly impactbehavior. Thus, studying thought alone does notprovide a complete picture of consumer decisionmaking. Consequently, ZMET� uses metaphor tocapture both thoughts and feelings. In this re-search technique, subjects collect pictures thatrepresent their thoughts and feelings on a researchtopic (i.e., the pictures are a visual metaphor).They are then interviewed to make sure importantideas are not missed. The ZMET� technique con-siders metaphor to be a basis of thought, and themodel is based on a number of premises: mostcommunication is non-verbal; thoughts occur asimages; thoughts and feelings co-mingle; and oursenses provide important metaphors (Zaltman2003; Zaltman 1996; Zaltman & Coulter 1995).Mechanic clues can be a powerful source of sen-sory images helping customers visualize the ser-vice.

Part of the first impressions role that mechanicclues play is their influence on customers’ serviceexpectations. Customers’ perceptions of servicequality are subjective evaluations of a service ex-perience compared to their expectations for theservice. Along with price level, mechanic cluesfunction as implicit service promises suggesting tocustomers what the service should be like. Cus-tomers will expect a more distinctive experiencewith a higher level of personal attention at anupscale specialty store like Neiman Marcus thanat a discount retailer like Wal-Mart. Sharma andStafford (2000) have found that environment-based perceptions of a retail store can influencecustomer beliefs about the people who work thereand that nicer environments are generally associ-ated with more credible service providers.

The design of mechanic clues should fit andsupport the company’s market strategy. It clearly isnot a good idea to create a physical environmentfor the service that implicitly promises a qualitylevel that cannot be consistently delivered. Onthe other hand, the right kind of mechanic clueshelp a company attract the type of customer itseeks. Neiman Marcus’ elegant store facilities, fur-nishings, and displays beckon consumers who de-


sire fashionable merchandise and attentive,knowledgeable personal service.

Mechanic clues directly influence customers’service perceptions because these clues are part ofthe experience. Uncomfortable seats in a movietheater, offensive signs in a retail store (e.g.,“break it and you’ve bought it”), and tables tooclose together in a restaurant directly detract fromthe experience. Mechanic clues are especially im-portant for services in which customers experi-ence the facilities for an extended time period,such as airplanes, hotels, and hospitals. Mechanicclues are quite salient to value creation in thesetypes of services.

In 1971, a 30-year-old entrepreneur named LenRiggio acquired a floundering New York Citybookstore called Barnes & Noble and through theyears built a highly successful company. Barnes &Noble has become the world’s largest booksellerwith fiscal year 2004 sales of nearly $5 billion.Barnes & Noble was ranked the number-one retailbrand for quality in America for the years 2001through 2004 by the Harris Interactive poll.3 Mas-terful orchestration of mechanic clues is a keyelement in the company’s success. Riggio wantedto extend the book market to include a widespectrum of potential readers and to accomplishthis he needed stores that would make people feelwelcome and comfortable. He had research thatestablished a correlation between sales and theamount of time spent in a bookstore.

Riggio’s concept of the business led to thecreation of spacious stores with big easy chairswhere customers could relax with a book. Heincluded Starbucks coffee bars in the stores sovisitors could enjoy a cup of coffee with their book(or perhaps come to the store for coffee and windup buying a book). The introduction of a coffeedrinking establishment into the bookstore servedas a cluster of clues that further established theinvitation to customers to “stay awhile.” Riggioconsiders his best decision to be including easy-to-find public restrooms in the stores. As he onceremarked in a speech: “You work so hard andinvest so much to get people to visit your store,

why would you want them to have to leave?” Withits bold concept of customer-friendly public space,a Barnes & Noble superstore is a place for con-sumers to spend time rather than save time. Busyconsumers who rush in and out of other storeslinger in Barnes & Noble. The Barnes & Noblestore is heavily laden with clues that transformedthe common bookstore experience of “stack ’emand sell ’em” to an inviting “library” setting thatinvites browsing and belonging.

Humanic Clues:ExceedingCustomerExpectations

Humanic clues created by employees are mostsalient for labor-intensive, interactive ser-vices. The more important, personal, and en-

during the customer-provider interaction, themore pronounced and emotional humanic effectsare likely to be. Human interaction in the serviceexperience offers the chance to cultivate emo-tional connectivity that can extend respect andesteem to customers and, in so doing, exceed theirexpectations, strengthen their trust, and deepentheir loyalty.

Just as labor intensity can produce undesirablevariability in a service, so can it produce desirablevariability when a service provider performs withuncommon kindness, caring, or resourcefulness.Customer perception of employee effort in deliv-ering a service has an especially strong impact onservice satisfaction and loyalty (Keaveney 1995;Mohr & Bitner 1995).

As discussed, functional clues are usually mostimportant in meeting customers’ service expecta-tions because functionality offers the core solutioncustomers buy. Conversely, humanic clues are typ-ically most important in exceeding customers’ ex-pectations for labor-intensive, interactive ser-vices, because treatment of the customer is centralto these service experiences and superb treatmentcan evoke pleasant surprise. Exceeding customers’expectations, by definition, requires the elementof pleasant surprise and the best opportunity forsurprising customers is when service providers andcustomers interact (Berry et al. 1994). Humaninteraction affords the best opportunity to dem-onstrate to customers a commitment to serving.

3 http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/press releases/2005 EquitrendBrand Study.htlm, accessed August 30, 2005.


Excellent mechanic clues rarely can overcomepoor humanic clues. The clues that people emithave greater impact on how customers feel aboutthemselves and therefore have a definitive impacton how they feel about an experience. Considerthat mechanic clues are extremely important tohospital patients because they stay in these facil-ities for an extended time and are likely to beanxious, in pain, and under great stress. Even so,humanic clues outweigh mechanic clues for pa-tients. Table 1 presents hospital patient satisfac-tion data collected by research firm Press GaneyAssociates in 2004. The data clearly show thathumanic clues are most highly correlated withpatients’ likelihood of recommending a hospital.

To examine the combined effects of mechanicand humanic clues on customers’ service qualityperceptions, Wall (2003) conducted a video ex-periment in a casual dining restaurant chain. Fourvideotapes were filmed in two of the chain’s res-taurants; one location was a new prototype envi-ronment rated very positively by customers (pos-itive mechanic clues), and the other was theoldest and most negatively rated format in thechain (negative mechanic clues). Two differentservice scenarios were shot at each location: oneportraying positive service behaviors and theother portraying negative service behaviors. Thescript for the positive service behavior scenariorepresented ideal service behaviors, such as greet-

ing customers promptly, seating them at cleantables, and frequently checking on customersthroughout the dining experience. The negativescript represented a realistic departure from thechain’s service standards, such as ignoring custom-ers as they enter the restaurant, poor productknowledge, and inattention to customers whiledining.

The 181 respondents, representing a sample ofthe adult dining population, were assigned to oneof the four video treatments: positive mechanicclues/positive humanic clues; negative mechanicclues/positive humanic clues; positive mechanicclues/negative humanic clues; or negative me-chanic clues/negative humanic clues. Theywatched their assigned video and filled out a sur-vey to indicate their impressions of overall servicequality. Mean ratings of service quality on a7-point scale were highest in the positive me-chanic clues/positive humanic clues condition(6.47), followed by the negative mechanic clues/positive humanic clues condition (5.98). Percep-tions of service quality were lowest in the positivemechanic clues/negative humanic clues condition(1.58), and slightly higher in the negative me-chanic clues/negative humanic clues condition(1.98). The study confirms that while mechanicclues are an important source of information forthe customer of the restaurant service studied,

Table12004National InpatientPriority IndexTen IssuesMostHighlyCorrelatedwith LikelihoodofRecommending theHospital

PriorityRank

● Response to concerns/complaints made during your stay 1● Staff sensitivity to the inconvenience that health problems and hospitalization can cause 2● Degree to which hospital staff addressed your emotional/spiritual needs 2● Staff effort to include you in decisions about your treatment 2● How well the nurses kept you informed 5● Promptness in responding to the call button 6● Room cleanliness 7● Waiting time for tests or treatments 7● Accommodations and comfort for visitors 9● Pleasantness of room decor 10

N � 1,506 hospitals and 2,170,004 patients treated in 2004Source: Press Ganey Associates


humanic clues dominate mechanic clues in influ-encing service quality perceptions.

Berry and Lampo (2004) studied the differ-ences between high-preference and low-prefer-ence service brands in a multi-phase consumerstudy. In the initial phase, they asked 60 consum-ers in personal interviews to select a service brandthey hold in high regard and would recommend toa friend and a service brand they do not hold inhigh regard and would not recommend. Respon-dents offered detailed information about theirchoices, including listing all the descriptive words,thoughts, characteristics, symbols, or images(known as brand associations) for their high- andlow-preference brands. Respondents then pickedthe single most important association in influenc-ing their opinion of the brands. Employee behav-ior was, by far, most influential in respondents’brand perceptions. Eighty-two percent of the 60most influential associations cited for high-prefer-ence brands concerned employee behavior; forlow-preference brands, the statistic was 90 per-cent. Later research stages using different methodsand larger samples confirmed the pre-eminent in-fluence of employee behavior. The followingquote from one respondent illustrates why goodmechanic clues generally do not overcome badhumanic clues:

This grocery store is brand new and it looks like theyspared no cost in the building. In fact, it looks morelike a department store than a grocery store. But nomatter how nice it looks or how nice the facilities areinside, I will never shop there again. The employeesthere are just rude and lazy. They act like it is a chorejust to check out my groceries or answer my ques-tions. I would much rather go to my old grocery store.It may not look as good but the people there are nice(Berry & Lampo 2004).

Positive humanic clues make The ContainerStore one of America’s most successful retailchains. Its knowledgeable, service-minded em-ployees enjoy helping customers solve real prob-lems. The retailer sells storage and organizationproducts: boxes, bottles, trays, racks, shelving sys-tems, hangers, garment bags, desk organizers, bas-kets, buckets, and much more. The company’smission is to save people time, space, and stress.Neatniks love the store because it celebrates the

rightness of their lifestyles. Customers whose clos-ets, kitchens, offices, and garages are in disarraylove the store, too, because it gives them hope.

Customers love the savvy, energized employeeswho sell solutions, not just products. Employeesare carefully selected, well-trained, steeped in thecompany’s values and mission, and paid aboutdouble the retail industry average. Store employeeturnover is between 10 and 15 percent, a remark-ably low figure for retailing. The company, whichaverages double-digit annual sales growth and isthe market leader, was ranked as the best firm towork for in America two years in a row (1999 and2000) by Fortune magazine.

The Container Store excels in functional andmechanic clues but has differentiated itself pri-marily through its humanic clues. As CEO KipTindell explains: “We have to attract and keepthe best people because we sell the hard stuff.Anyone can be an order taker. But we sell prod-ucts like absolutely leakproof travel bottles thatare more expensive than ordinary bottles. It’s a joyto sell this type of product, but it requires excel-lent people to do it” (Berry 1999).

BankingonClues: ACase Study

This case study describes how a financial servicesindustry supplier worked with client institu-tions to improve service experience clues in

their branches. Major technological advances aretransforming the way Americans obtain financialservices. Check writing, for example, is steadilygiving way to alternative forms of payment astelephone and online banking and debit andcredit cards continue to evolve and become moreprominent in consumers’ lives.

Although checks remain the dominant form ofnon-cash payment, their proportion of the totalpayments market has declined considerably overthe last 20 years and will continue to do so asconsumers, businesses, and financial institutionsmaintain multiple payment methods for the fore-seeable future (Federal Reserve Board 2002).Faced with this reality, Deluxe Corporation’s Fi-nancial Services Division, which is the largestprovider of checks in the United States, launcheda strategy to enhance its customer experiencevalue. As part of this strategy, the company estab-


lished the Deluxe Knowledge Exchange Collabo-rative, which was designed to help financial insti-tutions (their clients) network and shareknowledge for overcoming common customerbusiness challenges.

The Collaborative comprised a group of 11professionals from national and community banksand credit unions from across the country. Theirmission was to employ state-of-the-art experiencemanagement strategies for improving business re-sults and establishing compelling customer expe-riences. The group initially assessed their cus-tomer service challenge based on consumerresearch indicating that a financial institution’snewest customers are also the most vulnerable.The first 90 days of a customer’s experience ispivotal in shaping the relationship with the insti-tution; the customer’s initial contact impactschurn, cross sell, profitability, and other criticalmeasures.

A ZMET� study conducted as part of the col-laborative effort provided insights into customers’emotional needs with a financial institution. Theresearch revealed that customers desired a rela-tionship and the banks focused on what theycould sell. New customers want flexibility, per-sonal attention, and advice from their financialinstitution as they begin building a relationship.In contrast, financial institutions generally viewthe customer relationship as functional and trans-actional, with an emphasis on efficiency.

Working with the Collaborative support staffat Deluxe, along with Minneapolis-based Experi-ence Engineering, Inc. and business thought lead-ers, Collaborative members developed and testeda series of customer experience clues to facilitatepersonal connections between branch employeesand customers. A three-word “experience motif”was developed to express the emotions customersunconsciously seek in their initial experience witha financial institution. The motif was the basisused to design, evaluate, and manage specific ex-perience clues. The purpose of the clues was toengender feelings resulting in commitment to andpreference for a particular bank.

The chosen humanic, mechanic, and func-tional clues were implemented in a test cell ofbranches and compared to a set of control

branches. The core clues of the “First 90-DayExperience Design” required staff to perform var-ious humanic roles to elicit customers’ feelings ofdeep commitment to the institution.

Individual staff members’ performances duringthe first few minutes of a customer’s interactionwith the bank have a significant impact on howthe customer feels. These early impressions arelasting, and the service provider who immediatelyputs “the face on the bank” plays a critical role increating them.

In the Deluxe study, the key humanic roleswere characterized as welcoming, comforting, ac-companying, inviting, sensing, and conversing.Personnel in the pilot locations were educatedand trained to incorporate these key characteris-tics in their interactions with customers. Theyconcentrated on communication techniques suchas demonstrating genuine interest and focused lis-tening. For example, when a customer opens anew account, the provider performing as a “guide/navigator” can positively influence the customer’sfeelings. In performing this role, employees canmake customers feel valued, looked after, and fa-miliar with the institution.

The following clues were among those embed-ded in the test branches:

● “Just Like Home” (humanic clue)—the recep-tionist acknowledges each person who walks inand, if possible, greets everyone by name. Thereceptionist’s awareness should be as keen aswhen someone enters an individual’s home.This clue signals that employees are focused oncustomers and not bank processes.

● “Stand Up” (humanic clue)—the employeestands up and acknowledges a customer comingto the desk. Standing up conveys respect thatenhances feelings of being welcomed, and italso forces the employee to shift attention fromother tasks to a central focus on the customer.

● “The Approach” (humanic clue)—the em-ployee physically moves forward to greet thecustomer rather than waiting for the customerto arrive. This action creates a sense of meetingthe customer “half way,” helping the customerfeel more important, more engaged, and centralto the experience.


● “120-Second Self-Portrait” (humanic clue)—the employee devotes at least the first 120seconds of the interaction to learning about theindividual by evoking the customer’s story (“tellme about yourself”). This establishes a sense ofwho the customer is. Intensely listening to thecustomer during this “self-portrait” helps theemployee sense and respond to customers’ needsand desires.

● “Desk Connectors” (mechanic clue)—the em-ployee places three elements on the desk tohelp convey personal information, e.g., a familyphoto, a skiing picture. Portraying specific as-pects of the banker’s life and interests presentsopportunities to create a personal connectionwith a new customer, provides an opening fordialogue, and conveys a better sense of theindividual employee.

● “Engagement Map” (mechanic clue)—the em-ployee uses a simple, clear map or illustration todepict the process of opening an account, in-cluding anticipated documents, wait times,events, and processes. The map orients custom-ers so they don’t feel lost or surprised by anyaspect of the experience, and it also helps setrealistic customer expectations.

● “The Flip” (humanic clue)—the employee pre-sents the client as the honored guest, the “oneto meet.” For example, “Mike, I’d like to intro-duce you to Jim Smith who has just opened anew account with us” as opposed to “Jim, I’dlike to introduce you to our branch manager,Mike Johnson.” This dialogue flips the focusfrom banker to customer, elevating the custom-er’s status.

According to Deluxe, the tactical use of specificexperience clues boosted customer satisfaction,customer loyalty, and employee engagement be-tween 10 and 30 percent in the participatingbranches. Collaborative members reported an in-creased number of customers who indicated theywere “completely satisfied,” more likely to con-tinue to do business with the financial institution,or “extremely likely” to recommend their finan-cial institution to a friend. In addition, participat-ing financial institutions improved their share ofwallet, adding at least one service sold per house-

hold. Also, the test branches garnered strongeremployee engagement, with a 23 percent im-provement in how employees felt about their rolewithin the organization and their organization’sbusiness strategy” (Deluxe Financial Services2005).

Discussion

Customers always have a service experiencewhen they interact with an organization. Theymay interact in person, over the telephone,

through the Internet, or through other means, butthey will always have an experience. The experi-ence, which is actually a series of discrete sub-experiences, is full of messages that impact howcustomers feel and tell a story about the serviceand the company that provides it. Is the serviceprovider competent? Is this a good company? Doesit really care about customers and their well-be-ing?

These messages come from multiple clues cus-tomers perceive when considering whether to buya service and while evaluating it during and afteruse. Clues and the service story they tell customersare inherent in the customer service experience.The overriding implication for virtually all man-agers is whether their company’s clues are creatingthe right kind of customer feelings and telling theright kind of story.

We use the phrase “virtually all managers” toconvey the inclusive importance of managing ser-vice experience clues. Services dominate the U.S.economy, contributing about 75 percent of theGDP (Office of the U.S. Trade Representative2005) and accounting for approximately four outof every five workers (U.S. Department of Labor2005). A revealing business school classroom ex-ercise would be to ask the students to name evenone company or industry that need not be con-cerned with clue management.

One goal of this article was to introduce adifferent way of thinking about customers’ serviceexperiences with organizations. It is common forexecutives to refer to the need to improve serviceor to improve the customers’ experience. Thisarticle offers a language and framework for under-standing what “customer experience” actuallymeans and what needs to be improved.


Another goal was to show how each clue cat-egory plays different roles in creating a serviceexperience for customers. Functionality is essen-tial because it is central to the core service solu-tion customers are buying. Without functionalitythere is no solution. Therefore, carefully manag-ing clues that accentuate or reinforce functional-ity is important. While mechanic clues can sparkcustomer interest, stimulate trial, influence expec-tations, and, for certain services, offer core bene-fits, humanic clues present the best opportunity toexceed customers’ expectations for labor-inten-sive, interactive services because they offer thebest opportunity for pleasant surprise. Human in-teraction in the service experience offers thechance to deepen customers’ emotional connec-tion to the firm and/or service provider. It is thesystematic and careful orchestration of all thevarious clues to support the firm’s market strategythat is critical.

A fascinating example of the potential of ser-vice experience clue management and the impor-tance of clue integration comes from the Westinhotel chain. Westin has gained positive branddifferentiation, strengthened customer loyalty,and created a new revenue stream by refocusingattention and investment on the comfort andappeal of the sleeping room. The sleeping roomoffers a cluster of sub-experiences, among themthe comfort and appearance of the bed. In 1999,Westin introduced its exclusive “HeavenlyBed”—a custom-designed, pillow-top mattresswith high thread-count linens, a down comforter,and dust ruffle—all in white so guests can tell thatthe bed is clean. This combination of clues hasmade the bed a distinctive, memorable experiencefor many guests. In this case, the melding of func-tional clues (the bed’s comfort) and mechanicclues (the bed’s appearance) create the pleasantsurprise more commonly associated with humanicclues.

The “Heavenly Bed” has proved so popularthat Westin sold more than 3,500 beds for homeuse through its website in the first five years(Schoenberger 2004). In 2005, Westin also beganselling the bed and related products through Nord-strom stores. Westin extended the branding to thebathroom with the “Heavenly Shower” that has

mechanic clues like a curved curtain rod (to pre-vent shower curtain “cling”) and a dual shower-head (Chittum 2004). Westin’s success in cus-tomer experience management has prompted anumber of other hotel chains, including Sheraton,Radisson, and Hyatt, to invest in upgrading theclue clusters around their core service (sleepingand showering) sub-experiences.

A hotel bed and bathroom are core elements inthe broader customer experience. Perhaps mostinstructive for managers in this example is howWestin invested in demonstrably improving coreparts of the service experience and used the“Heavenly” brand to give the new clues a distinc-tive identity. Westin didn’t just improve function-ality and presentation, but did so in an integratedway and trumpeted the result. The “Heavenly”strategy has helped improve Westin’s overall im-age or as one Westin executive put it “. . . createda halo effect on the entire Westin guest experi-ence.” Westin was ranked highest in guest satis-faction for upscale hotel chains in the 2004 J.D.Power and Associates North America HotelGuest Satisfaction Study (Starwood Hotels & Re-sorts 2004).

So, how does an organization begin integratingthe systematic management of clues into its busi-ness? The challenge often faced by management isjust how to get started and structure their efforts sothey can optimize the value their service experi-ences create for customers. How does an organi-zation carefully and systematically understand, de-sign, develop, and manage experience clues thatengage customers? The answers are straightfor-ward but the competencies to achieve the objec-tive require focus, attention, and perseverance.Organizations don’t develop the competenciesovernight.

Fundamental to any effort is understanding theexperience from the customer’s perspective—thatis, seeing what the customer sees, hearing whatthe customer hears, touching what the customertouches, smelling what the customer smells, tast-ing what the customer tastes and, above all, feel-ing what the customer feels. Organizations need towork to become more clue conscious and under-stand the level of subtle details that are processedin customers’ conscious and unconscious thoughts


impacting how they feel in an experience. Under-standing what customers sense in an experienceeither by its presence or absence is foundational.

Beyond understanding what customers sensefrom the existing experience and the feelings andstories that experience creates, the organizationmust also invest in learning what customers wantto feel in the experience, what will engage themcognitively and emotionally in a manner thatcreates strong preference and loyalty. Understand-ing the prevailing customer experience and whatit needs to become requires a significant commit-ment to research. Companies embracing a cluemanagement approach typically begin with a “cus-tomer experience audit” with the goal of thor-oughly analyzing the current customer experienceand revealing customers’ emotional responses tospecific clues. Videotape and digital photographymay be used to document actual customer experi-ences. Managers might accompany customersthrough a service experience and ask them tocomment on what they like and dislike. Employ-ees might experience the service as a customerwould, make notes on their experience, and con-vene to discuss their findings. In-depth interviewsmay be held with customers and employees tosurface their feelings about different aspects of anexperience. The ZMET� method discussed earliermight be used.

The results of an experience audit and consid-eration of a firm’s overall market strategy form thebasis for the creation of an “experience motif.”The experience motif is ideally a three-word ex-pression of what customers desire feeling in anexperience. The use of three words as opposed tomore words or a sentence is to keep the expressionsimple and focused so that it can be an effectivetool to use in the assessment, design, develop-ment, and management of experience clues. Oth-erwise, the motif may in effect become more likea conventional mission statement making the in-terpretation considerably less focused and morediffuse.

The motif becomes the North Star—the foun-dation for integrating and reconciling all elementsof the experience. It is the unifying element forevery clue in an experience. It becomes the filterthat facilitates alignment of what would otherwise

be a collection of random clues into a wellthought out, purposefully designed set of cluesorchestrated to create certain feelings and tell acertain story.

Although some organizations have had successstructuring a “customer experience office” or ap-pointing a “chief experience officer,” others havebeen less successful. Organizations that have re-mained structurally the same but have adopted arigorous and systematic approach to the manage-ment of experience clues have had mixed resultsas well. When customer experience managementefforts flounder, the missing link is commonlysenior leadership commitment. Genuine commit-ment at the top of the organization is essentialbecause customer experience management is cul-tural and not just a function of infrastructure andresearch. The role of senior management is tochampion the value, provide the leadership andresources, and encourage the organizational perse-verance to manage service experience clues sys-tematically and consistently.

As summarized in Table 2, all levels of theorganization play key roles in extracting the mostvalue from managing service experience clues.Middle managers must be clue conscious, incor-porating clue language into daily discussion, be-coming personally involved in improving thecompany’s clue presentation, supporting direct re-ports who are invited to serve on cross-functionalclue management project teams, and, in general,empowering, encouraging, and facilitating system-atic service clue management. Middle managersmust select, orient, teach, encourage, assess, andreward employees who perform the service andprovide the clues that play such a dominant rolefor many services.

Front-line employees are powerful generators ofservice experience clues and need to be clue con-scious as well. It is critical to share with theseemployees relevant market research that distillswhat customers’ value in the service experience—their emotional needs, not just their functionalneeds. To provide the humanic clues that supportthe company’s strategy, service providers need toknow their customers, they need to be armed witha customer experience motif that clearly and con-cisely articulates customers’ desired feeling, and


they need ongoing training, education, and rein-forcement to effectively present the right clues.

Whether managers put it all together—ordon’t—customers do. They work out the “cluemath.” They add up the clues and compute intri-cate conscious and unconscious calculations thatinfluence their purchase decisions and shape theirassessment of the service’s quality. Service expe-rience clues and the value customers associatewith the experience can lead them to loyalty andpassionate advocacy—or the opposite.

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Table2ClueManagement in theOrganization

OrganizationalLevel Role Action

Senior Leadership Create and Support Imperativefor Clue Management

Demonstrate a strong commitment to understandingthe role of managing clues and its importance tocustomers’ preference and loyalty. Establish andstay focused on a mandate for systematicexperience clue management.

Middle Management Understand and Empower ClueManagement

Demonstrate understanding of the role of managingclues and establish it as a high priority. Supportthe development of clue managementproficiency within the organization.

FrontLine Sense and Respond to ClueManagement

Become sensitive to the presence and absence ofclues with a bias for action in the management ofclues. Be aware of customers’ emotional andfunctional needs in an experience and respond tocustomers accordingly.


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