Positive can often be forgotten. We always have to think about not just delivering positive, but rather positive & memorable CX.
Now, imagine you are going on a cruise. Company A offers some good options and a good price but asking you to pay ahead. Company B, on the other hand, is offering a much better package with the payment done in the end. Option B is convincing, right? So you go for it.
As promised Company B is delivering something outstanding: great experiences across the board, consistency and all that for the same price.
Company A (which you picked as a provider for your next cruise), wasn't even promising half of that, but had one spectacular attraction or an event at some point which was more intense than anything that Company B could offer.
Once the cruise was over, Company B launched some fireworks, provided some personalised gifts and… requested the payment. Company A just wishes you good luck, stays consistent to the promise and sees you off.
Next day at work you will tell people about the cruise you had with Company B but will barely touch the great service and fireworks in the end, instead focusing on the cost of "all that fluff". The aftertaste with Company B despite of all their effort will be bitter.
With Company A though, you would remember that one intense thing that happened to you and you will remain happy about the way things went overall – no bitterness in the end.
It happens due to two things highlighted in various experiments in Behavioural Economics:
- The "Peak-End Rule", which states that we judge the experience based on how we felt at it's peak and at its end.
- The "Pain of Paying", which states that we hate losing money because we are loss averse.
In the end with Company B all those positive experiences like "fireworks" didn't matter or were completely forgotten as the man spent the evening either thinking of the need to pay or thinking of the payment when it was done.
What the company A did right though? They have invested in one show stopper, delivered on the promised, removed the negatives out of the way. No fireworks, but it still works.
And it will be remembered with no bitterness attached to the overall experience.