Disney’s Customer Experience Excellence
Costumed characters, thrill rides, laser light spectacles, marine life shows, aquatic playgrounds and waterslides… Yet, when you ask visitors what impressed them the most when visiting Disney World, the answers will most probably include – friendly staff, how organized the waiting lines are, their attention to detail, cleanness of the place.
Those roller coasters cost Disney millions of dollars, however, most of the times they are not the first response. The answers above might come as a surprise but bear with us till the end of the article and you will understand why it is so.
“Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again, and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”
In today’s competitive environment this quote is most applicable than ever. And Disney has understood it for a long time already. Offering a good and high-quality product is not enough for millions of customers to eagerly wait hours before entering your premises for spending their money, just like they do at Disney.
But there is one thing that Disney excels at that allows them to have 150 million visitors in one year, and that is superb customer service experience. Disney considers extraordinary customer experience as an essential element for business success. And truth be told, serves as a perfect example as well.
The company does not only practice a good customer experience but has even created its own philosophy around it and gives exclusive customer experience summits.
But if you cannot go to Florida for the summit this year, don’t worry. We will tell you how the multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate became one of the leaders in the CX field.
Great Customer Service: Disney’s 4 Keys
Since the days of its creation, Disney has set providing exceptional customer service as one of its top priorities. With a vision of “We create happiness” the company showed to its customers as well as employees that regardless of the position of the worker’s in the amusement park, their main objective was creating customer happiness.
Exactly this very vision was a first step in creating a set of guidelines that would help the company workers in creating and maintaining the happy vibe for its guests.
Key 1: Safety
This goes without saying. How can visitors be happy if they are constantly preoccupied regarding their safety? Disney sets security of its customers as a number one priority, so they can pleasantly enjoy their magical holidays at the park.
Key 2: Courtesy
It’s the smile, energy, manners and attitude but it’s also more than that for Disney. Doing the minimum requirements will not give you the maximum outcome and Disney understands it. The company puts its maximum efforts to train and prepare employees for the excellent service.
That is why when you enter the park you see people ready to serve you with a big smile on their face. To maintain such high standards the company also rewards its most prominent employees.
Key 3: Show
Here, the show becomes the reality. Here, the cast members stay in their character at all times and commit to their roles. Visitors come to the park because they want to experience the magic.
That is why it is important to have the magical atmosphere and ensuring that the visitors get away from the reality for a while at least. But Disney also knows that there is no magic if there is no cleanness.
You can walk all you want but will find it hard to encounter a piece of trash anywhere on the ground.
Key 4: Efficiency
Run the events smoothly without inconveniences by managing the activities efficiently. Disney constantly thinks about the ways its customers can have the time of their life without unnecessary hassle. The company knows that eliminating bureaucracy and eliminating inefficiency will eliminate the frustration of the customer.
But Is That All, Folks?
Yes, those key elements serve Disney as a vital guidelines, but it is not enough. For being a CX leader the company has some additional strategies.
Listen, Listen and Listen
“Listen with your heart. You will understand.” This tip was given to Pocahontas but if you also start listening with your heart to your customer, will understand a lot of insights. Reappearing customer is no magic for Disney.
Rather, it is a result of carefully listening to its customer, identifying their needs and doing all the possible for providing the solutions to those needs.
Apart from data analytics one of the ways the company listens to its customers is the social media. Disney encourages its visitors to provide improvement suggestions on social media.
One of the examples was when Disney noticed a lot of its visitors inquiring about the character locations. Noticing this contributed to creating a CHiP system (Character Hotline and Information Program) which give a visitor updated information about the whereabouts of the characters.
Beauty and the Details
Disney knows that being attentive to small details shows the guests that they are worth it, worth of the high-quality standards that Disney gives. Ignoring the details when it comes to customer experience is not the differentiation that a company should be seeking.
Disney takes this to another level. No, we are not talking about how realistic the costumes look, how perfectly the castles are built or how clean the environment is. Disney went as far as the manhole cover.
Yes, the manhole covers are specially designed with a Mickey Mouse logo in the center. Now such small details are exactly what makes a difference and what makes the Disneyland a magical experience.
Star-Wars Technology
Imagine you see people with shining headbands, they use it to pay for the rides, food, for opening hotel doors, and even for taken pictures to later be sent to their emails. No, this is not a futuristic sci-fi movie, this is Disneyland.
The headband is called MagicBand provided by HP. This device lets the customer service reps know the name of the visitor and facilitates more personalized experience for the clients.
Such innovations give Disney opportunity to make their operations more efficient with more insights about its clients, insights that later Disney transforms to satisfied customers.
Disney is undoubtedly one of the leaders when it comes to Customer Experience. “If you can dream it you can do it” said Walt Disney. Well, the company does dream to make the customer experience superb and, apparently, they do it really good. Make customer satisfaction your dream, follow the Disney way and be sure that you will also succeed in it!
