The many moments of truths

Applying the theory that by creating positive outcomes at every interaction the business would be successful, Jan Carlzon, president of Scandinavian Airlines in the 1980’s went on to make that airline one of the most admired in the industry. Thus was born the concept of the Moment of Truth which he defined as: Any time a customer comes into contact with a business, however remote, they have an opportunity to form an impression. Indeed a strong and powerful concept that described customer behavour. In 2003, the CEO of Procter & Gamble, A.J. Lafley coined the phrase the First Moment of Truth to describe the crucial first few moments when a consumer’s first impression about a product or service is formed. Lafley explained that there were infact two moments of truth, going on to add a third:

• The 1st Moment of Truth [1stMOT] occurs at the store shelf or online, when a consumer decides whether to buy or book one brand or another.
• The 2^nd Moment of Truth[2ndMOT] is when the customer actually purchases the product and uses it…and is happy or unhappy with it. The [2ndMOT] is the moment when the customer, having embraced the [1stMOT], now uses it for the first time and each time after.    2ndMOT is truly the total consumer experience (or UX for “User eXperience”).
• The 3rd Moment of Truth[3rdMOT] is when the product or service experience catalyses an emotion (happiness, disappointment, anger, etc) and where the customer shares feedback with the company as well as with family members, friends, colleagues, etc.

The 1stMOT is considered to be the first few critical seconds when a consumer is making a decision of where to eat and / or what to buy. Having decided on the restaurant, the customer-turned-guest, then encounters the 2ndMOT. If the delivered product or service fails the meet the expectations of the guest, the feedback shared during the 3rdMOT will be negative. A repeat visit by the guest is also unlikely. Conversely, should the 2ndMOT and 3rdMOT be positive, the restaurant has won over a potential repeat guest and possibly a good number of positive tweets.

Likewise, your product (hotel room) may be the best in the competitive set, (i.e. at 2ndMOT) but business turned away by inefficient reservations staff at the 1stMOT means the customer will never know it. However, the public at large may get to know about the poor service from the hotel’s reservation staff. Earlier, it used to be said that one unhappy customer would tell between 9 and 15 different people about their experience. But in the age of Facebook, Twitter and others, you would be happy to contain negative word of mouth to 15 people. The average Facebook user has 140+ friends, and negative comments often jump from social circle to social circle. A tweet really is worth a thousand words. The key to success therefore is ensuring that both 1stMOT and 2ndMOT are in harmony. If not, the road ahead is bound to be rocky.

We’ve all heard about Google’s Zero Moment of Truth [ZMOT].Like many other things in the digital age; the internet has changed the way consumers shop. A study by Google in 2011 showed that the majority of consumers head to the web to make an informed decision when it’s time to buy, whether they want a new car or where to dine or when planning a trip: where to stay. People began conducting more research, asking questions such as, (say when choosing a hotel):

• Is the hotel located conveniently located? (In the city / noise-free / near a metro station).
• How does it compare with similar hotels? (Price / within budget / special offers)
• What are other people saying about it? ( Reviews on TripAdvisor / word-of-mouth)
• What is the cheapest way to make the booking? (Direct with hotel / OTA )

Yes, people Google whatever they are looking for. Call them what you like but Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc are just high tech Yellow pages. Digging deeper, there’s actually a moment before the Zero Moment of Truth that marketers need to recognise. Called the Less Than Zero Moment of Truth [<ZMOT] by Eventricity in 2014, it is the moment when something causes the customer to start looking for a product or service. To win the Less Than Zero Moment of Truth, your product or service must have a previous connection with the customer. They need to have seen or heard you (N’paper, radio, TV, billboard or similar display ad) or have engaged with you - be it on or offline before they decide to click on you. What matters is that the customer has some sort of stimuli to recognise, by reason, conscious or subconscious, as to why they decided to click on to your link over your competition. Which means that you need to spend time building your brand out there in the non digital world as well.

Now, there is another Moment of Truth, which is a concept described by Amit Sharma, CEO and founder of Narvar. Called the Actual Moment of Truth [AMOT], it focuses on the after experience which is a period of time from when the customer buys a product online to when he/she receives it. This can be as short as a few hours or several days or longer. It is that ‘gap’ which is where the Actual Moment of Truth lives. The ‘gap’ is the problem – particularly when a customer purchases something online and hits the ‘buy’ button. Most companies unless they have their own delivery department turn that order over to an outsourced 3^rd party. That’s when the ball is dropped and that’s the ‘gap’ – because the company now has no control over the outcome (delivery).

In the hospitality industry, this gap emerges when the ‘takeaway’ you ordered is delivered after eternity. It could be because of bad weather or transport breakdown (mechanical or too many orders).In hotels it could be the room service order which is perpetually ‘on-the-way’, because of a delay in the kitchen which room service has no control on.

Ilzaf Keefahs – writes on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike.

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