What Customers Hate

About the Author

Nicholas J. Webb is an acclaimed author, speaker, and futurist who specializes in customer experience and innovation. With a career spanning over three decades, Webb has been a consultant to some of the world’s top companies, helping them navigate the complexities of customer expectations in the digital age. His insights into what drives customer behavior and how businesses can harness these insights for growth have made him a sought-after keynote speaker and advisor. Webb is known for his pragmatic approach to business challenges, emphasizing actionable strategies and relentless innovation.

Main Idea

What Customers Hate by Nicholas J. Webb is a comprehensive guide to understanding and eliminating the aspects of your business that drive customers away. Webb argues that while it's crucial to deliver what customers love, it is equally important to identify and remove what they hate. In today's competitive market, negative experiences can significantly impact a customer's decision to engage with a brand. The book introduces the Net Experience Formula and explores the five critical touchpoints that influence customer perception, aiming to transform hate points into opportunities for creating exceptional customer experiences.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Understanding Customer Hate
2. The Net Experience Formula
3. Touchpoint #1: The Pre-Touches
4. Touchpoint #2: The First Touches
5. Touchpoint #3: The Core Touch
6. Touchpoint #4: The Last Touches
7. Touchpoint #5: The In-Touch
8. Conclusion: Embracing Relentless Innovation

Introduction: Understanding Customer Hate

Webb opens by emphasizing the importance of recognizing what customers hate. He explains that businesses often focus on what customers love, but ignoring the negative aspects of customer experience can be detrimental. In a world where customers have numerous choices, even minor frustrations can lead to loss of business. Webb asserts that "reducing what your customers hate is just as important as increasing what they love" (Nicholas J. Webb). By understanding and addressing the pain points in the customer journey, businesses can transform negative experiences into opportunities for improvement and growth.

Webb highlights that customer hate is not always about significant issues; sometimes, small irritations can accumulate and lead to a negative overall perception of a brand. This insight is crucial because it shifts the focus from just enhancing positive aspects to also mitigating negative ones. By doing so, businesses can create a balanced approach to customer experience management, ensuring that they cater to both the love and hate aspects of their interactions.

The Net Experience Formula

The Net Experience Formula (NCX) is central to Webb's thesis. It measures the total customer experience by subtracting hate points from love points across five critical touchpoints. This formula provides a clear picture of a customer's overall perception of a brand, allowing businesses to identify areas that need improvement. By focusing on both positive and negative experiences, companies can create a more balanced and effective strategy for customer satisfaction.

Webb explains that NCX represents the net total of what the experience was like for customers by subtracting the hatepoints from the lovepoints to produce a score. This score helps businesses understand their overall performance from the customer's perspective. The formula also emphasizes that every interaction, no matter how small, contributes to the overall customer experience. This holistic approach ensures that businesses consider every aspect of their operations in their efforts to enhance customer satisfaction.