To Create a Great Customer Experience, Throw Out a Customer or Two
This post previously appeared on Mark Hurst’s blog, Good Experience. It is reprinted by permission.
Not long ago, a moviegoer was escorted out of a theater in Austin, Texas. The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema has a policy of no talking and no texting. But even after two warnings, the customer persisted in texting during a movie. Out she went.
In a blog post called She texted. We kicked her out, Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League explains:
When we adopted our strict no-talking policy back in 1997 we knew we were going to alienate some of our patrons. That was the plan. If you can’t change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don’t want you at our venue. Follow our rules, or get out and don’t come back until you can.
That’s one of the most pro-customer experience posts I’ve seen in a while. Because this theater is willing to filter out some customers it doesn’t want, it creates a much better experience for the customers who stay.
Or to put it another way: if you really love your customers, you’ll be willing to point them elsewhere, if the relationship just isn’t working.
The Alamo Drafthouse put it in even starker terms by creating this video containing a voice mail left by the offending (and, apparently, offended) customer. The cinema clearly enjoys emphasizing the benefit of its customer experience: watch movies here without distractions from other customers.
How might you apply this case study to your own business, organization, team, or project?
