A while ago we went grocery shopping at a different shop than our usual place. It’s surprising how we get used to a specific customer experience.

Long story short, we were confronted with rules that seemed illogical in the purchasing of apples. It made our experience at this store negative, and we are very unlikely to shop there again.

A few days later, we bought more apples from our regular store, and the experience seemed even better, because of the frustration we experienced at the other store.

Which apples do you think were eaten first?

We kept looking at the “apples of frustration” and just didn’t want to eat them. The apples themselves were fine, but the memory of buying them was so negative that it spilled on the product.

In the end, we ate those apples, but not before all the other options were exhausted.

Do you want to be that choice?

How people interact with you influences how they see your product. If their experience with your organization is good, they will see your product favorably, maybe even better than on the product’s merit alone. Inversely, if your customer’s experience with you is frustrating, they will feel that frustration every time they use your product, even if the product in itself is fine.

How we treat customers is something we should strive to keep as positive as possible. The payback is high, and lasts a long time.