Goodwill : That little something that changes everything in the customer experience

“Beware of pickpockets who just boarded the last car of the train.”

A metro announcement that speaks volumes about customer experience

This is the announcement I heard yesterday on the Paris metro, made by the train driver himself. Clear. Preventive. Useful.

I don’t know if this is part of a formalized process or an individual initiative, more or less tolerated… but it was the first time I’d ever heard such a message, despite my countless trips.

If it’s a process, it seems rarely applied. If it’s an individual decision, then kudos to this customer-focused driver, who dared to step outside his technical role to care for his passengers.

In either case, this action in favor of customer experience relies on a fragile yet decisive ingredient: goodwill.

But what does this goodwill really mean?

It’s a customer-oriented mindset that drives this driver to go beyond what is officially expected of him. He didn’t act because he was told to. He acted out of reflex, conviction, and personal customer culture.

And it’s precisely this mindset that makes all the difference. It’s what determines the success of every customer experience initiative.

The good news?

There’s no fatalism. Science has shown that mindset can be cultivated, developed, and managed.

This is what drives us every day through our COS programs: helping businesses build a living customer culture, where initiative becomes natural, engagement is contagious, and satisfaction is lasting.

I hope I’ve piqued your curiosity 😉 What would this look like in your organization?

Author: Guillaume Antonietti