How to Explore The Four Components of Customer Effort 

Published in the January 2019 issue

Worth the Work

Editor's note: Tom Neveril is founder of Storybrand Consulting, a Los Angeles research firm.

A few years ago I was hired to investigate how people with chronic diseases make a potentially life-or-death decision: selecting their medical group. As I sat down to moderate some focus groups, I was expecting the patients to explain how they identified the most highly skilled doctors. Instead, they seemed more interested in exchanging stories about subjects like office staff expertise, responsiveness to e-mail and ease of making appointments.

It seems our demand for one-click intuitive service like Amazon’s has swept into every consumer category.

So, how can market researchers help marketers make their brands easier to use, if not effortless?

The challenge for market researchers is that effort is a highly complex and subjective concept to investigate. One person’s “simple” is another person’s “hassle.” Emotions and attitudes can substantially distort self-perceptions of effort. And expectations shaped by experience or familiarity can greatly influence whether someone is successful when applying effort. So it’s an important topic but it’s often difficult to identify exactly what will make a brand easier to use.

Fortunately, these research challenges can be overcome. We can use our analytical skills to break down the concept of effort and then explore it with precise questions.

Here then, is a practical approach to help marketers diagnose customer effort problems or opportunities.

Whether the brand interactions are related to shopping, transactions, usage or service, people use the following four types of effort, often simultaneously:

• Time-related effort: Real and perceived time spent waiting, transacting, consuming and interacting.
• Physical effort: Activity or restriction of activity, including enduring physical discomfort or unpleasant environments.
• Rational thinking effort: Cognitive functions including organization, analysis and problem-solving.
• Emotion-control effort: Self-management of emotions, particularly negative emotions.

Precise questions asked during in-depth interviewing are necessary to fully explore the components of customer effort. Moderated usability methodologies are ideal for exploring time-related, physical and rational thinking. Process diaries, photos, videos and other digital qualitative tools can assist in gathering emotional effort.

Here are some key qualitative probing areas for each of the four components of effort.

1. Uncover time-related effort by probing the benefits of customer attention. In researching time-related effort, it’s critical to probe customers’ perceptions about the benefits of giving their attention. If people perceive a continual benefit from giving their attention, time flies for them. If people don’t feel a continual benefit from their attention, time crawls.

Virtual hold technology is a great example of the efficient use of customer attention. It provides inbound callers with the option of being called back at a specific time when a customer service representative is available. Compared to having to wait on hold – and having to maintain attention to silence, hold music or messaging – virtual hold allows the customer to divert all of their attention elsewhere. Ultimately, the same period of delay requires far less time-related effort.

The ideal probes into the area of customer attention include, “What was the focus of your attention (over a given interaction period)?” This should be followed by, “How did you benefit, if at all, from this use of your attention?”

It’s important to clarify the direct benefits from their continuous attention (to hold music, for example). If participant answers indicate little continuous direct benefit, this is clearly an interaction type that requires improvement.

2. Uncover rational thinking effort by exploring choice and control. The act of choosing requires analysis or rational thinking effort. If the choice among options is difficult, it requires more rational thinking effort. Likewise, if customers can easily differentiate between the choices, then the decision is simple and the rational thinking effort is minimal.

We normally think of choice as a good thing. But the reality is, people do not want to think in order to make a brand choice. Instead, they want just enough differentiating information so that they can make the choice quickly, without having to learn or analyze additional information. Put another way, they want effortless access to their preferences.

Issues of choice are ideally explored during or shortly after actual choices are made. The ideal probe for exploring choice is, “What additional information, if any, would you like to have at this moment?” And this should be followed by, “What information here, if any, is distracting you during (this task/interaction)?”

If the customer has a clear idea of what they need, this indicates some additional rational thinking effort. If no additional information is required, no information is distracting and choices are made quickly, then the customer is finding the experience easy.

Another type of answer to the above questions can reveal rational thinking overload. This occurs when a customer needs so much information, they don’t know which line of inquiry will yield helpful information. Nor do they know which type of information is distracting.

Typically the solution involves learning about the customer’s ultimate needs and then presenting customized analysis and recommendations. If a customer experiences this scenario and requires intervention, they’ve likely been overwhelmed with rational thinking effort.

3. Uncover emotional effort by probing the issue of respect and fairness. People perceive unnecessary emotional effort when they feel disrespected or insulted. Perceived attacks fire defense mechanisms and require additional energy to maintain concentration and composure.

It’s important to note that perceptions drive emotional responses. In reality, the same exact product or service experience can be perceived differently. And these different perceptions can lead to vastly different levels of emotion-control effort. For example, there is no question that Southwest Airlines’ positive reputation changes perceptions. A smiling flight attendant effectively lowers the emotional effort of fliers who might otherwise feel disrespected by the same delays and problems experienced on other airlines.

To explore emotional effort, learn more about the ways in which the customer experience makes them feel valued and respected, if at all. The ideal probe is, “During this interaction, at any point did you feel particularly respected or disrespected? Please explain.” Follow-up probes might include, “How did (the brand) ... recognize you as a unique person? …express empathy for you?” If the answers indicate a lack of respect, there is a substantial problem with emotion-control effort.

Another helpful probe area is fairness in transactions with customers. Customers want brands to set accurate expectations for how much money and effort, including time, is required from them. If they buy a brand that requires more time, physical effort or rational thinking than their expectations, they feel cheated. Feeling cheated then triggers emotion-control effort, as people react emotionally and think about how they’ll respond to the situation.

The ideal probe to explore fairness is, “Were you expecting to spend time this way when you first started using the brand?” (If not) “How is this experience different from those initial expectations?” If the responses suggest effort was underestimated, this indicates a substantial problem for that brand interaction.

4. Uncover physical effort by exploring complexity and comfort of all brand related activity.

Of course usability testing and process diaries are ideal for recording the reality of behavior. Important probes for the perceptions of physical effort would include, “Is the (physical activity/task) simple, complex or somewhere in between? Please explain.”

Another key area to probe is comfort: “What, if anything, about the (activity/experience) made you physically comfortable or uncomfortable? Please explain.”

Be sure to investigate tasks that are indirectly related to a brand interaction. For example, auto insurance customers are typically required to interact with representatives in order to obtain an estimate for repairing vehicle damage. Here’s the problem: the actual conversation with the damage appraiser might require only 5-10 minutes. However, all of the tasks required to arrange the meeting and physically be present are considerable for the typical customer: absence from another activity, looking up directions, driving, finding parking, exposure to potentially bad weather, etc.

Fortunately, customers will give brands plenty of credit for anticipating and addressing these gray areas of physical effort responsibility. For example, an insurance company client of mine recently started allowing customers to submit photos of their minor vehicle damage via text message – and skip the appraiser meeting – in order to obtain an estimate. Customers consistently responded with sincere appreciation for the elimination of their physical effort in working with the company.

As you proceed with customer-effort research you might find it difficult to untangle which components of customer effort are most problematic. For example, physical and rational thinking, when required in large doses, trigger time-related effort. And any of these components can trigger emotion-control effort.

The top priority of customer-effort research should be to identify the scenarios that lead to emotion-control. Irritating or offending customers leaves a lasting mark. These emotions are the most damaging and influential on future loyalty and word-of-mouth communications.

In many ways we are all struggling with the overwhelming nature of marketers constantly attempting to impress and engage us. To help the marketers you work with to actually engage, use customer effort research and help them create a truly effortless experience.