Why successful businesses make the effort to be effortless

Customers with a choice will always choose the quickest, easiest and least hard work option. Make sure that’s your business.

My bank specialises in high-effort experience, as demonstrated when trying to close an old account over the phone.

This wasn’t possible, they said, unless there was fraud on my account. A month later, the promised ‘account closure’ form arrived.

It wasn’t pre-filled, had no return envelope, and no freepost either, meaning I had to pay 55p to close an account with 26p in it, or leave it open and at risk of fraud.

Which ironically would have meant I could close it over the phone.

We’re demanding a no-effort world, at least as far as customer experience is concerned – and it’s a world being won by Uber.

It’s low effort physically, with just one click to get a car, and no clicks to pay for it.

And it’s low effort mentally, being able to track my car, and not worry about having enough cash to pay the driver.

This is attractive because our brains are set to find the easiest route from A to B, the simplest choice to take, the one that requires the least strain.

So once you’ve used Uber, it’s hard to go back to a world of in-the-rain arm waving and cash machine panic.

Any company can be as effortless as Uber, if they choose to be – something best exemplified by the ‘new customer’ syndrome.

And with telecoms providers, I guarantee that if you say you want to leave, you’ll be connected within seconds to someone willing to offer you a half-price deal.

But have a query about billing? Sit tight, put the kettle on, and listen to sounds of the seventies for half an hour.

Companies that repeatedly choose to create effortful experiences are seeing customers turn their back  & move to businesses that offer better, simpler ways to live their lives.