We’ve reached Step 5 in the six steps common to any customer experience. So far we’ve covered the triggering need, earning consideration, demonstrating how you solve the problem, and affirming your customers decision. Today, we’re talking about problems solved.

The SOLVE step from your customer’s point of view
At this step, your customers have one and only one goal: solve the problem. They are putting your product or service to work to do just that. For some (primarily consumers) problems, the time and tasks of using the product or service is quick and easy: imagine the toy a tired mother buys at a gas station hoping to create a quiet activity for her kids on her trip home. The toy either works or it doesn’t – and she will know straight away.

Some customers may work harder or longer to figure out if their problem is solved. If a high-tech firm buys web-enabled collaboration tools to speed time to market for product developers on three continents, the evidence of a problem solved may take months.

No matter what, a problem solved is the goal. At this step your customer is:

Using a product or service to satisfy a need; applying a purchased action or item to a problem or desire.

The solve step starts when your customer begins using your product or service to work out the solution to the need, problem, or desire. It ends at the precise moment your customer’s answer to the question “Did this solution work for you?” changes from “I don’t know, it’s too soon to tell,” to “Let me tell you!”

In short, this step ends when your customer has formulated a point of view about two things:

• Your solution’s effectiveness (whether or not their problem will go away)
• Your delivery on your promise (their perception that what you promised in all the previous steps has been proven)

From your organization’s point of view:
PROVE you solved their problem
From your organization’s point of view, a measurable performance reward for getting the customer is in hand (you have been paid) and the hard work of keeping the customer – and reaping the rewards of loyalty and a larger wallet share – has begun. At this step you must prove your value proposition is authentic, delivering exactly what you promised.

As surely as your customer has just one goal here, do so you:

Deliver on your promise; validate the truth and value of the solution expected by your customers.

This requires dogged focus on solving the problem well. It does not mean focusing on satisfaction and then hoping, wondering, or assuming you have solved the problem.

it’s easy to concentrate on pure satisfaction at this point. A customer who is happy after the sale is a good thing indeed, and sometimes that customer’s degree of happiness is clearly visible or easy to measure. In surveys or face to face, that customer may express that happiness explicitly. But happiness is not enough.

If happiness and satisfaction are not delivered, hand in hand, with a solution to the problem that started your customer on this journey, it will fade quickly. And so will performance reward.

Like a doctor who sees symptoms and knows she must keep looking until she finds an underlying cause of an illness, you must keep looking, observing, or asking until you know you have solved the need, problem, or desire that triggered the customer’s journey to you. Only with a problem solved can you be confident that you will keep customers and reap a truly sustainable performance reward.

How do you determine when you’ve solved a customer’s problem? I’d love to hear your anecdotes.

Related resources:

If you missed the first four installments of this series, catch up by reading:
Step 1: The Triggering Need
Step 2: Earning Consideration
Step 3: Demonstrating Your Solution
Step 4: Affirming Customers’ Decision

Looking for peer examples, customer experience mapping exercises and the business metrics to know if you’re on track at any step? Pick up a copy of Domino. You’ll find help in defining your customer experience, why proving you’ve delivered on your promise is important, and how it can help you drive better financial performance.