My youngest son loves to build wooden train tracks. And his favorite layouts involve many curves, split tracks and complicated shapes. Nothing can give him more pleasure than making it nearly impossible to reach a destination. Poor Thomas & his friends.
The sad thing is, as business owners, we seem to have this uncanny knack for doing this to our customers.
What seems like a simple route for them to purchase from us or get the freebie they requested ends in frustration. And once frustrated, you start losing customers. Fast.
What’s even worse is that we don’t even notice when our process starts to kill things.
One of the best things you can do is try out your process with an objective eye. Think about the TV show Undercover Boss. The whole point is for the boss to fit in with his employees, get the real feel for how things are going and be objective to correct the problems they see.
This could be as simple as trying out the forms on your website. Make sure that freebie arrives in your inbox. Or if you have a retail store, try sending a friend in to buy something and complete the checkout process. The key is to figure out where the friction in the flow exists and remove it.
In the end a straight smooth track will provide the best result for your customers. And increase sales for you.
Which split tracks are you going to remove?