Sometimes Being Simple Is the Hardest Thing in the World - RATER concept - Responsiveness and Empathy explained!

 

Customer Delight at Starbucks and a Neighbourhood Restaurant. Most people in marketing think that CRM and customer delight are very academic. They believe it involves technology, dashboards, AI, loyalty cards, data mining and a lot of strategic planning. True. 

But sometimes, customer delight is simply about being human. In the SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, service quality is measured across five dimensions, captured beautifully in the acronym RATER:

R – Reliability

A – Assurance

T – Tangibles

E – Empathy

R – Responsiveness

Today, let me speak about just two of these dimensions: Responsiveness which is the  willingness and readiness to help customers promptly. 

Empathy that is providing caring, individualized attention to customers. No software. No analytics Just a heart to a heart connection.

Responsiveness at Starbucks: This incident happened when Padma and I visited the United States in 2008. We were shopping at Walmart for our daily staples. The Walmart in Rosewood, Pleasanton was enormous, easily the size of two football fields.

After a pleasant but tiring shopping experience, our cart overflowing, we decided to take a pit stop at the Starbucks inside Walmart. We ordered coffee and were waiting. The barista was within earshot.

Suddenly Padma piped in, “Did you get bread? We have no bread at home.” Seeing my crestfallen face, she gave an exasperated sigh. “I knew it. Why don’t you go and get it?”

The bull (Tauren) in me reared up. “No,” I said firmly and dug in. The bull had found its resting place.

Padma’s eyes glittered (after all, she is a Capricorn — and the goat too can be stubborn). “Your wish,” she shrugged. “You are the one… You and the children are fond of bread. I can always eat rice and be contented.”

The sword had been twisted. The pretty barista heard the entire exchange. She walked up and placed our coffee before us. “You missed buying bread?” she asked gently. I nodded, slightly irritated. She smiled. “Enjoy your coffee.” And disappeared.

Within seconds she was back wearing inline skates. She took two dollars from me and zoomed off like a silver bullet. In less than two minutes, she returned — holding a fresh loaf of bread. Without drama. Without expectation. Without seeking applause.

She handed it over and went back to her station. We were so stunned we could barely thank her. That, my friends, is Responsiveness. Not policy. Not training manuals. Not CRM dashboards. Just a willingness to act immediately for the customer’s benefit. Even though the incident happened eighteen years ago, it is etched in my memory as if it happened last week.

Empathy at a Neighbourhood Restaurant:  The second incident happened to my Facebook friend, Rebecca Forster, the famous novelist. Rebecca was partying on New Year’s Eve at a neighbourhood pub — Hay 19, Redondo Beach, California. Her group ordered food, and their cheerful waitress said, “It’s four hours till we ring in the New Year!” 

Rebecca and her friends laughed and told her they were too old to stay up until midnight. They enjoyed a great meal. Promptly at nine o’clock, the waitress came charging out of the kitchen, blowing a horn and shouting: “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” 

Since it was already midnight in New York, she decided to bring New Year’s celebrations early to her California guests. Rebecca later wrote: “It was hilarious. She was so cute and made our night. Good food, drink and a fabulous waitress. It’s the little things in life that matter, isn’t it?”

That is Empathy. The ability to step into the customer’s world. To understand their context. To personalise the experience. She did not need permission from corporate headquarters. She needed only sensitivity. 

In the RATER framework of SERVQUAL: Responsiveness is about speed and willingness to help, and Empathy is about warmth and individual attention.

Technology can support service. But only people can create memories. Even after 18 years, I remember the Starbucks bread. Rebecca remembers the early New Year celebration. Service excellence is not always about scale. Sometimes it is about skating across two football fields for a loaf of bread. Sometimes it is about blowing a horn three hours early. It is the little things in life that matter. And in services marketing, the little things are often the biggest differentiators.

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