Customer Involvement in Managing Expectations

Based on: Heskett, Sasser & Wheeler, _HBR: Putting Customers to Work (2008)._

Why Involve Customers?

  • Customers increasingly shape the conversation about brands and services.
  • Involvement creates a sense of ownership and strengthens emotional attachment.
  • Fully engaged customers drive higher revenue, loyalty, and profitability than disengaged ones.

Forms of Customer Involvement

1. Delivering Service

  • Customers participate in providing or co-producing the service.
  • Examples:
    • Self-service gas stations
    • Airline self check-in
    • Patients at Shouldice Hospital counseling each other and participating in recovery
  • Benefits: Cost and time savings, increased control, and fewer unwanted interactions.

2. Improving Products and Services

  • Customers contribute ideas, reviews, or corrections.
  • Examples:
    • Amazon product reviews
    • Wikipedia editing
    • IHG online customer community influencing service design

3. Producing Personal Value

  • Customers take over activities that reduce costs and create experiences.
  • Examples:
    • IKEA effect: assembling your own furniture
    • Build-a-Bear Workshop: customizing stuffed animals

4. Sales & Marketing Participation

  • Customers act as brand evangelists or sales partners.
  • Example:
    • Karmaloop “street team” reps promoting products and designs created by customers

Why Customers Participate

  • Importance of outcomes (e.g., health recovery, personalized experiences)
  • Desire for control over results and processes
  • Community pressure / mutual benefit (e.g., Wikipedia, Angie’s List)
  • Distrust of intermediaries (“customers do it better”)
  • Cost savings (self-service)
  • Avoiding unwanted interactions (self-checkout)

Managing Customer Work

  1. Clarify objectives – cost reduction, innovation, promotion, or feedback?
  2. Select the right customers – usually the most engaged and motivated self-select.
  3. Train customers – avoid frustration (e.g., Southwest Airlines Boarding School retrains flyers).
  4. Amplify and respond – gather and act on feedback consistently.
  5. Establish recovery processes – well-designed guarantees (e.g., Lands’ End unconditional return policy) can turn antagonists into loyal owners.

Risks and What Can Go Wrong

  • Mismanaging expectations can turn customers into antagonists.
  • Overemphasis on marketing control instead of genuine participation damages trust.
  • Failure to follow up on feedback undermines credibility.
  • Involving the wrong customers (outside the target group) wastes resources.

Targeting the Right Level of Involvement

  • Balance ownership and control—not all areas should be open to customer influence (e.g., core product vision vs. incremental improvements).
  • Examples:
    • Sony kept tight control but observed users for insights.
    • Intuit actively incorporated customer feedback in software updates.
    • EMC convened customer councils for product roadmaps.

Key Takeaways

  • Customer involvement is essential for managing expectations and building loyalty.
  • The right kind of involvement transforms customers into partners who co-create value.
  • Companies must design involvement strategically, provide training, ensure responsiveness, and avoid “false” loyalty traps.
  • Done well, involvement increases the ownership quotient (OQ), turning satisfied customers into committed advocates.

Disclaimer: AI is used for text summarization, explaining and formatting. Authors have verified all facts and claims. In case of an error, feel free to file an issue.