Commercial Impact Trumps Customer Obsession

My previous post shared a way for technology leaders (Product, Data, Digital, or Engineering) to engage with commercial leaders on the topic of the commercial impact of tech efforts. Note that I said commercial impact and not customer impact. They are often aligned but not always.

Aiming directly at commercial impact might feel a bit quaint to those who swear by customer obsession. Followers of the church of Amazon might believe that customer obsession is all that matters. They might believe that customer obsession always leads to positive commercial impact.

Well, it’s not true. Amazon understands this, and despite what they say in public, their actions reveal their preference for commercial impact over customer experience when the two are in conflict. Here’s a recent example.

What did I Order Last Week?

You might have noticed that Amazon has dropped all product information from its order and delivery confirmation emails. We can no longer go back to our emails to figure out what we ordered. We must instead go the order history section on the Amazon site or app.

Apparently, they have done it to prevent Alphabet (Gmail) and email analytics companies from learning more about their sales and their customers. But it is a degradation of customer experience.

For one, I can no longer search my always-open inbox to look up something I purchased. I must check my order history on Amazon instead. If I do search my inbox out of habit, I must click a generic “View or Manage Order” button to get to the details.  And that offers a new phishing opportunity for scammers. Doesn’t feel very customer obsessive, does it?

Well, that’s just business. Commercial impact trumps customer obsession when the two aren’t in alignment. At least that’s how it is for large established businesses. It’s like they understand two types of customer obsession.

Two Types of Customer Obsession

Customer obsession type-A is all well and good because it also has net positive commercial impact. In Amazon’s case, providing customers with a huge selection of products at attractive prices is a type-A obsession even when it shortchanges sellers.

Persisting with product information in emails was, in Amazon's apparent opinion, an optional type-B obsession because it had the unacceptable side effect of leaking valuable information to its competitors and ecosystem players. Omitting product information might annoy some customers and expose them to greater phishing but it is not likely to alter their purchasing patterns. Therefore, the commercial benefit of omitting product information won over customer experience.

The Wheel has Turned

Some type-B obsessions might allow for unprofitable growth and retention. It might make sense for those playing the valuation game–those looking to exit to the highest bidder or via an IPO. The valuation game has traditionally indexed less on commercials relative to retention and growth. However, this equation is changing as a funding winter takes hold.

Now more than ever, it is important for technology and commercial leaders to work together and ensure that investments in tech lead to demonstrable commercial success, not just improved customer experience. This is not about running experiments and evolving products with hypothesis driven development. That’s build-measure-learn in the small. Demonstrating the commercial impact of tech investments requires measurement and learning on a broader scale. It’s the domain of Business Impact Retrospectives–a method you might want to explore.

Until next time, take care and prosper.

Sriram

agileorgdesign.com

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