April 22, 2025 • 12 mins
Trust is key to managing customer expectations in today’s fast-changing world. While perfection isn’t possible, transparency is—and customers deeply value honesty.
When transparency is your default, disappointments become opportunities for connection. Take the supplement company that added flavoring to an unflavored product: instead of ignoring feedback, they addressed it openly, building stronger relationships. Whether it’s a service delay or a product change, a simple heads-up can turn complaints into appreciation.
Expectations are shaped by every brand interaction—not just yours. That means your competition isn’t just your industry, but every company your customers engage with. Successful businesses continuously revisit promises and review touchpoints to close gaps before they widen.
Empathy is your strongest tool. Change is hard, but clear, compassionate communication—explaining the “why” and how you’ll help—builds trust and respect.
Want to level up your strategy? Take our free CXI Compass assessment at cxicompass.com to find your top priorities. Understanding expectations is the first step to exceeding them.
Resources Mentioned:
Take the CXI Compass™ assessment -- http://cxicompass.com
Experience Investigators Website -- https://experienceinvestigators.com
Want to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
MC (00:00):
Experience Action.
Let's stop just talking aboutcustomer experience, employee
experience and the experience ofleaders.
Let's turn ideas into action.
Your host, Jeannie Walters, isan award-winning customer
experience expert, internationalkeynote speaker and founder of
Experience Investigators, astrategic consulting firm
(00:20):
helping companies increase salesand customer retention through
elevated customer experiences.
Ready Set Action.
Jeannie Walters (00:31):
It's the Experience Action Podcast.
You have questions?
I hope I have the answers.
Let's get started.
Listener Question (00:40):
Hello Jeannie , this is Shawn.
We received this question viaemail.
How can businesses effectivelyset and manage customer
expectations in a fast changingenvironment?
Jeannie Walters (00:51):
Well thank you for sending in this question.
For those of you who didn'tknow, you can feel free to reach
out to me on either voicemailat askjeannievip through email,
through our contact form on ourexperienceinvestigatorscom
website or, however you like,carrier pigeon, whatever, we're
(01:12):
here for you.
So the question about how wecan set expectations and manage
customer expectations is soimportant today because we do
live in a very fast-pacedenvironment, don't we?
What that means for customerexperience is that if we can't
really make sure that we'resetting the right expectations,
(01:33):
then we can't guarantee thatwe're delivering on those
expectations and, of course,we're looking to exceed those
expectations.
So the only way we can do thatis when we really understand
what are the expectations thatour customers have.
So a lot of this comes down tobuilding trust.
When we build enough trust withexpectations, when we tell our
(01:57):
customers that we're going tokeep our promises, they're going
to trust us next time.
They're going to have enough inthat emotional bank so that
when things go wrong because,let's face it, they might, they
will then we are able to have atrusted relationship to build on
to recover from those mishaps.
(02:18):
That's why sometimes we canbuild more loyalty based on
service recovery, because we'regaining and rebuilding trust in
a bigger way.
So let's talk specificallyabout building trust to show
that we're prepared for changeand that we are prioritizing our
customers, no matter what.
(02:39):
I'm going to give you threeideas here Now the the first one
is, if you haven't alreadythought about this make
transparency your defaultsetting, and what I mean by that
is customers don't necessarilyexpect perfection, but they do
expect and, frankly, deservehonesty.
(03:00):
So when there are things thatmaybe we know are happening, we
need to proactively communicateto customers.
Sometimes that even meanssaying this is happening and
we're looking at how to fix itand we don't really know how yet
.
Sometimes it's saying we'reworking on this, here is the
expectation.
And sometimes it's saying weheard you.
(03:21):
In a newsletter a couple ofweeks ago and, if you haven't
already, sign up for the WeeklyWin at our website but I like to
send out examples in there.
There was an example of asupplement organization and they
made a change to the flavoringof one of their products.
Now, they did this simplybecause it didn't have a flavor
(03:43):
before, and they got excited andmade it lemon zest or something
, and their customers respondedvery loudly that they actually
preferred the unflavored.
So, instead of just making theswitch or acting like nothing
happened, they sent out a veryhonest communication saying we
heard you.
Now, this is a great way tobuild trust.
(04:06):
This is a great way to betransparent and help customers
understand that you know what ifwe understand their
expectations, we are willing todo what it takes to meet them.
So don't be afraid oftransparency.
It can be your secret weaponhere when understanding your
customer expectations.
(04:27):
Sometimes supply chains getdisrupted, sometimes deliveries
are late.
We need to be honest.
So if you are thinking aboutthis from that mindset, strategy
, discipline approach that wetalk about, then I would
encourage you to think abouttransparency as a way to build
trust before something happens,before a problem arises.
(04:50):
A simple heads up can turn apotential complaint into a
moment of appreciation.
All right.
Number two, let's revisit andreset expectations continuously.
You are absolutely right.
We live in a very fast-pacedworld.
That means expectations aregoing to change, maybe weekly,
(05:11):
daily, even hourly and theydon't change just on our
relationship with the customer.
They change on how the customeris interacting with the world
at large.
So what that means is if thebig guys out there start
changing things, start gettingfaster for customers, start
responding with more and morepromotions.
(05:32):
We have to pay attention tothat, because our company, no
matter what industry you're in,is competing with the rest of
the world your customer lives in.
So pay attention to macrotrends, like what happens when
the market is disrupted, payattention to things like weather
(05:53):
.
Pay attention to things likegenerational aspects.
All of that will help you resetthose expectations for your
customers consistently.
This is not a one-time activity.
In fact, nothing we do is.
Customer experience and thejourney that your customers are
on.
That is a living, breathingexercise.
(06:14):
We have to be sure that we arepart of their journey, not
trying to dictate what thejourney should be for them.
So, in fast-moving environments, we have to revisit the
promises we've made.
Are we still able to meet them?
Are they realistic?
When we talk about developing acustomer experience mission
(06:35):
statement, one of the questionsthat we challenge is is this
realistic?
It is really easy to getaspirational in the promises
that we make our customers, andif you're too aspirational, then
you're never going to be ableto meet that promise.
So let's get realistic aboutthis.
Let's make sure that we arerevisiting and resetting those
(06:56):
promises and expectations.
What do customers really wanttoday?
Make sure that you're alignedwith those ideas.
This is where we really want tolook at things in that
disciplined approach, in thatmindset, strategy, discipline.
Including things like, you knowwhat, let's look at the
customer-facing touch points.
Let's make sure that we'relooking at them regularly, not
(07:19):
just when we want to changesomething, not just when we have
a new process, but on a regularbasis.
What is it really like forcustomers today?
That's how you can understand.
Are the expectations where theyshould be?
Are we delivering on ourpromises and what can we do to
get a little bit better today?
Number three, the big word.
(07:41):
We want to use empathy to guideour communication.
I would say empathy andcompassion, because change is
hard and if we are constantlychanging or if the world is
constantly changing, that canfeel very chaotic.
Some people really resistchange.
So if you are resettingexpectations, if you are doing
(08:03):
things differently because ofwhat you're seeing, it's very
important to take your customersalong with you at their pace,
not at our pace.
So we want to make sure theystill have choices.
We don't want to push them intoa channel that they don't want
to be a part of.
We want to make sure that weuse empathy to turn
communication about thesechanges into something that can
(08:25):
build that trust andrelationship.
That means we want to turntransactional updates of this is
what's changing, this is howwe're setting expectations, into
a relationship strengtheningmoment.
So, when you are communicatingabout changes, lead with empathy
.
Acknowledge how the change mayimpact them, explain the why,
(08:49):
why is this happening and whatare we doing to support them in
the change.
Now, if you are thinking aboutyour customer experience in the
ways of mindset strategydiscipline, you can start
incorporating these things intoa regular way of doing business.
This cannot be something youthink about once in a while or
(09:14):
ad hoc.
This is about a bigger customerexperience strategy.
So make sure that if people arepushing back, if your customers
are asking questions making youthink, wow, that sounds like we
didn't live up to a promise wemade, that could very well be
about the expectations changing.
So make sure, as you updateyour processes, as you interact
(09:38):
with customers and lead withempathy, that you are
communicating not just to them,but with them.
We want to make sure that weare constantly listening,
learning and acting, and we wantto make sure that we're
orchestrating all of this in away that makes sense for both
our organization, our employeeswho serve them and our customers
(10:00):
at large.
Customers do not expect us tocontrol the world.
They do not expect us to beperfect.
They do not expect us to always, always, always, even live up
to every single promise we makeand I know that's hard to hear.
We want to live up to all thosepromises, but when we can't, we
(10:20):
want to treat it like any otherrelationship we have and start
rebuilding that trust, beingtransparent, making sure that
that is our default, that theyunderstand that we're going to
be honest and truthful with them, that we're going to revisit
those expectations and resetthem based on the world we live
in today, and that we're goingto use empathy to guide the
(10:42):
communication both to and withthem.
So, I encourage you to thinkabout what are the expectations
that your customers have, and ifyou can't answer that very
clearly, it's time to do alittle homework.
It's time to think about are weactually setting the right
expectations so that we can notonly live up to them, but exceed
(11:04):
them in the world we live intoday?
Thank you for this fantastic,fantastic question and for those
of you who haven't yet, Iencourage you check out your own
customer experience journey bytaking our CXI Compass.
You can find that atcxicompasscom or on our website
at experienceinvestigatorscom.
(11:24):
It is a free tool to help youunderstand where to prioritize
in your customer experiencestrategy.
I encourage you to check thatout and let us know if we can go
over those results with you togive you more guidance and ideas
.
Thank you so much for beinghere at the Experience Action
Podcast.
I can't wait to talk to youagain.
(11:44):
See you soon.
To learn more about ourstrategic approach to experience
.
Check out free resources atexperienceinvestigatorscom where
you can sign up for ournewsletter, our Year of CX
program and more, and pleasefollow me, Jeannie Walters, on
LinkedIn.
Experience Action.
Let's stop just talking aboutcustomer experience, employee
experience and the experience ofleaders.
Let's turn ideas into action.
Your host, Jeannie Walters, isan award-winning customer
experience expert, internationalkeynote speaker and founder of
Experience Investigators, astrategic consulting firm
(00:20):
helping companies increase salesand customer retention through
elevated customer experiences.
Ready Set Action.
Jeannie Walters (00:31):
It's the Experience Action Podcast.
You have questions?
I hope I have the answers.
Let's get started.
Listener Question (00:40):
Hello Jeannie , this is Shawn.
We received this question viaemail.
How can businesses effectivelyset and manage customer
expectations in a fast changingenvironment?
Jeannie Walters (00:51):
Well thank you for sending in this question.
For those of you who didn'tknow, you can feel free to reach
out to me on either voicemailat askjeannievip through email,
through our contact form on ourexperienceinvestigatorscom
website or, however you like,carrier pigeon, whatever, we're
(01:12):
here for you.
So the question about how wecan set expectations and manage
customer expectations is soimportant today because we do
live in a very fast-pacedenvironment, don't we?
What that means for customerexperience is that if we can't
really make sure that we'resetting the right expectations,
(01:33):
then we can't guarantee thatwe're delivering on those
expectations and, of course,we're looking to exceed those
expectations.
So the only way we can do thatis when we really understand
what are the expectations thatour customers have.
So a lot of this comes down tobuilding trust.
When we build enough trust withexpectations, when we tell our
(01:57):
customers that we're going tokeep our promises, they're going
to trust us next time.
They're going to have enough inthat emotional bank so that
when things go wrong because,let's face it, they might, they
will then we are able to have atrusted relationship to build on
to recover from those mishaps.
(02:18):
That's why sometimes we canbuild more loyalty based on
service recovery, because we'regaining and rebuilding trust in
a bigger way.
So let's talk specificallyabout building trust to show
that we're prepared for changeand that we are prioritizing our
customers, no matter what.
(02:39):
I'm going to give you threeideas here Now the the first one
is, if you haven't alreadythought about this make
transparency your defaultsetting, and what I mean by that
is customers don't necessarilyexpect perfection, but they do
expect and, frankly, deservehonesty.
(03:00):
So when there are things thatmaybe we know are happening, we
need to proactively communicateto customers.
Sometimes that even meanssaying this is happening and
we're looking at how to fix itand we don't really know how yet
.
Sometimes it's saying we'reworking on this, here is the
expectation.
And sometimes it's saying weheard you.
(03:21):
In a newsletter a couple ofweeks ago and, if you haven't
already, sign up for the WeeklyWin at our website but I like to
send out examples in there.
There was an example of asupplement organization and they
made a change to the flavoringof one of their products.
Now, they did this simplybecause it didn't have a flavor
(03:43):
before, and they got excited andmade it lemon zest or something
, and their customers respondedvery loudly that they actually
preferred the unflavored.
So, instead of just making theswitch or acting like nothing
happened, they sent out a veryhonest communication saying we
heard you.
Now, this is a great way tobuild trust.
(04:06):
This is a great way to betransparent and help customers
understand that you know what ifwe understand their
expectations, we are willing todo what it takes to meet them.
So don't be afraid oftransparency.
It can be your secret weaponhere when understanding your
customer expectations.
(04:27):
Sometimes supply chains getdisrupted, sometimes deliveries
are late.
We need to be honest.
So if you are thinking aboutthis from that mindset, strategy
, discipline approach that wetalk about, then I would
encourage you to think abouttransparency as a way to build
trust before something happens,before a problem arises.
(04:50):
A simple heads up can turn apotential complaint into a
moment of appreciation.
All right.
Number two, let's revisit andreset expectations continuously.
You are absolutely right.
We live in a very fast-pacedworld.
That means expectations aregoing to change, maybe weekly,
(05:11):
daily, even hourly and theydon't change just on our
relationship with the customer.
They change on how the customeris interacting with the world
at large.
So what that means is if thebig guys out there start
changing things, start gettingfaster for customers, start
responding with more and morepromotions.
(05:32):
We have to pay attention tothat, because our company, no
matter what industry you're in,is competing with the rest of
the world your customer lives in.
So pay attention to macrotrends, like what happens when
the market is disrupted, payattention to things like weather
(05:53):
.
Pay attention to things likegenerational aspects.
All of that will help you resetthose expectations for your
customers consistently.
This is not a one-time activity.
In fact, nothing we do is.
Customer experience and thejourney that your customers are
on.
That is a living, breathingexercise.
(06:14):
We have to be sure that we arepart of their journey, not
trying to dictate what thejourney should be for them.
So, in fast-moving environments, we have to revisit the
promises we've made.
Are we still able to meet them?
Are they realistic?
When we talk about developing acustomer experience mission
(06:35):
statement, one of the questionsthat we challenge is is this
realistic?
It is really easy to getaspirational in the promises
that we make our customers, andif you're too aspirational, then
you're never going to be ableto meet that promise.
So let's get realistic aboutthis.
Let's make sure that we arerevisiting and resetting those
(06:56):
promises and expectations.
What do customers really wanttoday?
Make sure that you're alignedwith those ideas.
This is where we really want tolook at things in that
disciplined approach, in thatmindset, strategy, discipline.
Including things like, you knowwhat, let's look at the
customer-facing touch points.
Let's make sure that we'relooking at them regularly, not
(07:19):
just when we want to changesomething, not just when we have
a new process, but on a regularbasis.
What is it really like forcustomers today?
That's how you can understand.
Are the expectations where theyshould be?
Are we delivering on ourpromises and what can we do to
get a little bit better today?
Number three, the big word.
(07:41):
We want to use empathy to guideour communication.
I would say empathy andcompassion, because change is
hard and if we are constantlychanging or if the world is
constantly changing, that canfeel very chaotic.
Some people really resistchange.
So if you are resettingexpectations, if you are doing
(08:03):
things differently because ofwhat you're seeing, it's very
important to take your customersalong with you at their pace,
not at our pace.
So we want to make sure theystill have choices.
We don't want to push them intoa channel that they don't want
to be a part of.
We want to make sure that weuse empathy to turn
communication about thesechanges into something that can
(08:25):
build that trust andrelationship.
That means we want to turntransactional updates of this is
what's changing, this is howwe're setting expectations, into
a relationship strengtheningmoment.
So, when you are communicatingabout changes, lead with empathy
.
Acknowledge how the change mayimpact them, explain the why,
(08:49):
why is this happening and whatare we doing to support them in
the change.
Now, if you are thinking aboutyour customer experience in the
ways of mindset strategydiscipline, you can start
incorporating these things intoa regular way of doing business.
This cannot be something youthink about once in a while or
(09:14):
ad hoc.
This is about a bigger customerexperience strategy.
So make sure that if people arepushing back, if your customers
are asking questions making youthink, wow, that sounds like we
didn't live up to a promise wemade, that could very well be
about the expectations changing.
So make sure, as you updateyour processes, as you interact
(09:38):
with customers and lead withempathy, that you are
communicating not just to them,but with them.
We want to make sure that weare constantly listening,
learning and acting, and we wantto make sure that we're
orchestrating all of this in away that makes sense for both
our organization, our employeeswho serve them and our customers
(10:00):
at large.
Customers do not expect us tocontrol the world.
They do not expect us to beperfect.
They do not expect us to always, always, always, even live up
to every single promise we makeand I know that's hard to hear.
We want to live up to all thosepromises, but when we can't, we
(10:20):
want to treat it like any otherrelationship we have and start
rebuilding that trust, beingtransparent, making sure that
that is our default, that theyunderstand that we're going to
be honest and truthful with them, that we're going to revisit
those expectations and resetthem based on the world we live
in today, and that we're goingto use empathy to guide the
(10:42):
communication both to and withthem.
So, I encourage you to thinkabout what are the expectations
that your customers have, and ifyou can't answer that very
clearly, it's time to do alittle homework.
It's time to think about are weactually setting the right
expectations so that we can notonly live up to them, but exceed
(11:04):
them in the world we live intoday?
Thank you for this fantastic,fantastic question and for those
of you who haven't yet, Iencourage you check out your own
customer experience journey bytaking our CXI Compass.
You can find that atcxicompasscom or on our website
at experienceinvestigatorscom.
(11:24):
It is a free tool to help youunderstand where to prioritize
in your customer experiencestrategy.
I encourage you to check thatout and let us know if we can go
over those results with you togive you more guidance and ideas
.
Thank you so much for beinghere at the Experience Action
Podcast.
I can't wait to talk to youagain.
(11:44):
See you soon.
To learn more about ourstrategic approach to experience
.
Check out free resources atexperienceinvestigatorscom where
you can sign up for ournewsletter, our Year of CX
program and more, and pleasefollow me, Jeannie Walters, on
LinkedIn.
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