Customer reception: enabling participation without shifting the workload
Preparing documents, completing an application or setting up access: customer-facing services often ask customers to contribute to delivery. The management question is specific: under what conditions does this participation help customers, rather than simply transfer the organisation’s work to them?
What the literature establishes
Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon and Dan Ariely (2012, Journal of Consumer Psychology) show, in experiments involving object construction, that participants can place a higher value on things they have helped make. In their experiments, this “IKEA effect” depends in particular on successful task completion: effort alone is not enough. These findings establish an effect in specific experimental settings, not a general benefit of participation in service delivery.
The mechanism: being able to act and to succeed
Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci (2000, American Psychologist) provide an overview of self-determination theory, which distinguishes the needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. This framework cautions against equating an imposed activity with participation that people can make their own. Applied to customer reception, it suggests a hypothesis to test: a contribution that is understandable, achievable and supported might be experienced more positively than an obligation whose purpose and outcome remain unclear to the customer.
The premature conclusion
It would be tempting to conclude that making customers work harder increases their attachment to a service. Neither the object-construction experiments nor self-determination theory supports that rule. Repeating information already provided or correcting an ambiguous form without assistance may shift the workload without generating a sense of competence. (our executive and employee training programmes)
What the evidence and standard indicators do not tell us
Neither article directly evaluates customer reception in financial services, insurance or technology companies in Zurich. Nor does a high form-completion rate establish whether the process was understood, chosen or completed because no alternative was available. Administrative completion, the effort required of customers and their assessment of that effort therefore need to be distinguished.
A practical check in Zurich
Within SHR’s “Accueil client” programme, an exercise applicable to financial services, insurance, tech and the European headquarters of international groups in Zurich is to examine one task assigned to customers, such as preparing documents before an appointment. Over two weeks, record for each instance whether the task is completed without rework, whether help is requested and the answer to the same question: “Did this step help you move forward with your request?” Then calculate the proportion of tasks completed without rework and the proportion of positive answers, distinguishing service languages without recording confidential content. A gap between these proportions calls for a review of instructions and support; it does not, on its own, demonstrate a causal effect. To go further: explore the Client Reception training in Zurich, or browse our executive and employee training programmes in Switzerland.
In pictures: Client Reception in Zurich
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