How inflated expectations can spoil a good experience

The kiddo has been keen to grow mushrooms at home. So, I followed Jennifer Ferreira’s lead, and ordered a growing kit from GroCycle. After placing my order, I got an e-mail confirming it, and promising to send me a notification when the order had been dispatched:

The next day, the amount was deducted from my credit card, which annoyed me slightly, as the order had not been dispatched, yet (well, at least, I had not received the promised notification).

Then, the following day, a delivery van stopped at my door, and delivered the growing kit. I still have not received the promised notification.

 

In the great scheme of things, a notification is not really that important: I got the kit, and we are already concocting recipes for our mushrooms’ crop. But, for a few days, I couldn’t stop wondering what other promises would be broken, and how else the kit would fail to meet my expectations.

You see, expectations colour subsequent assessments of service quality. Exceed them, and the perceived quality of the service is very high. Fail to meet them, and the exact same service is deemed to be a disappointment.

Be careful to not inflate customer expectations; or you may spoil a perfectly fine exchange.