UX: Customer relations from two market women (Part 2)

There are so many lessons startups can learn from the informal sector, most especially market women in Africa, Nigeria to be precise. Any time I go to the market or patronize the neighborhood women with shops on the streets, I observe their manners of relationship with their customers.

If market women do not see you at the market for a few days or weeks, they'll welcome you with greetings, asking about your welfare, and family and why they haven't seen you at the market.

When they meet you on the road after not seeing each other for days, they will greet you and ask why you have not been coming to the market.

There are so many women with small shops selling foodstuff in my neighborhood. One of them is my customer, a middle-aged woman. I buy all my foodstuff. One day, she didn't have what I wanted to buy. She said she would restock later that day. She personally directed my to another shop. I left her shop for another shop not far from her shop.

I never patronized the shop she directed me to, although the woman has been a friendly person. Whenever I passed in front of this woman's shop, she greeted me with a smile. She never cared I did patronize her competitor. Sometimes, I felt bad for not patronizing her.

So, on this day, I went back to her shop and asked if she had what I wanted to buy. She was happy to see me. She welcomed me with a smile and greetings (as customary in our culture). Her manners of engaging me were top-notch. After paying for the foodstuff, she thanked me for patronizing her. I couldn't resist what I witnessed that day. I felt she deserved to be my go-to shop for my kitchen needs.

Meanwhile, the first woman hardly greets or replies to your greetings. She doesn't smile neither had I seen her laugh. There were times I bought stuff from the woman and later asked myself 'Am I buying stuff from this woman on credit?'.

The woman forgets that there is an array of alternatives in the neighborhood; and that there is no oath compelling her customers not to ditch her shop for another shop. I later did!

Customer experience through interaction and empathy are what customers or users see as extensions of values that they expect from their relationship with products they buy or service delivery.

Many businesses take it for granted. To a customer, greetings are value-added. For brick-and-mortar shops, welcoming your customers with a smile is an extension of your product or service.