I am fascinated by different country cultures and social norms and how these impact a Customer Experience. For example last week I was in Asia delivering a couple of public workshops in Singapore. The whole region is starting to get into the Customer Experience in a big way. When we run such events in the UK or the USA it is easy to engage the audience in Q & A. In Singapore it is different. People were reticent to share things in public. I have been told this is because culturally people are a little more reserved than in the west. People are happier to discuss things on smaller groups. Therefore I had to change my style to accommodate this.
Another example is when you eat in a restaurant in the USA, when you have finished you meal the waiter will clear your plate straight away. In the England this would be considered to be rude. The plates are only cleared when the last person has finished eating.
A third example is my recent vacation to Thailand. When the waiter brought the bill/check at the end of a meal they would wait or even “hover” over me until I had paid it. This made me feel a little uncomfortable as I wanted to review the bill and consider the amount of tip. At home in England and in the US I am used to them waiter allowing me the space to do that. These things are not wrong, just different. But this shows the rich diversity there is out there. So what is the learning here? Different culture have different cultures and accepted social norms. If you are offering your service in any other country you need to understand these and not impose the experience from your home country on the locals. One of the best examples of making this mistake was in the early days of Euro Disney, or Disneyland Paris as it is now called. Essentially the US format was picked up and placed in France. Now the French are known for their fierce defense of their national heritage, therefore it should have been obvious that there would be some challenges. For example in Disney’s alcohol not served in the parks. In Europe it is normal for families to have a glass of wine with their meal. Eventually Disney sensibly changed their policy to meet the conditions in the local market. So the key learning is you need to understand the country culture and social norms and change your experience to meet local needs.
I would be interested to hear of other cultural difference and social norms you have observed on your travels so maybe we can start to compile a list for companies operating in other countries
. By COLIN SHAW | Published: SEPTEMBER 3, 2008