“The Costanza Rule” in Customer Experience.
Do the opposite.
“I always have tuna on toast. Nothing's ever worked out for me with tuna on toast. I want the complete opposite of tuna on toast. Chicken salad, on rye, untoasted... and a cup of tea. Yes, I will do the opposite. I used to sit here and do nothing, and regret it for the rest of the day, so now I will do the opposite, and I will do something!” George Costanza, Seinfeld Episode, 1994.
Two recent “experiences” reminded me of this iconic episode of this still relevant comedy series.
First Experience:
I recently purchased a streaming device from a large electronics retailer. About two weeks after receiving it, and prior to opening it, I noticed the price had dropped $20 from this retailer. Following is the chat transcript with the agent:
Customer Care Agent: Robert, thanks for your time. I absolutely love helping our customers get the product at the best price. I understand that given your long term loyalty to ABCD EFG you were hoping to get the current lower price for the product you purchased on Tuesday, May 27, It looks like the order is beyond the return period for a price match and falls outside our policy. As part of our price protection program at ABCD EFG, we will be more than delighted to refund you the difference if a price falls during the return and exchange period. Please refer to our price match policy page for more information.
Customer Care Agent: In order to ensure you are covered for your next purchase, I would recommend purchasing My ABCDEFG plus yearly membership. While it costs $49.99, in my personal experience I've found that for most members, the membership fee is covered with the first purchase itself, since we offer extended 60 days’ return period on most items, member-only deals, early access to sales and 2- day free shipping.
Customer Care agent: Robert, I would have helped you if I could have done it manually, as we are working under the automated system the option is greyed out as this item passed the price match time frame :(.
Customer Care agent: Robert, We respect your decision, I wish I had your desired resolution today and hate the fact that you had to go through all this. However, with my limited capabilities, I have tried my best. Would there be anything else that I can look into for you?
I had a choice of where to purchase. I chose this retailer. In hindsight, I should have gone with Amazon – a 30-day return or refund window and faster shipping. Is it no wonder that Amazon keeps winning over its competitors?
Second Experience:
I was notified that one of my domains was about to renew. I had a credit card that was about to expire prior to the renewal that needed to be updated but I hadn’t received the new card. So, I cancelled the auto renewal while I awaited the new card. I immediately received an email from my domain registrar and web hosting provider that I had cancelled or deleted my website (which was incorrect).
I contacted them by phone – 25-minute wait time because “we are receiving higher call volume than normal”. So, I chatted with an agent. She informed me that this was a known issue that their “tech teams” were working on (I wonder why they were getting more volume?). And in fact, the domain was not cancelled or deleted. She apologized for the inconvenience and then offered me a branded credit card as a promotion. When I completed my survey and gave low marks to the product (not the agent), I got a text from a quality control team member asking me for more information. When I explained it to her, the response was “thanks for the feedback and thanks for letting me know about this”.
Why doesn’t the quality team know of this issue? If it’s a known issue, why isn’t the company being proactive and letting customers know that there is an issue and to ignore the email instead of wasting my time?
We aren’t getting better, so why keep doing what we’ve been doing?
These are just two recent experiences, among many, I’ve had that demonstrate the lack of commitment that organizations have to improve the interactions customers have with their brand. I’m sure you can name a few as well. I trust you, too, will be able to add your own experiences to the list.
In the first example, who decided that the best way to retain customers is to limit the price match window (on their own products!) and instead try to sell them a $50 membership? Or in the second experience, who decided to knowingly inconvenience customers and then promote a branded credit card to them?
All the journey mapping, ROI discussions and AI applications in the world are useless if you can’t get the basics right. In many of years of managing operations, we always talked about “basic blocking and tackling”. Answer the call. No stock outs. Ship the product on time. Invoice clearly and correctly. Strive for perfection, but when a mistake happens, recover quickly and effectively. Simple and straight forward operations management, right?
The best sources we had for knowing what we were doing well and what needed to be improved were our customers and our employees. Our frontline employees, those dealing with customers every day, i.e. sales, customer service, technical support, field maintenance, etc., were especially helpful in identifying and solving the things that were frustrating customers and demotivating employees.
Several recent surveys indicate some concerning trends in customer satisfaction and expectations.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), after hitting a peak in early 2024, has started to decline again through the first quarter of 2025.
Commenting on the National Rage Survey conducted by Customer Care Measurement and Consulting (CCMC), John Goodman, Vice Chairman, CCMC, calls out two findings:
Proactive CX reduces issues. Setting proper expectations, offering clear escalation paths and educating customers can dramatically prevent problems and increase loyalty.
Escalation drives loyalty. Proactive escalation improves satisfaction and revenue by reducing customer frustration, increasing loyalty and generating positive word of mouth.
In Verint’s recent study on “The State of Customer Experience in 2025”, “Only 54% of customers in the US say that businesses are meeting or exceeding their expectations when it comes to assistance, with almost half (46%) saying companies are falling short. With close to a 50/50 split between CX winners and losers, there’s never been a better time for businesses to reflect on service delivery and ensure they’re on the right side of customer expectations”
Disrupt the Status Quo.
Perhaps it’s time we did the opposite. Maybe we ought to focus on the basics first. Do you know your basics? Do you know what it takes to deliver your service or product effectively to your customers while keeping in mind that everything else is ancillary to the basic core of your business? Is your technology working? Is your website effective and responsive? Are you agents trained and given the authority they need to immediately solve problems? Are you recognizing the value your customer brings to your business? Do you have effective escalation and recovery processes in place?
Sure, some of you will say that doing journey maps and ROI’s and all the other experience management techniques can help you achieve better experiences. I contend that all of those and many other initiatives will fail if the basics are broken.
As George said, “I used to sit here and do nothing, and regret it for the rest of the day, so now I will do the opposite, and I will do something!”