I’m writing this during my five hour layover at London Heathrow — sitting on the cold stone floor as this is the only place where I can find access to a power outlet.
This is Terminal 5 — the new, shiny, shopping mall-esque terminal from British Airways. And yet you can’t find a bloody power outlet. Plus the free wifi is limited to 45 minutes. Why would you do something like that? The people who are stranded at the airport (canceled flights, long layovers, …) are the ones who probably need Internet the most — why don’t they just give it to them? Why make them suffer even more? And the ones who are zipping through and don’t need more than 45 minutes — for them it doesn’t make a difference one way or the other.
Which brings us to my point: The first (and second) rule of every business is to make it easy for your customer. Companies which make it easy for us to interact with them, care about us and give us the warm and fuzzy feeling that they genuinely want to make our lives better are the ones who win.
Heathrow failed me. How are you delighting your customers today?