But lemme ask you this–when an auto dealership puts its’ flashiest and most expensive car in the front window…when a hotel puts a photo of its presidential suite in a brochure…when a restaurant server temptingly offers you “today’s special”–do we recoil in ethical shock?

The point of “anchoring” isn’t nearly as devious as any of these obvious (but well-accepted) upsell techiques. The key to competitive success in customer service to find ways to present the information that leads to “resolution” in a way that allows customers to emerge from the transaction with a clear sense of victory and accomplishment–forged in partnership with the front-line rep, who has advocated on their behalf.

How can we reach that goal?

I’d agree there are a range of ways to anchor customer expectations – from gently rephrasing the customer’s options (for example, explaining to a customer why a password reset is in their best security interests) to more extreme forms of conversation handling.

The example in this blog post is certainly on the more extreme end, mainly to serve as a clear example of expectations anchoring. A less extreme, but similarly effective, form of anchoring could involve positive (as opposed to negative) language.

For example, in the old world a frontline rep would say to a customer who wanted their fee waived, “We can’t waive that fee for you – it’s against our policy.” In the new world of customer expectations anchoring, the rep might say instead, “What we can do is spread your fee across the next three billing cycles, interest-free. And we can help you set up automatic alerts so you won’t have to pay this fee again.” Or of instead, “The store closes in 1 hour.” how about, “The store stays open until 9pm.” The differences here are more subtle – but it’s the careful positive phrasing of the situation that can greatly influence the customer’s perception of their experience.

My larger point here is to ask – what can we do when our proverbial backs are up against the wall and all of our available options are going to be unacceptable for the customer? Do we necessarily take a hit to the customer experience – or can we do something about it that can be a win-win situation for both the customer and the company? Customer expectations anchoring has shown some early promise and even success among some companies I’ve talked to, but it’s clear to me that it’s a hard concept to get right – and has serious consequences if we get it wrong.

Without deceiving them? I agree that perception is deceptive already…but to manipulate it more? The ethics line goes further south.