In the book Great by Choice, Jim Collins posits that processes are key to an organization's success. As an example, he cites John Wooden, the NCAA championship-winning UCLA basketball coach, who trained athletes on processes that included everything from shooting to tying one’s shoelaces. In practicing, a player may perfect their shoelace tying and do thousands of repetitive free-throw shots. When we watch a game from the nosebleed seats like me (...what can I say, I’m frugal when it comes to sporting event tickets…), the team’s performance (and lack of untied shoes) appears as if it were magic. But in actuality, down on the court, the players are performing millions of memorized actions that accumulate to create the perception of magically skilled players and game flow. A UCLA player noted in the book that the process is so important that any player from the ‘50s, '60s, or '70s squads could get on the court with players from other decades and play together in unison.
When we watch a theater show, we see magic. In actuality, the director and staff have been putting in place a process and practicing it for months. The actors spent weeks memorizing lines.
How does this relate to e-commerce? When a customer buys something using our Bridge software, we want them to experience: magic. The customer should be amazed at how easy it is.
I think we’re accomplishing this goal. The Bridge team is constantly creating and building processes and practicing them. Customers, like the actors, are experiencing "lines," but these are lines of code. Like a basketball team and a theater troupe, we’ve been honing our process for 10 years.
We can see proof that customers are experiencing ‘checkout magic’ when we read their reviews regarding their Bridge shopping experience. As an example, customers have left the Ivy House, a Bridge Store retailer, 1,560 reviews with an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars. Some recent reviews speak to our software's magical performance:
May 20:
"I love the website. It’s super easy to order gifts!!"
~ Tonya McKinney in TX
Aug. 8:
"Great site!"
~ Betsy Mangone in CO
Aug. 18:
"loved your web site, very good experience."
~ Betty Julian in AR
Sept. 7:
"Web site clear and concise. Very easy to pick out gifts from registry."
~ Jane Owens in OH
Dec. 1:
"Easy online registry! Easy to locate different items with the Designers and Departments filter functions!"
~ Ashley Elizabeth Jones in TX
Dec. 3:
"Easy to shop!"
~ Shelly in TX
Dec. 13:
"Great experience ordering a wedding gift! Site works really well!"
~ Moisa Sapozhnikov in TX
I think our goal should be to continue to offer customers (e.g. general public shoppers, retailers, brands, etc.) a service that is so easy, it seems magical. To accomplish that, we often have to do something very unmagical: create and follow processes. LOL. As you know, we have to work each day, record what we do, and seek out better ways.