Picture this… we had just landed at Tenerife airport for a week of exploring this stunning island to find a massive queue of folks waiting in the middle of the airport arrivals area.
Feeling nervous, I looked around and noticed there were five car hire companies, but 80% of the people were queuing for this one company (the one we booked!).
My first thought was that the company was understaffed, but looking around, I saw they had double the number of agents compared to their competitors and couldn’t fit more in their kiosk.
My following hypothesis for the queue was that they might be slow to handle enquiries, but as the line got progressively shorter, it looked like they were handling each customer as fast as their competitors.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I hate booking car hire because it’s usually such a variable experience. The same company in one location can be excellent, whilst in another country, you could end up with an old or dirty car, get charged for hidden scratches, be forced to take additional insurance, have to pay an unexpectedly high deposit or some other hidden inconvenience.
I didn’t think much of this until the last day of our vacation when I returned the car…and it reminded me of a great idea that Seth Godin shared a while back:
In a saturated marketplace, simply being “good” isn’t enough.
Whilst founders like to focus on “more features” to gain product market fit, nailing the entire customer journey itself is where the magic happens and where outsized returns happen.
And when I arrived at the airport, this one car hire company (Cicar) was the perfect illustration of this idea capturing 80% of the customers, whilst the other four were fighting for scraps.
And even though I had to wait 30 minutes for my car, here is how they converted me into a happy customer and how you can apply it to your SaaS or business:
Brand positioning
They started my customer journey with great brand positioning using competitive prices, an all-inclusive offer, and the promise of better cars than their competitors.
Risk removal
By explicitly calling out pain points typically experienced when using competing services (additional cost of insurance, hidden fees, child seats, sat nav, cars at the airport) and offering these as standard with no hidden fees, they removed any friction when ordering.
Adapting to problems
After queueing, once It was my turn to pick up my car, I was greeted with a smile and a free upgrade as a thank you for waiting patiently.
Over-delivering the promise
The car was better than we had ordered; the interior was immaculate, and it included wireless android-auto / Carplay.
Make it easy + painless
It was the first time I was not asked to pay a deposit before taking a car, and when it was time to return the car, it took seconds. I handed them the keys, and they wished me a good flight home. No inspections were made; they just trusted the process.
These are small things, but they nailed 90% of the customer journey. The only problem was that they were “too popular” causing long lines… But then again, what a great problem to have.
No-fluff tactics & AI trends for solopreneurs and startups to 10X your impact.