Jen Ratio & the Science of Happy Customers.

April 11, 2012 by marcella Blog

Welcome to the super-simple and ultra-extraordinary concept of the jen ratio. Jen ratio compares positive interactions to negative ones in a ratio. In basic terms, the jen ratio calculates whether or not the happy outdoes the sad in any place, space, or interaction.

Image: Time to play

The higher the ratio, the happier a person is after spending time in that space.

The lower the ratio, the more negative a person feels after those interactions.

So, the thing is…

During the last few weeks, I’ve started thinking of setting up some office space for my new team. For those who don’t know it yet, let me tell you a secret: I hate offices. In the past, the office was always I place I dreaded and hated. To me, offices feel like a prison. At past jobs, I found any excuse to get out of there and into the real world.

A meeting at a coffee shop is way more fun than a conference room, right? Well — not necessarily.

What I’m striving to do with this new office space is turn it into a place I want to hang out in, so hopefully my team will enjoy hanging out with me there, too. If we’re going to be doing what we love, we better be doing it in a place we love, right?

I want my office space to have an awesomely high jen ratio. I want it to be fun and conducive to badassery.

I want a happy team who creates with meaning.

But the jen ratio doesn’t apply just to my new office space. It applies to almost everything a pair of company and customer partake in. Check it out:

Website: Is information hard to find or is the overall user experience a delight? Is your copy clever and humorous or is it full jargon and businesspeak? Call up your marketing team, and start strategizing some positive experiences.
Store: Is walking into your brick and mortar store enjoyable or do sales rep haunt the customer’s every move? Are staff smiley and helpful or are they jaded and wanting to be somewhere else? Invest in people who are good with people, and your customers will appreciate it.
Consuming your product: Is opening your can of soup difficult? Is buying more refills a hassle? Why make the customer’s life anything but easier? Think about your packaging or your service. Think about its ease of use. Trust me, the customer already has.
Solving a problem: Remember the kid who asked, How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop? Take a cue from his curiousity, and ask how many steps it takes your customer to solve problems through your customer service line, at your store, through social media channels, and more. Is the experience positive or negative?

Image: Having Fun is the Ultimate Experience

Here’s my advice: Starting counting the positive interactions against the negative, as slight and small as they might seem.

Figure out just how happy your customers, employees, family members, and friends are. What could you improve?

Whether it be a slight shift in attitude or service, try it out. Be better — it’ll pay off.

* Read more about being yourself and online marketing in my new book To Be or Like to Be. Want to get my free blog updates in your inbox? Or you can sign up for updates via my Facebook Page. Whatever works best for you!