How customers remember service experiences

How we remember a service experience hinges on whether the triggering cue for that memory is positive or negative.

If a friend describes a positive customer service experience at the same store, then we may recall our own experience as less offensive than it might actually have been. If our friend describes a negative experience, then we may recall worse treatment than we actually received.

If we have an uneventful dinner at a restaurant, then hear that a friend had an awful experience at the same place, then we may recall our dining experience as below average. If, instead, our friend told us that she had the best meal of her life there, then we might recall our experience as above average.

Not only do we recall our experience differently depending on the triggering cue; we are unaware of the change.

This is an excerpt from 'How Customers Think – Essential insights into the mind of the market’ by Professor Gerald Zaltman.