"Communism's demise was inevitable because it offered respect to the community but never to the individual, and so drained itself of vitality and spirit, one citizen at a time."
It's not my intention to inject a political element, merely to cite the source of a rumination: that the same can be said of businesses in regard to customer service. Change a few words in that quote, thus:
A company's demise becomes inevitable if it offers respect to the market but never to the individual customer, and so it will drain itself of revenue, one customer at a time.
I think that summarizes, rather aptly, a misgiving I have had about the way in which the notion of "user experience" is often put into action. The focus is on a generalized conception of all consumers, as a group, while dismissing every individual that comprises that group.
And taken to extremes, it becomes a sort of bigoted arrogance to declare to a customer that you know what he, as an individual, expects in the way of service because you believe him to be a member of a homogeneous group of people who all think and act the same way. And there is no quicker way to alienate a customer than to declare "I know what you need," and then rattle off a list of things that he, as an individual, doesn't even want.
Such practice is contrary to the most basic tenets of customer service: to determine what a customer wants or needs, and then deliver it. Granted, it's marginally better than the introspective approach of assuming the company knows what a customer wants, or ought to want, without even asking - but it still falls short of the mark of providing excellent service to each individual customer.
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