Worst Practices | Buyer Persona
Warning: This blog post is a rant. (But it does have a purpose.)
I travel a lot, over 100,000 miles so far this year in 8 countries.
As I pass through airport concourses (after security), in nearly every U.S. city I hear loud messages every ten minutes or so that are more or less like this:
"In order to expedite the security screening process, Transportation Security Administration regulations now require that liquids, gels, and aerosols carried through the screening area must be in three-ounce or smaller containers carried in a single, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag. Each traveler can only use one bag and must remove it from their carry-on and place it in a bin or on the conveyor belt for X-ray screening. So remember 3-1-1 to speed your screening process."
I'M ALREADY THROUGH THE SCREENING AREA.
I’m in the freakin' airport already! Why do you insist on playing this inane announcement again and again and again and again and again and again for people who have already passed through the damn security area?
I asked a TSA representative about this. He couldn't have been nicer as he explained the concourse announcements are not required. He said that the airport he works at has only one Public Address channel so the announcement is played everywhere, all the time, including to the tens of thousands of passengers inside the terminals.
This is annoying and stupid.
Do the airports not care about passengers? Is noise pollution not an issue?
As long as I have your attention, another noise pollution issue inside many U.S. airports is the constant blaring of CNN Airport Network in every gate. According to the CNN Airport Network site, this noise pollution "is available in 43 of the busiest U.S. airports and is seen in more than 2,000+ gates and other viewing areas."
I wonder how many of the gates of those 43 airports do not have CNN Airport noise pollution? Probably zero.
Oh, and don't get me started about "Logan Radio" that plays constantly at my home airport in Boston.
I do not experience this level of noise pollution at airports I visit outside the U.S.
Hey, airport administrators – you need to create some quiet space for passengers who don’t want to listen to this sort of crap. While you're focused on being "green" (the buzzword of the year at airports), why not spend some time being silent too?
[end of rant]
This sort of tuned out behavior happens when organizations do things for their own benefit, rather than their customers benefit. Are you unwittingly doing something to annoy your customers?
The most successful organizations understand their buyers and create positive experiences for them.
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