Putting yourself in the customer’s shoes

“It’s an experience and not just a yoga class,” said Lindsay Kallberg, owner and founder of Ritual Hot Yoga. This week’s guest designed her entire business around the experience of the customer—from conception to execution. And by making decisions with the customer in mind, Lindsay has built an unparalleled experience. 

When you hear the word yoga, you may have certain images come to mind. But with Ritual, it’s not what you may think. “Don’t come here if you expect a relaxing stress-free yoga session because you won’t get that here,” said Jane C., this week’s Yelp reviewer. “At the hot yoga studio, you will sweat, stretch, and workout your mind, body, and soul to the beat of the music through intensive breath work. You will challenge every part of your body to a workout experience like no other.”

As a business owner aiming to be unique, hearing a customer positively review your business as an experience “like no other” is pretty much as good as it gets. To achieve this, Lindsay really put herself in her customer’s shoes. She thought of every detail from the customer’s perspective, which starts from the moment they open the website or walk into the studio. For example, not wanting a transactional relationship, she intentionally designed the entrance so that you walk into a fireplace with cozy club chairs instead of the typical front desk. In the yoga room, she created a sensual experience that caters to all five senses. Every aspect is designed intentionally with the customer in mind. 

From in-person feedback and reviews, Lindsay and her team’s efforts have resulted in customers feeling both valued and invested in. She makes sure to share positive reviews with the team. At the same time, Lindsay also criticallydives into the content of the not-so-positive reviews and makes adjustments to improve her business. From that feedback—the good and bad—she’s truly able to take her business to the next level. 

Here are a few key takeaways from this week’s episode: 

• If there’s a product, service, or experience that doesn’t exist or you want to improve on—make it happen. When Lindsay first started teaching yoga, she realized instructors could barely make ends meet and was determined to change that. She created a business model that prioritizes her employee’s pay and benefits, resulting in an improved customer experience. 
• Set up a system to provide continuous feedback to employees. This feedback can come from various avenues: the business owner, other employees, and of course, your customers. 
• When it comes to business decisions, use the customer experience as the driving force. The success of your business depends on the customer experience, and to ensure a good customer experience, you need to put yourself in their shoes.
• Look at the content of the review, not just the number of stars. When Lindsay receives a bad review, she looks for what was bad about it and tries to put herself on the side of consumers. But sometimes, a critical review may speak to directly who you are as a business. At Ritual, some customers have complained about the fast pace or heat. A 1-star review complaining about the heat is the kind of critical review Lindsay loves. It may be one star, but it actually highlights what other people love about the experience.

Interviews by Emily Washcovick; photos from Yelp and Ritual Hot Yoga

These lessons come from an episode of Behind the Review, Yelp & Entrepreneur Media’s weekly podcast. Listen below to hear from Lindsay and Jane, or visit the episode page to read more, subscribe to the show, and explore other episodes.