It's a typical experience in my life. As soon as plans are created, plans change. My wife and I were planning a trip away recently. Flights were booked for two months and then we found out 3 days before leaving that if we changed our return flight, we could see some friends that scheduled a trip to our hometown of Nashville. I called up Southwest to make the change (knowing there is no penalty fee to change other than the fare change.) My customer service rep quickly informed me that the entire flight would need to change if I changed it with her because one of the segments was an Internet only fare. But if I changed it on the Internet I should be able to get the same fare. She was willing to direct me to the page but I figured it out pretty easily. Not only did I change the flight with 3 clicks for both of us, but I saved $18 over what I was previously paying.

I LUV Southwest Airlines!!!

We were able to see our friends AND save money on this trip. And they have guaranteed several future trips and thousands of $$$ from me as a result of this one little customer service example. With any other carrier our change would have been a minimum $300 charge, causing me to not use that carrier unless I had to in the future.

So how does this apply to retailers?

1) Your employees and their friendliness/helpfulness is your key competitive advantage. The customer service rep did what was best for me which was best for the company...who excels at this in retail? Publix...who makes 3x the net profit of other supermarkets. Better quality, nicer people, cookies and balloons for the kids, taking the groceries to the car. All create loyalty and higher profits.

2) Look for things that are driving your customers nuts and make common sense changes to delight them. The change process on the web site for our Southwest tickets was ridiculously simple. An example in retail is Staples with their easy rebates. Rebates are a pain, but Staples has made them much less painful than others.

3) Let people shop the way they want to shop. One of the nice things about Southwest is you get to pick your own seats when you get on the plane. If you like the front of the plane, you choose the front. If you don't want to be next to crying babies (who mostly sit in front), you choose the back. Retailers need to offer that same flexibility to customers. Let shoppers buy your goods the way they feel most comfortable. Have central areas where shoppers know they can find help. Use kiosks and self-checkout for those that want to do everything on their own. Give customers that choice, don't choose for them.

4) Know your best customers and don't treat them like they are your worst customers? My wife's favorite store to shop has been a large famous discount chain with hip advertising and a dog for a mascot. I say "has been" because they are seriously risking losing one of their best customers. I know what she spends, and I'm sure she is in the top 10% of their customers nationally. She loves the store. We've registered for gift registries, parties, you name it. But recently she was put on the bad list for product returns....she has reached her limit of two returns per year when she doesn't have a receipt. Someone buys something for our kids, we get a duplicate. We ask where they got the item so we can return it...they mention the store...but she cannot take it back and even exchange it for a store credit. It's souring her relationship with the retailer and she has cut back on her spending (which is not necessarily a bad thing from my point of view!) She has had to awkawardly begin to recommend that out of town family and friends not buy there unless they include a gift receipt. When they ask what stores are near us, she is forced to say the name of another retailer instead of the store she would prefer to shop. That's the result of treating one of your best customers like one of your worst.

Certainly, I do not want to make light of return fraud. It is a huge problem for retailers and why we will be doing a research study on the issue later this summer. But there has got to be a better way. As technologists we need to find this better way. Southwest has and that's why they will be getting more of my travel dollars.