Rotary is a wonderful and generous international service organization. Its stated purpose is “to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian service and to advance goodwill and peace around the world.”

My father has been a long-time member of Rotary and every year, the chapter of his Rotary club sells raffle tickets in conjunction with their biggest annual event, The Heritage Music Festival. My father, being the kind, loving man that he is, purchases many raffle tickets which he gifts to his children.

This year, following the raffle’s draw date, I thought I should check the Rotary festival’s website to see if by chance my ticket had been drawn. Could I be a winner of the all-expense paid trip to Cuba? Or one of the many other prizes?

Alas, nowhere on the website could I find the winning ticket numbers or names. After sending an email to a contact found on the website, someone did email me the list of the winners. I wasn’t one of them, but this is irrelevant.

The organization, Rotary, slightly missed the mark in terms of the customer experience because they mistakenly believed the customer’s experience ended after the sale of tickets. In truth, from the customers’ or ticket-holders’ perspective, the experience ends not after paying for the ticket but after the draw. That’s when the “loop is closed” so to speak.

Good customer service always ensures the service provider imagines the customer’s journey from the very beginning to the very end of the experience, as seen from the customer’s perspective – not from the perspective of the service provider.

Here’s another idea to improve this customer experience. How about including on the tickets themselves, a note stating that ticket-holders can check winning ticket numbers on the website x days after the draw? This would give “customers” all they need to close the loop nicely.

Let’s make sure we cover the entire customer experience from the very beginning…. to the very end.