As a trained engineer I love evaluating solutions and proposals that are slightly different from each other, in order to evaluate which is the best or to understand how they differ from each other. This however is something that is not possible in every experiment, as not all parameters are controllable (or in some case…even known). The solution in this case for engineers and scientists, is to consider either that certain parameters do not affect the results, or that they remain quasi-stable during the experiment (assumptions). This is not always realistic, yet it is practical for applications.

In marketing, we can do that by changing for example the pricing in a certain supermarket for a product and to evaluate the sales next to the results of another supermarket in an area with similar demographics. However, we cannot control everything, like the profile of the people that buy it. Thankfully for digital marketeers, this is not the case, as they can perform A/B testing, where again they change certain characteristics of the site or the service.

However, as users, we rarely experience the 2 versions of a product or service at a very short time, in order to be able to make comparisons. In my case I had this experience last week during one of my business trips. I had to take a taxi from and to the airport, in a city that I know. For the first leg of the trip, I took the taxi from the waiting line at the airport. Taxi drivers there are controlled by the police, so the taxis are better, and they are not always free to perform “taxi tricks”. In my case, the driver wanted to play by the book, as he wanted to make sure that I was the next customer, waiting in line. He was well dressed, and the car was an impeccable Mercedes, air conditioned and almost new. The driver was very talkative (what a surprise) but this let me better understand his approach. He had his own car (being his own boss) and he wanted to work mainly with businessmen and tourists from the airport. The idea was that those customers would pay more, respect the service and the car, and might bring repeating business but also provide world of mouth suggestions to similar clients. He could speak fluently 3 languages and he knew his way around the city (and the POI). I wanted to pay by card, to which he complied; and he gave me some business suggestions on how to deal with the bank for handling similar operations (taxi business). He gave me his card and the receipt and that was it.

The next day, I took the taxi from the center of the city, to go to the airport. I took the taxi from the designated area, right next to one of the most known monuments in the city. In the first place, the taxi driver hesitated accepting taking the ride, despite being obliged to do when in the designated area, as “he passed by there by mistake, to avoid traffic”. -1. Then he played hard to get to pay with credit card, despite being obliged to do as well. The reason? Perhaps tax evasion (typical in this country) or delays from payment from the bank. I had to do so because it was business expenses. -2. Next, he suggested to increase the fare “as there was a lot of traffic – not something extreme” and “why not to do it, as it is the business that pays”. Scammer logic that made me feel very uncomfortable. -3 + -4. Next, he was complaining about the traffic, the weather, the driving skills of the others etc. -5. When we managed to reach to the airport (thankfully in time), he became resentful when I asked for the receipt, as the “printing device had technical issues and it is not always working properly”, again making me feel uncomfortable…for something that he was responsible for. So…-6 points to second driver. By the way, the car was exactly the same, and the setting similar: Businessman in suit coming and going to the airport almost from the same pick and delivery point.

Conclusion: I experienced the same type of service in a short period of time, with a twist the second time. The main differences were the drivers and their mentality for the deal: the first one wanted to appear professional as he expected repeating business while the other saw this as a one-off deal, thus not expecting any other gains in the future. The first wanted to provide high quality service that would produce repeating and positive word of mouth reputation, while the latter wanted to get as much as possible from a random ride, even if he had to cause discomfort to the client, betting on the fact that there was no way to give him bad rating. Unfortunately, both were booked in a traditional manner, on the road, therefore there was no way to review them publicly. Because of the second experience, during the next trip, I had to resort to a taxi platform with evaluation, to avoid another a-hole messing my mood after a tiring day.

In the end, one might say that even the first driver could have done the same if found in another setting. I want to believe that he wouldn’t. Professionals that have high regard to their work, tend to do the right thing regardless of the setting. However, in services available to the public we cannot rely on the character of a single person for high results. There should be detailed evaluation that leads to improvement. And we owe it to ourselves and to others, to do it systematically and without fear.