For the most part, the wayfinding signs that you see in airports, train stations, and other high-traffic venues seem to do a good job of getting you to your destination — assuming you know the name of where you’re going. But what happens when there are multiple exits, each with their own sign, and you don’t know what the specific location is called?

In my experience, this issue comes up the most in large train and subway stations, which usually have more than one way to exit to the street level. If you don’t know the name of the intersection that’s closest to the direction you’re heading, then it’s easy to go out the wrong way. After that, you may have to walk several extra blocks — or even walk through the train station again — to get back on track.

There’s an elegant and fairly inexpensive solution to this problem. When designing the wayfinding signs for a high-traffic hub with multiple exits, add a photo to each sign. The photo could either show the intersection that you’ll be standing at once you go through that exit, or it could focus on the nearest major landmark in the area. That way, people will have an easier time finding the right exit. Aside from making the venue easier to navigate, this approach should cut down on the congestion that would otherwise be caused by people who don’t know which exit to use, thus improving things for regular and first-time visitors alike.

As I walked towards the park the other day, I ran into an obstacle that made me change my route. In particular, there were a half-dozen fire trucks and ambulances lined up next to a building, and the personnel had roped off the entire sidewalk on that side of the street.

Based on their body language and the general lack of hysteria, I figured this was either a false alarm, or a scheduled test run. But short of walking up and asking someone, there would have been no way to tell for sure.

In a big city, it’s always a little disconcerting to see a full-scale emergency response team surrounding a 50 or 75 or 100 floor building. With this in mind, the standard protocol for roping off or barricading an area should also include some signage indicating when the situation is a test run or other simulation. Sure, that type of disclosure won’t always be practical or desirable. But when this simple type of messaging can prevent needless worry among the public, it’s a worthwhile step to take.

I live in a tall building, and with lots of floors comes lots of stairs. Granted, I don’t use the stairs for regular trips to the ground floor. Instead, they’re strictly for short hops or exercise purposes.

During a recent trip through the stairwell, a rather mundane visual element caught my attention. While some of the stairwell walls are painted, the rest are bare concrete. And this approach is consistent throughout every floor.

Maybe the designers were going for a gritty look. Or perhaps the original painting work went over budget. No matter the rationale, the end result looks unfinished, and certainly costs more to maintain than bare concrete.

Just like with any other room, it looks weird to only paint half of a stairwell. It’s obviously too late to undo the paint choices in my building, but I’m certainly curious whether other venues have made the same choice when outfitting their own stairwell areas.

While trying to use up a gift card a few weeks ago, I purchased a small, bunny-shaped piece of chocolate that was on display near the checkout area. Then, this past weekend, I decided to open it. Inside the package, I found what appeared to be a solid piece of dark chocolate, with no obvious seams or other ways to actually break it apart and eat it.

After we tried to cut off a small piece with a suitably sharp knife — which proved to be futile — I had all but given up on the endeavor. I gave the chocolate bunny one last squeeze to see just how hard the chocolate was. Then I heard an incredibly loud sound as the bunny went “pop”. Pieces of chocolate landed all over the countertop and the floor.

Luckily, none of the shards cut my hands, but I was still rather startled. As I soon learned from examining the rubble, the bunny had been solid in some areas, but hollow in the middle. And since it was sealed in an airtight manner, squeezing the middle of it caused it to essentially explode in my hands.

Looking at how sharp some of the pieces were, you could easily see how a seemingly innocuous chocolate bunny could be dangerous to children and adults alike. A large portion of that danger arises from the uncertainty of how it’s made, in terms of being hollow or not. The easy solution: if a dense food product like chocolate is hollow, drill a modest-sized hole on the bottom so that customers can see that the inside is empty. And for both hollow and solid products, you can imprint the word “Hollow” or “Solid” on the bottom to eliminate any confusion.

Granted, I imagine that injuries from chocolate items are somewhat rare. But with such inexpensive methods available to eliminate the uncertainty of whether a product is hollow or not, giving customers this information seems like the obvious choice.

Lately, it seems like more and more services that you’d expect to be unlimited — such as home Internet service and mobile data plans — are being sold with a cap on monthly usage. Regardless of whether capped plans will work out in the long run, this trend raises an important question for potential customers: what happens when you reach the cap?

From what I’ve seen, there are three possible outcomes after you hit the monthly allowance:

– You’re completely cut off for the remainder of the billing period.

– You’re still allowed to use the service, but at a reduced speed.

– There’s no change in your access or speed, but they bill you for every kilobyte of usage beyond the cap.

No matter which option you think is best, the focus should be on conveying the terms to customers in a foolproof manner. Whenever your marketing materials mention the cap, you should provide a short explanation like the ones above. That way, even if customers have their reasons for disliking capped services, at least they’ll know what to expect if they go beyond the allotted usage.

After dialing in to a vendor’s tech support line a few days ago, I was greeted with the usual set of options. Press 1 for sales, press 2 for billing, and so on. However, the way they handled the tech support option left me puzzled.

The tech support choice started out with “For technical support on…”, listed virtually every product they offer, and finished up with “…or any other product.” If there’s only one option for tech support, then why bother making people listen to a bunch of information that isn’t relevant to their menu choice?

Putting this another way, if a phone menu selection encompasses everything in a category, then there’s no need to include a bunch of examples from inside that category. By following this recommendation, you’ll make your phone menus shorter, while saving time for customers and reducing the amount of money you spend on inbound toll-free calls.

While electronic communication is certainly my preference, I sometimes run into a situation where a printed document has to be sent by mail. And whenever that happens, it seems like I go on a wild goose chase to locate an envelope that’s big enough for the contents.

Why is this task so difficult? Most mailing or padded envelopes state their inside dimensions in terms of length and width, but there’s no information about how thick of a document will fit in there. For instance, an envelope with 9×12″ inside dimensions would probably hold a 10 page document with ease. But if the document is 100 pages, it might not fit at all.

What’s the solution? Add more detail to the inside dimensions that are printed on the envelope or its packaging. For example, it might say “Inside dimensions: 9x12x0.5″ — will hold up to 25 pages of letter-sized paper.” With this practical info in hand, customers will have a much easier time selecting the right option, and envelope makers will end up with far fewer returns from people who learned that the old measurements were far from complete.

Since one of my existing credit cards was scheduled to expire, it was no surprise that I received a new card to replace the old one. While the arrival of a new card was to be expected, the precise timing of the replacement was a mystery. Would I get it during the last month that the old one was still valid, or would it arrive several months ahead of time? And what should I do if it doesn’t show up in a timely fashion?

These may seem like irrelevant questions. After all, if the new card arrives before the old one expires, there’s no interruption in service. However, this manner of thinking ignores an important point: if customers don’t know when the replacement card is supposed to arrive, they also won’t know if the card has been lost in the mail — or worse, stolen.

The solution is quite simple. Credit card issuers should send an email to customers about a month before the new card is scheduled to be sent, which would include the expected shipment date and a reminder to update the mailing address if it’s no longer accurate. Then, when the card is actually sent out, send another email to the customer to let them know to be on the lookout for the new card, along with what to do if it hasn’t arrived by a certain date.

With this simple set of notifications, card issuers will make the card replacement process easier for customers, who won’t have to guess the status of their replacement cards. Plus, there will be fewer phone calls from people inquiring about when their new cards will be arriving, which helps bring down costs and frees up customer service reps to handle other activities.

Occasionally, I place an order with an online grocery delivery service, mainly to stock up on heavy and bulky items that are difficult to lug home from the store. However, something on the most recent receipt surprised me: the vendor had added a “fuel surcharge”, in addition to their delivery fees.

I was rather annoyed to see the charge on there, and it made me wonder how customers react to this approach in general. My guess is that people don’t like paying a “fuel surcharge” for several reasons:

– The word “surcharge” has a negative connotation, almost like it’s a penalty or fine.

– Fuel is something that should already be accounted for in the delivery fees.

– The relatively small amount of the charge feels like nickel-and-diming.

Given these concerns, it’s best to avoid listing a “fuel surcharge” on your invoices and receipts. If possible, the customer-friendly approach is to either absorb the costs, or increase delivery prices to compensate for them. Either way, your customers will appreciate receiving a more straightforward bill, which should increase their overall satisfaction with the purchasing and delivery process.

A few days ago, I needed to replenish a mundane product that my local CVS has apparently stopped carrying. So, I walked to the next-closest store, in the hopes that they might have a few left. The inventory turned out to be rather lacking, but I found a close substitute item, and then headed to the checkout area.

When I arrived at the cash registers, I was greeted with a rather strange layout. There was only one person working near the checkout area, and he wasn’t even manning an actual cash register. All of the credit card terminals were turned off. And the other customers were lining up at the self-checkout terminals, which I don’t remember seeing there during previous visits.

From what I could tell, the store had gone to a self-checkout only arrangement. That’s all fine and good, but they owe it to customers to make the transition as easy as possible. In particular, they should add a sign at each of the old cash registers to explain the new checkout arrangement, and where to go if you need assistance using the new machines. That way, customers won’t be confused when they try to queue up by the former checkout area, only to find out that there’s nobody there to assist them.