Category — Customer Service

We hear a lot about rotten service, companies that don’t care, bad PR, lack of trust, and all around cynicism.

Today, two examples of gold star kick-butt service.

A Bad Experience Becomes a Happy One

First up is Amazon. I bought my brother a pair of Dewalt “lumberjack gloves” as a gift. The first time he wore them, they started to unravel. I contacted Amazon, and while their email contact system needs some work (you can’t reply to their response directly, but have to go back to their web site and start over), the click to call rocks!

They gave me a refund, told me to order a new pair, credited me with the difference in the current price (it’s higher now) and the shipping, and will send them directly to my brother. He doesn’t even have to return the old gloves. I got great service, without being a rock star, or complaining publicly.

Losers Still Win

Next is FreshDirect (online grocer in New York). A couple of months ago, they asked for submissions from customers about how FreshDirect makes your life better. I sent an email, and got a call for an audition. A week later, they called me back for a second take with the director. I didn’t make the final cut, but they just sent me a gift card for $300 worth of free food!!!

Both are standouts… worth remarking about. I told my friends, I’m telling you too. Think what being remarkable can do for your business.

Got a story to tell about a company that’s remarkable? Share it in the comments.

Image: love food

I just escaped from customer service hell. I was on the phone with the bank trying to make a simple transfer of funds from account A to account B.

Should be easy. It wasn’t. They’ve been taken over by another bank, changed their prompts, and added more steps. My pin number was messed up and I couldn’t make the transfer.

So I called the 800 number, and sat on hold, typing as I listened to musak, wondering what happened to the friendly, helpful bank I used to do business with.

I had to wait and wait, but finally got connected to someone who made my transfer for me. Next up, fixing the pin number.

The rep said, you need to talk to the branch (and transferred me). The branch said, you need to call the 800 number. Argghh!!!

It took a couple more rounds, a call back, resetting the passwords to the default, and then calling and resetting each account to straighten it all out.

The lessons for marketing

• Make it easy for your customers to interact with you.
• Don’t add extra steps to transactions. The fewer buttons, fewer fields and fewer forms, the better.
• Double-check your work. Test everything before it goes live.
• Mistakes do happen. If you make one, admit the error and fix it.
• Don’t send people round and round from person to person. If you don’t know the answer, offer to find out, and call the customer back.

Photo:basykes

Since we discussed “marketing sins” yesterday, today my thoughts turned to religion (sort of).

Many years ago, when I was working for the Direct Marketing Association, I attended the Nonprofit Conference in New York. At the event, charities and other nonprofits shared stories and strategies they used to raise money for their causes.

Build Connections

One story in particular stuck out. A Catholic school wanted to raise money to support the school and other charitable work. So, they sent out a fundraising letter from the head of the school (we’ll call him Father Xavier).

Standard stuff, but this had a different twist. Included with the letter was a note printed in a font that looked like Father Xavier’s handwriting. It also included a copy of a picture of him with Pope John Paul II.

The response was overwhelming. People not only sent donations, they also returned the photos, with notes thanking the priest for sharing it.

Develop a Genuine Relationship

The people who got that letter felt such a strong connection to the school that they thought the letter had been sent to them personally.

Marketing (says Seth Godin) is “just like dating. It turns strangers into friends and friends into lifetime customers. Many of the rules of dating apply, and so do many of the benefits. A marketer goes on a date. If it goes well, the two of them go on another date. And then another. Until, after ten or twelve dates, both sides can really communicate with each other about their needs and desires.”

If you communicate, you’ll get friends, and lifetime relationships. If you shout, talk about yourself, or don’t listen, you’ll get enemies.

Photo: suchitra

A few days ago, I got an unwanted marketing email from Ted’s Montana Grill. They had sponsored a recent HARO happy hour I’d signed up for, but that was my only contact with them. I had no relationship with them, and hadn’t given them permission to contact me.

I was pretty shocked and sent Peter an email complaining that sponsorship didn’t equal permission. He told me he’d make sure I was removed from their list.

Yesterday, someone from Ted’s called me from their headquarters in Atlanta. Apparently, their email service provider had a glitch. She thanked me repeatedly for complaining and bringing the problem to their attention!

Pretty remarkable.

Contrast this with Lexis/Nexis’s failure to manage a simple directory listing process. (I’ve spent over three hours trying to update a client’s listing and it’s still not right. Among other things, they’ve managed to misspell his name). It’s been over a month and it’s still not resolved.

Complaints can be an opportunity. If you get one, try to fix the problem. If you keep getting the same complaint (as Lexis admitted keeps happening), your customers are trying to tell you something. Listen to them.

Photo: wikimedia

My dad wanted to buy some energy-saving light bulbs. He found a company online that sold light bulbs which were both energy-saving and bright. It was about 4:30 PM and he called the company because he had some questions about the bulbs.

He wanted information, but landed in… The Twilight Zone.

The system had no direct to operator option. The only choice was to spell out the name of the person you wanted to reach. Since he knew nobody there, he started spelling out common names, “Joe, Bob, Steve, until he finally got a name that matched. Of course, he had no idea if this was the CEO or the bookkeeper, but he left a message.

Why make it so hard for people to find you? Sure an option to spell out a name is helpful, but make sure you add “Press 1 for Accounting” or “Press 2 for Sales.”

Make it easy for customers to reach you, and buy your products, and you’re likely to get more sales. That light bulb company just lost one.

Photo: is0b3lpalm3rs0n