Customerspective

Hold Rage: A Customer Communication Nightmare

"All of our representatives are assisting other callers. If you would like to leave a message, please press one to leave a message and we will return your call shortly. If you would like to wait for the next available customer service agent, please stay on the line and we will be with you as soon as possible. For better service, please have your doctor's order and your insurance card available."

Recently, while on hold I heard this very long instructional message for 20 minutes in a nonstop loop. I must have heard it at least 30 times. It was so relentlessly distracting that I couldn't read or listen to music or do much of anything but think about how much I hated being on hold. Finally to my relief, an operator picked up. But after talking to me for a minute, she tossed me back into the blind despair of Hold. This time, it was tinny classical music loud enough to cause deafness.

Why does this happen? Why does being on hold have to be so enraging? The worst is when you hear a smarmy marketing message, adding insult to injury when bad customer service is what triggered your call in the first place. They’re telling the customer, "We've messed up, and now we have the nerve to take advantage of you as a captive audience and ask you for even more money."

How about giving the customer some options of what they want to hear, including the option of complete silence? This seems like such low-hanging fruit in the realm of better customer service. Why can't anyone get it right?

What you do think—why is the on-hold customer experience as horrible as possible?

Should You Inform Your Customers If They Are Making Bad Choices?

Americans want to eat healthier these days but restaurant chains aren't buying it. According to a recent New York Times article, restaurants are hoping to appeal to consumers looking for what the industry calls "indulgent" offerings. This means more than offering different choices. You can get a veggie burger at Burger King without a bun, sure. But you can also get a BK Stacker with as many as four slabs of beef, four slices of cheese and four strips of bacon. I know what you're thinking, it should be the customers responsibility to go into Burger King and not order a 1,500 calorie burger but be honest with yourself, if you're going to Burger King, you're not ordering a salad are you?

According to Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the problem is not that customers are choosing the unhealthy choices per se, it's that restaurants are being irresponsible by advocating messages that eating whatever you want is fine in this day and age of obesity and diet related diseases like diabetes. On top of that, restaurants are giving customers these choices without telling them anything about what the impact on their diet will be.

Out of the nation's top 300 chain restaurants, only half give customers nutrition information according to Wootan. And of those, she said, most offer the information only on their Web sites. None provide it on the menu where customers can see it before they order. Most people know that ordering a quadruple burger is not the healthiest choice, but they probably don't realize they are eating an entire day's worth of calories in one sitting.

Bottom line, maybe it's true that when most people go out to eat, they don't necessarily want to or care about getting the healthiest item on the menu. But, as business that rely on their customers to buy their products like restaurants, it's only good customer service to let customers know what they're really getting. Even if they don't want to know, it's for their own good. And since customer service is all about doing what's best for customer, it's the least they can do.

Kill it, it's SPAM!

Bad news for email marketers. In a recent survey, almost 4 out of 5 consumers (79%) confirmed they used their internal system's "spam" or "junk" button to eliminate email they don't want. And almost two out of five (37%) did it as a way to unsubscribe from stuff they'd opted in to receive.

What does this mean for you? If your company uses email as a marketing and communications channel (who doesn't?), then you've got to think very carefully about several things:

1) Keep your email lists clean. Use double opt-in methods to ensure people really agree to your email communication.

2) Keep your content relevant. Consider segmenting your email lists into micro-lists, then develop content for each group.

3) Don't barrage your readers. Too frequent communication is one of the top reasons people drop off lists.

4) Put your unsubscribe option at the top of your message - not the bottom. Give people an easy out, and they'll take it - letting you know that they're not getting value from your communications. This will also give you a chance to re-recruit them when they see a relevant offering on your site or in your ads.

On a related note, an Email Labs study from last October showed 52% of at-work users "always use the preview page" and 17% frequently use it. Think about writing and formatting for preview pane users (HTML turned off, graphics suppressed, small viewing window)

Ultimately, the customer (and prospective customer) experience determines whether you’ll retain them over time. The better you get at communicating with people when, how and about what they want, the stronger your relationship will be.

Marketing Defined

Definitions of Marketing for Small Businesses:

American Heritage Dictionary: "The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer."

SmallBusiness.com: "Marketing activities and strategies result in making products available that satisfy customers while making profits for the companies that offer those products."

In a Nutshell for Small Businesses:  Getting someone, who has a need, to know, like and trust you. When you have a marketing system in place this expands to -

Getting someone, who has a need, to know, like, trust, contact and refer you.

The Future of the Tubes

I'm not talking about the late 70's / early 80's theater-rock band; I'm talking about the internet. Which as we all know is a series of tubes, not a "big truck that you can just dump stuff in" as Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens reminded us a few weeks ago in a congressional debate about legislation that would allow ISPs (internet service providers) like AT&T and Comcast to charge higher prices for delivering higher levels of service to content providers willing to pay for it.

Currently all internet traffic is handled equally, something many consider the first of amendment of the internet, net neutrality. If the U.S. Senate passes new legislation, this fundamental standard of the internet could disappear.

The issue of net neutrality is complicated and some say may even spark new anti-trust legislation against the big telecoms.  Companies like Google, Amazon, e-Bay, and even Microsoft have come to its defense.  And with the customer service records of companies like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast I’m not so sure that we should give them any more responsibility.

Senator Stevens’ defense?

"I have a letter from a big scientist, who said I was absolutely right in using the word 'tubes,'" he told reporters. 

Should I be concerned about giant scientists too?