Customerspective

How to Deal with an Angry Customer

I just read a entry on Seth Godin’s Blog that can be very helpful for people working with Call Centers and Customer Services.

As always, Seth’s guide is quite simple and obvious, as it is supposed to be.  But again, it may not be so obvious, given the number of companies that still have no clue on how to do it right…

Security Breaches: Trash to Treasure?

Several shocking security breaches, compromising the personal data of millions of customers, have been reported lately.  Below are just a few of the most flagrant cases:

• Chase trashes 2.6M customer files
• Second Lifers' 'first life' hacked
• Wells Fargo leaks personal data)
• AT&T deceptive on data theft )

What amazes me about these breaches is not only the scope and impact of the leaks, but the way in which they occurred.  Most of them have been caused by an improper use of data by employees (like the now infamous case of the US Department of Veteran Affairs). Others were caused by losing control of how personal data was handled by companies' partners or vendors. Chase's customer data was mistakenly thought to be trash and thrown out. Quite a treasure trove for identity thieves.

Although most corporate reactions to leaks have improved by becoming more forthcoming and transparent, the breaches are still a huge blow to costumers' trust.  How can anyone believe a website's Privacy Policy or the company's Safety Statement when such egregious security gaps abound.   

Transparency is good, critical even, but is not enough.  Sooner or later, companies will have to start taking security lapses seriously. And it better be sooner, because as the saying goes: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Dedicated Techno-thingies

After reading a few recent Customerspective and Signal vs. Noise blog entries, regarding excessive product feature sets resulting in confused and frustrated buyers and users, my thoughts turned to wireless phones...

Why do cell phone manufacturers think everyone wants EVERY possible feature on their phones, including (but most definitely not limited to) cameras, MP3 players and PDA functionality?

I recently purchased a new cell phone and the only enhanced feature I desired, beyond just having a working phone, was Internet access - especially as we enter college football season... I have to have constant score updates!  My new phone also came with a camera, which I will hardly use, but I don't mind it since it's easy enough to understand how to (1) click the camera button to turn the camera on and (2) click the button a 2nd time to snap a photo.

I do not however need access to my iTunes library or my business applications from a phone... Nope, I just don't need that.  I have a MP3 player for when I want to tune out and a laptop for when I'm on the road and need to do some work.

Yet it would appear that I should want these features given all the "Go, Go, Gadget, Go!" phones in the marketplace right now - RAZR, Chocolate, PEBL, Q, Pearl, Banana, and the list goes on...

And let's face it, a MP3 player that just plays MP3's is most likely going to be better than a phone that tries to play MP3's while it still attempts to work well as just a plain old cell phone... Kind of like how a computer printer generally works best when it's just a printer and not a printer/copier/fax machine combo.  It's usually much easier to use as well.

Even Captain Kirk had separate Communicator, Tricorder and Hand Phaser gadgets and it didn't seem to bother him one bit... Beam me up Scottie.

Choice or Advice - Which is the Better Strategy?

Bridget Optholt posted an interesting piece on the diversity of choice within American culture. Our country has one of the most diverse populations in the world. As a result, when product designers / managers look at their aggregate market demand, they too often forget that it is an aggregate. As such, it's made up of many different groups of customers each with their own wants, needs and desires.

Many design efforts (cars, software, consumer packaged goods) go awry in trying to pack too many features or too much functionality into a single offering. It's much better practice to think through common user scenarios, then design to address those scenarios.

Example: a car manufacturer adds a power seat feature, remembering individual seating preferences. The problem? The steps for switching between stored seating positions is too complicated for the majority of their consumers to actually use. The result? General dissatisfaction within the customer base for a feature which was originally developed as a value-add benefit by the design team.

Complexity and the diversity of choice can be good or bad, depending on how the experience of that diversity is managed for the customer. In other words, don't assume that just because you can build it, they will come. Customers often look for and appreciate guidance when presented with diverse choices. If you can figure out how to help the customer become more educated on their options, and show them why becoming more educated is a benefit to them, you've got a winning strategy. But when the education gets in the way of the customer making a buying decision, you're definitely on the wrong track. In other words, show the customer that you're making recommendations based on their interests, to help them manage or reduce complexity.

One good source on how complexity and choice are significant issues for corporations is Conquering Complexity in Your Business by Michael George and Stephen Wilson of the George Group (McGraw-Hill 2004).

There's always pressure to develop new products, new offers, new features for existing products and services for your current and future customers. The trick is to look at your entire offering and the competitive landscape in which it resides through the customers eyes, and ask two questions:

1. What can I do that would help this customer make more informed choices?
2. What are the smallest segments of customers I can profile to feed question #1?

If you can position yourself as a trusted partner or advisor, and make the decision process easier and more pleasant for your customers and prospects, they'll remember it - even if they don't buy today.

Open Wide for Awkward Customer Experience!

Yesterday, I realized that there's nothing more customer-centric than a dental exam. You are seated in a chair in the center of a room with a stage-like light over your head, and surrounded by equipment and people totally focused on you.

Not so bad, right? But you'll get the same perception on torture chambers and surgical rooms! What kind of customer experience should you expect from a place where you are frequently constricted, numb or in pain?

These situations make me think about the relation between customer-centric processes and good customer experience. I would even risk saying that all good customer experiences are customer-centric by definition, but not all customer-centric processes guarantee a good customer experience.

Customer-centrism is not a goal to be achieved, it's the state of mind your company must be in, when providing any service. The real goal here is to always aim for providing a good customer experience. The rest will fall into place.

Then, how do you achieve a really good customer experience? Just place yourself in your customer shoes and look at the problem from the customer’s perspective. Forget for a minute all your MBA-taught analysis, your marketing strategies, your business requirements, everything that you ever learned about your industry, and just be your customer.

In our dentist's case, once you know your patients’ feelings and concerns, it is easy to act on his or her expectations. Show your genuine concern for them; be caring and sensible, maybe even lend the patients your iPod to take their attention away from the awful drilling noise inside their head.

You may not be able to turn a painful experience into a perfectly good one, but you may at least soften a very awkward situation.

Frequently, that's all one would hope to achieve when going to the dentist.

Don't Put Your Customer to Work

When independent shops are being squeezed out by large chains every day, excellent customer service can become a point of distinction. So I was surprised yesterday when I overheard the following conversation while I was standing in the local independent coffee shop waiting for my sandwich.

A staffer picked up the phone and clearly identified the cafe and himself, which was a good start. Then he listened for a moment.

"Oh, well, I'm not familiar with the catering menu. You should call back in half an hour and talk to Bob," he said, while looking at the clock. More silence.

"Bob... Bob," he repeated the name several times and then hung up the phone with a sigh. Clearly, this was not the perfect ending to the conversation.

What are the chances that the customer called back? I know I wouldn't have after such a brush off. They clearly don’t need or want my business. And you should never make more work for the customer. It is the company’s job to create a seamless transaction.

If the shop prioritized customer service (or training), the employee would have taken down the customer’s name, number, the order, and then made sure Bob followed up to confirm the details.

In that scenario, the customer would have been happy to get a confirmation call and have their order completed, the cafe would have had a nice catering job and everyone would have been happy.

Email Segmentation - More Important Than You Think

Create a targeted, more meaningful connection with your customers

Dividing your email list based on what your subscribers have in common -- including interest categories, purchasing behavior, demographics, etc. -- is critical in targeting your audience with relevant email campaigns. Targeting increases the likelihood of a response to your message or offer. Whether you're a small business or enterprise-level corporation, list segmentation and targeting efforts pay off in higher open and clickthrough rates, enhanced customer loyalty and increased sales.  Learn More.

Improving the Customer Experience One Call At A Time

Companies that prioritize the customer experience generate 60% higher profits than their competitors. (Gartner Group)

Do large companies realize this? One major insurance company has. This company has turned their focus to improving customer loyalty and satisfaction through ongoing, personalized contact with their customers.

Recently, they contacted a customer to let her know she had missed her bill payment. The customer was so grateful for the reminder that she personally wrote the company to thank them for thinking of her.

This quick call to one customer not only made her day, it also improved her relationship with the company.

Imagine what could happen on a larger scale ...

Are You Making Your Customers Crazy With Choice?

How many new brands or products did you bring home from the grocery store last time you went?

If you're like most people, you probably bought at most one or two new items. Why? Because today's grocery store provides so many choices, you probably just bought the brands and products you usually buy. You were overloaded with choice.

Need proof? Let's just look at the statistics around that trip to the grocery store. In The Paradox Of Choice, sociology professor Barry Schwartz takes his readers on a trip to a small supermarket and finds that shoppers there must select from 285 varieties of cookies, 85 flavors and brands of juices, and 95 varieties of chips. They face 230 soup offerings, 120 different pasta sauces, 275 varieties of cereal, and 175 types of tea bags. Supermarkets today carry more than 30,000 items, and 20,000 new products are introduced each year — and almost all of them fail.

Yet, American society has become a society all about choice. While personal computers and the Internet have speeded business and boosted personal productivity over the last 25 years, it has also spawned a lot of information for us to wade through, understand, and choose how to deal with. At the same time, changes in business models, social values, and government policies have also pushed more choices on the consumer. The result: choices now dominate the activity of our every day lives. And it's making us unhappy.

Buyer's remorse is now so rampant that car dealerships and retail stores have explicit policies to deal with the phenomenon. Schwartz notes that the more choices we are forced to make as consumers, the less satisfied — and the less happy — we are with those choices. He even correlates the rise in choice to a parallel rise in depression in America over the past 30 years. So the tyranny of too much isn't just inconvenient; it's bad for our society — and for business.

When thinking about how to improve the usability of a website or how to get a customer to use your product or service, it's worth taking a step back and thinking about whether or not you're giving them too much unecessary choice. It's tempting to think that the more choice a person has the more likely they will appreciate it and go with whatever gives them the most freedom of choice. But it seems that many times, that might not be the case. Especially when it comes to choices people have to make but don't know a lot about like how to invest their money or what kind of insurance they need.

Starbucks Non-Coupon?

Starbucks just announced that they will no longer be honoring an e-coupon that went viral, beyond their original distribution intent.

As a business, this is an obvious and necessary reaction. The cost of providing free iced coffee to the nation for a month would be catastrophic. But, as someone who received and passed this coupon on, I'm disappointed in the response.

Starbucks' press release gives two reasons for the cancellation. First, it hints that their may have been fraudulent modification of the coupon before it went viral. Second, it states that the coupon was distributed beyond Starbucks' original intended audience.

Hinting, in the absence of a specific statement of fraud, inclines me to think someone's just covering their b**t (please excuse my language). Saying that its distribution went further than planned sounds like whoever was involved in the promo was engaging in some really fuzzy thinking.

Given that this promotion went hugely viral, Starbucks should look at this from the point of view of the disappointed potential customers. Here's a huge audience that was very willing to visit your stores. What can you offer on a one-per-person basis as a replacement?

Perhaps offer anyone attempting to redeem the coupons access to an online survey which, once complete, sends out a similar coupon. By requiring credit card info to track identity, Starbucks could then limit the coupon issuance to one per person. This would still have significant costs relative to what was apparently the coupon program's original intent, but it would also turn a negative experience into a positive.

This is already news, Starbucks should be thinking now about how to make it good news.