Heard the latest example of a company receiving negative public relations via the web and social media? Alaska Airlines apparently gave a paying customer’s ticket away to someone on standby because that customer had to run to the bathroom to change her baby’s diaper. That customer service error led fully fledged public relations debacle: Alaska Airlines Hates Families After reaching a dead-end with the company, the couple turned to the Internet to air their complaints (which seem reasonable). All this negative PR could have been easily stopped before it happened, without any fancy technology or marketing — provide good customer service.
[Read more…] about Stop Negative Public Relations Before It Happens
good customer service
Good Customer Service Saves The Day
You’ve heard it said before: good customer service will lead to repeat business. How many of you take that truly to heart and apply it across your entire business?
Cue story…
I work from my home office, but I like to get out to meet people and sit in a new environment from time to time. Last week I decided to try a new local cafe that had free wireless and good reviews. When I got there, they had a great menu and comfy couches (bonus!). I bought a tasty salad and sat down on the couch to work. Once I connected to the free wireless, I was shown a few ads and asked if I wanted to download software to secure my connection (no thanks, I’m good). When I’m working, I usually have several different websites open and go to many more to get things done. On every single new page, the “free” wireless was showing me a new ad and asking if I wanted their secure software. Every single page! After every 10th page, they’d redirect me to a list of sponsored links and require me to click on one in order to continue. Are you kidding me? This is not “free” wireless. I would be willing to pay a little bit extra for my salad (like 25 cents) to have a smooth web browsing experience so I could actually work. I was so annoyed by the wireless that I left soon after I finished my salad.
So what are the initial lessons?
- Are you really saving money on that “deal” from the wireless provider? If they annoy your customers who either don’t stay very long or, more importantly, don’t come back, what is the true cost?
- Sometimes it’s better to pay for quality and take it as an expense of doing business. Do you need to provide free wireless? Maybe or maybe not. But the Panera down the street does, and they don’t put their customers through ad hell. How are you going to compete?
- Other than your main services and products, what additional services and products do you need to also provide to increase the value and revenue of your main offerings? In this case, I think good free wireless is a mandatory additional service.
More story…
I was so annoyed by the whole situation that before I packed up, I (painfully, through more ad hell) sent an email to the cafe telling them about the situation and how horrible it was. I was actually looking forward to having a local place I could go to work, but I certainly couldn’t work under their wireless situation. I didn’t mention it to the cafe, but I was also looking for a local place to meeting with clients and small groups, so by not providing good wireless, they were actually losing all of that potential business as well.
Happy ending?
The owner of the cafe quickly wrote back thanking me for letting her know about the situation with the wireless. She said she was going to look for another provider and asked me to check back in a couple of weeks.
Good Customer Service Saves the Day
Wow. The owner of the cafe really listened to my concerns and was willing to address them in a way that would benefit not only me, but her entire business. I was extremely happy that she responded in such a positive way. And I’m willing to wait the two weeks and check back on her progress. Obviously, she needs to follow-through to win back my business, but she took a very negative situation and has turned it all the way back to hopeful positive.
Lessons Learned
Good customer service is more than just responding properly to support issues. As a business owner, you need to listen to what your customers are saying and respond in a way that satisfies them. Sometimes you won’t be able to provide exactly what your customers want, but by listening and responding to them, you have still maintained a relationship they are willing to continue.
What are your customer support success stories?
(photo by seattle municipal archives @ Flickr CC)
Technorati Tags: customer service, good customer service, business, customer retention, customer-centric
Good B2C Websites
Since I covered an example of a bad B2C website last week, let’s take a look at a couple of good B2C websites and what makes them good.
- L.L.Bean – This site has been one of my favorite consumer websites for several years. Why? Because I can always find what I’m looking for. If I need help there are multiple different ways to contact the company: email, phone, online chat which are clear from every single page. I can find products by their catalog number, by searching, by browsing (in multiple categories). Browsing allows the ability to narrow your choices by several different types of information (dependent on what you’re looking at) – for example, on comfort fleece, I can narrow my choices by department, attributes, price and colors. When I add an item into my shopping bag, I can label it with different names if I have items going to different people and during checkout it will ask me for different addresses and gift card information. I also can save items in my bag for later if I’m considering different items or shopping around. They have details on every product including the ability to zoom in to see more detail. L.L. Bean is a catalog company so if they lose a visitor off their site, they’ve lost a sale. You can’t get much more customer-centric.
- Lands End – Also a catalog company, Lands End has many of the same functions as the L.L. Bean website (they compete on many of the same items). I think their display of items is somewhat better since they offer several different views of each product and offer recommendations on how well something will fit you (based on your personal measurements). They also offer the same great customer service options and abilities as far as finding products.
Obviously eCommerce sites are going to be very different than other B2C websites and different from most B2B websites, but they are very good at being customer-centric since they must be so to compete. Most B2B websites are also selling products, but often forget to offer good customer service and to think about what their customers want when they are on their website.
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Technorati Tags: customer-centric sites, design, B2C, B2B, internet consulting, B2B internet consulting