If I want pizza, I call up and order a pizza. If I want to book a flight, I go online and book my flight. If I want to watch a movie, I’ll download from Netflix and watch it. Easy, huh?
So why is it so difficult to do the same when I have a problem and need customer service?
If I call my cable service provider, or bank, or insurance company, I don’t want to be sat there pressing buttons until my fingertips bleed, just to get to the right department. I don’t want to hear hold music for 15 minutes, only to then be told I need to go back to the department I just came from. I don’t want to be told my call is important to you when it feels anything but.
Businesses spend so much time getting their brand right; their marketing; their PR; their sales; their online strategy. But you know what?
None of this means a thing without customers. And customers do not want to feel second-rate. Strange but true – satisfy your customers and you’ll satisfy your shareholders and accountants.
How’s your satisfaction level holding up?
photo credit: Meredith_Farmer
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Some may argue that costomer service is the new PR.
At first glance it may look strange. However if the first line of contact is unable to live up to the brand promise badwill is just around the corner.
Regards
/Johan @pr_persson
Twitter: timjahn
Danny, I’m with you 100%.
The rapid pace of business/life today, coupled with the tools available to us that enable this way of life, are creating higher and higher satisfaction expectations among customers.
But for discussions sake…do we need to be realistic with our satisfaction expectations? The phone trees definitely need to disappear but does every company need a 24/7 online chat available?
Should companies obsess over their customers or understand that even customers can demand too much sometimes?
That’s a valid point, Tim.
There certainly isn’t a need for 24/7 support from every company (and both financially and technically, it wouldn’t be possible for many businesses).
Yet there should definitely be a minimum satisfaction level – a response within 24 hours, acknowledgment of receiving a query, etc. There are a lot of businesses just waiting to take your customers away, and sadly some will buckle to even the flimsiest of complaints.
Twitter: ariherzog
I continually read blog posts similar to yours, griping about customer service representatives, and I continue to respond that YOU are the customer and YOU are providing a service to the company, so if anyone should pay lip service to anyone, it’s the company to you.
Sadly, it’s all too obvious that companies aren’t listening, Ari. Else there wouldn’t need to be posts like this