Tag Archives: customer service

For Customer, Airline Soars High Through Customer Service

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Customer service in any field or job is one of the reasons companies either succeed or fail. Good customer service can help you soar, as people want to continue to work with you even when something doesn’t go quite as planned. Bad customer service can be detrimental. Especially in this day and age of "status updates" and "tweets" that can cause PR nightmares.

Here’s a story of a good experience in an industry riddled with a bad reputation.

We’ve all had the experience at the airport where the man or woman behind the counter could care less about whether or not you reach your destination. They just want you to move along and go on to the next person. This is typically my experience. And it wasn’t until recently that I’ve seen a glimmer of hope. Even if it was just one person at one company (Delta Air Lines) — sometimes that’s all it takes.

My wife and I were flying to New York (via LaGuardia) to see her family. We had our 9-month-old daughter with us and after lugging four suitcases, a car seat and a stroller through the parking lot and up to the counter, we were told our flight had been cancelled only minutes before. You can only imagine our frustration, to say it lightly.

We were sent to another line at the ticket counter, seething and wondering how and if we were going to get through this.

We stepped up to the counter and the woman who now had our Fourth of July plans in her hands smiled and said hello to us and our daughter. We hoped, "Somehow, there must be a way out of here!" She searched for what felt like about a half hour, finding flights going through Detroit and that was about it. But with a baby, layovers can be tricky, especially if you have precious few minutes to get to your connection. She could see we were not happy with that solution and continued to search.

Minutes later she exclaimed, "Got it!" My ears perked up as she told us that there was a flight going to New York (JFK). That’s what we wanted to hear; we were back on track. She also informed us that we would be upgraded to first class, free of charge – indicating they may not be happy with her for doing so. Could it be? Could this woman really have been so nice and helpful to find a solution for us and our daughter that would be in our best interest and not the airlines? It could and she did.

I’m sure my smiling daughter (mixed with our comment about how she wouldn’t get to see her grandma) helped a bit, but it gives me hope that there are good people out there committed to doing the right thing for customers.

Customers’ Online Struggles Prove Costly

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Many customer service nightmare stories involve the visible "mistreatment" of a person in your store or office location. When the problem is online, too many organizations fail to recognize they have a problem — and they’re paying for it.

A new study estimates 23% of annual online revenue is going by the wayside as the result of poor online customer experiences. And about four out of five survey respondents indicated they have little or no understanding why customers leave a shopping cart (78%) or exit a site (81%) without completing the purchase.

According to the study, limited understanding of the overall online customer experience, lack of multi-channel approach, and hard-to-diagnose site usability issues are all contributing factors to the poor consumer experiences that lead to billions of dollars in lost revenue. Most are reactive and rely on other channels to discover customer issues, with 76 percent most likely to learn about site problems as a result of calls to the customer service team or through customer emails.

The report, Reducing Customer Struggle, reveals that nearly one-fifth (18 percent) of businesses rate their understanding of the online customer experience as "poor" or "very poor," with only four percent classing it as "excellent."

When asked to identify the single most common problem that customers might encounter on their websites, bad site navigation/poor ‘findability’ was considered to be both the most common (57 percent) and most serious (55 percent) problem. 29 percent cited lack of information as the second most common and serious (31 percent) problem that might drive customers away from websites. When it comes to effective approaches for understanding the customer experience, only 11% of respondents said that they use session replay technology but an astounding 95% of those found it to be quite or very effective.

Linking online and offline channels and sharing insights across both is also a major challenge for businesses, with only three percent describing the multi-channel experience they provide as "excellent" and nearly a quarter (24 percent) rating it as "poor" or "very poor." Sixty percent of the companies polled admit that the offline parts of their business have little or no understanding of the experience a customer might have at their online store. Currently only 49 percent of companies have processes in place to prioritize and rectify the problems and issues customers face online; this practice will become even more critical as companies add a new channel into the mix, as 52 percent of those polled plan to invest in the mobile internet this year. 

Don’t Forget the “Service” in Customer Service

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We’ve all had at least one encounter with a rude salesperson. Flashes of the 1990 classic “Pretty Woman” comes to my mind, when all Julia Roberts’ character wanted to do was buy some clothes and the snotty saleswoman wouldn’t help her, turning her nose up and suggesting she leave.

Not all experiences are as obviously snobbish and judgmental as that example (though, her character was dressed pretty inappropriately). Some just happen because the employees are unhappy with their job situations or had been dealing with a particularly irritable customer or boss.

I’ve had my own terrible customer service experiences and it turns out that many Americans are in that same boat. In a new Consumer Reports survey, 65% of Americans surveyed are “tremendously annoyed” by rude salespeople and 64% of respondents said they had left a store in the past year because of poor service.

It’s not even just in the stores that people are feeling frustrated – 71% of respondents were “extremely irritated” when they were unable to speak with a human over the phone and 67% of them hung up before getting their issues resolved.

Of course, I’m sure most customers who have been burned by a rude salesperson have dreamt of exacting revenge as Julia Roberts’ character did in “Pretty Woman,” walking back into the same store the next day looking absolutely fabulous and telling the saleswoman who was so awful to her that it was a “Big mistake. Big. Huge. I have to go shopping now.”

Just like that, that fictional store on Rodeo Drive lost out on a huge sale. You can be guaranteed that the respondents who said they were annoyed with the rude salespeople are telling their friends and family about their experiences and those people are thinking twice about purchasing from those businesses, or bypassing them altogether.

It’s just another reminder that customer service truly counts toward a company’s bottom line.

Customer Loyalty Programs: Don’t Forget to Follow Through

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Most of us are in some type of customer loyalty program or another. I have more rewards cards jammed in my billfold than David Blaine in a Hold ’em tournament. But here’s an interesting survey revealing that most customers don’t really feel closer to businesses that have these and other customer loyalty programs. I guess the theme is that if you do have one, be sure to go the extra mile and let the customer know you’re grateful.

You’re about to slide your card through the credit card reader when the clerk asks, “Are you a member of our rewards program?”

It’s a simple enough, but determining the value of these customer loyalty programs is not easy.

Do these rewards programs work? That’s what ACI Worldwide sought to answer with a recent study.

In short, no—these programs don’t benefit the consumer and can actually hurt customer loyalty for the retailer.

Here are some takeaways from the study:

  • 44 percent of consumers have had a negative experience from a loyalty program.
  • 27 percent of Americans have received a loyalty program reward or promotion that made them feel valued as a customer.
  • 81 percent of American loyalty program members are enrolled in a program that they don’t completely understand.
  • 85 percent of members report that they haven’t heard a single word from a loyalty program since the day they signed up.

What Customers Don’t Want to Hear

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Language is important. Just ask George W. Bush, Joe Biden or any other political gaffe machine you can think of. Choosing the wrong words when dealing with the general public can make your job that much harder, and can cost your company future business if it occurs in the customer service deparment. Customer Contact News offers some useful tips on what NOT to say:

Sure, these lines sound innocent enough to your ears, but to customers, they sound like lame excuses for not helping them.

Try to avoid these phrases in your contact center.  Some customers practically cringe when they hear them.

  • “That’s our policy.” It’s a corporate way of saying no and it sounds like agents don’t want to – not can’t – do what customers have requested. Try: “Here’s why we’ll have to find another solution …”
  • “I’m new here.” Agents who use this line suggest to customers that they weren’t properly trained. Try: “Let me double-check with someone before I answer that. I want to give you the most accurate answer possible.”
  • “My supervisor’s not available.” That’s not customers’ problem. Get to someone who can help. Try: “I’m sure Sally can help us with this. Can you wait while I get her on the line also?”
  • “I don’t know.” Customers called you and expect you to be the expert. Try: “Let me look into that.”

The Importance of Good Customer Service (Part XXIV)

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We’ve offered quite a few posts on customer service tips, errors, blunders, horrors, etc. Why? Because your customer service reps are your first and often only point of contact with your customers. A bad experience could lead to not only a customer taking his/her business elsewhere, but can also earn your business a serious thrashing on Twitter or Facebook, thus souring others on your services. CustomerContactNews offers this advice:

You might unknowingly tick off customers if anyone in your contact center commits any of these stupid service mistakes:

  • Lazy courtesy. In the rush to get information, agents might forget to use common courtesies such as “please,” “thank you” and “you’re welcome.” Use them early and often in all conversations.
  • Poor record keeping. Misspelled names, incorrect pronunciations and repeated mistakes on paperwork bother customers. Regularly check that your records are correct.
  • Promises fell short. Promise a little less than you know you can deliver and you’ll keep customers happy.
  • Policy protection. You’ll lose customers if you hide behind policies so you don’t have to do something for them. Instead, find ways around roadblocks and help eliminate policies that inhibit agents and customers.
  • Inaccessibility. If customers can’t get through to you easily, they won’t stick around to try harder. Give them options (e-mail, online chat and a quickly answered toll-free number).
  • Untrained staff. If agents consistently have to turn to others for help, customers will get frustrated. Agents don’t have to know all of the answers, just where to find them. So train more on accessibility and encourage them often to do what’s right for customers

How Far Can Your Employees Go to Help Customers?

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If you’ve flown somewhere recently, there’s a decent chance you may have experienced some type of frustration: plane delay; ticket mix-up; unwanted intimacy with a TSA agent, etc. But this story about Jet Blue shows how far they’re willing to empower — and trust — their employees to make passengers happy. While you wouldn’t want one of your staffers to go spending $160,000 without a great deal of deliberation, it does beg the question: How much autonomy does your staff have, and is it enough?

CEOs: look around at the people in your organization and answer me this: how fearful are they?

On a scale of professional courage, with Terrified at 1 and Reckless at 5, where do most of your people fall? Are they 4, Brave? Are they 2, Timid?

Leaders often tell me, "I wish my people were more entrepreneurial!" It makes me wonder. If you’re a leader, ask yourself this: how committed are you to your people really, truly taking risks and sometimes (often?) falling flat on their faces? What happens to them when they do get it wrong?

In its infancy, Jet Blue faced a powerful test of its culture. In theory, in training, in branding, CEO David Neeleman told his staff and the world, my people have the latitude to make grown-up decisions on the spot in order to serve our customers.

Sure enough, not long into operations, one of its planes was grounded by weather in another city, and an entire flight full of passengers was in danger of being bumped. No worries, though! Taking his training at face-value, a ticket agent solved this potential brand-basher the best way he could think of. He walked down the counter to his competition and bought tickets on the next flight for every one of his passengers. To the tune of $160,000.

Stop right there. What would your company do if one of its front-line employees made a decision on his own to spend $160,000 of your company’s funds? Seriously. I think we all know the answer.

…But here’s what his JetBlue supervisors did: nothing. And here’s what Neeleman did when he found out: he teased the agent. That’s it. He just gulped, and laughed, and made a joke of it.

Funny, but Shocking Video: Pay Attention to the Little Things

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On Twitter, I follow a gentleman named Joe Navarro (@navarrotells), a former FBI agent and leading expert on non-verbal communication. (He’s authored at least one very intriguing poker book on tells, which is how I came to know his work.) He passed along a Tweet containing this video recently, which illustrates just how little we pay attention to our surroundings.

If you can work on improving your observation skills, just think how much of an edge you — and your company — will have in a business setting. And think how much more attentive you could be to your customers. Enjoy this eye-opening piece. (If it won’t allow you to view the embedded version, just click "Watch on YouTube.")

Customer Service: Are They ALWAYS Right?

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I’ll warn you: This post may challenge some ideals you’ve always held dear, so grab on to your desk. Having worked in customer service, I’d argue this post from business consultant Alexander Kjerulf basically articulates things I (read: "me," not necessarily "the Indiana Chamber") have thought for years. Kjerulf asserts that, in fact, customers are not always right — and thinking in those terms could actually be detrimental to your business. He offers his top five reasons customers are not always right. Here’s #1, just to give you a taste:

1: It makes employees unhappy
Gordon Bethune is a brash Texan (as is Herb Kelleher, coincidentally) who is best known for turning Continental Airlines around “From Worst to First,” a story told in his book of the same title from 1998. He wanted to make sure that both customers and employees liked the way Continental treated them, so he made it very clear that the maxim “the customer is always right” didn’t hold sway at Continental.

In conflicts between employees and unruly customers he would consistently side with his people. Here’s how he puts it:

When we run into customers that we can’t reel back in, our loyalty is with our employees. They have to put up with this stuff every day. Just because you buy a ticket does not give you the right to abuse our employees . . .

We run more than 3 million people through our books every month. One or two of those people are going to be unreasonable, demanding jerks. When it’s a choice between supporting your employees, who work with you every day and make your product what it is, or some irate jerk who demands a free ticket to Paris because you ran out of peanuts, whose side are you going to be on?

You can’t treat your employees like serfs. You have to value them . . . If they think that you won’t support them when a customer is out of line, even the smallest problem can cause resentment.

So Bethune trusts his people over unreasonable customers. What I like about this attitude is that it balances employees and customers, where the “always right” maxim squarely favors the customer – which is not a good idea, because, as Bethune says, it causes resentment among employees.

Of course there are plenty of examples of bad employees giving lousy customer service. But trying to solve this by declaring the customer “always right” is counter-productive.

We ask you to offer your thoughts on this in our comments section, but please read Kjerulf’s entire post first as there are some very worthy anecdotes.

Using Social Media to Turn Frowns (of Customers) Upside Down

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The blog of Directions marketing agency (Neenah, Wisconsin) has an interesting tale about a company that turned a customer’s negative blog reaction to its product into a ringing endorsement through engagement and sincere customer service. (My holiday favor to you: The company makes toilet seats and I won’t even attempt one pun on the matter.) Read about the exchange here and take heed of the lessons learned:

1) To paraphrase David, this is how social media is supposed to work and this is how a business that really cares about its customers and product reputation is supposed to interact with today’s consumers.

2) Reaction to negative postings should be swift, honest, transparent and never defensive. Your demeanor and words should convey that you simply want to get to the bottom of the situation and that in the interim you want to make the customer whole.

3) Even a few years ago, an unhappy customer such as David might have picked up the phone and called the toll-free customer service hotline. Or he might have just complained loudly to friends and acquaintances. In today’s world, the Internet is where complaints go to be aired, amplified and live on forever. You can’t react if you aren’t actively listening in the first place.

4) Viral can be a positive or negative force. Commenting on the outcome, a Realtor in Utah posted the following: “This is a company that knows exactly what the new age media is all about. Hats off to Bemis for knowing a bad situation can be handled in such a way as to make a loyal customer for life.”