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The Costs of Failed Customer Service

roar at roarweb dot com

Reaching Customer Service seems to be an issue for many these days. While my Technorati trouble finally is over, I do believe it took far too long before I finally got some help.

Setting the right service level is not an easy task - especially not for a free service. Tris Hussey (and others) have over the last day or two commented on how difficult it is to get any feedback from gMail and Blogger. In the situation Tris describes, the problem is hijacked accounts.

My guess is that most of the “help” e-mails are never read by humans. Words like HELP and EMERGENCY should, in my mind, lead to someone actually taking a look, but I doubt this actually happens. Just as for me in my Technorati case, Tris’ friend is having a hard time to get any replies.

Maybe the way I got my help is the way to go? Thanks to Liz from Successful Blog who pointed me in the right direction. By posting a comment to a blog I finally got the help I needed.

While I do not endorse being off-topic in comments, it might be that leaving a comment in a blog belonging to someone senior in an organization actually can help.

Senior Management support is always important to make things happen. By letting senior management know that their customer service areas are not able to help their customers, we will at least have a possibility of someone looking further into the issue!

Any reader out there that actually have managed to get “real feedback” from Blogger and gMail?

roar at roarweb dot com

If you read my blog on a regular basis you know that I’ve had a problem reclaiming my blog on Technorati.

While I know Technorati is a free service, I’m still very disappointed about the customer experience I have had trying to figure this out. It just seems to be impossible to get an answer from them!

Anyway, maybe there is hope. Thanks to Liz from Successful Blog I’ve found a link to the blog of Janice Myint of Technorati. In one post she describes what you might try to check out when you are in my situation. I have just left her a comment, maybe - just maybe - I will be so lucky that I actually get some help. That would be great!

roar at roarweb dot com

Technorati Tags: customer experience, Successful Blog, Janice Myint, Technorati, roar, roarweb, Technorati Support, Technorati Help, Technorati Tips

I sometimes refer to Paul Kedrosky, a Venture Capitalist (VC) with his own blog at Paul Kedrosky’s Infectious Greed.

In a recent post Paul wrote that he had noticed that not many VC’s blogged.

In a comment, Jeff Clavier says:

“…. it also requires a genuine engagement, and you have to know what you want to get out of blogging before you start.”

Jeff is right, successful blogging requires engagement. It requires engagement in the form of providing interesting content and in the form of providing this content on a regular basis. E-mail newsletters and web site news sections also requires this type of content.

I wrote about similar issues about a year ago:

In planning communications schedules an organization must take their resources into account. Keep in mind it is easier to increase frequency of communications, should you find you have the additional resources, than it is to reduce frequency should your audience have gotten used to getting your updates on a regular basis.

roar at roarweb dot com

I’ve just read an article on InformationWeek.com, where they discussed the results of negative online experiences on shopping habits at brick and mortar stores belonging to the same company. Bottom line was that 33% of those asked said they might actually stop shopping at a brick and mortar store due to a negative online experience.

I had planned to link to the article, but just happened to read their “licence this article” announcement. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find the article yourself!

While the copyright section, managed by copyright.com, did not specify how I as a blogger should deal with linking, it had some other suggestions on what I could do:

• link from my corporate or academic web site: $2.50
• include a link in an e-mail with a distribuion of one (1): $5.00
• inlcude a link in an e-mail with a distribution of one hundred (100): $25.00

While a publisher must choose on how to make their money, I question the choice they have made. While they could have included a “blogging” option (free?!), they have chosen to try to get money for every little thing. They have chosen to try to get money from me for actually doing them a favour by linking to them.

I believe they have made a mistake! While I support their right to make money on their articles, I believe their current options are too limited. As a blogger, pro or not, I am helping them to get eyeballs to their site and I should not have to pay for that. (I wonder, if I paid for the right to link, should they have to pay me for the advertising exposure to “my guests”?)

The internet was made great by access to information. In a web 2.0 world, where being a part of the discussion is becoming more and more important, companies that choose to limit linking are also choosing to say on “the outside”.

While this migh matter little to the regular reader of InformationWeek, it matters to me. I’ve been a subscriber to some of the TechWeb newsletters for a long time. Now I have to ask myself - if I can’t comment or pass on a link to an article without paying for it - is it worth it for me to continue reading these e-mails?

I guess their research is right, your online experience really impacts how you view the overall brand!

roar at roarweb dot com

From allheadlinenews.com:

Study Identifies Reasons Behind Poor Cellular Phone Customer Service

Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates says, “As more wireless companies encourage customers to try new services, it has become more difficult for the customer service representatives to be fully trained and kept apprised on the latest products being introduced. The downside is the carrier runs the risk of decreasing customer satisfaction and losing customers to other carriers.”

I don’t think this was a surprise to anyone focused on process and customer experience management. Successful product introduction goes far beyond manufacturing, sales and marketing. You need to take internal processes and capacity into account.

roar at roarweb dot com

On January 9th I wrote about my trouble in getting a reply to a Technorati customer service request.

This week, on January 23rd (Monday), I tried again! Still no reply. I wonder what it takes to get their attention? Or maybe I have their attention - they just don’t want to talk to me???

roar at roarweb dot com

I used to have a Mac … a long time ago … I had a Macintosh SE and a Mac SE30. I even used to carry it with me to school for project work.

Maybe it is time to get one again…

Apple has just introduced their MacBook Pro! With an Intel processor.

Starting at $2299 Canadian or $1999 US.

And ipod now has radio! About time!!

roar at roarweb dot com

Deviant bananas are what the manufacturer of the Banana Guard calls the 10 % of bananas that do not fit into their product!

Q: “Not all bananas are the same size or shape, so how can the Banana Guard fit them all?”

A: The Banana Guard was specially designed to accommodate the majority of banana sizes. Our testing indicates that over 90% of commercially available bananas will fit into the Banana Guard. Highly curved bananas can be straightened ever-so-slightly without harm to fit the Banana Guard shape. The opposite holds true of very straight bananas.

200,000 units sold last year. Not enough for 3 Vancouver based ER doctors to quit their jobs yet, but still. Sold internationally, also available online.

roar at roarweb dot com

A COCO Gift Card is a personalised prepaid Gift Card that looks like a credit card, but works like a rechargeable gift certificate.

Cool!

roar at roarweb dot com