| LED Digest 2490: The Customer Service Problem |
|
|
|
================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. September 12, 2007 Issue no. 2490 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Customer Service Pet Peeves ==-- ~ Grant Crowell "...but always consider the possibility of honest mishaps." ~ Carolyn Ryals "In the early days of the web, sending an email could mean days, weeks or never getting a reply." ~ John Wagner "It reminds me of a time when I was traveling in a third world country by air..." ~ Michelle Tackabery "It could be a culture problem within the company, and not a simple 'they are lazy' problem." ====== SPONSORS NEWS =========== <Moderator Comment> - GetWebContent.com - ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Grant Crowell Subject: Answering Customer Emails In LED #2489 [ http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1901/190/ ], Ron Coble wrote about his bad customer service experience with an ecommerce site: > I registered and promptly used their contact form to send > them a request asking how much it would be to deliver the > chair in their brochure (and on their very nicely designed web > site) to my fathers location. As I write this, it has now been > 3 weeks and never so much as a reply. Now wouldn't you > think that if someone is asking about delivery charges that > they are pretty far into the purchase decision and you would > want to follow up with that person immediately? I agree that any company, no matter what size or industry, should have a prompt turnaround time on their contact form - I myself follow the rule of no longer than 24 hours. Under extreme circumstances, we adjust our email replies so that people will be notified in advance of our estimated response time. However, we have had cases from an over-protective email hosting system which has filtered out some inquiries on our own inquiry forms pages for spam. False positives are rare, but this still do happen once in a great while. Since they are blocked right at the email server end through our web host they don't even come to our client side computer desktops in our junk mail folder. We can't even see them in the email server junk mail folder, so there's always the possibility of someone sending in a legitimate inquiry in our contact form that doesn't go all the way through to where it should. (Text verification does help to prevent the spammers, but apparently some email setups with web hosts aren't perfect it getting all off the good ones through.) I've had instances where I would fill out a customer form on a website, not hear back for days, follow up by phone, and hear from customer service that they didn't have a record of it going through. That's why I still make it a rule to do a follow up by phone, rather than always assume the delay is due to poor customer service. I encourage my own client prospects to call and leave a message just as extra insurance that we received their questionnaire, so we have our phone # included prominently in all customer service forms. I agree that there are many cases of poor online customer service, but always consider the possibility of honest mishaps. Grant Crowell, Grantastic Designs grantasticdesigns.com/blog -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Carolyn Ryals Subject: Pet Peeves About Commercial Web Sites Ron Coble has brought up a very important point for all businesses who are online and offline. If there is no price on an item, it is not for sale. In the competitive world of the internet, web sites that sell consumer products are under a lot of pressure to offer new products. As a result of this, they will post items on their site as soon as they receive notice of them from the manufacturer when they do not have details or pricing. This creates confusion for the consumer and the email staff at the retailer. Some manufacturer's offer retailers products, the retailer advertises it and after it is sold, the manufacturer tells the retailer that it has been discontinued. There are a number of reasons for this and the most common is the manufacturer decided not to make or stock it and did not tell the retailer. The customer thinks the problem is with the retailer when it is actually with the manufacturer. Sometimes the product is made and sent to the retailer, it is defective and has to be returned. This can mean several months for restocking of that product. My web site was one of the first on the web when there were only about 20,000 people online. In the early days of the web, sending an email could mean days, weeks or never getting a reply. Most of the web sites in those days, did not have the staff to answer emails and the web was just a page of advertisement like you might see in a magazine so there was some justification for their lack of response. Most online businesses now have staff to handle email inquiries. There is one notable difference, you now have to "register" to even ask a question. Why should a potential customer provide you with their name, birth date, address, etc. if they only want to ask a simple question? What is the web site going to do with all that information? Why do they need all that information to tell you the cost of shipping an item or if it is in stock? Caveat emptor, or buyer beware, definitely applies here. Carolyn Ryals www.westernsilver.com ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= 2007 Is Aging Fast, So Is Your Content! Remember when search bots visited every four or five months? Now their noses are in your tent constantly. Weekly. Maybe even daily. What's a webmaster to do? Give 'em what they want! Fresh copy. Great copy. Relevant copy. http://www.GetWebContent.com/LED copy. ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - same topic -------- From: John Wagner Subject: Customer Service > But, seriously, can anyone justify not answering > a potential customer's request or waiting 3 days > to do so and not post your prices on your web > site - if so, I would be interested in hearing > your justifications. - Ron Coble Of course it cannot be justified but I think it is not a question of justification, it is simple ignorance. Some people just do not get the point. A local store where I live was doing the same thing, nice site, lovely pictures, no prices. When I went into the store I asked why there were no prices he answered "We want the people to come into the store or call on the phone so we can assess their true needs and sell them something appropriate". When I asked how long they were doing this on the internet and how many actual inquiries they actually had, he told me "we are on the internet a year but you are the first one to come in". Duh!! We all know the potential and actuality of doing business on the internet but obviously these brick and mortar operations have no clue. Someone told them they should have a website so lo! They have a website. To use it as the best selling tool of the millennium does not occur to them. I am sure no one even monitors the emails, the web developer put in a link to the email but it goes to a dead end, no one sees it much less knows how to access it or forward it to someone who does. It reminds me of a time when I was traveling in a third world country by air. The stewardess walked up and down the aisle reaching into a bulk bag of peanuts and putting a half a dozen or so into the hands of anyone who reached out. She used her bare hand. And pouring some warm watered down orange drink from a half gallon container into two ounce cups and handing them to the passengers. Well, airlines are supposed to give out peanuts and drinks so she was giving out peanuts and drinks, convinced I am sure that her airline was up to international standards. When the costs to keep the website up and running and unproductive reach an unacceptable level to the comptrollers of these companies, they will either wise up or get off the net. John Wagner www.jewelex.com -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Michelle Tackabery Subject: Customer service Rob, I can really understand both your frustration as a customer and your frustration as a marketer. I know as a marketer, nothing ticks me off more ROYALLY than to discover that the hard-won leads I have spent my life trying to get are sitting in someone's inbox, being ignored. I had this experience on a website once. One form submission from a potential customer had not been answered for three days, on a website which promised we would get back to inquiries within "one business day." The inquiry had been received on a Sunday night (late) and was not returned until Wednesday night - late - with an email, not a phone call. Needless to say, I lost it when I heard the news! . . . It turned out that this call center person was used to a phone culture where people who call in are dealt with first, no matter what the urgency of their situation was, and she had been routinely putting off responding to internet inquiries that were text-based. We immediately incentivized responding to internet inquiries, which typically brought in ten times the dollars that phone inquiries through other channels do. Things changed fast. It could be a culture problem within the company, and not a simple "they are lazy" problem. Of course I can't say for sure, but it's an idea worth pursuing anywhere you have issues with customer service, if you work in marketing. Find out what they are doing with your leads! Just some general advice for anyone, I guess, would be: Make friends with customer service and make it YOUR BUSINESS to change things. Because you might be the only one who does! Michelle Tackabery http://www.michelletackabery.net ====== NEWS FROM OUR SPONSORS =================== <Moderator Comment> I mentioned recently that we'd be featuring "sponsor news" from time to time here in the LED. I think this is a great way to give the fantastic companies that support this list some more attention. I'll place this section at the end of the digest, so those who opt not to read it won't be forced. And we'll only run these occasionally, so they won't dilute the list. But I hope you'll take a few moments and scan through this, and hopefully, support these companies. I'm careful about who gets to sponsor the LED because I want to retain the quality of our community. You can be confident that the companies represented here are of the highest quality, both in terms of service offerings and integrity. And now, a word from our sponsor... :) Best wishes, Adam PS - the first sponsor news comes from GWC. Bruce Clay's SEOToolSet.com will be featured next. --------------------- http://GetWebContent.com/LED : GetWebContent.com builds bridges. Word bridges between your site, search engines and customers. We construct medium-length bridges such as home-page copy, blog entries, press releases and FAQ pages; long bridges like articles, technical papers, and media kits; and short bridges like product blurbs, photo captions, and e-mail solicitations. Our "bridges" span the entire Web. We build them for high-tech industries and low-tech businesses, for people selling real estate and insurance and others selling reptiles and iguanas. None of our structures are pre-fabricated. Everyone is built to order for and about you and your business. Each is customized with exactly the right type and number of keywords and key phrases to max out its search-engine optimization potential. GetWebContent.com, if copy is king, we're the kings of copy. RECENT BLOG POSTS ================== 1) Will Yours Be One Of The Last Websites Standing? "Here's a cyber-variation on a "cheerful" bit of conversation frequently employed by coaches on the first day of practice, drill sergeants at the beginning of boot camp, and college orientation lecturers who, despite their numerous degrees and pedigrees, haven't been able to think of anything better to tell incoming freshmen since about 1492..." http://www.getwebcontent.com/blog/?p=23 2) The Not-So-Hidden Price Of Copywriting Cost Cutting "Price is what you pay, value is what you get." -- Warren Buffett "This is what our FAQ page has to say about price: Our rates are the most cost-effective in the business. "That said, there are a lot of amateurs, wannabes, and non-English-speakers wandering around cyberspace peddling dollar-store-priced web content hastily concocted of inappropriate words, snarled syntax, flaky factoids, and irrelevant ramblings..." http://www.getwebcontent.com/blog/?p=22 ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED SEOToolSet.com Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification Join the certified SEO directory: www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/189/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/187/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/201/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "What the mass media offers is not popular art, but entertainment which is intended to be consumed like food, forgotten, and replaced by a new dish." - W. H. Auden |
