For a service company like an airline, financial institution, or rental car agency, good customer service is a critical part of a great brand experience. But all too often, companies like these fail to align their business logistics to deliver good service and their customers are left feeling taken for granted.
Before the holiday season, I had the misfortune to experience poor customer service myself, when for several days the labyrinthine systems of my bank and its associated credit card company left me without a valid credit card. I spent hours hanging on the phone trying to get it sorted. The experience certainly did nothing to endear the bank to me, and left me wondering if the rest of their business is as badly organized.
While it is easy to see how such an experience can have deleterious effects on customer loyalty, it is not always so easy to see the upside of a positive service experience. So I thought it might be nice to share an example of great customer service and demonstrate how it can add value.
The U.S. east coast ski season started on a high note, with Vermont getting more snow in December 2007 than any time since records began. The current January thaw is just as unusual but far less welcome. As some readers will undoubtedly know, however, east coast skiing is more often characterized by bitter temperatures, strong winds and ice rather than great conditions, but as my colleague, and fellow east coast skier, Andy Greenfield, CEO of Greenfield Consulting, says, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad dressing.”
Like Andy, I pay a lot of attention to what I wear for skiing and which brands I buy. A couple of years ago, while skiing at Killington in Vermont, I was wearing a new Arc’Teryx, a hard shell designed to block the wind while still allowing a good degree of flexibility and ventilation. It was a cold day, and I was impressed with how the jacket was keeping me warm while still allowing me plenty of freedom of movement.
The snow conditions were pretty poor, but I was up for a challenge. Thinking the snow might be better in the trees, I decided to try a Double Diamond run called Julio which I had not tried before.
BIG mistake. The snow was not better in the trees. Instead I found myself skiing in an ice channel – a miniature version of the ones they use for bobsleds at the Olympics. After a few seconds spent whizzing past densely packed firs, I clipped a rock and found myself airborne. Preferring to grab a passing tree than hit it with my head, I snagged the trunk with one arm and collapsed in an ignominious heap. It was not until I had hiked back out and was back on the lift preparing for another run that I realized that a tree branch had speared my new jacket, opening a six-inch gash in one arm.
Given the choice between fixing the gash with duct tape and sending the jacket off to Arc’Teryx and paying for them to mend it properly, I chose the latter. A few weeks later I got a call from their customer service rep asking how I had come to tear the jacket. As she politely put it, “We don’t see many of our jackets this badly damaged.” I told her the story, explained that I realized it was my fault, and said I was happy to pay for it to be repaired. After a brief pause she said, “Well I am not sure we can repair it. The slash goes right across one of the seams. I think we better send you a replacement.”
As a result, I received a replacement jacket, free of charge, which I expect to use for many years to come. That, to my mind, is great customer service. That action not only made me feel a sense of connection with Arc’Teryx, but it has also created additional value for them. I now own another one of their jackets, and so does my wife. Furthermore, I tell everyone about my experience with them.
You would think that providing a great brand experience like this would come naturally to service companies. After all, customer service is their primary aim. But all too often, business logistics undermine the consumer experience rather than enhance it. Nothing weakens customer loyalty faster than a system that, while clearly designed to be cost-efficient for the company, doesn’t address the service needs of the customer. “Our customers don’t want to pay for service, so we might as well make it cheap” seems to be their philosophy. How wrong they are. Successful brands align their logistics to deliver a great experience efficiently and, as a result, deliver added value that customers are happy to pay for.
What companies do you believe deliver truly excellent customer service? What are the biggest barriers that they have had to overcome? Please let us know.
(68 votes, average: 2.97 out of 5)
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January 14th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I have been staring at the screen for some time trying to come up with an example of good customer service. I am sure I have experienced it recently. Haven’t I?
January 14th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Robert-Houdin, a French Magician from the 19th Century, wrote that the mark of a good magician was - how he coped when things went wrong.
I think it is a useful guide for service industries too. When things go wrong, there is a real potential; both to lose your customr for ever, and to impress them with the way you accept responibility, and go to lengths to put the matter right, and if possible go further.
Sadly the only example of customer service I can immediately think of is this: I was in Russia for the New Year. Found my credit card wasn’t being accepted. Phoned them up and explained that I was stuck in Russia, and without help wouldn’t be able to get home. Despite having held this card for 25 years with no problems, they refused to help. Back home, I went to see the bank, and found there was no reason why my card should have been refused. That’s it. Will I get an apology? Who wants a bet?
January 14th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
One of the best example of great customer service for me is Wegmans, the food retail chain in the US. Their secret: a very strong value-driven culture where employees truly feel valued and even more important strong employee empowerement to do whatever is right to make sure the customers are happy… and it pays off. Great loyalty and voted best supermarket in the US….
January 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Thanks for a positive example, Valbus, much appreciated. Several other people have e-mailed me to say that they are in the same camp as Dom and Phil with bad experiences. Is it just that the negative experience sticks in our minds more?
January 21st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Nigel
Thanks for the interesting read. A few companies that to this day deliver excellent customer service include:
Nordstrom (for those in the UK it’s a bit like Selfridges only better). These guys treat every customer with a personal and endearing touch. They all have business cards and they follow up with you if items are out of stock and go the extra mile to get things right during your time in the store.
My wife recently bought a pair of boots that are quite lovely, but slightly too big around the calfs. The Nordstrom sales guy quickly jumped on his PC and instantly gave Kathryn a few local recommendations to get the boots altered and asked that we fax in the bill and they would cover it. Alterations were $80 on top of a $300 pair of boots. True to their word, Nordstrom’s paid for the alterations. That type of customer service keeps Kathryn going back (again and again).
Other great examples:
Callaway Golf (best customer service in the industry by far)
Apple Retail store. I bought an Ipod Classic during Christmas and they had mobile cashiers all over the store to get my item quickly and effortlessly. Loved it.
Don’t get me started about Delta airlines over the holidays though.
K
January 21st, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Keith, thanks for some great examples. Nice to hear someone with positive experiences. It seems that there is something in your observations about retail versus utilities, e.g. airlines that just get you from A to B?
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:10 am
Japanese customer service is based entirely on the no mistakes model. When going to a convenience store, you can guarantee that the exchange will be identical every time - I don’t mean similar here I mean every phrase and action will be identical. The new McDonalds Japan 24hr smile campaign also guarantees you that you will get a smile 24hrs a day.
On the one hand, I question whether this is service at all but on the other there’s no doubt it makes my new overcrowded city (Tokyo) much less stressful than my old one (London).
Where the whole thing certainly breaks down however is when something goes wrong or is even remotely outside the box. In order to join a gym recently, I was forced to apply for a credit card that I didn’t even want and for which I was told I would be rejected.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:41 am
Hi Chris, interesting commentary. So it sounds like most staff have rote learnt what they are meant to do but when the script deviates they get lost. And the episode at the gym sounds bizarre!
January 24th, 2008 at 10:37 am
A story from the “other side”. We have a holiday cottage in the UK Lake District which we rent out. The other week, on a particular cold night, the heating boiler packed-in. The guests came and told my wife, (we live next door). We provided them with a few portable electric fires, and some extra logs for the wood-burner, and said we’d call an engineer.
On checking out, they told my wife they were so impressed with the the way the problem was solved, they wanted to book a further week in the summer, and come back again for the New Year holidays next year.
Not only does it help the bank balance, but, it makes us feel good too.
January 28th, 2008 at 8:55 am
In my loyalty seminars I use a piece of anonymous research I picked up somewhere that says if you give a customer the kind of service that puts a smile on their face they’ll tell four people, while if you give them bad service they’ll tell fourteen.
Of course, what passes for good or bad service is relative to the promise you make to your customers (that is inherent in your brand), but generally standards are rising and the higher your standards the greater the expectation. So in a way I guess you could say that this service thing is a treadmill.
However, I suppose that I am a pretty demanding customer. So if I am badly treated by a vendor I make sure everyone knows about it. I also like to be fair so if I find particularly good service I will do all I can to evangelise.
Two examples come to mind. I bought a mountain bike a few years back with suspension forks by RockShox (now part of SRAM http://www.sram.com). I was never happy with the performance of these forks and took them repeatedly to a service centre in Prague, where I was working at the time, who couldn’t improve them. In desperation I called their European HQ in Germany and spoke to the product manager. To keep this story short he sent me replacement forks, of a superior model to those that I had purchased with my bike and he didn’t want the originals back. I have since recommend RockShox to so many people that I have lost count and I must have effectively sold dozens of sets.
My other story comes again from the world of mountain bikes. I crashed and broke my saddle. My fault, no problem but the model was discontinued and I couldn’t get a replacement. I called the manufacturer Wilderness Trail Bikes (www.wtb.com) in the hope that they might have some old stock. The didn’t, but sent me a new and higher spec. model by FedEx the next day! I have “sold” dozens of WTP products since too.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Hi Phil,
Thanks for a couple of great examples. It is intriguing that the world of outdoor sports produces so many examples. As a colleague of mine noted, I guess that is because the margin is so high on specialty goods like these, but I fo one don’t mind paying for stuff that works and good service.
Cheers,
Nigel
January 29th, 2008 at 3:23 am
Hi Nigel,
I’ve just read this story in the UK Trade Paper “Retail Week”:
“I ordered a pair of boots from OFFICE (a UK on-line retailer). On receiving the parcel, I found I’d only received one boot. Perhaps even more annoying than if the package hadn’t arrived at all!
After a 20-minute phone queue to customer service, I managed to relay the problem to the assistant. After a long pause, a long sigh, and then: “I can’t believe they keep doing this.” Talk about overlooking the basics of online fulfilment…..”
January 29th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Thanks Bob, yes, that really is an oversight! And I am not sure the assistants response was very reassuring either. Cheers, Nigel
January 30th, 2008 at 3:07 am
Hi Nigel,
I have an example, not for a typical brand, but an auto dealer in north India. when the Indian market was moving from scooters to motorcycles, i ended up buying a scooter form Bajaj(earlier partners of Kawasaki in India), and in a funny manner the scooters engine blasted after 25 days, luckily right outside Bajaj workshop. I am not sure how well Bajaj would have dealt with a students complaint, but the dealership(www.dadamotors.com) really tried all ends to get it sorted and sent a new scooter after 10 days time to my address. And till date most of my friends and batch mates have usually bought a bike or car from that dealership, which is now almost the biggest dealer for Tata Motors in India, and have won best dealer/service provider award in Tata network many a times. In the state (Punjab) dada Motors would be as strong a brand for people, as the Chevrolet cars that sell in Dada Showrooms.
January 30th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Hi Arun,
This is a great example. Sounds like Dada are well on their way to being a great brand.
Thanks,
Nigel
February 7th, 2008 at 11:15 am
This is perhaps my favourite example of great service
http://winterwolf.co.uk/humsoap
February 19th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Nigel,
We talk about ‘memorable moments’ a lot in the customer experience we do for our clients here - whether magic or miserable, it’s the service experiences that stick in mind that end up shaping our perception of the brand overall. Most of the time, we call a bank, or go into a shop wanting to do whatever it is we need to do as quickly and painlessly as possible. If we succeed, we’re pretty happy, but it probably won’t redefine our relationship with the brand.
The surprising expereinces are the the ones that change our opinions; the ones that either exceed or fail to meet our expectations. That said, I think there are brands who come to define extremes of service, either positive or negative (or unique in some other way). When these service expecations become part of the brand DNA, then delivering what people expect will reinforce perceptions - I expect terrible service from budget airlines, so when they deliver what I expect, it just makes me loathe them even more.
My example of great service came from First Choice (a UK package holiday company). Overall, the service we had was good throughout, but they got one aspect spot on. When the tickets and paperwork arrived, rather than having a mass of separate documents all in different sizes (6 separate airline tickets for the 3 of us travelling, and the details of the accommodation, a handful of baggage tags and a letter explaining the extra we’ve booked - this is a ski trip with a baby, so there are lift passes, ski hire, a cot for Isaac etc etc.) they sent a single pre-printed chequebook/airline ticket-style booklet with everything in one place.
The flight tickets were included ready to tear out, as are vouchers for meals on the flights, there are a load of pre-printed baggage labels (all we need to do is write our names on), there’s few pages about the resort, including piste map, all the phone numbers we need for the travel company, details of our extras etc.
The 5 hour delay apart, this made the airport experience a lot better. No more the need to have an envelope with a bundle of documentation – bits falling out all over the place whenever I need to get something out. It really exceeded my expectation of a package deal.
But it also set some expectations for the trip itself - fortunately, they were able to deliver. Nothing else surprised me in the same way, but my perceptions were changed.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Hi Trevor,
I must have missed this comment before. This sounds like a great example of anticipating customer needs. How many times have I ended up thumbing through a jumbled set of e-mails, flight itineraries and other bits and pieces to find what I need? Too many.
Cheers,
Nigel