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Dad is the man!
Author: Jen Miller
July 26, 2005
Being a new mom has been an eye-opening experience for me in more ways than one. And, my customer experiences as a mom have been mostly what I would have expected, although my husband’s experiences were surprisingly one sided.
My husband is a stay-at-home-dad to our new son, Owen. I realize that our situation may be slightly unconventional, but it still surprises me that my husband consistently has negative customer experiences in his new role. The other night I was reading Parents magazine (which we both read) and my husband pointed out that there is only one “Dad’s Page” while the remaining pages of the magazine assume that I’m at home all day. With a title like Parents, how can the magazine make such a huge assumption about their audience? When we took Owen to his doctor appointment, the doctor asked me questions on Owen’s health and I had to turn my head to my husband for the answers! It’s even that funny look that he might get from a sales clerk when shopping for baby goods in the middle of the day – why does he have these strange experiences?
I was always taught not to make assumptions about people, so I find it odd that many companies offer awkward customer experiences to a new dad. As a new family, we’re simply looking for customer experiences that don’t assume or judge, and value us equally as parents. We’d love to read a magazine with parenting advice from the perspective of both moms and dads.
Satisfaction enforcers, part II
Author: Bill Cusick
July 20, 2005
So where was I? Oh, yeah, car dealers and customer satisfaction. Lately, if you have any service done at a major dealer, instead of just receiving decent, timely service, you get something more: a strong-arm satisfaction experience.
You get the question from the service manager: "Is there any reason that you would not answer ‘extremely satisfied’ when you are called for our satisfaction survey?" as he leans in with a menacing grin. In a way, it seems that they are not terribly concerned whether or not you were satisfied, just that there are people who will be very upset if you don’t answer correctly.
Right idea, no doubt. But the execution is a little flawed.
The Power of a Positive Customer Experience
Author: Mike
July 15, 2005
I must be in a slump. I’ve had a series of mediocre and poor customer experiences lately. And while my positive customer experience slump could provide plenty of topics for blogging, I thought it would be nice to share my feelings about a positive customer experience instead. So I’ve been racking my brain for weeks trying to think of the last time I was REALLY happy as a customer. I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears wide open as I go about my day to day life. I’ve been rooting for every person I’ve talked to on the phone, in person, or had any kind of interaction with to be the person to provide me with my first truly satisfying customer experience since…well it’s been a long time.
Think about how powerful it will be when it finally arrives. How happy I’ll be with that experience that I may never want to buy what ever it is from anyone else ever again. I’ll probably tell everyone I know about how great it was. One amazing customer experience would certainly stand out in a sea of poor and average experiences. I’m really looking forward to it.
OK, fine, I’m happy. Now stop asking!
Author: Bill Cusick
July 13, 2005
I took the MINI in for its first oil service and such at the dealer. As usual with all things MINI, the folks were perfectly pleasant, and they made the experience bearable - except that somebody insisted on tuning the waiting lounge television to a shrieking Judge Judy…or Judge Something.
So, after a short time, they had changed the MINI fluids, gave her a spit shine and had her ready - no charge. Beautiful. Well, that’s not accurate exactly. There’s no charge maybe, but there is a price to pay. It’s the dreaded customer satisfaction survey.
I hate the phone satisfaction survey for two reasons. First, as a customer, I just hate phone surveys. I don’t have time, but I also understand that they are a necessary evil. Second, I hate what the survey has done to auto dealerships. It has, in certain instances, transformed human, empathetic service into over-the-top patronizing handholding, with a touch of harrassment.
If you’ve been to a larger dealership in the last year or so for service, you know what I mean. And since I don’t have time to elaborate, this will just have to be continued…
Since when did usability equal customer experience?
Author: Bill Cusick
July 5, 2005
If you do a Google search for "customer experience," the listings that pop up are, to a great degree, firms that either provide off-the-shelf CRM software products, or web design firms that specialize in website usability.
My reaction to this is to ask the question: at what point did customer experience get distilled all the way down to software and Internet issues? At Vox, we define the customer experience as the entire cumulative effect of all customer exposures and interactions with a company over the life of the relationship.
In fact, the only way to truly impact customer retention, loyalty, cross sales, etc. is to identify and improve all of those communications your company has with a customer. That means rewriting customer letters, analyzing how a customer is received through a call center process, what front-line employees are empowered to do, and much more.
The website usability is, of course, an important component in the overall relationship, as is providing software solutions that help with content and information management. But if you’re not careful, you can make some dangerous assumptions about "magic bullets" that will shoot you in the foot.
