Keep Your Promises
Consumers will actually tolerate all kinds of things, if you set expectations properly. It's popular to talk about providing amazing customer service as a prerequisite for success, but it's not.
You do need to provide a certain baseline level of service. Above that, it's a trade-off: do you spend the money to invest in systems and people that make your service better, or do you save that money and let it flow to your bottom line?
The truth is, it all depends on what that investment buys you. If you've staked out the niche of being the service leader in your market, you need to make those investments. That can make a lot of sense in a commodity market. I wonder how much business Amazon.com gets because their ordering process is just perfect - you get all the information you need, you only get the email notifications you ask for, and so on. They probably avoid having people run off to Barnes and Noble to save 50 cents on an item just making buying from them so easy and so pleasant.
On the other hand, if you have an amazing product, you can get away with being okay. That may sound like heresy - but if a customer knows what to expect when they do business with you, and those expectations are met, then that is probably good enough, and spending a fortune on enhancements probably won't pay off.
Let me give you an example. I recently needed to open a new small business checking account. I shopped online (of course) and discovered some interesting things. The bigger banks make it very easy to get the process going online, but then charge you $10-15 per month for the privilege of using your money. Smaller local banks don't charge those fees, but the web sites are not as slick and you often can't open an account online.
I found a local bank here in Houston that seemed like the best of both worlds - no fees, and online account applications. So I completed the application, which ended with a screen telling me what documents I would need to provide them, and promising that someone would be in touch to finish the procees within three business days. That was repeated twice. Within three business days.
About six business days went by. I didn't want to start over, so I called the 800 number on the web confirmation page (which I'd printed). The person I spoke to there (after some voice menu bingo) told me that Evan was handling my account, and that she'd get him.
Instead I got Evan's voicemail. I left a message explaining who I was, that I would really like to be one of their customers, and could he please call me.
Two days went by with no further reply. Then I got an email from Evan explaining that he was "trying to get in touch with me" and that I should call him to complete my account application.
Unfortuantely for Evan, in the meantime I'd gone back to comparison shopping online, and opened an account at another bank.
Here's the thing: having to wait three days for someone to call you is not an amazing experience, but it's not that bad either. I would have happily gone with that bank had someone called me and completed the process. But I ran out of patience, and I found myself wondering this: if they can't meet the deadlines they set themselves when I'm trying to give them business, how resonsive will they be once my money's there and it's a real pain to leave?
The other bank had no online application for business checking. I just drove over to a nearby branch and did it. That's no my preferred way of doing business, but guess what - they set my expectations (you must come to our office to do this), and when I went to their office, it was done in under 30 mintues.
Fabulous online service? No. Setting expectations and meeting them? Yes. So they've got my business.
As for the other bank - their investment in their web site and their online application appears to be money flushed down the toilet, because they begin a relationship with a potential customer by making promises and then breaking them.
Don't overcomplicate things. Figure out what you can do, tell your customers what that is, and do it. If you can't do it, don't promise. Don't say you'll do something that your competitors do unless you really can; you're better off finding something attainable that sets you apart and then delivering.
You do need to provide a certain baseline level of service. Above that, it's a trade-off: do you spend the money to invest in systems and people that make your service better, or do you save that money and let it flow to your bottom line?
The truth is, it all depends on what that investment buys you. If you've staked out the niche of being the service leader in your market, you need to make those investments. That can make a lot of sense in a commodity market. I wonder how much business Amazon.com gets because their ordering process is just perfect - you get all the information you need, you only get the email notifications you ask for, and so on. They probably avoid having people run off to Barnes and Noble to save 50 cents on an item just making buying from them so easy and so pleasant.
On the other hand, if you have an amazing product, you can get away with being okay. That may sound like heresy - but if a customer knows what to expect when they do business with you, and those expectations are met, then that is probably good enough, and spending a fortune on enhancements probably won't pay off.
Let me give you an example. I recently needed to open a new small business checking account. I shopped online (of course) and discovered some interesting things. The bigger banks make it very easy to get the process going online, but then charge you $10-15 per month for the privilege of using your money. Smaller local banks don't charge those fees, but the web sites are not as slick and you often can't open an account online.
I found a local bank here in Houston that seemed like the best of both worlds - no fees, and online account applications. So I completed the application, which ended with a screen telling me what documents I would need to provide them, and promising that someone would be in touch to finish the procees within three business days. That was repeated twice. Within three business days.
About six business days went by. I didn't want to start over, so I called the 800 number on the web confirmation page (which I'd printed). The person I spoke to there (after some voice menu bingo) told me that Evan was handling my account, and that she'd get him.
Instead I got Evan's voicemail. I left a message explaining who I was, that I would really like to be one of their customers, and could he please call me.
Two days went by with no further reply. Then I got an email from Evan explaining that he was "trying to get in touch with me" and that I should call him to complete my account application.
Unfortuantely for Evan, in the meantime I'd gone back to comparison shopping online, and opened an account at another bank.
Here's the thing: having to wait three days for someone to call you is not an amazing experience, but it's not that bad either. I would have happily gone with that bank had someone called me and completed the process. But I ran out of patience, and I found myself wondering this: if they can't meet the deadlines they set themselves when I'm trying to give them business, how resonsive will they be once my money's there and it's a real pain to leave?
The other bank had no online application for business checking. I just drove over to a nearby branch and did it. That's no my preferred way of doing business, but guess what - they set my expectations (you must come to our office to do this), and when I went to their office, it was done in under 30 mintues.
Fabulous online service? No. Setting expectations and meeting them? Yes. So they've got my business.
As for the other bank - their investment in their web site and their online application appears to be money flushed down the toilet, because they begin a relationship with a potential customer by making promises and then breaking them.
Don't overcomplicate things. Figure out what you can do, tell your customers what that is, and do it. If you can't do it, don't promise. Don't say you'll do something that your competitors do unless you really can; you're better off finding something attainable that sets you apart and then delivering.
posted by John Whiteside at 1/30/2006 11:03:00 AM
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