So I have over the last few weeks I have had several major customer service interactions that I think sum up the current state of flux in the current marketing world. We live in some complicated times. The economy is hoving on the brink of a macropocalypse, the web has evolved from this static thing to a dynamic thing to an almost all pervasive thing. People’s expectations for products and services have gone way up, beyond those of the industrial or information revolution, towards those of the conceptual and design revolutions.
First off let me begin with my stay at an aloft hotel. I was excited about this stay, not only was aloft a Starwood brand hotel, but I heard they were known for cutting edge design, but a resonable price point (unlike say a NYC W or SF St Regis, both very nice, but $$$$ per night). My first impressions were not good, hard to find entrance, no “hotel door”, just an unmarked elevator. Ok, but once inside, a nice bar, interesting food choices, and the rooms were really nice. A hip, clean, new feel to the whole experience. All in all I liked it. However, despite the automated checkin/out counters purchasing an espresso and bowl of cereal at re:fuel their “self service eatery” involved a lengthy 4 minute front desk credit card transaction, multiple “manager keys”, and not even a pointer to where to pay or pick up my food. A highly variable experience all in all. The hotel invoked modernity though, the feeling that I was in Tokyo not Charlotte, NC.
On my return, I observed a young “lady” whose choice of apparel um, caught my eye. I tweeted:
mtbdeano: thinks that faux leopard skin short furry jackets plus daisy dukes plus ripped black tights plus overstuffed ugg boots should be illegal
to which I got an almost immediate reply of:
FluffyFootwear: @mtbdeano Get your ugg on with the original Australian ugg boots ..http://is.gd/iqJu
Now, of all the brands to be monitoring twitter, I expected aloft to be totally on top of web2.0 and Ugg to come in somewhere near the bottom of the pile. How pleasantly surprised I was to receive my Ugg coupon (despite my derogatory comments). Now, I’ll never buy a pair, but I am talking about it. Why wouldn’t aloft (who I also twittered about) not respond? Why are my expectations so high after just one simple interaction like this? I now EXPECT all brand s to be monitoring twitter, despite most marketing budgets still going to sign on a stick and mass media 30s spots. This is the wonderful world of Customer Service 3.0.
I’d also like to contrast two other customer service interactions that surprised me this weekend. Returning a piece of jewlery to Macy’s and a Verison FiOS failure. I purchased a nice piece of jewelery for my wife a week or two ago, long story short, it was not what she was hoping for. We went to return it to Macy’s, in my mind a king of customer service. My wife spent 45 minutes trying to return the item to a store in NJ, only to be finally told (after being alternatingly ignored and avoided) that since that store didn’t carry that item, she couldn’t return it. My wife stormed out, disgusted, horrified, and vowing to never shop at Macy’s again. I tend to agree, I have never had a problem with them in the past, never had a concern about returning an item (we had the receipt and everything). The modern consumer is mercurial!
My previous post on Circuit City also caused me great customer service grief. Now they are closing, I am a little worried, maybe I tipped them over the edge? Nah, how could I have had that effect?
So my final example is from the customer service black void that is (was) Verizon. In the past, I have had nothing but confusing, difficult to understand, frustrating customer service experiences with ISPs and Verizon in particular. This weekend our FiOS went out, inexplicabily. I rebooted all devices I could find, still nothing. I called Verizon, only to be greeted by an automated phone system that “ran some online checks” and after a brief 3 minute wait by Brian. He asked me to check a few things, then offered to send an SMS when a Verizon field tech was dispatched. 30 minutes later a tech was on the way. When he arrived he was (coincidently) also a Brian, introduced himself, explained carefully what he was going to check for, what he couldn’t check for, and got quickly to work. When he was done he spent 5 minutes explaining FiOS to me and why a wire guy would come out late that night to find the break in the fiber. He explained, the 3 frequencies of light, why I was getting TV, but no phone or internet, and how long it would take to fix. I felt informed, happy, trusting that Verizon was looking out for me. The next day still nothing fixed, but a new tech arrived checking two other things. Again, he explained what happened, apologized because it appears there were two problems, not the one they suspected the day before. He gave me his cell phone number. Let me repeat that, the Verizon guy gave me his cell. Said I could call any time if I had questions. Again, I felt like I was informed, connected, and that I trusted these guys. Within 2 hours all ws fixed and well with my intertubes. About 30 minutes after that I got a call, on my cell, asking if things were ok. Nice follow up, an overall a great experience. Not at all what I expected after my last encounter with Verizon.
So what does this all mean? The modern consumer has much nigher expectations of customer service. She/he is much more likely to want to feel informed, trusted, and trust worthy. Simple interations, simple things still work. Responding in a timely manner, informing your consumer (not treating them like morons), and connecting with them is ever more important.
Filed under: big thoughts, marketing , aloft, crm, customer service, fios, macys, marketing, service, twitter, ugg, verizon
