eNicholas

customer service

Good customer service is a touchy subject for me. I give it in every situation I encounter, and if I experience bad customer service then something inside me just wants to teach that person a lesson.

Before I starting working on the web back in ‘97, I worked in the hospitality industry for many years. I mention that because if you work in a restaurant then not only do you have to learn people skills, but you gotta be able to handle complaints and negative feedback. Basically, no matter what is being shouted you must remain professional and do your best to empathise with the customer.

Now when it comes to the Internet, I encounter a fair bit of either bad customer service or just plain silence. It amazes me that website owners and online businesses can treat their customers this way, I wont even try to explain or rationalise their reasons, but it’s pretty obvious that more often than not the person on the other end of the email only wants to communicate if you have something nice to say or money to hand over. Often, they don’t even want to hear from you to take an order. Some people are just bad at interaction I guess.

So the ability to work through an issue or fix a problem is pretty rare if you ask me. I see it with small websites, I see it with big websites. People from all levels and countries display this behaviour, some worse than others but I wont name names.

I thought that this would be a good topic to write about today, because I am currently experiencing an issue with a website that I’ve paid money to. Now I can’t really say that it’s bad customer service, because I haven’t actually had a response to my 1 email and 2 support tickets yet. Let’s just say that this issue revolves around a lack of customer service. Now that might not be as awful as bad service, but it’s kinda in the same ballpark. I’m sure in time, this will be resolved and put down to a break in communication, but not everyone is as patient and forgiving as I am. I’ve already witnessed a barrage of negative comments on a certain forum, all stemming from the same issue of either getting no response from this organisation or having huge troubles in getting a response.

They say that the most valuable customer is the one you already have. Which to me, means that you should put twice as much effort into keeping a customer than finding a new one. So if somebody has already gone through the decision process and decided to buy your product or services, it doesn’t make sense to ignore their questions or take days to respond.

I can feel a rant coming on, so I think I will just conclude this post with a little bit of wisdom I learned once that changed my view (for the better). I don’t remember the guys name, but he was basically telling me that he LOVES to get customer complaints.

I thought he was crazy, and replied that I hate getting complaints from customers and would sometimes (at that point in my early adult life) argue or insult anyone that dare complain about my website or service levels.

He then said that the reason why he loves getting complaints, is because  they are worth ten times more than a compliment. When someone complains, they are giving you direct honest feedback which can then be used to improve your business. If someone writes to say thanks, they’re not going to tell you how to improve. When someone makes a complaint, they are clearly communicationg what is wrong with your service (which should then be taken as an opportunity to improve).

Once I reframed my way of thinking to be in line with that, my life changed and my business changed. Not only do I avoid all confrontation these days, but I seek out complaints so that I can improve my business and myself.

So if you’re reading this and you don’t look at customer service and complaints like I do, perhaps you could think about it for a minute and consider changing your perceptions. At the very least, if you’re offering products and services online then give people clear options to contact you and make sure to reply promptly. Even if you can’t give a full response, let them know you received the message and will get back to them shortly.

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