Zappos Paying Employees To Quit; Recognizing That Customer Service Isn't A Cost Center

from the fascinating dept

Let me admit upfront that when Zappos first came along, I didn't think much of it. The founder had done amazingly well for himself in selling LinkExchange to Microsoft during the bubble years, and had then started a incubator called Venture Frogs -- with (I kid you not) a corresponding restaurant (also called Venture Frogs). The restaurant wasn't bad, even if all the dishes were named after dot com companies. I remember eating there (I think I got the CNET Curried Chicken) one day and seeing huge signs all over the restaurant for Zappos -- an online shoe store. This was pretty much near the bottom of the downswing after the dot com bubble had burst, so it was quite surprising to see someone opening up a pure e-commerce startup, especially one in a category that had failed miserably in the past. E-commerce for shoes seemed exceptionally difficult, due to the fact that shoe sales (even more than other clothing) really depend on the unique fit of each item. However, over the years, Zappos overcame all of the concerns by lowering the barriers (super fast free shipping and free returns on anything that you don't like) and an almost maniacal focus on customer service. In doing so, it's built up a hugely loyal set of customers -- including me.

Of course, to do that right, it's meant treating customer service not as a "cost center," like almost all companies these days, but as an integral part of making happy, committed customers who also act as evangelists. A good company recognizes that customer service isn't a cost center at all, but the best way to build a loyal customer base and to learn from your customers as well. Of course, in order to do that, you need to have a loyal, committed customer service staff as well -- and Zappos has done some unique things there that are worth understanding. It doesn't do many of the typical call center things: no scripts, no time limits on calls and no limits on what the customer service reps can do to make customers happy. But, in a post on a Harvard Business blog, it's explained that Zappos also offers to pay each new employee $1,000 to quit, one month after they've joined. Basically, it's offering any employee who's not truly committed to the way the company does business an easy "out" after one month. Thus, those who stick around are even more committed to living up to the service ideals the company has set. It's nice to see in an era where "good customer service" seems so rare.

Apparently about 10% of folks take the money and scram. While traditional HR metrics might think this is terrible, as the cost of recruiting, hiring and training new employees is quite high, the long term benefits of having a more strongly committed staff cannot be overstated. Basically, the company has realized that a little cost upfront can help it make a lot more on the backend.

Filed Under: customer service
Companies: zappos

Comcast Cares -- But Only About People Like You

from the @techdirtcares dept

You might've already heard about the Twitter account @comcastcares. Run by Comcast employee Frank Eliason, its purpose is to find upset customers before they even know they're looking for help. I'd heard of Eliason's project, but had completely forgotten about it when, on Sunday, I found my HD service mysteriously missing and broadcast my frustration to the Twitterverse. Frank's immediate Twittered response was unexpected and reassuring. When the next day's service call proved fruitless, he asked me to email him. Within a few hours I had received phone calls and emails from three different smart and seemingly concerned Comcast employees, and by the evening my problem was solved. I had been prepared to settle in for a weeks-long fight with the cable company. Instead, Frank's quick intervention left me feeling oddly positive about a company that I had long considered to be more or less the embodiment of of malevolent, slothful incompetence.

I'm not the only one who's noticed Frank's project, of course. Mike Arrington wrote about a positive encounter with @comcastcares earlier this month. And although Dave Winer remained peeved by his cable internet woes, it's clear that he found @comcastcares helpful and worthwhile.

It certainly is those things. But is it anything more? Arrington is right, of course, when he says that more brands should be using Twitter as a buzz monitoring tool. But we should all keep in mind that the sort of concierge-style customer support offered by @comcastcares is unlikely to ever scale beyond the size of a PR exercise.

In this case Twitter's chief virtue is its userbase: a collection of highly-wired early adopters whose online complaints about cable provider malfeasance frequently find their way into press accounts and Google results associated with the company. As handy a notification system as Twitter is, it's not as if it offers a technological breakthrough that suddenly makes competent customer service possible: there's been nothing preventing Comcast support from answering email, or getting on IM, or even just using a phone system that calls clients back rather than making them sit on the phone until they hang up or are driven mad by the hold music.

The reason Comcast and companies like it don't do those things is simply that providing high-quality, personalized support is expensive. Providing high-quality support to influential users is expensive, too, but there are many fewer of them and they make a lot more noise, which makes it a better investment. I'm sure Frank isn't undertaking his project cynically, but it's hard to see how Twitter can change the economics of tech support.

Filed Under: customer service, personal service, twitter
Companies: comcast, twitter

E-Commerce Still Sucks When It Comes To Customer Experience

from the still? dept

Back in the early days of e-commerce, it wasn't too surprising to see the various studies saying that people often had bad e-commerce experiences, but you would hope that these days it wouldn't be so common. Unfortunately, a new study suggests that plenty of people are still having terrible customer service experiences with various e-commerce sites. And, of course, those bad experiences are leading them to do less business with the companies. Obviously, things fall through the cracks here and there and not every customer experience is going to be perfect -- but you wouldn't expect it to be so bad that nearly 90% of people surveyed said they'd had a bad e-commerce experience lately.

Filed Under: customer service, e-commerce

NetFlix Hopes Good Customer Service Will Keep Mail Boxes Stuffed With Red Envelopes

from the nice-talking-with-you dept

Although Blockbuster sat on its heels for a long time while NetFlix gobbled up market share, the company has aggressively fought back this year, prompting a lot of pain at NetFlix. NetFlix stock has been pummeled lately as its been drawn into a price war in order to stem customer churn. The problem is that its business model is easily replicated, which partly explains the company's attempt to assert a patent on it. However, the company does appear willing to actually compete, which is refreshing. The New York Times reports on the company's unorthodox decision to offer customer support services from friendly sounding Oregonions (as the company puts it), rather than rely on offshoring or email support. Although this is an expensive move, the company feels it will prove to be a key differentiator as it battles back Blockbuster. Obviously, good customer support means happier customers, while bad customer support can turn customers away. But the lesson isn't that companies should immediately stop all offshoring of these services. Rather, it's important for companies to think of customer support strategically and weigh the various costs and benefits, rather than just going on the lowest-price option.

Filed Under: customer service, dvd
Companies: blockbuster, netflix

Dell Spends $150 Million On Customer Service Improvements... And Its Customer Service Ranking Falls

from the ouch dept

Dell clearly had a pretty major reputation problem when it came to customer service for much of this budding century. Despite problems going back for many years, it took way too long for Dell to admit it had a problem that needed fixing. Unfortunately, whatever it's doing isn't exactly working. John Paczkowski notes that, despite spending $150 million to improve customer service, the latest customer satisfaction rankings from the American Customer Satisfaction Index show Dell dropping 5%. Ouch. While some are reasonably calling the methodology of these rankings into question, that still can't be what Dell hoped to see. Of course, much of the customer satisfaction ratings may be a hangover effect from earlier bad experiences, or the massive publicity around some high profile bad customer service experiences at Dell. If that's the case, though, Dell will probably need to go beyond just fixing its current customer service problems to getting the word out that it really has changed. That means admitting the mistakes of the past while making the changes quite transparent.

Filed Under: customer service
Companies: dell