Creating Memorable Customer Experiences

 

by Rod Collins

 

When customers have a problem or need answers to an important question, there are few things that frustrate them more than the customer service gauntlet. We’ve all had the experience of calling a customer service number only to be greeted by an automated system taking us through a series of prompts—none of which really describes our issue—before the recorded voice tells us to hold for an operator, but instead of a real person, we are greeted by another recorded voice informing us that there is an unusual volume of calls, apologizing for the delay, and telling us how important we are. After several minutes, we finally get to talk to a live human being who greets us with a pitch about the company’s customer guarantee before asking us to describe our issue. However, instead of the resolution that we are hoping for, the customer service representative explains that he does not have the authority to solve our issue and passes our call to another representative who, in turn, passes us to another person until we eventually are passed back to the our first customer representative who empathizes with our plight and tells us that he wishes there was something he could do. When we remind him of his opening pitch about the company’s customer guarantee, we receive a firm lecture about how our particular problem is not covered by the guarantee. Regardless of a significant investment of our time, we end the call no better than we started.

Despite all the rhetoric about how “customers are our most important people,” few companies have the processes in place to back up the sentiment and far too many “customer guarantees” are nothing more than empty promises. What matters most to companies who put their customers through the customer service gauntlet is the bottom line, not the customer experience.

One company where you will never have to endure the gauntlet is Zappos. The innovative online retailer believes that the fundamental purpose of a business is to create value for their customers. What matters most to the business leaders at Zappos is the delivery of a delightful customer experience. That’s why every new hire at Zappos, whether the Chief Financial Officer or a customer service representative, is required to begin employment by participating in the company’s four-week customer training program. There are no exceptions. While most companies profess that listening to the voice of the customer is very important, Zappos actually backs up the commitment with an uncommon action—they actually answer the phone.

The call center is a special place at Zappos because it is where the employees get to meet the company’s most important VIP’s, their customers. That’s why there are no time limits on the calls and why the performance of customer service representatives is never measured by the number of calls per hour. What counts at Zappos is making sure that the telephone call is a positive experience for the customer, and, if that takes several hours, that’s alright as long as the customer’s needs are being met.

Customers are not abstractions at Zappos. They are real people with real needs, and the customer service representatives take the time to understand the needs of each of their customers, as Zaz Lamar discovered when she wanted to do something special for her mother.

Zaz’s mother was stricken with cancer and was going through a rough time. Zaz thought that a new pair of shoes might brighten her mother’s spirits. However, given the weight loss that can happen with cancer patients, Zaz wasn’t sure what size would fit her mom. So, she placed on online order with Zappos for several pairs of shoes in a variety of sizes, hoping at least one of them would work.  Fortunately, two of the pairs fit, and Zaz made arrangements to return the remaining pairs of shoes. However, before Zaz was able to get to the UPS store, her mother took a sudden turn for the worse and passed away. When Zappos contacted Zaz after the shoes were not returned as expected, she explained that with all the arrangements she had to handle following her mother’s death, she was unable to comply with Zappos return policy.

At Zappos, policies are guidelines, not rigid rules. When the customer service representatives became aware of Zaz’s circumstances, rather than insisting that Zaz needed to make time to go to the UPS store, they sent UPS to her. While this gesture was very touching, what happened next is what caused this story to go viral on social media. Zappos customer service representatives got together and sent Zaz a beautiful bouquet of flowers to let her know that they were thinking of her in her time of need. At Zappos, policies are not restricted to protecting the company’s bottom line. The popular online retailer also has policies for making sure that their customer service representatives are creating memorable customer experiences. That’s because at Zappos everyone knows that they work for the customers and that their primary focus is to listen attentively to the voice of the customer. Do you think Zaz Lamarr will ever forget the random act of kindness she received from an empathetic customer service representative the day Zaz told Zappos she couldn’t return her recently deceased mother’s shoes on time?

 

 

Rod Collins  (@collinsrod) is Director of Innovation at Optimity Advisors and author of Wiki Management: A Revolutionary New Model for a Rapidly Changing and Collaborative World (AMACOM Books, 2014).