Marketing Can’t Overcome Bad Customer Service
I have been preaching about this for years. Still, in this day and age, I am appalled at the amount of pathetic customer service that goes on. Google, a company I am a huge fan of, is demonstrating their ineptitude with the recent launch of their NexusOne phone (http://bit.ly/8F3YhN).
Here’s two additional, personal examples: Prior to the Christmas holiday my wife ordered from a cataloger we’ve purchased from for years, wwwspikevolleyball.com. She ordered spandex shorts for my youngest daughter. We were told they would arrive December 24th. They did not. A package arrived December 26th and it contained a spots bra, not the spandex. She has called or emailed them four times, always getting an answering machine with instructions to leave a message, which she did several times, no callbacks. No response to the emails she sent, either.
She coaches volleyball and has, every year for the past 7 years or more, ordered 12 to 20 pairs of socks for her teams and has also bought for our kids as well. From Spike Volleyball.
Last week she finally did reach someone and their response was “We have one person handling returns and customer calls. She will get back to you as soon as she can.”
What!?!?!?
As of this writing, no resolution or call back. Do you think we’ll buy from them again?
I have my company credit card with them and have been trying to add 10 additional cards for employee use (they are now issued through our bank). I’d be more productive trying to hoist the goods from Fort Knox. Really. They do NOT get customer service.
I have tried no less than three times to switch TO THEM, and have not had success. Must be nice to have more business than you need. I’m waiting to hear from you CapitalOne!
So, before you invest the big busks on your next marketing campaign, please make sure that your customer service is in order and ready to handle things. At lease have a plan A, B and C for this. Afterall, keeping customers should be everyone’s NUMBER ONE priority, especially when the economy is less than robust.
Besides, it’s easier than ever to share our horror stories. I guess some companies don’t care what’s being said about how they conduct business. I know we all have options. You can bet I’ll be exercising those soon.
What about you, any recent stories?
January 17th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Hey Grant, I may have an answer for you regarding Spike Volleyball: they had a huge warehouse fire in July and it sounds like unfortunately they haven’t been up to speed. http://multichannelmerchant.com/opsandfulfillment/warehouse/0707-matrix-warehouse-fire/
Still no excuse, I understand that. When the fire hit Matrix Group put banners on the sites of the stores that were affected. Maybe they should have kept them up a lot longer?
January 18th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Problem is…most companies have a much larger marketing budget than what they spend on customer service. To build customer loyalty you have to a balance between the two. In this competitive economy, it’s customer service that ensures they’ll come back for more.
January 18th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Thanks for the info, Tim. I was unaware of the fire. They did not mention it when my wife called and still have not corresponded with us.
January 20th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
I’ve been in marketing for over 20 years, and yes, I can attest that marketing can’t overcome bad customer service. Accelerating the growth of a business, small and large, doesn’t depend on ‘marketing’ or ‘customer service’ or even ‘product quality’. Healthy businesses focus on delivering a great experience to their customers, an experience that their customers will be delighted with and want to talk about. Marketing, support and product quality all influence customer experience, but not one SINGLE function should be held accountable.
The options available to consumers to share their experience with your business are as broad as they are deep. Businesses of all sizes and budgets have tools available to them that allow them to proactively solicit reviews, feedback and testimonials. They should use these tools to harness the power of their customer’s opinions and use them as sales, marketing and support assets. Previously, the way someone learned about a business was what the company said about themselves. Now they are relying on what others are saying about a company.
We have found that when our customers proactively ask for feedback, and get negative reviews, they are able to resolve them 90% of the time. Opening the door of communication, listening to customers and showing empathy and understanding can help turn initial emotional reactions from unhappy customers into delightful experiences they want to share.
I am CMO at RatePoint, Inc, a company that helps SMBs communicate with their customers better using email, surveys, reviews, testimonials and social media.
January 26th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
This is exactly what Emerson meant when he said, “What you ARE shouts so loudly I cannot hear what you SAY.” People rarely seem to understand that marketing and branding are an inside job. No matter how much makeup you slather on, chances are, the customer will eventually discover how ugly you are underneath.