Delight or Disaster?
Nitin Mallikarjuna
Learning Experience Designer (LxD) | Learning Consultant | Thought Leader | SEMCO Style Practitioner
Case Study 1: Broadband Service
A broadband service decides to go offline & helpline personnel have no idea what is the nature of the disruption. The only thing that moves is the resolution time, from now to later. And, the complaint lodged is marked as resolved without any explanation about the error.
This happens again, consecutive months!
Case Study 2: Telecom Service
A telecom service provides states the coverage is good even when the phone indicates the presence of a 2-bar network. A request for a field visit by a technician not only falls on deaf ears but is effectively drowned by repeated assurances of network being restored in no time.
6 months later the service provider invites to enjoy better services with the installation of a new tower in the area.
Case Study 3: Cab/Taxi Service
A pre-booked cab cancels a ride. The app goes into a tizzy trying to book a new ride. And, stays in that state for a long time. System reboot or force stops have no effect. A call to the helpline, provides a short apology over the inconvenience caused & a long monologue over the defect being in the phone & not the app. This despite the app allowing to book another cab using a different mode of payment & simultaneously being unable to find a replacement for the cab that cancelled!
Case Study 4: Supermarket Billing
Despite several billing counters available, there are inadequate number of billing agents. This prevails even when long queues start piling up.
It’s a completely different story when an item is missing a barcode tag or the tag is unreadable. Then start the process of calling up section sales personnel who may or may not respond or the ringer making a desperate dash to track another item that can be billed. Result: A hold-up of sorts.
If one goes looking, then customer service stories are akin to skeletons tumbling out of the closet. The horror is apparent & the handling of a grievance is cringe-worthy. (Why ameliorate a problem?) Not to mention gross mishandling of a grievance is another grievance, that starts off a convoluted cycle which leaves everyone miserable.
#customerserviceexcellence is actually made of simple elements:
- #transparency
- #ownership
- #accountability
- #responsibility
Unfortunately, a mountain is made out of the molehill. A lot of focus is on irrelevant & unnecessary things. Instead of focusing on the just the irate customer & addressing the grievance; the focus is on brand reputation, and repeated iteration of apologies over inconvenience caused.
Nobody seems to stop & ask,
- “How does this help my customer?”; or
- “How can there be a brand image when word of mouth customer stories is blowing to smithereens the reputation?”; or
- “How can we address the problem & the inconvenience it has caused in a reasonable manner?”
Simplicity is said to be the sign of sophistication. Sadly, customer service is anything but simple. The first gargantuan task is getting hold of customer service personnel. If it is telephone number or an email then be prepared to sort through internet searches & mailer-demon alerts.
Then comes the denizen of hell in the form of interactive voice response (IVR). A revolutionary automated answering system where menus only add to the frustration, if not drive a sane person crazy. And, by the time the customer reaches an actual helpline personnel, they are bursting past a critical tipping point.
It is true that customer helplines get hundreds of calls. But, #excellence, #satisfaction & #delight have to be the core areas. Somehow, most customer service personnel seem to be on a defensive mode even before the call happens. And, a scripted response only makes things go downhill from there. There is neither an intent nor an interest in understanding the problem. Most scripts will state the obvious. Repeatedly.
Isn’t it ironic & rhetorical that the customer seeking help is told repeatedly what their problem but nothing to alleviate the problem faced?
Neuroscience says the human brain works as per normalization. The fact that most customers dread reaching out to helplines or merely brush aside the suggestions to reach helplines says a lot about the state of affairs. The disappointment, dejection & disdain is writ large. The new normal has a hidden repercussion; that of missing feedback. Feedback that feeds improvements, seeds innovation & creates the next generation of products & services. Unfortunately, a mismanaged customer service has ensured that these get stifled inadvertently.
The new normalization has also made it acceptable to offer something that is barely the minimal. There’s no scope of offering excellence or going beyond. And, people merely hope that they get the minimum at the best. The new norms have also equated customer service as being over the top. Or coming up with notions which peg customers as being perpetually dissatisfied or even being harder to please.
But these are merely excuses. A status quo to screen the inherent rot that has spread. To hide the fact that bare minimums are guaranteed & undeniable. And, to sidestep the critical issue of excellence benchmarks being just a mission statement.
As services industries become the next big drivers of expanding economies, it is pertinent that drastic overhauling be made to customer service logistics. A human-centred design(HCD) will probably be effective provided all stakeholders in the logistical chain come together to provide value & simply not to pass the buck. Customer service isn’t rocket science. Sticking to the basics & building on the tenets will be the #differentiators for customers to choose between disaster & delight.
After all, in a cut-throat world of #disruptors it’s only a matter of time before customers start switching loyalties to the competition. And, that would be the true end!
Either empower your customers & strive for excellence or be prepared to be deserted over mediocrity.
