Comments on: Win Me Now or Lose Me Forever: What Happens When Companies Let Service Fail

By: susanfsu

susanfsu — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 05:54:06 +0000

Kerry - Great point, I think it’s especially important for small businesses and freelancers (where your individual clients are your ‘customers’).

Liza - Thanks for pointing that out — it’s not just about service and acknowledgment (as I suggested in this post), but also about consistency and following through with expectations that you’ve set elsewhere, with other customers. When you’re a brand as widely familiar as Apple, it’s a given that your customers will develop expectations based on others’ experiences that they’ve observed (or heard about).

Matt - I’m not so sure about mature companies not having to heed this principle. While it’s only my personal experience, I’ve observed quite a bit of flexibility and ’special treatment’ from companies like AT&T, credit card companies, and even big banks. Their businesses are mature, to be sure, but they are still paying out millions of dollars a year in customer acquisition and retention costs. Regardless, the point to which you allude is a very valid one - it’s possible that these acquisition costs are nothing compared to the profit margins they retain by refusing to bestow special services to customers.

By: Kerry Gearin

Kerry Gearin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:29:45 +0000

Hi Susan,

I agree with this principle you describe. Sometimes even when a problem is not of my making the fact I listen to the client, acknowledge the problem, then offer a solution or choice of solutions, shows them the respect they need.
People like to be understood and someone to care. This principle works for small businesses too, not only mega corps.

By: The Power of Word of Mouth « nishant mehrotra

The Power of Word of Mouth « nishant mehrotra — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:20:23 +0000

[...] reminded me of post written by Susan Su about Air France. Talk about that. She mentions that a passanger who missed his flight from France [...]

By: Liza

Liza — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:32:33 +0000

Susan-
I enjoyed your post very much. What I wanted to add is that companies are very inconsistent in their “customer appreciation” tactics.
Imagine this situation; after becoming a company’s loyal customer you purchase another product from them and after a couple of weeks something breaks. Hoping that history will repeat itself you go to customer service to explain your situation, which is just as compelling as the first time around….but this time you are told no, no matter what, “that’s the policy…” and you have to pay fee X. Personally, I would feel let down and upset - and would think twice about buying from them in the future. Businesses should pick a retention strategy and stick with it.
Specifically, Apple. Until recently, I have been a big fan of the company, their approach, their uniqueness - have an Iphone, had an Ipod Nano, etc. I recruited a family member to get an Iphone (who decided to splurge on the 3GS.) Everything was great for a month until my sister’s still new 3GS was stolen out of her backpack on her last day of traveling in Europe.
Apple will not allow a replacement for the original price (never mind for free.) No matter what she ultimately chooses, she will lose decent amounts of money. She can either replace her phone for $599 or end the contract and pay an early termination fee.
Yes, I understand that Apple is in a tough battle against hackers jail breaking, unlocking, and illegally selling the phones. However this doesn’t warrant the assumption that everyone is a liar and thief. As a result, the customer leaves even more upset than when they came in: 1) great phone stolen; 2) $200 paid for phone lost; 3) Will inevitably have to pay more money in the near future for new phone or contract terminations; 4) to top it all off- accused of being a liar with no sympathy for the situation.
That’s a stark contrast to the positive experience you wrote about in your post, and yet they are both absolutely true.
While I admittedly had to complain about the issue, the reason for my post is to suggest that companies who can’t seem to choose between “The customer is always right” and “Rules are rules” strategies risk loosing far more loyal fans than the latter.

Thanks again and looking forward to your future posts.

By: Matt Daniels

Matt Daniels — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:34:25 +0000

The funny thing is that I’ve run many campaigns at a cost of over $5 per customer. Perhaps it’s just easier to literally give someone $5 and buy their loyalty, and to your point, a few hundred bucks is a drop in the bucket for a billion dollar company.

But for some companies the economics don’t favor special attention. Credit card companies? Cable companies? The business is mature. It’s just easier to make it as difficult as possible to get special favors, continue that expectation with customers, and bleed the business dry for shareholders. Even Warren Buffet favors it if the prospect of growing profitability is limited.