Customer Service

What’s the true definition of value?

Jun 04 2014

Last week my wife decided that our ten year old purple couch, with the worn fabric and small baby vomit stains we’ve never been able to remove, needed to go. Besides the obvious failings, it didn’t seat enough people and guests in our home would often have to sit Indian style (or should that be criss cross applesauce?) on the floor in the living room. So, as husbands must do, I spent several days last weekend trying to make my wife happy. We shopped. We labored. (I labored and she directed) We improvised. We stressed. We re-did. The living room looks better because of it. While shopping on Saturday for the perfect coffee table, one of the stores we visited[…]

Apr 11 2014

For years now, we’ve used a free tool called Kampyle to collect feedback on our website. After a minute or two of browsing our site, customers would get a popup widget that asked them to rate the site from 1-5 and give comments on what we could improve. The great comments we’ve received over the years have led to many changes that have improved its usability. A month ago, Kampyle released their own full site redesign – which totally broke it. Links don’t function. I can’t log in. I cannot get my feedback data. I cannot see my website reviews. I’ve sent emails to them. I’ve filled out their feedback form. I haven’t received a single response. The irony of[…]

Mar 17 2014

There is no such thing as love at first sight. Certainly there are those butterflies that get your stomach queasy and make you think irrationally. Just five more minutes on the phone, you tell yourself, I want to share just one more thing with this person who fascinates me in ways I cannot explain to anyone outside of me. Real love, though, must be built using layers. I can tell you when I wanted my girlfriend to become my wife. It wasn’t a moment that caused a light to shine down from the heavens or a choir of angels to show up and begin to sing their harmonious song. It was much more subtle than that. My wife laughs. Loudly.[…]

Feb 04 2014

Think of a company who gives great customer service and you probably immediately think of Zappos. The famous, insane and often heroic customer service stories are the things of legend. The 10 hour customer service call, how they refused to accept the wrong pair of shoes (donate them to charity they said) and sent the correct ones to the customer and how Zappos can even find local pizza delivery shops still open at 12am. These stories are feel good. They give hope that there are companies out there that really do care about their customers. The goal, of course, for all of these efforts is to create customers for life. Over the years, I’ve read endlessly about how customer service[…]

Dec 05 2012

Like a lot of other nerds, I watched the release of the new Microsoft Surface tablet with much interest. Being touted as an iPad killer, there was much hype behind Microsoft’s reimagining of the tablet experience. The problem, of course, turned out to be Microsoft’s failure in managing that experience correctly. The curvy angles for the device. They wanted the screen to blast its high def-y goodness all over you and to create a better typing experience with its touch cover keyboard. All of those things turned out to be pretty cool. The problem? The overall experience associated with using the device stinks. Why? It’s slow. The software is a cross between poor design and clumsy. Already, there are defects.[…]

Jul 09 2012

Just before Wade Hewitt, Vice President of Apartmentratings.com spoke at the Apartment Internet Marketing Conference back in April, I was the guy in the back of the room, holding a bag of rotten tomatoes, with my hand fully loaded, ready to toss. “Apartmentratings.com in this very room! Can you believe our luck? As an industry, we’ve been waiting for a chance to sling our own mud (or tomatoes) at them! How dare they cause us undue stress because of their ugly website with angry rants!” As Wade, he with his egregious wit and broken razor, began speaking, I slowly lowered my arm, came to my senses, and dropped the tomato I was holding back into the bag. “Wait”, I said[…]

Jul 05 2012

The notification, the popup, the vibration, the phone call telling you they sent you one; these are the many ways we get our emails today. And yet, given how ubiquitous it is these days, it’s amazing how many people still have no clue what they are doing. Listen … I’ll be the first to tell you, do what you want with your personal account. It’s yours. But if you work for a corporation you need to represent yourself appropriately. I want to help you. That’s where this post comes in. Across the world, spam filters cry out “Mercy!”, customers still get yelled at by people with a caps lock fetish and emails often lie dormant for weeks at a time.[…]

Today’s Question: How are you rewarding customer loyalty?

Sep 15 2011

Chipotle is my Friday ritual. Ask anyone who follows me on Facebook and Twitter and they’ll be able to tell you about the Friday check-ins. I’m not sure what it is about the place. Sure it’s delicious, its health values are questionable, wait times are fairly quick, the burritos are heavy, and their hot sauce brings tears to my eyes. Every week I make the 10 minute trip with a friend of mine from the office and always leave saying the same thing – “That was delicious.” On a recent visit, my friend and I were at the front of the line getting ready to pay. I had done some computer work recently for him and he was picking up[…]

Aug 29 2011

Compelling data and reasons which tell you why you should be listening to your residents’ complaints rather than hiding.

Tag - Customer Service

What’s the true definition of value?

The Feedback Dilemma

If you remember THIS, you’ll probably rent more apartments

Is there a limit to giving great customer service?

What’s your rental experience like?

6 things you shouldn’t be doing with your work email.

Today’s Question: How are you rewarding customer loyalty?

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