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Speaking of customer support... I'd love to read some good information about how to successfully set it up in a somewhat organized fashion. Tricks, tips, do's and don'ts... as well as some advice on trying to make the proper tradeoffs. Anyone got good books or other resources they can recommend?
What possible worth would we get from being empathetic with people who can't even understand the difference between ours and somebodyelse website? They are unlikely to become customers, and each support incident cost the company money. Yeah I am sure there is an emotional reason for it, but I am asking for a cold hearted logic reason.
Support requests should be treated as opportunities to make a positive brand experience. Even if this person doesn't become a high paying customer, they might become an advocate. Perhaps they overhear a conversation about your product and say - oh I know - they are so friendly and helpful! If your support is good enough, people will even tweet about how amazing you are. It's hard to pay for advertising that effective…
So you go the extra mile, find contact info for her host and give it to you, what's the response? Probably "OH now you're pawning me off on someone else?!"
The classic story of customer service is Nordstrom giving a customer a refund on tires (they don't sell tires). But that's an uncomplicated transaction -- 'I went to Nordstrom and they gave me my money back'.
Maybe I'm just being negative, maybe it's from doing phone support in college (explaining an ISP vs. a web host to $5/month customers is not fun) or working retail for years before that... but man, supporting the public is hard and it's really hard to figure out when going the extra mile is a net loss for everyone.
Zappos is great, but I wonder what would happen if I called them for help with my iPhone... ;)
For a customer that just doesn't get it, I don't see why the dishwasher/vacuum cleaner analogy is bad as long as it's delivered nicely.
I doubt the customer failed to understand that the customer support rep thought that the issue wasn't their fault; the customer was getting angry because they thought the rep was wrong. Analogies don't convince and are often seen as condescending or evasive: "I asked for help, and I get word games"
I'm not sure of the best way to convince a customer (who is wrong) that is questioning the rep's expertise. Provide more data and explain differently, I guess.
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/02/douchebaggery.html
and from the above article:
http://codinghorror.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b0120a86...
What possible worth would we get from being empathetic with people who can't even understand the difference between ours and somebodyelse website? They are unlikely to become customers, and each support incident cost the company money. Yeah I am sure there is an emotional reason for it, but I am asking for a cold hearted logic reason.
A good, logical reason to be empathetic in all situations would be to help yourself. If you needlessly act negative toward another person, you will be more inclined to be negative about similar situations in the future. You are essentially training yourself to be negative which, I can assure you, bleeds into the rest of your life. It's important to recognize that even if you don't see value in being empathetic toward…
Though you're second argument is effective in a global community kind of context.
A great lesson in how to make empathy something that you know is useful and something that you practice.
I feel reminded about my startup time, we had customers like this. "The website you built doesn't work." - "Why, what's wrong?" - "I don't know, but I can't get on the internet today. This is your fault. I want my money back." - "Sir, if your internet is down, that's nothing we can help you with. Also, I thought things were going pretty good with our project." - "If you can't help me, you're clearly incompetent. I'm going to sue you. You broke my emails, too." And so on.
A few times we actually sent someone over there to help with (in this example) their faulty DSL connection. This never solves anything. There won't be any gratitude, and the customer will be reinforced in thinking it's your fault. In essence they're being rewarded for abusiveness and unwillingness to think, too. From now on, every time his connection breaks it will be your fault. And you can't bill that time either. Furthermore, while you're sending someone over on the basis of goodwill and empathy, that guy will badmouth you all over town.
Of course, people have bad days, and there can be mitigating factors. But if someone is clearly not listening to a single word you say and is incapable of understanding facts, it's time to let that customer go. I can't say this emphatically enough: it's not worth it. Identifying personally with that person will only make you suffer even more - you have to keep in mind that they're certainly not making 1% of the effort you're expending on their problem.
Today you, tomorrow me. Just to add content: hardware, software, programming, protocols, networks, chips, cords, formats, and onward. We are in a profession that creates a certain amount of ego once we have overcome an obstacle. There is an endless amount of information with an endless growth rate regarding technology. We are all ignorant -- it is just to what degree and which niche! I still remember 15 years ago and…
For context, ambiate is likely referring to http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/elal2/have_you_ev...