CRM - October 2007 - (Page 26)

HelpThem WEB SELF-SERVICE MEANS HAVING YOUR CUSTOMER BECOME HER OWN CUSTOMER SERVICE REP—BUT WITHOUT MAKING HER RESENT DOING WHAT A REAL CSR CAN DO IN A FRACTION OF THE TIME T by Coreen Bailor here are a bunch of tactics a company can deploy to demonstrate to clients how much it values their patronage. Delivering a Web self-service experience so awful that it causes customers to defect to a chief competitor is not one of them. Just ask CRM magazine Associate Editor Colin Beasty. Roughly three years ago, Colin bought a new desktop computer that came with six months’ free use of an antivirus program. Shortly before the end of the complimentary period, he subscribed for a one-year policy with a sticker price of $39.99. “That’s where the issues began,” he says. The automatic protection updates failed to run as promised when he started his PC, essentially leaving his computer vulnerable to infection. Colin turned to the antivirus protection company’s Web site to locate repair information, but navigating the site proved impossible. One page in particular, which featured potential problems and ways to remedy them, offered what Colin calls a “laundry list” of information. “It was so difficult to try and discern anything from it, to find information that matched my problem,” he says. “It was information overload.” When that resolution attempt failed, he opted to click on an FAQ icon—but that only led to a page that was equally as garbled as the one he’d come from. Frustrated with coming up empty-handed, Colin abandoned the site, only to return to it a few days later and be let down again. “I never even found an 800 service number,” he says. After spending hours hitting wall after wall, Colin had had enough; he removed www.destinationCRM.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - October 2007

Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity Coupons Without the Clipping Something Special in the Air Oracle’s Name Game Market Focus: Sports & Entertainment: CRM Scores for Sports Franchises Statistically Speaking The Pulse Required Reading Are We There Yet? Help Them Help Themselves The Chain Gang Pay Day OutClick Media Gets a Second Opinion Best Kiteboarding Makes a Splash with NetSuite True-Blue Service Documentation Secret of My Success The Tipping Point Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - October 2007

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