Slowed Down by Technology?
Is customer service slowed down by computers? I am starting to think it is... kinda. From a point of view of accessing data when you need it, it is much faster. Granted, now that everything is stored on computers, accessing means you may have to combed through terrabytes of data stored all over the world, but overall is it much faster. What seems to have been impacted however is customer service itself.
What used to take place in a single phone call now takes a relay of chat and email to wait in email queue for the person to respond to the issue at hand. What used to be handled by walking up to the customer service desk now requires authorizations from a warranty company via an email string prior to actually replacing the phone. Kohls has it right... Best Buy has it wrong. AT&T has it right, and Comcast completely misses the boat. Even with today's social networking pressures, some companies are just missing the point of the computer... to help speed up service.
Wading through a phone tree to actually make contact with a real person who will then place me on hold 3 times before placing me on infinihold until the support number closes is NOT customer service. That is customer avoidance. Transferring me to 3 different people before dropping the call completely is also not customer service, it is customer neglect.
But customer service is not the only part of business to fall behind; marketing has as well. I am sure I am not the only person to be spammed with dozens of emails each day that no longer make it to my inbox and get deleted before I even read the subject. These are the ones that get through my spam filters and I still have an autonomic response to hit the delete key. Now, some of those marketing "geniuses" decided to use LinkedIn as an option to send me marketing materials. Congrats! You have made it to my never-will-look-at-your-stuff-even-if-it-does-help-my-life list.
Humans themselves have lost a lot of their ability to think because of computers. If you went into a restaurant 20 years ago, the wait staff would fill out the bill, add up the tax and total, and make change in their head. Now, the same wait staff punches the pretty icons, the tax is automatically added, the total is presented and when the wait staff comes back with payment... the register tells them how much change to make. If the power goes out, they can't make credit card transactions (because they have never used a manual card machine), and they can't fill out the bill because they have no idea how much things cost or how much the tax rate is.
Keeping this in mind, why do future workers (let's call the children) need to be so well verse in math and science if the computer is going to take care of all of that?
So what works? Mailing me something through snail mail seems to have made it back into my radar. Yes, it costs more for the company but I can assure you, I will at least read part of the message. If I make a customer service phone call and get a person who can actually help me the first time is another wonderful way to show me how important as a customer, you feel my business is.
If I decide to use email or a web form to contact you, an automated response followed by a point of contact for future communications is an excellent way to ensure you have seen my message and have placed a value on it.
If I walk up to your counter to repair or replace my phone, car or fridge, have my warranty data with my purchase data that you already have associated to my name, address, phone and social. You as a company are collecting an enormous amount of data for the hackers to steal (Target and Home Depot) so why wouldn't you use the data for a better customer experience instead of storing it in those data mart so someone can steal it?
What used to take place in a single phone call now takes a relay of chat and email to wait in email queue for the person to respond to the issue at hand. What used to be handled by walking up to the customer service desk now requires authorizations from a warranty company via an email string prior to actually replacing the phone. Kohls has it right... Best Buy has it wrong. AT&T has it right, and Comcast completely misses the boat. Even with today's social networking pressures, some companies are just missing the point of the computer... to help speed up service.
Wading through a phone tree to actually make contact with a real person who will then place me on hold 3 times before placing me on infinihold until the support number closes is NOT customer service. That is customer avoidance. Transferring me to 3 different people before dropping the call completely is also not customer service, it is customer neglect.
But customer service is not the only part of business to fall behind; marketing has as well. I am sure I am not the only person to be spammed with dozens of emails each day that no longer make it to my inbox and get deleted before I even read the subject. These are the ones that get through my spam filters and I still have an autonomic response to hit the delete key. Now, some of those marketing "geniuses" decided to use LinkedIn as an option to send me marketing materials. Congrats! You have made it to my never-will-look-at-your-stuff-even-if-it-does-help-my-life list.
Humans themselves have lost a lot of their ability to think because of computers. If you went into a restaurant 20 years ago, the wait staff would fill out the bill, add up the tax and total, and make change in their head. Now, the same wait staff punches the pretty icons, the tax is automatically added, the total is presented and when the wait staff comes back with payment... the register tells them how much change to make. If the power goes out, they can't make credit card transactions (because they have never used a manual card machine), and they can't fill out the bill because they have no idea how much things cost or how much the tax rate is.
Keeping this in mind, why do future workers (let's call the children) need to be so well verse in math and science if the computer is going to take care of all of that?
So what works? Mailing me something through snail mail seems to have made it back into my radar. Yes, it costs more for the company but I can assure you, I will at least read part of the message. If I make a customer service phone call and get a person who can actually help me the first time is another wonderful way to show me how important as a customer, you feel my business is.
If I decide to use email or a web form to contact you, an automated response followed by a point of contact for future communications is an excellent way to ensure you have seen my message and have placed a value on it.
If I walk up to your counter to repair or replace my phone, car or fridge, have my warranty data with my purchase data that you already have associated to my name, address, phone and social. You as a company are collecting an enormous amount of data for the hackers to steal (Target and Home Depot) so why wouldn't you use the data for a better customer experience instead of storing it in those data mart so someone can steal it?
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