Comments (0)

By Neptune Moon, January 23, 2012 5:55 pm

I’m annoyed this afternoon and I thought it was worth a blog post. WHY would you ever send an email that could not be replied to – especially if that email is in response to a customer support issue? This practice continually both amazes and infuriates me.

Case in point, web hosting companies that send you email updates on a support issue but if you try to email back a response to their update, put your message in the great void. How do you think you are making your customers feel when they are trying to communicate with you and they get an email back that says something like this:

Thank you for contacting Company X Customer Support.
The mailbox that your message was sent to is unmonitored, and as a result your e-mail will not receive a response.

If you require support for problem A go here: www.companyx.com/problemA
If you require support for problem B go here: www.companyx.com/problemB
If you require support for problem C go here: www.companyx.com/problemC
ETC…

So, now I have just spent time writing my message in response to the email you sent me (usually telling me how you have not yet solved my problem) and now I can’t just reply to the email to continue the thread and get my issue resolved. Why must I wade through 10 options to figure out where I should go next? How is this servicing your customer? The answer – it is not.

Even companies who are well-known for their customer service can fall into this trap. Southwest Airlines, which is generally a fantastic example of customer service, uses this same type of system for Customer Service emails. We had an issue on a recent flight experience and after receiving a long and thoughtful reply from their Customer Service Department, with a case reference number, I had to go back to the web site and fill out their comment form again, to send a follow up to their reply – not very user-friendly!

We could probably all benefit from taking an objective view of our communication and customer support practices. Try to put yourself in your customers’ shoes – is your customer service department easy to contact and quick to respond OR does it function more like a complicated choose-your-own-adventure story?

It is worth taking a look at your process and discovering if you’re treating your customers the way you’d want to be treated if you had an issue. If we all took the time to follow the golden rule when designing customer service responses, the world would be a much less frustrating place!

Comments (0)

By Neptune Moon, January 11, 2012 12:00 pm

Have you seen the ad campaign the NFL is running these days for its women’s apparel? If you watch any football at all, they would be impossible to miss, even if you DVR the games! As a lifelong football fan, who happens to be a woman, these spots drive me nuts.

If you haven’t seen the ads – they all go something like this:

1. Woman having argument with her boyfriend or husband as she angrily throws NFL apparel at him, and often storms out
2. “You Don’t Own Me” plays in the background
3. Boyfriend or husband arrives at girlfriend or wife’s door to find her looking adorable and happy in her very own female sized NFL apparel
4. Joy to the world!

Does the NFL have any women working for them in their marketing department? Seeing these ubiquitous ads, it is hard to imagine that they do! Who are they marketing this stuff to – men or women? I assume it is being marketed to women, as they are the ones who purchase the actual items in the ads? If this is the case – how does this premise sell to female NFL fans (who make up a solid 40% of the fanbase and purchase 46% of official NFL Merchandise*)? It is problematic on several fronts:

1. It assumes that women are only football fans if their husbands or boyfriends are – and that you root for the same team!
2. Why the fake fight then about the men’s jerseys – is it not a strong enough premise to let women know that they now have options beyond men’s sized apparel or the awful pink and/or bedazzled NFL apparel previously marketed to women?

This ad campaign is a classic example of not knowing your audience. If women are your target audience, then these ads do not understand what would motivate said audience to take the desired action – in this case, purchasing NFL women’s apparel. Why is it cast as an act of defiance to buy your own jersey or t-shirt? I’m thrilled to know that the NFL is finally starting to make licensed apparel that is actually sized for women and not pink or glittery. But these ads make me not want to buy any and I’m pretty sure I’m in their female demographic sweet spot.

Lesson for all businesses, large and small – take the time to get to know your audience(s) and create offers that genuinely speak to their needs. I guarantee you’ll be pleased with the results!

* From she-conomy.com.

View the ad on YouTube here.