Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) is proving to be a never ending source of
interest for me given my current work focus. And by CRM I mean the systems that
companies use to manage interactions with customers rather than the physical
act of ‘having a relationship’ with a customer. The distinction is artificial
but is the primary reason why so many companies are going to lose lots of
customers because of a poor understanding of what it feels like as a customer
to interact with a CRM system rather than a real company with real people.
In the true spirit
of knowledge sharing let me tell you a story about my interactions as a
customer of Savastore.com (Watford Electronics online division). In November I
ordered one of the new multi-format dual layer DVD Writers from LG Electronics.
As usual the online ordering process was completely painless and after one
failed delivery attempt the new drive turned up looking not only business-like
but also unusually pleasing aesthetically (the casing is white in the style of
the latest Apple Macs). After carefully
unpacking the box and finding a suitable location for the new drive I went to
connect the various cables but quickly discovered that the unit had been
supplied with a two pin European mains plug in place of the three pin UK plug.
My planned back-up schedule would have to be put on hold – but worst of all I knew
that I would instantly be re-categorised from ‘satisfied customer’ to potential
‘trouble maker’.
Where should I
start? The web site has a returns policy but I couldn’t face trawling through all
the small print and as with all these ‘legal’ documents the wording is very
customer hostile. I decided to brave the dreaded telephone queue and call them.
Finding the phone number though wasn’t easy – because of course being an
e-commerce set-up they want you to use e-mail and patiently wait for a response
within 48 hours. In practice of course it may not take them this long to
respond to your ‘grumbling’ e-mail – but the potential 48 hour lag makes you
feel quite disconnected – especially when you paid extra for express next day
delivery.
Once I did find a
number (which incidentally is an 0870 national rate number which doesn’t
qualify as a free-call for most domestic phone lines with all-in-one tariffs) I
got through the queue quite quickly. But then the CRM system kicked in with
vengeance. “We can’t deal with returns by telephone. You must complete the
‘Returns Authorisation Procedure’ online.” So much for ‘customer service’ -
felt more like the good old ‘customer complaints’ – at least you were prepared
for battle then. The returns authorisation procedure requires logging-in (if
you can remember your ID and password) and completing some forms which
strangely are also pretty customer hostile. Why? Because as a ‘returner’ you
are lumped in with the ‘time wasters’ that order stuff that they don’t really
want or send stuff back after opening the packaging (not sure how many people
genuinely fall into this category). There are also threats of extra charges
being levied on your credit card if the reason you are sending stuff back is
not deemed valid. Now I know that
none of this applies to me – it’s actually Savastore’s fault that I have been
expressly delivered the incorrect product but it still feels like you’re a
troublemaker. The result of all that extra form filling is that I had been
allocated a number and would have to wait for ‘returns authorisation’, which
may be declined apparently. I still didn’t have any idea what the actual
returns procedure was and whether I had to pay to have the item returned before
a replacement could be sent. I just knew that the whole process would take ages
and that no one at Savastore really appeared to care.
This is customer
relationship management (small caps) at its very worst – and the sad fact is
that it’s because of the CRM systems
in place. Now there’s a paradox. In this case, CRM isn’t about improving the
way you interact with your customers it’s about reducing the overhead on the
customer transaction and minimising any expensive human contact with customers.
CRM is a powerful tool but misuse it at your peril.
Now, a glimmer of
hope surfaced during this epic tale when I actually managed to speak to a
customer service person who straight away realised that the error was Savastore’s
and committed to sending me the correct power cable. Suddenly a little human
contact and empathy had defused the situation. So much so that I actually ordered
a 17” panel from them as a late Christmas present for a family member. That’s
how good customer service can turn things around.
Sadly though the
tale doesn’t end there. When I finally got by LG DVD writer up and running it
failed miserably to write to DVDs and only occasionally would write to a CD. I
contacted Savastore Technical Support. I tried the phone but after being on
hold for 20 minutes (on an 0870 number) as FIRST in the queue I realised that
technical support was either one seriously overworked person or just a piece of
CRM telecoms software that rotated callers around a virtual queue while Savastore
made cash from the 0870 call tariff. A quick look on Savastore’s web site (18
Jan 2005) reveals that they are looking for a new Technical Support Advisor but
at only £10-12k per annum they are unlikely to get anyone who can seriously
support the breadth of products sold by the company.
I’m sure that in a
perfect world Savastore would like you to go direct to the manufacturer for
technical support issues – but sadly the link on their site pointing to a page listing
contact details for all manufacturers is broken and results in a ‘page not
found’ error.
Savastore aren’t
alone in adopting this easy to buy, hard to complain approach. If you look at
the small print of a number of online retailers you will find quite a few ‘no
telephone contact’ policies. This has serious consequences for a number of
reasons. Firstly, when a customer is angry or upset they need some empathy and
that can only be given via synchronous communication. Asynchronous e-mail is
fine for transactional stuff but try complaining via e-mail – it just doesn’t
work so well – the response lag (in Savastore’s case up to 48 hours or more)
makes the customer feel powerless. Additionally, there is no process for
escalating a complaint. In a shop if a sales assistant fails to deal with your
complaint properly you can ask to speak to their manager. Escalation is an
important aspect of good customer service – it brings in a fresh person with a
fresh viewpoint – and hopefully one with more knowledge and skills to deal with
the customer’s issue.
This ‘negative’
approach to customer service flies in the face of all the evidence about how to
build good customer relationships. Assuming that all ‘complaints’ must be an
attack on the company and defended at all costs is an unsustainable policy for
good long term business and only works in the short term when there are enough
new customers attracted by low prices, good stock levels or quick delivery. The
internet can be a fickle trading environment with customers able to move
between supplier sites with the click of the back button but failing to deal
effectively with what is hopefully a very small number of customers who
genuinely have problems is a business practice that will ultimately prove disastrous.
A quick search for
fellow sufferers revealed quite a few similar tales of uncaring service from
other Savastore customers. Grumbletext has quite a few (see www.grumbletext.co.uk).
These ‘consumer voice’ sites will begin to highlight companies that say one
thing but do another and will be an increasingly powerful weapon in the battle
for good customer service. Ironically, Savastore’s web site has a customer
review facility like that pioneered by Amazon but there is little evidence of
any ‘poor’ reviews. This is probably because customer reviews appear to be
filtered by the company – I reviewed the LG DVD Writer and gave it only one
star but the review has never appeared on the site. One wonders if the few
reviews there are on the site are truly genuine – no audit trail exists and all
are either 4 or 5 stars. One cheap and cheerful Aries LCD monitor has three
reviews - all five star ratings from three separate people on the same day. Looks
very suspicious to me. There is a link to review guidelines but this just opens
a blank child window – a particularly ironic touch.
Savastore’s
approach is a long way from the new customer driven paradigm set out by
Patricia Seybold in ‘Customers.com’ or ‘The Customer Revolution’ and is at odds
with their web site mission statement, ‘Renowned for service excellence’.
What’s particularly
short sighted about this approach is that it will alienate a large amount of
potential new customers – those that have never ordered anything online. Even
for me – an internet expert – the attraction of buying online is losing its
initial gloss and if I can buy something in PC World at a reasonable price
(even if it’s a little more expensive) I will be tempted to do that rather than
buy online. Why? Because if I am dissatisfied I can walk back into the store
and complain to a human being – not to a CRM system.
I’ve learnt my
lesson and actually it’s a variation on a lesson my dad taught me and that his
dad taught him – ‘The day you buy is the day you may need to send something
back’. Make sure that you buy from a company that lets you do this painlessly.
So much for cutting edge CRM.
Any CRM stories to
share? Please leave a comment or mail me.
I managed to get to Learning Technologies this year – wanted to see what aspects of e-learning are currently being marketed to corporates. The exhibition was a little disappointing, especially in comparison with the much more lively BETT Show (see BETT entry). Strangely, it also attracts a completely different set of vendors. The only key companies to exhibit at both were Macromedia and the BBC. 
