Is E-Service Getting Better?

Periodically articles appear in the respected (ahem) journals that I read talking about the appalling customer service they receive from Websites. So the question is, are things getting better and if not why not?

(PRWEB) August 21, 2004 -- Looking at the basics, businesses are interested in the Web for two fundamental reasons: it provides great reach at relatively low cost and it allows for greater automation of service delivery. One would have thought that with such a premise that there would be a fundamental focus on providing customer delight but it is not the case.

More often than not if you are going to be using a companys services via their Website then you will have queries that need to be directed to someone who whose duty it will be to serve you. This fact applies equally to retail and professional services, perhaps even more so in professional services where the service provided is, at least partially, cerebral.

Computer Active Magazine recently published an article about how they set up a fictitious Yahoo e-mail account and spent a day shopping. They sent e-mails to the customer service departments of the Websites they visited and waited for responses. And waited. Quite remarkably 22% of companies did not get back to them within three weeks of their enquiry. More than this, only 34% sent an automated e-mail in recognition of the enquiry. The article goes on to point out that of the 50 companies contacted only 7 have a stated policy of responding to customer service enquiries within a specific timeframe, although of these 7 only 4 actually responded within their guidelines.

Remarkably, as dire as these figures are they are actually an improvement on the service delivery of just a couple of years ago. But it is none the less remarkable, that users (nee Customers/Clients) are treated so poorly. Perhaps, because the web was invented by an Englishman (Mr Berners Lee) the archetypal Web user has adopted our mentality of silent sufferance.

The issues as I see them can be shepherded into three categories:

People Power -- behind every Website there are people that do things. The problem is that businesses do not set proper parameters for the delivery of E-service and how its effectiveness should be measured. Take for example, a law firm who have a Website. In the real world when someone rings that firm they are directed to the correct department by an operator and their query is dealt with by the appropriate support staff or lawyers. On their Website if a query comes through, if it is not directed via the specific lawyers profile then more than likely it will be sent to the marketing department. My point here is that the marketing department are probably great people but are they the right people to be providing front line customer service?

The Institute of Customer Service recently issued guidelines on 'Setting Customer Service Standards (you can download it from their Website free of charge if you wish) which, aside from showing the metrics that can be used to improve service levels across the board states that the success of any implementation relies on ownership, visibility and commitment.

When it comes to customer delight the businesses that get it right focus on both the big and little picture. Sure, its great to get the issue resolved ASAP, feed the information back into the Website and update your help FAQ if necessary. But, its also important that the response comes from a named individual, with a telephone number and with a clear escalation path for resolution if the issue hasnt been cleared within a satisfactory timeframe. Management need to monitor the performance of delivery according to key criteria to ensure that their business does not fend off customers but involves them in their purpose.

Nuts and Bolts -- Believe me when I say it is not difficult to set up an auto --response e-mail for a customer enquiry, but to do some of the more sophisticated customer service elements on a Website require an investment of both time and money to get right. The tipping point in ensuring a successful technology implementation is to ensure it dovetails with your people strategy. As an example, we know of a blue-chip (who shall remain un-named) who has a Website with a call-back facility. The problem is that the call-back facility sends an e-mail to a named individual within that business. This means that if that person is unavailable the call-back is not responded to until such time as they return to look at their in-box. Now, if I had placed a call --back then I would expect somebody to actually call me back...isnt that reasonable?

To provide customer delight technology needs to be responsive, trackable and personal. If a request is sent through it needs an immediate auto-response detailing the appropriate next steps that will be taken. Requests should be logged and their responses measured against performance metrics to provide management with clear analysis. Where customer service is to be provided as part of a support agreement then use of an issue tracking system (IMS) will prove to be an invaluable asset for monitoring and answering complex and inter-related issues. But the fundamental behind good technology remains the responsiveness of the people behind it and only through them will the technology be effective.

Good Blurb -- You cant avoid getting customer enquiries and providing support to current customers but you can circumvent many requests if your content is of the highest quality and provides the sort of in-depth knowledge that will answer the majority of queries.

Aside from providing and ensuring Website content is up to date and reviewed on a regular basis it is important to complete the customer service loop by feeding back from relevant customer enquiries to your Website. Your service staff should have a role in content strategy as their front line experience will expose your weaknesses. Although I think that general help/FAQs are a responsible part of providing customer service it is my belief that specific help information should be made available at appropriate locations within a Website, allowing users to identify related service content immediately.

Concluding, it appears from the research that things have improved over the last couple of years but there are still woefully small numbers of Websites that have an effective E-service strategy. Why is this still the case? To be frankly honest I dont know and can see no reasonable reason why E-service levels cannot be improved dramatically. It strikes me that for all the big-speak theories about CRM and eCRM it is the actual interaction between people and their technology that counts. To get things right on the Web requires businesses to fundamentally care about their customers and how they deal with them on a human level and then to transpose this via technology to their E-service strategy.