Customer Service in a Consumer Driven Market

This blog was started with one general philosophy, and has evolved from that. In the beginning, it was based on the principle that the world now works in a very different way than it did in the past. Consumers are in control for the first time, and companies are slowly realizing that. What happens after they realize that is up to them, some are running for the hills, some are fighting back, but the successful ones are embracing it.

The other day I stumbled across this great infographic, which highlights one area where the new consumer-driven market is most noticeable, customer service. Enjoy!

Click to enlarge

TDBank: The REAL People Service Line

I’ve spoken before about the benefit of having real people answer the phones when someone calls your business. And I’ve been told off in the comments section, because it’s not reasonable to expect a company of a certain size to be able to handle the volume of calls they generate.

So I’ve made it a point to pay attention to the companies that offer live support, real human level service, and more. Furthermore, I have paid special attention to the companies that not only offer it, but use it in their marketing as a competitive advantage. Someone has to hold them to their promises.

In preparation for my recent trip abroad, I had the (what turned out to be pleasant) need to reach out to TD Bank. I checked out the back of my debit card and sure enough, there was a number to call for service. Then, as I looked closer, I noticed there were 2 different service lines.

Here’s what it looks like:

24-Hour WOW! Service
Real People: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Automated: XXX-XXX-XXXX

Interesting. So I called the real people line (thinking ‘why on earth would anyone call the automated’) and was immediately connected to a human. This particular human was able to answer my questions and set up my account for international travel in a matter of minutes. Thank you TD Bank.

The Problem with Today’s Consumers

…is that they think they’re entitled to everything.

They think that Twitter can be used to express their disappointment with your products. They think that Facebook is a good way of getting in touch with your customer service department. They think that a good reason for a discount is that they once saw a special promotion that may or may not have ended months ago.

They think that they have the right to ask for more than you’re offering. They think that they have the right to try out your product before they buy it.

And here’s the problem, they’re right. For the first time, consumers are in control.

We’ve all heard the saying, the customer is always right. The internet has made that truer than ever before.

Sure, you can put a policy in place. You can say, we only deal with customer service issues that come in through this channel or that channel. You can say that you only offer discounts on your products for a limited time and after the deadline is up, too bad. You can say that our products are what they are, and we won’t change them for any one customer.

But your competitors are already giving in to every single customer request. And if you don’t follow, you risk losing business.