I am telling myself that this is not a rant blog. This is not a rant blog. This is a simply a consumer case study that I lived through. Ok, let me begin my Verizon rant case study by setting up what I consider to be the present day model for knowing thy customer. I am not a Mac guy, but I really admire Apple for the way they study and understand their consumer base. The other day I saw an Apple commercial with a poofy haired guy in skinny jeans, a horizontally striped tee shirt, and his grandfather’s dress shoes dancing around to iTunes. I do not think he looks very cool, and I harbor sincere doubts about his ability to make himself attractive to the opposite sex. But, since Apple says he looks cool I know that I am wrong. Steve Jobs was a genius and the people at Apple are very smart. Both Steve and the team he built at Apple have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they know what people want. So, I have to accept the fact that while I think that guy looks like the wimpiest excuse for a man I ever seen, he is in fact what America wants. Apparently my standard khakis and button up just isn’t getting it done, but I digress. Why is it important for me to establish that Apple knows what people want? Because it is that ability that helped Apple generate over $108B in revenues last year and convince guys like me that I no longer have a grasp on what is actually cool. In 1997 at the World Wide Developers Conference Steve Jobs stated, “You‘ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology – not the other way around.” I think that this philosophy manifested itself at every level of Apple, including inside of the Apple Store. I can’t find any evidence that he ever said it, but I think Job’s message was clear “When your customers are excited and ready to buy, make it easy for them to spend money.” Apple goes out of their way to remove every barrier possible to spending money once they get you in their store or on their sites. It’s phenomenal, as soon as your eyes light up playing around with the display iPad, there is a knowledgeable Apple rep there ready to answer your questions and more importantly swipe your credit card. They want your money and they know you want to give it to them. Apple knows what people want.
So, why do so many businesses make it hard for people to spend money?
That question leads me into my Verizon case study. As a reminder, this is a case study not a rant. I recently wanted to switch to Verizon Fios for my cable service. I really wanted to full package. HD Cable, Internet, Phone – bundle it up and give it to me! I have money and I need it yesterday! Alas, as I will attempt to show you, just because you want someone to take your money does not always mean that they will take it. I visited the Verizon website with credit card already pulled from my wallet. Their first instruction was to check to see if they had service in my area. No sweat! I live in downtown Dallas, I’m pretty sure Google Maps can find me. Unfortunately, Verizon’s system could not. I am confident the information I entered was correct. I checked and tried again several times. A little frustrated, but still eager to buy I followed their follow on instructions and called the 800 number. After navigating exactly 8 voice prompts, I had a ring tone. Now I could spend some money! Waa Waaaaa, I got a recorded message stating “this call cannot be completed as dialed” and a disconnect. What!? Verizon’s 2010 revenue was $107B (almost as much as Apple)! How does this happen? Did they forget to pay the phone bill? Now starting to tip a little towards angry, I attempted to use the online chat to beg them to take my money. I was greeted with an automated response that told me that chat was unavailable (it was 10 CST) and asking me to call the same 800 number that had just hung up on me. Now officially angry (but still ready to spend), I went to their contact us page to send an email. Bad news there too, they do not have an option for new customers to email. You have to have an account number. I have had some unbelievable customer experiences, but this was incredible. It was like a walked up to the hot dog stand on the corner and the guy with a whole tub of hotdogs for sale just refused to talk to me as I begged to buy a dog and waved money in his face. He wasn’t refusing service, he just wasn’t accepting customers.
How is it that Verizon failed so badly? Would you believe that this phenomenon is not unique? It has been said that the best thing that B2C companies can do to boost sales is simply answer the phone. Duh!!! So, why is that so hard? People want to give you their money, let them! Well, it turns out that the reason Steve Jobs is a genius and that Apple is so good is that getting customers connected to the right people at the right time is hard. Apple makes a business out of making it look easy. Century Interactive is in the business of connecting customers with the right person at the right time. We want to help you make it look easy.
Here are just a few critical call features that come at no charge with our call tracking that will prevent you from turning away people who want to give you their money.
1. Bridge Routing – If you have multiple departments, don’t send all of the calls to a receptionist and let her transfer the call. The idea that everyone loves a friendly voice on the other end of the line as soon as the call is connected is a little dated. In this age of instant gratification, it is easily trumped by the desire to get the RIGHT friendly voice on the other end of the line as quickly as possible. This is most efficiently done through a simple recorded bridge greeting, “Thank you for call CI Nissan! Press 1 for service, 2 for sales, 3 for all your other needs.” Our data shows that this reduces wait time significantly.
2. Call Scheduling – Don’t want to miss opportunities after hours? Set up scheduling to send your calls to your cell phone when you can’t be in at your desk.
3. Missed Call Alerts – Get an email the instant your business misses a call that includes all of the customer information, so you can get back with them before they move on to your competitor.
4. Zip Code Routing – Do you have multiple franchises? Want to advertise one number and measure the results? Use zip code routing to send your customers to the closest franchise.
You know you need to measure the ROI on your advertising, and if you’re reading this you probably know that call tracking is a piece of that, but this is about something even more basic. You need to ANSWER THE PHONE! ARE YOU LISTENING VERIZON?! TAKE MY MONEY! STEVE JOBS WOULD! This is not a rant, it is a case study. Give us a call and our account specialists will work with you to figure out the solution that works best for you. We want to learn about your business, and help you remove barriers to potential customers giving you their money.
Oh yes, I want to tell you that I did finally find a contact email for Verizon. The responses that I received is a rant case study for another blog. Spoiler Alert! The ending involves all of my money staying with DirectTV, despite my best effort to give it to Verizon.
P.S. – I changed my mind, this is a rant.
Tags: call tracking, conversions, Customer Service, optimization, targeting