I recently wrote about how your clients judge you on both results you deliver and the experience of working with you.
Unfortunately, client experience is an area a lot of organizations fall down in. Especially when you have an issue trying to get something fixed.
Couple of recent examples come to mind.
Example 1: The Big Bank We’re in the process of moving accounts to a new bank. There was a bunch of physical paperwork for our business accounts which had to come from head office.
When I tried to get the status, the only way of getting in touch was the mobile app. No phone option, no live chat via a website!
The chatbot was useless. Didn’t understand what I wanted. “I’ll put you in touch with a live person”. It took 24 hours to get a chat reply that basically said, “We don’t understand your question,” and that was it.
This is from a big 4 bank that makes billions in profit.
Example 2: The Major Health Fund.
As executors for someone who recently died, we needed to cancel an account. They said they couldn’t do it until probate was finalised – which could take months and insisted we use chat only. I booked a callback, but no one called.
In the end, I found the managing director on LinkedIn, sent a direct message, and within 30 minutes the account was cancelled with an apology.
It shouldn’t come to that. I’ve seen the same hurdles with telecom giants and other big suppliers. When you need something done, the fastest route is often going straight to the top.
But what does that say about these organisations and the customer experience they provide? Why should clients have to jump through hoops just to get things done? I hope this isn’t happening in your business.
When we deal with any company, we care about both the outcome and the experience. If the experience is poor, I won’t recommend you – unless there’s absolutely no alternative. And these days, there’s almost always another choice.
Food for thought?
