Last month, I wrote about how my customer experience was compromised, because my telephone service provider failed to share some basic information with me.
Then last week, my faith in service providers was restored, thanks to an email from FedEx. I'll explain in a minute...
Last month's beef with Fairpoint Communications was that they made me wait around my house for over 8 hours, for a technician to arrive. In fairness, they said, "he'll be there by 6pm this evening" when I placed the call at 9:45 am. They wouldn't be any more precise than that, so I couldn't leave the house all day, for fear that the technician would show up while I was gone.
But FairPoint doesn't own the market on the failure to proactively communicate with customers. Other service providers share in the guilt:
When I recently arrived at my doctor's office (after a hurried drive through traffic to get there on time), the receptionist informed me that the doctor was running late.
"Wow, it would have been nice to know that, before I rushed to get here on time."
"I'm sorry sir, but we had no way to notify you."
Actually, any business that schedules pick-ups, deliveries, or appointments of any type does have a way to notify nearly all of its customers. In fact, there are two ways:
Email and text.
According to Asymco market intelligence, over half the U.S. population will use smartphones by the end of this year. That means that most of us will be able to receive email and text messages from our service providers.
FedEx knows that, and they use it to their customers' advantage. Back to that email that I told you about...
The email said, "Most of us want to know about service delays right away, but checking email isn't always convenient. So, we're considering adding text messaging to our existing service delay emails. Would you find a text message helpful? "
Of course I would! In fact, I'm even OK with an email, but thanks for giving me the choice. I appreciate the fact that you're sensitive to my time, and making the effort to proactively notify me of mis-haps that may affect it.
So, what's the point?
- Proactively share information with your customers, to make their lives easier, and to be a better business partner.
- When feasible, offer your customers a choice - paper or plastic? email or text?
Thank you FedEx - you're constructively sharing information with your customers, to make our lives easier, and give us a better customer experience.
Fairpoint and Dr. Runninglate, I hope you're paying attention!