Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Question:

Is it worse to have a customer service number listed on your site that you know you will not be able to man most of the day because you are making the product, packaging the product and shipping the product; or is it better to have a customer service number where your customers will have to leave a message most of the time with a call back within 24 hours?

We do have a customer service email, along with a few others for specific information/functions. 

Is not having a number annoying to most, or more convenient?  Is reaching voicemail for customer service a turn off and will send you to shop elsewhere?

I personally do most of my CS over email these days because of the long delays and multiple options that never seem to fit my dilema. Not sure if I`m the exception or the norm in today`s world.

Outsourcing CS is not an option due to cost, but more so because it takes too much of our control away with building relationships with our customers.

Thanks for your feedback!

Cheers,

Tammy

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Tammy Graham, Founder & CEO, True Genius Apparel Company: fitting your personality; www.mytruegenius.com. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

There`s only one rule about customer service, in my book: follow up and immediacy.

When I have a problem, it`s the ONLY problem in the world. Nobody else`s problem is as bad as mine, or as important, and the world should stop, shuddering in the sheer awesomeness of my problem. Churches should open their doors, and call the congregations of the world, all to pray about my problem....the fact that I didn`t get a key with my brand new pair of rollerskates!

It`s okay to have a voice-mail customer service line if you`re going to get back to every single call within less than 12 hours. That`d mean checking the line each morning, then again at noon, and responding to every one of those calls. Otherwise, the hell with it. Email is far superior, particularly with an e-commerce site.

That being said, I wrote Sonicare about a busted brush head (they make an electric toothbrush). I got an immediate canned response, verifying that my mail had arrived. That was good. Then the next day I got a human response, telling me they were forwarding my mail to the right person. A few days later I got an email from the human in charge. She asked me various questions, via mail, then would send out a replacement.

What astonished me was that I then got a phone call! They`re very interested in their market (owned by Philips), and wanted to know how the head broke. They asked many questions, which leads to a funny story about my inability to hear without an astigmatism interfering.

The woman wanted to know about whether or not I used anti-gravity toothpaste. I paused, scratching my nearly bald head, and pondered. I was pretty sure I`d have read about it, if someone had invented an antigravity device, so I asked for some clarification.

She was very nice about it, and asked if I was using regular toothpaste, or did I tend to use a whitening paste, or one particularly targeted at cavities.

Ah Hah! I thought, immediately deciding to not let on that I`d scanned the entire particle and energy physics news  while she talked, and that no, there hasn`t yet been an anti-gravity device invented. Quite proud of myself, I let her know that I didn`t use anti-cavity toothpaste, but did use whitening. I`m almost positive she never caught on, and considers me to this day to be a normal human being.

Survey complete, my brush head arrived within 2 days!

Ha!  Anti-gravity toothpaste.  I cannot stop giggling. 

So it didn`t bother you that it took a few days to get the right person to contact you back? We have a policy to get an email response back within 24 hours; and we plan to have the automatic bounceback that the email will be responded to within 24 hours. 

Checking phone calls twice per day would not be an issue.  We just don`t want to get stuck on the phone all day long when there are only two of us.  Email is so much easier because it can be done after hours. 

Thanks for your feedback.  I appreciate it.

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Tammy Graham, Founder & CEO, True Genius Apparel Company: fitting your personality; www.mytruegenius.com. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Tammy - I just have to hijack your thread and tell you that I absolutely adore your product line.  The concept is long overdue and very marketable!  Please let us know as soon as your site is live.  I`d like to purchase for holiday gifts.

As a consumer, I`m satisfied with the email approach.  However, I know many people prefer having a phone number to contact.  There is a air of credibility about it, I suppose.  You could do the same with the phone as you would with the email.....use an entertaining message and inform callers that their call will be returned within 24 hours.  There is no reason why calls cannot be returned `after hours`, say between 7 and 8 pm??  Many consumers are available during this time. 

Or, you may want to consider contracting with a professional answering service or a virtual personal assitant.  Either of these options can take pertinent information and assure the caller of a return call within 24 hours.  These agencies answer the phone as `True Genius Apparel Company` and there is no need for your client to know you`ve outsourced. 

Best of luck with your product! With the proper manufacturing process and good marketing, I can see this brand as a future `favorite thing` of a certain daytime icon!

Tracy

 

Thanks, Tracy.  I appreciate your feedback.  It`s very helpful. 

I`m glad you love our product, we do too!  We go live on October 6 at www.mytruegenius.com.  If you send your shipping address and the size and design to my email account here, I`ll send you a free shirt for a little one in your life along with a special discount code for your first order with us.

And, oh, how we hope it does become a favorite thing!

Cheers,

Tammy

 

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Tammy Graham, Founder & CEO, True Genius Apparel Company: fitting your personality; www.mytruegenius.com. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Understand that two things happened, initially. I did get an immediate feedback with a boiler-plate automatic email. I didn`t care it wasn`t "personal." What I cared about was that it let me know I had successfully entered a customer service issue into the correct location---I was in the queue now.

Secondly, and something you may want to consider, is in the form on the site to fill out, they ask for a phone number IF you want to include it. It isn`t mandatory---the mail will proceed without it. Simply because it was my choice, I felt better about  it and included the number.

Finally, knowing I was in the queue, then getting back an email within 1 day from whomever was actually human and in the company, giving me a status update as to why I wasn`t being directly addressed yet was completely satisfactory.

My issue wasn`t critical. I wasn`t waiting for a part, and could easily use the product until such time as my issue was resolved. Same with a Belkin power supply. I still haven`t acted to fix my problem, but it`s my choice on timing.

If checking the voice mail twice a day isn`t an issue, then by all means, do the voiceline! It`s a personal touch, but do NOT use one of those frickin` menus where people push buttons for a month. :-D Just have a second line, put a voicemail system on it, and say "You`ve reached the customer service dept. for this company. At the tone, please leave a message about your situation and we`ll get back to you within 1 day."

I still like to have a phone number.  Doesn`t matter that it isn`t manned.  Most emails aren`t manned live either.  The follow up is the key.

Susan Jennings

Home Suite Garage Apartments

Now your mother can live next door!

 

Thanks, Susan.  I appreciate your feedback. 

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Tammy Graham, Founder & CEO, True Genius Apparel Company: fitting your personality; www.mytruegenius.com. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."