Kick-butt customer service transformed me
Want to know how to make a customer loyal? And how to get the most out of your relationship with your customers?
It’s simple. Do what Patagonia does.
Here’s a quick, real-world experience I just had and it blew me away and made me a Patagonia loyalist for life.
Background:
I bought a shell jacket from a local mom-and-pop Patagonia retailer to keep me warm on wintery dog walks around the neighborhood (though I did have visions of Antarctic expeditions when I saw it on the rack for sale). ![""]("http://www.startupnation.com/blog/uploads/10/blizzardinAntarctica.jpg")
The product’s been great - you can see just the collar of it here, at my StartupNation profile.
Here’s what happened:
About a month ago, I ripped the arm of the jacket on a screw sticking out of a fence along the sidewalk where I walk our dogs. The material was torn 3 inches right to left and about the same length up and down - it was pretty nasty … though I must admit, it did look worthy of a good duct taping and then a great story to accompany the duct tape, like, "it happened when the glacier fissure swallowed me on Antarctica."
I called Patagonia to ask what I could do to patch it.
To my surprise, the telephone service person (playing a role so often reviled by frustrated consumers) instructed me to send the jacket back to them and they’d repair it free of charge and ship it back to me, free of charge.
Earlier this week, I received the jacket back, and it’s like new.
The simple gesture of fixing a product that a customer had damaged has lifted Patagonia to legendary status in my book. Now I’m so inspired that I want to tell the world about it and buy my gear–Antarctic or urban–from Patagonia as long as they’re in business.
What a great customer service experience and customer transformation. In fact, I don’t see myself as a "customer" of theirs anymore. I see myself as a member of their community. Those are the kind of people I want to affiliate with, be identified with, and it’s with a whole new layer of pride and meaning that I wear their logo on my jacket.
I’ve posted about Patagonia’s social agenda in the past, too, if you’re interested:
http://www.startupnation.com/blog/entry.asp?ENTRY_ID=32
The question, in closing is, can you transform your customers, too, somehow? Try, because if you do, it will pay dividends…
Rich
February 28th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Great story Rich! Truly impressive indeed. I just forwarded the story to my partner who is in charge of our customer service and loyalty programs so that we can consider how we can transform our ornament storage customers to loyal Sterling Pear "community members" as you say…
February 28th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
I am a Customer Care Expert and your story made my day. What Patagonia does is what I call Extraordinary Customer Service. They hire the right people and give them the power to make a difference. they evidently have a customer-focused vision as well as policies. And as always, "word of mouth" has proven to be the best and least expensive advertising. Thanks for sharing.
February 29th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Glad this experience "speaks to you"! i am telling everyone i know about Patagonia now. and you can’t buy that kind of word-of-mouth - it’s earned…
February 29th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
I love this type of "true customer" service. I hope they keep it that way and don’t get bought out by the big guys. I worked for a company such as Patagonia with the ideals of making the service and purchase experience "memorable" and the customer #1, then we were bought out because of our service, then customer service became just a word, and profit became the goal. Although, we were making a great profit before hand. Yet again I say, Patagonia customer service is GREAT, let it stay that way by staying focused on the customer.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:37 am
The other question you should also ask in the same breath is: Can we afford not to provide this level of customer service, and risk losing our customer base? You may find that stellar customer service will ’save’ you more money in the long-run, and help to differentiate you from your competition.