Posts

A complaint is a gift

Jannelle Barlow and Claus Moller, the two authors of "A Complaint is a Gift" were ahead of their time. They wrote this forward thinking book around customer loyalty back in 2008 - as the concept of customer loyalty and customer feedback as…
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The 4 signs you're getting customer feedback all wrong

Customer feedback: a cornerstone of your business "Click here to complete the survey, it'll only take 5 minutes". This is possibly one of the most overused and unwelcome phrases to read in an email in the last few years. Think of your recipient's…
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2 min takeaways: personalised food (Element Bars)

Great Customer Service Example Element Bars allow you to personalise what goes in the energy bar you order from them, and even personalise the label. You order a dozen at a time and you can choose everything from the consistency to the fruit,…
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2 min takeaways: next-day countdown (Kiddicare)

A great example of excellence in customer service Here's a great little idea for anyone serving customers online. Why not have an online countdown showing how long the customer has left in the day before the next-day delivery option expires? Kiddicare,…
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Customer experience ideas in 2 minutes: Stew Leonard's thankyou notes

Seth Godin's book Purple Cow has a case study on Stew Leonard's grocery store. Stew, the owner, had a comments box by the door. Whenever a customer put a comment into the box, Stew would personally write them a note to say thank you. On the…
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Customer experience ideas in 2 minutes: Fastpass (Disney)

Want some customer experience ideas? Fastpass was introduced at Disney parks in 1999 (though, according to Wikipedia, the idea of a ride reservation system was first introduced in world fairs), Fastpass allows guests to "reserve" a time to…
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Customer experience ideas in 2 minutes: grocery airport stop (McCurlys Tours)

McCurlys Tours (a car rental company in the wonderful Caribbean island of Grand Cayman) picks you up at the airport and takes you to your vacation villa or resort where your rental car is waiting for you, with the option of a stop at the local…
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Customer experience ideas in 2 mins: the welcome book

Customer Experience Ideas Welcome to the first in Customer Thermometer's "2 minute CEM" - ideas you can quickly implement to improve the experience of your customers. For our first idea, we've taken inspiration from one of the gurus of customer…
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Why retention is the new loyalty

Customers pay the bills and without them you’re dead in the water. But in the relentless endeavour to add more customers into the funnel, are you actually ignoring your biggest area for growth in revenue and profit...your existing customers? Here…
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Remarkable service is all about the little stuff

Today I've been doing a little desk research into the businesses who are really innovating in customer service. Interestingly, the ones who win the awards aren't always the guys making things great for their customers. 'Customer service…
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The lost art of speaking to customers

Social media's going mainstream, allowing people to communicate more cheaply. Everyone's offshoring and outsourcing and driving down call center costs. And customer service is suffering hugely as a result. The impenetrable corporate monolith…
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Don’t fear the reaper… I mean customer

Sage business advice from Blue Oyster Cult. You shouldn't fear the customer. If you separate the process of gathering customer feedback from the emotions bound up with any complaints you receive then life gets an awful lot easier. Look at the…