I learn a lot talking with customers, but I learn a lot more talking with lost customers. I think losing a customer should hit a company like losing a friend or lover hits a person: you should (usually) just feel darn bad about it. But even losing a customer can be turned into a good experience, and the concept of electronic engagement can help. In fact, if the experience is right, you might not lose the customer after all. In a July, 1990 article in Harvard Business Review entitled “The Profitable Art of Service Recovery,” the authors offer evidence that organizations who respond immediately and decisively after a bad customer experience are actually more likely to retain the customer than if no blip in the experience had occurred in the first place. Now, while I’m not suggesting that we should all go out and develop strategies to create bad customer experiences that we can respond to, I am suggesting that … Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, right before school started, my six-year-old son and I went to Herseypark amusement park, in Hershey PA. It’s about a three-hour drive from home, so going there was a commitment, and expectations were high, particularly since going there with his older brother and sister had been a ritual that we absolutely loved for years. I hadn’t been there for seven years, so I was interested to see what changes had been made, and hopeful that they’d kept everything we loved. Our natural first stop, before we’d even left home, was the web site. I’m thinking we’ll check out the rides (and, quietly, the height requirement) and maybe even buy tickets online so that we can just stroll through the gate. Good in theory, bad in practice. Think about this interaction: you google “Hersheypark” and of course up comes the “official” web site. Wouldn’t you want me, right then, to book online? Wouldn’t you want to offer … Continue reading →