Do you hold your customers to higher standards than you do yourself? Don’t get caught up in making your company so policy heavy that customers are the ones that have to bend over backwards to do business with you.

A coworker of mine told me of an interesting encounter at his dentist. As may be the case with your dentist, his has a policy of charging patients $50 if they cancel an appointment with less than 24 hours notice.

On the day of his last appointment, the dentist office called to cancel his appointment because the hygienist was sick. My friend said “you’d charge me $50 if I canceled within 24 hours so how about you give me a $50 credit?” How did the dentist office respond? My coworker told me “the receptionist didn’t like that idea very much.”

Was it too unreasonable to ask for the same thing the dentist office asked of customer? I think not. The policy of that office is to make sure patients respect the time and schedule of the dentist and office staff. Shouldn’t the office give similar respect to the patient?

At a bare minimum, only ask a customer to do something that you are willing to do. To really take your customer service to a new level, live by a higher standard. Go the extra mile and do things you don’t require of your customers but that will “wow” them.

Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com, presented his “Top 10 Lessons Learned in E-Commerce” at this year’s SXSW Interactive. Last year, Tony spoke on the Customer Service is the New Marketing panel. The principles they use at Zappos really opened my eyes to true customer service.

This year, Tony’s top 10 e-commerce list included:

1. E-Commerce business is built on repeat customers. Even though you are online, you can still foster long-term relationships.
2. Word of mouth really works online. Most of Zappos’ new customers come from offline word of mouth.
3. Don’t compete on price.
4. Make sure your web site inventory is 100% accurate. Customer expectations can be shattered if you don’t deliver what they saw available on your web site.
5. Centrally locate your distribution to speed shipping and delivery times.
6. Customer Service is an investment, not an expense. The relationships that you form via great service will pay for themselves in repeat business.
7. Start small & stay focused. Don’t try to get too big, too fast.
8. Don’t be secretive. Don’t worry about competitors.
9. Actively manage your company culture. Zappos has a culture book they give to employees and they immerse every new hire in the call center and distribution world for several weeks before they begin their “real” jobs.
10. Be wary of so-called experts. You know your company and your culture best. As Hamlet said, “To thine own self be true.”

You can view the slides from his presentation here:

Rainy Day Example

While e-commerce is the vehicle through which Zappos.com makes their money, they are focused squarely on top quality customer service.

photo by sprigley

The fourth day of the SXSW conference was a rainy day, start to finish. As I left for lunch, I saw the Zappos CEO and crew dressed in rain ponchos and handing out free Zappos.com branded rain ponchos to everyone.

Customer service is such a part of their being that these guys not only exceed expectations in e-commerce but also wherever they go. I saw people in Zappos ponchos all day long. Brilliant timing and marketing!

Is your marketing just a thin facade to a nasty reality? Customer expectations and perceptions of your company and its products are influenced all along the continuum from pre-sales marketing to purchase to actual product experience.

Customer Disillusionment

Customers can be disillusioned anywhere along the way. If you lose them before the sale, you may never know. However, if you lose them after the sale because they weren’t satisfied with your product, you should be able to measure that via repeat purchases and return customers.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction often hinges on the product matching their expectations. Consistency is the key. If the story you told up-front doesn’t match the actual product, customers will be upset. Does your product match the marketing?

First Impressions Aren’t Enough

However, the first impression of your product isn’t the only thing that matters. If the first use of your product is great but the rest isn’t, customers can still be dissatisfied.

You need to make sure your product or service is good to the end. What is the end? Well, that depends on your product.

Are you good to the end?

Let’s look at an analogy. This is a tale of two desserts. The first is a shake from Sonic Drive-in. The second is that of a similar ice cream Blizzard from Dairy Queen.

The last ice cream shake I got from Sonic was great when I started eating it. It more or less matched the pretty picture on the menu and I was happy. However, as I got to the bottom, all that was left was plain vanilla ice cream. The shake hadn’t been mixed thoroughly and at the end I was no longer eating a shake but rather plain boring ice cream. That Sonic shake didn’t end on a good note and my last impression is the one that remains: disappointment.

The last Dairy Queen Blizzard that I had, on the other hand, was consistently well mixed and was good to the last drop. There were no surprises at the end to spoil my satisfaction. The Blizzard matched the marketing message I heard up front. Not just on the surface, but completely and totally.

Is your product like the Sonic shake or the Blizzard I encountered? Your product needs to be great both on the surface and continue to deliver on its promises throughout the customer experience.

Providing a solid and positive encounter through the customer life cycle, from marketing to first impression to user experience, will generate not only revenue but also return customers.