As bricks and mortar increasingly give way to virtual organizations, more and more interactions with customers are taking place via the telephone and the Web. Some organizations apparently believe that while good customer service principles might apply to face-to-face interactions, they don’t apply to phone and internet interactions. Wrong. They do apply. Everyone has gotten lost in the phone directory maze of “press 1 for this, press 2 for that,” and when (or if) we finally get to a live person, that person comes across as indifferent or rushed (probably because they’re held accountable for call volume only). Most of us have also given up on trying to navigate some Websites, let alone trying to get a response via a Web inquiry.

Not long ago,  I set about the daunting task of going through my emails and unsubscribing to those that I don’t find useful, relevant, or simply don’t have time for.  I receive close to 135 emails daily, so I perform this task every few weeks.

Most of the emails are very easy to unsubscribe from.  They have a link that automatically unsubscribed me with a note telling me they were sorry to see me go.  I thought that was a nice touch that added to the customer experience.  I always say – the last impression is just as important as the first impression.

Parature announced their 2010 webinar series on customer service:

The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence (PAST)
Date: January 20, 2010 – 2:00pm EST
Presenter: Robert Spector – Bestselling Author of The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence

Getting Your Worst Customers to Love You: True Tales from the Front Lines of Customer Support
Date: February 24, 2010 – 2:00pm EST
Presenter: Rich Gallagher – Bestselling Author and Communications Skills Expert

Yesterday evening my anti-virus software went crazy. It started finding viruses all over my netbook. After several hours of banging my head against our kitchen table, with no success in cleaning up the problem, I turned to my good friend Google for help. There I discovered (to my great relief) that there was no virus on my computer. Instead, my anti-virus software had a problem.

I learned this because millions of others were having the same experience. Because many of them were discussing it online I was able to conclude that it was a software malfunction that would soon be fixed by the software vendor.

What I find shockingly sad is

One of the principles of Amazing Customer Service is to talk with your customers. So I do this. Since my customers and readers are all over I often do this via email. I always find this one of the most enjoyable aspect of my work.

But as I have connected with more of my readers recently I have been amazed at just how global they are. So I did some analysis. At last count my newsletter subscribers are from 48 countries that include every continent except Antarctica.

Here are the top 10 countries my newsletter readers come from along with the percentage of my subscribers from that country:

Recently I read an article by Steve Strauss.  I’ve read a lot of Steve’s columns and I (mostly) like what he says.  But not always.  In this article Steve says several things with which I would quibble.

In a recent report published by Forrester, AOL earned the top score among the USA’s largest Internet Service Providers. This seems like something to crow about until you look at the details, as Larry Dignan (of ZDNet) did. What he found took most of the air out of AOL’s sails.

AOL did in fact have the highest score in the report. But that’s like bragging about hitting the longest shot at your local putt-putt golf course. AOL’s score of 71 gave it a highly coveted “okay” ranking in Forrester’s Customer Experience Index. Verizon earned a “poor” rating and Comcast and Charter trailed the pack in the “very poor” range.

“Good” and “excellent” rankings were nowhere to be found in this industry segment.

I doubt this surprises many of us. The last time I requested help from Comcast through their regular channels I never heard back from them. If they didn’t have Frank Eliason and his team monitoring Twitter then I would have no idea how to get help from Comcast.

Many of us early adopters have experienced the power of Twitter as a customer service tool.  Whether you just want to rant or you’re looking for results, Twitter has proven a useful tool for customers and companies who want to communicate better.

Now, Salesforce.com has added legitimacy to the concept of Twitter as a customer service tool. By integrating Twitter into their online customer management platform, they are helping position Twitter as a business tool that has tangible value.  It’s not just for fun anymore!

Companies like Zappos and Comcast have done a good job using Twitter to talk with their customers. That alone makes Twitter a wonder since Zappos and Comcast couldn’t be more different in terms of the customer experience they deliver and the relationship they have with their customers. Zappos has used Twitter to continue to engage their customers and build an increasingly loyal fan base. While Comcast has used Twitter as a customer service safety net, a back channel for service when the normal channels fail.

The Internet has given us an ability to connect with others like we couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago. It’s taken Word of Mouth to new levels. It’s made it possible for anyone to create an effective promotional campaign using free technology and their own creativity and knowledge.

So, the question gets asked (this time, by MIMA) where does content start and where does marketing begin?

Once again, the ‘Net is abuzz with chatter about a hot new mobile phone product from a well-respected industry giant. But this time the product has already been launched and is in use by millions of Apple fans. Trouble is some of those fans are thinking less well of their good old friend Apple these days. You’d think Apple had begun ransacking small, defenseless villages from the uproar. All they did was lower their prices for crying out loud. In fact their price drop was really no more traumatic than you see in the rest of the mobile phone world. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is, Apple should know better. They should know better because their loyal legions of fan-like customers expect better. Apple is not like most companies. Apple has fans. Apple has friends. Apple has unpaid armies of promoters who love the company. They love the company because of what the company produces and because of how it behaves. Apple is a cool company that is very good to its customers. It’s a shining example of how a very large international company can create and develop personal, almost intimate relationships with millions of people. As a result, Apple’s customers treat the company well. Their loyalty is legendary. It’s envied by organizations small and large on every continent (with the possible exception of Antarctica). So, when Apple does something like this and it rankles enough of their customers, they hear about it. And it hurts their brand. The big question is, how does this affect Apple and what should they do about it? Let’s apply this situation to the Smart Marketing Formula and see what we find. Remember the formula is: