WebProNews

Category: CustomerExperienceNews

Articles about improving customer experience

  • Apps Can Help You Positively Connect With Customers

    People love their apps. Studies show that 70% of mobile users have over ten apps. Some peole have over 50.

    How can this benefit you as a business person? If you represent a company, over half of your customers are likely to have an app to do business with you. And if you don’t have an app for them, you’re going to be in the dark on this growing market segment.

    App service impacts your brand. 72% of customers have a more positive view of a company if they have an app. 45% have an app because it’s more convenient. And people won’t forget how your app helped them. 81% of people use social media and word of mouth to spread their positive app experience.

    And don’t think you can rest once you get your app out there. It can always be improved. Connectivity to a live agent is the number one way to get people to use your app more often.

  • Netflix Separates DVD and Streaming Customers

    It looks like Netflix might be planning to split their online streaming service and their DVD mail order in two separate business entities after all. Current users will notice that content, including reviews and site searches, have been made completely separate. In other words, if they don’t stream the movie you search for, it won’t even appear in the search results.

    Reviewers and fans searching for recommendations based on what they know they like could find this change frustrating. On the other hand, I like that movies and television shows which are not available, don’t even show up. It avoids the confusion of trying to figure out why it won’t play.

    There is no official word that these two services are becoming two different businesses yet, but it could be coming. As you may remember, Netflix was planning to take that plunge last year, but nothing ever came of it. I’ll be watching to see what happens with Netflix in the coming weeks. We’ll keep you updated.

    In the meantime, here’s what people on Twitter have to say about the changes on Netflix:

    @keithprime
    Keith R. Harden    Wow, this is incredibly shortsighted. >> Netflix is following through on those Qwikster plans after all http://t.co/U5rDe6Je 1 day ago via feedly ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @jaynawallace
    Jayna Wallace    Wait, what?

    @BrianSetaro
    Brian Setaro    Sneaky Sneaky…..Netflix is following through on those Qwikster plans after all | VentureBeat: http://t.co/xsC5hkIF 1 day ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @charliesheets
    Charlie Sheets    Netflix separates DVD and instant catalogs, distancing the two services for users http://t.co/CDDr5b4R 1 day ago via Reeder ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @joshuatopolsky
    Joshua Topolsky    Qwikster lives? Netflix separates DVD and instant catalogs, distancing the two services for users http://t.co/5ENB1S0I 1 day ago via Tweet Button ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @mikepinkerton
    Mike Pinkerton    Bad user experience : Netflix Further Separates DVD-only and and Streaming-only Accounts http://t.co/9iEMnILf 4 hours ago via Reeder ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @LoreleiDoom
    Lorelei Harbinger    @Netflix further demonstrates that they don’t understand their own business. http://t.co/TG3Is9TB 9 hours ago via LauncherPro ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    @jstncwlcx
    JW    I have stood by @netflix through it all?I’ve defended it through all the stupid little squabbles. But this is dumb http://t.co/tr9B2IYi 2 hours ago via YoruFukurou ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Social Customer Service Becoming More Widely Used

    More and more, when a consumer has a problem they are turning to the internet and looking for answers in the avenues of social customer service. If you haven’t heard of social customer service, just think back to the last time you had a problem with iTunes or couldn’t figure out how to create a filter for your Gmail and, instead of pouring through FAQs and help files, you instead just posted to Facebook or Twitter to ask other people.

    That type of resolution would be considered social customer service.

    This trend of relying on social media is predictably attributable to the increasingly internet-dependent youth, but the shift away from the traditional modes of customer service isn’t limited to that group only. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 adults 45-to-54 years old asked about a problem on a Q&A site and over 1 in 4 adults 35-to-44 year-olds said they’ve watched a video tutorial on Youtube or a company website.

    Honestly, who can blame anybody for turning to the internet as the first-response method to solving a customer service problem? Nobody wants to dig through an owner’s manual, locate a corporate hotline, and then go through a vexing menu of automated recordings only to finally talk to a living-and-breathing customer service rep just to be put on hold. Resorting to the internet’s brand of semi-self-help social customer service is usually a faster and likely easier way to locate a good answer since some of the people you’d be asking are those who have experienced the very problem you’re looking to solve.

    Or, if you can’t solve the problem, of course the internet is the best basket available to slam your complaints into. 20% admitted to using the internet to vent, and that number went up to 36% when limited to those under 25 years old.

    Social customer service isn’t necessarily replacing traditional means of customer service, though; more, it’s an additional channel to help consumers remedy an issue. To illustrate the shift in customer service, Our Social Times put together an infographic using recent consumer data that point to evolving habits of of the 2012 consumer.


    To see a larger version of the above infographic, click here.

  • Amazon, Apple Enjoy Some Pretty High Customer Loyalty

    People appear to be really happy with Apple’s iPad/iPhones/iEverythings while Amazon.com has kept customers plump with satisfaction with Kindle offerings (and the copious amounts of other Stuff you can buy from the site), according to the results of a new customer satisfaction survey. Satmetrix, a reputable customer loyalty fever-taker, released their 2012 Net Promoter Industry Benchmarks report today that assesses the quality of service provided by companies in a range of industries, ranging from hospitality to travel to financial services.

    The report is based on survey responses from consumers across the United States who rate their experience with the primary brands they use. Companies receive a Net Promoter Score, or NPS, based on customers’ likelihood to recommend the brand. The NPS is calculated as the percentage of customers who recommend the brand by rating the company 9 or 10 on a 0-to-10 point scale, minus the percentage who are detractors and give a rating of 6 or lower. Consumers also rate each brand on various aspects of customer experience, including product or service features, customer service, and overall value.

    Apple took the taco in the technology sector, scoring an NPS of 71% for its computer hardware sector while it also netted a score of 68% for its consumer software applications.

    Meanwhile, Amazon.com emerged as the leader in online services (and was the second-highest rated company of all brands included in the overall study) by scoring 76%. Google, a company that is synonymous with online search, scored an NPS of 56%. That Google would receive a low-ish rating and still emerge as the top online search site isn’t entirely surprising since, if comScore’s monthly rankings demonstrate anything, that isn’t merely a choice for how to search the internet but it is how you search the internet. What’s more incredible about barely one of every two Google users recommending the search company is that Google somehow still manages to dominate the market. It’s as if people simply don’t know that there are other options.

    Facebook, however, took a plunge with their NPS score of 31% as it lost 21 points compared to the company’s benchmark from last year. Such a dreary outlook from Facebook’s consumers must cast a pall on all that optimism leading into the social network becoming a publicly traded company later this spring. Maybe people really aren’t all that wild about being inundated with ads and insignificant updates about who-read-what-and-where.

  • Public Utilities Get Smarter And Give-In To Customers

    A new report by Pike Research shows that customers have been increasing their demand for communication with public utility providers via social networking. It is estimated that about 57 million customers engaged their providers via social networking in 2011, and experts predict the number will reach 624 million by the end of 2017. More and more customers are using social media to help resolve issues and gather information. As many of you may know, contacting any utility provider over the phone can be time consuming and frustrating so this trend makes good sense. We are all busy, who wants to spend 45 minutes on the phone with the electric company going through menus and pre-recorded messages?

    Senior Analyst at Pike Research, Neil Strother comments on the Phenomenon:

    “For many people social media has emerged as a useful way to engage with their utilities, and somewhat surprisingly these customers are doing so on a fairly frequent basis, as our survey data shows,”

    “Most of these customers are younger adults under 30 who have embraced social media as their preferred communication tool. Utility managers should have some strategy in place for listening to and engaging with customers via these newer channels like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.”

    The research comes from responses of over 1000 users polled via an online survey in fall 2011. Over 80% of the people who reported using social media to resolve issue regarding utility providers were under the age of 30. Not a big surprise. Younger people view the business world much differently than our older peers who have experienced more of life without social networking and internet communication. We demand results faster and see limited use for antiquated phone menus and outdated forms or procedures.

    Essentially social media has the potential to make real-time interaction between customer and provider more likely. This can represent a huge opportunity for those in the business to entice new customers, go above and beyond for existing customers and ultimately re-shape the industry as we know it. Interestingly, positive comments on social networking sites about utility providers outrank negative ones by more than two (25.7%) to one (11%).

    So as this trend continues to grow we should expect utility providers to become more customer friendly and more accessible. I for one would be happy to not wait on hold any longer listening to long drawn-out messages and navigating menus that never seem to take me where I want to go. It seems like it’s damn near impossible to reach a real person at any of these companies anymore. I’m ready for a change now.

  • Groupon VIP: Would You Pay $30 A Year For A Better Groupon Experience?

    Groupon is launching a new premium service for its “best customers” called Groupon VIP. Basically it just gives users access to deals early and later after they’ve expired for everyone else. It costs $30 a year .

    BusinessInsider has a screen cap of an email from CEO Andrew Mason introducing the program. It says:

    I’m excited to tell you about our newest innovation – we’re calling it Groupon VIP. We got here by asking our customers, “If you could wave a magic wand over Groupon, what would you change?”

    Three ideas came up again and again, so we built the VIP program around them:

    – Book First: Get early access to deals and first dibs on making reservations.

    – Buy Past Deals: Get exclusive access to our Deal Vault to grab previously closed and sold-out deals.

    – Anytime Refunds: Swap any deal for Groupon Bucks — even after it’s expired.

    That’s Groupon VIP in a nutshell.

    Because you’re one of our best customers, I want you to be among the first to give VIP a try. Membership is only $29.99/year, but you’re invited to take it for a spin with a 3-month trial on us. If you don’t love it, just cancel.

    Groupon is doing more to make the experience better for non-VIP members too. For example, they’re testing a system to make deals more personalized and relevant to users.

  • Papa John’s Employee Prints Racial Slur, Hands It To Customer

    Famed drag racer Tom McEwen once said, “It doesn’t matter what they say about you as long as they spell your name right.”

    I’m not sure Papa John Schnatter agrees. He doesn’t want bad press. And he doesn’t want his employees playing fast and loose with customers’ names either.

    On January 6, Minhee Cho ordered from Papa Johns walked into Papa John’s in NYC. Upon receiving her order, she also got a receipt. Which she photogtraphed. And tweeted.

    Minhee Cho never meant to set off a fire storm. She doesn’t want a lot of attention and calls. She just wanted her friends to know how she had been treated. But, the whole thing took off on its own.

    Papa John’s apologized:

    “This act goes against our company values, and we’ve confirmed with the franchisee that this matter was addressed immediately and that the employee is being terminated,” the pizza company said. “We are truly sorry for this customer’s experience.”

  • Amazon Wins at Online Customer Service, Everyone Piles On Netflix

    Which company has the best online customer service? What about the worst? While the names will not surprise you, the level of satisfaction provided may very well.

    Findings from a recent study conducted by ForeSee, a “customer experience analytics firm,” aimed to measure which retailer offered the best and worst in regards to customer satisfaction during the 2011 holiday shopping season. Termed the “Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index,” the results within offer a clear picture about which company gets customer service right and which ones get it wrong.

    The data contained in the results is revealing in the sense of discovering which retailers take care of their customers and vice versa. ForeSee’s results show Amazon as the leader in customer satisfaction, and Overstock.com as the worst, which does not demonstrate a large amount of change from 2010’s results. Amazon was also the first place company in 2010, while Overstock.com ranked near the bottom.

    Nothing new here, so far; however, once you take a look at the way Netflix was singled out, it’s almost as if the desire to see Netflix fail exists in reporting of these results.

    First off, it should be noted that Netflix took the biggest hit in regards to customer satisfaction, dropping seven spots to the 19th ranked company — out of 40 retailers. That, apparently, was all that was needed to open the floodgates towards Netflix and let all the negativity out. Even ForeSee’s CEO jumped in on the fun:

    “Netflix totally misread its customer base and is paying the price, damaging its brand among both consumers and investors,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee. “Raising prices by 60% and splitting the baby into separate DVD and streaming services totally undermines Netflix’s cost and convenience advantages. Customer satisfaction is predictive, which means that Netflix’s financial woes may be just beginning.”

    That’s all fine and good. The problem lies in the fact the results were supposed to be dealing with holiday retail, not Netflix’s year in review. Now, Freed does make valid points about why satisfaction concerning Netflix dropped, but I doubt the results were based on a holiday retail interaction with Netflix.

    Instead, the points come across as simple backlash against Netflix’s business model alterations.

    Considering the study was supposed to be focusing on the just-passed holiday season, Netflix’s overall performance during their tumultuous 2011 should be immaterial to the results. Instead, it appears as if respondents took the opportunity to once again air their grievances with Netflix’s policy changes. It wasn’t just in ForeSee’s press release, either. Various publications took the opportunity to single the movie rental company out.

    Meanwhile, Blockbuster.com ranks far, far below Netflix, coming in just a few spots above Overstock.com, but yet, where are the articles blasting Blockbuster? Or OfficeMax.com and OfficeDepot.com? What about Sears.com and ToysRUs.com? All of these entities also rank below Netflix in terms of customer satisfaction, but yet, Netflix is being made out to be the worst offender. The largest decrease from last year to this? Yes, but the worst in regards to customer service?

    Not even close.

    The fact is, it appears as if Netflix is at least weathering the storm and the customer satisfaction rates are improving, at least according to a different survey. Considering the fact the holiday season satisfaction was being measured, does Netflix even fit in that category? How many of you gave the gift of Netflix this year?

    Let us know what you think.

  • GoDaddy Experiences Massive SOPA Backlash

    GoDaddy Experiences Massive SOPA Backlash

    So, what’s worse? Bad PR due to the perhaps unnecessary killing of a wild elephant or a mass exodus due to supporting one of the most combative pieces of legislation to address the Internet, perhaps ever?

    News of GoDaddy’s support of SOPA hit its crescendo over the Christmas weekend, spurred on by Jimmy Wales’ announcement of his intentions to move Wikipedia’s domain away from GoDaddy’s service:

    @jimmy_wales
    Jimmy Wales    I am proud to announce that the Wikipedia domain names will move away from GoDaddy. Their position on #sopa is unacceptable to us. 3 days ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    From there, the exodus from GoDaddy began in earnest. All told, the registrar service lost over 70,000 domains, and that’s when the backtracking and double talk began. Of course, when large portions of the Internet population are speaking out against your service on sites like Reddit, and there’s a “Boycott GoDaddy” site getting attention, it’s hard not to respond, unless recent GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons enjoys watching his flock flee.

    And flee they did. In fact, one of GoDaddy’s competitors, Namecheap, wrote a blog post discussing how GoDaddy was not facilitating the transfer process by returning “incomplete WHOIS information,” an accusation the domain registrar denied in a statement to CNet, which, in part, says:

    Because some registrars (and other data gathering, analyzing and reporting entities) have legitimate need for heavy port 43 access, we routinely grant requests for expanded access per an SOP we’ve had in place for many years. Should we make contact with Namecheap, and learn they need similar access, we would treat that request similarly.

    However, GoDaddy’s handling of transferring domains was not the issue at hand. Instead, the company’s support of SOPA/PIPA was the driving force behind the defections. So much so, in fact, GoDaddy issued a press release saying they no longer supported SOPA — conveniently leaving out PIPA — as they tried to reverse the course many of their ex-customers were taking.

    The release is complete with a “please don’t go” feel:

    “Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation – but we can clearly do better,” Warren Adelman, Go Daddy’s newly appointed CEO, said. “It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.”

    Considering GoDaddy was potentially exempt from SOPA’s punitive actions, it’s clear GoDaddy’s SOPA reversal is motivated by business, or the loss thereof.

    Was your domain registered through GoDaddy’s service? Does their previous (wink, wink) support of SOPA/PIPA inspire you to leave GoDaddy? Let us know what you think.

  • For Businesses, Twitter Interaction With Customers Pays Off

    For companies, there are plenty of reasons to maintain an active Twitter presence. Once you establish yourself on the network and begin to accumulate followers, you can use it for publicity purposes – to give your customers news and information on products, services and everything that’s going on with your business. You can also use Twitter to promote contests or deals in real-time.

    But Twitter isn’t one-sided, and it’s not a pulpit. And those companies that make the best use of Twitter are the ones that use it to interact with customers, more specifically, respond to customer complaints.

    But according to research from Maritz research company evolve24, not all companies are engaging in a dialogue with their customers on Twitter.

    evolve24 surveyed 1,298 U.S. consumers that were identified as active Twitter users who use the service to address complaints they have with companies and their products/services. Less that one-third (29%) said that they received a response from the company on Twitter regarding their complaint.

    49% of those surveyed said that they “expected” the company to read their tweet. And the older the respondent was, the more they expected the company to read the tweet.

    Out of those that received a response tweet from the company, a whopping 83% said that they either liked or loved hearing from them. And beyond that, nearly two-thirds said they were at least somewhat satisfied with the company’s response.

    Of those surveyed that failed to get a response to their complaint tweet, 86% said that they would have liked or loved to hear from the company. 63% said that they would not like it if the company responded to their complaint tweet with something that didn’t pertain to the complaint.

    It looks like the moral of the story here is that people respond extremely well when a company takes the time to respond to a complaint on Twitter – and not enough companies are utilizing this weapon. When people are upset about the way they have been treated by a company or dissatisfied with a product or service, they are already in a bad mood. When a company fails to respond to a complaint on Twitter it will just exacerbate the situation (especially for those who have the expectation of a response).

    And it’s amazing how satisfied the respondents were with the companies’ responses. 140 characters seem to go a long way.

    Of course, it’s not feasible for large companies to respond to every complaint directed towards them on Twitter. Take Coca Cola for instance. In the past few days, their Twitter strategy has seen them respond to dozens of positive mentions. Here’s one of the only responses to a semi-negative mention in that time frame:

    And even then, Coca Cola didn’t quite respond to the original query and they have yet to follow up on his followup.

    Here are a couple of examples of businesses responding effectively to Twitter complaints –

    If you’re a smaller business, it would appear that is in your best interest to not only maintain a Twitter presence, but actively respond to customer problems using the platform.

    And as your Twitter presence grows, and you get more and more followers, the volume of complaints will inevitably grow. But the chance to make a customer’s experience a little better with 140 characters or less will grow as well.

  • Will iPads Lead to Better Customer Service?

    Will iPads Lead to Better Customer Service?

    British Airways “revolutionises customer service using iPads,” says a BA press release on August 17 about a service trial that got quite a bit of attention this week.

    baplaneinflight

    The airline says it’s trialling  iPads with 100 cabin crew to enable them to improve the service they give to passengers by, for instance, quickly identifying where they are seated, who they are travelling with, their Executive Club (frequent flyer programme) status and any special meal requests.

    […] It gives cabin crew a whole library of information at their fingertips including timetables, safety manuals and customer service updates. It also means any issues can be logged with ground-based colleagues around the network prior to departure so solutions can be delivered while the flight is airborne.

    […] Bill Francis, British Airways’ head of inflight customer experience, said: “The iPad is already allowing us to offer a more personalised onboard service, but the possibilities for future development are endless. We’re receiving great feedback from cabin crew and customers already.  It allows the crew to offer the thoughtful service they want to deliver and customers are treated as valued guests.”

    BA says it plans to roll out iPads to all senior cabin crew across the airline in the coming months.

    It’s the latest news about airlines and iPads. Earlier this week, news came that Delta Airlines in the US is trialling iPads with 22 pilots to provide them with digital content to replace the reams of paper manuals and maps they have to use. In June, Alaska Airlines said it was testing iPads with some of its pilots.

    Will a tool like this actually “revolutionize” customer service as BA says, I wonder, as opposed to allowing its pilots to fly better or reducing aircraft weight by getting rids of loads of paper. Reading how BA explains it, I’d like to think it definitely would:

    […] When all the passengers have boarded and just before the doors are shut, cabin crew are currently handed a long scroll of paper, listing up to 337 customers. With the new iPads cabin crew will simply refresh their screen when the doors have closed through wireless 3G networks and they will have a complete list of passengers on board.

    If that means that, one day, I can expect genuine personal attention from someone who will know a lot about my wishes and preferences, than I’d happily agree with BA’s superlative.

    googleplus-sm“Revolutionize” is an interesting thought, though, that some others have as well judging from the comments to my Google+ post about this.

    Armin Grewe expressed some major scepticism:

    Revolutionizing customer service”? Sheesh, all it really does is replacing paper by a fancy tool. That’s not exactly “revolutionizing” in my books. Yes, it might improve it a bit and make a few things a bit easier/quicker/nicer, but as long as that’s all I don’t really see it changing that much. It’s just PR language, meaningless blurb. Same as everything for Steve Jobs is “magical”. Or “amazing”.

    Jay Gilmore, doesn’t think tools nor rules make better customer service:

    […] What they are doing in this case is creating a way to automate and improve the customer experience through better personalization. Attitude and employee culture will dictate whether or not the service is any better regardless of the system.

    Bernie Goldbach was practical:

    Those iPads won’t help planes take off on time.

    Paul Fabretti:

    So revolutionised might sound sensational, but if the objective is to provide a better service, then why couldn’t the availability of more information truly revolutionise what BA do? Staff can be updated more readily with issues around baggage, weather, connections, delays, customers could log concerns or problems AHEAD of the flights and problems be resolved by the time they land.

    (I agree, Paul, but I think what you’ve outlined is definitely aspirational rather than something that will happen as a result of this current trial.)

    Alan Redman says that tools alone won’t improve customer service:

    […] it’s saying “our decision to help streamline information using iPads gives us the potential for better customer service.” The streamlining will create less confusion, thus simplifying the jobs of the flight attendants allowing them to focus more on the passenger. Basically, if someone is good at their job, better tools will make for better service, if someone is bad at their job or just doesn’t care, nothing is going to change that.

    Great points of view, thanks to all who contributed. (Do you have a view? Add it here or at Google+.)

    The question remains: Will iPads lead to better customer service? British Airways and many others are trying to figure that one out.

    [Later] When I was writing this post, I wanted to include a photo of a BA cabin crew member greeting a customer or some such activity. So I started with a simple Google search for “british airways cabin crew.” I qualified the search by selecting sites with images.

    Lots of results with some great photos. But most were related to media reports and other online content about BA cabin crew strikes earlier this year and last. Totally not the context I wanted when I provided attribution for a photo and link to the place it was published.

    Part of the PR landscape, I suppose, but a nightmare to manage, don’t you think? Indeed, can you actually manage such a negative and reputation-damaging landscape?

    (I also posted this question on Google+.)

    Check out NevilleHobson.com for more articles by Neville Hobson.

  • Should Netflix Be Worried About Losing Customers?

    During the first half of the year, things were looking really good for Netflix subscribers. The company made announcements like: “Miramax Content Deal,” “More MTV Content,” “Glee Available to Watch Instantly,” “More Anime Coming to Netflix,” “Marvel Content Coming to Netflix,” and “Netflix Launch on Android.” The company was making deals to bring users more streaming content, and making it available on more devices. It even announced forthcoming exclusive content with House of Cards, which would presumably be just the beginning.

    Is Netflix headed in the right direction? Share your thoughts in the comments.

    Their streaming catalog has certainly improved a great deal over the past year or so. No question. It’s got a long way to go to match their DVD catalog, but the company has certainly given people more reasons to use its streaming service.

    In June, the announcements were things like: “New Look and Feel for the Netflix Website,” and “Temporary Removal of Sony Movies through StarzPlay.” In July, while the company did announce expansion into Latin America, came the big announcement of price changes, where members signed up for the popular unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs (one at a time) plan have to pay 60% more to keep the same service (which is actually turning into two separate plans).

    Backing up to June, the Netflix redesign turned into a PR nightmare on its own. Though Steve Swasey, VP of Corporate Communications was quoted as saying, “We know the vast, vast majority of people like this,” regarding the design changes, it was clear by reading comments all over the web that if that was indeed the case, the vast, vast majority wasn’t speaking up nearly as much as those that loathed or even slightly disliked the design.

    It didn’t take long for users to max out the comments section of Netflix’s original announcement, mostly with harsh criticism of the design changes. We ran several stories related to the design here at WebProNews and received hundreds more. The comments on the removal of Sony movies reached into the thousands as well, though many of them were simply more complaints about that redesign.

    Just before Netflix announced the price hike, they did cave a little bit on some of the complaints about the design. They said they’d bring sortable lists back. Then they dropped the price bomb effectively smashing what little love that may have earned back from the users who were upset about that.

    Of course when Netflix announced the price hike, the negative comments poured in again on Netflix’s blog, once again maxing out. Again, we got hundreds more on our own coverage. Any guesses as to how many comments their Facebook update about it got?

    Just shy of 80,000.

    Of course Netflix knew there would be plenty of backlash. According to CNET, they had extra customer service reps working when they announced it. “We knew what the reaction would be,” Swasey told the publication. “We are not surprised. We knew that there would be some people upset by the service and with the price being adjusted.”

    Since then, Netflix has just been pushing on, likely hoping the fury would die down.

    This past week, Netflix announced that its Android app could support more devices, as previously it had only supported a few. Now it supports 22. The reviews for the app are overwhelmingly positive. At the time of this writing, it has 32,072 five-star ratings and 6,921 four-star ratings. Only 4,882 gave it a one-star rating, and you have to wonder how many of those are just bitter about recent events. Some of them were simply rated low because of the app’s incompatibility with some devices.

    NetflixAndroid abound! You can now instantly stream movies & TV shows from Netflix on-the-go using your HTC Evo 3D, Droid 3, Galaxy S, HTC Thunderbolt, or Motorola Atrix phone — plus many others that are now supported. Check it out in the Android Market http://bit.ly/nfxandroid, and more info on our blog: http://bit.ly/NfxAdrd 1 day ago · 1,482 likes · 1,765 comments

    Of course if you look at the comments on Netflix’s announcement about this, you’ll quickly find more jabs at the company’s decision to raise prices. “Perhaps you should spend more time on keeping current services working instead of setting up new services,” said Mitch Snyder, commenting on the Netflix Facebook post.

    In afternoon trading on the day before the price hike was announced, Netflix stock was priced at 290.15. At the time of this writing, though up from yesterday, is still down at 277.30.

    Many users have said they’d quit the service. They were saying that before the price hikes even – just because of the redesign. Many more indicated they would do so after the price announcement. An outage last weekend probably didn’t help too much, though Netflix is crediting 3% of users’ bill for the inconvenience.

    “Netflix’s July 12th price change announcement hammered the company’s consumer perception down below its competitors where it still remains today,” a representative for YouGov BrandIndex tells WebProNews. “Two weeks after the Netflix price structure notice on DVD rentals and streaming, the Los Gatos-based company saw its consumer perception with adults sink rapidly below competitors Redbox, DirecTV and even bottom-score dweller Blockbuster, which resides in widely-held negative opinion territory.”

    “The brand which seems to have benefited the most appears to be kiosk-based rental chain Redbox, whose perception has moved from a virtual tie with DirecTV to pulling away to higher positive score numbers.”

    YouGov BrandIndex Data

    What should Netflix do to help its brand perception? Tell us what you think.

  • Comcast Customers to Get HD Skype Video Calls From Their TVs

    Comcast and Skype have joined forces to bring customers HD video calling on their TVs. The two companies have entered a strategic partnership, which will allow Comcast customers to communicate with their friends and family through their TV via HD video calls, whether their friends and family are using Skype on their own TVs or on PCS, smartphones or tablets.

    Even better, it will be available in HD widescreen. Customers will be able to:

    • Make and receive Skype video and audio calls, or send instant messages via Skype on a television while watching their favorite TV show at the same time, and accept incoming calls during a TV show with the help of Caller ID.
    • Make and receive video and audio calls, or send instant messages via Skype on a compatible mobile phone or tablet.
    • Import friends to their address book from their Facebook, Outlook, Gmail and smartphone contact lists, find them on Skype and see when contacts are online and available to talk.

    @Skype
    Skype    Skype to bring video calling to televisions with Comcast http://cot.ag/kpNhbb 2 hours ago via CoTweet · powered by @socialditto

    “Our unique relationship with Skype not only will change how our customers interact with their TV, but also will create new and meaningful ways to bring our customers closer to the people they care about,” said Comcast Cable President Neil Smit. “TV has evolved into a social experience, and Comcast and Skype will be delivering a product that personalizes the TV experience even more, and brings friends and family together through the biggest screen in their homes.”

    “We are pleased to announce this partnership with Comcast, added Skype CEO Tony Bates. “By combining Comcast’s broad living room reach with Skype’s innovative communications platform and worldwide community of users, we can bring video calling into the heart of the home allowing people to share life’s experiences both big and small.”

    The service will be delivered through an adaptor box, a “high quality” video camera, and a special remote control that lets you text on Skype while you control your TV. The person on the other side doesn’t need any of this special equipment.

    Customers will also be able to use Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile app to access mobile features and engage in conversations.

    Skype says the offering will come in trials at first in the coming months, and then they’ll make additional details available later in the year.

  • Is Verizon Customer Service The Worst Thing Ever?

    Is Verizon Customer Service The Worst Thing Ever?

    To get this out of the way, I am not a disgruntled Verizon customer. I’ve never been a Verizon customer. This is not a personal vendetta being aired because I had to spend 4 hours on the phone with Verizon customer service or something like that. This is actually just the product of a down-the-rabbit-hole internet search.

    Let me explain.

    I saw this tweet from GigaOM founder Om Malik a few hours ago:

    @om
    Om Malik    dear verizon when offering online payment please ensure that your system is not idiotic and actually works. thanks 5 hours ago via Twitter for Mac · powered by @socialditto

    It made me laugh, and I thought about one of my friend’s horror stories about dealing with Verizon. His story didn’t involve online bill pay, but actually his dealings with a customer service rep who was, well, less than helpful. Okay, there are going to be bad apples in every company, you can’t single out Verizon, right?

    So after seeing Malik’s tweet, I searched Twitter for Verizon customer service. Every tweet I saw (and there were plenty of them) was discussing how much they hated Verizon customer service. I took a screencap because it was just so damn funny:

    So that got me Googling. Do you know how many sites there are devoted to the fact that Verizon customer service sucks? The answer is quite a few. The most popular seems to be verizarape.com, who is averaging multiple horror stories posted a day. Some of the latest: “I am crying after talking to Verizon rep,” “CRAPPY CUSTOMER SERVICE,” and “Verizon Robbery without a gun.”

    Dave, who runs VerizaRape says on the home page, “I have never met a Verizon customer who has not had a negative experience when dealing with this company.” He has bought up the domains verizonsucks.us, verizonsux.com and ihateverizon.com.

    Then there is another Verizon horror story site, verizonpathetic.com. It asks you to “post your pain” and says that it serves as a “forum for dissatisfied customers to voice their frustrations.”

    And of course there’s a plethora of posts like “lied to” and “absolutely the worst service ever” on sites like my3cents.com and eopinions.com. See what I mean about the rabbit hole aspect of this?

    But okay, it can’t just be Verizon, I said to myself. Customer Service from any company is frustrating. And it’s unlikely that anyone would take to Twitter to voice their story of just how helpful a company’s customer reps are, right?

    Well, take for instance Sprint. A chuck of the recent tweets rolling in about their customer service is almost mixed when it comes to feedback. Sure, some people say it sucks and they had a horrible experience, but there are way more positive tweets about Sprint, compared to the lack of anything positive about Verizon that I saw:

    And AT&T resided somewhere between Verizon and Sprint. Some positives, but not as many as with Sprint. And there are plenty of posts on message boards and forums about AT&T customers reporting bad service. But attsucks.com isn’t registered. Neither is atandtsucks, or attsux. Most every combination I can think of for Verizon is registered, even f*ckverizon.com.

    But in reality, won’t most people always be dissapointed by customer service? If you’re having to enlist their help, there’s most likely already something wrong – so you’re already in a bad mood. Like this guy, for instance – we are all just in a vicious cycle I fear:

    @Chrisrglenn
    Chrisrglenn    AT&T has terrible customer service, why do I waste my time and money with them. Gotta look into Verizon… 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    Here’s the question though: Does venting on Twitter help? Can making your anger public have a positive effect? It would seem so, because the Twitter traffic on the subject is pretty high.

    What are your customer service experiences? Who has the best, in your opinion..and who has the worst? Let us know in the comments.

  • Dell Responds To Poor Customer Service Bomb

    Dell Responds To Poor Customer Service Bomb

    How can you not love the viral power of the Internet? Besides all the silly memes, troll faces, LOL Cats and weird videos, said power is also responsible for creating ripple effects throughout whatever industry is being targeted. Just ask Dell, who, after the much-discussed blog post by an apparent corporate adviser named Bill, finds themselves in the position of issuing massive apologies after word about Bill’s not-so-excellent adventure with Dell’s Customer Care program hit the tubes.

    To recap, according to the initial post, Bill, who, among other duties, advises Fortune 500 companies on how to spend their tech budgets, experienced what can only be categorized as a slice of hell after buying a Dell laptop, one that was dead on arrival. Naturally, a level of satisfaction was expected after such a discovery, and, if Bill’s post is to be believed, once he started calling Dell, the misadventures began, all of which were documented in Bill’s post.

    Aside from this publication, Bill’s story also hit other outlets, mainly, The Consumerist, and once that happened, Bill’s story went viral. This includes Bill’s disposition of advising his clients to never buy from Dell again.

    Now that the post has hit the mainstream, Dell finds themselves in a position of having to respond to Bill’s complaints, and according to an update on the post in question, that’s exactly what they did. Twice, in fact. Bill has the details:

    A representative from Dell just called (2:45 PM, Wed Jun 1st). She seemed genuinely concerned about the incident and assured me that they would be looking into it. They also offered 20% off of my next purchase. She also expressed that the call center is made up of Dell employees, it is not outsourced. We spent a couple of short minutes discussing the fact that it would be difficult for them to even track the event, but I did provide multiple phone numbers that they could use to attempt to track the inbound and outbound to and from their center, and explained that they had a serious problem in their ability to keep accurate records without immediately capturing service tag or account numbers. She did express that their was a management committee that would be briefed on the situation and they are always looking for was to improve.

    As well as:

    5:10PM EDT – Another update. Another U.S. Based Dell Rep (from their Social Media department) called me up and apologized again, ensuring me they are working to correct the issue to my satisfaction. They also offered an increased discount.

    While Dell indeed capitulated, it wasn’t enough to change Bill’s stance, something he states quite clearly. Clearly, if Bill had been given such a level of concern when the initial complaints began, it’s doubtful he’d be so anti-Dell. Another point to consider is, why does it take such high-level complaining before satisfaction is provided? Why did Bill have to go through all of his hoops before Dell showed its apologetic side? One hopes issues like Bill’s forces Dell to rethink their customer service policy, at least in terms of satisfying a paying customer.

  • Did Poor Customer Service Doom Dell?

    Did Poor Customer Service Doom Dell?

    The outsourcing of customer service is a topic of much consternation, silly sitcoms be damned. The horror stories of customer service call centers are to numerous to detail here, so much so in fact, it seems people have learned to expect a level of dissatisfaction when dealing with them, especially in regards to the tech sector. So far, most of these stories haven’t had much sway on how customers are serviced. That, however, may be about to change, now that Dell has had to deal with Bill, who, among other duties, advises Fortune 500 companies on how to spend their IT budget.

    It’s safe to say that, after Bill’s atrocious experience with Dell’s Customer Care service, he won’t be recommending these products to the companies he advises ever again. At his blog (via the Consumerist), Bill recounts his Dell customer service with an incredibly detailed post that features phone calls, their duration and the discussions that occurred. To say Bill’s experience with Dell Customer Care was poor is something of an understatement.

    Some history: Bill ordered a laptop from the company in question and when he received it, he discovered he had paid for a very expensive brick instead of a working computer. Naturally, Bill took his complaint to the proper Dell channels, and from there, his adventure began in earnest. In his post, Bill documents each and every phone call he had with Dell Customer Care, and truthfully, it reads like a manual on how not to provide good customer service. Some highlights, with [sic]s intact:

    Wed May 18th – 1 Hour 15 Minutes (Computer troubleshooting)
    Tried to troubleshoot battery, powercords, monitor, hard drive, etc to get the laptop to turn on.

    Thursday, May 19th – 36 Minutes (Call #1)
    Total hold time 32 minutes
    Total time speaking with person 4 minutes
    I call into Dell “Small and Medium Business” support. After a very long wait, I am greated by “Mr.Tom” (from India) I am told that theirsystems are down due to an upgrade and that they cannot help me. Please call back later today. ….. This is just sad, a COMPUTER COMPANY that is doing an upgrade in the middle of the day!

    While this sounds all too typical, Bill’s experience continues with perhaps the funniest aspect, upon reflection:

    Friday, May 20th – 18 Minutes (Call #2)
    Total hold time 11 minutes
    Total talking time 7 Minutes
    I wait till the afternoon and call customer care small and medium business directly. I am greated by another Indian, don’t remember which American sounding name he game himself. I attempt to explain to him the situation, and he literally starts to raise his voice and tells me that I have to call tech support. I explain that I called them and they told me that I had to call customer care. I then ask to speak to a manager. He says “NO”. Then he says, he has to follow procedure, I have to talk to tech support. I say again, “I want to speak to a manager immediately”. He screams “NO” and hangs up the call.

    Does that particular technique appear in the Dell customer service handbook under “how to deal with persistent customers who have legitimate beefs?” Unfortunately for Bill, his excursion continues for over 400 minutes, and it’s filled with FedEx disputes, “managers” who make him wait in silence, apparently hoping Bill would hang up, and finally, the satisfaction Bill initially sought out to begin with. Unfortunately, for Bill to get to this point, he had to endure what should go down has an example of how not to deal with paying customers who aren’t pleased — with legitimate reason, mind you — with their level of service up to this point.

    However, Bill’s ire doesn’t just stop with a blistering blog post. It’s safe to say Dell’s (lack of) service left an impression:

    So, here I am. I have a minimum of 404 Minutes – just shy of 7 hours trying to get my issue resolved adequately. Worse yet, I am still missing a laptop and was not ONCE offered a replacement or asked if I wanted to purchase a new laptop.

    Dell, you really screwed up on this one. Not only is my company a decent spender, I make recommendations to Fortune 500 companies on a regular basis on the best way to allocate their I.T. expenditures. You cannot possibly expect me to recommend you to anyone in the future -this mistake may in fact cost you millions.

    The thought’s closing statement was highlighted in red, just to emphasize the level of dissatisfaction Bill experienced. The question is, will Bill’s ire work like a strong viral marketing campaign, only in reverse? Will his word resonate throughout the business sector he advises or will Dell dodge yet another bullet from the bad customer service gun?

  • Exclusive Interview with Man Who Is Suing Facebook over Customer Support

    In terms of the Internet, calling someone a spammer is about the lowest jab a person can give, especially if the accused denies the claims. David Fagin, an AOL News writer and musician, recently became very familiar with this type of scenario after Facebook accused him of being a spammer.

    Have you ever been falsely accused of spamming others? Please share your story.

    In our exclusive interview with Fagin, he explained that Facebook called him a spammer and blocked him from sending friend requests after he frequently used its friend suggestions feature. This happened not once, but twice. The second time Facebook told him that his account would be deleted if it happened again.

    The social network also had Fagin go through a checklist of boxes to, essentially, admit his guilt, a process he likens to the treatment of a registered sex offender. In an opinion piece on AOL, he wrote, “So tell me, what is the point of a feature that hits you with dozens of friend suggestions every hour, then clamps down on you and treats you like a registered sex offender when you take them up on it?”

    Speaking of the irony in the situation, Fagin called Facebook “hypocritical” and told us, “On one hand, their policy says that everyone should be friends… on the other side, they’re saying nobody should be friends with you if you don’t know them.”

    In an effort to voice his frustration, Fagin attempted to contact Facebook to only learn that the social networking giant doesn’t have any customer support, which is a tad bit surprising.

    “Why are they so afraid, or just completely not interested, in setting up any kind of user feedback or support line?” he asked.

    Although companies like PayPal are known for their support staff, other companies such as Google have been criticized for not having customer support. Google has especially been faulted for its lack of support in its Local area.

    Although Facebook connected with a lawyer that is advising Fagin and said that it wanted to resolve the matter, nothing has happened. After a month of silence, Fagin decided to get Facebook’s attention and sued it for $1. He believes this is a problem that has been ignored for too long.

    “While our policy makers are out there falling all over themselves for photo ops for Mark Zuckerberg and company, they’re not doing anything about the fact that this is a 700 million user community and counting,” he said.

    He went on to say, “They have all our information, they have all our data – they’re using it to make themselves richer than God, and that’s okay with me, as long as you give me some kind of legitimate accountability where I can actually defend myself if you’re accusing me of violating a policy.”

    Fagin hopes that his lawsuit will spark Facebook to take action in its customer service department. He also told us that anyone with an experience similar to his own could email him.

    Do you agree with Fagin and believe Facebook needs to provide a team for customer support?

    Update: Over the weekend, David Fagin also created a Facebook group to further spread the word about Facebook’s need for customer support.