Allow me to paint you a picture...
It's Sunday morning. Actually, scratch that, it's Sunday afternoon when I woke up. I had a pretty rough night watching my Syracuse Orange prematurely end their run for the 2012 NCAA Championship title in the Elite 8. I woke up, and the first thing I wanted, no, needed, was a cup of coffee.
I've been trying to be healthy lately so this would actually be my first cup of coffee in 8 days (I tend to load it up with a lot of milk and sugar - bad, bad, bad,), so to say I was looking forward to this was an understatement. I walk into my kitchen, turn on my Keurig machine, grab a k-cup from on top of my refrigerator to the sounds of it doing it's power up thing, take my favorite "Jesus Shaves" trick mug out of the cupboard, and hear the sounds of the machine heating up. Then...nothing. No sounds. No lights. Nothing.
I do what you do with a modem, or an AT&T iPhone when you don't have service -- unplug, replug, and hope it resets itself.
Nothing.
I can almost hear my body humming, being so close to caffeine...
Once it set into my brain that the machine will not turn on no matter what I do, I immediately ran to the internet. I was steeling myself for what I thought to be the inevitable customer service experience - painful searching for the answers, dozens of minutes on hold, having to figure out how to mail my machine back to the company for them to fix it and calculating just how many weeks it would take to have a working machine. Or worse -- having to wait until Monday to figure this out.
Then the most wonderful thing happened -- I was pleasantly surprised about how unbelievably wrong I was.
My whole problem from beginning to end was fixed in roughly 25 minutes. I always start with a Google search before going to a website. Google knows where the answer to my problem lies without my having to search company websites, and it retrieves the right page more quickly than I ever could. So I start searching for "Why won't my Keurig turn on?" And "Why would a Keurig stop working?" and other such phrases. I was immediately thrown to dozens of sites discussing the same problem I was having and why. (This in and of itself speaks to the need for more companies to realize the value of SEO, but that's another post entirely).
When I got to the Keurig page it was laid out well, easy to use, and the best thing of all? A 7 days a week Customer Service line that when I called it, I was given to a person in no less than a minute. Keep in mind -- it's Sunday! Doesn't that traditionally mean I'll have to wait forever to speak to someone, and then when and if I do, it's most likely going to be someone with a thick accent with a name like, "Alice" or "Steve" who clearly is not an "Alice" or "Steve" and might as well be a robot.
The best part of it all? I spoke with Ryan. Who was from Florida, had never been to New York, was 33, and even told me about a particular unfortunate event in his life when he was 9 in Ohio. He told me all of this, all the while double, triple, and quadruple checking my shipping information to send me a brand new machine. He explained my machine's issue (something about a tube, etc. etc.), and just like that issued me a brand new one (not refurbished - and without my asking for it), that would be here within 7-10 days, and I wouldn't even have to ship back the entire old one (just a small piece). I actually enjoyed the conversation and the process (especially the result).
Now I am sure that not all issues end this way with Keurig and that there was probably some larger factory issue with my machine's make & model. However, I can honestly say that I've never had a more pleasant customer service experience with any other company. It was clear that Keurig takes its customers not only serious, but cares that it's employees are happy enough to have normal, fluid, conversations with the people that call in. I felt like a person -- not someone with another problem that they need to fix, and I can't remember the last time that's happened with a company. It went far beyond the pleasantries. He wasn't trying to rush me off the phone (and if he was, I didn't notice) because he's limited to spending so much time on the phone, or has other calls to get to. It was as if I was the only customer in the world. Heck, maybe I was - it is a Sunday afterall.
Why Does This Matter to a Company?
Whether you're reading this from a customer service standpoint, a community building background, or just in general -- being on the offensive and knowing what will keep users/customers happy will always set you apart from your competition and lead to better Word of Mouth Marketing and higher sales. I was genuinely surprised with Keurig's experience today in the most pleasant way, and the fact that I was surprised, shouldn't be the case.
Ryan loved working for Keurig and it showed (he also mentioned it). He even said that he loved helping people, and I believe him. He mentioned how great his training was too (clearly someone did something right there too).
This whole thing is a real life version of interconnectedness in a company being so unbelievably important. This demonstrated that higher up decisions to train employees well, to value customers, to having a well designed website as an actual resource, and understanding the needs of the customer trickle down to this 1 pleasant experience.
Much like my experiences with Apple and the fact that I'll never stray from them -- I now can add Keurig to my very short list of companies that I will be happy to stay a loyal customer to.
It's Sunday morning. Actually, scratch that, it's Sunday afternoon when I woke up. I had a pretty rough night watching my Syracuse Orange prematurely end their run for the 2012 NCAA Championship title in the Elite 8. I woke up, and the first thing I wanted, no, needed, was a cup of coffee.
I've been trying to be healthy lately so this would actually be my first cup of coffee in 8 days (I tend to load it up with a lot of milk and sugar - bad, bad, bad,), so to say I was looking forward to this was an understatement. I walk into my kitchen, turn on my Keurig machine, grab a k-cup from on top of my refrigerator to the sounds of it doing it's power up thing, take my favorite "Jesus Shaves" trick mug out of the cupboard, and hear the sounds of the machine heating up. Then...nothing. No sounds. No lights. Nothing.
I do what you do with a modem, or an AT&T iPhone when you don't have service -- unplug, replug, and hope it resets itself.
Nothing.
I can almost hear my body humming, being so close to caffeine...
Once it set into my brain that the machine will not turn on no matter what I do, I immediately ran to the internet. I was steeling myself for what I thought to be the inevitable customer service experience - painful searching for the answers, dozens of minutes on hold, having to figure out how to mail my machine back to the company for them to fix it and calculating just how many weeks it would take to have a working machine. Or worse -- having to wait until Monday to figure this out.
Then the most wonderful thing happened -- I was pleasantly surprised about how unbelievably wrong I was.
My whole problem from beginning to end was fixed in roughly 25 minutes. I always start with a Google search before going to a website. Google knows where the answer to my problem lies without my having to search company websites, and it retrieves the right page more quickly than I ever could. So I start searching for "Why won't my Keurig turn on?" And "Why would a Keurig stop working?" and other such phrases. I was immediately thrown to dozens of sites discussing the same problem I was having and why. (This in and of itself speaks to the need for more companies to realize the value of SEO, but that's another post entirely).
When I got to the Keurig page it was laid out well, easy to use, and the best thing of all? A 7 days a week Customer Service line that when I called it, I was given to a person in no less than a minute. Keep in mind -- it's Sunday! Doesn't that traditionally mean I'll have to wait forever to speak to someone, and then when and if I do, it's most likely going to be someone with a thick accent with a name like, "Alice" or "Steve" who clearly is not an "Alice" or "Steve" and might as well be a robot.
The best part of it all? I spoke with Ryan. Who was from Florida, had never been to New York, was 33, and even told me about a particular unfortunate event in his life when he was 9 in Ohio. He told me all of this, all the while double, triple, and quadruple checking my shipping information to send me a brand new machine. He explained my machine's issue (something about a tube, etc. etc.), and just like that issued me a brand new one (not refurbished - and without my asking for it), that would be here within 7-10 days, and I wouldn't even have to ship back the entire old one (just a small piece). I actually enjoyed the conversation and the process (especially the result).
Now I am sure that not all issues end this way with Keurig and that there was probably some larger factory issue with my machine's make & model. However, I can honestly say that I've never had a more pleasant customer service experience with any other company. It was clear that Keurig takes its customers not only serious, but cares that it's employees are happy enough to have normal, fluid, conversations with the people that call in. I felt like a person -- not someone with another problem that they need to fix, and I can't remember the last time that's happened with a company. It went far beyond the pleasantries. He wasn't trying to rush me off the phone (and if he was, I didn't notice) because he's limited to spending so much time on the phone, or has other calls to get to. It was as if I was the only customer in the world. Heck, maybe I was - it is a Sunday afterall.
Why Does This Matter to a Company?
Whether you're reading this from a customer service standpoint, a community building background, or just in general -- being on the offensive and knowing what will keep users/customers happy will always set you apart from your competition and lead to better Word of Mouth Marketing and higher sales. I was genuinely surprised with Keurig's experience today in the most pleasant way, and the fact that I was surprised, shouldn't be the case.
Ryan loved working for Keurig and it showed (he also mentioned it). He even said that he loved helping people, and I believe him. He mentioned how great his training was too (clearly someone did something right there too).
This whole thing is a real life version of interconnectedness in a company being so unbelievably important. This demonstrated that higher up decisions to train employees well, to value customers, to having a well designed website as an actual resource, and understanding the needs of the customer trickle down to this 1 pleasant experience.
Much like my experiences with Apple and the fact that I'll never stray from them -- I now can add Keurig to my very short list of companies that I will be happy to stay a loyal customer to.