Blog Envy

Every once in a while, I read a blog post that really gets it right. When that happens, I feel compelled to share it with people. I don’t do that very often because I hate blogs that do nothing but point people to other blogs. But, this one is worth it. [Full disclosure: We’re mentioned, but that’s not why you should read it.]

It’s about community management, and it’s one of those “10 Things” blog posts. But, it’s not the typical Digg-friendly titled list of obvious truths. It’s from Next New Networks, and it’s a compilation of a list that came out of a workshop they did with Micki Krimmel. If you’re interested in community management, I suggest you give it a quick read.

My favorite line: “People put something on their blogs because it says something about them, not because they want to promote a product they like. Think about that one for a while.”

I’m still thinking about that one. Thanks for making me think.

Bad Apples Stealing Pints of Milk

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“Apl.itunes has taken money from my account and I never ordered anything.”

That’s the title of a problem on Get Satisfaction started by a frustrated user who got swindled by someone pretending to be Apple. The number of people who have this problem keeps growing.

In researching the details, I’ve found out that this may be an updated version of what used to be called the “pint of milk” scam. The way that one worked: a thief would use a stolen debit or credit card to make a really tiny purchase — a pint of milk. Once that test transaction went through, they knew the card was open for business, so to speak. At least, that’s the urban legend I’ve heard (or the metaphor someone at some point assigned to this scam).

The iTunes Store works great for this kind of scam because people (me included, I just bought a song on iTunes this morning) get used to the idea of numerous $1 purchases winding their way through their stream of financial activity. Once you start buying songs like this, you just don’t pay attention to every single transaction that shows up in your records, if you pay attention at all.

What responsibility does Apple have in this matter? Any? Simply put: none. But that hasn’t stopped a deluge of people with this problem from blaming Apple for this scam on Get Satisfaction.

This is a public relations quandary that many companies have had to deal with. Even though Apple is just as much a victim in this case, staying silent about it won’t make it go away (in fact, this scam seems to be growing, and quickly). I would argue that Apple, just like any company with a very strong brand, would do well to publicize this kind of consumer fraud. Why? First and foremost, being seen as a champion of consumers is always good. You’ll always be rewarded for that. Second, you can’t control how your customers (or potential customers) talk about you online, but you can react to what they are saying — and you should. There are lots of other reasons I could list that recommend and support engaging with customers on this level, but there’s one paramount reason Apple should address this problem: Ignoring it will only encourage negative assumptions about iTunes to fester.

Like Thor, our CEO at Get Satisfaction, put it in a great blog post about defending your online reputation:

“It’s amazing how often people let spurious charges go unanswered in a public forum. It seems that most people and organizations have two modes online, silent or litigious. There’s another approach: responsiveness. The trick is to not respond in a reactionary style, which can create a destructive blowback effect, but rather in the measured and calming tone of someone who is better informed. Your job is to correct facts, provide the missing context, clarify the intentions.”

I’m a huge (huge!) Apple fan, but that does sound like Apple: either silent or litigious. I sent some friendly messages to Apple PR reps about this problem, but I’ve yet to get a response. I hate to see Get Satisfaction users having these kinds of problems. I bet even a sympathetic nod would do the trick.

If you have knowledge or experience with this particular scam — or want to offer your own sympathetic nod — join the conversation here.

[Apple is on Get Satisfaction.]

Introducing the Company-Customer Pact

When we were putting the speaker list together for our Customer Service is the New Marketing Summit, we were laser-focused on the practical. We rounded up speakers like Tony from Zappos and Robert from The Geek Squad to talk about specific actions they took to make their company customer-oriented, so attendees would be able to learn from or even emulate those steps and achieve equally effective results.

But along the way we realized that anecdotal evidence — even solid, practical, billion-dollars-a-year-in-revenue evidence — while a strong start, just wasn’t enough. And so we asked ourselves: How can we help evolve the conversation that companies and customers are having? What can we bring to the table that will help these companies communicate better — more effectively, more honestly, more transparently — with their customers? What hasn’t been said but needs to be?

With this goal in mind, we launched at the Summit an essentially open source document we’re calling, simply, The Company-Customer Pact.

This pact is a call for shared responsibility between companies & customers — one that promises that both sides will hold up their end of the bargain to change the game. The document provides a way to opt into a set of shared values. It’s a balanced statement of responsibilities for companies and customers.

You might wonder why we need this, as it seems like common sense. But if common sense were enough more people would be employing these principles now. We’ve been trained by the bad habits of corporate culture to turn away from the anger of alienated customers reacting to an environment where it’s common place for companies to hide behind phone trees, avoid fault, and employ anonymous and in-human call centers that makes them hard if not impossible to reach. Or by engaging in practices like price-gauging and issuing confusing bills and policies.

And what’s the customers response to this, now that, thanks to the tubes that power the Internet, the customers can respond? More often than not it’s revolt, whether led by one man’s descent into Dell Hell or an entire (digg)nation rising up to defend their right to recite a seemingly random string of letters and numbers. But revolt, as any Frenchman from the 18th century will tell you, while thrilling, isn’t particularly pleasant, and it’s definitely not sustainable. We need another way.

Previous attempts at such documents usually end up coming from the company side as a “Consumer’s Bill of Rights,” the most notable of which was put forth by JFK in a speech he gave in 1962. (Never heard of it? Yeah, neither had we.) A customer bill of rights is a start, but that’s unilateral disarmament. This pact is bilateral disarmament; both sides holster their flamethrowers and try to work it out.

The central thesis of the Company-Customer Pact is that at some point we are all working on behalf of a company, and at the same time we are all customers. We all spend time on either side of that fence, and we should take our understanding of each of those roles into whatever situation we’re in. In that regard, while this Company-Customer Pact speaks to two sides, it’s really speaking to one side — the human side.

Customers can expect more from a company that’s signed onto this document. And whie it’s impossible for a company to tell its customers how to behave, they can certainly ask, and by opting into a pact like this they can imply a sense of shared responsibility with their customers. And a statement like this can even give a company’s internal teams some guiding principles for their behavior.

This is an open initiative — a living document. We want your feedback, which is why we’ve posted it on a wiki where anyone can comment or edit. Keep in mind, though, that one of the goals is to have it be simple enough that anyone can adopt it. It contains five basic tenets:

1. The first point reiterates, because it can’t be said enough, the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

2. The second point warms against the temptation to anonymity, because more often than not, in commercial settings anonymous often gives license to be rude.

3. The third point reflects the fact that we all know in advance that mistakes wil be made and that problems are going to happen — to err is human, after all, and we’re both humans on either side of the line. We can embrace this as an opportunity to deal honestly with problems as they arise; done right, this is where lasting customer relationships are forged. Who hasn’t had the experience of seeing a company turn a bad situation around, creating a tremendous amount of customer loyalty?

4. The fourth point is about companies embracing the opportunity of instant, always-on communication. Now that it’s easier than ever before to get the word out to hundreds of our friends and co-workers, it’s somehow harder than ever to communicate with some of the companies we do business with. There is absolutely a mandate to make honest and direct communication between companies and customers as easy and frictionless as it is with the people you friend on Facebook.

5. Finally, it’s vital to show follow-through and to support those who are trying to follow through. It’s a new world, and we all have to live in it together, so let’s cut each other some slack, ok?

Pretty simple all said and done, but also potentially very powerful. If you haven’t done so yet, check it out at ccpact.com and add your name — as a customer, as a company representative, or as both. We’d love to have you take part in the conversation.

Making a Pact

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Tony Hsieh opened up our Customer Service is the New Marketing Summit with a compelling statement: “We’re a customer service company. We just happen to sell shoes. Twenty years from now, hopefully people won’t even remember that we sell shoes.”

That’s a strong statement from the CEO of a pretty strong company: Zappos. You may not know it, but they’re not in the shoe business. Having effortlessly bought — and effortlessly returned — many pairs of shoes from and to them, I’m inclined to agree with him. They ooze customer service.

To help us foster and encourage the kind of spirit that Tony believes in, we’ve introduced the “Company-Customer Pact,” a simple, usable framework for company-customer interaction.

The provisional draft of this document is now available at CCPact.com. We’re actively seeking community support, as well as public comments on this document. Support and comments can be voiced right on the wiki pages. Having your voice included would be terrific.

Please forward this post to folks that you’d like to hear in this conversation — or anyone you think would be interested in building better company-customer relationships.

Customer Service = Insurance?

I hate almost anything that relates to finances. Boring!

That probably explains why I’m not freaked out about the stock market’s downward spiral this week; why I nod off when dinner conversation turns to options, commodities, and splits; and why I am still stuck renting a tiny, overpriced apartment in one of the most expensive places on Earth. I’m a financial idiot.

Luckily, there are bloggers like Trent Hamm who can dumb it down for financial nit-wits like me. Trent’s blog, The Simple Dollar, strays into customer service territory today, and he’s put forward one of the best common-sense explanations of customer service that I’ve heard in quite awhile by asking himself this question whenever he is considering purchasing an item: “What would be the implications in my life if it ceases to function and there’s no customer service available?”

Unfortunately, he’s come to the conclusion that “good customer service is like an insurance policy.” It’s a shame to hear it said that way, but I have a hard time disagreeing with him.